SEAL Team 6 Sniper to Everyday Dad - Chris Fettes

Summary

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Ultimate Dad Podcast — Episode Summary

Episode Title: SEAL Team 6 Sniper to Everyday Dad - Chris Fettes
Host: The Ultimate Dad
Guest: Chris Fettes (former SEAL Team 6 operator, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)
Date: June 20, 2025

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Episode Overview

This Father’s Day Special episode features Chris Fettes, a former Navy SEAL Team 6 sniper, entrepreneur, and devoted dad. Broadcasting from Chris’s lively café, the conversation dives into masculine identity, military transitions, fatherhood, the silent professional debate, marriage, faith, handling adversity, and small business. Chris opens up about moving from elite warrior life to the everyday mission of being present with his kids, how his past shapes his fathering, and how he’s now building a new legacy through his family and his ice cream shop.

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Key Topics & Insights

1. From SEAL Team Six to Civilian Dad (03:04–07:29)

• Path to the Navy SEALs and Team 6:
  Chris’s journey through BUD/S, SEAL Team 10, and ultimately making it into the elite SEAL Team 6, sharing the difference in resources, training, and expectations between "regular" teams and Tier One assignments.

  “It feels like going from college to a pro team...you just have more support, more assets, more funding, better equipment, and more ability to train and iterate.” (Chris, 04:24)

• Adapting to Life After the Teams:
  The struggle to find new purpose post-military and dealing with the intensity of constant missions.

  “Some years of inner turmoil and trying to figure my own self out... But once you come out on the other side, it really is pretty glorious.” (Chris, 03:04)

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2. Dispelling SEAL Stereotypes & The Silent Professional Debate (07:29–16:58)

• The Real Face of Operators:
  Discussing why so many SEALs and similar operators are humble, even goofy, and down-to-earth.

  “There’s just some depth to this person...Life experiences have a big play in how you present to people.” (Chris, 10:40)

• Perspective from Adversity:
  How extreme adversity, whether in war or personal life (like a child’s illness), gives stronger perspective and gratitude.

• Speaking Out vs. Being Silent:
  Chris addresses criticism from the military community on SEALs telling their stories. He explains his belief that veterans sharing experiences is crucial for public understanding and history, as long as operational security is respected.

  “Every operator is a silent professional by contract. But when you’re done, we become civilians. Some of us, our purpose is to tell stories... That doesn’t disqualify me.” (Chris, 13:07)

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3. Childhood, Family Dynamics, and Values (17:09–26:24)

• Early Life in a Blended Family:
  Born near an Air Force base, survived an abusive biological father, stepdad adopted Chris and shaped his identity.

• Stepfather’s Role:
  Chris praises his stepdad for stable, loving, if sometimes strict, presence.

  “He took on that role, and he’s the best man I know… the values he was instilling in me for later, that I for sure received, even though I didn’t know it.” (Chris, 31:34)

• Adapting Through Moves:
  Learned adaptability from frequent moves, sports, and blending into diverse social groups—skills that now translate into entrepreneurship.

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4. Military Service: Choosing The Path & Making Hard Choices (26:24–39:11)

• Post-9/11 Motivation:
  Chris was initially unsure about joining; 9/11 spurred him into the Navy.

  “If it’s your calling, you just got to drop everything and go.” (Chris, 27:55)

• Selection Mentality vs. Entrepreneurship:
  Both require perseverance and running towards extreme discomfort, not away from it.

  “You just keep persevering…it never gets easier, you just get used to constant problem solving and stress.” (Chris, 30:14)

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5. Marriage, Parenting, and Making it Work (39:11–50:32)

• Meeting His Wife:
  Story of meeting a driven, tough “gangster” gymnast turned pharma rep from New York, and building a strong family partnership.

• Starting a Family:
  All-in approach—house, marriage, and pregnancy happened in one month.

  “We just knocked it all out like all at once...it was awesome.” (Chris, 33:58)

• Balancing the Demands:
  The impossibility of giving 100% to Team 6 and being present at home—a “dark time” of division, stress, and self-discovery.

  “At SEAL Team 6… you have no space to really go 100% all-in on anything else, including your family...that’s a hard thing to say.” (Chris, 40:00)

• Compartmentalization at Home:
  Chris describes his struggle to be present—with his children and for his wife—after spending years “compartmentalizing” for combat.

  “When you’re at home, it, for sure, affects your home life to where you’re not even there sometimes.” (Chris, 42:51)

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6. Hard Choices: Leaving the Teams for Family (56:09–59:52)

• Parenting at a Distance:
  The pain of fathering over FaceTime, feeling the resentment from his oldest as he started to notice dad’s absence.

  “He started to develop anger and resentment for that… even at four years old, he started to realize this is bullshit.” (Chris, 56:09)

• Decision to Leave Early:
  Walked away from a military pension with just a few years to go, to be present for the crucial “8 to 12” years in his sons’ development.

  “For me, it wasn’t stupid, because I knew that those years between 8 and 12 is what I really needed to be there for.” (Chris, 57:52)

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7. Navigating Adversity: For Yourself & Your Kids (61:02–68:22)

• The Role of Adversity:
  Chris and the host debate engineering adversity so their kids aren’t “too soft,” but caution against creating trauma.

  “We need more good dads in the world... but you don't need to engineer too much adversity because they're already going through it.” (Chris, 62:23)

• Rite of Passage and Modern Parenting:
  Chris plans to introduce a family rite of passage (e.g. a Grand Canyon hike) for his sons, which he sees as missing from modern Western life.

• Modeling Relationships:
  Emphasis on kids witnessing their parents’ mutual respect, positive conflict resolution, and affection as keys to their future relationships.

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8. Faith, Psychedelic Healing & The Search for Meaning (69:15–81:32)

• Spiritual Evolution:
  Chris shares his path from Sunday school to seeker (including ibogaine psychedelic therapy) and a return to Christianity.

  “As soon as I reached that [faith], it feels like the doors to all your dreams...just start to happen. Every time you start walking away, it dips, it becomes a struggle again.” (Chris, 70:29)

• Faith Through Suffering:
  The host discusses how his daughter’s battle with cancer challenged his faith, while Chris shares that spiritual meaning comes from directly, honestly seeking God outside institutional trappings.

  “The church is my direct, individual relationship with God and Christ and nobody else.” (Chris, 76:09)

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9. Difficult Missions, Guilt, and Growth (82:20–85:57)

• Dealing with Traumatic Duty:
  Chris opens up about a final mission involving the deaths of children, and how it led to lasting inner trauma but helped him grow—ultimately reinforcing his commitment to fatherhood and to “staying a learner” for life.

  “We all start as a clean slate with wholesomeness and innocence...and the world takes it away. I felt like I'd participated in that in some way.” (Chris, 83:02) “If I ever get stuck in the way that I exist right now, it means I’ve stopped learning.” (Chris, 84:48)

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10. Parenting in Today’s World: Tech, Safety, and Trust (86:31–94:37)

• Screen Time & Devices:
  Reluctant to enforce draconian controls, Chris focuses on open communication, trust, and preparing his sons to navigate exposure—including to pornography and social threats—by building honest dialogue.

  “Instead of focusing on locking everything down, I want them to trust me enough that when they do see it, they come tell me, and then we have a chance to talk about it.” (Chris, 87:27)

• Family Security in a Chaotic World:
  Not a “prepper," but believes in family plans and situational awareness, grounded in a realistic view of global events.

• Legacy and Risk:
  Acknowledges there are unique risks for high-profile operators but refuses to live in fear or let it silence his message.

  “You've got to live for your purpose...part of your purpose is storytelling some of that.” (Chris, 95:01)

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11. Entrepreneurship, Purpose, and Ice Cream (97:02–105:25)

• Building a New Mission:
  Chris’s path from special operations to launching an ice cream shop:

  “I grew up, it was just my favorite thing in the world...I was always fixated on ice cream. So let’s do it.” (Chris, 103:34)

• Reinvention, Perseverance & Mentorship:
  The overlaps between BUD/S, entrepreneurship, and fatherhood: discipline, innovation, willingness to fail, and relentless drive for a noble mission.

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12. Fatherhood Mantra, Kids' Future, and Wrap-Up (105:33–End)

• Daily Mantra:

  “My mantra every day is when I need truth, which is every day, I ask God and I get the answer. Talk to God.” (Chris, 105:54)

• Kids & Military Service:
  Wishes his sons avoid military danger, but would support them if they choose.

• Parental Pride:
  Stories of his sons putting in independent effort (sit-ups before bed), baseball, and the pride that comes from seeing them work for their own goals.

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Notable Quotes

• On Overcoming Transition:
  “Once you come out on the other side...it is glorious to move into what you know is your purpose.” (Chris, 03:04)

• On Military/Civilian Divide:
  “There’s a perspective where you’ve experienced way harder times... so to get upset or worked up, it doesn’t matter. You’ve been through shit. And a lot of stuff just doesn't matter anymore.” (Host, 11:16)

• On Fatherhood:
  “My two boys are having a really awesome childhood. I think they would say that if you asked them.” (Chris, 19:49)

• On Parenting Values:
  “Just do the right thing and be a good dad, even if they push off of it...just keep the positive messaging, the same value system going.” (Chris, 53:49)

• On Adversity:
  “You don’t want adversity to turn into trauma. They’re already going through it... it’s a balance.” (Chris, 62:23)

• On Honesty with Kids and Tech:
  “I want them to trust me enough that when they do see it [pornography], they come tell me.” (Chris, 87:27)

• On Faith and Truth:
  “The church is my direct, individual relationship with God and Christ. And nobody else.” (Chris, 76:09)

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Key Timestamps for Reference

• SEAL Team Six Journey: 03:04–07:29
• Silent Professional/Stereotypes: 12:05–16:58
• Childhood Reflections: 17:09–26:24
• Marrying, Family Life: 33:58–50:32
• Leaving SEALs for Fatherhood: 56:09–59:52
• Faith & Psychedelic Therapy: 69:15–81:32
• Difficult Missions & Growth: 82:20–85:57
• Parenting & Technology: 86:31–94:37
• Entrepreneurship & Ice Cream: 97:02–105:25
• Fatherhood Wisdom & Closing: 105:33–End

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Memorable Moments

• Childhood Photos & Nostalgia (18:33): The host presents childhood photos to Chris, prompting reflection on decisions made, and pride in his sons’ upbringing.
• Ice Cream Shop “Rock Band” Photo (103:02): The father-son “rock band” snapshot, celebrating both the business and their bond.
• Father’s Day Closing Question (109:52): Chris asks, “If you could pick with no limits on cost, what would be your perfect Father’s Day gift?”

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Conclusion

This episode is an authentic, open exploration of what it takes to transition from an elite operator to an everyday ultimate dad. Chris Fettes’s story weaves together military grit, deep introspection, generational wisdom, personal failures, and hard-won faith—showing that the mission of fatherhood is both relentless and rewarding. Through honest stories and pragmatic advice, listeners gain insight into raising their game as dads, leaders, and men.

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Transcript

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Before we get into the episode, let me tell you guys about Tactical Baby Gear, the sponsor of the ultimate dad podcast and transparently our business. At Tactical Baby Gear, we design and develop highly functional, highly practical baby gear for dads. So whether it's the Tactical Baby carrier or a diaper bag like the Daypack 3.0 with the built in changing mat, or our S1 stroller with the built in wipes pouch and cooler pouch, Tactical Baby Gear has a wide range of products that are guaranteed to make your life as a dad easier. But don't just take my word for it. We've got over 70,000 reviews from parents who love Tactical Baby Gear. And if for some reason you don't, no worries. We've got 90 day easy returns and exchanges. We also have fast and free shipping. So go check us [e-mail] and when you're ready to make a purchase, you can get 15% off your first order by texting ultimate dad to 844-2300768. Again, that's tacticalbabygear.com or click the link in the description. Now let's get into the episode. Chris Ves or Christopher? Yeah. Is that what your mom calls you when you're in trouble?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

It was always Christopher if I was getting in trouble, you know.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yep. Awesome. Well, first of all, thank you for having us here in your cafe to record the podcast. It is Father's Day weekend, so this is, like, perfect. It's my daughter conversation. Yeah. And I'm really excited about it. I know that you have sort of a new reputation on the Internet for being an AV seal, SEAL Team Six guys, the cool guy. But I think. I mean, there's clearly way more to you than just being a Navy seal. You're a dad, you're an entrepreneur. There's a lot more to you than just being a Navy seal. And I'm sure that you would like to be known for more than just being a Navy seal.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Absolutely.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

So I hope to shed some light on some of those things through this. Happy Father's Day weekend.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Happy Father's Day.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

You're the man. I've got a quick dad joke for you.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

All right.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

What do you call an angry carrot? Esteemed veggie. It was pretty bad.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

No, it's bad but good. Why do fathers take an extra pair of socks when they go golfing?

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Oh, I know this. Or at least I think I know this. I don't know.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Just in case they get a hole in one.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Ah, that's a Good one. That's a good one.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I like it. That's the only joke I remember that exists in the world. Yeah, I'm just. I never could memorize jokes. I don't know what it is.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Keep that one in your back pocket.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Or movie quotes. Terrible. You started ranting on a movie quote,

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

and I'm like, so don't take you to trivia night. No. Awesome. Well, dude, you accomplished, like, the final level. You became the guy that every single one of us dreams about being when we're a kid. You know what I mean? And, like, what does it feel like

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

to reach that now? It feels pretty good. You know, it was some years of. Of kind of inner turmoil and trying to figure my own self out in the path I needed to go on next. My neck, my next purpose, essentially, after all that. And so. But once you can cut, can get through that and come out on the other side, which is part of my whole message of everything that I do. It really is pretty glorious and, you know, not perfect. Still have plenty of stress and struggles and things, but. But really, it is glorious to come through that and just, you know, just move into what, you know, is your purpose and what you're supposed to be doing after such a long time of. Of having that already as sort of a given.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

You know what I mean? Well, yeah. Someone's telling you what your purpose is.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah. You make it through, it's there. That's your purpose.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

What's it feel like when you graduate? Well, actually, I wasn't even graduating Buds and becoming a Navy seal, that, like, that was cool because you went to seal team 10 first.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I did, yeah. Right, to seal team 10. Yep.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

And how long were you there?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

About five. Almost five years. Almost four and a half.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Five years. Good little stint. And then you had the opportunity to try out for SEAL Team six.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Correct. Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

And what is. I mean, is that what. What's the level between, like, a normal SEAL team and then six, which everyone holds on such a pedestal? Is it, like, leaps and bounds above and beyond, or is it just a different team that has a different kind of.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

My best to describe that because I got so many SEAL friends and I got, like, people that I look up to that were, you know, mentors of mine when I was in at Seal Team 10, that even to this day, I'm like, they're some of the best seals, regardless of tiers and all that stuff. So I want to be respectful, you know, to my friends and the teams. And the way I consider it is, like, because of the Funding is so much more right through. Through jsoc. He's got cool than it is. Yeah, just the cool gear. Like, it's like, it feels like going from like college to a pro team for. With like the gear and the funding and the support that's around it, you know what I mean? You just have more, more support, more assets, you know, more funding and better, better and more equipment. Right. And the ability to get new, new equipment and gear too. Right. Which, which translates to a higher, more, more ability for the team to just constantly train and iterate way more than I ever had an opportunity to do when I was in the regular teams. And I think that's the difference. And so selection is its own thing. If you get through it and make it, you're supposed to be there. And then really then the only difference is all that stuff which leads to more training, more capacity, just, just iterations. It's like, you know, Kobe Bryant was in the gym two hours earlier than the rest of the team and it showed, right, because he was just putting in more and more iterations, more work. It's. It's really the same thing. But you know, and it's not that that any one operator wouldn't want to do that. It's just that you've given more opportunity now for that. It's like what you do, you know, every day, in and out, in and out, kill house, all day, every day.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

So when you make it into Seal Team 6 and you're like, you get the stamp of approval or you're like, holy shit, I did it. Did you do it on the first try?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I did, yeah, I did, thankfully. And it does. You do go through a feeling of that, but you don't have too much time to dwell on that before you slide. It's not just you go from this phase of like, I got to keep up to, you know, developing into more of a veteran and there's just always so much to do. The mission is always running so, you know, you don't have too much time.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

You were, I mean, you were doing that probably like peak of things getting crazy in the world too. It's not like some guys who join SEAL teams, nothing's really popped off yet and they're sort of waiting for something to do. You were probably just right into it, I'm sure. What year was this?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

This was like my whole career was like around 2006 to 2016. Ish, busy. I joined in 2004, but selection. So I ended up at 12, almost at 13, 13 year mark. And so, yeah, it was great. It was great because you go do that for a reason, and then if there's things happening in the world where you get to execute your skills right, then that's what you want. That's what. That's what every warrior wants, you know? You know, but that's not to say that during lulls of wartime that. That, you know, we don't need those guys to be just as efficient because the next thing is gonna pop off and those guys are gonna become the g. What era guys. You know, I'm saying just the same way the pre 911 guys became the GWAT guys. So it's always gonna be turning.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah. Well, I've met quite a few guys, you know, like yourself, some SEAL team guys, SAS guys. And every single one of you that I've met have been probably one of the nicest people I've ever met. And it's so fascinating, and I think it's really cool, you know, because I think the most of the world has this preconceived thought that, you know, these super alpha, tough guy, you know, mentality that they. They're and whatever. But, like, now everyone I've met also has gotten out. Yeah. And is. Maybe that plays a part. I'm curious to know from your point of view, why it seems like everyone who is like SEAL team guys and sa. Like, everyone's just so cool, so nice, so chill, down to earth, you know,

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I think that, I don't know, like, your life experiences, I think, have a big play and how you present to. To people like normal people, per se. Right. Which is different than how we behave when we're around each other. But, you know, I experienced the same thing as all those guys. Just the value system that develops, the integrity system that develops the camaraderie. I think it just. It just creates. I don't know how to explain it. It just. It just creates that vibe. I think, when. When guys do have a chance to interact with. With. With the general public, per se. Yeah. Yeah. Because, you know, there's a toxic side of the culture and stuff too. But the. No matter what goes on in the minds or hearts of every operator, the. There is. There are some underlying, like, key factors that are just staying common across the board with every operator. And it's like why we're doing this and who we're doing it for. So if I can say that I truly fought for America. Right. That includes everybody in America, the good and the bad. Right. And I'm not saying that I thought about all the bad people. But if I think about it as a whole, it really was for everybody. It was for you. It was for. For me. It was for my, you know, my employees. And I like to think about it that way. It's like, I think that's. That's the reason why you get that vibe from people. Because when I go talk to people that are interested in hearing about it, you know, it's just. It's just my authentic personality doing my best to tell you, so I don't know where it comes from.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

You know, I. I, like, I was thinking about that on the way here. I'm like, man, every time I. I get a chance to meet and hang out with, you know, one of these guys, you guys, it's just like, man, they're so cool.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

You know, and, like, everyone's pretty kind of goofy and silly and not so serious. And my. My perception of it is more. Is like, there's got to be a perspective. Yeah. Too. Right. Like, I experienced that when my daughter was fighting cancer.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Like, suddenly the things that used to piss you off and get you all worked up, like, after you experience something like that, that is totally out of your control. It's your daughter's fighting cancer. You don't know if she's gonna make it till tomorrow, her next birthday, like, whatever. Every picture you take could be the last time you see her smiling. And then everything after that, it doesn't matter.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

If you think about, like, heavy things and struggles in life that happen, like your daughter and I want to talk to you about that, like, think of the things that help get through that, because it's the same for. Especially if it's life and death. So I feel the same way as what you're saying. When I talk to firefighters and first responders and athletes, you know, where I'm like, man, these people are, like, coming off as really cool. They have some sort of profound life experience that's really challenging. And then when you talk to them about it and instead of just generalizing, you kind of get some truth out of it. You go, man, this person actually has. I think that that might be the thing that you're talking about is, like, there's just some depth to this person.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Right.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

There's just a perspective where they've. They've. They've experienced way harder times and way worse and. Or tragic or whatever. The thing is. So, like, to get upset or worked up and be so macho or try to hold an ego or, like, it doesn't matter because you've seen some shit. You've. You've done some shit, you've been through shit, whatever it is.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

And like a lot of stuff just doesn't matter anymore. You let go of that.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah. So I feel, I feel equally as interested in people that have some depth to their experiences in other industries and things that they do. The same is the same as what you're saying. I think that just generally our lifestyle and Special Forces is just. It's super interesting to the general public.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

It is, which is why I started.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

And it always has been.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

I started this with like, these are like, some of my selfish questions and I will get into the parenting. Cause I know. No, it's all good, you know, but like, everybody wants to know.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah. So to that point too, you know, we also catch a lot of hate for talking about it. You know, we've got different operators and guys that are different in phases of their careers and lives and afterwards and during all this stuff. And there's this sort of conception about what silent professional means. So you just gave me an opportunity to actually talk about something I've been thinking about. The silent professional thing is, like, there's no really hard definition to that in the general public because I still see stuff where it's like, hey, these guys are telling stories. Those Delta Force guys are telling stories. And every once in a while you see, you know, people that are like, hey, whatever happened to the silent professional? I'm like, okay, I understand. And it's, it's a little bit more of a generalization and misconception that's going on, in my opinion. Because what I think is, where did we get everything? Every war story and every story in history about anything is from operators when they're done, or maybe somebody documenting it during telling the story. And then it becomes history. Right.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

And you have to learn from these stories.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

And then we learn and we learn from it and like, it's important stuff. And so now we're in this, this age where, you know, at a high, high level of Special Force, like Tier one especially, it's. It's so OPSEC driven and, you know, there is some level of secrecy that just has to happen for it to work well. Right. So here's my, here's my point. By contract, every operator is a silent professional because if they're, if they're not at any point, they're going to be out, they're going to go out. That's a, that's a huge cardinal rule. You can't really break. You can't have Social media can't talk about stories, whatever. You know, if you do, in some cases, you got to get really select permission from the government to tell the story, right? So there's that. We're all silent professionals when we're done, right. And we just become civilians now. Not everybody needs to be a storyteller, but some of us, we do. It's part of our purpose for whatever the reasons are. So that's what I'm saying is that does not disqualify me as a silent professional or anybody else. Just because now I'm done. I'm not on contract for that anymore. And, you know, my purpose is under God. And so does God need me to be quiet? That's up to, that's up to me and God to decide. Right. And so this is just the first chance I've had to discuss this, like this silent professional sort of dilemma that goes on between sort of like the active duty community, you know, and then the non active duty community. Two different, complete different worlds. And, you know, that's just my opinion about that, is that you can be respectful about it or not respectful, but we're individuals afterwards. And, you know, it's, it's, it's a little contradicting for somebody to, you know, let's just say I was active duty or I was a fan, or I was like just anybody going, like, saying these guys should be more silent professionals. We should be silent professionals. And then when you're done, you should just shut the F up, right. And just live in, in secrecy the rest of your life would be a ridiculous thing to expect that of anybody or to live by the code that was required during that time for the rest of your life is not required for the rest of your life anymore. If you want to have a fulfilling, like, engaging life doing what you want to do for your purpose. So, like that. That's my point is it's. Sorry, it's contradicting to do that. And then at the same time, we go, hey, we all gather up in the hooches and watch Black Hawk Down. It's contradicting because that came from operators telling stories.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah, yeah. It's crazy. I'm fascinated in it because it's like you guys, it's like a bunch of wolves eating their own. And it's like you get six months ago where a year you guys were all on the same team.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

It shouldn't look like that.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

It's, it's. Yeah, I publicly. It looks bad, I think. You know what I mean?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

And it's like, what does it tell the future generation? Do they want to become a seal? Because when they get out now, it's like so public. I mean, guys like you and Sean Ryan and many others talking about the negative effects of that and just the negativity of the hate that you guys get when you get out, if you say anything about it, is like the anti recruitment campaign. It's unbelievable.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I don't want to fixate on it too much because I've totally moved on from it. No, you're good. I'm just saying, personally, I don't fixate it. It doesn't bother me anymore. I know. I know the direction I need to go. I know that I'm respectful.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Do you think that telling some of that, though, or people hearing about it prevents other guys from wanting to get into the teams or anything like that?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

They're like, I don't know. I don't know. Honestly, even the drama of it, I think attracts people to go. To go look at it at least. And it is a recruitment tool. It's a. It's, it's, it's. It. It does have an effect on recruiting, you know, and so it's just, it's just a topic that exists out there. And you just, you just had me, you know, you just stirred up some thoughts that I've been. I've been thinking about.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

I'm glad. Cool. Well, let's kind of get into a little bit more. Let's get into your childhood leading up to some of this and then getting into having kids. So where'd you grow up? What was family life like as a kid?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I grew up in Austin, Texas, right outside Bertram Air Force Base. That's where I was born. My mom was married to my biological father. I didn't grow up with a relationship with him. Sort of an abusive marriage at that point. So I'm thank God that my mom was able to find the strength to move past that. And then I just never really thought about him much. And I didn't need to because my stepfather became my father. He took on that role, and he's the best man that I know.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

How. How old were you? You. I know you were young when your dad left. When. When did your stepdad come into the picture? How old were you then?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I get the. The age is wrong. You know, I've had these conversations with my mom, and it's like, you can't expect a small child to remember that, but generally I feel like that was around the age of like four or five, that transition. Yeah. Really young.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

It wasn't like you were 10 or something?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

No, I think it was like five and then, you know.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

So during some pretty informative years, though, at least.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Oh, for sure.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I think when you start to imprint memories at that age, but they really start to solidify, you know, I think between the ages of like 8 and 12, which is just by coincidence, the most important time that I've. That I've learned is the most important time for fathers to be available for boys especially.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

All right, so since you mentioned that, now I printed out some pictures. You actually mentioned that.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Oh, nice.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

So what does that make you feel like? What do you feel when you see that? Do you have anything to say about it?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah, it just. Nostalgic moments from childhood that. That it's part of the reason why I did make the hard decision to get out before retiring is like, they started to be around this age. Right. And I started to realize too, hey, that 8 to 12 age is critical. You know, I'm not saying that operators that couldn't do that aren't good dads. They're all good dads. It's just you gotta. That lifestyle. You gotta do what you gotta do and just do your best. Right? But I had an opportunity that I saw and it just was the right moment for me. So I. It was the right time for me specifically. And I can't speak for anybody else, but when I see this, I'm like, to me, I go, I just thank God because I couldn't have seen this. The moment that I decided to get out, you know, I was stressed, I was scared, I was worried. I was lost in myself, you know, I knew I needed to just become a better husband. Right. And try to be a good father. So that's what I see in this is like, man, that was the right decision. Because all things considered, I think that my two boys are really having a really awesome childhood.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah, that's cool.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I think that they would say that if you ask them, you know.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah, I'll have to. I'll have to ask them sometimes they

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

might be in here later after school, so.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Nice. Nice. Oh, and today's graduation day.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Just graduated today. Just came back from that.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Your oldest is going down to middle school now.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

He's already there in sixth grade. And then my younger one's now going to sixth grade.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Nice. Yeah, it's crazy, isn't it?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Just moved out of his. Shipping out from. From elementary school.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Dude. Oh, my God.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Dude.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Turned so fast. And I got emotional sitting in there watching him like, oh, my gosh, they're just not. They're just not my little boys anymore. They are. They always will be.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

But it's like, they're growing up, man. They're growing up. And I'll get into more of that stuff later because I have a lot of questions around that stuff too. But anyways, so your dad, your stepdad becomes. And do you refer to him as your dad then from then on he's

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

like, yep, he adopted us. We adopted his name. That's my last name. Fetus. Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

That's a lot for any man to do is adopt kids that aren't his own. Now your sisters, I know you have two sisters. Are they. Is that their dad?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

This one's hard for me to talk about because my younger sister is my sister, but yeah, so my younger sister's my half sister, really, from my stepfather, and then my other sister is my. From my biological father.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Got it.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Cool. But we're a tight family.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Like, we, like, I mean, at that age, I'm like, you're all the same.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Like, even now. And, you know, I think back to some of the things I've said in previous interviews and some of the hardships of that childhood and how hard it must have been for my parents, but I like, as I go along through this, the circuit, you know, know stuff to sort of express that, you know, holy, I had a great childhood, all in all, you know what I mean? And our family is, is so much love in our family and even to this day, you know, so, you know, I don't, I don't, I don't hold on to sort of the, like you, like, when we become adults, it becomes our responsibility to kind of see greater perspective, to go, man, your parents, if you have good parents, they were likely trying their best. They were doing their best. So any resentments from anything outside of that, you gotta, you gotta let go and, and, and, you know, move on and, and, and be. And resolve and, and like, be a happy family.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

There's a lot of that stuff too. And it's, it's like what you make of it, because a lot of people will take some, some, you know, childhood trauma or whatever, and they'll hold, hold on to it, dude, and it'll fuel them with negativity for the rest of. And they'll always. Because of that, because of that, I

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

know it just carried on.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

And then there's other people who use it as fuel that are like, I'm never going to be like that. I don't want to be like, that I'm gonna do everything to not be that guy and I'm gonna be better because of it. And like, so it's.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah, it really is just. It's that victim, vice, go getter mentality for anything that you've ever struggled through. So there's certain people that will take that and go live an awesome, happy, you know, fulfilling life. And then there's those that will just struggle their whole life as a. As a victim from that and even stuff that's not that traumatic, you know, like, oh, my, My brother, I, you know, my perspective was. My brother was like the favorite. And you're like, is that true? You know, maybe if you, when you're an adult, you know, take the opportunity to have those real hard discussions with your parents to actually figure out what's making you feel that way and go, like, go do something about it besides just going like, I'm resentful the rest of my life, you know, against my sister or my brother. And it just carries on. And you, you know, like, you gotta. My opinion is just like, cut through that and resolve and figure it out and be happy, you know?

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah. How do you think people go about doing that, though? It's easier. It's. You can't. It's easy to say, just forget about it. Just move on.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

No, you can't forget about it. But you can think about it. You're like, more truthfully, like, just go to. To it. It's true and see as much truth in as you can and. And then go talk it out and just do it. People, we just avoid that. We all want to avoid it, you know, and then we just carry all this stress and all this resentment.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

So, yeah, it's my opinion about families as we, as we grow from children into adults and, you know, we take on a responsibility as an adult to go figure ourselves out, you know, and not just. Just be angry that somebody else or parents or family or sisters or brothers didn't. Can't do it for us now, you

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

know, so your dad, your stepdad comes into the picture, you're a young kid, you move into high school. What's high school years look like? Are you a good kid, bad kid, getting into trouble?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I was kind of a mix of both. We, you know, we moved from across the country and I needed to fit in again. Right in, you know, ninth grade, kicking off military family. I was a straight A student at that point. Yeah. So people were copying me in math and everything. And then as I started to go, I need to go fit in, you know, at that point, I had different crowds of friends, which I'm now grateful for. That's extended into my adult life to.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

As.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

As sort of a strength. So the upside to. To that was, like, adaptability, you know, and even in business and stuff that I do now, it's. It's actually an advantage to go, hey, man, I can be okay with all kinds of different people, you know, without getting hung up too much right now. It's just now I just delineate between good and bad people, and it's a little easier, but. Yeah. But, yeah, high school. Moving into high school was. It was just a game of fitting in again. And, you know, my thing was. Was soccer, so I was busy playing soccer, then skateboarding.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah, skateboarding. You're big into skateboarding.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I was. I didn't, like, Never got, like, really super good or anything, but I grew up doing it.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

It was just like, your thing.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah, I was like, when the 80s turned to the 90s, I was, like, 9 or 10 years old.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

And so it was all about Tony Hawk and popping off.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

And, like, Powell Peralta and, you know, building half pipes and stuff like that. You know, breaking our arms.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

And you're in California at this point.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

That was in Japan, actually, for me.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Whoa. What was skate culture like in Japan?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

It was awesome. We were just. We all took it on, and snowboarding started to become a thing. I remember the first, like, snowboards that people were bringing around. We had this little hill by our house. It snowed, and it was an awesome culture. And that was the era of video games becoming a thing too. So we were always at the arcade, you know, the Japanese kids playing Street Fighter and having, like, competitions against them.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

You know, listening to punk rock music and stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's cool. That was my childhood. I was born in 85. Yeah. And I was. Same thing. I was big into skating and all that stuff. That's cool.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Good time. All right. So how. How do you end up then, you know, through high school? Did you go to the military directly out of high school?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

No. That was a struggle. My. My dad got. You know, he was a recruiter there. That's why we were able to spend so much time in Monterey and why I kind of consider where I'm from. It was the place I spent the most time since birth, so I kind of attached to it as a hometown per se, with really not. Not really truly having a hometown, you know. And then he got orders to. To. For his last duty station in Utah or actually it was North Carolina. So they moved across the country right when I was graduating high school, right after. So I was in this sort of dilemma of like, do I go and still live at home or do I stay and, you know, where your friends are at. Friends. Community college was going on, and it was just like, also that just sort of inner urge to start going out and exploring the world on your own, you know. So I did do that. I lived with some friends. It became a really, really tough struggle to where my grandparents identified that I was, like, getting sick all the time. And it just, like, was not healthy. I was not good. A lot of distractions were going on. And so, you know, I made a hard choice to go back home. So I went back home for a couple of years.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

To North Carolina?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yep, to North Carolina. 9, 11 happened during that time. I was working. You know, I was working in a bank at that time. And right then it kind of clicked. It was like, okay, I'm gonna go back to California, which I did. Moved back across the country, trained myself for a little bit, you know, for about a year or so, and then dipped into the office and joined the Navy.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Damn. Just like that. Yeah. Good for you, man.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Good for you. Yeah, it was a quick decision. You know, it's funny, some people are hitting me up on. In some of my DMS and stuff naturally, looking for mentorship for stuff like that. Hey, I'm just. I'm thinking about this. I want to go to buds. I think this is my calling. And they're always asking for, like, the how I got through, like, what was the process to that decision? And more and more that I answer it, I keep coming. I'm like, refining the answer to, if it's your calling, you gotta just drop everything and go. You know, there's no. Because everyone wants to fish for what's uncertain. They want to know, like, well, it's so. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know if I'm worried about failing. And you're like, yeah, of course. So go do it and see what you know and see what happens. And if you're really supposed to do it, you're going to make it. You know, you're not supposed to do it.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

You're not. You have to try and taste and test and all kinds of different things in life to figure out what you. What you like and that kind of thing. But, you know, similar to you, I get a lot of people that reach out to me. They're like, hey, I, you know, I think I want to start a business and this and that. I'm like, why? Like, if you think you want to do it because you just want to make money, like, it's, it's.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

That's right.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

It's not, that's not how it works.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

You might get lucky, you know.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

You know, very few people get lucky. I consider myself getting lucky, but it took 10 years to get lucky, you know, like, you have to put yourself in a position to be lucky, you know, and you have to put in that work. But at the end of the day, like the business thing, you know, I tell people, like, if it keeps you up at night that you're not doing it and you just can't breathe without doing it, then, like, sure. But if you think you want to do it because you're just bored at your normal job or you think you're going to be super rich or whatever,

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

like, you don't know it's going to take four, five, six years of half

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

to love it so much that you will do it at every expense.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

You won't love it, but you got to keep going.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

But you have. You have. Like, I was the same thing in my career, you know, where I. When I started doing cars, you know, my career started long, you know, before I was doing my. My current stuff. But it was like I, I couldn't stand working for someone else. I had to do my own thing. Like, I couldn't sleep at night because I was just like, I have to do my own thing. I have. And I've always been that way and I've always been against, Gone against the Grain. I think that goes back to like skate culture and punk rock music is like, I just never went with the crowd. I was always going upstream, you know,

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

and, yeah, I don't think every business owner is an entrepreneur. I'm starting to realize pretty quickly, you know, the real entrepreneurs are. The only difference really is you're. You're willing to just keep persevering, you know, because it just keeps. It never, it just, it never gets any easier. You just get used to constant problem solving and stress and complications. It's like if you can persevere through all that, you know, you might be. You might be a good entrepreneur because most are going to quit. Just like, just like selection for.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

That's right. I bring some of that up just because, like, I know everyone listening is like, in these, you know, probably their mid to late 20s, maybe early 30s, and they're in that point in their life where, you know, maybe they're getting out of the military and, like, what's next? And they're starting a family and maybe they think they want to start a business. And I always want to try to just urge people to be very caught. Proceed with caution.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

You know, and really understand what you're up against when you think you want to start a business, because it's not easy.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

You're right. I think to, to. To a really core level of that is knowing why you're doing any of it. So as long as you keep aligned, that's the mission. If you know why.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Then you can always figure. You can always figure it out, you know?

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah. Are there things that your stepdad did as a father during your childhood that you. That really stand out to you as, like, core? Yeah. Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I mean, he. There were so many values he was trying to instill in me that I just didn't know because he's a quieter, you know, a really reserved type of, type of guy, more serious, sort of stoic guy, which I appreciate so much now because I spent so much time being a show off and a loudmouth and just, you know, seeking validation. Right before I sort of grew up and realized that, you know, my dad was doing it Right. You know, that's hard to see until you're there. Yeah. So he's an amazing, like, master carpenter. Like, he's built all the furniture in our house. And so, you know, he tried teaching me some of those things, but really what came through, even me pushing back on anything he was ever trying to teach me that I didn't realize what was really happening was the values that he was instilling in me for later that. That I for sure received, even even though I didn't know it, you know? Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

When did you meet your wife?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Met her around. We got married in 2012. So 12 months and nine. Around 2009. Early 2009, when I got back from my first appointment, after I got back from my first deployment in Iraq with. With team 10. Yeah, we met through a mutual friend that just invited us out to a restaurant. And it's funny how it happened. She was on a Division 1 scholarship for gymnastics at JMU and she's originally from. They're all from New York and New Jersey. North Jersey and New York. She was born in Brooklyn and she's a real gangster. She's a gangster? Yeah, she is. She still to this day. She's a gangster. She. So she ended up at jmu, graduated, got into the pharmaceutical, you know, industry as a rep, which now she's a manager. She's doing all kinds of cool stuff for, for a smaller company out of San Francisco and just killing it. Supporting the family for these years that I'm trying to start the business up and it's, it's starting to pay back now and turn into this real dream. So it's worth it. But a lot of hard work to get in communication to get through those, those years of starting that up. You know, that's all like divorce causing stuff. But so that's how she ended up there, this area. And then I was here around the same time from you know, being a new seal, you know, fresh out of buds from San Diego and getting stationed at Team 10.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

At what point do you guys have kids? Is that like a discussion you guys have? I mean obviously you guys meet, clearly you end up getting married and all that.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

That's a funny story too because I think our goals for marriage and kids aligned and we just knocked it all out like all at once. So I was like, yeah, she like, she lived with me for a couple years before we got married. I started selection for Seal Team 6 and that. So I lived on the other side of town, which is a little bit of a commute. And then once I finished selection we were like, hey, once we finish we're going to move over to this side of town. So that's what we did. We got a house right after that and within the same month we bought the house, got married and essentially got pregnant in the same month on our honeymoon. And it all kicked off and it was awesome.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

All that was intentional?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

It was intentional, yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

And you said you wanted to have kids. She wanted to have kids, knew we

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

want to have kids right away.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah. Yeah. Did you always want to be a dad?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Absolutely. Really? Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

That's cool. I never really thought about it to be honest. I was so focused on what I was doing that like.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

I mean I knew at I would be a dad, you know, but I never was ever like dreaming about the day I would be a dad. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And it's always so interesting to me to kind of just hear other people's perspectives because like I know some guys I've interviewed who like, dude, I just couldn't wait to be a dad. So the only. I was all I thought about and it's like, wow, so interesting. It's cool. I think it's great.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I think that before that I was just naturally like a lot of us are. I was pretty self centered about my own life and my own world and Then when it was time to start making that decision, I did. I just remember being really excited about it. Like, I don't know why, but you

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

weren't getting any younger either. It sounds like you had kids a little bit later.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah, about 27 when that happened. Yeah. So, like, later 20s.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Oh, really? Okay. About same age. Yeah, I was 27 when I had my first.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I don't know what. What it was, but when it was time, I just. I knew that I wanted.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

So good for you.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

I've got another picture I want to talk about.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

All right.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

This one right here?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah, I just found that one recently. Just buried.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

You have that pinned on Instagram, so.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Just for those of you who can't see. Here, I'll hold it up.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

There's a picture of Chris sitting with some kids. Looks like you're on a deployment or something. What's the story behind this?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah, I was on a deployment, and that one was with Team 10. We spent a bunch of time doing J sets, which is just training exercises. Big, long, you know, training exercises all around different units in Africa and partner forces. And so, you know, I got a lot of good experience, you know, training. Training up a lot of partner forces and CQB and other tactics for all the. The combat that they were going to be in, for all the conflicts that they were going to be in. And, you know, there's a few times we're just kids hanging around, you know, in between breaks, and they're just. I learned pretty quickly how fascinated they were with us and with, like, Americans and stuff that we had. So this is just an mre. And so, you know, from this day forward, every day for lunch, I just broke out an mre, and these kids would come join me, and it was just. It was an awesome lunch. We did this. We did lunch like this every day for, like, I don't know, four or five weeks. Oh, really?

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah. So you really kind of almost develop a relationship with these kids?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I got to know these four kids pretty well.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Really? Yeah. That's cool.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah. Gifted them a bunch of stuff. It was just a good experience. But for me, just between all the different types of combat that I was in, there were these little moments that I just kind of cherished with just little breaks of wholesomeness and innocence hanging out with these kids.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Did you play soccer with them or any of that kind of stuff? Everywhere?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah, always played soccer.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah. That's cool.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

And over there, that's what they do. They all play soccer.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

They look Pretty young. Was there any sort of mentorship to them, like another figure or anything like that?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Not so so much of that, because I just didn't have time. It was like, cool, lunch is over. I gotta go train, you know, and so. And then, you know, some of the soldiers actually did want to keep in touch, but it was just. I was Just. Wasn't allowed to do that. So that was a struggle for me because I was like, man, there's.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

There's kind of.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

You could help do stuff here if you really committed to it. But I had a job to do, so it's just tough. Yeah. So. But now I have so many big plans.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

You know, with whatever happens with the business to go back. You know, I got a good buddy of mine who's a really good cinematographer that's doing some big things that we. We've had this loose idea for a couple years that, hey, when this. Become a national brand of ice cream, kind of move along with the dream that when I, you know, gain the resources and. And ability to go sort of do a little documentary, we're gonna go back to all these places. You know, these kids are gonna be all grown up, so I won't know where they're at, but we're gonna go to the same orphanages and little camps and places all around Africa that I experienced and. And just have a day with them, do something good for them, you know, leave something for them. You know, just. Just whatever support that I can do is going to be sort of my philanthropy plans.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

That's cool.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

You know, bring them some ice cream. Make them ice cream.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

I bet they love some ice cream. Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

So shoes. Just all the things that I saw that. That I could easily gain the. The ability to provide in these different, specific, specific places that I'm actually connected to personally, you know? Good for you.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

That's awesome. I'm sure you can get a lot of people behind that.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I hope so. I think it's going to be. I got a vision for it. It's going to be pretty epic.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

That's cool. Well, let me know when that comes, so I can do my part too.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Absolutely. Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

All right, cool. So SEAL Team Six. Sorry, a little side quest there. SEAL Team Six. You get married, you start having your wife gets pregnant, and then do you get deployed? Your wife's pregnant, you're deployed, things get crazy. Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Life. So you bring me to one point. If you remind me about Khabib Nurmagomedov, the UFC champion.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

This is a good, good moment. For it. But I just saw this a couple days ago. Basically, shit got real hard with the family because although I was extremely happy to be a dad and husband and be developing our family, it was like the lifestyle, especially at that pace, not impossible, but just felt close to impossible at times for somebody like me.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

I mean, what are the statistics around divorce in that community?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I don't know. It's crazy. Yeah, it's really high. I don't know what it is, but it's really high. It just. For me, it felt damn near impossible. But now looking back, there's some guys, you know, some operators that I realized intentionally decided not to have families because they were so committed to the mission, which is a. I. I see that as a good, positive thing. They were very intentional about that. Right. But most of us, you know, we want to be dads, we want to be husbands, and we want to build a family, and so we go for it. And it just becomes so hard because you, You. You face this dilemma between, you know, what you are 100 committed to, because at Seal Team 6 and at a tier one level, you have no space. Space to really go 100 all in on anything else besides that, including your family. So that's a hard thing to say that, you know, it's kind of a. Understood that when you're there among your teammates, that's the most important thing. Even. Even more than our families. We understand that there. Then when you go home, you're trying to get your family to understand that they're the most important thing and not the team. When it's. When it's not necessarily clearly true in your heart. Yeah. So my point to the Khabib thing was I don't know where it was I found, but I'll find the clip after this. He says this specifically when he was training to be a fighter, was like, I will have no family during this time because I have to put 100 of my focus into this thing if I want to be the best. So if you go. If you go to tier one, you intend. You want to be the best. Right? Int. And so I think that that statement is true. Right. And then. But if you have this. This deep, deep desire to be a. Have a family, there's nothing wrong with that. You just have to. You're gonna have to figure it out. It's hard, right? And that's. That's part of the reason why I kind of lost myself in that. That realm, you know, of kind of. It was a dark time for me.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Is that so that's actually a question I have here. And this was asked by my, my childhood best friend. Friend who. He and I were the ones, we were gonna be Navy SEALs. You know, Mark Hodgson, Shout out to Mark. His question for you is actually, how did you compartmentalize being an elite operator one day and then getting bossed around by your son and, and, and, and coping with that stress and compartmentalizing those things? I mean, how did you do.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I mean, that's exactly how I did. It was just, it was like high level compartmentalization. And we even get to a point where in our lifestyle that, at the team and in that, in that lifestyle, you start to think in your head, man, I'm really good at compartmenting. And then when you're done, you go like, nobody's ever good at compartmenting. It's just what you have to do. It's the only way. Because if you can't compartment it. Right. It's going to affect you when you're in moments of combat or training or like whatever in that life. And then when you're at home, it for sure affects your home life to where you're not even, you're not even there sometimes.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

So you, you know what I mean? So if you don't compartment it, your family's like, dude, dad's not even here. And that's what it was like most of the time. I think for my family it was.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

I mean, it's clearly very hard to compartmentalize. I had a guy on the show one time who's a therapist and he said there was a book out there. I don't remember who. Right. Who wrote it. It's called Men are Waffle Women. Men are waffles, women are spaghetti. And meaning that, you know, waffles are like these nice compartmentalized little squares.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Little chambers. Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Every. Everything's in line and nothing's touching. And then women are spaghetti. Like everything's just touching. It's all over the place and it's a mess. But going back to just being able to like men or waffles, being able to compartmentalize things like that, it's. Yeah, that's how easy.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

And it has to be done in that moment. It doesn't mean that's like necessarily a healthy thing. But in that lifestyle it's just a given. It has to be that way to work well.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

And you and I and many others, I mean, everyone listening probably deals with it on some level, especially as an entrepreneur, because now you go home and sometimes you're not there. Like you're you're there, but you're thinking about the next day, the work, the things that got to get done before you open the store, the email that needs to get returned.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Like, you know, there's some upside to what you just said that I didn't even think about before is that having experienced that type of compartmenting from before and then now going years later to start a business is much easier for me to. I don't even consider it compartment. It's just I leave it here and like, yeah, in between our kids, you know, need our attention. But I feel like me and my wife have for sure developed the ability to really be mindful of moments that they need our attention and then we just stop what's outside of that to like, you know, focus on them, you know, and it's actually gets a lot easier over time. And then I can always pick up my thoughts on the business stuff after that and in between. But it's. I'd say it's comparably. It's not even that difficult of a challenge to separate business from home life now. The whole point of being free, like to be free is to enjoy those moments more often, you know, with my family. So, yeah. Gradually moving into that as the business form forms and actually becomes something, you know, past the. For two years. It was exactly. It was like going back into that sort of traumatic feeling of not being available and struggling through communication with the wife to support the family. And like, I don't want to get divorced just because I'm starting a business. I want to, I want to stay together. I want to have more freedom.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

This for us.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I have more freedom with my family. That's the goal.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah. Yeah. Were you, were you able to be home when your first son was born?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

No. That's a crazy story too. It's like for both sons because they're literally born, I think they're about 16 months apart, which is the cycle almost lined up perfectly. So my troop, my team was deploying. My son was due right at that time. So I deployed late for that deployment by like a couple of weeks waiting for him to be born. So they deploy, I stay back. We're waiting for the son to be born. He's born, I get a couple of nights with him and I'm like, awesome. You know, I'm in the hospital. We go home. It's okay. She goes home. She gets to do the first six, six months right on her own with all the non. No sleeping stuff.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

All good thing she's a gangster.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

She's so gangster. So she does that. I come back and I'm like, hey, there's this perfect six month old baby, you know, and I get to enjoy that, you know?

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

And then we go through the next cycle, right? And same exact thing. He's due right when we're deploying. So again, they deploy. I stay back a week. Same exact scenario. And so she does it again for the second one. So she did that.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

But you were able to be there when they were born each time?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yes, I got to be there when

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

they were born because I know a lot of people aren't.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah, I was fortunate enough. That's one thing that they're really good at at that level or whatever is like making sure that's a really important moment. Like holidays, birthdays, you miss all that stuff, you know, Christmas, all that stuff, you just, just, just consider it. Not a thing. Right. In your life. But birth of kids is a big deal. So most guys get to be back depending on what's going on. Some, some guys miss it because there's, there's important things going on.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Things going on in the world.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah. So she did that twice. Damn crazy.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

That's tough, man. So then doing it again while also having like a toddler.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Oh, my God. There's probably some, A lot of hopeless moments of probably cursing you. I don't think she was. She's. I think she just. Dude, she is just. She just gets through shit, you know, and, you know, the, the more we evolve through our marriage, the more I learn from her, you know, she's just always been that I've had to change myself, come through, stop being, you know, the person, this thing that I didn't want to be anymore and move into what I want to be. And, and her, you know, guiding me through that and, and, oh, just, just so much. I mean, we've been through everything and just that. That's so. There's just such a strength to that. That's incredible, you know?

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Was that, was that gangster? I. Yeah. I mean, dude, thank God she's from Brooklyn and she's a gangster and a gymnast. I mean, as a gymnast, she's tough as shit, she's strong as hell.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

And she clearly, she's a tier one level person. I mean, she is.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah. I mean, that's.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

She helps me with the business now. Good for her.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Was, Is, Was the military family foreign to her? Was her family?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah, no, she didn't have any. Well, her grandfather was, he actually was in World War II. You know, he passed away when we were Dating still, I believe. Or maybe we were engaged when that happened, but no experience with, like, traditional military. There's no.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

That wasn't, like, her family life at

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

home in New Jersey. There was not a huge. There's no bases or. Yeah, so she. It was not a lifestyle that she was accustomed to at all. Yeah, she didn't know what a Navy SEAL was, you know, all that stuff. So she was dating a guy who was telling her he was a Navy seal. No. That was on his way to try to become one that she had to break up with to start dating me.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

That's what Virginia beach will get you, right? Yeah. Oh, my gosh, dude, that is too funny.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah, it was a funny story.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Well, speaking of your wife, I got one for that, too.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Nice, man. Yeah, I love that one. I'll keep that on there. So this picture came after I was done. I was going through my sort of transitional phase to, you know, a few years of just figuring myself out and sort of realizing that, you know, some of the words, the contractual agreement to marriage were starting to mean a lot more to me through that than when you're. You're young and you say those words and, you know, if I could go back to myself in that moment when we got married, then, like, these. These words mean, this is a. This is a contract. These mean something. Right? And so. But even some of those words are like, hey, through all the ups and downs, through the highs and lows, through hard times and good, you know, all those words, sickness and health, you start. You really go through life and figure out what that means, you know, so that's what this picture kind of stands for. For me. Death does not do us part. So I think we move on after that, and our souls intertwine in different, you know, moments of time and, you know, past lives and future lives and all that stuff.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

So when you first. When you started having kids, did anybody on the SEAL teams were. Did you have any, like, mentors or other guys that were dads giving you advice or anything?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Absolutely, yeah. Quite a bit. It was other dads giving me advice. They were in the struggle of trying to balance that lifestyle, which is. Damn. It just feels impossible. But they're. But they do it right. So. Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah. Was the. Was it good advice or was it, like, bad advice in those moments?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

It's good. It's good advice. Like, you know, we do have a sort of toxic culture side where we encourage ourselves to do the things that I think are actually gradually starting to make their way out of that culture over over time, slowly but surely, which is good, it's starting to shift from this, like, drinking, you know, bar fighting, kind of old school SEAL culture into, you know, there's just so much evidence and knowledge, you know, through all these different, you know, researchers and scientists and people just like doing great things out there. For the human performance aspect of everything is like, the goal now is to optimize and be. Be like real, universal, universal soldiers. You know what I mean? And it's, it's. I, I can see it slowly happening. It's. It's a good thing, in my opinion.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Outside of your stepfather, did you have any other, like, father figure roles, friends, dads that were like, positive influences, coaches,

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

like that Coaches for sure. Had a couple really good coaches. But the biggest one for me was my grandfather. Okay, yeah, he immigrated. My grandmother immigrated with him after Vietnam, where he met her. He was stationed in Japan for a little while during that time, moved back to the States eventually. They lived in. They had a house in Northridge, la, and then moved and sort of retired in Pebble Beach, Monterey, California. And that's where we ended up, you know, where I went to school and, and where my dad was a recruiter so we could stay there for, you know, some years. So, yeah, I mean, he's my real dad. My real dad. My dad sacrificed what he really wanted to do, which was engineer F16s and the ejection seat specifically to go be a recruiter, which was probably hated doing that work, but he did it for us. So now I see that. I didn't see it at the time.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Why did he do that for you? What was. What kept him from engineering?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

He knew my mom wanted to be there near our. Her parents. Right. And for us to go to school and be able to visit our grandparents and just kind of have some semblance of a normal family there. And so now I see, like, there were no words to that. He just did it and now I see it.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

And that was clearly not something you were privy to or aware of at all.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

No, not until later, you know.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Wow, that's a.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

So, yeah, that's a note for like, good dads just do what you know is right. Because even if it seems like they're. The kids are not hearing it, they're receiving it, and it just might not. I know you said that on Sean Materialize until later.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

You said that to Sean too. It's like, okay, he was, he was trying to give you guys lessons and, and those sorts of things, and you just didn't. You didn't hear it. You didn't want to hear it, but you were absorbing it.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Absolutely. And so the goal. So my point is just do the right thing and be a good dad. Even if they push off of it or bounces, it doesn't seem like they're receiving it.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Just.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Just keep doing it, you know, keep the same pop positive messaging, the same value system going.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Like, you know, there's often times are. I feel like you almost have to be a little bit selfish to yourself in order for everyone else to be good. Like, you have to take care of yourself first, right?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Like, absolutely.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

And if I, you know, I don't think it's wise to make sacrifices for yourself, for your family if it's going to make you miserable either, because I think it'll drag everyone down, you know, so you have to be. Those have to be calculated, I think.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah. When I went through this, this was like maybe four or five years ago. This, this moment of, of making a decision that I needed to change something because I was. I was not happy as the opposite. Right. And it was not anything or anyone around me. When you finally figure out the truth, that it's you. Right? And you can do the work to change that and then you go for it when you start to transform into this. This person, like the man that you want to be over time. There were some moments where it seemed a little narcissistic because I was so focused on trying to take care of myself better if I'm trying to. And I had to do this, you know, through. Through communication with my wife. I'm not hanging out with our friends as much anymore. And they're mad because they're like, why is Chris an asshole now? You know, I'm not doing. It's like I had a focus going on for myself that seemed like, selfish or narcissistic, but. But you got to stick with, you know, the truth and knowing that you're trying to change yourself to become something about. And you have to start with yourself just like, you know, with your kids and your family. You have to focus on your relationship with your wife first. And that, that seems selfish because you're like, the kids mean everything, but it's just true, right? That it's not true. The relationship is the most important thing, right? Because that's what leads to then, you know, like the rest of the family being happy. Right.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

How did you manage? Did you have to do any parenting virtually being away from the kids? You're on deployments. You're talking with your wife. There's Maybe a situation or even just communicating with your kids while you're gone. I mean, having them start to understand they're getting to ages where they start to realize dad's not here, or dad, Dad's leaving again, or I'm not gonna see him for a while.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

That's the reason I got out was because my older son started to realize that time, you know, man, most of the time, dad's not here, and all I get are these little FaceTime phone calls that are not real, right? And he started to develop anger and resentment for that, and it started to piss him off. When I was trying to be a dad through the phone, I could see that he was pissed, you know, and so I made a decision to constantly change. When you say trying to be a

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

dad through the phone, like some sort of disciplinary action, like, hey, you shouldn't

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

do everything, anything you can think of of being a dad with your wife on the phone going, hey, he's. He's. He got in trouble at school. He got this. And those things start to happen when dad's not around, of course, you know, because. And you're like, hey, son, you got to fix this. You got to do that. And he's like, you know, even at four years old, he started to realize that this is. This is bullshit, you know? So that's when I was, like, heartbroken. Hey, I need to get out and be there and be a dad. That's just what I needed do, right? And so, coincidentally, I had done eight out of nine deployments at that time and realized that I had done everything that I just. That I came to do in my mind, the why behind joining at all the military was to go directly affect and to go fight directly. Right? To go directly engage the enemy is what was my goal was. And I got. I got all of that. So you were fulfilled. I was fulfilled. So at that moment, I was like, hey, you know, to try to convince you to. You only got this much time, doesn't make sense to get out and not retire. You know, it would be stupid per se, but for me, it wasn't stupid because I knew that Those years between 8 and 12 is what I really wanted to. I needed to be. I wanted to be there for that. And I only had a couple of years time before that was started to happen.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

So they were still, what, four or five years old when you got out?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, that's. You start. Those are. That's the really. The beginning of those informative years where they really, you know, you have to really start to instill certain values in them and for them to start respecting things and understand what no means and. Yeah, because like, man, I mean, I think we've all seen those kids that you can tell their parents never told them no or they. There's not a dad at home that's like doing certain things or what, you know, whatever the case is that when it's all on mom, like, she's doing the best she can. And again, your wife's a gangster. And I'm sure she was doing her best to be both mom and dad.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yes, absolutely. Gangster. You know, gangsters, the theme to them. Not just my wife, but all of them that do that. You know, we know so many, we're friends with so many. There's widows, there's like, dude, there's. There's such a strength to this community. There's such a power going on right here. The, that it's just, it's pretty incredible, you know. But to that note, one thing that can happen, it's such a struggle for operators is then when you're home and you're actually physically there, you're trying your best to dad in those brief moments, and it sometimes breaks the family apart more because you're like intruding on her system. So now she's got this system, the survival system of like mom and dad. When you're not there, you. And then when dad comes and starts interjecting, it messes up the whole system. And it's like, it's a little smoother when dad's not here, you know, and so that's such a hard dilemma, such a struggle. So I saw all these things, you know, to myself and I had teammates with teammates you always want was going to encourage each other to stay in the team, you know, so it was tough to make that announcement, like, hey guys, I got to get out of here. And I know the reasons. And it was like, oh, that's really dumb because you only have a couple more years left, few years left for retirement. And it was like, I know why I need to do it. So I stuck, I stuck with the plan and it paid off for me. It was the right decision for sure.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

So I know that there were some things that happened in your childhood that. And you said, you know, a lot of time there was a lot of like seeking validation at points of your childhood that probably led to Navy SEAL career. And I think that's the case for a lot of guys that reach high level success. I mean, we've talked to NFL players We've talked to tier one guys. Like, a lot of people who make it to the top have had really adverse childhoods for one reason or another, you know, and now that you're back and, you know, you talked to, you said earlier, like, you know, kids are really enjoying their childhood and all these kinds of things. How do you. Do you think it's. How do you think about the. The idea of creating some sort of adversity for your kids to better them? Like, they have. I feel like kids have to experience some kind of toughness, whether it's fabricated or not. Like, it doesn't have to be real. Real, but it's like, you know, I think there's a generation of soft kids right now because, like, everything was handed to them and, you know, all these kinds of things. And I even.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Even people that weren't handed things handed to them are soft.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah, sure, sure. You know, I struggle with it because I've got girls, and it's like, I think it's in our nature. It's like, take care of women and children, and I have little girls that are women and children.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Your protector nature is there, and I'm

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

trying to, like, make sure that they don't have any adversity. But I. And now I'm like, something I've really been thinking about for probably the last. Well, I've had one kid that's had all the adversity, but outside of that, like, I'm like, man, I think they have it a little too easy.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

You know, I go through this all the time, and you just made me think of two points. Just more worldly points is like, one with all the chaos and confusion and weirdness that's going on in the world, there's one thing that's true among all of that that I think will be a huge solution for that, which is we need more good dads in the world. Right. It's just true. Because without it, that's where the kids, like, kids just develop. Develop into, like, messy people, you know, and toxic people without. Without that family structure. And it's just true. This is like research. This is not me. Just there's statistics, there's not politics. Yes. And so we just need more good dads. Right?

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Right.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

And so. But even, let's say you're committed to being a good dad and you're doing your best, which means you're a good dad. Right. You're mindful, like, you have that awareness that it's awareness and discernment. Right. The discernment to me, that I've learned over time is from God. So God now gives me the discernment to go, you know, how much adversity is. You don't want adversity to turn into trauma, right? They're naturally already going to have a couple of moments of trauma they're going to have to deal with as adults no matter how hard you try. That's. That happened to me. It had nothing to do with my parents ability to be good parents. It was just an experience in childhood. Right now as a dad, it's like, yeah, I want to engineer some adversity in there, but I'm also paying attention to go, I don't need to engineer too much adversity because they're already going through it. Like all those moments at school that were not there, like most of their day now is not with us. So you don't know all the things you remember. You remember how hard it was at school. If you had a bully or if you had, or even if you were a bully, that could be traumatic, you know, because you're coping with something that you're missing at home, you know, or just, you know, if you ever got in any fights, just there's adversity going on just from being at school and trying to navigate your way through making friends and good grades, all this stuff. But like my older son just had a really tough time with his first couple years in travel baseball and just was like unlucky. But it's also not unlucky because he's got a couple years of adversity he's dealt with through this that I know are starting to pay off. And he's going to become this incredible baseball player. He's already doing it right. And you know, once he finds the environment that he's supposed to be in, then I know that it's going to shine. And then my younger son is sort of lucked out on that side and he's, he's been on like he's had good luck, he's on a great team. They see the value in him. He's that opportunity to develop and it's a little bit less adversity, but he sees he has adversity more like at home with discipline and stuff. Like he's the troublemaker, you know what I mean? So his adversity is like, you know, do I give him enough validation? I need him to know that he's, he's everything. And even when he's in trouble, I love him and all this stuff. So I'm careful to. But now, sorry.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

It's very dynamic.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

The adversity thing, what you're saying is there's gotta be something. It's like, if you're really looking at, like, history, all the way to ancient history, most cultures. Not most, but a lot of cultures, especially if there's a warrior culture there, which most empires would have, because you need protectors, you need a military, whatever. There's a rite of passage that happens between childhood and manhood that we don't have anymore. So there's no. There's no, like. And it's not like applying for college. It's not what I'm talking about, you know, like, what I'm talking about is maybe I take them to the Grand Canyon and I'm like, hey, this is your rite of passage to manhood. Mine was buds. I never really had that before. And that was man camp, you know, you're going from being a child to becoming a man, you know, and then again for Seal Team 6 is even more of that. So for. For mine, I'm like, there's going to be some rite of passage that I come up with. It's going to be some hard thing that they have to do. Safe. Like, we're going to go hike the entire Grand Canyon for a few days and live out of a tent, and it's going to suck. Right. And there's going to be a point where I overwatch them. Right. But they're on their own to get through it. But I'm. I'm at a safe enough distance that I can come help or something. You know, they're going to have to go fishing. They get.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah, they got to do some problem solving.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

They're going have to cook. They're going to have. Yes.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Experiences suck.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

So there will be something like that for them. And it might sound harsh to people. They don't. They don't understand that. But from what I've studied is, like, it's hugely important that you have some sort of rite of passage from childhood to manhood.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

I struggle with it, man, with my girls, you know, because I just want to take care of them. And it's. It's. It just made me think, like. And someone else just recently on the podcast, I think it was a previous guest who was like, yeah, he's like, you want to take care of them and you want to show them what it's like, you know, what a good man looks like to take care of them. But I also don't want to train them to just find a guy that's going to take care of them.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah, you know, true. But you're already also doing it just in the way that you interact with your wife as they grow up. That's like, that's a big factor in how, like what they gain out of that understanding.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah, for sure. How much do you think, think about, you know, with your kids, with your boys, like how to treat a woman? You, you think of that in the same way of just like lead by example, treat your wife right?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I do, but also I've messed it up a lot, you know, when I was like really the worst version of myself for some years. But they'll get that knowledge later on when they're, when they're, when they're mature enough to understand, you know, some of the truths of those, you know, of the mistakes, like the stuff that you did not do. Right. You know, as a husband or father. Right. They're going to get that later. But right now, as children, I think the most important thing is that they see how you are with each other. You know what I mean? And that's how they learn how to treat women. Right. So if in front of them, we make agreements to go, hey, if we argue, we do it away from them where they can't see. Right. And so we're just, we're just really meticulous and careful about how we interact with each other in front of them and, and try to focus it on always being like respectful of each other. You're never gonna hear mom or dad talking bad about each other when one's, one's not around. You know what I mean? Like they need to, we hug and kiss in front of them and not afraid to have those, those moments, you know, because they need to, they need to see, they need to see that, you know, in order to understand how to treat a woman. Woman or for your daughters to understand how to treat men.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah, we let our kids witness some of the like disagreement kind of stuff. You know what I mean? Cuz that's real life. Like I don't want to create a false reality. We're thinking like, yeah, it's not like this, this never happens or it shouldn't happen. Like those things.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Little disagreements. Because it's, I think it's important for them to see how they get worked out, that there's a, that there's a compromise that gets made.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah, that's the point. And I, Yeah, but if it gets into like it's toxic, then we go, hey, let's stop.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

That's. Yeah, that needs to happen at a Different place.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah. But I do agree with you. It's switching.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Thankfully for us, never happens. You know, sounds like for you guys probably the same is true.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

They need to see how to communicate and resolve those moments. Hey, we're both too angry right now. Let's. Let's part. Let's like give space and let's, you know, talk about tomorrow morning.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah. Or whatever. Yeah. A few minutes ago, you, you, you know, talking about the adversity stuff and you said, you know, it's. You mentioned how leaving some things to God and stuff. I want to talk about religion for a little bit. I know that that's been a big topic for you recently. What was there a. What. Give me your. Your journey on. On religion. And what does that look like? I have a few questions.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Generally, my journey has been. I grew up going to Sunday school. You know, my grandfather was a. Was a devout Christian all the way till the end. And he. I think that he'd be happy to know now because he didn't know. When he was on his deathbed in hospice at my mother's house, we had some pretty deep conversations. And I was not in the grace of God and within my faith, practicing my faith at that time. But if I go back to the beginning, what I know is true is that I was always attuned to God. I always knew there was God. And then I just didn't have any, like, practice about it going on. But I always had some spiritual sort of connection just because my grandmother. Right. And I just have this. I feel a connection to nature and spirituality and God. And so as my time evolved through you know, those few years post military, really trying to figure myself out, there were some things that happened. You know, I did. I did some psychedelic therapy. I did go to an ibogaine retreat. And that really was sort of the precipice or beginning of my whole journey through all of that. Just the very beginning of that.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

But at least something that happened there

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

that was like profound experience, which would take a whole nother podcast to talk about, really profound experience. And what really happened was that that that experience opened me up over the course of one weekend, enough to let go of all the bullshit and all the trauma and all the shit and. And shame and guilt to go see God, really. And that's what happened for me was like, wow, I can really see and speak directly to God right now in these. This short moment of time, this window of time after the experience, which lasted for me a few weeks. And to really then, if you're really committed to it. You have this little window of opportunity to change your whole routine and life around all of your, your habits and then try your best to stick to that which you'll. You're going to fall off because stress and things will come back and you at least start on this path and you just. It's almost like the stock market. For me it was like dips, but up dips. And then you get stronger dip. And then, but over time, over a few years, you were down here when it first kicked off and now you're right here in life and you just. It just keeps, and it just gets easier. And then these little dips turn into just little nicks that aren't even really big dips. And then eventually it just starts to smooth out. It's just on a, a flat plane upward. So like that's the way I, I visualized that it happened. And during that time that, that whole transformational period led me back to my, my deep, deep faith in Christ and God. And because it was always. It became a, it became a, an effort to find the truth in as much as I could, which meant finding the truth in myself, which meant confronting all of my past truth of myself, all my indiscretions and mistakes and all my, all the things. And then what that led to was, hey, I really feel this like spiritual vibration of understanding going on over time. And then the ultimate truth for me, and it has been this way now and I don't think it's going to change is that the, the ultimate truth is, is Christ and God. And so that, and it's evidence based for me because as soon as I reach that right, it feels like the doors to all, all your dreams of everything you want to happen just start to happen. Right. And then every time you shine, I sort of start. Start walking away from God. It starts to dip. It starts to become a struggle again. It starts to get hard. And so over time you learn it really is real and true the way that it works, you know. So that's, that's what I've come to now.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah, Yeah. I mean, everyone obviously has their own experiences with these things too, right? And like I struggle with it a lot. Like you, I grew up going to Sunday school, school, church every Sunday. My mom ran, like, ran the church. Essentially come from a very religious household and my family's just, you know, that was childhood, but. And it's like, I believe in God because that's just what you grow up believing. That's what your parents tell you. And that's What? You know, you go to Sunday school and you hear these stories, but none of it really ever stuck with me, like, the way I. I'm starting to hear people, because people are. I won't say people are more open about it now. Clearly, people have been very open about the religion and stuff, but I think there's a big focus on it. There's, like, a resurgence of it. I feel like recently it's a huge

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

resurgence going on right now because of just the evil state of the world. My opinion is that God's turning that right. It's like, all right, it's time to. It's time to balance you, you little human. You little humans that want to delve into evil because I've given you free free will, right? And it's like, now it's time to. To try to bring it back a little bit. And so I think people are waking up on a. On a pretty grand scale, but at the same time, persecutions are going all around the world from the evil, from the. From the bad guys. So from people.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

I'm just so. I'm so interested in it personally, because the way here, some people talk about it is like, wow, like, there's some real profound thing going on and.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Absolutely, a spiritual war going on.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

I don't feel the same way that guy feels about all of this, you know, and truthfully, you know, with my daughter's situation, fighting cancer and all these things, it actually made me question it more than anything. Like, I never thought. Which is very different from what people were telling me, right? Where it's like, oh, God has a plan and all this stuff. And, you know, there's prayer warriors out there. There's tons of prayer prayers going on. And, you know, and then you start to hear from people that, like, all the prayers are working. And also. And I'm like, are they like. That's funny because I watched her have 40 hours of surgery and suffer through chemos and all these intensive things. They're like, I'm pretty sure that's what fixed it. It wasn't prayers from churches, you know, like. And I don't want to sound like I'm not. I don't want to sound ungrateful because I'm not. But it's just. You start to question. You're like, I don't know that your prayers did that, because I watched a lot of pain and suffering, you know, through treatments to get her good. And it just made me. I'm like, man, like, where is she

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

at now with it?

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

She's in remission. She's been in remission for a year, and she's doing awesome. Like, she's so better than ever.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

So now if you could go back to those moments where you doubted that those prayers really did anything and that it was all the medicine, all the stuff, would you now still say, you know, to God, that that didn't work,

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

that the medicine didn't work or the prayers didn't work? I don't know. I don't know how I feel about it yet. Yeah, I'm still trying.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Maybe you still have to go. Yeah, go.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

That's why I'm asking. I'm curious. Like, was there something that happened with you?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yes.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

I'm still on, like, a journey to understand.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

So I feel like I've been through so many moments of what you're saying where, like, how could God be real? Or prayers work because of this level of suffering that's happening. And I've seen it all around the world. And so I've, in the most respectful way, not insecure. Arrogance is like. I've evolved my spiritual understanding now to realize that what pushes us, a lot of us back and I pushed away from it, too, is like, if you would have done, like, Jesus stuff around me, like, talk about church or God or whatever some years ago, I would feel. Feel angry or, like, resentment and like, that's. Or whatever. And that. That might be a sign that you need to look into it a little bit more. Because why is it making you so angry? Right? Because you can go talk about being an atheist right now, and I'm fine, you know, and. Or anybody of any religion can talk about their understanding of God. And I'm fine. I'll go into any church and pray with them. Because here's what I've learned is the truth is that the church is my direct, individual relationship with God in Christ. And nobody else. And nobody else needs to know. I don't have to explain it to anybody. So where we as humans, I think, push away is growing up with this strict schedule of church and the rules. These are all the rules. And so as I've learned, I can go, hey, I've gained the discernment, the ability. I think with my kids who love God in Christ, they even did before I did, which is amazing. Especially my older son. He's like. He's got stuff. He believes in it, right? He really feels it. That's the. That's the thing that if you can cut through all the. In yourself, right, and sort of open up and let, like, move out all like shift out all of the shame and guilt and stuff, right? And just be like your pure, purest heart, your pure self, and then pray and talk to God and see what happens. It's like supernatural what happens. So I can only say that it's, it's evidence based for me. Right. Because if, if things weren't happening in real time as I pray and like literally answers, getting. You sometimes might pray and go, oh, he didn't answer it. And you don't even see how he did answer it. It's like you don't, you're blind. So until you cut away all of your own, right? Trauma, you know, shame, guilt, you know, all that stuff, your addictions, you're. It's like having a blindfold and then going like, I'm praying right now, nothing's happening. And like you're not even seeing God through that. You got to cut through all that so you can take the blindfold off and see and feel it all. Because once you do, like, that's what I'm talking about. But you know, like, what pushes a lot of people away is like all those rules, the history, like, if I'm, you know, I practice in the Catholic religion because it's the best way for me to understand spiritual warfare. And so I enjoy that practice specifically has nothing to do with the history of the church and the state and all the, all that, all the shit, all the bullshit. So the way that I visualize is there's just layers of bullshit on top of your understanding and relationship with God. Once you clear that away.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah, you'll understand there's definitely layers of bullshit that I, that are in my way for sure. Which is, I mean, things like you talk about evidence based and it's like, I just have so much evidence, you know, in my personal.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

You think is against it. Right.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Like, you know, I talk about Kendall, my daughter with cancer and all these different things. It's like, yeah, if God was so great and all these different things, like, he wouldn't be. The things that I've seen even other kids go through, but the number of kids that I've met in that hospital who are no longer with us. And I'm like, yeah, you know, it just makes it just so frustrating. Or my dad who's like suffered immense amount of problems and pains and medical problems and this guy like lived for other people and like volunteer firefighter, volunteer sheriff's office, volunteer coast guard, like there to help other people and he suffers more than anybody I know.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah. But no one can understand that. Unless you actually take the time to go understand that person all the way down to their heart and all the reasons behind all that stuff. And so unless you are willing to do that. That's what I'm saying, like, it's hard to like, I understand your anger with God. I had it for so long.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

I don't think it's anger. It's like, I'm still just trying to understand.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

It's like disbelief.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

But it's like, so that's what I'm saying is like you're trying to talk to God. Not you, but like people with a blindfold on, you know, so do the work to get the blindfold off and then go try to try to understand. Right. And everything else is just kind of bullshit around that. And so I'm not trying to, I'm not trying to dispel what you're saying. I understand.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

I'm asking genuinely because I know that's like you're fresh on this path. Path and you're very passionate about it.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

But God does have, I believe that God has a purpose for all of us and we have the free will to not walk on that path. So now you're on your own. It's like, cool, hey, go be on your own and see what happens, you know?

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

But once you get, get right with God again in the grace of God, see what happens then it's, I'm telling you, it's, it's, it's, it's pretty incredible what happens if you do that. But you got to commit to it. You can't just kind of half ass can't just show up at church and go look at everybody. I know the words and it's like, you know, the best church I have is in my little man room in the altar that I built. When I, you know, and I light an incense and I go meditate and I go connect straight to God and ask the, ask the questions and the prayers.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Right.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

So thank you. Yeah, there's a, there's a, there's always going to be a certain amount of suffering. And we're humans, so we can't unless you try. Especially if you're not trying to. It's impossible to understand God's will for all of that. Right. But if you put the work in to understand it, my opinion is that you will, you will understand.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

You talked about doing ibogaine and your religion and all these different things. Right. As you got out of the military, you had sort of an experience. Experience that I'm sure plays a lot into the things that you're talking about now. Can you just like briefly touch on that and like how that affected you and like how you've come out from that Better?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah. Like the experience itself.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah. I mean just kind of high level. Just in terms of that final mission, there were some things that happened.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Oh yeah. So my last mission was. It was just like. How do I say this? There's been plenty of moments, plenty of things, people I've killed, things that I've done. It's part of duty. And so thing that happened with those kids was part of my duty. But it still had a profoundly sort of like inner traumatic thing because I feel so personally and every operator is different and we all compartmentalize different. So it's not to say that, you know, we all have PTSD or none of us do or some of us do, but you wouldn't know it because we don't accept it or something like all these different little nuances of any of that. The point is for me, that thing that happened, there's. There's a lot more depth to that and things that I needed to understand about that other than I just did this thing and now it's done. And so that just. It had this like just profound effect on me especially because I feel so connected to being a father and kids. And really it's not, it's not the kids themselves, it's. It's that we all start as a clean slate with this, this level of wholesomeness and innocence that the world takes away over time. And in my opinion is that the enemy, you know, the devil takes away over time. Right. And it just wears you down over time. Then by the time you become an adult and it. And even age into your adulthood and get older, it's like we just. Some of us just get worn the fuck down, you know, and we don't. We can't figure out how to do it other otherwise. So that's, that's what happened is that I just needed to understand that at a. At a deeper level. And it, it was because of my connection to not just kids, but the wholesomeness and innocence of the world and then the way that it just gets taken away. And I, I felt like I had participated in that in some way and I needed to understand why. Right.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

And that was really eating away at you. I'm sure that was part is a lot of your sort of religious experiences is dealing with some of these things that I. Ibogaine probably helped you the

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

whole thing, all of that. Yeah, all the same big overarching problem, which was just figuring out my own self and my relationship with God and then everything else just stems out of that.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Having to be in a situation like that where you took the lives of two kids. Does that change the way that you parent or see the world or treat other kids. Kids or.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah, I think it. I don't know if it necessarily changed the way I see the world. My. The way I see the world just evolves over time still. And I think that I've accepted it. I think that that's the best way to do it. Because if I ever get stuck in the way that I exist right now, it means that I've stopped learning. I'm becoming stagnant. Like, I'm set in my ways and I don't have the ability to change something or apologize if I mess up something, you know, or keep learning things to improve with the goal of all the way until I'm not in this body anymore, onto the next thing. My goal is going to be to be improving, you know, each day overall by like a percent, you know, or some fraction of a percent or whatever it is, you know, and that's. That's what just, I've realized, brings mindfulness to every moment and the sort of. The concept of feeling happy, you know, like, happiness like, you know, we're always. You always feel like we're chasing. And I'm like, I think I've reached it. And there's a lot of stress and struggle, but generally I feel pretty happy.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah. Good.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Good for you.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

You know, let's talk about family, safety, security, those sorts of things. You know, you talk about innocence being taken away, and there's, you know, a lot of, like some of the social pressures of the world. As a parent, right. You're dealing with screen time, you know, have kids having devices, things like that. There's, you know, the edgy, like, public school, like your kids are exposed to certain things that you can only keep them in a bubble and innocent, like, really, truly innocent for a period of time.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah, I'd say you want to preserve that, but not necessarily create a bubble, because that could have a. An adverse effect. Sure. But it's like just trying your best to. To like, even as adults we can have wholesomeness and innocence. It's what makes us connect to our kids. It's what makes me, you know, it doesn't matter how old I am if one of my, like, they fart and we laugh our faces off. You know what I mean? Like, that's wholesomeness and innocence. It's not, you know, and so we. I still, I figured out that even as an adult, I still have that in there. You're every one of us. If you, if you, if you do it intentionally, that inner seven year old is always in there. It's part of your soul.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

A part of who is part of

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

who you are is who you are. You know what I mean?

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

How do you feel about kids with devices and stuff? Do you like, after some of the experiences you've had around the world and, you know, trying to protect your kids from certain things or whatever. Like. Like, it's tough, right?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

It's really tough.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

What's your take on it?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I just keep studying it. I don't like, just let it go off at a laziness. I like, we put a lot of effort into it, but there's so much more that we could do. But that's a balance too, because if we lock it all down, then they're like, oh, mom and dad don't trust us. And it kind of can. Can have adverse effects too. You just find some balance of like enough freedom. So for. What we do now is, you know, we have some maps and things where we can see, but we're not like hawks over them. Because I know that even if my son's phone is locked up, his friend on buses, he can get into whatever on the Internet and show him. And my number one thing is porn, right? Is the most traumatic thing that they can get into on here. Especially imagine, like getting their phones at 6, 5, 6, 7, 8 years old. And if they get that and the infinite levels of deviant evil that they can experience in those moments of seeing that can have effects on them for the rest of their life. And for sure things that they're going to have to put a lot of effort into fixing in themselves and all the problems that stem out of that. So what we do, what I do is like, hey, since I'm so conscious of that, I just communicate with them over and over and over again to the point where I believe now that they fully trust me, that I go, have you guys seen any of this so far? And the answer I've gotten is no from both of them. And I go, you know, they love our dogs. Like, they just love our dogs. So I'm like, okay, just so I know the truth, like, do you swear on the dog's lives, on Grayson and Bella's that you haven't seen that yet? And they're like, yes, we do. I was like, okay, well, Then on that note, you're gonna see it. The day that you see it, I need you to tell me. And also know that have no fear of getting in trouble. You're not going to be in trouble at all. And it shouldn't be embarrassing either, right? I just need you to tell me, and you'll know why once that happens. And so they both have made an agreement with me, like, okay, dad, whether a friend shows it, they've seen a magazine already, you know, And I. I was like, okay, now I have an opportunity to explain what that is and why that exists and what it means, right? And how evil it is. And. And. And so. Same thing. And so that moment will happen. But I'm. At least. What I'm putting the work into is I go, hey. Instead of focusing on locking everything down, I go, hey. I want them to trust me enough that when they do see it, they come tell me, and then we have a chance to talk about it. And so then it's not a trauma, you know?

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm the same way, where it's like, you know, I think we could control things more, but I. I don't think it's beneficial. I think there's a level of giving them some access to the world with some limitations is. Helps build some responsibility, you know? Know. And, like, my kids are getting older now where, like, some of that innocence starts to disappear, and they. Now they. There's a. Like, my daughter's going into high school. Like, there's certain things she needs to understand and know about and be exposed to so it's not such a shock.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

And they need to know the truth in the world and the dangers and all that.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

And I try to get ahead of it by, like, I. I prefer to be the one to introduce her to certain things rather than, like, some random

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

person or, you know, whatever. And in a lot of cases, you're not going to be. And so that's where I try to go, hey, something happens, you need to trust that you can come talk to me about it and we can work through it and, like, not let it be some trauma that, you know, that they have to deal with later.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

I imagine that when your family, like, this is me imagining life with a dad who's from SEAL Team six. Okay, you guys go to the mall or something. Chris has got point. The kids are clearing stores. Mom's pulling security. They're, like, running through ninja courses like it's nothing. Yeah, like, that's what I envision.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

And that, like, I like to just let you keep envisioning that and be like, yeah, that's the way it is, man. You know, but the truth is that takes a lot of. You'd be exhausted doing that, you know, Like, So what I do instead is like, I just. And I teach them this too, is like, hey, keep your. Just not even keep your head on a swivel, but just have some level of awareness. So when you feel something that danger or something, you don't need to go get curious about it, you know, you can for a second. So you understand what it is and then move away.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

So that's the goal is like, move away.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Great distance.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah. Don't let, like, social pressures be like, oh, it's like it's unacceptable or rude or racist or, you know, sexist or any other thing on why you feel some danger, you feel away that you. That you just know you need to move away from before it develops into danger. Just move away, you know,

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Is there ever a level of concern from guys like, in your community after telling some of the stories you've told and sort of associating yourself with something that's happened in war, especially right now with like these crazy open borders and things like that, that's like a sense of like, heightened security. Yeah. For yourself and your family.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I wouldn't say like heightened security, but I mean, it looks like World War III might be kicking off with Iran. So who knows? Like, that's the thing is that look at history and conflicts and things that happened. And like, even the Cuban Missile Crisis, we were on the brink of nuclear disaster. Nobody even knew. Most people didn't even know. We're just going about our day. So my point is, like, when something. Something pops off, right, and all just goes to shit, it's just going to be on some normal day when we're all just minding our own business, going in the shop for ice cream, and next thing you know, hey, a swarm of drones just dropped a bunch of nuclear bombs.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Well, It'll be like 9, 11, right?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

We're all in school. It's going to be something.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

And then suddenly on a tv, there's.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

It sounds scary. But guess what? Through history and time, there's always going to be that. There's always going to be moments of peace and prosperity followed by complete chaos and destruction and war. And it's just, that's the human history. So we got to expect that that's always going to happen. World War II was the last moment we've had some semblance of peace and prosperity in the Meantime, and then we're humans, so we don't want to, we don't want to carry that on. We want to go fuck it up and, and, and then see what happens the next time, you know. So, yeah, it does, but for me it's just more of just keeping awareness, loose awareness on what's going on and then planning on what we're going to do as a family, depending on the situation and just being sort of ready. I'm not a prepper by any means, but with our circumstances in our situation, we do have a plan for getting the fuck out of there or moving or if it's, I need to go fight in a civil war. It's like we've considered all of those things and it's kind of fluid based off of what's happening. And like, that's really what it is.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Is there any other, like, personal feeling like, like, like somebody like Rob o' Neill, for example, right, who's like, oh, this guy, the world, this guy killed bin Laden. We know where he is. Like, he could easily be targeted.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Absolutely.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

You know, like, and same with like, potentially, I don't know if you've explicitly said, or even the hostage rescue missing that we mentioned, that's like a very specific thing that people could attach you to and say, yeah, this guy was involved and killed, killing, so. And so. And yeah, we want revenge.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

That's a good point to make. And so, you know, I'm not, I don't have like hyper vigilance going on. And like, there's always a possibility of that. But also just watching Dateline last night with my wife because she loves that show. And you're like, this husband just, he wanted to be with another woman, so he poisoned and killed his wife. You're like, did she have any semblance or idea that like, that was coming? Yeah, so there's dangers all over the place, for sure. I consider that. But I don't live my life that way. It's like, I also know that we live in a pretty safe community that's just like, we've got like Navy seals and first responders and all kinds of people speckled all throughout our community that I. We know where those people are. And so, yeah, there's a potential for that to happen, especially with this open borders bullshit and all that stuff, you know, which sucks. But you got to live your life and you got to live for your purpose. And it's based off of your experiences and your life experiences. And so part of your purpose is storytelling some of that. I Just do it a very specific way. And like, yeah, I do want to try to avoid that, but also I'm not going to live my, we're not going to live our lives in fear, you know what I mean? And you know, personally, I still do have some ties in the intel community, so, you know, I would think that if somebody's targeting me, I have a heads up. But yeah, you can't. My, my, my point is like, let's say somebody like I'm trying to think of, think of a person like, let's just call it Joe Rogan. He's got a purpose that he understands in his life, you know, and he has entertainment shows, but for some time, part of his purpose. And in between some of these interviews, like truth telling, truth seeking, having experts talk about the truth and whatever thing which could piss a lot of people off, especially if they're corrupt or, you know, enjoying some level of corruption from, from that thing, you know, and so, but that doesn't stop him from, from his purpose, which is getting the truth out, even if it brings some danger to him. You know what I mean? Like right now, if he exposes some, it's the same thing with exposing corrupt politicians. Is it the right thing to do to go expose them and talk about it? Right. Or is it the right thing to do to live in fear that they're going to retaliate against you and so then it's not worth the truth. Yeah. So that's kind of my opinion about that.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Knowing what you know now, is there anything that you would go back and tell your younger self, like, after experiencing life?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I thought about this one a lot. Yeah. Like, yes, I would, in an effort to go, maybe help myself through different struggles or different things. But then the answer I always come back to is like, I don't think I would even, I wouldn't, I'd go observe myself, but I wouldn't go engage and go, hey, try this or try that or try think. Because where I am now in this, like, this moment of like what I told you is like the closest thing to happiness that I've ever felt, even with mistakes and struggles. And I still it up, right? Is, is it means that if I could feel this right now, in this moment, this was, this is the goal, right? To feel this for the rest of my life. That means that all that stuff had to happen the way that it was so I would not go back and change any of that. So I wouldn't go, I wouldn't go fix anything per se, because the way That I see it now is like, there's nothing to fix. It was all part of the story, you know.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah. It's all stepping stones to get you where you are now.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah. Yes, totally. I would go back and say, hey, the things that you're dreaming about, they're gonna happen. You know, whether it's the SEAL teams being this, this cool SEAL Team six, former operator guy, or. Or act, you know, when I was active to having a, you know, a popular ice cream cafe, you know, in my community, a couple minutes from my house, you know, to whatever happens next, you know, then I would go tell myself, hey, just keep keep moving through and keep going. Never quit. And these things are going to happen.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah. I mean, that's. You're in a community of guys who just don't quit, which is why you got to where you are, which I think gives you such an advantage to have that personality that's like, I'm dead set on my goal. This is the mission. I'm not going to quit till I get there.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Which means you can't fail. You're going to have failures, but they'll just be little failures within an overarching win.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

I like to look at them as data points. Right.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

It's like, okay, learn from that. Here's the data point. Learn from it.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Use it to get to the goal.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Your business is. Is killing it. You must have gone through so many struggles and things, you know, or you wanted to quit where it felt impossible.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

We got really lucky with our current business with tactical baby gear. You know, it really. It was a side hustle to begin with. Where I failed a lot was in the automotive business prior to that. Yeah. And I, I did that out of pure passion. I just love cars. Like. Yeah. I probably would have joined the military if I didn't have such a purpose for cars. And I was like, so driven to that. I also, because I always have been against the grain. Like, I. I wouldn't have done well. People telling me what to do all the time.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah. And then that's a characteristic of. Of entre entrepreneurs. I just, I don't like rules. I don't like being told in my own way.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

And sometimes I got figure it out on my own. Y. And we don't. I don't take advice that well. I'm learning to take advice a lot. Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Better than I used to because, you know, when you're young. I started my business when I was like 18 or 19 years old.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

And I knew. I knew everything. I was so Smart, you know, we needed to tell me anything. I knew it all. And I had figured out real quick that I didn't know what the I was doing, you know, and it took me a long time to get to a point and many, many failures in automotive world and struggles of not making money and having kids along the way and like all that kind of stuff. And then the tactical baby gear thing was really a side hustle that started when I was having my second daughter and it sort of just gained more and more momentum and more traction and snowballed and you know, and then it got to the point where I was like, wow, I financially, I really shouldn't be working on a corporate cars anymore. This doesn't make any sense, you know, like, I can make way more money selling diaper bags. Sounds crazy, you know, than working on cars. And it's scalable, like working on cars, like if I'm not turning a wrench, I'm not making money. So it's like vacations are out the window. Like I didn't do anything. All I did was I was in the shop, you know, 15 hours a day and like barely making ends meet kind of a thing until a little bit later in my career where we had some really cool stuff. Stuff. And you know, we set a world record for a car we built. And like, I started to gain traction towards the end, but then I like quit on a high. I was like, all right, I'm done with cars. And I was like, I get to check out on a high. Kind of like seal. Like I made it to SEAL Team 6 and I'm out.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah, just do it. But like every decision is like, once you're, once you're committed to it, just do it.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah. And. And it really was just like crazy for like until about 20, 21. And it's really flattened off, you know, since then, but there's constant little failures along the way. Trying things, testing things that didn't work, whatever. And I, it's like, I'm just so motivated by the mission of like getting more dads involved, you know, and like that it just drives me, it motivates me. My kids motivate me, you know, all the time to like, man, I gotta do it for kids. We're really doing it for the kids. We're doing it to make the world a better place. Because I know that if we can get more dads involved in with their kids. Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

What's the purpose?

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

It's a positive outcome for the rest of the world.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Right. It's a Good message to have.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

And so it really motivates me, really drives me to keep doing more with that. So it's like, yeah, there's always failures, but I just don't, I don't look at them as failures. I couldn't point to any one thing as a failure. Yeah, more of a stepping stone.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Every good entrepreneur that I follow, you know, like this guy Hormozi, his is great. I see little gyms every day and it develops this understanding of the characteristics of, you know, great entrepreneurs. And it's all the same shit. Yeah. You know, it's more of a game of perseverance than intelligence, which, which makes you more intelligent than just an intelligent person with no perseverance, you know, and you just keep driving, driving, driving. And there's never an overarching failure because they're all part of, there's little battles in the war of entrepreneurship, you know.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah. You mentioned being in your ice cream shop and the success you're starting to have. And I've got this picture of you and your boys with some be free hoodies.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah, that's my, one of my favorite ones. Cuz I just did it when we, we did a merch drop for hoodies, you know, when I was, before we had the cafe and I was like, hey, I want to see, check this out. See if people like, like, like these, this merch. And it was a fun time. They came and the picture ended up looking like we're in like a little dad son rock band. So it's just like a ride. Probably frame it.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

A wrap up album is going to drop soon. Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah, I love it.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

I think that that's, that'll be one that hangs in your house probably for a long time. Yeah, let's talk about ice cream. Like why ice cream? Where did this come from?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I grew up, it was just my favorite thing in the world. So that's the easiest answer. And so I was always fixated and fascinated with ice cream, how it's made, eating it. So like I said when I was like 7 or 8 years old, like, hey, what do you want to do when you grow up? I want to be a Navy seal. And an ice cream maker is kind

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

of really early on, that was who you were saying.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I remember saying that one time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. In school and like grade school. And then now fast forward to going like, hey, I'm struggling to figure out what my next purpose is. I kind of just woke up one morning, I was like, what am I talking about? I already said what it was ice cream. So let's do it, you know, Just like that. Yeah.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

So did you teach yourself how to make ice cream?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I did, but then I went to, you know, refine that by going to an actual sort of ice cream culinary school type thing at Penn State.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Okay.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

It's been around for over 100 years. Different founders went there and learned how to formulate ice cream. A little bit of the small and big business of it, how dairies operate, you know, how milk's pasteurized and all this different stuff. And then really, the game of that school was like, formulating no shit on paper, you know, ice cream formulas.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Right.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

And then. And then going from there over time, those next few years, figuring out what is my ice cream, you know, what are the things that I'm not satisfied with in the world of ice cream that's out there, and then apply that to my style. And then you develop your formulas, and over time, I develop the style of ice cream, and it still evolves even to this day. Now we're going into a bigger distribution model, and I know as we source, you know, lot, lot bigger bulk of ingredients, you know, then I'm gonna have to figure out how to keep that style and my craft of ice cream and my formula, you know, within the limits of what I want it to be. And. And then. And then the goal of you bringing that to the world. Right?

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

With your message.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

That's awesome, dude. That's awesome.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I love it.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

All right, a couple last questions as we wrap up here. Unless there's anything else we're gonna bring up before. Before we start wrapping up.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I'm good, man.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

I have a question from a previous guest. This is from Stu Karns, and he asks, what is the one thing or the one mantra that everything falls under that guides you in parenting?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

I'm not gonna think about it too hard. I'm gonna say the mantra for me every morning is I pray real quick, and I thank God for everything, everything that's came to be. And then I ask for protection for the way forward and all kinds of other prayers. And I sort of have a routine for that. And so I guess for me, the answer to that is, my mantra is, talk to God if you need, because there's no true. We have so much false AIs developing. Pretty soon, everything on the Internet's not going to be real anymore. You're not going to know what's real or fake or true or false, except in person maybe, you know, but we've developed these. These blockages to that. So we're like, unless I know know you and know that you actually are the most authentic version of yourself, then you might be full of. And I don't know, you know, you might be deceptive. I don't know, you might be manipulating me. I don't know. So my point is that like my mantra every day is when I need truth, which is every day I ask God and I get the answer. Yeah, talk to God.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

That's right. This is another one I wanted to touch on that I, I just remembered, which was, you know, the idea of your kids joining the military, is that something that's, you know, ever been talked about by them or they. Are they even aware of a lot of your.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

They are now because they're starting to be like 12, 13 years old. 11, 12. Yeah, they're aware that it's kind of cool. All the SEAL kids, they know, like, they all are in school, it's like, hey, they're all, they're friends and you know, little communities. Yeah, there's a little community is like, oh, hey, you got a certain number of your friends that are SEAL kids, you know, and the dads know each other or they were teammates or whatever. And so I think they're going to start. What I've experienced from talking to other dads is like, when they start to get in their teenage years, they'll start to go, oh, shit, dad was actually cool. You know, because they think you're the coolest thing in the world until they start becoming teenagers. And I expect that that's going to start to fall. They're already starting now where it's like, hey, dad, don't like, you know, talk to me about, like, correcting me too many things in front of my friends. Let's do it. When I'm not in front of my friends, like, hey, you're going too fast on your E bike. You need to watch out around corners, like, oh, you can just tell them. They're like, I don't want. Oh, yeah, hey, we'll talk about later because they're with their friends, they want to be cool. But I think that that's at some. It's also going to come back around to where they, they see the pictures, meet, see me and go, that was cool. And maybe they'll start to express some interest in the military. I'm never going to put. Push him towards that because I just know how, how dangerous it was, how many close calls. There were all of my memories of just the profound level of grief that moms and dads and family experience for losses and like, I don't want to experience that. I don't even want to think about what will happen if I, if I lose one of my sons in some way.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

You know, and what, and what that will feel like. And so, you know, I don't want to bring it on any extra by encouraging them to go do dangerous in the military. If they do, I gotta support it. That's the right thing to do. And then just try my best. But I'm hoping that they, they don't, to be honest with you.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Hopefully they, they follow the baseball. Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah. It would be honorable for them to serve their country, you know, maybe, you know, and if they do, it's weird. I'm gonna be in a dilemma of, like, pushing them to go do the coolest shit in the military or just go, you know, be an accountant or something. There's no danger, you know, just get to stay on base and.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Claim, you know, PTSD and 100 disability when you never left the wire, you know, it's cool.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Like, speaking of baseball, how cool is that to see your kids excel at something like, on their own like that, you know?

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Yeah. Especially when you see them putting in work now. Like, I caught my son doing sit ups the other day in his room before he went to bed. I was like, I never seen you do that before. He's like, I'm trying to get my abs going. I'm like, that's good, man. Yeah, you're putting in, putting in work on your own because you want them abs, the core strength, good for them.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Awesome, man. Would you like to leave a question for the next guest? Yeah.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

Father's Day is on Sunday. If you could pick with no limits on the cost, you know, whether it's a thing or an experience, what would be your perfect Father's Day gift?

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Awesome, dude. Listen, I really appreciate your time and all the wisdom. It's been really awesome.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

That was awesome.

[Host (possibly the founder of Tactical Baby Gear)]

Yeah. Thank you for having us here in your place.

[Chris (former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur, ice cream shop owner)]

That was incredibly more difficult than I thought it was going to be with all the background noise, but once we got going, it was good, man.