212 - The Gang Goes To War With The Buffalo School System | Unsubscribe Podcast Ep 212

Summary

Unsubscribe Podcast Episode 212: The Gang Goes To War With The Buffalo School System

Hosts: Zach, Brandon Herrera, Eli Doubletap, Cody, and Donut Operator
Release Date: May 12, 2025
Duration: 122:52

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I. Introduction and Setting the Stage (00:00 - 01:00)

The episode kicks off with the hosts engaging in their characteristic banter, establishing a lighthearted and humorous tone. Brandon Herrera welcomes listeners and introduces the co-hosts Eli Doubletap (a "veteran with a sign"), Donut Operator, and himself.

II. The Buffalo School System Controversy (01:00 - 05:00)

Brandon Herrera (00:40):
"We've been going through some crazy stuff lately. We just wanted to jump on here and talk to you guys about it."

The primary focus of the episode centers on significant turmoil within the Buffalo school system. The controversy erupted when Rich, a former Special Victims Unit investigator, spoke out on the podcast, leading to severe legal repercussions for a Buffalo school official.

Eli Doubletap (00:55):
"Cody killed a guy."
Brandon Herrera (00:56):
"I killed a man."
Eli (00:57):
"That really got out of hand really quick."

Rich's revelations exposed misconduct, resulting in the elevation of charges from misdemeanors to multiple felonies. This swift legal escalation underscores the impact of speaking out against systemic issues.

Eli (02:16):
"Imagine a dude trying to kidnap kids and then it's just misdemeanor. A single misdemeanor charge for, I think trespassing or something."

The officials' actions, initially perceived as minor infractions, were reevaluated, highlighting the severity of the attempted abduction of elementary school children.

III. Interviews and Insights: Teachers and EMTs (06:11 - 12:00)

The hosts delve into interviews with teachers and EMTs who shed light on the mishandling of emergency situations within Buffalo schools.

Cody (06:11):
"Admitting like she's on..."
Eli (06:11):
"Cause now the principal was like no, don't call the police. Get the parent involved..."

A teacher recounts a harrowing experience where emergency protocols were bypassed, forcing her to manage a critical situation without proper medical intervention. This revelation points to a broader pattern of negligence and obstruction within the administrative hierarchy.

IV. Community Support and Personal Impact (30:00 - 39:00)

The discussion shifts to personal stories, particularly focusing on Patrick, a community member battling cancer.

Cody (17:33):
"Patrick's been fighting cancer... he has three to five days left to live."

The hosts express deep empathy and support for Patrick and his family, emphasizing the strength and resilience of their community in facing such challenges.

Brandon Herrera (19:08):
"That's one of the things that feels hard about fighting cancer, you can't lose the fight."

V. Being a Cheer Dad and Family Life (30:00 - 50:00)

Zach shares his experiences as a "cheer dad," attending multiple cheerleading championships and managing the stresses that come with supporting his daughters.

Zach (27:01):
"I'm just going to support. I'm just gonna hold the camera and be the pack mule."

Anecdotes about long wait times, early mornings, and the competitive nature of cheerleading paint a vivid picture of the dedication required to support young athletes.

VI. Discussions on Police Practices and Qualified Immunity (73:00 - 85:00)

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to dissecting police practices, particularly the concept of qualified immunity.

Brandon Herrera (73:14):
"Qualified immunity means that the cop can't be sued individually. You have to sue his agency."

The hosts debate the implications of qualified immunity, clarifying misconceptions and discussing its impact on accountability within law enforcement. They highlight the balance between protecting officers and ensuring they are held accountable for misconduct.

VII. Mental Health and Personal Struggles (85:00 - 110:00)

Zach opens up about his personal battles with mental health, detailing his journey through burnout, substance abuse, and eventual recovery with the aid of ibogaine and DMT.

Zach (97:00):
"I did ibogaine and DMT through the mission within as a part of healing, and it changed my life hands down."

The conversation underscores the importance of mental health support, especially within the veteran community, and challenges the stigma surrounding seeking help.

Cody (111:06):
"It's okay to reach out, talk to people. You are never a burden."

VIII. Personal Anecdotes and Lighthearted Moments (50:00 - 120:00)

Interspersed throughout the episode are numerous personal stories and humorous exchanges among the hosts. Topics range from building decks with Nick, dealing with faulty pool leveling, to humorous takes on everyday challenges.

Zach (89:08):
"I'm pulling this up, doing this like this, and it wasn't paying attention, and he literally knocked me unconscious."

These segments provide a glimpse into the camaraderie and friendship that binds the hosts, adding warmth and relatability to the episode.

IX. Closing Remarks and Community Messages (120:00 - End)

In the concluding segments, the hosts reinforce messages of support, encourage listeners to seek help if needed, and express gratitude towards their community.

Eli Doubletap (110:56):
"Don't be a burden. You're never a burden. Just fucking reach out to your buddies if you're in a tough time."

Cody (111:06):
"Join over 12 million men who trust Manscaped..."
Note: This is part of an advertisement and is skipped in the summary.

The episode wraps up with heartfelt thanks and reminders for listeners to stay connected and supportive of one another.

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Notable Quotes

• Zach (03:28):
  "As a father especially, I could not be, like, more proud of all of you..."

• Eli Doubletap (04:25):
  "Rich embodies doing what is right, not what's convenient. And it's fucking rad to see."

• Brandon Herrera (12:22):
  "The exact definition of Brady lists, also known as liars lists..."

• Cody (17:33):
  "Patrick's been fighting cancer... it's looking like he has three to five days left to live."

• Brandon Herrera (73:14):
  "Qualified immunity means that the cop can't be sued individually. You have to sue his agency."

• Zach (97:00):
  "I did ibogaine and DMT through the mission within as a part of healing, and it changed my life hands down."

• Cody (111:06):
  "It's okay to reach out, talk to people. You are never a burden."

---

Conclusion

Episode 212 of the Unsubscribe Podcast offers a compelling mix of serious discourse and personal storytelling. The hosts tackle significant issues within the Buffalo school system, explore the complexities of police accountability, and share deeply personal journeys related to mental health and community support. Balancing these heavy topics with lighthearted anecdotes, the episode provides listeners with an engaging and multifaceted listening experience.

Transcript

[Zach]

Oh, they burped. Ooh, gross. Do your job.

[Brandon Herrera]

Happiest place on earth. Zach's like, cheers. Happening again.

[Cody]

How many cheer moms did you beat the out of?

[Eli]

Turns out they like to animals. I know that this is jarring to some of you.

[Zach]

Say hi to Eli.

[Cody]

He's racially ambiguous.

[Zach]

Brandon, his hair is fucking fabulous. And donut. A doctor's position.

[Cody]

And there's a fat electrician looking. Unsubscribe, everyone. Ready for the countdown? A three, two, one.

[Brandon Herrera]

Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Unsubscribe podcast. I'm joined today by Eli, double tap veteran with a sign. Brandon Herrera, myself, donut operator. We've. We've been going through some crazy stuff lately. We just wanted to jump on here and talk to you guys about it.

[Eli]

Cody killed a guy.

[Brandon Herrera]

I killed a man.

[Eli]

That really got out of hand really quick.

[Cody]

You're gonna have to leave the country.

[Eli]

I mean, I would lay low for a few weeks.

[Cody]

I forgot. Yeah. We haven't even discussed all the shitstorm that has been a brewing and taken care of. And then I don't know if you talk to. Oh, Nick.

[Zach]

Happy birthday, Nick.

[Brandon Herrera]

Happy birthday, Nick.

[Zach]

Happy birthday.

[Cody]

Nick is in Paris right now. His family. So we'll see him in.

[Eli]

I hope he enjoys it.

[Cody]

He loves Paris.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, I think he was in that space movie from 1990.

[Zach]

Which one we.

[Cody]

Might have to delete.

[Eli]

But our little baby boys, you know, it's his birthday.

[Brandon Herrera]

How old is Nick?

[Zach]

I don't.

[Eli]

I don't know if that's public.

[Zach]

Do we want it?

[Eli]

I think he said it before, but I think he just turned 32. 31.

[Cody]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

Like that.

[Zach]

31, I believe.

[Cody]

I love it. We had that. We have the entire shitstorm that is the buffalo. And dear God, if you hadn't talked to Nick today, everything that's unfolding, building.

[Eli]

Oh, no.

[Cody]

I have a. Yeah. So we're gonna do another update.

[Eli]

Good God damn.

[Cody]

Oh, this one.

[Brandon Herrera]

Him and his binder.

[Eli]

Because I saw we got somebody like, we. We got the move from misdemeanor charges to like multiple felonies, which is rad.

[Cody]

Imagine a dude trying to kidnap kids and then it's just misdemeanor. A single misdemeanor charge for, I think trespassing or something.

[Brandon Herrera]

It was like. It was like child.

[Zach]

Child endangerment. It was the lowest level of like, child.

[Brandon Herrera]

Because our boy Rich spoke up on the podcast. Now that dude has four felonies. They just hit him with it the other day.

[Cody]

Wow.

[Brandon Herrera]

That wouldn't have happened if Rich didn't say something.

[Cody]

He just, like, that is the most mind blowing thing. That dude would have had a slap on the wrist for that.

[Eli]

Now imagine, like, that's the fucking part that drives me crazy. This person tried to abduct two elementary school children for God knows what purpose. They were going to hit him with a single misdemeanor. Probably wouldn't have even served jail time. But if your shotgun is half an inch too short, you get 10 years in prison.

[Cody]

He could have bought a fucking gun.

[Zach]

You isn't.

[Eli]

Yeah, he could have still bought a gun.

[Zach]

Isn't that the story where the dad showed up and the kid had wet his pants and they didn't have any. Then they were like, we don't know. Yeah, they did that.

[Eli]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Zach]

I'm not gonna say what I would do, but it rhymes with John Q. You understand what I'm saying? If I showed up and my child had been in that type of danger and they told me to talk to a lawyer, I'd be like, well, you better call someone.

[Cody]

Yeah, call an ambulance.

[Zach]

I mean, I burn it down. Like, I. I'm just going to say is, I know. You know, as a. As a father especially, I could not be, like, more proud of all of you for. I mean, Rich, everyone knows, like, angry cops online, but not a lot of people know Rich the way we do. And, like, just to see the way he has honestly put his career in jeopardy in a lot of ways with reckless abandon, regardless of the outcomes, and then the support from all of you and the community has been off the charts. I'm, like, really fucking proud to, like, know all of you on a personal level. And, like, this is actually how change happens. And like, I was talking to my wife about it, and it's just. Most of it's unfathomable, but without this, without all of you, God only knows what could have happened.

[Eli]

Because, I mean, Rich, he embodies doing what is right, not what's convenient. And it's. It's fucking rad to see. It's also, it kind of like, because none of us were prepped about what he was going to talk about before that, we. We went in blind and just kind of gave him the mic. Watching him break down like that was like watching your dad cry. It was just like, oh, fuck.

[Brandon Herrera]

Because if you guys don't. Didn't follow the timeline of that. We were just having a regular podcast Bullshit. With our boy Rich. He's in town. You know, we're having some drinks and stuff.

[Eli]

Second podcast of the day.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah. And Then all of a sudden he's like, look, I just, I just want to get this off my chest. And dude, if he didn't do that, that guy would have been walking around with a little misdemeanor, you know, maybe doing the same thing. But now he's got four felonies and that's. That's fucking rad.

[Eli]

Buffalo. Just the beginning.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Cody]

And Buffalo would have been still doing their shit baggery and now it is again. He didn't even. He was like, you can put it at the end of the episode or something. He was just. He didn't know what. He just wanted to get it off his chest. And he says he feels so much better. We've been doing our little FaceTime conversations. Both of us. FaceTime because we are very expressive and talk with our hands.

[Zach]

You don't say.

[Cody]

Yeah, it feels really weird talking to him.

[Eli]

You gotta cast spells.

[Zach]

There's two wizards. Yeah.

[Eli]

It's just you need the, the meme of like the Harry versus Voldemort, like the wand contest. It's just Eli and Rich on FaceTime.

[Cody]

But he feels so much better. And as he said he's like we're on the offensive. It's not defensive. It's not the emotional pent up shit right now. It's we pushed everything and put the ball in their court and now they are terrified. And what Nick found. Oh man. Dude, we have. We'll see if we keep this in. So now we have an interview from one of the teachers.

[Eli]

Fuck yeah.

[Cody]

Admitting like she's on. Nick did an interview with the teacher and it is her going over all the like oh yeah, a kid had a. An attack unconscious, non responsive. And then was. She wasn't allowed to call the paramedics or anything. And it had to be oh call their parents. The principal. And everyone was like no, no, no, no. The administration was like no, don't call the police. Get the parent involved and they can come pick them up and then drop them off at the hospital.

[Eli]

Knock the out.

[Cody]

Unresponsive. What the mom had to leave. Leave work, go pick up the kid, then go. And then they're like hey, don't say anything.

[Brandon Herrera]

Same for oh because they didn't want it on paper happening on school grounds.

[Cody]

Others as that 17,000 cases.

[Brandon Herrera]

Information, information only reports.

[Cody]

Yeah, burn it down and it's just so bad. And then we have two EMTs talking about responding to other situations and then the like them trying to find these two kids that are unres with the edibles. They're like, going through all this.

[Eli]

Well, the teacher gave edibles to two minors.

[Zach]

What?

[Cody]

The teacher, dude, the paramedics, the EMT showed up and they were like, hey, where are these kids at? Where are these kids at? The teacher told, no, you can't. You have to talk to an administration before we get you involved. 10 minutes of them arriving that they couldn't find or get a hold of or figure out where the kids were because the administration was like, no, you have to talk to us first. And then, and then the.

[Eli]

I mean, depending on the. Depending on the dosage of the edibles, the kids probably didn't know what they were either.

[Cody]

Dude, they're like 300 milligrams. Jesus.

[Eli]

Oh, my God.

[Cody]

11 years old.

[Zach]

Those kids were talking to God.

[Cody]

Yeah, the kids were God.

[Zach]

Yeah. Okay, how did they. How.

[Eli]

Oh my God, how did they.

[Zach]

I'm so mad I can't see straight. How did they get edibles from?

[Eli]

The teacher provided them. Okay, so quote unquote, accidentally, which I don't know how the fuck that happens.

[Zach]

I've had a lot of accidents in my life. I've never accidentally dosed kids.

[Cody]

And guess what happened to the evidence?

[Eli]

Well, it was consumed.

[Cody]

It was deleted. They had a bag, apparently. And then the AMT were like, okay, cool, we'll take that. We'll hold on to that. We'll take care of the kids. Okay, where is it? Oh, we lost it.

[Zach]

How old were they? So they're minors.

[Cody]

11.

[Zach]

11. So I'm sure people know this, but, like, when we used to like, take stuff to school for the kids, we had to only bring store bought stuff because of like, food allergies and everything.

[Cody]

And store bought weeds, way better cleaner.

[Zach]

I just don't understand how like jumped from you can't have peanuts in there to like, somehow edibles have, like, made it into an elementary school, bro.

[Cody]

Peanut butter.

[Zach]

You can't, like, you can't.

[Cody]

Peanut butter now allowed at school.

[Zach]

We had to like, take trays and like the all right, secretary. Whoever at the school would be like, okay, they have to look at it. And it would have to be sealed from like Publix or Kroger or something.

[Eli]

All right, well, my schools were wild. And then we didn't have that. But weirdly enough, none of the teachers ever gave me fucking drugs. So that's.

[Cody]

That's crazy wild.

[Eli]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

For that fucking cocksucker attorney from the other day.

[Zach]

Name. You're gonna have to be more specific because there's so many in the buffalo.

[Brandon Herrera]

The dude was like, well, he should have went through the proper chain of command and sent it to his lieutenant. And it's like, no, this is the reason you, you, Bob. This is a reason. Rich had to come on a podcast and say it. And the dude's like, oh, you had to go on a podcast?

[Eli]

Robert Boreanas.

[Cody]

Yeah, I'm on a podcast there. He says in the podcast, I cannot do this. I, I, they are putting up resistance. They aren't letting us do anything. This is the only way to get the message out. And his response, why didn't he go.

[Eli]

Through the proper channels? People are called whistleblowers because the proper channels didn't fucking work, Robert.

[Zach]

This is weird to focus on Rich and not the crimes. I know I'm old fashioned. I know I'm an old, I'm a dad, you know, and I'm like, protect the kids. The anti buffalo public school system motto. But, like, I don't know why we're so focused on that and not like the children.

[Brandon Herrera]

Well, it's wild. Like, we know Rich is a silly guy. He's a funny man.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

But he's been a Special Victims Unit investigator for a long time now.

[Eli]

He's a detective, He's a drill sergeant. He's a combat veteran. Like, he's been around the block. He's got actual credentials aside from just being Internet. Funny guy.

[Zach]

Yeah. Also, like, you know, people are a different way online than they are in real life. Like, I don't think Ben Affleck's Batman, he was a good Batman, but like, you know, there's multiple different layers to it. And it seems like everyone's trying to view him through the lens of, like, oh, he's a silly goose in a uniform.

[Brandon Herrera]

He's not an autistic assassin. No.

[Eli]

That might be the most controversial thing you've ever said is that he was.

[Zach]

A good Batman, dude. I kind of liked it, dude. He was pretty cool Batman.

[Eli]

They'll fight in the comments.

[Zach]

Bring back the Snyderverse. It had potential. It had potential. You don't think so bring back Cavill.

[Cody]

What was the last thing? Oh, what's the report? Were they saying riches, the boat, police officers? You're non. You can't testify if you're on that one report. Fuck the Bobby report or some shit like that.

[Eli]

Now the Brady.

[Cody]

Brady.

[Zach]

Yeah, the Brady list.

[Cody]

Everyone's like, oh, he's on the Brady list. So they're using that to discredit him.

[Eli]

Or they're saying he should be on the Brady list.

[Cody]

Oh, are they saying that he should? He's not okay.

[Eli]

So that basically, it's something that people are just kind of throwing around, and it's. It's really like they're just, again, they're trying to, again, go after the credibility of Rich instead of like, saying, hey, maybe if these are legitimate concerns, we should investigate them. Because he's talking about some real cases that it's the same when they were. They were going after like, oh, there's a podcast, there's alcohol on the table. One of the guys, you know, Rich burped at one point. These guys are foul. It's like, well, that's crazy because I thought the foul part was the assault of children. Maybe that's just my sensibilities, but I thought that that was the part that was upsetting the.

[Brandon Herrera]

The exact definition of Brady lists, also known as liars lists, are recorded maintained by prosecutors and law enforcement agencies to track law enforcement officers with a history of misconduct, dishonesty, or other integrity issues.

[Cody]

So that's why they're saying he should be on the list. Okay, I thought they were saying he was on the list. Okay.

[Eli]

No, I don't believe he is.

[Zach]

Who makes the list?

[Cody]

Well, I thought they were saying he was. I thought there was multiple. Because I was talking to Nick and it was, well, multiple reports of them saying, well, he's on the Brady list, so he's. No, he can't. Like, he's not good.

[Eli]

I would be shocked if he was.

[Cody]

So. Well, people are saying. So that's the thing. They're saying he's on the list.

[Eli]

It's almost like we could text him.

[Cody]

No, so I just. There's different. He's not. So he's not bought the Brady because you can buy it and you can see who's on it. That's what the problem.

[Eli]

So he's not on the list.

[Cody]

Oh, yeah.

[Eli]

I was gonna say, why the fuck would he be?

[Cody]

But if they're saying he is, now you have a lawsuit against them, because now you're lying outright and you're defaming character.

[Eli]

Cuz here's the. Here's the. The thing that people don't understand about defamation is that in order for you to have a defamation or a slander or a libel suit, it's hard. It has to be wrong. So people like, oh, he's gonna go after you. Like, cool, find me a fucking point during that podcast where he said something that wasn't true.

[Cody]

And we didn't say names either, which is, like, one of the biggest things too. There's no.

[Eli]

I can do It. Fuck you, Bob.

[Zach]

Bobby suck.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, it's wild. The guy he was talking about just called four new felonies this week. You know, it's.

[Eli]

And I can also say my opinion. That's fine.

[Cody]

That's not true. It is, bub. Like, no.

[Zach]

Well.

[Cody]

Oh, God. Oh, fucking God. I know. Now we're just riled up on these things, girl.

[Zach]

I'm like entering like angry dad territory very quickly.

[Cody]

Okay, we're gonna take a moment, we're.

[Zach]

Gonna breathe one more thing. Ed, you suck too. That's it. I'm done.

[Eli]

Ed sucks ranch, I think.

[Zach]

Yeah, Ed sucks too.

[Eli]

I like you, Ed.

[Zach]

Oh, they burped. Gross. Do your job. Just do your job. Just report.

[Cody]

Ben's good.

[Eli]

It' the norm yet. Ben's. Ben's great, but it's like the Norm MacDonald bit where they're talking about, you know, the. The worst part about the Ben, the Bill Cosby thing. He's like, yeah, the wor. The. You hear all these people talk about how the worst part is, you know, is that he was a hypocrite and that he was a liar.

[Brandon Herrera]

It's like.

[Eli]

Well, that's crazy because I thought the worst part was the.

[Cody]

Oh, yeah, do. I got some big news for all.

[Zach]

Of you out there.

[Cody]

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[Eli]

Like, it feels like that bit right now.

[Zach]

All I know is you're talking to a WKBU top fan badge wearer right now. Anytime WKBU Buffalo goes live on Facebook, I'm there. They gave me a top fan badge.

[Brandon Herrera]

Cracking their knuckles just like the way that those fucking news media people are saying, it's just a podcast, bitch. We get a hundred times the views you do in, like, one day.

[Eli]

I really. I love what Nick said about that. It's like, people listen to you because of your job. We have our job because people listen to us. We are not the same. Like, I fucking love. I don't know if he took that from something, but if not, that is.

[Cody]

Like, that's beautiful saying.

[Eli]

Oh, yeah. He could not have put it better.

[Cody]

Okay, we're going to reset. We'll go into something sad. Patrick, literally, our boy Patrick, we just got off FaceTime with him and his mom Shirley, Amazing humans. At the live show. It will be put up here. The community.

[Brandon Herrera]

Which. Which live show is that? The Norfolk one?

[Cody]

Yeah, the NoFIC one. Everyone gave him a standing round of applause. Patrick's been fighting cancer. He showed up to the show. We have some amazing pictures. I was going up right here. And he's been so supportive. His mom's been so supportive of him through this battle. And we got bad news. It's. He has three to five days of. As of recording this, it's the 6th of May, and it's looking like he has three to five days left to live. So we're just giving him nothing but love, support, kindness to that entire family and just what an amazing human he is. And even he looked exhausted today, but he still put on a smile. He said, what's up? He's surprised. His mom set that entire thing up. And it was an honor to talk to him on those last moments.

[Eli]

It was a privilege to meet him. His mom's amazing. He's great.

[Brandon Herrera]

Like, yeah, they were awesome at the Norfolk show.

[Cody]

Oh, dude. And you all, everyone that showed up to that.

[Eli]

You.

[Cody]

I can't stress the email. I can actually probably put that up. You guys made that dude and his mom's fucking year with the chanting, giving the flag. That is a one in a lifetime opera like Chance or. And you all gave that chanting his name. It was. That was probably my favorite moment of the entire tour, was that one specific.

[Eli]

Moment and then made us feel something, which is hard. Kind of rare sometimes hard.

[Cody]

Patrick, we love you, buddy. We. We appreciate everything you do for all of us. And Shirley Same to you. You're an amazing mom. Thank you for. For everything. And thank you for those moments of just connecting with us and being able to share the same space as us. We appreciate you so, so much.

[Eli]

You know, that's the. That's the thing about cancer. And I feel like I'm just. Now, this is the second time in a row I've repeated a Norm MacDonald bit because, you know, he died cancer. But he goes, you know, you can't lose from. You can't lose the fight with cancer. You can only win because if you lose, so does cancer. So it's a draw.

[Cody]

Yeah, he did it, dude.

[Zach]

I did it.

[Cody]

Like, I love that. Even on that, like, he's at the hospital and we're still being us. We're still telling jokes. Like, we'll get you some. Well, Cody suggested black tar heroin.

[Zach]

I suggested.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, I was wanting to give him some black tar heroin. Yeah.

[Cody]

I suggested regular drugs.

[Eli]

Yeah. Everyone, Cody pulled a baggie of black tar heroin out of his pocket.

[Cody]

So give him love. Give him support, and give that family as much love and support as possible.

[Eli]

No, you guys were. You were awesome. It was a pleasure to meet you again. And. No, that was. It was truly an honor.

[Cody]

Yep. Our hearts go out to you. Like, whatever you all need.

[Eli]

Not the Elon way.

[Cody]

Yeah, no, but I'll just stop here. I'll pat here and then put my hand down and slide it right here.

[Zach]

Good call. Good call.

[Cody]

Oh, man, what a episode so far. We're like. Everyone's watching is like, oh, yeah.

[Eli]

I love how you're like, let's take a moment with Woosa.

[Cody]

Yeah.

[Eli]

And I thought we were gonna go, like, funny now we got a party going to.

[Zach]

Funny ones now.

[Cody]

We up ticket. Our boy Zach's in town.

[Zach]

Hey, veteran with a sign. Hey. Oh, shit.

[Eli]

Edmund's here.

[Cody]

You just get up and leave. God damn it.

[Zach]

Probably. Yeah, I'm here. I'm here. I'm in Texas. I'm doing the whole run. Doing the whole run. I wore my Superman shirt, so I'm really excited, you know.

[Eli]

You were very proud of that shirt.

[Zach]

I am. It's when Superman sponsored the National Guard. I don't know. There's a.

[Eli]

How much do you get paid the NASCAR car?

[Zach]

I don't know. More than me. Yeah. So I just wanted to come by and try and do a podcast without any donkey related stories. Because, you know, it's about a year ago when I came here at the House of the Rising sun and I told the donkey story and it took just A year. And my lovely wife said, just please don't tell any more stories like that. Mainly because my mother in law came up to me and was. Yeah, it's the first thing that pops up, really.

[Cody]

Donkey story.

[Zach]

Yeah, my mother in law came to me. I don't know when it was. It was recently. And she goes, hey, I. I heard the donkey story. And Christy was like, just like laser eyes. Because it's, like jumped, like, all levels of, like, permeating my life. So it's. It's funny. It's a good time.

[Brandon Herrera]

That was Afghanistan, right?

[Zach]

Yeah, it was Afghanistan.

[Brandon Herrera]

He's not going to tell the story. His wife doesn't want him to. But it basically ends with some very awful acts with donkey. Google people in Afghanistan.

[Eli]

Turns out they like to animals. I know that this is jarring to.

[Cody]

Some of you, but Google it. Make sure that's at the top of the list no matter what.

[Zach]

Yeah, run that up. Maybe check out the YouTube while you're there. But no, it's.

[Eli]

Or the unsub live show.

[Zach]

Yeah, or the Unsub Live show.

[Eli]

Available on.

[Cody]

She was tv.

[Zach]

She was like, what are you doing? I was like, I had to go to Atlanta, Boston, and Buffalo. She's like, so what are you doing? And Nick was at the house, and he's like, doing like, classic Nick. He's just like, eating and he looks through your stuff. I'm going to make him tell the donkey story live on stage. And she's like, what?

[Brandon Herrera]

Today we're going to talk about donkey.

[Zach]

He's like, oh, yeah. Zach will probably do it till he dies. He just keeps eating.

[Brandon Herrera]

Why'd you come in a day earlier?

[Zach]

Huh?

[Brandon Herrera]

Why'd you come in a day earlier? You were gonna. You were gonna be here tomorrow.

[Zach]

I was gonna be here tomorrow, but. Do you want me to talk about it?

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah. Dude.

[Zach]

Dude.

[Cody]

What are we doing tomorrow?

[Zach]

What are we doing tomorrow, dude? We're going to hang out with a guy. I don't want to name names. Post Malone. No big deal. So, like, she's. She's like, so you're going to Texas? And I'm like, yeah. And she's like, you're gonna hang out with your friends? I'm like, yeah. And she's like, are you going to a Post Malone concert? And I was like, how did you know?

[Eli]

Oh, you didn't tell her?

[Zach]

I didn't. I hadn't. I hadn't withheld it. I was just informing her of what was gonna happen.

[Cody]

And that's Mary.

[Eli]

She just naturally knew.

[Zach]

She just yeah, she knew. She was like, so is there, like, a concert, something? I was like, I don't know. Who knows? Yes, there's a concert. Post Malone. And she's like, oh, I guess I'll be here with the kids, and you just hang out with Post Malone. I was like, hopefully we, like, really click in. Like, maybe we'll all hang out here in Nashville. Who knows?

[Cody]

You're going to Disney next week. Shut the fuck up.

[Eli]

Your schedule is like, Tuesday, podcast, Wednesday, Post Malone, Thursday, purse shopping.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah. Mother's Day is gonna be lit in the Bell household. Like, I've gotta reset the. You know, there's, like, Zach's in Texas. You know, Mother's Day's really cool. So, like, I gotta weigh it back out. I gotta get some more credit on the book.

[Eli]

Justice is blind. But she likes Louis Vuitt.

[Zach]

I see.

[Brandon Herrera]

You know, Ball, your fucking thermostat's gonna be on 75 for the rest of the month.

[Zach]

Yeah. Yeah, okay, honey. Yeah, that's. That's. That's the battle. But I mean, honestly, she. She's incredible. She puts up with a lot. I mean, it's been. It's been hectic because we just finished our third trip to Disney this year.

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh, yeah. Doing the cheer stuff.

[Zach]

Cheer.

[Cody]

And my note says, disney dad. Yeah, because you are literally. I've never met a Disney.

[Brandon Herrera]

You're the only person in the world I hear from who's like, I gotta go to Disney again. The happiest place on earth. Zach's like, cheers. Happening again.

[Eli]

Well, they call that Zach privilege.

[Zach]

So what's. What's funny is I remember growing up in the south, they. It was at McDonald's, actually. They gave you, like, a promo tape, and it was Mickey Mouse, like, walking around, like, seeing Disney. And I was like, one day I'll go to Disney. That'd be so awesome. And he's like, hi, guys. We're going to the Haunted Mansion. And it's just like this promo where he's like, check it out.

[Eli]

I have a story about that.

[Zach]

As soon as you're done, it's a promo tape. And I was like, one day I'm gonna go. One day I'm gonna go.

[Brandon Herrera]

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[Cody]

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[Brandon Herrera]

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[Zach]

One day, I'm gonna go. Well, the first time I went. Not many people know this story. First time I went was literally 30 days after I got back from Marja. God, yeah. And when I'm in the sun, my hair gets blonde. Like, Slim Shady blonde. And there's just a photo of me and Christy and the girls, and, like, there's still blonde hair poking out. So, like, less than 30 days, I was like, we're the Taliban. Jump cut. I'm talking to Mulan. Be like, you're. You're our favorite. You're a warrior princess. She really likes you. Like, that was the first time I went. A little bit night terrors. The fireworks were a lot. We worked through it, but now we go for cheer. And it's. It's. It's fun, but it's just, like. It's stressful because, like, they're competing, and.

[Cody]

I'm just playing cheer real fast.

[Zach]

Okay, so you're a cheer dad. I'm a cheer dad. So competitive cheerleading, they do all. All sports go there now, but there's the ESPN center, like, on Disney property.

[Eli]

Like, they have baseball, Downtown Disney, right?

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah. It's, like, on property. It's a whole, like, thing. There's multiple different, like, venues there. And so, like, we'll tack days to the, you know, left and right of it to, like, spend time at the parks or whatever. And so the first time we went was January this year, and then last week and the week before. So. So their cheerleading championships are there. So there's Worlds, which is, like, Level six, which is my oldest daughter's on, and then there's Summit, which is the levels underneath that.

[Brandon Herrera]

Right.

[Zach]

And so that was what my youngest daughter's on. And so, like, back to back, and, like, I'm just in support. Like, I've got, like, hairspray, like, ponytail holders, like, water bottles. One time, I stood in line for, like, two hours for, like, 12 pretzels to, like, feed the team before they went to compete. Like, I'm. There's, like, no veteran. There's no. Nothing to have. I'm just. I'm just, like, there. I'm like a pack mule. And it's fun, but it's, like.

[Eli]

It's about as veteran as it gets.

[Cody]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Actually, now that I'm describing that, I walk in a circle. It's hot. People are yelling at me.

[Cody]

Afghan guys Fuck you.

[Zach]

That's the VIP experience.

[Eli]

That's the donkey experience from Pinocchio.

[Zach]

But it's.

[Eli]

Oh, God.

[Zach]

But it's just. You, like, it'd be a shame if you lied.

[Cody]

Pinocchio.

[Eli]

Pinocchio would have been much worse if it was. The island was off the coast of the Mediterranean to the. To the east.

[Cody]

Sorry.

[Zach]

That was great. It's your world. But. But, yeah, it's just. It's unlike anything else because they compete for, like, there's like, three minutes of that they're performing and, like, there's a lot of build up to that. So, like, at Worlds, we were there at, like, we got up at like, 4. We got there like 5. We got up at 5, got there at 6. The doors weren't even open yet. And then she competed. And then we had to wait the rest of the day and find out if they moved on or not. And then just kind of. It's just like that. Like, it's just. They keep going. But, like, it's really cool. Like, I sent everyone the photo here, and I want to show it because it's my child. I'm trying to protect her privacy. But we had a competition in Nashville. It was like a month before this, and my oldest daughter, she busted her nose.

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh, yeah, we saw the picture.

[Zach]

She got caught in a basket and it's this really hard stunt, but, like, she busted her nose and, like, she kept going and she didn't know. And it literally looks like JJ Watts photo when he broke his nose.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, the picture, she's just bleeding gnarly.

[Zach]

And, like. Like, when I went up there, I was like, how are you? She's like, I'm fine. I don't know why we stopped. And I was like, all right, I'm really proud of you.

[Brandon Herrera]

You. You and your wife do it. Because the girls, they absolutely love doing this.

[Zach]

They love it.

[Brandon Herrera]

But, like, do you ever run into weird parents out there, though? They're, like, hyper obsessed and just act.

[Eli]

You'Re gonna do this because I never did it in high school.

[Zach]

Yeah, there's a kind.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Cody]

My little Susan is the greatest cheerleader of all time.

[Eli]

You're having a good time, aren't you, sweetie?

[Cody]

Hey, Cody. Cody.

[Zach]

Brandon. Nick.

[Cody]

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[Zach]

About that anymore.

[Cody]

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[Zach]

I mean, that was definitely at the, like, now it's kind of. There's been an attrition because, like, the levels they're at now, they have to do, like, complex stunts and stuff. So, like, that's kind of faded out. But, like, it is interesting having, like, a team with dynamics. And also, like, the parents are there. So there's like, multiple. Multiple different factors involved. But, like, some of these. I mean, some of these parents I've known since our kids were, like, 10 years old. So I've known them for, like, watch their kids grow up as mine have grown up. So it's. It's this kind of, like, weird bond you develop with them because no one else is, like, in this world, except unless you're like. Unless I'm telling y' all, you would, like, would know that. You know what I'm saying? But it's. It's fun because, like, they both love it. Like, they asked to both be on an extra team this year, and I was like, yeah, let's do it. Let's run it.

[Eli]

And.

[Zach]

And it's the healthiest form of adversity I can put them through. Like, I don't want to give them, like, my life. And I'm like, hey, guess what? You're poor now. Here's bologna and, like, bread. Make it work. Like.

[Cody]

But look where we got.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

You ever got in a fight with any other, like, opposite cheer mom?

[Cody]

How many cheer moms have you beat?

[Eli]

The cheers.

[Brandon Herrera]

Just, like, the opposite team. Yeah. Do you hit women?

[Cody]

Yeah.

[Eli]

No. No. See, you gotta Learn how to ask a leading question. How many women have you hit?

[Cody]

Five minutes later?

[Zach]

Here's the thing, you know, what do you mean, hit Cody? No, it's honestly, the. I'm. I'm literally in the background, right? Chrissy's really running the show of, like.

[Eli]

The mom's the one hitting mom.

[Zach]

She's the one, dude. She's like, the team mom. Like, she's telling them, like, she's. She's the one who's, like, the center stage stuff. And I'm literally. Can I get something? Like, I have. I have, like, no real role in it other than, like, supporting her. And, like, I film. Everyone's like, Zach's really good at filming, and I just do this for, like, three minutes. There's holding a camera, and they're like, oh, that's good. And they're like, how'd you do that? And I'm like, I hit the 4K button, you know?

[Cody]

It looks beautiful.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Cody]

Wow.

[Eli]

He's a professional. He does this for.

[Zach]

Yeah, they've. They've learned a little bit of that as time has gone on, because, like, you know, I started this in March of 2020. That was just, like, me holding up a sign. And so now they're like. They're like, hey, you know, I heard a few of the dads. A lot of the dads are like, hey, doggy story, bro. They're pretty jazzed about it. And like, other people, it's, like, blending.

[Eli]

Sorry. That's the. That's become your life.

[Zach]

It's all right. It's all right. I didn't do anything wrong. I just described a moment in my life, you know, I'm just.

[Eli]

Sorry. I'm telling the truth.

[Cody]

And now you're known for it.

[Zach]

Yeah. What was it? It said veteran with a sign, VFW and then donkey story. And it's just, like, two things in a row.

[Brandon Herrera]

But, dude, you're doing great. People just know me for saying slurs.

[Eli]

I love everyone.

[Cody]

No, I like that poor Cody. So I don't even say them out loud.

[Eli]

Dude, when you.

[Brandon Herrera]

When you get married.

[Eli]

When you get married, you need to change your name to operator.

[Cody]

I support this decision.

[Brandon Herrera]

It's happening.

[Zach]

Oh, dude. Actually, somebody cut that trademark that first.

[Brandon Herrera]

Dude, I. I love the now, though, man.

[Cody]

If you get a silver play button.

[Brandon Herrera]

Operator at 100k, dude, I just got to throw this out there. Shout out to Moody's mom and her best friend from church. Like, they don't speak a lick of English. They came over, and they made me tamales. And mole and pastola stew.

[Eli]

He's starting to say it with the accent.

[Cody]

Oh, dude, dude, that picture.

[Zach]

I felt he's getting darker too.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, yeah.

[Eli]

It's happening, dude.

[Brandon Herrera]

I can't wait to push out a bunch of little Mexican babies.

[Zach]

Hell yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

It's gonna be awesome.

[Eli]

You're gonna push him out?

[Brandon Herrera]

I'm pushing them in first.

[Zach]

Dude, you're gonna be a cheer dad too. It's gonna be awesome. You're gonna be like asking me. I'm like, dude, just hydrate up. Make sure you eat a big breakfast. You know, you need at least three phone chargers. They're all gonna run out. Like, you just gotta. Hey, plan, plan, plan, plan.

[Eli]

I will say so. I. I went over to. I stayed at your house.

[Zach]

Yes. It was awesome.

[Eli]

In Tennessee. What, probably two, three weeks ago. It was Easter.

[Zach]

It was Easter. Yeah.

[Eli]

Yeah. And I have. So, first of all, I've got to say, you've got a wonderful family. Thank you. Amazing. I was just, you know, you're a good guy. You're a good dad. You got a nice little plot set out for yourself. You made me feel like a fucking degenerate.

[Zach]

How did I make you feel like a degenerate? Just, it was. We welcomed you with open arms.

[Brandon Herrera]

Chris, he's like that drunk AK guys coming over here, isn't he?

[Cody]

That's why there was self reflection. It was a brain.

[Eli]

It's like there was no judgment. You guys, you were an amazing host. Yeah, everything was fantastic. I get into town and like, oh, do you want to spend Easter Sunday with my family? Yeah, we're gonna go to church. I've got my. Here's my two and a half white kids and a picket fence.

[Cody]

Like, two and a half white kids.

[Eli]

I thought you perfectly statistically average. Like, just amazing.

[Zach]

Yeah. I showed him the new yard. Like, yeah, we made cinnamon roll bunnies.

[Brandon Herrera]

Literally.

[Eli]

I watched his daughters do an Easter egg hunt in the backyard. And at no point in my life have I felt my heart sink as much as it was.

[Brandon Herrera]

There's no hellcats in your neighborhood whatsoever.

[Eli]

I was just. I was like, man, I'm really pushing that biological clock.

[Zach]

I might have been trying to sell them a little bit on where I live in Tennessee. Nashville. We'll just go with that.

[Cody]

Settling down.

[Zach]

Yeah. I'm like, you know, if you want to come up here if it gets too hot in Texas. It was. It was fun. Yeah. We recorded some episodes on the after action podcast and.

[Eli]

And shouts out after action.

[Zach]

Yeah. Go check it out. The veteran with the sign YouTube needs all you there. But like, you were a great host.

[Eli]

You didn't. Yeah. Like none of this was on you.

[Zach]

No. Well, what I wanted to do is I wanted, like, you're coming over to spend time with my family, so I wanted you to like, just be a part of it. And we'd actually gone to church Saturday for Easter and I was like, you want to come over? And like, that was it. We just hung out and I was like, let's go get some food. Let's go get some, let's go get some burger. Burgers.

[Eli]

Oh, food was great. But yeah, getting to like hang out with your family, meet your wife and like, so now she understands that, you know, we are degenerates, but like, we're like soft degenerates.

[Zach]

Well, everything's been like event based prior to that. Like it was the fight or like the night of the show.

[Eli]

Yeah.

[Zach]

And so, like, which were like all.

[Eli]

Obviously a little stressed out. I was a little stressed out the night of my fight. I wasn't drunk the night.

[Cody]

No, no, you did really good on the night of your fight. You were locked in for like six weeks on that one.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah. Until I started handing you fucking Jack.

[Eli]

Daniels Immediately after there's a clip chase. I think we can put that up. Me in the middle of my post fight conference and Cody's hand, just gloved hand comes into frame and immediately hands me a shot of Jack. Like, oh, God, thank you. I haven't drank in six weeks.

[Brandon Herrera]

I showed up to the fight with airplane bottles of Jack Daniels because I know Brandon hadn't drank in six weeks. And they're like, hey, you want to be a corner man? Okay? And so I, I just found some gloves and I put some little gloves on. I was in the corner. I was your corner man.

[Eli]

We're telling the real story. You weren't allowed to be the corner.

[Brandon Herrera]

I wasn't allowed to be.

[Eli]

We found out the only reason, the only thing that the security delineated being a corner man or not on was the purple gloves. So we just asked for an extra set.

[Cody]

Oh, yeah, I forgot about it and.

[Eli]

Just gave them to you. And you just walked out with us. Us confidently and nobody stopped us.

[Zach]

I think I'm gonna show up to fights as a cornerman from now on.

[Eli]

Right.

[Cody]

Every time.

[Zach]

Guys see the glove.

[Brandon Herrera]

You had Eli and then what's his name from the bottom?

[Eli]

Tony.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, you had Eli and Tony and they're like giving him real good information, like, do this, do this, do this. I'm just in the corner like, yeah, this is cool.

[Zach]

Do it, Brandon.

[Brandon Herrera]

Hit him in the face.

[Eli]

Hey, when you hit him in the.

[Zach]

Face, it looks like he bleeds.

[Brandon Herrera]

Do that again.

[Cody]

Hit him harder than the face area. It would be great. God, I missed. That was a good ass time.

[Zach]

That was. That was. That was like, crazy, like, being there. Like, I. I could see all y' all up on stage, and it's just me and Niko, and, like, Niko's screaming at the top of his lungs. He's pushed on the rail, and the rail starting to shake, and I'm leaning on it, too. And they're like, stop. And he's like, no, that's my boy.

[Cody]

That's my fucking boy.

[Eli]

No offense at all. I almost forgot you were there, because in the entire time beforehand, I was like, tunnel vision.

[Zach]

Yeah, I completely understand.

[Eli]

Yeah, it was like, I was.

[Cody]

No stress at all.

[Eli]

No, it's like, oh, yeah, you're about to be shirtless on live TV and potentially knocked out.

[Zach]

You know what I was worried about?

[Eli]

This is, like a weird fear. But I was told that this is, like a normal thing that, like, has occasionally happened. I was like, dude, what if I. What if I get knocked out? Because, like, I was about to run into a. A camp, a congressional campaign a month after. I'm like, I've got to win this or else this is just going to be. I'm going to look like a pussy in front of God and everyone. I was worried about getting knocked out and shitting myself.

[Zach]

Understand, because they don't let you go.

[Eli]

To the bathroom after you get your gloves taped.

[Cody]

No, you are the second you're taped. And they write it off.

[Eli]

Yeah.

[Cody]

Because you get your autograph, they sign it. Whoever checks the wraps.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Cody]

Then they sign it. And then you will have to be visual. In visual.

[Eli]

Yeah. Line of sight.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Eli]

Yeah.

[Cody]

The team. So you don't dip them in.

[Eli]

You had plaster or whatever.

[Cody]

Yeah, they do the plaster diffs. So they harden throughout the fight. Very dangerous for fighters. Margarita, he was notorious for that and got caught doing it.

[Zach]

Interesting.

[Cody]

And then he got the fucking Pacquiao. Beat the fuck out of that dude. Because that dude looked like Passion of the Christ. Yeah. At the end of his face, it.

[Eli]

Was just mangled, but I didn't know that. And, like, I don't know about you guys, but, like, if I'm, like, super fucking nervous about something, like, I. I'll get, like, kind of, like temporary stress.

[Zach]

Yeah, Stress shits. Yeah.

[Cody]

I got a pregame all the time.

[Eli]

I wanted to shit so badly, but I Was not legally allowed to.

[Cody]

I'd been like, watch me shit. Please fight for me. Got my gloves on.

[Zach]

Let's see how good of friends we are.

[Eli]

I do have a new topic to go into, though.

[Zach]

Let's do it.

[Eli]

So, because. Because you had just mentioned that the. The McDonald's thing with the. The Disney cheer.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Eli]

Do you know why McDonald's and Disney have a relationship? No. Okay. It is the weirdest thing because. So McDonald's was founded by Ray Kroc, and obviously Disney was found. Well, there's a whole movie. The founder.

[Zach]

Yeah, it was.

[Eli]

McDonald's was stolen by Ray Kroc. There we go. And then, you know, Walt Disney obviously founded Disney. You know what both of them had in common?

[Zach]

What do they have.

[Eli]

Other than that they were actually both ambulance drivers in World War I in Europe.

[Cody]

What?

[Zach]

Damn.

[Eli]

Yeah, Both of them were in the field at the same time as ambulance drivers. And so Ray Kroc actually reached out, like, once he had kind of, like, built McDonald's up as, like, a little bit of an empire. Had reached out and sent a letter to Walt Disney, basically said, hey, I don't know if you remember me, but we were both doing this job in France at the same time. And I just wanted to let you know, like, I kind of built this little restaurant for myself. I know you're doing really good. Is there a way we can kind of collaborate? And I don't think they ever got the opportunity to while they were both alive because, you know, Walt Disney died very early.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Eli]

But now Walt Disney and McDonald's have a very friendly relationship. McDonald's is one of the only restaurants on Disney property, like, in the parks and stuff.

[Zach]

It's sick. It's. It's a huge one. I eat at it at least three times a year. Like, it's awesome.

[Eli]

But I just. I found it really interesting that the reason that exists between two of, like, the biggest mega corporations in the world is because the founders were both World War I ambulance drivers.

[Cody]

They were in theater just doing that. That's. I never knew that. I didn't know that was a. Veterans.

[Zach]

You didn't even have to have a weird surgery either. You just like, I didn't have to pop my titty. Yeah.

[Cody]

Or bicep now.

[Eli]

Yeah.

[Cody]

He was getting injured.

[Zach]

Dude.

[Eli]

How did he do that?

[Zach]

Every time Nick gets hurt, something crazy happens. Like, because of his bicep, he's basically dismantling the entire Buffalo public school system.

[Cody]

Do you take a shower and still smell bad?

[Eli]

Do you suffer from thigh folds?

[Cody]

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[Brandon Herrera]

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[Cody]

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[Eli]

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[Cody]

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[Eli]

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[Cody]

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[Eli]

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[Cody]

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[Eli]

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[Cody]

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[Eli]

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[Cody]

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[Eli]

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[Brandon Herrera]

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[Cody]

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[Zach]

He said he tried to catch like a case of water here that fell.

[Brandon Herrera]

Out of like it was something silly. Yeah, it wasn't even in jiu jitsu because he's a Jiu Jitsu instructor. It was. Yeah, it was just an everyday thing. And yeah, that's. But also that's why he has a binder right now. So he's down from surgery and if you guys saw our last video, just like revealing what happened with the Buffalo school system. Nick brought out a fucking binder.

[Cody]

The three ring binder of death.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, dude. He's just down right now and he's finding every. What was it? Since 1970, he found everything the Buffalo school system has done.

[Eli]

I do not want to be on the bad side of a fucking Nick Binder.

[Brandon Herrera]

Right? That's what happens when Nick is bored. He digs up your entire life.

[Eli]

You talked about it with, with your episode where he's just like, yeah, every time something bad happens to me, he's like, it seems like my life Just does a, you know, amazing jump forward. I'm like, I think it's because you can't lift and you can't do bjj, so you're just bored and you can't sit still.

[Cody]

Dude, he goes on fucking tangents with it. Like, when he called today, I was like, happy birthday. He's like, oh, thanks. I was like, he's gonna give me a 30 minute spiel right now of everything. I just got done boxing, so I was like, dead. But I was like, so today we're.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Cody]

I'm like, holy.

[Brandon Herrera]

This is all right, Eli. I went back to 1890 and I found even more stuff for the Buffalo school system. God damn, Nick, Calm down.

[Cody]

Did you know, the one thing I did want to know from you is your. Have we ever discussed why you started doing the sign thing?

[Zach]

No, I don't think so.

[Cody]

I had no idea. That was the one question I did.

[Eli]

Right. I did get to see the original place, though.

[Zach]

You did? Yeah, I drove right past it.

[Eli]

I feel like they should do a historical marker, but Tennessee should do a historic marker there, like, on this date in 2020.

[Zach]

Yeah. So the brief history is when I got out of active duty, I started working with, like, nonprofits and stuff. So I've, like, kind of always worked with, like, veterans organizations. The long and short of it is, like, my friends started taking their lives and, like, I didn't know what to do and I didn't know, like, how to help them or how to help me and, like, with the stuff I was going through. And I just started like, fuck it, dude. I'm just gonna figure this out. And so I did that pretty much all through college, and I got a bachelor's and I got a master's at a school in Nashville that is a very nice university and it ties into me.

[Eli]

But when you say doing that, what do you. What do you mean?

[Zach]

So I started, like, working at, like, non profits, like, learning about the industry and, like, how to, like, help veterans through different organizations. And I even. So my son, my congressman, his name is Mark Green, he was actually the doctor for Saddam Hussein when they captured him. Yeah. And at that time, he was my state level representative, and it was my first, like, push into, like, working with veterans.

[Eli]

I mean, he didn't really need a doctor for what was coming next, but.

[Zach]

No, he did not. No, he did not. But we wanted to make sure he was healthy, I guess. I don't know. He did.

[Eli]

Hey, just so you know, you got.

[Zach]

A heart condition, but time of death soon. Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Oh, I got a Brandon laugh. There it is. I love it.

[Eli]

That dopamine.

[Zach]

Brandon laugh but give me that bitch.

[Eli]

Serotonin.

[Zach]

But the first thing he did is serotonin. I worked with him to pass this bill that got a few hundred thousand dollars for veterans in the state of Tennessee for mental health. But he made me like go around. It's called Legislative Plaza in Tennessee. And I had to talk to every state representative to pass the bill and so I continued to work with that and then like I just kind of got burnt out from doing. It was just. It's really hard work.

[Eli]

A lot of knee pads involved.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah.

[Eli]

Like I say that half joking.

[Zach]

Well, no, like just working with veterans like a non profit as a whole is kind of like a rough business model because your goal is to spend as much money as possible every year and then next year like hope we can raise that money again.

[Eli]

But having to talk to the state legislature, like there's so much of the political circle jerk.

[Zach]

It was, it was really, really hard and it took a, a kind of a toll on me. So I moved into healthcare and then Covid happened and I had done some writing with the like creative outlets and stuff with like Fox News, Huffington Post and a few articles in the New York Times. Just talking about like random veteran stuff.

[Eli]

Huffpo. Really?

[Zach]

Yeah, Huffpo. I know. Mrs. Huff. I don't.

[Brandon Herrera]

John C. Huff.

[Eli]

Ariana.

[Zach]

Yeah, Ariana. You do good writing. Zachary.

[Cody]

Nonprofit are a. It is hard because you don't like salaries. They get the ones that are up and they're just like, oh, I make 400,000 a year. No big deal. Finding a good. Yeah, I bet. I was there.

[Zach]

His name's Steve Narzisse. Like when they were talking about it like I was. So we were working with Wounded Warrior Project. I was a God company called Center Stone Military Services.

[Cody]

They suck. Not that, not that one. Yeah, I know the Wounded Warrior and he was.

[Eli]

Why do they suck? You lie.

[Cody]

Because they give back to soldier and we hate that here.

[Zach]

Yeah, well I think a lot of people download were. I was there. They were giving money out to organizations towards the end, but they had also been caught taking private jets and people to like Fiji and shit now.

[Eli]

And this is like on the dime of people who are trying to help support.

[Zach]

This is like the New York Times broke this. CBS covered this. This was. I mean it was gross. And so like that kind of cut the industry in half.

[Eli]

And you personally saw it?

[Zach]

Yes, I mean like we were. Everyone was aware of it. Like it wasn't. It Was like, a secret. Like, remember they used to sell ketchup, like, wounded warriors on it? No, they did. They had. They had, like, a wounded warrior branded ketchup. It was mines, but it had the sticker on it.

[Cody]

We call it Blood Pack.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Cody]

It gives you ptsd.

[Zach]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Cody]

I would never do ketchup packets for anything better and related.

[Zach]

Yeah. You know, you call it the Ramadi Special. You just squeeze it on your thing. Sorry. That's for you, bro. That's for you, though.

[Brandon Herrera]

That's for the boy.

[Zach]

That's for the boy. Yeah.

[Cody]

Never in a million years would I do those two. Yeah.

[Zach]

Pass me the Martin Margaret mayonnaise for me.

[Eli]

Yeah, no, that was the donkey story.

[Cody]

I prefer blood of my friends.

[Zach]

Yeah, but, like, they were selling, like, bounty paper towels and, like, you know, if you want to wipe a veteran, you know, like. And it's the Wounded Warrior, and my.

[Eli]

Name is Trace Atkins. Today we're gonna.

[Zach]

Dude. Yeah, he's. He's actually. He's pretty cool, bro.

[Eli]

He's really cool, actually.

[Zach]

Cool as hell. Yeah.

[Eli]

It's just he happened to be tied to an organization that. It wasn't as good as he thought it was.

[Cody]

You're not gonna know, like. And what we're saying, he's trying to.

[Eli]

Do a good thing.

[Cody]

Yes. And you're looking at, like, okay, hey, they made. And this, they made way more. But we made $57 million. We only donated 7 million to veterans.

[Eli]

Because the rest, it's like every light in the house.

[Zach]

Don't need that.

[Cody]

Yeah, that. Rex 50. I need a salary and a jet.

[Zach]

What would they do with all that money? Help themselves. Boo. You know, that's basically. I mean, they were making hundreds of thousands of dollars off of these things every single year. And so just. I mean, I. I heard the number ones. I don't want to say it here. This is way too big of a platform for me to swing and miss on that.

[Eli]

Well, Buffalo doesn't think so.

[Zach]

They do now. But I covet happened. I was working in healthcare, and I had this, like, creative itch I wanted to scratch. Like, I. I honestly, I covet was one of the best things that happened to me. I got to spend more time with my family than ever. 90 days in a row, consecutively. Holy shit. I just realized this. The last thing me and Christie did is we went to Post Malone's concert in Nashville before they shut down.

[Eli]

No shit.

[Zach]

They shut down the whole world after that. Somehow managed the Hollywood Bleeding tour. Yeah, I'm gonna tell him, dude. I'M gonna tell him.

[Brandon Herrera]

Be like the. The pre country tours, but, like, it.

[Eli]

Was somehow managed to get a second name drop.

[Zach]

Yeah. But no, I just remembered that because it's like, the last thing we did, and they shut the whole world down. And, like, you know, the. The young lady was cutting my hair at the time. She was getting ready to shut down her shop. But I. I was like, what if I, like, wrote on cardboard and, like, made myself, like, a meme? And I was like, okay, so, like, it's not me, but it's a guy. How would he refer to himself? He. Well, he'd call himself, like, war fighter. And he, you know, he'd talk like, hey, good to go battle. You know, like, gay. Yeah, he would be really cool. Yeah, he would, like, talk like that. And then I started, like, thinking through, like, the lens creatively of how he would, like, interact with the world, and I.

[Cody]

What are veterans homeless?

[Zach]

Yeah. Yeah. Like, literally, I was like, what. What makes you think homeless veterans. They deserve it kind of. But, like, it's just like. And I just wrote it. What? I can say it. You can say it too.

[Cody]

Yeah, You're a veteran.

[Eli]

No, I can't.

[Zach]

He got more medals than Dan Daly in that room. What are you talking about, dude?

[Cody]

I want to hear from you, Dan Daly, over.

[Zach]

But I just wrote.

[Eli]

Just need to start putting that behind just in case.

[Cody]

Oh, that's gonna go in a shadow box back there.

[Zach]

There's not enough space on that wall.

[Cody]

It's just a wall. Brandon's. It's what we use for sounded.

[Eli]

It was funny because I was. I was going through my recently because I was moving a bunch of around, and I. I found the. The jump wings from the. The round canopy parachute team.

[Cody]

Yep.

[Eli]

And I was just like, oh, fuck, that metal is actually mine. It was such a weird thought.

[Zach]

Oh, wait, fuck that.

[Brandon Herrera]

Actually, that.

[Zach]

That's.

[Eli]

That's mine.

[Zach]

Still think about those guys.

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh, my God.

[Zach]

Those.

[Brandon Herrera]

Those medals that someone sent to my P.O. box. I was a little bit late on that one.

[Eli]

That was fucking crazy. We'll have to bring that out for a podcast at one point. But it was like his grandfather's medals that were pretty serious.

[Brandon Herrera]

Came to my P.O. box. Yeah, his grandfather, like, World War II jump wings and, like, a couple of other medals. He was like, I think he played Wolfenstein, dude.

[Eli]

Yeah, not that team.

[Cody]

Oh, okay.

[Brandon Herrera]

Dude. He had the code book. It was the final solution. It was wild.

[Eli]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

Wrong team, but that was some dude.

[Cody]

Oh, you didn't get the Wolfenstein reference at first.

[Zach]

Yeah. It hit me, and I was like, wait, Cody's not. Cody's not gonna land it. Cody's gonna land it.

[Eli]

He's coming in, like, the end of airplanes. Like, sweat pouring down.

[Zach]

Like, all right, there's gonna be, like, 20 minutes of podcast that she's back.

[Cody]

To Disney and McDonald's anyways being a dad.

[Zach]

But no, I just wrote, drink water, take motor, and change your socks. That was my first sign. And I was. I was like, oh, it's a Covid remedy. And, you know, kind of worked. But, like, I just held it up, and the lady who cut my hair took a photo of it.

[Cody]

No shit. You did it. Wait, did they have just the cardboard there? And you're like, I. I had it.

[Zach]

I had it in my truck. I found a piece of cardboard from Tractor Supply, actually. And I was just, like, consumed with the idea of, like, an analog technology being used on a digital platform and, like, how clear and concise it could be and, like, how direct it could be. But it could also have, like, other meaning depending on, like, the photo or the video or, like, with the message I'm trying to convey. And so I was just like, let's just make it simple. And then I did that for, like, a few months. And then way too many way, way, way too many dudes started talking about my body for, like, a really long time.

[Eli]

Now I'm gonna get in shape.

[Cody]

Okay, wait. Okay, so your first. You posted it. You was it.

[Zach]

How was the reception? Was horrible. Like, it was, like, so really at first, because it's like, anything. Like, it takes time to, like, introduce an idea and, like, you know, Brad. 1, 2, 3. Be like, this guy wears the same thing every day. And I'd be like, yeah. And it's like, his tattoos are dumb. Not entirely wrong, but, like, they kept missing, like, what I was trying to say, which baffled me to. This baffles me to this day because, like, message. I fucking wrote it on cardboard. Like, it's as clear as it gets. It's not. Like, wasn't a hidden agenda, but, like, I just kept leaning into it, and I had a few that, like, popped off. I made fun of army rangers. That was a big deal going, what is it? Going to ranger school doesn't make you a ranger. That's what that was.

[Cody]

One that's proper. That's literally. There's a big difference between the tap and the scroll.

[Zach]

I didn't know that. And dude's like, who does he fucking think he is to talk to us like that? And I'm Like, I have no idea. And then. Oh, dude.

[Eli]

Then I made somebody who's also not a Ranger.

[Zach]

Yeah, basically.

[Cody]

How dare he?

[Zach]

I'm a leader. And then. And then I did. I did a Navy SEAL one. I did a Navy SEAL one, which was. I remember this. Wearing gators doesn't make you a Navy seal, but riding a book does. And one of my friends is a Navy Seal, like, gave me the idea. And then, like, it was like, dudes in the comments being like, you know, I'm class, 1, 2, 3, fuck this dude. And, like, they're like, no, we think he's cool, and I like him. And so it just kind of kept, like, moving towards that. And I wasn't really sure, like, how to do it moving forward. Because, like, it wasn't, like, the tone or the message wasn't what I wanted. Like, people really didn't get what I was doing. But then. Do you guys remember when Captain Crozier, the guy got relieved of command, so he brought his vessel out to New York?

[Cody]

Oh, fucking.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Eli]

He was explaining, so everyone knows I'm not familiar.

[Zach]

This commander brings his vessel to New York to support Covid operations during that. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. And his whole ship was full of the most amount of sick sailors. And every time he would ask for help from the Navy, they suppressed it. And they literally like, nah, you're fine. He's like, dude, I have, you know, hundreds of kids under my charge. I'm trying to take care of them. They need to. They need help. Like, it's fine. We just need to take care of these kids. And they're like, no, you don't. He ended up leaking all that stuff to cbs, and then they relieved him of his command, which is a big fucking deal to lose a ship. It's a base. And so he was walking off the deck, and the whole ship is humming, like, literally bouncing as they're like, Captain Crozier. And I saw this clip of them and, like, his whole ship, and they're like, fucking hype about it. And I looked at Christine. I was like, hey, I have an idea. Will you just take this photo of me? And I wasn't, like, really sure if it was gonna work or whatever, but I held up a sign, like, in the doorway of my old home, and I said, you know, bring back Captain Crozier. And I didn't look at my phone for, like, a whole day. I turned off all notifications. I don't have notifications on anything but my phone and my text. That's it. No social Media notifications. I've never done that. It's actually my learner business school. It's called Inbox Zero Method. It's a whole different thing, but.

[Eli]

Oh, I'm educated.

[Zach]

No, I'm a liar. Business school entrepreneur. But I just. I just didn't check on it. And then I opened up my phone and I hit it, and it says 100, 100, 100. And then I refreshed it. It said 100, 100, 100. And I was like, we might have done something here. And it just kept going and just kept growing. And that was basically it. Like, it just kind of took off after. After that, and then it activated, like, all the old posts. And Brad123, who hated my tattoos earlier that year, was like, I've been here since day one. This guy's a best. And, you know, and then you start.

[Eli]

Yeah, I remember you.

[Zach]

Yeah, I know, I know.

[Eli]

But, like, some poor guy with the actual username. Brad1. Sorry, I get a bunch of.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Eli]

Is that actually the username?

[Zach]

No, I'm just. I'm trying to make.

[Eli]

I thought you were making a random.

[Cody]

His tattoos.

[Zach]

You can't be too specific with this audience, is what I've learned. Yeah, they'll find anything you're talking about.

[Brandon Herrera]

Brad 11. Bravo over here.

[Eli]

What were we saying the other day? It's like, we really need to figure out, like, an roe with our audience.

[Zach]

I say, cry havoc and lit. Slip the dogs of war. I've been impressed.

[Brandon Herrera]

One of us just says, I didn't like this restaurant, and suddenly they go out of business. Like, don't know. We didn't mean for you guys to do that.

[Cody]

Jesus.

[Zach]

But now. Now I just try and, like, continue to, like, you know, and better with the sign kind of has its own thing, but I wanted to, like, do more. And so that's. That's actually when I started the podcast. And it was, you know, because I, you know, I'd had the YouTube channel and stuff, and I was putting shorts on there, but, like, I just wanted to, like, expand the universe. I only have, like, a small medium of cardboard to work with or, like, a video where I'll explain something, something. And so I was like, you. I need, like, more conversations and stuff. I want to have and, you know, talk about different things. And, you know, Michael Collazo, the officer stopped the school shooting in Nashville. He had.

[Brandon Herrera]

There's another name for him. I don't think I can say it on the podcast.

[Zach]

Yeah, no, that's not. You can say it on Pepperbox. Though, dude, that $8 is just doing war. Holding back the gates of hell.

[Cody]

$8 a month.

[Zach]

But he had come forward and he had talked to a bunch of different people and he'd finally decided he want to tell the story of what happened and all those different things. And he was like asking me advice and I was like, dude, I'm. I don't. I don't know. And he's like, well, you're starting a podcast, right? And I was like, yeah. I was like, but I'm. I don't know how to do this. I got to figure it out. I don't need. I don't even know how to upload to YouTube. Like, I remember calling Cody being like, how do I upload? He's like, okay. He like walked me through it and you know, now it's. And he came on and he told that story and we just. I've just been trying to tell stories. In the like, veteran with assigned universe.

[Eli]

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[Cody]

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[Cody]

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[Cody]

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[Cody]

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[Eli]

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[Eli]

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[Cody]

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[Zach]

Balls world of like. Like, I like what I'm doing and like, literally every time I want to quit, I get a sign that I don't need to quit. And like like this time last year, I was contemplating quitting everything because of all the stuff that happened with the VFW and everything. And I was just kind of tired of, like, having to, like, defend myself and all the different things that came with it. But it was literally. It was literally y' all in the unsub community that pulled me back because I got flooded with messages of people being like, thank you for love, you know, telling us about this or the stuff you do. And then like, those are the signs where I keep going. Because it does feel hard. Like it's screaming to avoid sometimes.

[Brandon Herrera]

But like, what's your podcast name?

[Zach]

The After Action Podcast. And it's under the veteran with the sign YouTube or anywhere you get a podcast. So YouTube and everything else, go to the YouTube, like, comment, subscribe, but no.

[Cody]

Watching it from the sign. After, like, after the big.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Cody]

Incident, how was that initial response response from you? Were you, like, nervous? You're like, oh, what do I say next? Oh, and then it is the fear of matching. Well, this might. This could fall on deaf ears.

[Brandon Herrera]

It.

[Cody]

It's awesome when you get a viral piece of content, but then you have to replicate that. And that is when it gets difficult.

[Eli]

It's that kind of like you're talking about, like. Well, I think the, The. The game plan from there is very obvious. You immediately do a crypto coin and pump and dump your audience.

[Zach]

Yeah. Give them the old hop to a.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, you make a coin.

[Cody]

You know, check it out.

[Brandon Herrera]

Make one blowy joke, suddenly you're a millionaire.

[Cody]

We've had. Dude, we've had people say, hey, here, would you guys want to do a meme coin? You guys can make a lot and it would do really good. It'd be different.

[Eli]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Cody]

I do not respond to those emails because they're fucking retarded.

[Eli]

I've turned down a seven digit offer.

[Zach]

Yeah, nice try. Feds move on. Okay, we said, though.

[Eli]

Because I didn't realize that that had happened in Nashville. What the. The Hawk. Tua.

[Brandon Herrera]

The.

[Eli]

All that shit. I was like, man, they need to have like, kind of like they've gotten Dallas where fucking Oswald allegedly shot Kennedy. Just like a little marker in the street. They need to just like cement a coin to mark the occasion. It's a historic marker.

[Zach]

This here's the day the music died.

[Brandon Herrera]

I get those emails every fucking day. Like, the Federal Trade Commission is not an enemy I want to make. I'm not about to get into goon coins right now.

[Cody]

And then you're. You're automatically. Chances are who's ever developing it, it's going to be a rug pull. It's going to you over. You're going to look terrible.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Eli]

A meme coin is like, the only purpose of it is a rug pull.

[Cody]

It's a meme coin. Literally. Look at the name. That's all you're like, oh, my God. And then people fall for it. Unfortunately, influencers do too.

[Zach]

I think it should be a litmus test of if you gave money to the hot. To a coin. Like, if you're like, I'm in on this, you don't get to vote for four years.

[Eli]

Yep.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

Or if you're a woman.

[Zach]

I love dark. That's fine.

[Brandon Herrera]

I know we. We talk about it sometimes. Women have been suffering for too long.

[Zach]

So.

[Brandon Herrera]

In their suffrage.

[Cody]

Dude, I vote for Brandon.

[Eli]

I'm not running for homie. I'm a free man.

[Zach]

If you give money to a girl who became famous off of a blowjob joke, you don't get to vote. Do you sit the next cycle out. I think that's fair.

[Cody]

She had such a good opportunity and she handled the initial one great.

[Eli]

And then, like, giving money to dogs and.

[Cody]

Yeah, she fumbled that bag so goddamn hard. I was like, no one on your side was like, maybe somebody called it.

[Brandon Herrera]

She gave money to dogs.

[Zach]

Yeah, she did, like, shelter, fundraiser, all the money.

[Cody]

Originally.

[Brandon Herrera]

She.

[Cody]

Dude, she was doing good.

[Brandon Herrera]

She.

[Cody]

She stayed silent for a month, two months, and then she was just giving that money she was making towards dog shelters.

[Zach]

Me and you talked about this either.

[Eli]

Yesterday or the day before. But you know, you know what her last video was that actually got views before the whole crypto, like, pump and dump shit.

[Cody]

Pull this up. This is great.

[Eli]

The last video she did that got like, super big views before she destroyed her audience was how not to be canceled.

[Zach]

We.

[Cody]

Her last video is literally how to avoid being canceled.

[Zach]

How would she know? Well, she doesn't, apparently. I mean, but like, even who's. She's. I mean, like, you know, she's got, like, representation. I don't know who it is. I heard it was like, Jake Paul and then dropped her. Yeah. I mean, if a Paul brother drops, you need to look in the mirror. Like, if they're like, you're too much for us. The paws were, you know, you should have just gone, like, I. But how is she? It's, you know, going viral. Like, that is the new one. Hit wonder. Like, she had no knowledge and people are like, yeah, upload it. Talk to her. It'll work. Yeah, it's good stuff.

[Eli]

It Shockingly did for a minute.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Cody]

She had the gold golden goose, and all she had to do was not do that, and she would have been fine, like a hundred percent.

[Zach]

And then she killed the goose.

[Cody]

Oh, dude, she shot the goose.

[Zach]

Yeah, she shot it.

[Eli]

All right. I can't point this. I can't say who this is, but.

[Brandon Herrera]

We have landed to the second plane hit.

[Eli]

As far as the Buffalo stuff.

[Cody]

If we sack that with the other.

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh, oh.

[Zach]

Bad time to be a part of the Buffalo public school system.

[Eli]

Very, very.

[Zach]

Imagine what could have happened if you, like, did your jobs. Yeah, yeah, we got.

[Eli]

You ain't even heard of yet.

[Brandon Herrera]

Dear God, you're about to.

[Cody]

Yeah, they're gonna be in a fun time again.

[Zach]

Like, it's crazy that this is where it all happened.

[Cody]

Like, bro, I. Dude, I do. Like, out of all the episodes, it took place after unsub versus kind of consensual. And this table was loaded with boots.

[Eli]

Oh, we were.

[Brandon Herrera]

That was our second one that day, right?

[Eli]

Yeah, it was our second pod. We had. We'd done two two hour podcasts, and this was an after show.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, there's 30 white clothes on your side. Yeah, yeah, 30.

[Cody]

30. Dude, that table is stacked with booze.

[Eli]

Nothing sobers you up like that conversation, though.

[Zach]

My God, seeing Nick's arms folded and Rich getting choked up, like, for real, me up. Like, I was like, damn. Because, you know, sometimes I'll call Rich and we'll just shoot the. And I'll be like, what are you doing today? And then, like, he'll tell me, like, the smallest amount of, like, this is the case. I'm working. This is what's happening. And I actually appreciate it because, like, we can all. I feel like I especially can forget, like, like, the reality of life, and then, like, you forget that, like, he spends his days hunting monsters. Like, hunting literal monsters.

[Brandon Herrera]

Dude, you know, I don't think I've told you guys this. My. My sister, she, you know, she's child crimes investigator. She does that. Her and Rich talk back and forth and, like, share ideas on how to catch predators together.

[Cody]

No.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Zach]

That's the coolest team up ever.

[Eli]

Because I think at one point, if I'm. If I'm not mistaken, if I can't talk about this and, like, fine, we can cut it. But you. Would you try to get her out of the business and you're just like, hey, I'll do this for you. Just, you know, get out. But she. She just missed it so much, being able to help the kids.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I Felt bad because she was looking at all these horrible things every single day. Just like, you know, just child cases. You guys know what I'm talking about?

[Eli]

Shit weighs on you.

[Brandon Herrera]

And, yeah, so, like, I get. I. I gave her a salary and she came and she worked for me for a little bit, but after a couple months, she's like, I need to go help these kids. I need to go help these kids. And she went back into policing again.

[Eli]

Which is, I'm sure, a huge personal sacrifice.

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh, 100, dude. She's, you know, it's. It's just one of those jobs where you, you know, you don't get thanked for it very much. It's a thankless job. And, yeah, she went back to that man because I. I wanted to. I wanted to give her way more she was making as a police officer, but she had to go back and help the kids. And like, God, I can't respect her enough for that.

[Zach]

It's awesome.

[Eli]

That's why, like, I, you know, it's kind of cool to get a little bit of a taste of that. And I think that's why the unsub community is rallying so hard. We're like, all right, let's. Let's give some fire support to the people that are trying to do that.

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh, yeah, enough of them. Dude, cops don't get paid much, man, for the stuff that they have to look at. You know, I know the. The thin blue line thing is kind of gay for a lot of people, but. No, man, they're like, modern law enforcement really are the people that are keeping us from. From the monsters as. As much as they up. There's, you know, you'll have, like, you'll have, like, one cop that up, but there's nine others who are amazing, and they do their job very well.

[Eli]

And I think a lot of people misconstrue the thin blue line thing, because I've heard some people explain it, and I'm like, that's not at all what it is. People are like, oh, thin blue line means they're going to have each other's back. Like, no matter. Even if they up and they do illegal and whatnot, it's like, no, that's. That's not. Like, I've heard some crazy people say it means, like, every. If they're. They're shooting at a guy, everybody's gonna shoot him so that they can't tell whose bullet matches whose gun, kind of. And I'm like, what. Where the. Where in the Reddit did you get that?

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, Exactly. Dude, go work in the streets for, like, a week and then tell me how you really feel about people. I can do. It's poo poo, you know? You know what kills me all the time, though? It's. Oh, what's. Oh, God damn it. What's the term for when people think that officers can't be charged with crimes?

[Eli]

I know exactly what you're talking about.

[Brandon Herrera]

White privilege.

[Eli]

That's it. It's close.

[Zach]

I'm thinking sovereign system, but that's obviously not it.

[Eli]

It's. It's something. It's something. Immunity, I think. Qualified immunity. Thank you.

[Brandon Herrera]

Like, people think that that means cops can't be charged criminally, but what the fucking majority of the United States doesn't realize is that there's criminal charges and there's civil charges. Qualified immunity means that the cop can't be sued individually. You have to sue his agency.

[Eli]

Civil court.

[Brandon Herrera]

In civil court, a cop can be charged with a crime at any waking moment, anytime.

[Eli]

It just means that Lieutenant Donut operator cannot be personally sued because he hurt my fifi.

[Brandon Herrera]

Exactly.

[Eli]

If you broke the law, you can still be criminally.

[Brandon Herrera]

100%. Qualified immunity has nothing to do criminally. But it's like, say, if I pulled you over and I don't know. Well, let's take risk. For example, one of his biggest things he got. He, like, people are mad at him for us, because he called someone fat boy.

[Zach]

Wasn't it a criminal breaking into homes?

[Brandon Herrera]

It was a gun. A criminal, and he called him fat boy. And so qualified immunity means that this guy can't be like, I'm gonna sue you because you called me fat boy, or I pull someone over and give him a fucking ticket for speeding. They can't say, well, you were mean to me, so I'm suing you. They have to sue the department. That's all. Qualified immunity is civil cases. And people were like, well, cops can't be charged with anything because they have qualified immunity.

[Zach]

That's not at all.

[Eli]

No, he just didn't break the fucking law.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, he just hurt your fifi. So you can't sue that cop who wants to go home to his wife and three kids and. And provide a good life for them. You can't sleep him.

[Cody]

I'm.

[Eli]

I'm not a bootlicker by any means. It's like, there's plenty of cases where I'm just like, okay, yeah, the cop up. I don't think the government should have too much. Much power. I don't think half the laws on the book should exist.

[Brandon Herrera]

Absolutely.

[Eli]

At the same time, like, a lot of the cops that are doing their job right now as far as, like, trying to protect people from murderers. The kind of people that break into your house. Like the actual, like, beat cop that's doing his job. The job is impossible if you remove qualified immunity.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, absolutely. Because you would have individual costs. Being sued for every little, like, fat boy that they say, you know, like.

[Eli]

It or nothing at all. You don't even need to have an infraction.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Eli]

To be sued. You can sue for anything.

[Zach]

I kind of love that. That's what they're going with of like, this is why this guy's bad. He calls criminals names and they, like, wonder why no one cares what they have to say.

[Eli]

Called a fat boy.

[Cody]

Fat boy.

[Zach]

Like, oh, he's mean to the crims. Like, oh, no. What a. What a bad person.

[Eli]

A guy who I think had just committed an armed robbery.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Cody]

Literally.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah.

[Cody]

And. And feelers are hurt. It's like, see, he's a bad cop. It's like, really? He also yelled at the judge. No problems. Telling him to shut the up. Those are the people you want that don't care. It's like, oh, oh, I didn't know you were a judge. I'll give you a pass. No, Rich don't give a.

[Brandon Herrera]

Although that was a judge pushed one of his junior officers. Like, assaulted a police officer. And that's why Rich showed up. So, like, like he did at that.

[Zach]

Incident, the drunk judge video, right? Yeah, yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

Him and his wife were just hammered.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Eli]

And I say it all the time.

[Brandon Herrera]

Pushed a cop and Rich. That's when Rich came up and knife handed him and was like, listen, you're a guy.

[Cody]

I don't give a fuck.

[Eli]

Now you already talked. Now's my time to talk. Guy like that is if you've never seen it. It was your video breakdown of that. I'm sure Chase can put up a clip of that. Can we have your permission?

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh, absolutely.

[Eli]

Okay. We could put up that clip here. That is one of my favorite Rich videos that you've done.

[Brandon Herrera]

It's so good, man. And then they're. They're trying to hit him up for the. I know we're going back to Buffalo again because it's so funny. Because Rich is such a wonderful human being. The. The dude with the. The skateboard that was like hitting cars and like pulling his dick out and showing people his dick all day long. And Rich wasn't even a cop that day. He was. He was. He was wearing His. Yeah, he was wearing his army uniform. He was just coming back from drill and that dude tried to hit him with a skateboard and Rich just put him down and sat on him. It's like, wait for the cops.

[Cody]

I couldn't do that job. That job would be. And it's why they have so much trouble hiring right now. You'll see ads, a dude police cars. I was behind one yesterday and it says on the police, hey, hiring like call this number. We're hiring. You know why? Because it sucks being one. Everyone has a this and then everyone's holding you to a standard that is. It's not even holding to a standard is they're just trying to see you. Fuck it. You're under a magnifying glass no matter what. Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

On the streets you're on a magnifying glass from the public. Even when you go back to like the police station, you're under a magnifying glass from the brass who wants to make the public happy. And the public kind of fucking retarded, honestly.

[Eli]

Because I like, I don't mind, not everyone, but I don't mind the accountability of it. What I mind is the fact that the politicians don't have their back and are actively fucking screwing them no matter what.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, dude, the whole defund police movement was such a. A blight on law enforcement and how everything, how everything went. It's like you want to take away training from police officers. That means they're going to be shittily trained and they're going to shoot you. They're going to just pull out a gun and shoot you instead of fighting you to the ground.

[Cody]

Do we talk about, oh, the mirror, the mirror. Is that. When's that video come out?

[Brandon Herrera]

That video is coming out. It should be out today. I think it's coming out today.

[Eli]

If I got the pepper box notification.

[Cody]

Yeah, this is my favorite video. I can't wait for it.

[Brandon Herrera]

God.

[Cody]

Dude, this is Cody. Go on.

[Brandon Herrera]

All right, my video that's coming out today, you got a. I can't remember if it's a. I can't remember what led up to it. It was a. Maybe a possible burglary. Like two cops clearing an empty house. And so like the male cop, he's going down, he's like, yeah, everything looks good. The female cop turns a corner and there's a mirror in front of her. Immediately just shoots the mirror twice. And what was your point behind that?

[Eli]

Yeah, when I Cuz I think I.

[Brandon Herrera]

Showed you the clip you showed me that one.

[Eli]

Because my thing is like, okay, you round a corner, boom. You see your reflection.

[Cody]

Not even around a corner. Remember, both just went down the steps.

[Eli]

No, she chose the left.

[Zach]

Does that mean there was no left.

[Cody]

The male, they went down the fucking steps. There was the mirror at the base of the steps.

[Zach]

So she shot a cop, right?

[Eli]

Yes, right at the base. But it was like, he was she like. Yeah, the officer feels right. Or the male officer peels right, she goes left.

[Cody]

And that's the mirrors right there.

[Eli]

Yeah. She immediately opens fire on it. And my thing is, like, okay, you turn left, you see a cop.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Eli]

You see someone in full police uniform with a service weapon. It's like, okay, if it wasn't a mirror, you would have just shot a cop.

[Zach]

Yeah, that's why I shoot him twice.

[Cody]

Show his face right now.

[Zach]

That's why I shoot him twice, right?

[Eli]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

Because what I brought up to Brandon at first, I was like, what if there was just, like, some kid that was in that house and she turned the corner and killed them? And Brandon's like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. She's looking at a uniformed cop in front of her, and she killed them literally instantly.

[Cody]

Just, like, stares down, right? Guy sees, sees the mirror. That's why he just went right.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Cody]

She's like.

[Brandon Herrera]

Because he looks and then he goes right. And she turns left and sees the mirror, and bam. Bam.

[Cody]

Shoots. Breaks the mirror. And then she's like, shit, it was my reflection.

[Zach]

Now she's got seven years of bad luck, too.

[Cody]

And that you just can't win.

[Zach]

What town is it in?

[Eli]

7 years of administrative leave.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, I can't remember what town is in. It's in. But I'll get back to you on that, man. I just did. Oh, God. It might be in the same video. I think it's in my next video. There's another one where a cop gets in a fight with a guy, and the guy's, like, trying to grab his gun. He's fighting with him, and the male cop is just, like, fighting on top of him. And the female cop comes over with her Taser. Taser doesn't work. So she starts just, like, kind of slapping him on the arm with the taser. Like, stop, stop, stop. I was like, oh, my God. This is what happens when you defund police, dude. If you make them. If you make them better to kill. Kill people. They won't kill people. I've been preaching this for a decade now.

[Eli]

When I first became your friend and we started hanging out and, like, you were. You were still kind of. You were way more fresh off the job. Like with policing, you, you opened my eyes up to a lot of that stuff where it's like, you're like, hey, if you want cops to kill less people, train them, train them better.

[Brandon Herrera]

Make them more dangerous.

[Eli]

Because if you, if you have these tools in your belt, like BJJ or whatever, you know how to subdue a 200 pound man, you're less likely to resort to, I don't know what to do. Bang, bang.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, yeah.

[Cody]

And you know, like they get 50 to 100 rounds a year to shoot.

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh my God. It depends on the agency too, man.

[Cody]

50 to 100 rounds a year and then they're not training outside of that. Cody knows more on this, so I'll let him speak.

[Brandon Herrera]

Well, like I said, it depends on the agency. So like the one of the agency that I worked for, you had to qualify firearms once a year. So you go out and you just shoot around a couple rounds into it, into a target, and that's. And that's it.

[Cody]

And then you're like, I can't. Like, Zach, imagine we got two mags and we just had to do qual. And then we're deployed and they're like, okay, patrol, here's the ROE by the way, bro.

[Zach]

So I can tell you what I'm not listening to. It rhymes with roe, you know what I mean?

[Brandon Herrera]

So I, I worked on a part time SWAT team, which means like SWAT isn't your all day thing. You're still patrolling, but when they call you up, you go do the SWAT things. And so anytime we would go to a heated call and it's like people screaming or people fighting or whatever, it's like you would hope you would get another SWAT guy over there because they're not gonna shoot anyone. Yeah, yeah. You instantly put the threat on the ground. Handcuff them, fine. But it's like, it's like, God, I don't want this one officer this showing up because they're gonna just escalate everything. They're gonna pull their gun, they might do this.

[Cody]

They're just nervous.

[Brandon Herrera]

It was, it would be like you boys responding. Like, you know, I wouldn't want some fucking chick who just got out of the academy that's never had any combat experience, never been punched in the face. And it's like when they say, oh, I'm coming, like one of your SWAT boys, like one of you guys comes to my call, I would be like, oh, thank Christ, they're coming to my call.

[Eli]

You want comfortability? Did Spartanburg have A dedicated swat?

[Brandon Herrera]

No, it was.

[Eli]

Everybody was just. Everybody was like that.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Do you think that Defund. The police movement is settling down, like, as it seems to be trending away, swinging other.

[Cody]

Like, right now we're on the medium.

[Eli]

It seems less convenient to attack it, I guess.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, it kind of ties into the. The whole BLM thing that happened back in the Summer of Love, you know, where they. They're like. They push for body cameras so hard. Like, that whole movement. Like, we need body cameras. We need body cameras. And so all the police departments across the country, most of them got body cameras. And then suddenly that whole movement was like, we don't need body cameras. That's racist. Body cameras are racist.

[Eli]

So we don't like what the body cameras are showing.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Eli]

So we're not going to talk about it now.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah. Oh, you. You see what actually happens in real fucking life now.

[Eli]

We need accountability. But not for me.

[Cody]

It's wild. Just the idea of being not training and then everyone. How often would you be called to, like, a SWAT action?

[Brandon Herrera]

Twice a week.

[Cody]

Twice a week. And then the people that are new to it or nervous, and they're like, I've only shot 50 rounds this year. I don't know. I don't know. Versus. I used to sleep on the way to missions at home. Very transparent. I do. That was my nap time. I was like, yeah, we're going to QRF for a mission.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Cody]

Action right.

[Zach]

Action right.

[Cody]

Dismount left. Wake up.

[Zach]

Wake me up when there's war.

[Cody]

Yeah. And you dismount, you hear, tink, tink, tink. And you get out and you're like, okay, I gotta fight this way. I gotta fight this way. Got it. Good to go. But it was. Everyone was comfortable.

[Eli]

That's why you don't wake Eli up physically.

[Cody]

The broomstick. Yeah.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Cody]

But it is. It's got that front.

[Zach]

Oh, we're good. Podcast.

[Brandon Herrera]

Well, even. Even. Okay. Something to bring up with the Colazzo.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

The. The. That shooting. Yeah, yeah, with the. The shooting at the. The church school there in Nashville. He was even pushing people out of the way. Like there were some cops that. That weren't going in. Yeah. Because in an active shooter situation, you run in. It doesn't matter if you have. If you're by yourself, it doesn't matter if you have 10 cops with you. You go in and you find the threat and you end it. In Colazo. In the video, it was Colazo and Rex. Rex, yeah. They were like. Those two were actively, like, get out of the way. Get out of the way. I hear gunshots this way. Move out of my way.

[Cody]

You know, violence of action.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Eli]

There's certain Police surprise.

[Brandon Herrera]

Violence of action. There's a certain.

[Eli]

Certain police chief here in Texas. I'd like to introduce him to that. I think could learn a few things.

[Cody]

Everyone, pause, pause. Let's sit in the final funnel. Let's wait.

[Zach]

Let's just wait it out and treat.

[Eli]

It like a barricaded suspect. Ignore the gunshots, collazo such.

[Zach]

And Rex, all those guys are like, you know, it was a horrible day in Nashville, but, like, the. The way they responded. So what most people don't know is where he was to the school is 15 minutes from the time the call happened until tango down. Thirteen minutes. That's how quickly they responded. And, like.

[Brandon Herrera]

And it was. Rex was.

[Zach]

Rex was.

[Brandon Herrera]

He was just driving by, just driving around, like.

[Zach]

Yeah. And like. So Mike. Mike's a detective. Like, he. He. Without going too much into it. I mean, his. His undercover work got blown because they put his face everywhere. But, like, he used to just. He'll go and, like, do undercover work and he would, like, go to businesses and they were doing bad things and he was, like, building a case on that. But Rex was in the different part of town. He responded. And Mike met him there. And Mike, I don't. You should talk to him about. But they met there together. And, like, they had been trained and they'd known each other because Mike's always, like, pulling leads and stuff from, like, working downtown and everything. So they knew each other, but, like, they just converged and all acted as one and moved through it right in, like, the literal worst case scenario, something that I couldn't even imagine. And, you know, it's just. It like, literally showed the importance of training and, like, how you need to make cops dangerous. Honestly, like. And they're fucking heroes. I mean, they got the medal of Valor, which is the highest level of award that a officer can get. It's a. It's the equivalent of the Medal of Honor. And they. Him and all the cops got it who responded that day. They're fucking heroes.

[Eli]

I'd love to have him on. He's a. He's a super fucking rad guy. Yeah, like, he's. He's a totally cool dude. And now you're getting concussed building his deck.

[Zach]

Yeah, dude, he kind of sucks at building decks. But, like, so here. All right, that's enough about how cool he is. He invited me over.

[Cody]

Okay. I don't know anything that's going on, like, now.

[Zach]

So, like, he's. He invited me over. He got a pool, and, like, you're supposed to, like, level. You're supposed to great and level, right when you put a pool in trouble.

[Cody]

Duh.

[Zach]

All right, great and level. And I show up and I go, mike, have you. Have you leveled? And he goes, huh? Have you leveled it? And he goes, I'm trying. So he had not.

[Eli]

It's not like an above ground inflatable pool.

[Zach]

Yeah, no, he had not leveled it. And so we were taking two by fours, put on like a. Like an arm, and lifting up the pool as he's digging it out, trying to raise it up. And I was like, I swear to God, if you weren't a hero, I wouldn't be here. Like, I hate you so much.

[Eli]

It's not like a doggy pool, bro.

[Brandon Herrera]

Stick to shooting active shooters, okay?

[Zach]

So he's like, you're fine, you're fine, you're fine. Long story short, I'm pulling this up, doing this like this, and it wasn't paying attention, and he literally knocked me unconscious. And I just go, I'm going home. I'm going home. I don't want to do this anymore. And so when Brandon came in town, he's like, come help me build a deck. And I was like, not a fucking chance. I'm not going home. He's texting you.

[Eli]

And then he's texting me. He's like, hey, you and Zach need to come over.

[Zach]

Like, I'll grill some steaks.

[Eli]

But, like, are you free tonight?

[Zach]

Oh, you trying to do. He tried to finesse us into coming to build his deck. It's because I think Easter week.

[Eli]

No, he knew my last name was Herrera. He's like, cool, a Mexican's in town.

[Cody]

All right.

[Eli]

I got a deck that needs to get built.

[Cody]

Where are you? I'm at Home Depot. I don't see you.

[Zach]

Yeah. He's like, zach's fine. It's just one concussion. I'm like, dude, I don't know how many I've got left. It's. It's like the Never ending Story, Part 2. I don't know how many more wishes I have available. I don't. You know, I'm gonna hit my head probably when I leave here. You know how many I got the rest of my life? Maybe five. I'm not rolling, bro.

[Brandon Herrera]

I love our friends. We have the weirdest friend group ever in the history of mankind, I think.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah, you and you.

[Eli]

And we're all good people. But you'd Never know it.

[Zach]

That's the other. He didn't drain the pool. He didn't do any of it.

[Cody]

Wait, what?

[Zach]

The pool was, like, half filled. He's like, well, we're gonna swim in it. And I was like, no, you're not. That side's two feet and that side's 14. The kids are gonna drown, dude. He's like, it'll be fine. So, like, I'm literally, like, cranking the thing.

[Cody]

You're holding up water.

[Zach]

Yeah, it was. It had. It was like a third filled up.

[Cody]

And I was like, one gallon is, like, nine pounds, eight pounds, nine. Again.

[Zach]

Mike, I hate you so much, dude. He's like, oh, it's fine. So big deal.

[Cody]

But I've been so pissed showing up to my Cody. God. If you called me and like, hey, can you help this? And I go there. I walk in, I still see the. The pool half full. Like, no, no. You got me here first off.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, now I'm leaving, But I have steaks.

[Zach]

He did not have Applebee.

[Cody]

And I don't have to work.

[Zach]

He did not have steaks. And here's the best part about it. Guess what he had to do to the pool again? He had to drain it and then re level it again. So, like, this pool's, like, been terraformed in the ground. Like, I don't know what the deck's made out of. I'm sure it's, like, flavor fluid. Like, remember those weird little squeeze things you had as a kid? That's what I think his deck is made out of. Like, he just kind of moves like an earthworm. It's fine. He'll be all right.

[Brandon Herrera]

It's our next Gang Duds episode. We build collazo a pool.

[Zach]

We send trout to fix it. He just lights it on fire, and he's like, nothing could have been done.

[Eli]

I think I did too. Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah. I was looking for a house recently just to move out of the place. I am come closer to Bernie, because the skate shops there, you guys are kind of near Bernie. And I brought Connor with me everywhere. Connor's just got a cigarette in his mouth. He's like, yeah, this shit's. Chris is with us. I'm like, all right, we're not getting this house.

[Eli]

He's ripping cigarettes indoors. Like, smells like cigarettes.

[Cody]

Was there a smoker that lived here?

[Zach]

I did. I called Connor about my shower. He knew it instant. He's like, send me a video. And he answered all my questions in, like, five minutes.

[Cody]

So I do. With Nick. When I had electrical problem, I Just literally text Nick and he's like, oh, you got to go downstairs. It's probably right here. One of the bathrooms downstairs is going to have the reset button. I was like, why? It's in a different room.

[Zach]

Room.

[Cody]

Look, walk into the.

[Zach]

Just do it.

[Cody]

Yes. Yeah. And 100%. I was like, oh, he wasn't lying. Click reset.

[Brandon Herrera]

He did the same thing with me one time. I forget he's a electrician. I mean, you've heard the story about when I first picked him up when he came here.

[Zach]

It's a good story.

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh, Jesus. When? The first time that Nick ever came and hung out with us for unsubscribe, I pick him up.

[Cody]

You hit him up?

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, I hit him up. And I'm like, hey, you gotta come do unsubscribe. I pick him up from the airport.

[Cody]

You hit up the fat electrician.

[Brandon Herrera]

And like, the first thing out of my mouth is, yeah, so when you're not doing YouTube, what do you do? And he looks at me and I go, ah, fucking fat electrician.

[Eli]

I got this picture from, like, this was. Oh, God. Two years ago, actually, almost on the dot, where I. I have him over and I'm just like, oh, by the way, I'm having this, like, technical issue with my office. He's like, come here. He just, like, has a screwdriver in his mouth, is like, going through all my electrical. We are. It is 2 o' clock in the morning, as per this photo, and I just have this picture of Nick going through my electrical panel. I'll send this to you if you.

[Cody]

Need it.

[Zach]

Pulled off the panel.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, Jamie pulled that up.

[Zach]

He can't help himself. When Nick said he's like, I've always wanted a black Grand National. I was like, it caught me off guard. I'm like, Iowa guy? No, dude, he's from Southern California. Like, Nick's. Nick's about. About it. Yeah, yeah. Like, Nick's. He's always, like, wearing, like, some Jordans or something. Like, he's low key. Like, he's. Yeah.

[Cody]

Nick is in Paris.

[Zach]

Yeah, Nick is in Paris. Nick is in Paris.

[Brandon Herrera]

One of those last podcasts Nick was down for. We got a little poopy here. Yeah, a little. We drank a little bit. Which one?

[Zach]

Tied one on.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, I don't know. It was me and you and Nick. I was like, let's. Let's FaceTime. Post Malone.

[Eli]

Third name drop. All right, here we go.

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh, off. That was funny, dude.

[Zach]

I can't wait. I'm gonna be like.

[Brandon Herrera]

Nick was like, hey, man, what's up? He said, what's up, brother? He was being all nice and Nick's like, do we really just FaceTime him? He's like, yeah, yeah, we're gonna wake up one day and we're just gonna be in a fucking hospital bed or something. Dude, the lamp looks weird.

[Zach]

That'd be great.

[Eli]

I mean, if you haven't looked up the Reddit or is it. Was it a Reddit or a 4chan?

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh, the lamp looks weird. We haven't even provided any context for that.

[Eli]

One day, just like, you're gonna look at that lamp and then just like it looks a little off and go to touch it and then it's, you know, you revert back. It's, you know, 10 years ago, you were asleep. Yeah, this thing was a simulation.

[Brandon Herrera]

The story of that famous Reddit post. The lamp looks weird. There was a guy, he was at a college bar and he got knocked out by somebody. He hit his head on the pavement and he lived an entire life where he had kids and he had a beautiful wife. And like, he was happy with his life for years. And he started looking at his lamp one day and the lamp just looked weird. And so he obsessed over it and he kept looking at it, looking at it, looking at it. And he woke up and he was still just a college kid who just got knocked out at a bar.

[Cody]

So.

[Eli]

But like, beyond that, it was like he was like, I had a wife and like, I miss my kids that I never had a family sort of shit.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah. And he had to go to therapy and shit.

[Cody]

So this is one thing. Have you heard the DMT with the laser, the red laser?

[Zach]

Yes.

[Cody]

Do you know what I'm talking about?

[Zach]

I've done dmt, but you know the.

[Cody]

Red laser thing that multiple people have done it, where it's DMT and anyone that's done it because like, bullshit. That's not a real thing. It is code. If you, you'll start looking at it and there's code on it. And this is. You can watch videos, literally code. And they're like, you see code and then you're like, get the fuck out of here. It is. And it's.

[Eli]

You can see life is a simulation as long as you get real fucking high is what I'm hearing.

[Cody]

But everyone is a weird thing. Watch videos on it because it is documented. This is not like.

[Eli]

I know what you're talking about.

[Cody]

Yeah, okay. That's fucking weird.

[Zach]

Hell yeah. We're talking about. I really like drugs.

[Brandon Herrera]

They, they, they put the. It's like the, the laser thing that they use in, in contracting to measure things and they put it on like a laser level.

[Zach]

Yeah. Yes.

[Eli]

The thing Colazo doesn't own.

[Zach]

Yeah. All right.

[Brandon Herrera]

We gotta bring Colazo into the Matrix, dude.

[Zach]

So I did ibogaine and DMT through the mission within as a part of like healing, healing. And it changed my life hands down. It's one of the greatest things I've ever done. Life changing stuff.

[Brandon Herrera]

You went down to Mexico.

[Zach]

So I went down to Mexico. I went down to Mexico. I went the organization called Vets. But the facilitators were the mission within.

[Eli]

You actually like had trauma to heal versus just being a white girl on vacation.

[Zach]

Yeah, I mean when I did it in 2022, you couldn't like build a brand around it. We had to like lie basically to do what's considered medical tourism.

[Brandon Herrera]

This episode is brought to you by Lifelock. Not everyone is careful with your personal information, which might explain why there's a victim of identity theft every five seconds in the U.S. fortunately, there's LifeLock. LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats to your identity. If your identity is stolen, a US based restoration specialist will fix it, guaranteed or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year by visiting lifelock.com podcast terms apply.

[Zach]

Because like you go down there like you're literally like in San Diego and then you're in Mexico like five seconds later the gang does. I mean, I would lift. I'm down. You don't need to trust me. Talk to God.

[Cody]

Brandon has a lot of healing to do.

[Zach]

It's great. No, I can't recommend it enough. Like I literally, it's single handedly the greatest thing I've ever done, like without a shadow of a doubt. And it's been so life changing for me. I've sent some of my friends who've. It's changed their lives as well. And it's incredible, right, because the ibogaine like cleans you out and like people.

[Cody]

Stop like alcohol, everything.

[Zach]

Alcohol, drugs, which is wild. Like, here's the thing, ibogaine is illegal in America because it's been used to treat for opioid cessation. So people who can't kick opioids addiction, they take ibogaine. It's done. It literally is like bleached to the brain. It's so gnarly that when you wake up without going too in depth into it, you wake up the next day and you're like, right foot, go. And it doesn't move. It was like a baby. I was like Bambi trying to walk because your brain is like brand new and going through all of that and so.

[Cody]

But what would we do with oxycontin? How would we sell the rest of it?

[Zach]

Brother, don't get me started. They said, send it to me every 30 days. I don't know what epidemic they were talking about. The VA had that shit on, you know, every 30 days it showed up in the mail.

[Cody]

Yep.

[Zach]

But DMT, what's interesting about it is it's fast acting and like you take it and it feels like a lifetime is only like five minutes. But they did a study and like some university in like Columbia or whatever and they gave people a slow drip. DMT people didn't know each other, had nothing in common, have nothing. About the only thing they have in common is that they're all humans. They all came back after being under for like 60 minutes. 60 minutes here, which is gnarly. I don't even know how long that is under dmt. And they were like, recreate what you saw. Draw, which saw everything else. They all did the exact same thing down to the shape, size, dimensions, everything. They all recreated the same environment when they came back. They're recreating the study now at San Diego State University. The belief is that like you go to like the well of souls, like where it all is. I don't know. They all did the same thing.

[Eli]

It's like certain things like that are weird to me where they. It's like a joint hallucination where it's weird. It's like if you give anyone, you know, 20, 20 things of Benadryl, we all see the hat man. Yeah, it's just like a weird, like, why is everybody naturally drawn towards certain things?

[Zach]

I think it pierces the veil. I think we think about it like this, but it's like this, you know I'm saying, like it's dimensions.

[Eli]

No, I don't actually know you're saying.

[Zach]

Well, you know, we think, we think about like heaven and hell and like Earth.

[Cody]

Right.

[Zach]

But what if, what if it's just dimensions and these things, like open up your mind to that and you go to them.

[Cody]

You've done drugs.

[Zach]

Yeah, I'm cool. Here's the thing. No, I. It is crazy because.

[Eli]

So drugs are what made the Marvel Universe worse.

[Cody]

I do have so many friends that have went through it and they, they were alcoholics, they've had so many problems and overnight. Do not touch that shit anymore. Yeah, I am so much better in my head than I've ever been. And they quit that shit overnight. Yeah, I don't want to touch it anymore.

[Eli]

Here's, here's where I get upset.

[Cody]

Wild.

[Eli]

Here's where I get really upset with that kind of stuff. You have the, the typical, like the, you know, war on drugs kind of mentality of, oh, well, drugs are bad no matter what. You, you know, drugs are just, you know, you, you can't do that. That's. You're going to, you know, do all this with the kids and you shouldn't, you know, people just have that negative mindset with it, like, understandably. Yeah, for, for, for certain things, like, obviously don't go out and do fucking heroin. It's going to ruin your fucking life. But those same people with that kind of boomer mindset of drugs are bad all the time for any reason, unless it's a pharmaceutical grade opioid. And they shut down all the, the research that's being done with psychedelics in the veteran community, you know, healing for TBIs. There's all sorts of very legitimate use cases that people are even just the studying, not even prescribing yet, but just studying the effects of psychedelics on certain things like that they are shutting those, those studies down.

[Cody]

Just say for alcohol, like, alcohol is just this, oh, no, or alcohol is fine, but weed is the line where, like, you fucking druggie, like, one is way worse. Like alcohol. Like, you don't get high and then want to go fight someone and drive through, like, versus alcohol. You're like, hey, I angry. You have the people that just shouldn't drink.

[Eli]

So I think there's certain genetic, genetically certain groups of people have a very serious adverse reaction to alcohol.

[Zach]

My people do. Well, poor whites, the poor whites I come from, they're like, let's go work on cars in the driveway.

[Eli]

There's, you know, it's such a wide spectrum, though, because I used to have a. There was a gunsmithing mentor that I had that you give him one beer straight up. Because he was like very heavy, like, Native American bloodline. Oh yeah, one beer and he was like, I'm about to piss myself drunk. I've never seen anything like it in my life. If I didn't know him as like just a good friend and somebody that I respected, I would have thought he was lying and faking it. But certain people, like, it is just such a wide spectrum with that.

[Zach]

It's. Yeah, it's, it's interesting because, like, you know, for a while I was convinced that like, I was the, my problem with, like, alcohol in particular, was it. I thought it was alcohol. It wasn't alcohol with me. I just fucking hated myself, like, and that was something that was really hard for me. And that was, like, in the throes of, like, trying to figure out, like, you know, stuff I was going through, and then, like, starting better with the sign, and then it finally, like, picks up, and then, you know, you're trying to, like, work in this community and, like, help people. And, like, I would have, like, one step forward and two steps back. And so for me, what the medicine did for me is it, like, helped me put, like, all that stuff in its proper place and, like, work through it. Because, I mean, reset. I mean, remember we hung out before I went, and you were like, are you gonna be okay? And I'm like, Like, I'm going. I was just like, I'm going. And then, like, the craziest has happened afterwards. Like, it just put everything in line for me in a place to where, like, I can understand that. Like, oh, I just didn't like me. Right. And so that was something that was carrying with for a while because, like, you know, the hardest part about getting on the military is you get out and there's no one that's like you. And then, like, I was kind of constantly surrounded by, like, normal people. And, like, this is what I always say, like, when I'm not here, like, I'm. I'm with, like, like, normal people. So, like, talking to them about. Yeah, like, talking to them about, like, I have, you know, a YouTube channel or I have an Instagram. They're like, what's that? Like, it's. It's. They're not being mean or rude or anything. They have nothing to compare it to. And so, like, you can't relate to anything. I. I can't relate in a lot of ways.

[Brandon Herrera]

Well.

[Cody]

And, like, it's not bad.

[Zach]

It's just real.

[Cody]

But even that, it is. That is a one thing people can't really do. Then the veteran side, and yeah, your veteran side, people can't relate to that. Then you are the 1 to 3% of veterans that have actually experienced war. War. Like, I was shot at.

[Zach]

Shot, blown up by a rocket. Yeah.

[Cody]

And that is one of 3% of the entire fucking military get to experience that.

[Eli]

So you're a style.

[Zach]

Yeah, it gets. Yeah, like, when you, like, it's 1% that joins and then it gets smaller. Like, joins in a combat role and then joins in the combat role, goes to combat, like, it gets less and less and less. It's It's a small margin.

[Cody]

And then people that actually. Actually been in firefights, Like, I didn't. I thought that was the norm. I'm sure you did. When you got back. Yeah, everyone. This was normal.

[Zach]

I was like, what the are you guys doing? Like, the ground's exploding where I came from. Like, it sucks out there.

[Cody]

My buddies would go to therapy and like, yo, cuevas. People have been in, like, three gunfights their entire time. I'm like, what? No, no. Everyone's been in, like, at least 30 minimum 30 gunfights.

[Zach]

No.

[Cody]

So they're doing group therapy, and then none of the people in group therapy are resonating with my buddies, and they're like, wait, you got. No, you're lying. So then you have a disconnect completely from them, and that was just normal. So you're in this. You feel so isolated. So isolated. And then you're a cheer dad, and.

[Zach]

You'Re like, yeah, and I've got, like. I've got. Yeah. And I've got, like, a sleeve tattoos, and I'm just like, oh, hey. You know, and so, like, it's. It all kind of morphs into, like. What I'm trying to do now is, like, veteran with a sign is like, I try to make it an entry point to bridge the world between military veteran world and then those who have those outside of it. So, like, I can make it a place where we can try and learn more about each other and then, like, connect. Because, like, you know, ultimately, I just want. I don't want to. I don't want to bury anyone else. That's. That's. That's, like, literally, it's. I don't have friends.

[Cody]

You don't?

[Zach]

Yeah. I don't have the ability. I don't. Yeah.

[Eli]

Jesus.

[Cody]

I'm just being honest.

[Zach]

Friends.

[Cody]

I don't want to bury.

[Zach]

The only thing I want to bury is the Buffalo public school system. Outside of that. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

[Eli]

Metaphorically, right?

[Zach]

Metaphorically speaking.

[Eli]

Go in your house in Buffalo, New York.

[Zach]

Burn it to the ground. Mason Dixon up. It's got to go. I don't care. Here. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Contact. Contact my lawyer, Jake Watson, @pepperbox.com TV. TV. Sorry. Sorry. TV. Pep rocks. TV. But, like, I just emails.

[Eli]

It's like a thousand lawyers cried out in terror and suddenly silenced.

[Zach]

I just. So. I. I don't know. I. I came to this point where I was like, veteran with a sign. If I'm doing it well, it'll be like open source information place where people can learn about things they can maybe learn about themselves. And then it also forces me to be accountable. Right. Because I. I can't be like, get help. And then I'm just like, turn off the camera. Be like, fuck that, they fucking suck. Like, no, I. I'm very much a part of it too. And ultimately I don't have it in my heart to give another mom or dad or son or child a folded flag. Because every time. I've never talked about this, every time I put someone in the earth, a part of me goes with them and I can't keep doing it.

[Cody]

Yeah. So it sucks.

[Zach]

That's literally. I keep doing this and it's hard and it feels like you're never going to escape it. And I understand that. But I swear to God, if. If anyone can take away anything from this, I promise you it'll be better and you're worth fighting for. So, yeah, thank you for.

[Cody]

I mean, seriously, from like the veteran side that have experienced any of that, it is, thank you for doing that. Putting yourself out there in that capacity and then going above and beyond even preaching mental health. So many people have a negative mindset towards it versus you, pushing it to the forefront. Be like, hey, I'm going through this. My friends go through this. I don't want to bury you. I don't want to. I don't want to make that call where it's like, hey, sorry. Yeah, fucking sorry. You want to be the one that makes that change outright? And you're like, hey, make the call. Reach out to people. That is the weirdest thing. It is. It is okay to reach out to your friends. It is okay to talk. It is okay to open up. I fucking text Cody. Was it last month? Or. I was like, hey, man, I'm just sad. I'm just sad. And you were like, I think you FaceTime me or anything. You're like, why are you sad.

[Eli]

20 minutes later?

[Cody]

But you went above and beyond. You're like, hey, man. And it's just being transparent and it. I will let you know. It's fucking hard to open up for myself. I don't, like, my friends will tell you I don't trust people. I'm very not trusting, trusting of individuals. So you, you will have those people in your life and you'll know them when you reach out. They will be there for you. So it's. How do we normalize that? So it's not where it's like, I don't want to burden that you're never a burden. That's. That's the mindset you have to break. You are never a burden. Just reach out, talk to people.

[Eli]

Let's reverse the stigma.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, that's the new day.

[Eli]

If you don't.

[Cody]

Yeah, that's the most bunker's like, I. I can't do.

[Zach]

You hate better Clint. You hate. Dude, I can't print this.

[Eli]

Come on, man. Clint's over there. Like PR mind. Like, I don't know what's worse if we print it or we don't.

[Cody]

Dude, that is. That is the button.

[Zach]

The catch 22.

[Cody]

Get a sweat. Just surround yourself with good people and you will see they're not going to judge you. And if you have friends that will judge you, get a new group of friends.

[Zach]

Those guys suck.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, I stopped hanging out with King Trout and, like, I've been happier ever since.

[Eli]

Buddy, how are you? Hi. Oh, love you guys. No, seriously, I don't know which camera.

[Cody]

To look at, but dead serious.

[Eli]

We've all been through and like, everybody at this table's reached out to somebody at some point. Don't be a you're a about it. Just fucking reach out to your buddies if you're in a tough time. Seriously, we've all been there.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah.

[Eli]

You think you're special. You're too special to reach out to somebody.

[Zach]

Not too special.

[Eli]

I'm scared to ask my friends for help.

[Cody]

I like reverse bullying.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Eli]

Yeah, you're worth it.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Cody]

Get adored, get admired, get respected. You're gay. You don't go there.

[Eli]

For you, it's a proper mental health.

[Cody]

You're gay.

[Eli]

You don't do therapy to imagine that, like, high school dynamic.

[Cody]

Yo, this guy's gay.

[Zach]

He sucks. Dude, I bet you've never talked about your dad.

[Brandon Herrera]

Isn't that exactly what they did in 21 Jump street when they go back to high school, everyone's like Channing Tatum.

[Zach]

And yeah, it was like, wow, you.

[Brandon Herrera]

You don't accept everyone. You dude. You loser.

[Cody]

I don't fit in.

[Brandon Herrera]

I thought we were supposed to bully people.

[Cody]

What do I do right now?

[Eli]

Well, I think there's a limit. As soon as the bullies went away. Got kind of weird.

[Brandon Herrera]

Yeah, that's true too. All these trun.

[Cody]

Reversing Uno. Brandon. What Gun. We've been on our gun train. Right now I'm looking at a firearm. You just bought a few. I don't know if you can talk about.

[Eli]

I think I could talk about them. So I've got. I accidentally swept Rock island last weekend.

[Brandon Herrera]

Brandon just happened to get on the Rock island auctions again.

[Eli]

Yeah, it was. I got the text notification, like an. An auction item or an auction listing that you've. You've requested a text notification for is coming up in 20 minutes. I'm like. So I was on for the entire weekend because I needed the Beretta AR70 from Metal Gear because Eli got me on Metal Gear Solid five, and I've been playing it almost every day. But the. Yeah, no, I needed that one because I have a thing where if, like, I enjoy a piece of media, I need the gun from it.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Eli]

Like, behind half my collection. So got the Beretta AR70, and then I picked up an actual 40 millimeter thumper, like an M79.

[Zach]

I want to shoot it so bad.

[Eli]

I've got. I've got plenty of fun chalkies for you if you want to shoot it.

[Cody]

Yes, I got chalkies, too. I just found.

[Eli]

Really?

[Cody]

No, I have a case of them. I don't remember, but I.

[Zach]

How the.

[Eli]

Do you not remember how you picked up a case of 40 millimeter?

[Cody]

I have. Dude. I was like, what are these? And I pulled them down. I was like, that's a whole.

[Eli]

I just want to say I love my friends, dude. It's got a whole case of 40. Mike. Mike.

[Zach]

Just like the 40 millimeter grenade might be my favorite thing to have shot. It's scary simple.

[Brandon Herrera]

You just go, well, it's not the first time I heard one of our friends say, I got a grenade somewhere.

[Eli]

I remember who you're talking about. And, you know, they're not kidding.

[Zach]

Yeah, they're cool.

[Eli]

It's something that anybody else would be like, oh, this person's like, oh, no, he's serious, dude.

[Zach]

I love that gun. So it's just. It's just so anytime we were, they'd be like, contact front. Be, like, a little short. I said, pull it back next time. Because you. The first time you do it, it's. It's like an he round.

[Cody]

And we did 20 to 24 in a single gunfight, brother.

[Zach]

I used to walk before I take a knee, I drop three. I'd be like. And they sound. They sound horrible. But there's no. I don't think there's a kill. It's just casualty. And it sounds like earth, and people be like, diving, and you're just like, God, get to the trees. Get covered. Oh, I love it.

[Cody]

We did, like, 20.

[Zach]

When I shoot it, I'm just gonna start screaming.

[Brandon Herrera]

Man.

[Eli]

I've never heard Zach say so many slurs at one Time.

[Zach]

New achievement unlocked.

[Eli]

Can we talk about what.

[Zach]

I don't know what that means.

[Brandon Herrera]

Can we talk about what else you got? You got a. I got a flamethrower.

[Eli]

Like a Russian flamethrower bar. Oh, the bar. So, yeah, I. I got a little naughty, but I got a volcanic pistol too.

[Zach]

It shoots lava.

[Brandon Herrera]

Was like, ads were nice last month.

[Cody]

Yeah, yeah, Shoots lava.

[Zach]

It's just.

[Eli]

Just a reminder. The more videos of mine. The more videos of mine you watch, the more cool shit I can buy. Like this. But yeah, no, I picked up the. The volcanic pistol, which is a. So is technically made. I think it's. Well, at some point it end up being made by Smith and Wesson, but it's like from the 1850s. It's in like Red Dead Redemption.

[Zach]

I know. Yeah, yeah.

[Eli]

Where it's like a lever action pistol. But apparently they were super weak. Like ammo for them is extinct. It was some weird kind of like. I don't know, it's almost like the. The 18th, 1800s equivalent of the gyrojet.

[Zach]

Okay.

[Eli]

Where it was just kind of. It's God dang.

[Cody]

Yeah.

[Eli]

But yeah, apparently they were saying that it was so weak that you couldn't really yourself with it.

[Zach]

Who said?

[Eli]

Like you shot yourself in the head?

[Zach]

Oh, okay.

[Cody]

Veterans.

[Eli]

God damn it, Eli.

[Zach]

That's a weird. That's a weird case study to sign up for. Come here, son. Try this pistol out. Let us know what you think.

[Cody]

It's just la.

[Zach]

Did it make the blues go away? On a scale of 1 to 10, how do you feel?

[Cody]

That old timey voice. It's the.

[Zach]

Yeah, it is the old timey voice.

[Eli]

The transatlantic accent.

[Zach]

Yeah, step right up, step right up. Try the pistol.

[Eli]

The scale of 1 to 10 at the VA, it's just the upside down smiley face, the frowny face.

[Zach]

Would you say this describes you? Here's a nickel.

[Eli]

God, I remember that scale, cuz. Yeah, my. My granddad was at the VA hospital for. For years and seeing how. How bad they were treated, man, is just so fucking annoying.

[Cody]

I just like. It's a 1 through 10 on a smiley face to front funny face. We're in discomfort and you're like the VA always.

[Eli]

At least in Fort Bragg, like the VA always fucking smelled bad. Everybody was rude. And the thing that was like just right on the nose for me, that always pissed me off is he had a room where right out the window across the street, literally like stone's throw distance, was the VA cemetery.

[Zach]

Seriously?

[Eli]

Yeah. You were staring every day at the cemetery across the street that's not just.

[Brandon Herrera]

Right into the grave.

[Eli]

I mean, kudos to them. It was a direct pipeline, but, like, me like that, it was just.

[Zach]

It was.

[Eli]

That always annoyed the out of me.

[Cody]

This is an open grave. Always.

[Eli]

Jeez.

[Cody]

Jesus. There's one fire. Oh, mine's.

[Zach]

I'm very, very fortunate. The one I go to in Nashville, it's. It's all the doctors there are Vanderbilt.

[Eli]

Doctors, because Nashville's kind of like a medical hub, isn't it?

[Zach]

Yeah, it's. It's where. So it's the healthcare capital. The world. It's private health care is based out there. But like the one I got to in Nashville, it's. It's sick. I. You know, they fixed my deviated septum and everything.

[Eli]

Really?

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah. Coming here. Peeled it back and reinforced it. Is awesome.

[Cody]

Not mine.

[Zach]

So I had sleep apnea. And that was. You know, I wasn't like, morbidly obese or whatever. And I kept failing. I kept failing the test. I had less than 100% out of both nostrils.

[Eli]

No, you couldn't sleep on your back.

[Zach]

Yeah, it was rough. Like, I would wake up and, like, you know, when I finally wake up, I'd be covered in sweat and I just be like. And, you know, my wife's just like, you know, scared shitless. And I'm like, yeah, I think I need to get this fixed. And it's been a very good experience. But like, other VA's, it's. I mean, like the Phoenix one, the Alvin Sea York one, like, they're kind of hit and miss, but it sucks, to be honest.

[Eli]

I think it was a Connor tweet. And it's like my favorite part about sleeping with a woman is the eventual. The inevitable sleep. Sleep apnea diagnosis.

[Zach]

Joe, she cares.

[Brandon Herrera]

First.

[Zach]

First night. I've honestly never heard of him being across the street from a cemetery.

[Cody]

That's actually positive, right? Dude, Imagine just waking up. Did you just say you're stuck there? And then you open the curtains and you're just looking at a cemetery?

[Eli]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

No one picked up on you saying the solid pipeline they have there?

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

Points for efficiency check in the va. All right, Go across the street, who.

[Zach]

Is the city planner who's like, I've got an idea. Like, who approved that? Yeah, I was just gonna, like, that's.

[Eli]

That's got to be German efficiency for sake.

[Zach]

It was just. It was.

[Eli]

I. I just. It was. I was a young kid at the time when it first kind of stuck with me. And it just. Ever since then, that has always been I guess painting my perception of the va.

[Cody]

They're great. We love them. It's a hit or miss and that's about it.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Eli]

I hope they can change some stuff. I really do.

[Cody]

I hear.

[Zach]

Really? Dude, I hear really good things about Doug Collins, new secretary.

[Eli]

I hope so.

[Zach]

I've heard nothing but good stuff. I might be able to talk to him. We'll see.

[Cody]

I remember.

[Zach]

Yeah, he's. I know he's supposed to be.

[Cody]

He actually was doing podcast.

[Zach]

He wants to do podcast.

[Cody]

And like, we told him, unsub. We were very open on that because we're like, hey, we do just. Just watch an episode and he's down. But it's not like, hey, we're catering the conversation.

[Brandon Herrera]

Hey, man, we went to the Pentagon.

[Zach]

You're not from Buffalo, are you? No. I mean, he's like, you're hiding the.

[Eli]

Buffalonians under the floorboards, are you not?

[Zach]

No, Like, I'm optimistic. Like, I'm actually optimistic because, like, he's taken, like, from what I understand, like, a real, real, like, honest approach to fixing the va, which is what we need.

[Brandon Herrera]

So crazy. You're harboring journalists under the floor.

[Zach]

You don't hate mainstream media.

[Eli]

Don't.

[Cody]

If.

[Eli]

If nothing.

[Zach]

If nothing.

[Eli]

We have talked about this for over a year now. How much you do not hate mainstream journalists Enough. And the Buffalo thing proved it right out the gate. My God. Immediately go after the rocky history of this influencer. It's like they're jealous of the fact that they don't get our kind of views. Like, they have a fucking chip on their shoulder and they just want to attack people that are talking about real shit.

[Cody]

Wild. To downplay something, I would look at the numbers. Like, man, I would. They're doing something right. How do I reach out to these individuals and learn from them?

[Zach]

Well, you're not.

[Eli]

How many journalists have you been reached out to?

[Brandon Herrera]

Well, I think the other day, the funny one. Funny thing.

[Cody]

Zero.

[Eli]

Yeah. Fucking zip. Yeah.

[Brandon Herrera]

One of the funny things that you. You talked about the other day was, oh, you. You got that four year degree. Huh? That makes you way better than we are at telling the truth. Huh? Yeah.

[Eli]

And you think this gives you power over me?

[Cody]

I wish I had that paper.

[Zach]

Just.

[Cody]

I'd be so far in life right now.

[Zach]

It's pretty cool.

[Eli]

You'd be defending Buffalo.

[Cody]

See, I'm missing out.

[Zach]

Burn it down.

[Cody]

On that note, we'll move to the after show.

[Brandon Herrera]

Doing the after show. Yeah. On Patreon.

[Cody]

On Patreon. On Patreon.

[Eli]

On Patreon.

[Cody]

For a bit. I want to talk about the gun. I don't know if I talk about the gun because I don't want people to buy it.

[Eli]

Oh, yeah, I know what you're talking about.

[Cody]

Yeah. I'm like.

[Eli]

Because we still got to do our Guns and Metal Gear video.

[Cody]

Yes, we do. Yes, we do. Cody, close this out.

[Brandon Herrera]

Oh. Bye, everyone. Thanks for joining the unsubscribe podcast. I was joined today by Eli Double double tap veteran with a sign. Brandon Herrera, myself, donut operator. Thank you so much. Catch the after show on Patreon where we really say slurs.

[Cody]

Where do we find you at?

[Zach]

Zach, Go check out veteran with the sign on YouTube and the after action podcast, wherever you get your podcasts.

[Eli]

And my episode should be coming out soon, I think.

[Zach]

Yeah, two of them, actually. Brandon, we talked about everything. He told us all the secrets of the world I'm slowly acquiring. Firing unsub host on the podcast like Thanos does. Stones. One by one, it's happening. Two down, two to go.

[Eli]

We got the glove somewhere.

[Cody]

Hell, yeah, you're gonna snap. And all the brown people are gone.

[Zach]

Sa.