MARSOC & The Battle Of Fallujah | Unsubscribe Podcast 253

Summary

Unsubscribe Podcast 253: "MARSOC & The Battle Of Fallujah"

Date: March 1, 2026
Hosts: Eli Doubletap, Brandon Herrera, Donut Operator, The Fat Electrician
Guest: Cody Alford (Retired Marine Raider / MARSOC, Veteran Influencer)

---

Episode Overview

In this episode, the Unsubscribe crew welcomes Cody Alford, a retired Marine Raider with a storied career in Force Recon, MARSOC, and special operations. The conversation weaves through intense war stories from the Battle of Fallujah, military bureaucracy, challenges with medical care and TBIs, mental health and post-service transition, psychedelic therapy, and the sometimes-roasted journey to social media stardom. Moments of dark humor, personal reflection, and camaraderie are ever-present, creating both a brutally honest and uplifting take on vet life after war.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introductions, Banter, and The Art of Veteran Camaraderie

• [03:16] The hosts introduce Cody, reminiscing on how online personas can differ from real life and emphasizing the importance of authenticity among veteran influencers.
  • "The community of Veterans Influencer is a weird name, but the veterans with a voice, right? The veterans that choose to bring up and not bring down... that's what the world's lacking, authenticity." — Cody [04:18]

2. Cody's Marine Corps & MARSOC Career

• [05:49]–[11:12] Cody walks through his 15+ year career, covering everything from becoming a Scout Sniper, surviving the first day of combat in Fallujah, to later becoming a senior enlisted advisor in special operations.
  • "On my very first day in Fallujah, I got shot in the helmet." — Cody [09:09]
  • The brutal realities of first combat, gear shortages, and classic Marine grit are displayed in vivid detail, punctuated by humor and humility.

3. The Battle of Fallujah: Surviving Chaos

• [10:03]–[19:16] Cody shares the chaos, confusion, and horror of the Battle of Fallujah:
  • Out-of-body, near-death experiences after being shot.
  • Navigating unfinished buildings, trying to hotwire cars (and failing hilariously), and avoiding friendly fire.
  • Encounters with death, and the camaraderie and dark humor essential for survival.
  • "There was no respawn. It was kind of weird, right?" — Cody [09:13]
  • "If you have anything good that's different than what they have, it's gone, you know?" — Cody on Marines and "the Jew kit" [08:39]

4. Military Bureaucracy, Leadership, and Disillusionment

• [19:16]–[31:34] Discussion on how toxic leadership, career ladder motivations, and military bureaucracy create stress, trauma, and sometimes, danger for those on the ground:
  • "When I saw how these officers... were more concerned with their face value to their high superior, it just disgusted me, bro." — Cody [21:34]
  • The contrast between "good leaders and the bad leaders," and the crushing weight of red tape, especially when fighting for subordinates’ well-being.
  • The strange and often arbitrary evolutions of Marine Corps doctrine, including the axing of tanks and the Scout Sniper program.

5. The Lasting Toll: TBI, Mental Health, and Getting Help

• [23:00]–[24:02] Cody describes transitioning from operator to patient, being steered to a TBI clinic while still on active duty ("Intrepid Spirit").
  • "Most guys and girls, when they're retiring, they'll go [to the TBI clinic]... But, as you guys know, once you're a civilian, no one gives a about you." — Cody [23:14]
• [27:51] On always wearing a helmet, lessons from combat, and the sometimes macho resistance to seeking help.
• "Asking for help was fucking hard. Fighting for myself was hard." — Cody [59:04]

6. Toxic Veteran Culture, Online Negativity, and Positive Influence

• [34:11]–[36:06] The toxicity in military senior enlisted and special operations culture; "our peer group eats its own," and the difficulty of uplifting fellow veterans.
• "There's so many of our peer groups that just literally just talk other veterans..." — Cody [70:20]
• Online negativity and "stolen valor" accusations after opening up about struggles. Cody shares how negative comments used to devastate him, and now he uses them as fuel and content.
  • "All the dudes that have talked about me online, they have impacted my life positively..." — Cody [84:34]

7. Real Healing: Psychedelic Assisted Therapy & Personal Transformation

• [86:32]–[99:16] The conversation dives deeply into Cody’s experiences with ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT (Bufo/Toad) therapy for TBIs and trauma, including life-changing physical and emotional breakthroughs:
  • “You’re guaranteed to move the gray matter in your brain. It reverses TBIs…” — Cody [88:00]
  • Powerful anecdotes about how psychedelic treatment has helped fellow veterans overcome addiction and suicidal ideation.
  • "I realized for 39 years how much I hated myself... even when I had smiles on my face." — Cody [97:21]
• Cody gets candid about being able to finally accept self-love and happiness in his 40s after a lifetime of internal struggle.
  • "If killing it means happy as and I love my life and I love my family, then I'm murdering it, bro." — Cody [99:42]

8. Social Media, Influence, and Defying the Norm

• [54:36]–[85:25] The story of how Cody transitioned into social media ("We Defy the Norm"), initial struggles, and the viral impact of his appearance on the Sean Ryan Show.
  • Dealing with hate, carving out space for authentic conversations about trauma, masculinity, and growth.
• Discussion around building a positive online presence and using hate as constructive motivation.
  • "You cultivate what you encourage and what you spend your time on." — Cited from Administrative Results [84:02]

9. Life After Uniform: Purpose & Reflection

• [108:25] The importance of finding purpose outside the military:
  • "I'm using the same breath, asking where’s my purpose, when my breath is my purpose." — Cody [108:25]
• Real talk on post-military financial stress, material ambitions vs. actual satisfaction, and leaning into new passions (like wanting to “feed families and own a rally Porsche”).

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "On my very first day in Fallujah, I got shot in the helmet." — Cody [09:09]
• "I don't believe that plant medicine is for everybody, but I believe that change is for everybody. Some people are just so resistant. And that's okay." — Cody [89:01]
• "If you're not happy with your life, then only you can change it." — Cody [68:35]
• "I realized for 39 years how much I hated myself... but I'm murdering it, bro." — Cody [97:21]/[99:42]
• "You train me to literally be a killer. But then you say, hey, but I need you to be a tap dancer on this deployment." — Cody [36:06]
• "Why are you wearing white socks?" — 'That's why you're dying out there.' Literally, verbatim." — Cody retelling leadership's absurd priorities [34:11]
• "You hold on to this life... to all this shit. If I don't take a step forward, I'm just gonna freeze and lock up, and that's not gonna happen." — Cody [97:19]

Comic Relief & Human Moments:

• The "drink spill" and robe incident mid-episode, setting off a wave of classic Unsubscribe chaos and roast sessions [48:05–50:04].
• Candy, Oreos, and "Jew Box" jokes mixed with dark humor on survival and identity [08:39]/[104:01].

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [05:49] – Cody’s background and military career summary
• [09:09] – First day in Fallujah, shot in the head, out-of-body experience
• [19:16] – Friendly fire, dark humor on survival, aftermath in Fallujah
• [23:00] – Transition to TBI clinic, importance of seeking care while active
• [34:11] – The absurdities of military leadership and morale
• [54:36] – Cody’s transition to online influence, facing online criticism
• [86:32] – Psychedelic therapy, ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT for PTSD and TBI
• [97:19] – Major personal breakthrough: self-acceptance and love
• [108:25] – Reflections on finding purpose after service
• [112:54] – Where to find Cody (YouTube/Instagram: thecodyalford)

---

Episode Tone & Takeaways

The episode is fast, loose, and unfiltered — loaded with brutal military humor, sincerity about trauma, and a lot of hope and realness about post-military life and healing. Cody’s openness about combat, leadership, mental health, and transformation sets a powerful example for both veteran and civilian listeners.

Main Message:
Surviving war is more than luck; thriving after it takes humility, support, and sometimes, unconventional therapy. Seeking help isn’t weakness, sharing the struggle is strength. And—never underestimate the power of a good helmet, or an even better sense of humor.

---

Transcript

[A]

CRM was supposed to improve customer relationships. Instead, it's shorthand for can't resolve much, which means you may have sunk a fortune into software that just bounces customer issues around, but never actually solves them. On the ServiceNow AI platform, CRM stands for something better. With AI built into one platform, customers aren't mired in endless loops of automated indifference. They get what they need when they need it bad. CRM was then, this is ServiceNow.

[B]

He's autistic and wants to favorite slur right now. Go, penis.

[A]

That's not a slurp.

[B]

Did you do war?

[A]

No, worse.

[B]

You look like Netflix. Jesus.

[C]

The podcast is ruined.

[A]

Mission accomplished.

[B]

Say hi to Eli. He's racially ambiguous. Brandon. His hair is fucking fabulous.

[D]

Donut.

[B]

A dog Joke disposition. And there's a fat electrician.

[A]

And welcome to Unsubscribe.

[C]

You can try it. If you don't like it, I'll finish it for you.

[D]

Magnesium. Potassium. So it hydrates at the same time. On the count of three, we will pop these tops. Three, two, one.

[C]

What were you going to ask me about Bush light.

[A]

I was going to ask you your opinion on Bush light Apple or Bush apple.

[C]

Whatever it is, it's like, okay as like, a novelty thing if you want to drink one or two beers casually. But, like, it's not something that. If I was like, I'm going drinking with the boys, get me an 18 rack of bush apple.

[D]

No.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Absolutely not.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

I feel like that's a. That's a safe answer. You might have just offended the entire Midwest if you said you didn't like it, period.

[C]

It's not that I don't like it. It's just like. It's not like you can drink fucking 20 bush lights and you're fine, like, as one does. Yeah, it's fine. Dude, it's water. Calm down. Like, give me Bush lights. It takes to get hammered.

[A]

No, but I know that you do.

[C]

I don't know that I do.

[D]

Tonight on Unsubscribe, we get Nick.

[C]

How many? Okay. We brought the other two. Iowa influencers, junkyard digs and pew view on. And we did more than a 30 rack in two hours.

[A]

It was quite impressive.

[D]

I know it was.

[C]

The whole table was covered.

[D]

Yeah, a table's worth.

[C]

And I wasn't, like, belligerently drunk.

[A]

Before we get too far, I did Cody's job last time. Do you want to do it this time?

[D]

No. This is anyone that sits.

[A]

This is not my job.

[B]

Doing this fucking job.

[C]

You're a representative. You're Running to be a representative. Represent Cody.

[D]

Where's that? Whatever.

[A]

I resign already. I resign. Now somebody takes code. Take Cody's job.

[C]

Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Unsubscribe podcast. I'm joined here today by Eli Double Tap, Cody Alfred myself, donut operator, and Brandon Barberba.

[A]

Thank you. Thank you. I've been told when I do Cody's job, it's too nasally.

[D]

No good. Hi, everyone.

[C]

I said your last name, right?

[D]

Right.

[B]

It's close. Yeah.

[C]

Oh, my bad. Damn it. I tried.

[B]

You got my first one. Right?

[C]

Oh, that's good. Yeah, I can spell that one. Spell that one.

[B]

Hell, yeah. I'm.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Dude.

[D]

Welcome, bro. We've had. I mean, we've known each other for a few years now. I think everyone has met you or talked to you in some capacity for the last couple of years.

[B]

Yeah, definitely recently. I think we just met it Range day.

[C]

Yeah, we met on an escalator at RA did.

[B]

And I didn't want to be that guy that, like, fanboys. I'm like, I. I've seen you on the Internet. Nice. Nice to meet you.

[C]

Hey, me and you had the Spider man moment of like, hi, we're both busy. I gotta go.

[D]

Yeah, we had.

[C]

We had, like, the. I know who you are. We shook hands. I know it's like, that was it I'm doing.

[A]

But I'm familiar with your game.

[B]

Yes. Your name's not familiar, but your fez is. Yeah. And we've been in contact online for a few years, actually.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah, man.

[B]

And what's really rad is, like, I always. I always like to tell the Internet world, like, you know, seeing people's Personas on the Internet and then getting to, like, know behind the scenes, like, that's one of the things I first asked is like, oh, hey, thanks. You messaged me back in the day, or I shot you a message. I'm like, did I respond? Was I a dick? You know, like, those are, like, the first two things, because then I'll know what era of life I was in. And, you know, you've always responded back and always been super kind. And, you know, this. The community of Veterans Influencer is a weird name, but the veterans with a voice, right? The veterans that choose to bring up and not bring down. It's. It's. It's not a lot. It's not the. The norm, you know? And so, like, I've always, like, appreciated that. And it's. It's. It's nice to see because our own eats. Eats our own. And there's so many young men and women that watch us. And it's not the, our generation that's going to suffer. It's these young kids that are looking up for role models in their life. And you know, they, they see like, you don't have to have stupid videos. You can just have stupid conversations and you know, like, you can just be bros and reals and that's, that's what the world's lacking, authenticity. So I appreciate like all the conversations we have had. So the Internet's watching. Like, they are real people. And I, I'm super humbled to be here and I'm super great. And what's even sicker is like the cross pollination of like, like social media followers. Like, oh, when you get on unsubscribe, I'm like, dude, I think I'm going on it like tomorrow. Like, I think it's happening.

[A]

This has been way too positive so far. Right out the gate. Say a slur.

[D]

Yeah,

[C]

plenty of them.

[D]

He's like, he's like, whoa. He's going hard right up.

[A]

You got to rev up the engines. You can't just cold start this. It's.

[D]

And we also talk lots of.

[B]

I'm here for it. I'm all about the talking.

[D]

Dude, you're so, you're former Marines. If you want to tell the audience a little bit about yourself that don't know because I mean, we all know. But you have a stellar career and you were in for, for a little bit too.

[B]

Yeah. Just over 15 years. Yeah. Almost 16. Yeah. So I joined the Marine Corps in 2003. Selfishly, I just want to be a Scott sniper.

[C]

How old are you?

[B]

I'm 40.

[C]

God, I look like.

[B]

Holy. Yeah, dude.

[A]

Dude, you look great. Thank you.

[B]

Dude, it's, it's like I've worked really hard to live as stress free as possible. Right. It's like, it's like in the military. Right?

[D]

Like bad job choice before.

[A]

Yeah, dude, I want to avoid stress. Marine Corps?

[B]

Yeah, Marine Corps. Well, I didn't know about, I didn't know the word stress, anxiety, depression. Those words didn't exist in my childhood, you know, And I, so I enlisted in O3 and I was a scout sniper, Force reconnaissance Marine. The Marine Special Operations command started. So I started that and a plank owner of that for the west Coast. And then I, yeah, I retired in 2018. I came back from my last deployment. I was the Soto North Special Operations task force senior listed advisor. And so I came back from that deployment that I spent the whole time like watching like, Kill TV. Like, the wall of TVs. And it was actually my greatest deployment because I got to do exactly what we all said when we were the lower Ech guys. Like, man, I wish people just, like, took care of us, looked out for us, and I got to be that guy and, you know, fight for dudes, and it was great. And anytime I could yell at an officer and, like, not care A, being a master sergeant, they can't do anything to me. B, I was 245 pounds of, like, pure, just awesomeness, you know, sex appeal. They're not.

[A]

They didn't want to do anything to you.

[B]

And I'm Jewish, so it's like, they can't, like, hate on me, right? Because I'm just like, are you anti semi, bro? Like, what the going on?

[A]

You get to pull out that card.

[B]

You're like, well, well, yeah.

[D]

So you take off your small Mitch.

[B]

Yeah. You know, it's funny, actually. I actually. I actually had a yarmulke. My first deployment was Fallujah, Iraq. And so I'm 18 years old, and I didn't. I didn't. I grew up Jewish, but once my grandmother passed away, we did, like, Christmas, and, like, I never did a bat mitzvah, none of that stuff. And so, like.

[A]

So like, ethnically not like, blood.

[B]

Yeah, my blood is from that origin. Right. And so on my first deployment, the chaplain comes over. He's like, hey, I heard you're Jewish. And he brought me a Passover kit. I'm like, what's a Passover kit? But all I knew, I genuinely don't

[A]

know what is a passover kit.

[B]

So it was, like, all, like, kosher meals. So it had, like, juices and, like, it had, like, a beef stew. I'm, like, eating, like, shitty MREs. I'm like, I get. You're telling me that's for me. And so it's sick of it. And inside this kit, it was like a little, like, gift box. Inside this kit was a white yarmulke. And so I'm like, oh, bro, the Iraqis are gonna love this. So I, like, put on this.

[A]

Like, you just taught an entire generation of enlisted guys how to game the system, though.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[D]

Yeah. Wait, you get better food.

[B]

You get better food.

[C]

That's the JTAC for the space laser.

[B]

Yeah. And so I'm, like, wearing this yam gun in my helmet. So, like, it's like this beautiful white turns to, like, nasty brown and black. And I'm going on patrols, and I come back and do my juice Is gone. My beastu is gone. I'm so pissed, bro. I got rated, dude. Marines are locusts, right? Like, if you have anything good that's different than what they have, it's gone, you know?

[A]

Grab the Jew kit.

[B]

Oh, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, it's great. Yeah. So that was that. Yeah. But I was able. So my last deployment, I came back and I was having a bunch of like, telltale signs of. I was breezing over my first deployment. I took a round to the helmet. On my very first day in Fallujah, I got shot in the helmet.

[D]

Jesus.

[B]

In my very first gunfight before noon.

[A]

Not very good at it.

[B]

March 26, 2004. Yeah. Took a round. Yeah. I'm like, oh, you suck. There was. There was no respawn. It was kind of weird, right?

[A]

It's kind of like what. Eli, what you always say is like, yeah, I got the bat at my job award.

[D]

Yeah. I should have zig instead of zag.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

From the enemy marksman. It bad.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

There you go. Yeah.

[B]

From the get go. Right. Like the day just halfway started and then it, you know, once of that, you know, so that was fun to be appointment on a sniper team and the first thing that turns a corner is my head. So I'm like always trying to, like, present my body to give them more something to shoot at. Because I'm like, I've already taken around. And at the time, we didn't really have, like, gear supplies. So like, I'm walking around the same helmet with a hole in it for like a couple weeks until.

[C]

That's the most marine thing I think I've ever heard.

[D]

Did it wrote. Did it ride the ridge?

[B]

No, it just.

[D]

Or did it just stop?

[B]

It just penetrated the top lip and then it just stopped. So like bowed in on the inside and. Yeah.

[D]

And knocked your ass down, though.

[B]

Oh, yeah. It was super crazy. And I'm kind of breezing over that too. But it's like I had this crazy out of body experience. I remember. So we were inside the second floor building, and my sniper team was ahead of the entire battalion. How a sniper team supposed to be used? Eyes and ears of a battalion. And so on a sniper team back in the day, there's four guys. So we had my sniper, my team leader, my assistant team leader, both have a bolt gun, sniper rifle. Then the radio operator, myself being the point man, have a M16. Right. The musket.

[D]

And so with iron sights.

[B]

At this time, we're the only guys that hit ACOGs. And we actually filled at the ACOGs on that deployment, they started issuing out to the Marines. You know, this is like back in the day where we were the only ones that had radios and seven Bravos. And then the grunts had like one Paranite vision for like 12 guys, one radio for.

[C]

And it's a monocle. They've got one eye with one eye.

[B]

It was a two into one seven Bravo where, like, is that a car, a building, a dead body or dust? Definitely. I'm not really sure what that is. Right.

[D]

It was all Marines were just doing a potato sack race. They're just sharing the monocle.

[A]

Veteran with a sign had to raw dog the donkey story. Just pure moonlight, dude.

[D]

When we would get, when we got to Iraq, I remember going to chow hall finally and then talking and seeing marines. I was like, why y' all got fucking M16A2

[C]

with the triangular handguards?

[D]

Like, what do you mean? Like, brave, huh?

[A]

Wow.

[B]

So we had a break.

[A]

Like, they had a choice.

[D]

I know we paid the same. And then you look at Air Force, you're like, we get paid the same.

[B]

Get paid the same. Better shit. Yeah. We actually had a 4s on my deployment. And then I remember seeing, like, my first M4 in, like, combat, like, in the real world. I'm like, bro, can I, can I hold your gun? Like, that's how like, like googly eye I was. I'm like, I'm here walking with this, like, musket, right? When the man with the rifle goes down, the one with the ammo picks up the rifle, continues to fire, like. And it was, it was just, it was fun, bro, you're 18 and you don't know anything. And then I found out really fast how quick life was. So I'm in this, this, this. I see this, this guy in the black man jam. I run across this, across this rooftop, and I just start shooting. And so I'm dumping now, but now we're taking machine gun fire. So, like, my two snipers are, like, sprawled down on the ground because they can't really interact. They got a pistol and a bolt gun with five rounds, right? And I'm shooting. I run out of ammo. My radio operator is on the other side of the window. He pops out to shoot, and I'm reloading. As soon as I reload, I pop out through the window and it's like lights out. And I, I, I still remember to this day the, like, oxygen getting sucked out of my life. Like, like, all the air getting knocked out of me. And then if you guys Ever played a video game where you got too close to a wall and like glitched and you saw like the top down view? So I had this like crazy out of body experience. And this is 18 years old, bro. I don't know from.

[A]

Close your eyes, exhale, Feel your body relax and let go of whatever you're carrying today.

[B]

Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh my gosh, they're so fast. And breathe. Oh, sorry.

[C]

I almost couldn't breathe when I saw

[B]

the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry. Namaste. Visit 1-800-contacts.com today to save on your first order.

[A]

1-800-contacts.

[B]

And like, I. I feel like my whole life is flashing behind, like flashing by my eyes. But it's like all the things I was never going to get to do. Like, not the things I did do because I was 18, I didn't do anything in school. You know, I was just waiting to go to the military. So I. It was like all these things of like what I wasn't going to get to experience. Like love, you know, sex, you know, steak. Again, like this. That was in my future that wasn't even real yet. And I ended up getting the typical story. You hear this like white light, dude. I get literally get sucked back into my body. And I wake up in the. In the prone position. Convuls. My. My assistant team leader is on the. On the prone and he's kicking me. So my convulsing was actually him shaking my body vigorously. He's like, are you dead? We just seen your blood. Like, are you dead? I'm like, I'm like crying and laughing at the same time. I don't know from. And they're like, get on the radio, call for backup. My body fell by our only radio because it's by the window. And so you know how like we talk on transmissions. Like, hey, how's it going, Break. So I'm gonna go do this later Break to. I'm like, warhammer break. This is break. Grim Reaper break. Like every two words was a break. It was like the most up comms and needless to say, like, we got a hold of nobody. And so we're like, we gotta get out of here. So we crawl out this room, get down to the bottom floor, set up comms again. I'm still appointment. So now I'm like in that rear security watching the breach point the front of the store. And I see all these heads walk by this window. I'm like, oh, my God, they're coming. You know, they're coming to, like, see their kill. And it's this unfinished building. You know how, like, unlike America, right, There's no like, loans here. So when money stops there, they stop construction, right? So they were in an unfinished building. And I see this shadow come walking by and I'm a scared shitless. I'm in this little bathroom. My buddy's trying to set up the radio. My heart is pounding through my chest. I'm like, dizzy. I'm crying still. I don't know anything. And I see this head. I just like, muzzle thumb this, because I don't. I gotta like, see what's going on and muzzle thump. One guy, this guy, he didn't have a gun. This is older dude. And then one guy turns into like six guys just coming to our house. So, like, instead of them, like, letting them walk by, we're like, grabbing them and bringing them in. So, like, my snipers have them all, like, gunpoint with their pistols and they're like, we gotta get the out of here. You know, it's like, it was like a scene from the office. Like. Like, it was.

[A]

What the do we do now?

[B]

Yeah, what do we do now? And so then we're like, let's hotwire a car. So we go out there and we don't know what the we're doing. So we break a window and apparently, who grew up in the ghetto. Yeah, you can't just break a window and there's. The keys aren't magically there.

[D]

So we're like, we're gonna hot wire cars.

[B]

Oh, yeah. That was.

[D]

Who's done this? Yeah, we'll figure out. Thankfully, it's not stressful right now. Yeah.

[A]

All of our years in business on the Internet, we've all used Shopify. I've used it for merch and my skate shop and a couple other businesses.

[D]

I will actually agree 100% on that. Everything we do is run through Shopify.

[A]

Even bunkers run through Shopify.

[D]

Our shoes, which is a separate company, is run through Shopify. And they talk together because of Shopify.

[A]

Shopify runs the world.

[D]

Did you know Shopify will actually help you design a website also, Cody?

[A]

I know. I didn't know about starting an online store when I started my career online. And Shopify just made it super, super easy for my dumb.

[D]

Brandon. What happens if people haven't heard about my brand?

[A]

No, that's actually easy, Eli. Shopify helps you find your customers with easy to use email and social media campaigns.

[D]

Step Cody, what happens if I get stuck?

[A]

Shopify is always around to share advice with their award winning 24. 7 customer service.

[D]

Step support.

[B]

Bro, you got my back and your front.

[D]

Shopify helps millions of businesses around the

[A]

world and 10% of all e commerce in the US from household names like Mattel or Gymshark to new brands.

[D]

Just getting started on some shoes on some merch bunker.

[A]

No, We've all been doing this for over a decade and Shopify is the easiest e commerce platform we've ever used. I think every single one of us has used Shopify at one point.

[D]

I think all our businesses right now are using Shopify.

[A]

Oh, except mine. But that's because it's done.

[B]

So can't do that.

[D]

Just one of them. Can't turn those dreams into sfx. Cha ching Shopify New cell sound and

[A]

give them the best shot at success with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com

[D]

unsubpod shopify.com unsubpod and so then we

[B]

ended up doing this. Like we ran down the road and we ended up linking up with a marine grunt platoon. And they're like, hey, where were you guys at? Like, we're in that building. We're getting shot out over here. They're like, yeah, well, we, we were shooting at that building and that building. We're like, we were in that building. And so at the time, there was a lot of speculation that I got shot by 556. And so I, I don't really care what I got shot by because at the end of the day, my helmet saved my life. If it was 556, what a blessing for a green tip to not go through my helmet. Green tip being armor piercing, obviously. And I'm just so grateful. But that was like the beginning of it and it didn't even end there. So I linked up with the grumple tune they gave me. Link me up with the corpsman. I get a motion in the cigarette and then my Delta force is doing a cordon down the road. They're like, hey, they need sniper security support outside by these railroad tracks. I'm like, so I'm on point dragging my gun and my assistant team leader comes up to me and he's like, this is when people were built different. He's like, pick up your rifle. I'm like, oh my God. So I'm like, okay, you know, I'm not a robot. At this point. But like, I need encouragement to like, kind of survive because I don't really know where I'm at. We get down to our sniper position and I just. I'm by the railway tracks. It's like, you can pass out now. And so I just passed down these railroad tracks till like the op was over. I remember the. It was like the APCs or the striker vehicles. I remember the striker vehicles come up to the objective, CAG desert. And then it's like, I'm out. I get woken up and I ended up getting pulled out. That night my platoon commander, he's like, hey, I'm gonna send you back to the rear to get checked out. I'm like, I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying here. And he's like, listen, we're only setting up mortars tonight. We're all pulling out tomorrow morning. You have my word you're going back tonight. So I go back and sure, everyone pulled out. So basically as far as excuses go

[A]

for leaving the op, getting shot in the head pretty good, I would say,

[B]

but you know, it was crazy. There was a lot of guys, there was a lot of Marine shot. Like there was. I forget his name but like the two assholes, because he got on oaf. One, he got shot cheek to cheek. Oh, I. So on the fluid deployment. Oh two, cheek to cheek. So he got like double tap. Both deployments all through the ass. I don't know how that happened. And so there was a lot of guys just literally walking wounded. Like dead guy, dead, dead service members, dead fighters, wounded fighters, wounded Marines. That was a very common thing in a very short 24 hour period. And so we end up pulling out of Fallujah for a week. They come up with a game plan, then we go in. And that was when like really all the, just the horrible stories you kind of hear of, like the brutalities of war that's really all kind of kicked off. But this deployment I talked about my last rotation in 2016, I saw a lot of telltale signs of like, just my TBI catching up. I was constantly tired. I was always taking these little Ranger naps and shit. And I was super. I would, I was stress eat Oreos. My wife would send me these like amazing care packages. And it was like, you know, those like seasonal Oreos, like whatever flavors. And like, she made these like Mason jar cakes. So I like, share with my homies and like. But then I'm like, wait, I can dip this in this frosting. And that was like my strategy. While I'm waiting for this nerd in Arizona to, like, turn a predator 180 degrees to destroy a target, I'm like, he's not turning it fast enough, you know? Or like, I'm yelling at a fucking lieutenant colonel who's too scared to wake up a major at the siege of Soda for the Sagitta, right? These higher echelons of strategic, you know, operations. Because that general's sleeping right now, I'm like, wake his ass up, bro. Like, are you're that much of a. Like. And I saw so much bureaucratic red tape, you know, and terrifying. It was super terrifying. And, you know, people say, like, well, that's why I don't promote. Well, you don't promote because you're selfish, right? Like, you don't promote because you, like, comfort. But then when someone gets in charge of you that you don't like, that's your own fault, right? And, you know, I promoted very fast. I was actually. I picked up mass sergeant ten and a half years. So I promoted extremely fast in my community. And taking over a company was a very big, like, it was a big deal. You know, there's only 16 company company operations chiefs in Marsdock at any given time. And once you do that position, like, once you take out four teams in country, I mean, you're kind of a made man unless you up, you know. And I was managing every seal, every Green Beret, every Marine Raider, both in Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon at the time. So it was a very big operation. Yeah. And, like, you know, I looked a certain way, so I already had this, like, counter stigma against. But that was my whole Marine Corps career. And so it was just, like, it was great to be able to shine, but not to shine for Cody, but to shine for, like, my people. Because, you know, I always looked up to the good leaders and the bad leaders in the military. I'm like, man, I'm never doing what that did, you know, Dude, I'm taking what he did, and I'm gonna use that next time I have to give an ass chewing, right? Because it was just, like, it impacted me in a positive way. And military is already so toxic and everyone's already so serious. I'm like, why are we doing this? Right? And when I saw how these officers that are in charge of lives were more concerned with their face value to their high superior, it really, like, it just disgusted me, bro. So, like, I just completely came unhinged and I gave that deployment everything I had. I came back and they're like, hey, I Want you to be an op Chief again. I'm like you, dude. Like I'm done. And I didn't really know why I was done. My attitude was kind of going south and I thought I was a good Marine. Like I always took care of the guys and girls. But like I was, I was just kind of toasted from it all. And I'm like this, I've never taken care of myself. I'm finally going to do it. So I ended up taking over a position at our schoolhouse, our Marine Raider training center. And I get, or I get this. Orders to go to. It's called Intrepid Spirit. You guys probably heard of that. It's. We call it the pseudo TBI clinic, but it's really all encompassing for everything.

[D]

And is it during, you know, can you have this while you're in service or this is once you're.

[B]

It's absolutely while you're in service. Yeah. So most guys and girls, when they

[A]

get out, it's also like, I think they do like even people that deal with like amputations and stuff like that, right?

[B]

Absolutely. There's rehab, there's all sorts of different therapies and modalities there and. But generally what happens unfortunately is like guys and girls, when they're retiring, they'll go there for their, their two week mandatory thing, get all their stuff like, you know, identified in the medical record, then they retire. But when you do that, bro, as you guys know, like once you're a civilian, no one gives a about you, you know. So like I always tell guys like, you gotta, you gotta give a about you while you're active duty because you have front of line privileges, you know, you get. No other time can you walk into a, to an aid station, be like, hey, I need to see the dentist and the neurosurgeon, right? You can't do that as a civilian. You're dealing with the bureaucracy of the, that exists and you're.

[D]

The hard part is while you're in though a lot of the time it was frowned upon to go to the aid station. And that sucks. Like, that's awesome to hear. Your leadership is like, that's a fuck up right there. These guys are screwed once they get out without this being track record.

[A]

I mean, once you got shot, you didn't even get to go to the aid station, right?

[D]

No, I went to the wrong one. So dude, it was mission two and then it was wrong aid station. We went back, we went to Charlie Companies because we had just, we lost two guys that day. So Bravo company, we're all like, scrambling

[C]

you into an out of network provider.

[D]

And I'm like, hey, I need to see a medic or something. And they're like, what the. Who are you even with us? I was like, no, I'm with Biko. What the are you doing? Well, I got shot.

[C]

I. Oh, my God.

[D]

Sit down. Go here. And then they sent me to another aid station. That aid station was even part of our brigade. So then they patch me up, and then I'm on a mission the very next day. I was like, oh, cool. Here's what we're doing.

[A]

It's only leaking a little.

[D]

Just threw the bruise all the way around my leg. My buddy Kadoka, I've told the story where he got shot in the head on third mission. Or we're just pulling security and he just drops. Boom. Sits up. He's like, oh, what? The bullet rode the ridge of the helmet. Kicked out a. Okay.

[B]

Insane.

[D]

Yeah. That's why I was like, did it stop or did it actually ride the ridge around? We seen it go through one goggle. He had to wear them, I think, half through the deployment. Didn't get to trade those out. But they did let him keep it when he got out.

[B]

That's.

[D]

That's.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. It's so nuts. I do this, like, go ahead.

[A]

Yours had to be, like, a direct impact. If it was.

[B]

It was direct. Yeah. There was a lot of cases on that deployment where it would ride the ridge, it would go in and like, kind of skirt the guts of the helmet and come out. Or the skirt the skeleton and come out the other side of the skin, you know, but not pierce the skull itself.

[D]

Right. The army soldier had really good accuracy.

[B]

Oh, bro. It was a Marine. So, like, that. Only headshots, you know? Like, only headshots.

[A]

Well, they did have ACOGs.

[D]

They had. They.

[B]

I. I say some ball knowledge there. Boot camp, bro. 100, 500 yards with iron sights, bro. You know, like, that's every Marine, no matter their job, they can shoot 500 yards with iron sights. I don't know if they still do iron sights. They could do optics now in boot camp potentially. But, I mean, I'm a cook. I can shoot you and kill you at 500 yards. I'm a. I'm a grunt. I can shoot you and kill you at 500 yards with multiple shots. Like, that's this most savage thing about the Marine Corps. So, like, whoever that was, good friendly orfo, bro, they were like, I'm getting head shots today, dude. You know they're trying to level up and get that prestige on their. On their.

[A]

Their gun, you know, really White terrorist, the gold tiger stripe, camo and all that.

[B]

Why is this guy's head right there? What an idiot. I'm like, how am I supposed to see, Like, I'm supposed to do my job?

[A]

Well, a lot of people, too. They think, like, you know, armor being rated to a certain, you know, oh, it's this caliber. It's supposed to, you know, it'll. It'll stop the bullet, you know, blah, blah, blah. They don't realize, okay. No, it'll keep you alive. Yeah, but you're gonna get up. Like, even body armor, I mean, let alone helmets. I mean, that's an entirely different ballpark because, again, you're dealing with, like, TBIs and like, that.

[B]

It's.

[A]

It's crazy work.

[B]

Yeah, it's crazy too, because, like, so throughout my career, like, I progressed from the infantry, which is the backbone of the Marine Corps, is the most savage people. Force recon, marsoc. And then, like, as I progress through these different jobs, everyone's like, helmets, ball caps, nothing. I'm like, what the is wrong with you guys, dude? They're like. And everyone's like, looking cool. I'm like, man, you guys look sick as, but you're an idiot. I'm always wearing my helmet, bro. Like, I'm gonna be.

[C]

You're gonna be the drippiest corpse, dude.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. I was. I was terrified to not wear my helmet. Like, if there was ever a lesson, I wonder what's my wooby blanket, dude? It was like my security, Blake. I needed that thing, you know, And. And then my armor got smaller and smaller. I'm like, oh, I don't need these extra large plates. I'm 255 pounds. I need to move faster. Give me these medium ones, you know, like, it's just covering my kill box.

[C]

The heart plate.

[B]

Yeah. And my muscles will stop the bullets, dude. Honestly, that was my mindset. I'm like, I'm gonna be the biggest, baddest marsock. And if, you know, if I go to a door and I was to take shots, I want to be able to push through the threshold so I don't cause a, you know, a disaster than doorway, you know, and that was my mindset. Not saying it was, you know, I never got to do that. Thank goodness, you know? You know, but that was my mindset. I think it's a lot of mindset. We all have to have incredible mindset. You have to be the baddest mother in your world to do a job that they're only. There's only one thing that matters. Are you going to do it or are you not going to do it?

[D]

Well, I mean, even doing Marsocks a wild because how many years did it take you to accomplish that and go through all the training in the school?

[B]

So that started in. So Marsoc started in late 2006 if you're on, I think on the east coast and like to 2007 on the west coast. And I actually just got got. I got back from my second infantry deployment. We did Operation Still Current, which is a really big endeavor. And I'm like, dude, carrying all these like heavy ass. I want like light guns and packs and I'm gonna go try out for force. And so I tried out for force Recon and I was actually coming back from airborne school and I got back and they're like, we're no longer force. We are now Marine special Operations Battalion. I'm like, what does that mean? They're like, everyone stop growing. Stop shaving your your faces and stop getting haircuts and wear civilian clothes. I'm like, what the. Are you serious? Where am I? And they're like, we're gonna give you guys cards and if anyone has any issues, you tell them to call the number in the back. I'm like, bro, this is sick. As dude, like winning. That lasted like two days, right? A little bit longer than two days, but not. Definitely not a weekend. It went straight back to like Gestapo.

[D]

Oh, they. They let you taste it,

[A]

you will

[B]

eat the kapu poop, you know, and it's like the.

[C]

You want a ham sandwich on Survivor? It's like, this could be really cool for 30 seconds.

[B]

Oh, yeah. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Listening to this podcast. Smart move. Being financially savvy. Smart move. Another smart move. Having State Farm help you create a competitive price when you choose to bundle home and auto bundling. Just another way to save with a personal price price plan. Like a good neighbor. State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts, and savings and eligibility vary by state. Yeah, they definitely pulled a like Houdini on us, you know, and I just

[D]

like the government mindset. It's like, this is going to be around for years to come. Three days later. Yeah, we need you to shave.

[C]

Like for the Marines. Having the, like the, I don't know, the general consensus that they're slow to change. I feel like they change like that all the time where they're like, well, now we're getting rid of tanks. Also we're getting rid of the scout sniper program, but not really. It's going to be named something else and kind of functional different, but they're still going to have snipers, but kind of sort of not the same. And then like, what you're saying, like,

[A]

did they go back on the tanks thing?

[C]

I don't think so.

[D]

It didn't.

[C]

They got rid of their tanks.

[A]

Yeah. Because one of the boys that, that, you know, works for me at the, at the shop was a former Marine tanker guy.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

And he was very butthurt as soon

[C]

as last I knew, yeah, the Marine Corps doesn't have tanks anymore.

[B]

The sniper thing was so stupid. I actually was fortunate enough to speak at the last Scout sniper graduation in east coast. And it was like a really big honor, you know, And I heard rumors, I don't know if it's true or not, but I heard rumors that the, the general was a, like a lower ranking officer at the time. When those Marines, when they. Remember when they pissed on the dead Taliban and stuff like that. Yeah. And so like, he was like, butt hurt from that, you know, that disgracing this, I'm like, but then I'll go back to like the history of World War II and like the Marine Raiders and the Marines out there, like, no shaves well, Cody, because I didn't have water. Well, I was in Iraq with no water. And you made us shave. You know, like, I don't know if

[A]

you've seen Japan in the areas around it.

[B]

It's surrounded by water, you know, like dudes wearing like ear necklaces. It's like, what do you expect? You're taking a bunch of like, normal people and you're putting them in completely abnormal situations. And you want me to play rules of engagement?

[A]

I mean, look at the painted Japanese skulls.

[C]

Yeah. For example, trophy skulls. Have you seen those?

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

Like the, the pictures that wives would take with the skulls that their husbands would send them of dudes they killed. Like, they're like posing with it. Like back in the 1940s when it was like, it was a hassle to get a picture taken. And they're like going to a photographer, like, posing like, look at the guy that tried to kill my husband and he killed him instead. Like, it's crazy.

[A]

You put guys in that situation, like, this shit's gonna happen.

[D]

What kind of shirt is that?

[A]

Actually, Eli, these are what are called shorts, fabletic shorts.

[D]

But where do you put your head?

[A]

It's complicated.

[D]

Will they look comfortable?

[A]

Indeed they are. And there's something about starting a new workout that just feels so great. But you know what isn't great? Having to buy all of the gear. All that changed when I signed up as a VIP at Fabletics.

[D]

You got 80% off all your clothes?

[A]

That's right, Eli. 80% off everything. I thought it was one of those deals that's too good to be true, but no, it's true.

[B]

Do you feel the 80% off?

[D]

It feels so comfortable.

[A]

That's right, Eli. I'm so terrifyingly fast because I've been working out in my Fabletics athletic wear, which I've been getting for 80% off using code UNSUBPLY. It's very reassuring to know that fabletics isn't just some online store floating in the void. They have over 2 million VIP members and over 100 in person retail stores.

[D]

Connor lives in the void.

[A]

I'm from the void.

[D]

Now, they are super nice, comfortable, breathable, and they fit good flexi bright and red.

[A]

Not only does fabletics already have incredible deals, but we've got an exclusive offer just for you, the unsubscribed listeners. If you go to fabletics.com unsub you will get an additional 80% off everything.

[B]

Everything.

[D]

Just head over to fabletics.com unsub take a quick snap style quiz.

[A]

Tell them you want the red shorts

[D]

and and be sure to select unsub when prompted to ask who sent you?

[A]

That's fabletics.com unsub yeah, dude.

[B]

But then we live in this era where it's like men, well done assaulting that machine bunker. Wait a second. Are those white socks? Hey, you piece of. That's why you're dying out there. Literally, verbatim. Verbatim. You know why you guys are dying out there?

[A]

Actually, verbatim.

[B]

Verbatim. You know why you guys are dying out there? Because you're wearing white socks.

[A]

You're fucking me.

[B]

So the marine corps has this rank called first sergeant and first sergeants, the marine corps are like officers in the military. It's 50, 50. It's really hit or miss, right? Enlisted men can be molded and. And groomed. Officers are just groomed. That. That's really it. They're just groomed from the get go and that's okay. Right? But first sergeants, especially in the special operations community, they don't. They're not organic to that organization. So they come from the big marine corps. And how MARSOC is. MARSOC's one of the most amazing units of Marine Corps has to offer from our support enabler, and obviously our team guy and girl staff. And they're just so capable. But the problem is, is we hamstring ourselves. And so they bring in these outside entities that are like, I'm gonna make a name for myself. Because everyone's trying to. Everybody wants to be the general staff. Everybody wants to go that next level where guys and girls in the job, they're really concerned with, yeah, they want to promote, they want to progress, but they really cared about the mission and the men, right. Like, what they're there for. And when you get these first serges in there. I remember being in a firefight, and I was in Mars. Like, I was being a firefight on my second Afghan deployment, and we're on this hilltop, and I was at this place called FOB Robinson, and that was like the okay corral. Everyone came out to FOB Rob to get their combat action ribbon because we were always shooting like it was. It was always happening. And our command leadership came out there. They're like, you boys in a gunfight? And we just, like, obviously not talking the radio, like, all right, they're gonna just. They're gonna come up here eventually, but we don't have to, like, like, speed this process up. And so they end up coming up there, and they're like, did you boys call this in as a tick? And we're like, no, man. This is a little skirmish, bro. A tick being a troop in contact, you know, like, they would actually.

[D]

Just trying to get their cab.

[B]

Yep. Dude. And so what would happen was they're like. And this is verbatim. You guys call this in as a tick. Therefore, they would rate a combat action ribbon, right? Because it'd be an actual. You know, you told them no notified. I'm like, no, this is a skirmish, bro. And he's like. He was pissed. Then he looked down at my sleeve, and so my pocket sleeve. I had a Raider patch. He literally tapped on, inflict it. He's like, no unit patches. And then they left. They don't care about you. It's just a job for them. But this is a whole nother world for us, you know, Like. And that's the problem. I. I see in, like, the warfighter community, it's like, why are we here? Why do you train me to say, die, mother, die? But a butter jam, you know, stabbing things with a freaking K bar on the end of your rifle? You're training me to literally be a killer. But Then you say, hey, but I need you to be a tap dancer on this deployment. Funny thing about Fallujah. There's. Fallujah was the craziest, scariest experience I've ever endured in my life. Traumatizing. I've never seen more death and destruction. Like, so many bodies. I've seen ancient bodies fly up from the sky from bombs. Guys didn't. Eaten by dogs. Like, stacks of human bodies just decaying in the streets like, it was insane. Right, right. And what's funny is, before we went on that deployment, we're actually training for this thing called sasso. I believe it stands for security and stability operations. Basically, like, martial law. And so we're training for this, like, halt. Who goes there?

[A]

Where's your ID at?

[B]

I'm the. The sergeant of the guards. You know, like, this, like, super generic TV stigma of what a military person is, and that's what we're training for. Then we go to Hell's Kitchen, and we're like, oh, my God. You know, it's essentially, if it has a pulse in a gun, you're. It's dying. Right. Like, it's like. It's free game.

[A]

I don't think he's gonna give me his id.

[B]

Yeah. I don't think he's gonna play nice, you know? And it's just.

[D]

Mostly it was. The scariest part was that mindset and that train up, dude. It's like, yeah, we're going to pull in vehicles. You're going to search them one by one. Oh, now they're just created V bits, and now they're just blowing up.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

As they roll in. Okay, now we're just gonna hand this off to the ia?

[B]

Yeah. You know, it's stupid when the people you're fighting are like. Like, they're so dumb. I'm just gonna walk from my house, wave at them to this bush where all the caches at, because I know they're not gonna kill me. And then when I get to my cachet, I'm gonna go kill them. And, like, we literally will watch this.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And. And you. It's just like, why am I here? I know they're bad. I've stalked them. I have pictures of them. Right. But they don't have a gun in their hands right now. But I know as soon as I lose sight in five seconds, they're behind that bush where I lose contact because they'll hit the train. Next thing you know, I'm taking rockets and RPGs and machine gun in like, a matter of moments.

[A]

And I think it's a great example too of what people talk about now and like, in regards to like, you know, the United States versus, like, let's say China or Russia, where the United States doesn't do things militarily because of political will or like, oh, we're holding ourselves back. Other people don't do it because they can't. It's like, China is not taking Taiwan because they can't. Russia's not taking Ukraine because they can't.

[C]

Like all the, all the people on Twitter that are like, so if I'm understanding this, this means that if Trump can just go kidnap Maduro, then technically Vladimir Putin can just go kidnap Zelinsky. And it's like he's been trying for four years. What are we talking about? Yeah, he physically can't.

[B]

They've been doing like tried dumb spy

[A]

versus spy shit, trying to do that exact thing like it's physically or incapable. Whereas the United States is like the thing we're held back by is we've made our own rules arbitrarily for our people. We could if we wanted to, if we wanted. Right or wrong.

[B]

I mean, I mean, you gotta look,

[D]

everyone's on a leash. Marines, everything. It's like. And it sucks because when you're actually in war or just going back to. With bad officers, it's crazy. The missions they will, the predicaments they will put soldiers and just to get

[B]

a medal, bro, it is the metal, dude. Oh, how many men did you lose? How?

[D]

We needed to do a night raid up a river. They will do a mission based off a river raid just to get a silver star.

[B]

That is a fact. What that is.

[D]

Oh, dude. Oh, yeah. Well, you're. You the fastest you learn how expendable you are and no one gives a. Is being in the military and being like the front lines.

[C]

It's like trying to hit an achievement in a video game.

[A]

Yeah, well, I mean the, the example

[C]

that comes with like literally like, oh, we could, this level could be harder if you want to and we'll give you bonus points on your Xbox score. Like, that's literally what it is.

[A]

The example that comes to mind is like the very end of World War I where like there was a ceasefire agreed to like all the terms of surrender were already put in place. It's like, okay, nothing we do now will matter when it comes to diplomacy or the reason we're here, but we're going to do one more fucking push anyway. It's like how many 19 year old kids fucking died because some general wanted to make a name for himself.

[B]

That's it. Man. I remember it was. It was that same second Afghan deployment. There was anytime they're like, hey, there's a company up, coming down, you know, you're right. Like, you know, you're. And this whole deployment, the team that I was attached to, we're just doing disruptive operations. So our whole mission was to fly in with 1/60, you know, set up ambush sites in the. In the Taliban's backyard and just literally pick fights. Why the commandos would come in? Because commandos, the. The Afghan commandos and the Marine commandos were up too much. And it was like losing that. That face value of like, Afghans just up Afghans. So they like, how can we de. Escalate that? How can we not put them in a kinetic situation? And so they put us in the kinetic situation. So when the commando, the Afghan commandos came in, it was like, hey, like, we're here to help reinforce your village, bring stability, blah, blah, blah, and, you know, create it like a militia. And so that's what they did. But that was. Our whole mission was just a fight. And they. They were like, all right, there's a company mission coming off and we're already doing pretty crazy, hellacious, like, in. In literally like. Like out where the only the bad guys live. So there's no IDs, cuz we're in the backyard.

[D]

And no paperwork.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, no paperwork. That's just right there. And they're like. They're like, all right, you guys are going to patrol. So the commandos just came in. You guys are going to patrol behind the commandos, and in three days, we're going to resupply you with ammo and water. And then you're going to go to this bridge. We're going to be on the other side. Then you're going to walk across the bridge. And when you get across the bridge, then our EOD tech is going to go across and then blow it up. Up. I'm like, just blow it up now. Like, why are we doing this? Why? And then why the would I walk behind Will? Like, why would I walk behind an already an advancing force which is already technically proven and tactically proven, where they're already in placing like, IEDs and fighting positions and booby traps, right? Because they're like, let's go see what happened here. Why would I go do that? And luckily I had a team commander, Matt Manuki, and unfortunately, he. He, like, was killed by. He was murdered with an insider threat on the next deployment. But he was a team commander, actually

[A]

was, if you don't mind back, an insider threat.

[B]

Insider threat. So basically what, what happens in the special operations community, we work a lot with our partner force. So in Afghanistan we work with the Afghan national army and the Afghan Special Forces in the Afghan commandos. Well, in certain aspects we give them access to our operations center. We give them access to like our, our joint building some facilities because we're by with and through with our partner force.

[D]

You're building relationships.

[B]

Yeah, you're building relationships and rapport. And so what happens was one of the, one of the commanders came in with Afghan and like killed three of our Marines with 1911 and then ran out. And that happened numerous times, multiple bases. But that's also the problem that you have when you give us more rules that I can't, that I can't even adapt because you're not on the ground. It's literally the scene from Blackhawk downwards. Easy for you to say being, you know, however many square miles up in the sky. You know, it's unforgiving down here. You know, there's always someone who doesn't know what the dust tastes like when it's mixed with blood and like that dry like dehydrated spit that are calling the shots. And that's okay. We all have a place in the, in the pecking order, in, in our roles, responsibilities. But like, you know, if you have a business and business is going good or business not going good, are you not going to go see and investigate what's actually happening? The ground truth? And, and there's just such a disconnection because it is a political war. It's really. War is a shame in the first place, it's a political war, then it's a, it's this self merit, self licking ice cream cone. You know, like there's. I remember, I've worked every tactical position and like joint billet and I remember being at the siege of sort of which is the combined joint Special Operations Task Force. And that's a mixture of like Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, like all the special operations guys and girls and there's like these majors in there and lieutenant colonel's like, I hope I don't get another bronze star for this deployment. I already have six of them. I'm really hoping for a meritorious service medal. What, they don't have ice cream in the chow hall today? I'm like, shut up, you bitch. Like, what this is, where's the V device? Yeah, this is what you're complaining about, dude. Like you're living in a la la land. There's dudes and chicks out on the battlefield, bro. Like hoping that someone picks up the radio when they, when they need you. Like hoping there's an air asset available that's not doing a resupply run for Otis Bunk Meyer cookies for you. You know, like if there's multiple wars taking place and then, but at the same time it's really easy to talk. That's okay, bro, because we thrive in like straight up chaos and shitty ass situations. And that's what gives us our resiliency and it gives us that, that ability to like find a way.

[D]

You know, you mold really quick in that. I think that's where when you're always the tip of the spear, that's when it your unit, your battalion, wherever you are, you get ingrained in it so quickly. That's you get through that danger period. Because I'm sure you have that same like, hey, first X amount of days until you figure out what works and what doesn't. Once you find out what works every time, then you try to. We talk with Brandon on it, it's you train up the next. You don't get to train up the next unit for your ao. You're kind of like, hey, we call this Death Blossom. If you get blown up or anything, just shoot everything. You're going to have new patches. They're going to test you. Just trust us on that one. And then they don't listen and they lose a lot of people. And it's like, did you try that yet? No, we were told not to.

[A]

Why were they telling them not to?

[B]

Just every command, it's almost like, it's, it's almost like every commander that goes out there and this is not generic because I worked with a lot of amazing Marine Corps officers. I've worked a lot of Navy special warfare officers and army of Army Special Forces officers. So like there's clearly a really good majority of amazing ones out there. But there's also a lot of ones out there that are trying to win the war and terror in their six month block and do it their way. And another thing too is like if you're coming to replace me and I give you advice, you have to be pretty. If I say, hey man, you're looking like you're having a hard time in life. Have you ever thought about just taking like a day or two once a week just to like take care of yourself? You have to be pretty open to do that. You know, you have to like, like be humble, dude, Especially in war.

[D]

That'd be a wild dude. I. That is a crazy statement to hear of. Like, you should take a day off. We didn't have that. I don't know. Oh, yeah.

[B]

Well, I'm just saying, like, in, like, to hear that advice, you'd have to be, like, kind of open to it.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Look at it. God damn it.

[B]

Tourniquet.

[C]

I've been watching you put your drink on that ledge.

[B]

Thank you.

[C]

I do podcast now. Since mid.

[D]

Since minute one, I've been like, oh,

[A]

it is all over.

[C]

You should run for Congress.

[A]

I am horrifically so. I've given up.

[B]

This is like a.

[D]

As soon as we're done with the

[A]

podcast, I'm going back to the hotel

[D]

room, back to the beginning of every one of our views of us. Just eyeballing. Not Brandon.

[A]

I was looking.

[C]

I've been eyeballing that drink for two

[A]

podcasts now there's standing water. I'm a marine in my taint. I'm a marine.

[B]

Do you want my assistance? Do you want my assistance right now? I can help. I, I gay chicken qualified, so I can't. I, I, I can't help.

[A]

I'm willing to try anything twice.

[B]

Dude, there are some reasons you definitely do not want to play gay chicken, but we've got.

[A]

That's.

[C]

Don't. Don't threaten me with.

[B]

Bah.

[D]

Oh, that drink was just. I just see that stem sticking up. I'm like, Brandon is playing a dangerous game right now.

[A]

We were out of the. The small ones that didn't have the stem. The stem was. I. I will admit, that was dangerous. Hindsight being 20 20. Probably shouldn't have pulled that move, but,

[C]

yeah, you decided to play it on hardcore mode. This is going too well. I should elevate the liquid above a very small base. Listen here, carpet couch.

[A]

Look, country girls make do.

[D]

All right.

[C]

Oh, my God.

[A]

Well, that was right up there with this incident.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

No, that is nothing on that.

[A]

Immediately, I'm just like, well, I'll see you on the subreddit.

[D]

Oh, man.

[C]

So what are you up to now?

[B]

Oh, you know, just crawling the Internet.

[C]

How did you blow up on the Internet? These are my favorite stories, because we all have ridiculous stories of how we ended up here.

[A]

I. I'm so.

[B]

You are wet.

[D]

Brandon peed himself.

[A]

Yeah, I peed up. I did the tucking trick.

[B]

Yeah, you had a tuck.

[D]

God, that was all of it.

[C]

Oh, no. Now Brandon smells like Jack because that's. For the first time ever, Brandon smells like Jack and Coke.

[D]

The wet front, dirty, wet fronts That's.

[B]

His ass is totally wet. Your gooch is totally decimated. Your gooch is decimated. Oh, yeah, you're definitely sterile down there. Not sterile, but. What do you call it? Sanitized.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

I wasn't joking. I felt it pooling in my feet, bro.

[B]

Jesus.

[D]

Hammered, right? You go, Jesus.

[B]

The entire thing.

[D]

Brandon Herrera landed in your lap.

[C]

Gets completely soaked. Throws the podcast off the rails immediately. I need a towel and another Jack and Coke.

[B]

And said that it's going right back up on the.

[D]

It can't happen twice. Yeah, that worked out on the table

[C]

last night, let me tell you. Yeah, he lost three hands and then puts all of his chips in and goes, statistically, I can't lose this many times in a row. Loses everything.

[A]

I looked you in the eyes. I'm like, I can't be wrong three times.

[C]

He was wrong.

[D]

A third time correct.

[B]

You gonna learn today. I'm sorry to interrupt.

[A]

What are you up to, brother?

[B]

Oh, you. You know, just looking at your wet pants.

[D]

Yep.

[A]

It's pretty.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Chasing drums.

[B]

I don't want.

[A]

Oh, it's back. It's on my balls now.

[B]

You want to sit on it? Just stuff the towel down there. That's it. Like a diaper. You're running for what now? You should go.

[C]

You should go take off the clothes. You should go take off the clothes and put a robe on for the rest of the podcast.

[A]

I might like. Honestly, that. That's the. That's the part I'm not even like, I'm not even drunk.

[C]

I love that Nolan's been walking around in just a robe.

[A]

@blinds.com, it's not just about window treatments. It's about you, your style, your space, your way. Whether you DIY or want the pros to handle it all, you'll have the

[D]

confidence of knowing it's done right.

[B]

From free expert design help to our

[A]

100% satisfaction guarantee, everything we do is made to fit your life and your windows.

[D]

[e-mail], the only thing we treat better

[A]

than windows is you.

[B]

Visit blinds.com now for up to 45% off select styles plus a free professional measurement.

[A]

Rules and restrictions apply. I might do it.

[C]

He was walking through the Venetian shopping area like the mall in just a row of flip flops.

[D]

Yes.

[A]

Do you get like a massage this morning?

[C]

Really?

[D]

In ro.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

You both walk out of this room in robes,

[A]

flip flops, and, like shorts.

[B]

So he looked like he was naked and all the business.

[D]

You were the.

[A]

Yeah. Wide eyed, walking us walk like.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Who like these people. Do you have a spare robe? Do you want one?

[D]

Do you have one? Ooh.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

Do you like a mouthful of hard wood?

[D]

Yes. Go on then, boy.

[A]

Do I have a product for you. I'm reenlisting in the Navy. No, not this time. Oh. The product is Fume.

[D]

What's Fume?

[A]

It's an amazing device for those trying to kick those nasty habits.

[D]

When you said hard wood, you actually meant hard wood.

[A]

I'm sorry to disappoint, but yes, I mean literal hardwood.

[D]

I love hard wood in my mouth.

[A]

Wait, you know what's gayer than hard wood in your mouth? Dying from cancer.

[D]

Fume has an award winning design.

[A]

There's no battery, no chemicals, just flavored air.

[D]

Dial that airflow with the clickies. Brandon, you ever tried maple pepper?

[A]

No, I like crisp mint because I'm a coward when it comes to flavors.

[D]

Cody, what's your favorite?

[A]

I don't know about flavor, but John C. Fume told me it was sexy and sleek.

[D]

That is a sexy and sleek piece of wood right there, Cody. Oh, yeah, put it in your mouth. Suck that flavored air.

[A]

Quit cranking your wood on camera. Start your guilt free journey with the good habit and use code unsub where you can get a free gift with purchase and start your long overdue breakup.

[D]

Just head to trif.com unsub and use code unsub to start your good habit today.

[A]

Honestly, this is red. I might these around.

[D]

Why you got the jeans on?

[A]

What's up?

[D]

Your balls are sweating.

[B]

You look like Netflix. Jesus.

[A]

I'm not. I'm not black and disabled.

[B]

Is this.

[C]

Is this what you saw after you got shot in the head? Pushing you back into your body?

[B]

Go, my child.

[D]

Jesus.

[C]

It's not time yet.

[B]

You say foos?

[D]

No. Jesus.

[B]

Oh, Jesus.

[A]

Yeah, that would be very confusing. It's not your time yet. I'll see you in a couple years on a podcast.

[B]

Yeah. Yes, you will. There you are. You have spoken.

[A]

This is actually kind of rad.

[B]

You look good.

[A]

I'm so embarrassed right now.

[D]

Cool. That had to happen on this episode. That totally won't go to the front of the podcast. Don't worry.

[B]

You definitely. That's definitely not a. An attention gainer right there.

[A]

I didn't even react. I'm just like, ah. It just accepted it.

[C]

Yep.

[A]

It's like this is my fate.

[D]

Episode's just Brandon comes. What?

[A]

No, I get why Hugh Hefner just walked around in these things all the time. I think there was no other reason but being comfortable yeah, just being comfortable and free. Anyway, what are you up to, brother?

[B]

Oh, you know, I'm just enjoying the ride right now. This is great at your expense. So I semi sorry, I guess. Yeah, it's all right. It's what we're here for. Yeah, I love it. Yep. Good spirit, though. You could have been really angry.

[A]

What's up?

[B]

You could have been really angry and, like, spilled a drink on you and got pissed off, you know.

[A]

Oh, yeah, just storm off like this. I'm done. It's not worth the money.

[C]

The podcast is ruined.

[A]

Yep, Podcast is ruined forever.

[C]

This one's never airing. Sorry.

[B]

That's okay.

[C]

Waste your time.

[B]

It's not a waste.

[D]

Just.

[A]

Just walk out, like, actually genuinely upset. I'm going home, you guys.

[C]

Changes his flights.

[D]

Well, so, Mr. Cody, what did get you start getting actual traction on the Internet? Going back to Nick's question.

[B]

Yeah. So are you guys familiar with Softly? Yeah. Yeah. So. So my friends the owner of that, and he came from our unit in marsoc, and when I was on my medical board, there was a thing. At the time, it was called the fellowship program. So basically you could come. You go work for free at a company during your timeout. And Softly created a position for me, and I got my command to sign up for it. So that's where I learned, like, photography and videography and like, just graphic design. Like, they took me in, gave me. Gave me an apartment, my wife and I apartment, and like, no shit. Gave me a chance to, like, heal and, like, experience. Like, I was so stressed, bro. Like, I was my. Not my. My life was falling apart, like, cognitively. I couldn't even, like, dress myself. I was getting lost in my own house, falling off my motorcycles. I drive down the street and not know how I got there. Like.

[A]

Like tbi kind of.

[B]

Yeah. Like, everything was, like, just catching up to me. So it was like I was very desperate and I was very reliant and dependent on other people for. For help and assistance. And so they gave me this shot and it was, like, great. And so, you know, we started shooting content and, like, they gave me some, like, Internet, like, maybe like, notoriety, but, like, you know, they put me on Softly to have my own, like, softly workout. And it was. I got to be in the Softly family and do events with them. And so that. That started giving me traction on the Internet. And then really I started to grow my. My social media just by, like, sharing YouTube and like, Instagram stuff. Like, kind of like what I was going through in life, which was terrifying. I remember the first time I got called, I got called stolen valor on my second YouTube video. And I cried for like a week. And the comment, the specific comic was, you might be military, but there's no way you're special operations. Special operations guys don't talk like you. And I'm like, I'm just trying to help people. Like, you know, what the does that even mean?

[A]

Like, what was he trying to.

[B]

I was talking about, like, mental health. I was talking about, like, depression, anxiety, and like, the. That I was doing to, like, combat the stuff. And, you know, when I. When I got out of the Marine Corps, I told myself, whatever everyone else is doing, I'm not going to do. So, like, guys, in my job, job, you just go out, you go contract, whether you work for the commander, you go work for the agency, which is what I wanted to do. And God had different plans for me. And, you know, I literally went like, kind of like a functioning vegetable. And so when I had that opportunity to go live that life, I had to turn it down just because I couldn't even, like, tie my own shoe at this time. And so I'm like, well, I'm not gonna go do that, so I'm just gonna go bet on me. I didn't even know what that meant. I just sold, you know, my wife and I sold all of her. She's like, if you got six weeks left to live, what do you want to do? I'm like, travel around, take pictures. I started to get in the habit of, like, saying the first thing that came to my mind because I was always trying to, like, come up with the right answer, but it's just like saying, like, what I want right now. Go. Penis.

[A]

That's not a slur.

[B]

Favorite slur. I'm kidding, man.

[A]

Oh, he's going through a Rolodex right now.

[B]

I'm just saying, like, people aren't getting bullied anymore. And there's this, like, this, this Looney Tune fictitious reality that people live in where they they've chosen to, like, like, call home their Fortnite. Like, call Fortnite their home. And where they. They run their thumbs and that they forget that they live in a world of repercussions. And the crazy thing about it is, like, it's easy for me to threaten you if you shit talk me. But what you. What I've learned over my journey is, like, when I hate on you, bro, it's just really saying everything about myself. And that took me a long time to figure out. So, like, I actually embrace it. Now because it just gives me more content. And, like, one of my favorite things to do now is, like, troll back the trollers. So, like, I. I just, like, I use it back. So just. It gives me, like, added ammunition. I make it fun now. Vice back in the day, like, really hurt me because I'm like, why are people so mean when I'm just trying to share something, like, positive? And I didn't even know what the I was sharing. But, yeah, I just started, like, talking on the Internet. And then I kind of, like, grew a message. You know, I started my brand We Defy the Norm in the van, and just this message about, like, literally defying the norm. And at the time, I really didn't know what it meant to me. I just knew that I could not do what everyone else was doing. Like, I needed to do something different. Because the past that you work the job, but you hate it just for money, and then you yourself, like, that was kind of like the road map for a lot of the guys that I worked with. And I'm like, I. I want to live. Like, I really want to live.

[D]

Just to go back really quick. It's one thing. And you wanted to actually make change when you got out from your lifestyle, because you were very conditioned one way, and you're like, let me take time for myself, my family.

[B]

I wanted to make change when I was active duty, and for the first time in my life, I was. When I was on my medical board. So my whole dream as a young Marine, once I found out that there was, like, tier one units I could go to, and when I made over to marsoc, I applied numerous times, but because of manpower management or something like that, I never got a chance to go. And then there was this one opportunity where, like, hey, no matter your rank, no matter how long you've been in, like, if you. If you get selected, you meet the requirement, you can go. I'm like, this is my chance to finally go to selection with no stipulations from my command. And so I go to my neurosurgeon. I'm like, hey, bro. Like, like, I'm finally getting a chance to go to selection. And he's like, I'm like, I want to postpone this medical board. He's like, okay, but let me ask you this. If you were to go over there, do you think you would be a liability? And for the first time in my military career, I was like, honest. I'm like, yes, I would be a liability. And that really set me on a whole different Trajectory, because that was already hard. Asking for help was fucking hard. Fighting for myself was hard. So I was already fighting for survival because no one would listen to me. And I was noticing a pattern where I was super destructive. So, like, like, everything. Anything good I did in the military, I was quickly losing because I was becoming extremely violent. I was having uncontrollable adrenaline surges. Like, my. My. My central nervous system was just completely crashing, right? I would be driving in a car with my wife and, like, miss a turn and, like, shut the up. You're like, what are you doing? And she's like, she didn't even say anything. She just looked at me. And I would just project this, like, insecurity onto my wife. I was having all these, like, blowups all the time. And, you know, and I was really desperate to want to change that. And so it started when I was active duty, which was sick, because guys are stubborn. You know, guys won't even ask questions. Dudes will run through a room to get to a buddy, to get to an objective, a target. They'll risk everything for that op, but they will not raise their hands to ask a general question. They won't ask, why are we doing this stupid ass thing? But they'll run into a machine gun bunker. Same thing when it comes to getting out. Like, guys, did you know that, like, you can get on testosterone, your dick can work? They're like, what? I'm like, yeah, I just went to the doc. I said, dude, my. My dick doesn't work. And he's like, let's check your blood. I'm like, holy. You have low testosterone. They're like, how did you do it? I'm like, I just asked.

[A]

Which to my knowledge, isn't there, like, a correlation, like, a direct correlation to, like, low testosterone and men and, like, TBI?

[B]

1,000%. You know, I work for a hormone company called Core Medical Group, and it's. It's super sick. And the coolest thing about that company is that we have a core medical group based out of Boca Raton, Florida, and we have a core medical foundation. And what's really savage about that is we provide your supply of blood work, hormone replacement therapy, and concierge service for service members that cannot afford service members and law enforcement officers who can't afford hormone replacement therapy. And we've been doing a study the past few years of, like, if we can get a man or woman, their. Their blood work done, get their hormones optimized and balanced, and get them on some type of, like, whatever that is. Sometimes it's testosterone, sometimes it's an estrogen blocker, sometimes it's even a peptide, right? Or sometimes it's just knowing what's inside you so you can stop building scenarios that aren't even real. We're seeing their lives change and you know, there's this thing called like the operator syndrome of. They're calling like, you know, the tbi, all this stuff, but like, dude, what did you expect? You're injected with everything known to men that you don't even know. When you're 18 years old, you know, day two in the military, you're exposed to literally every heavy metal, like all this that I used to make fun of. Heavy metals, toxins, contaminants, chemtrails, or like, you know, or organic food.

[C]

On top of that, complete lack of sleep with no sleep cycle.

[B]

All the things I made fun of are absolutely real and we're exposed to it. I remember throwing flashbangs in the shoot house and putting a dip in been, you know, doing a whole entire shooting package. Shooting thousands of thousands of rounds and eating a subway sandwich sandwich, pounding like three monsters. It'd be like, what's next?

[D]

I'm going on a mission day after day, be dehydrated. And every once in a while someone would be like, I'm not doing good. What'd you do? I had five rippers before we went on.

[B]

I had 10 miles.

[D]

Why? Yeah, stupid, stupid. Pull real security.

[B]

I'm, I'm bulking, bro.

[A]

I mean even, even like the, the army's guidelines for like depleted uranium, they're just like, well, isn't that like bad for your nuts? And they're like, well, like, yeah, just like, don't like hold it there too long. It's like, what the does that mean, bro?

[B]

There's a 18 year old kid throwing boxes and batteries in a fire pit, and we're all standing around smoking cigarettes. Be like, man, that patrol sucked, huh? And we're like, yeah, that sucked. Smelling batteries. Like all this burn pits, bro. Like all that stuff that we didn't even think about, right? And all the things I used to make fun of, like the, the organic stuff or the pure, like years of just running a toll on your body, you know, obviously, spiritually, immensely is a whole another level. But physically, dude, like, we don't take care of ourselves because we don't know any different, you know, like, oh, you got something wrong with you. Suck the up. Oh, there's something really wrong with you. Here's a Motrin, dude. Like I had Unlimited access to Motrin at Freefall school. Unlimited. There was a bucket of it. I'm gonna take it, like, four motions, so when I come down for this jump, I'm gonna be able to walk back to the house, you know? Like, it's like. But we don't even know what we're doing. And we, like, how many Z packs did you take in the military? I'm sick. Let me take a Z pack and nuke my entire bio, like, gut biome. I didn't know what a gut biome was, you know, I just know that if I take the Z Pack, whatever's in me is gonna die. You know, it's sick. And I'm gonna go back.

[A]

It works.

[B]

It works.

[C]

And some of the rest of me.

[B]

Yeah. I'll shit it out later.

[C]

There's a spider. Let me get the flamethrower.

[A]

Yeah. It's the Spetsnaz. The Spetsnaz approach. Five terrorists, 95 hostages, 100 body bag. Mission accomplish.

[B]

Yeah, so, I mean, so there's just all these things, but I think I've completely TBI'd this conversation. We're talking about. Yeah, burn pits. US soldiers burned their waste in the Middle east wars.

[D]

It's my buddy that. That's my battalion. It's my unit, everything. So when I went in, they were like, but were you exposed to them? I was like, well, the New York Post, a series. That's my friend I deployed with. And they're like, oh, you were? Yeah, I was like, 100%.

[A]

The photo on the brochure about burn pits is me.

[B]

I'm in that.

[A]

Like, that sort of thing.

[D]

It's like hailing the burn pit. Connor, wait. You do not have to overhaul your life to start hitting your investing needs.

[B]

No, Eli, all you have to do

[A]

is simply automate it. With Stash, your New year money goals quietly run in the background while you focus and on everything else, everything that's important to you.

[D]

Stash isn't just another investing app. It's a registered investment advisor that combines

[A]

automated investing with expert personalized guidance so

[D]

you don't have to worry about gambling

[A]

or figuring it out on your own, God forbid.

[D]

Stop staring at me.

[A]

Gooning.

[D]

Investing shouldn't feel like a gamble.

[B]

No.

[A]

Gambling should be left to the experts. Like me.

[D]

People send you money, and you're like, yeah, this all right.

[C]

You're poor, black.

[B]

Every time she says, oh, dude, that

[A]

50k you gave me, it's gone. Could have been a hundred, could have been 100.

[D]

With stash's smart portfolio. Your money's guided by experts giving you

[A]

confidence while it grows. I have a lot of confidence when it grows.

[D]

Stash is simple, smart and stress free.

[A]

Choose from personalized investments. Let Stash's smart portfolio do the work for you. Or a combination of the two.

[D]

Stash is there to guide you every step of way. The the way don't let your money sit around. Put it to work with stash.

[A]

Go to get.stash.com unsub to see how

[D]

you can receive $25 to your first stock purchase and to view important disclosures.

[A]

That's get.stash.com unsub get.stash.com unsub paid non client endorsement. Not representative of all clients and not a guarantee. Investment advisory services offered by Stash Investments LLC and VC registered investment advisor. Investing involves risk offer is subject to terms and conditions.

[D]

Boom.

[B]

But you know the up thing about that I was talking to, I forgot this organization out there, but they were, they, it's like special socom, I don't know, like advisory groupers. They're like a media company for something with the military. I don't know. And they're like, yeah, you talk about, maybe you'll talk about like you know how operator syndrome and veterans, you know how we need to get the VA and the government to really push this into the system so we don't just get give our veterans medicine pills and tell them get bent. I'm like, that shit's cool and all, bro. But the problem isn't the VA or the government. The problem is us, right? It's like what are you gonna do for me? It's like what are you gonna do for yourself? And the problem is, is like we've all gone through hard and if we don't open up our voice even in our darkest time, like no one can ever change because no one's gonna want to let you down, right? They, they, they look at you differently than them, which is the silliest thing. Like if people meet me and they're like I didn't do anything. You did. I was just a, I'm like, shut the up. I'm like, bro, you were in the military. Thank you for your service. Because they, they can. We completely undermine ourselves. So now you take a person like that who has problems, maybe it was sexually or abused, which happens in the military. Maybe was in a, a TBI that went unreported because someone didn't want to get in trouble, right? Like people aren't going to step up for themselves. I Got to speak on a board during. So I'm a master sergeant a. I'm an EA for like three and a half years now. I'm like super senior and I'm about to retire and I got to sit on this board for this like a TBI or this traumatic brain injury like conversation thing in my command. And my neurosurgeon calls me out. I'm like anxiety central. Like my palms are all sweaty because I'm about to speak in front of people and like I just could not handle normal. But I got up there and what I said was that like, I'm an E8 and I have blood and sweat for this place and I got pushed back to get help. Can you imagine what the. The E3 that just checked into our unit, that got over in a previous unit or got over in this unit. Do you think they're. I'm an E8. There's only one rink above me and I'm getting. What do you think is going to happen to them? No one's going to listen to them. And that's the problem that I really saw because I was that problem too. I would see young men and women come in as their enablers to support guys and girls. I'd be like, why the are they getting into like physical therapy? They just, just got here. I have to wait for an appointment. Like this kind of self entitled. True, I had a massive ego and. But then I'm like, I'm glad they can go. Like, it took me to fall on my own face to see how hard it was to even get help when I was desperate for it, to be appreciative all the times. And I saw people get help when they actually wanted to be proactive on it. Because I wasn't proactive. I was. I had the opportunity to be proactive so many times and always postpone it because I'm gonna get a chance to go to selection. I'm gonna get to go to this school. I'm gonna get to do this. That's all I. That's all I did. And a lot of the guys and girls we work with, they're in the same mindset. So when we get out, it's like, yo dog, if you're not happy with your life, then only you can change it. And I truly feel like, you know how you guys are positive, right? Like, you know, there's a lot of our peer groups that just literally just talk other veterans. And when you guys are positive, even in like you're talking fun, it's still uplifting. Impossible.

[D]

We already knock each other.

[B]

What?

[D]

Who hates successful veterans more than anyone else?

[A]

Oh, he gets to knock a drink over. That's fine.

[B]

But there's a lid on.

[C]

There's a lid.

[B]

I can take the lid off. I can knock over that glass of that mug, if you'd like.

[A]

It would make me feel a little bit.

[C]

Did I Be really funny if you spilled it on him?

[B]

I could. That would be the biggest. Over. Other veterans drink here.

[A]

Yeah, the Woodhouse from Archer. I'll fetch another robe, sir.

[B]

Oh, man.

[D]

Like, Brandon, what are you going to do in return?

[A]

Nothing here is scary.

[B]

Is it because my smile? People always say that I recognize you. I'm like, is it my smile that you recognize?

[A]

Devilishly good looks.

[B]

Devilishly good looks, man. Mama. Mama gave me the jeans. And. But, yeah, it's just.

[D]

Just.

[B]

It's all crazy and. But so I think back to the original question was, like, how does social media. So I just started talking about all these things I was going through, and then I think it was. It was right when Covid ended, you know, when that thing happened, Sean Ryan reached out to me, and he's like, hey. You know, because for years, people were like, get Cody Alfred. Get Cody Alfred. He's like, hey, do you want to be in my podcast? And I'm like, me? I'm like, yeah, sure. Okay. And I'm like, thank God, because I'm not gonna get on a plane wearing a mask, you know, like, that just. I wasn't gonna go nowhere. Like, I don't care who you are.

[A]

Jesus Christ.

[B]

Supposed to beat you. Like, tell him I'll get back to him, bro, that's just not gonna happen, you know? And I. I get this opportunity on Sean Ryan's show, and I, like, just data dump my life. Like, we're. I was originally supposed to talk about, like, conspiracies and aliens and, like, Tartaria and, like, all sorts of weird. That's what he's like, what do you want to talk about? I'm like, are you into this stuff? He's like, yeah, I am. So we just started.

[A]

The reason nobody knows how to get to Agartha those. Because you wanted to talk about yourself, obviously.

[B]

It's not even my fault, bro. He asked me, where did you grow up? I'll tell you everything, you know, like, dude, that chair was the most therapeutic chair of my life, man. And that chair changed my life. And, well, even.

[D]

How was the nerves?

[C]

Or what about the gummy bears, bro?

[B]

The gummy bears did not last. I'M a gummy bear dude. And like, those gummy bears were. So that's a shirt.

[C]

You should sell that as a gummy bear. Just gummy bear slut. You know what the funny part is?

[A]

You would sell a.

[C]

You would sell a.

[D]

That's a really good shirt.

[B]

Yeah, that's a gummy bear slut, bro. It was so great. Yeah, they were so good. But yeah, it was. I was nervous if I some saw

[A]

somebody like you wearing that shirt, I would have so many questions.

[B]

If I wear that shirt here, they tell me, take off my shirt. Like, this guy, he's autistic and wants to, you know, fan.

[A]

Do you want to show your shirt off?

[C]

Yeah, come show the shirt. Apparently the security team at the casino saw his shirt and told him he needs to quit wearing it in public.

[B]

Profiled you broke. I should have just wanted mute.

[D]

Not mute. Non verbal, nonverbal. You would be like. They would have been like, never mind. Sorry. Why they apologize. Ran away in fear not.

[C]

They're watching. They're watching Finn play blackjack. This guy's definitely not autistic. He's losing way too much money. He's.

[D]

Oh, he didn't get the super.

[A]

He did not get the Rain man.

[B]

Kind of autism. Marvel Television's Wonder man, an eight episode series now streaming on Disney plus a superhero remake.

[A]

Not exactly what we'd expect from an Oscar winning director.

[C]

Action.

[D]

Simon Williams audition for Wonder Man.

[B]

I'm gonna need you to sign this,

[A]

assuming you don't have superpower.

[D]

I never work again.

[B]

If anyone found out. My lips are sealed. Marvel Television's Wonder man, all eight episodes now streaming only on Disney Plus.

[D]

They just watch him.

[A]

There's 31 flavors and he didn't get that one.

[B]

No, he did not.

[D]

Still stimming the entire time. He's having a good time blowing money.

[A]

Where do we even go from that?

[D]

I don't know.

[B]

Demi bear slut and autistic and ready to fuck.

[D]

Oh, man, it's fucking beautiful. So you got. You started talking about that Sean Ryan. How was that experience when they actually reached out for the first time? Was it like, oh, okay, I'm gonna prep or how much prep work went into it?

[B]

There was no prep. I didn't. I didn't. Yeah, like I said, we're supposed to talk about like aliens and things. And so I'm like, I was excited for the opportunity, you know, and I was. Episode 34. So still pretty infinite on his stuff. And I was, I was just humble that I got an opportunity like somebody wanted.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

To hear.

[A]

Yeah. Out of curiosity, why was he going to talk to you about aliens specifically?

[B]

I don't think he knew what he wanted to talk about. I think he asked me, and I'm like. And then I'm like, I was into, like, reading all those books. I'm like, are you into this? And he's like. He's like, what are you into? I'm like, I'm into these weird things. He's like, do you want to talk about that? I'm like, sure, I can talk about this stuff. And that's really what my thought process was going down there. And clearly that's not what happened.

[A]

And I thought. I didn't know if we were going to get another lore dump where you're like, oh, yeah, no. Well, I was a guard at, like, Area 51 for a couple years, you know, that sort of seen some.

[B]

Yeah, no, there was. There was. We didn't even talk about aliens, you know, and honest, it was selfishly, it. It changed my life by giving myself. I never even processed. I never even thought about some of those memories till that chair. And so. And that was the first time I ever, like, I already had to do, like, a congruency of, like, timelines when I was in the military for my medical board of, like, yep, I ate a hundred micklicks on this deployment. And I had to, like, kind of go back into my timeline of experience, but, like, to going back to my childhood or, like, like, my interaction with my oldest son, lives in Germany with his mom, that I didn't have contact till he was freaking eight. You know, like, these, like, these real questions. And he kind of just, like, opened up Pandora's box and, like, gave me an opportunity to speak. And it was awesome, you know, before I even knew what feeling seen was. Like, I felt seen before I even knew what that was.

[A]

And so you'd never spoken to anybody about this stuff before?

[B]

No, I. I tried to, and then I realized that I would. I would get too choked up. And I didn't really know why, because I was still. Still pretty fresh. I think at this point. I was out of the Marine Corps maybe, like, three years, two and a half years. Maybe three years. And so, like, I was still going through a lot of, like, things that I couldn't quite identify yet. And I wasn't happy. I didn't love myself. I was really struggling, but I was functioning struggling. Right. Like, so it was kind of working, but it was also not working at the same time. And the wild thing about that is Sean text Me. He's like, hey dude, it's gonna go air tomorrow.

[A]

You ready?

[B]

I'm like, like I typed this like paragraph and I asked him to please don't air it. And I'm so grateful that I wasn't selfish and didn't and sent that but I was so scared. I'm like, what if I said too much? Like what if I broke a rule or something? You know, I was.

[A]

I didn't know you didn't send it when you initially said that. I'm like, oh. And he just sent it anyway. What an.

[B]

Yeah, no man, I totally think he would respect. I mean I don't even think I know he respected my relationship.

[A]

Left you on red.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh. Notification from the Sean rhyme. Like, oh man, Sean seems cool. He seems like a really good.

[B]

It was a really. It was really great interaction and. But I didn't see that. But I was. I was scared, you know, and obviously and then the. The podcast comes out and like I'm like really uncomfortable cuz I was just being me. But I was also doing what most people haven't ever done is like just be themselves. And the first like thousand comments was like, I'm not taking life advice from a guy with face tattoos. What a piece of. With face tattoos. This guy needs Jesus Christ in his life. Like all these like typical douchery things that I see digitally and it. It really me up a bit. I'm like, dude, I'm just being me, sharing my story and. But I'm up for being me. Like I'm sorry I'm not perfect. But then wouldn't you know that that was only so small compared to the amount of positives. I mean, dude, I get stopped. It was been uncomfortable for a lot of years. It's not so much uncomfortable now because it means a lot to me to that people take time out of their day to be like, hey dude, you. You've impacted my life. You. You showed me that I could go get help.

[D]

Help.

[B]

Because like PTSD trauma. I don't give a who you are, bro. Like we all have it. And I've been into psychedelics since 2018 and I've done the majority of all them. And there's always one comment denominator how it all started. And it's not war, it's not combat. It's not the. It's not the abuse, it's not the neglect.

[D]

It's.

[B]

It's when you were a kid of some shape or form and then that forms into you not seeing yourself and all the things you've gone through.

[D]

And.

[B]

And, you know, throughout this journey for myself, I didn't even process, bro. I didn't process getting shot in the helmet. I downplayed it for years. People like, dude, you got shot. The helmet. Okay, okay. Uncomfortable. And walk away. Hey, you're the youngest master sergeant. I'm okay.

[D]

Thank you.

[B]

Walk away. Like, I just felt uncomfortable because I never even acknowledged, like, all the crazy that I even got to experience, you know, good or bad. And so it's. It's super sick, man. And, like, it's funny because I'll get talked by a bunch of, like, soft guys, special operations guys on the Internet that all the time about me, because hate when you don't hop on the bandwagon. And if you speak logic to illogical people, you trigger them. And then when you tell them you're triggered, that just pisses them off more. So I just keep on saying, you're triggered. But anyways. But out of all those things, the amount of people that I've, like, last year, Shaw show, there was like, these guys, like, team six guys. There's dudes all around. They're like, bro, I appreciate what you're doing. Thank you for saying the things that you said. Say, I'm like, you're a bad. This dude's a nobody talking behind a screen. And you say, thank you. And so I'm like, bro, okay. And then I've, like, I've really asked myself this whole time, like, what is the point of all these things if I'm not going to use my mouth, right? Like, if I'm not going to use what God gave me, this. This voice, the most powerful thing we possess. You know, I'm just. I am truly selfish. And. And I feel like it's just. It likes, it's boldness. It's a. It's a lack of boldness in your life to not open up. You know, if you can't say no, know, then you'll just agree to everything, bro, that you have no backbone. You're lukewarm. And that I. I don't choose to be that. You know? Like, I don't choose to be a lukewarm. Not perfect by any means, but, like, I have beliefs. I. I know what I stand for. I know what I believe in. I've worked really hard to get there. And it wasn't like, it just happened overnight. It was years of facing the things that no one could see. They're like, oh, you're killing it. I'm like, bro, I'm really suffering really, really bad right now. But I. I am getting better. You know, instead of up ten times a day, I'm only up five times a day. You know, I started looking for more reasons of how my life was changing than how my life was staying the same. And that was a big paradigm shift for me. And, you know, but it started off with the Sean Ryan show, then back to, like, how did I blow up on social media? Sean Ryan, like, jumped me up, dude. I remember the first time Sean Ryan video drops, I go live the next day on Instagram just to say thank you, dude. 60, 000 were live on my Instagram Live. I'm like, oh, no pressure. No, I was like, oh. Like, if I didn't look at the numbers, it would have been anything, right? Like, I'm pressing my phone, But I saw 60,000 people on my, like, 34,000 follower count, and I'm like, oh, like, my stomach just, like, went on, my bro. I was like, oh, my God, I'm so uncomfortable.

[D]

And you give admissions and, like, direction to people who run into combat, and

[B]

all of a sudden, oh, for sure, dude. A screen, a device that doesn't have a button, you know, it's not even a real button. And that thing terrified me, bro. But you know that black box, dude, is like the portal to so many positive influence in this life, right? And you can either be a talking one or a. That stands for something that is positive. It's so. It takes the same amount of effort and energy. And these guys that just talk online, I'm like, bro, you have a girlfriend or a wife? That's like, man, that's my man right there, just talking all day. I get to him, I'm like, that's. That has to be their conversation.

[A]

I'm sure that's the exact conversation you told him that?

[B]

I'm proud of my man, man. My man just gets on the Internet all day and just talks shit about mother. I mean, makes me proud.

[D]

Brandon, do you need.

[A]

Not one more time. You got this, buddy.

[B]

Brandon, can you. Brandon, do you.

[A]

Almost there, bud.

[D]

Brandon, where do you store your firearms?

[A]

All over my house, in every crevice.

[D]

Well, do I have the product for you, Nick. Show them here.

[C]

Hand it to me, Brandon, so I can show you. Brandon, this is Stopbox. Stopbox we love Box.

[A]

You selling me?

[D]

What's in the box?

[C]

You have to open it and find out.

[A]

All right, well, let's see if I can do this. Oh, wow, look at that.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Can I hide my goop in that?

[D]

You can hide Your goop in that. Cody.

[A]

Cody.

[D]

Do you know why I love this thing? Why?

[A]

Why? Why?

[B]

God, why? Because you don't have to use keys.

[C]

Gone not include Cody.

[A]

You've got multiple cats in your house, including Squirt, who's quite the scrapper. Would you want Squirt to have access to your firearms? No, he's violent. Well, then Stopbox is the perfect product for you.

[C]

No cats getting inside that or people without thumbs. The nice part is it is actually TSA compliant.

[A]

I didn't actually know that part until a couple months ago. That is actually really cool. Just put a little lock through there.

[C]

Exactly.

[A]

When you check in a pistol or any gun, if there's a hole that a lot can go through on whatever you're checking your gun in, you have to put a lock through that. This has one hole, so you just need one lock. Easily accessible once you land on the ground. I know you're not normally a one hole kind of guy, but this is definitely an exception to the rule. Never worry about tariffs because everything is sourced right here in the usa.

[D]

Wait, what are tariffs?

[B]

I'm pretty sure I shot a few of them for a limited time only

[D]

get 10% off your entire order if you use code unsubscribe checkout.

[C]

And right now, if you buy one stop box, you're going to get another stopbox free. So that's 10% off plus buy one, get one free. When you use code unsub at checkout,

[D]

that's stopboxusa.com Discover a Better Way to

[A]

balance security and readiness with StopBox.

[D]

Stopboxusa.com use code unsubscribe.

[A]

Something that, that I actually, I learned from administrative results. Of all people, he, he had, he had, he said something that like, kind of resonated with me and like, it stuck with me, with me since then is because, you know, you see negative comments on the Internet and you immediately want to respond because in your mind, like, you see a million people telling you, oh, you're the shit. And you see one guy saying like, you ain't like, that's the one that sticks out, right? But he said, you know, you, you, you cultivate what you encourage and what you, what you spend your time on. And he's like, every, for every negative comment that I respond to, I try to respond to 10 positive ones. I'm like, that's actually probably a very good rule. I think that's, that's, that's. That direction I think is healthy, dude.

[B]

And honestly, I give credit to the people that have triggered Me online. Like, all the dudes that have talked about me online, they have impacted my life positively. And I, and I realized there was my own peer group in marsoc. When I first got out my. I've only had one job as civilian. I worked for four months at this startup cannabis company in la. I'm like a director of operations. I'm like, damn, I'm getting paid you money. This is sick. I got face tattoos like, I'm a glorified drug dealer. Get it paid. I'm like, this, this is epic. You, you look happy, you look successful. This guy. And I would tell myself these things. I'm like, that guy didn't do in my job and now he's getting this opportunity. So like. But I would never type it. I just talk inside of me. But then I realized, even during then I'm like, he's just triggered me of what I could do if I had the courage to do what he's doing, because I was too scared. He's doing something that I want to do, but he's bold enough to go do it. And I'm not. You know, I get, I get.

[C]

All you do is read Wikipedia pages on the Internet and it's like, I mean, kind of go for it, bro. Like, it's, it's a dope ass job.

[A]

Nobody's stopping you.

[D]

You just have a podcast. Yeah, okay, try it. I assure you, just try it.

[B]

Like, yeah, just try it. And like these guys that talk, it's like, I'm like, why is this bothering me? Do I believe that? And you know, they jealous. That's easy to say too, but at the same time it's making my nervous system feel uncomfortable, making me feel that, that wooziness in here. And it's like, why do you think that is? Why? Well, at the time I didn't understand, but I started to dive into like my nervous system and like, okay, I don't believe that. My mind doesn't believe that, but my body still doesn't know the difference, right? And therefore like, okay, why is that triggering me? Is that true? Am I not showing up in certain areas of my life? Am I being a phony? Am I being a fraud?

[A]

I mean, the most hurtful comments, comments are the ones that have like a, a little nugget of truth to it where you're like, if that's like an insecurity that you've had or like something that you think like, oh man, I might have phoned this one in or something like that. And so you see a comment that said man, you phone this in, you're like, like it's the one that, the ones that make you more aggravated.

[B]

Not even, not even like rooted in truth for me it's just like, or at least what you, why am I given this energy? I'm giving energy because clearly I do believe I'm a piece of in some aspect, you know. And you know I'm like, I'm a big proponent of plant medicine. You, have you heard of Vet Solution? Have you heard of Ambio Life Science? So Vet Solution is a nonprofit that's by Marcus Capone. He was a team six guy I believe. And so his foundation sends special operations veterans to Mexico with this company called Ambio Life Science. And you go in there, you do ibogaine and 5 Meo DMT.

[A]

And I, I know a couple people

[B]

actually been down there twice. The first time I went down there, I, I truly believe I, I, I, I found God in my belief life in a Mex in a concrete room in Mexico. But when I came back home, I

[A]

got two to three day thing, right.

[B]

It's a five day event. Yeah. So you go down there, you do like a sweat lodge and then the next day, that night you do you fast and you do your ibogaine ceremony and then the next day is like a massive recovery day they call the day of the great like gray day. You're just my first experience of just like twitching, like tweaking out on the bed, like just super nauseous because like you're, you cannot have like me, I have like ayahuasca. I didn't have any visions or any sightings in my mind. It was just darkness and stillness. Same thing with ibogaine, but your body is detoxing. I woke up the next day, I had more mobility in my life than I've had in years because it just attacks inflammation, you know, it's insane what it does.

[A]

And you're just physical mobility.

[B]

Physical mobility. I was able to touch my toes for the first time like on the first try. It was the most well thing. And then secondly, the most important thing about ibogaine is you're guaranteed, guaranteed to move the gray matter in your brain. So like people that are really scared but they have all these crazy tbis, it reverses tbis, it doesn't heal you, but it starts to put things back in its place so you can actually make progress in your life. Because they've actually done studies on this. They actually did a study with a bunch of seals out west, put them through ibogaine did the MRIs and cascades on them and saw how the gray matter shifted in their brain from their original already exposed to blast exposure to post ibogaine.

[D]

The neuropathways form again. Or in different ways.

[B]

In different ways. But yeah, like I've seen, there's a

[A]

lot of studies that are coming out nowadays especially. I think they just remove like one of the. There was like a government limitation on the ability to study stuff like this.

[B]

But.

[A]

But whether it's like psychedelics in general, like ibogaine or psilocybin, like actual, like, documented improvement when it comes to like tbis and healing the brain, dude, 1000%.

[B]

I don't believe that plant medicine is for everybody, but I believe that changes for everybody. And some people are just so resistant. And that's okay because there's a lot of other modalities out there. There's a lot of, like, basic, you know, I therapy that can read neural, you know, re engage the neural pathways in your brain. There's just a lot of things out there. But I've always felt called to plant medicine for whatever reason. And then after that day, you do 5 Meo DMT, Bufo the Toad they call the God molecule. And I tell people, like, you're getting. When you go down to Mexico, you're guaranteed three things. One, you're guaranteed to feel better in your body. Guaranteed. Guaranteed. You're guaranteed to move the gray out in your brain. Guaranteed. And you're guaranteed a chance to let go.

[A]

And if you look like me or Eli, you're not guaranteed to come back.

[B]

Well, luckily, this is super safe. You're in like a gated community. Like, it's like five star. You're in a mansion. Like, it's like you got. You got monitors, you, doctor.

[D]

Hey, why are you sleeping on the bed? Go mow the yard. Just confuse us for the yard work. It's like, oh, okay.

[B]

You guys would fit in perfectly. You know, it would be great. It'd be like at home, you know?

[A]

Yeah, yeah. He's telling us to move back.

[B]

Well, you don't like this country. Well, I'm back. Go back to where you came from.

[D]

I. I've seen so many changes in individuals from it that I know have TBI or really bad ptsd. And then I get to watch the experience of them even having alcoholism. And it's gone month, literally. They've done it once. They don't crave booze anymore. It's the most wild I've ever watched. Even though these are individuals, I'm sure, you've seen the same thing. They're addicted to substance. I was gone over a week.

[A]

One way or the other. You can't argue that. It doesn't rewrite something in your neural pathways.

[B]

I was there with a, with a Army Ranger. Army Ranger. A regiment dude, right? Army range guy. I can't even speak right now. Army Ranger. I am tired from shot show.

[D]

You're 40 also, my friend.

[A]

It's going around.

[B]

Yeah. And he was an alcoholic and he changed my perspective on. At first I thought the message is you say call self, you call selfish. It'll get people to think and I don't. It's not gonna, it's not gonna stop you. But it might make you pause at one millisecond to think about your actions because there's no tag backs. I used to think that was it. His story completely changed my perspective. He said one day before he went, before he was in Mexico with me, he was having a great day. Wife cooked breakfast, everything was fine and dandy. He was having literally the time of his life. His kid was about to go to a friend's house down the street and play Xbox and have a party and his wife is about to drive the kids down there and he was gonna go grab the meat and, and bring it down there. And he said as soon as his family left, he walked outside. He had no intentions of doing this. He walked outside, put his extension cord around his neck, put it over the. The grading. He had like, what is it? Lattice or notice, whatever that thing is called. And he himself and his wife came back because the son left the controller at home. The wife came back and so unfortunately the son saw his dad hanging. The wife and the son were able to pick him up and like get him off and get him help. And that changed my complete. That completely changed my vision and idea of what I thought was this guy did not have one ideation. And just like that, he decided to

[A]

go for it and like future plans and everything like that.

[B]

Yep, future plans. I mean, in one of my great friends, Daniel Brown, he was a Navy sar, so they're the special Amphibious Reconnaissance Corpsman. One of my best friends. Just a beautiful man, beautiful soul. And we're on the phone and we're supposed to link up next week. He moved back to Nebraska with his family. We were both in Idaho together. And he. We're going to do business together. So I was like, yeah, let's link up Monday and let's talk about this business plan. That was, that wasn't me pushing that Was him pushing it, right? That was his objective. I'm like, sick. Two days later, I get a call from his. His wife saying that Daniel's gone.

[A]

And.

[B]

And it, like, it crushed me, dude. It just. It so crushed me. And. And I'm like, this mother selfish dude. Like, what the. But then hearing the story about this. This ranger that I met, who's a beautiful man, dude, like, he's has. He's the best stories, dude. He did time in prison, like crazy dude. A lot of trauma. A lot of trauma. And he. He has a heart of gold, really means well. But for him to make that decision, it changed my mind. Well, so we do. I be game. We do our five meos. And he hasn't touched alcohol since he actually said in his trip, in his journey with ibogaine, because we fly. You fly into the San Diego airport, and then they. You stay at a hotel and they pick you up and drive you across the border the next day. He said in his trip, he woke up in the San Diego airport terminal. There was no one there. He walked in. He knew exactly where the bar was because he had a beer on the way there in real life, right? So he walks to the terminal. No one's there. He walks into, I think it was like the. The Stone Brewery Company. Pours himself a beer. He says as soon as he takes a sip, this is all in his mind. He said he just exploded. And then he flashed back to childhood, flashed back to war, and kept on flashing back to all these things. And he says he hasn't had a drink since then.

[D]

Jesus.

[B]

But the crazy thing about that, with that much level of change in your life, right? And especially with 5MEO DMT. 5MEO is the craziest thing I've ever done. Because no matter how strong you think you are, you, there is only surrender. And the hardest thing, I think, for humans in general, not even men, not even veterans, just surrendering, right? Because we hold on to this life. Because life is good. Talking on phones, microphones, spilling drinks in ourself. You know, we're going to have fun.

[A]

All right, listen, you want to go

[D]

do I a game for that embarrassment you suffered?

[A]

That's what I'm going to flashback to is that moment on the podcast.

[B]

But you handled it like a G. You know, you handled it like a G. You're like, I will not be defeated by a wet taint.

[A]

You know, like, tell the doctor why

[D]

he's going through the treatment.

[B]

Did you do war?

[A]

No, worse.

[B]

You ever heard of swamp ass? Yeah, In Front of other men. That was me.

[C]

And that was the last time Brandon wore a robe.

[A]

Yep.

[C]

Never again.

[A]

True story.

[B]

You know, and so you. You do this. You do this five meo experience, and it's you. You have to completely surrender. But anyways, I. I'm like, I felt so loved and empowered through this journey, but I went back home and I tried to, like, well, I feel loved. I. I know I'm connected to it, whatever that it is to me. And I'm like, why can't I accept love in my life? I'm like, why can't I accept this love that I just got to experience? And I know it's real and there for me. Well, I got called back. I got invited back again a year later, like, hey, do you want to come back for round number two? And I was terrified because I'm like, I know what I'm about to have to go through. And it wasn't the ibogaine that I was worried about. It was like. Like that five meo, cuz.

[A]

So. So you did it twice?

[B]

You have to die. Yes, I did it. I actually did three times, if I do.

[D]

Also, the worst tagline for a business, like, you want to die 80 times.

[B]

Well, I know you're going to die. You know, they don't say that, but, like, I know you're going.

[D]

I know because all my friends that went through, it's like, you die, like a hundred times. I'm like, you're not selling me on this. But the thing is, honest with you.

[B]

But the cool thing about that, though, is, like, if. When we hold on to everything, this life, right, we hold on to our past identities, right? Like, reprogramming our lives and our. Our mindsets and our relationships and all that, it's just. Are you. You're choosing to hold on to an old version of you that you say you don't like, but yet it's like, well, I might need this gear pouch if the apocalypse happens in 30 years from now. You know, like, we hold on to all this that we don't even. I really realize at least that was in my world, right? So I can. I'll just speak about myself if you go.

[D]

If you ever go again. I will join you on that, bro.

[B]

I'd love to get you guys connected.

[D]

Brandon has this.

[A]

Yeah, apparently I. I just had my traumatic experience, so I'll let that, you know.

[B]

Do you be surprised, man. Man, you know, a traumatic. You know, trauma is like, it doesn't matter how you got it. The fact is you got that legitimately,

[A]

though, I do know, like, a lot of friends, mutual friends that have gone through that, that experience, they've gone to Mexico. Whether it's through that group or not, I'm not sure, but have gone through the ibogaine five meo. Five meo.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

And they've, they've said nothing but good things.

[B]

Yeah, man, it's life changing. So I go back on the second trip and I'm like, I'm excited to go because I'm scared. And I realized a long time ago when you're, when you're, when, when it's scared and nervous is the same feeling as excitement. It's just a different word that I'm choosing to, like, bounce around in my head. And so I'm like, if I'm scared, I know I gotta go. And I know that the only way, if I don't take a step forward, I'm just gonna freeze and lock up, and that's not gonna happen. So I know I'm just gonna push forward. And the first thing I say is, I hate you. And I started to, I started to cry. I, I, I did like two hits.

[D]

Who do you say this to?

[B]

To myself.

[D]

Okay. Okay.

[B]

And I'm saying it out loud in a garden full, a beautiful garden overlooking this beautiful ocean, Beautiful, beautiful garden, flowers everywhere, and a bunch of, like, amazing people around me. And I just started to cry. And then I yell out at the top of my lungs, I hate you. And then I keep on saying, I hate you, I hate you. And I'm just like, balling my eyes off, and I haven't cried like this in so long. And I'm just, I'm grateful that I'm crying, but I'm, I'm really kind of like just going through at this moment. And then I ended up saying out loud, I am you. I am you. I love you. I love you. And I don't know why the I would say those things, but then it really changed my, it changed my entire life because I realized for 39 years how much I hated myself. Even when I had smiles on my face, even when I wasn't lying to myself, you know, so those, those texts, these comments that were negative, the, the I would say to my head, the reasons why I'm like, man, why can't I make my marriage better? Like, why I can't my business run good? Like, why, why, why, why, why, why? It was because I couldn't accept me. And I'm a believer in that you say you believe in, but if you don't believe in yourself, then the thing that you believe in is also. And so that to me is like the ultimate, like, equalizer. And I realized I couldn't accept this love that I experienced a year ago because I. I couldn't even accept love for myself. You know, I'm like, I want my wife to love me. I need. I need my wife to love me because I want make me better. Like, no one's going to give me the love that I need but myself. And if I can't be open to that, then I can't accept anything else because I couldn't accept my wife's love. I couldn't accept my friend's love. Like, I always felt like someone's trying to get a. An angle on me or like, just takes something from me. And I'm like, why? Why? I'm always betting on people investing in people, but they're not investing in me. They were doing it the whole time. But I had. I had these goggles on of, like, hatred for myself, and I just didn't know it. And, dude, I turned 40 last May, so May 23rd, I turned 40. Dude, the best year of my life, bro. Like, whatever it was last year, 2025, the best year of my life, bro.

[D]

And your DM to me or your text to me was amazing to read because you're like, holy. It's been a really good year. Now I'm focusing on myself. You could see that change in yourself. It was awesome to read. I was like, dude, congratulations. You just so positive, even towards me. You're like, I love seeing what you're doing. It's awesome.

[B]

Thanks, man.

[D]

And same. I was like, dude, same. You're crushing. I love your journey. I love that you're very vocal about it, but now that you're saying this out loud, it makes a lot of sense.

[B]

Yeah. People are like, man, you're killing it. I'm like, bro, I don't even. I don't even have money to pay my bills this month, dude. But I'm like, if killing it means happy as and I love my life and I love my family, then I'm murdering it, bro. You know?

[D]

And, dude, wait till that gummy bear shirt.

[B]

Gummy bear slut. Nick. What?

[D]

We can make this happen right now, dude.

[B]

I just want to feed families in the town that I live in. Gummy bears and drive a Porsche. Like, I want a rally Porsche, right? I want to feed families and own a rally Porsche, right? Gummy Bear SL's going to be my gateway to there. You Know, that was, that was like.

[A]

I'm like, wow, he's so altruistic. Oh, he's still a dude.

[B]

Oh, dude. Rally Porsche. I've been in the classics my entire life, but where I live, like, the classes that I used to have, they would just fall apart.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I'm like, I want to put a big ass elk on my rally Porsche. And I worked with a client back in the day. He's an artist, and he commissioned this. Like, my favorite color is yellow, and so it's yellow with black tiger stripe. And he drew me, he painted me in the picture. And I'm like, this has got like Baja lights and the rack on top. I'm like, I'm gonna fucking have an elk on my Porsche and drive it every day. And it's just, it's. It's only a matter of time, you know, and.

[A]

Well, to completely change gears. Sorry. But going back to some stuff you said earlier.

[B]

You.

[A]

You were saying, like your first deployment, whatnot. You're like, oh, yeah, And I talked to my wife, or my wife sent

[B]

out Oreos and frosting.

[A]

Yeah. Which for one is just such a flex on the anime. It's like, we will go halfway around the world not only to kill you, but we're going to be eating better food than you have while we do it.

[C]

Not. Not even just Oreos. The seasonal drops.

[A]

The seasonal drop.

[B]

Seasonal drops of Oreos.

[A]

The logistical flex of. That is hilarious. But it. It sounded like you met your wife very early.

[B]

No, I met my wife actually, before this. My last deployment.

[A]

Oh, really? Okay, maybe I misunderstood.

[B]

Yeah, no, no, I. I was actually married before. I was married for six and a half years and I was the. I was the, the typical story, bro. She's not good for me. Like, you don't know anything. She loves me, man. She loves me. And, you know, obviously it's always easy to talk. I was equally guilty in a toxic relationship. But, you know, that was actually hard. Dude, getting divorced is hard. You know, I. I hated my marriage. I hated what I was doing. I wanted it to end. And I'd be like, I want a divorce. And she's like, fine. I'm like, no, love me, love me, you know, like, so, like, my desperation for, for, for being. Wanting to be loved, you know, stemmed back very long time in my career. I just. In my life, I just didn't even know it. And, you know, you never really know until you read the whole book, you know? And so I was actually married for six and a half years and I met my Wife actually stalked her online. So like, you know, like, bro, dude, there's a lot of good looking dudes that are jacked and tattooed out there, right? I can't just like your first post, I gotta like scroll down a couple and like you are going to know I exist, exist. And at the time, notes fellas. Yeah, at the time my Instagram was just like Guns Harley's and like classic trucks, right? And then I had this like crazy like curled mustache was my, my photo. It was from like a deployment photo. And luckily one of my buddies wives worked at the same bar that my wife was working at. And she's like, who is this creep? And she's like, oh, that's my husband's friend. And so like she kind of bridged an introduction and bro, dude, like, who's this creep?

[A]

Is a. Yeah, that's a great segue.

[C]

The real moral of the story has a buddy who's friends with the wife.

[A]

Oh, for sure have a buddy who's married to someone with hot friends.

[B]

Oh yeah, that's great. Dude, my wife is. My wife. My wife is savage, dude. She. She's everything that I wasn't at the time. And she. I was on three deployments with my first marriage. I. I got one care package that I had a set up before I deployed on that, on our deployment, right? I never got anything else and not woe is me, but like this is my wife, you know, My, my.

[D]

That is a. What that is.

[B]

It was so depressing.

[D]

Hopefully this deployment should send me rice.

[B]

Yeah, it was, it was pretty up. I got theme packages like once a week where I was at on my last rotation. And my wife was just, Dude, I'd open up, it'd be like a movie box, bro. She would like send me beer and like, like beer and like chips and like popcorn.

[A]

I didn't know they were allowed to send alcohol.

[B]

She, bro, you're not allowed to do a lot of things, but do you listen to rules?

[A]

Hey, fair enough.

[B]

I had bacon scent, you know, like I'm an American, you know. You ever heard that back to back world champs, you know, before everyone went woke and tell you just working for the Jews, you know. So you know like I'm still going

[D]

back to meeting with the pastor and you're like, it's like you're Jewish and you're eating bacon. You're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. What about got.

[A]

Hey, about that, the, the Jew box with the beef kosher.

[B]

Me? Yeah. So you're telling me if I'm Jewish today? I get that beef stew. Oh, you sign me up, sign me

[A]

up, sign me up.

[C]

Why is this napkin circular?

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Weird ass nap, man. They thought of everything in this kid, you know, that's so. Oh, it's great. You know, there was. There's a dude, I had a patch that said Bear June. And for a short time that was like my, like my nickname or whatever. And because there's only like so many Jewish and I was a scout sniper, so I had like SS tattoos on me. Scout sniper. They're like, you're racist. I'm like, I'm Jewish, right? Like, how am I. How do I hate myself? Well, funny story. I really did hate myself. You know, jokes on me. You know, years later, I really realize that. But yeah, just. Wow. Anyways, but like, Bear Jew is sick. All my paddles have like, Bear Jew, like, literally.

[A]

Pretty cool moniker.

[B]

It's super sick. You know, it literally bear with the Star of David, you know, got another paddle. The biggest Star of David. Then I, I post those things nowadays. One, I do it just to troll the Internet because everyone hates Jews now and. But two, it's like, this is. Was cool, but then there's like this different generation that like, oh, I'm just a zombie Zogbot. I'm like, what does that mean? You know, and then they follow it up with like, what is it? Boot licker. And what's the other cool terms used nowadays? Throat goat. I got called a throat goat. Yeah. By a. By another well known special forces YouTuber. Oh, definitely not in person.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

That's crazy.

[B]

Yeah, I saw, I saw him. I saw him yesterday, you know, but I got called a throat goat. The specific words were Tim Kennedy's throat. Go goat. That was the specific words used. Because I. When the whole Tim Kennedy thing came out, I. I went on TK's post and I said, look, look at us, typically just attacking each other and talking like I. But that clearly meant I chose sides and said stolen valor was fine and agreed to every nefarious thing that happened. But, you know, you. You can't be logical to logical people. At the end of the day, though, if you are logical to logical people, it's. It's very easy to. To dim yourself and to like, go back into hiding or join the mobility job and not ever be seen again. And I refuse to have a mom and dad that raised me, you know, I refuse to have a belief that I say I believe in and to play small, you know, and it's not to be better than you or to Be just different. Because I want to be. I only know how to be me. And I am just different. And the thing is like, we're all different, but we're just scared to say us to be ourselves. Dude, I had a meeting with a company today and they're like, how do you want to do this? You want to get your camera? I'm like, bro, we could just have a conversation. You know know we talked about this. Like, let's just be bros. Tell me about your new gear and then my camera guy will figure it out.

[A]

Cuz that's the shot. Show special is you go around the, the show floor and you see these people that just like, like a animatronic. They'll just like go into their five minute spiel. It's like, bro, it's, it's okay. Like you can, like, we're not, we're not doing this for camera. Like we can just, we could just talk about this.

[B]

Yeah, dude, I don't. I'm not trying to be like everyone else. Oh yeah, let me give me my 10% discount code so I can say the same regurgitated that I hear 20, 24 7. Like, I'm not a teletron or a commercial, but I'm a real person, dude. And like what I say impacts lives, right? And what I do impacts my own life and my family. And why would I choose to be a robot? And if I have a chance to be human or ask a question or get help, why wouldn't I want to do that? No matter how scared it is, like, it doesn't make logically, it doesn't make sense to me. I'm like, man, you ran into a machine gun fortified position and you're like, this is sick. And then you're like, man, who needs help? Who's actually feeling good? I'm like, I'm good. I'm good to go. I'm good to go because I'm scared to be seen by my own brothers.

[D]

I think it's a scary thing. I think that's what's awesome. What you're doing is you're an individual. That's you are at the top of your job in the Marines. You led from that position. And now you are that inspiration because it's okay. Because a lot of guys, they're going to look up to you and the second you're like, hey, you can't. It's okay to have an emotional response. It's okay. X, Y and Z. See, they'll do it now just because you're you're the one leading from the front, from that. So I truly appreciate that.

[B]

Thanks, man. It's a, it's a. You know, so many times in my life I've asked like, man, what's my purpose? What's my purpose? And I'm looking around as I'm saying the same, I'm using the same purpose, looking for my purpose. I, I'm using the same breath, asking where's my purpose? When my breath is my purpose, you know, and, you know, and if tomorrow I, I'm passionate about something else than this, yeah, that would be my purpose. Then, you know, but like, like being me and encourage other people to do that. Here's the crazy thing, right? People are like, America sucks. The war's crazy. I'm like, listen, it will always be that until you realize how powerful you are, you know? Like, could you imagine during COVID if people said, I'm not going to fly today? You. You would not have any rules. But I had to. I, I had to, I had to go. This business, that business you hate, that business that you, you literally talk about to all your friends. That's why you drink so much on the weekend, you come home and you talk to your wife about how you hate your job, that job you had there.

[A]

That's something that Mr. Gunsing Gear, I think, actually told me at one point where he, he's talking about, like, people

[B]

are like, oh, you're a grifter. You're a grifter.

[A]

Grifter.

[B]

That's another good word.

[A]

Yeah, it's like, oh, you're a grifter, bro. Like, you did an ad for a company. He's like, yeah, I, I gave my un, my, My unfiltered, informed opinion on a product, and in that, I did an ad for another company. Yeah, okay, sure, fine. That's. It's like an advertisement just like anything else. Like, if you watch like the news or whatever they do, they do ad, they run ads on that, whatever, fine. It's like, it's a little advert. And then like my unfiltered, unpurchased opinion. It's like you spend your entire 40 hour work week working for a company you hate. Who's the grifter? Yeah, you're the one working for a company you genuinely despise for your entire week.

[B]

But you know, that, that's that fear. You know, there was. There was a guy, there was a Marine raider I was going through the, the brain clinic with when I was active duty on my. My way out, and he was like, man, fuck this command. Like, you know, I'm tired of this bullshit. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, good for you, bro. So, you know, you can go on terminal leave so that you're still active duty, but you're on leave and you can work like a real job, but you get paid.

[D]

Yep.

[B]

And so this guy's on terminal leave wearing a. A contractor polo shirt in our compound. I'm like, the are you doing, bro? You just spent the last two weeks with me talking about how much you hate this place. That stresses you out. He's like, but bro, I need the money. You know, I need the money too. You know what I did when I had $0 because I was an idiot thinking that I was going to save my way to financial freedom them all I wanted when I retired from the Marine Corps was a Range Rover and a Panorai watch. That's all I wanted. And I was going to save to the dollar, to the cent what it would cost for both those things. And on my timeline, I was going to just have enough to go pay cash and I'd be done with it. That's where my mind was at. I didn't have. And so when I got out, the only liquid cash I had was my classic truck, my dream truck. So I sold that.

[A]

What was the truck?

[B]

It's a 1952 GMC pickup. It was hell yeah. Savage, petty, blue white vinyl interior airbags, bro. It was nasty, dude.

[A]

Ultimate dad truck.

[D]

What?

[B]

Dad truck.

[A]

Dad truck.

[B]

Dad truck. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it was an ultimate dope truck, bro. It was sick.

[D]

My buddy Fraziers. Oh, dude, you said rally Porsche. Frazier Frasier, super and rally Porsches.

[A]

Oh yeah.

[D]

He has literally, literally a rally.

[A]

Oh yeah.

[B]

That is so sick.

[D]

Yeah, the first thing he did, he's like, I bought a rally. A rally Porsche. Like do. That is dope as.

[B]

That is super dope. Oh yeah. My big ass is going to fit in there and just drive it every day to the most fall off.

[D]

So what now? What are. Where can everyone find you on the Internet right now?

[B]

Right now on the Internet. My, my Instagram's probably like my main like daily influence, which is the Cody Alford. So the Cody Alfred. That's it. T H EE and then YouTube. It's the same. The Cody Alford. And yeah, I told myself like four weeks ago, I'm like, bro, I'm like, man, I need someone to film for me. Like, if I had my film guy here, I would just like be crushing it. And then my, my, my one of My best friends. He comes and he's a videographer, he moves back home and he's like, I'm like, bro, we're gonna dominate. Didn't tell him one thing. I'm like, you know what? You, Cody, like, you're gonna be that guy. Oh, when I'm rich, I'll be happy, you know, when I get jacked, then I'll be nice to myself. So I said, fuck you. And so I just been pulling out my phone and like just getting my YouTube back up. I was, was super grateful because of everyone. I broke a hundred thousand subscribers like a couple months ago and I'm just like, yeah, I stayed up till like 2 o' clock in the morning last night because I'm so. I'm posting every Wednesday, dude. I'm like, I'm doing it, man. I've really over complicated a lot of things in my life and so now I'm not playing catch up. I'm just doing the things that I say I do, you know, and not over complicate things.

[A]

The amount of people, especially when it comes to social media or YouTube or whatever that over complicate things. I started on a iPhone.

[D]

IPhone make it efficient.

[B]

I'm still using my iPhone.

[A]

Yeah, it's like this. People think, oh, I need this kind of camera or I don't have this much production, whatever. It's like, no, just be you, dude.

[B]

I cleared up minefield on my second deployment with a three day pack. I took out all my gear, we put rocks and water bottles and attached 550 cord and I would throw that and I would pull it back, drag it back, then I would screw it up. I would put an IR chem light on the ground, I would throw my pack and I drag it back. I did that shit at 19 years old. And then here I am with opportunity and like almost infinite resource, especially with social media, right? Like, hey, get anyone to have this. People want to help you and they want to see you win, you know? And I'm like, I have every camera, every microphone that I need and I'm not producing anything. And I realized that was so much of my life and I'm just so over that, right? I owe myself way more than I've been giving myself for the years. And like I said, I'm just stoked to do it. So yeah, YouTube and Instagram are like my main thing, bro. YouTube is mean. Facebook is mean, dude, they got rules. Instagram is like kind of mean, right? YouTube is like pretty nar like mean. Facebook is like, oh my God damn. I didn't know people like you existed. They're like, vicious. It's like a whole. We run ads for the hormone company that I work for, and they're like, same. Typical. I'm not listening to a tweaker with face tattoos that made bad life decisions. Like, bro, my life is savage as. Yeah, I got face tattoos.

[A]

It's also the age gap, though, on face book a little bit.

[B]

Dude, these are like old grifters and, like, bootleggers, you know? And what's the other one?

[C]

What was the other one?

[B]

What was the other one? Kumquats.

[A]

Something like that.

[B]

Like, you know, like, very elegant word. I click on these people's profiles and it's.

[A]

It's the older people, it's just like,

[B]

oh, their puppy or their cat. I'm like, bro, you haven't seen your dick in like a decade, dude. Like, what are you talking about? Like, and I'm the tweaker.

[C]

I keep forgetting integrity because he refuses to do steroids. That's what it is.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna put in that in my body. You eat Taco Bell. Like, you listen to anyone in the white lab coat, bro. Like, okay, yeah.

[A]

How many cans of Spam have you eaten in your life?

[B]

Remember Jolts? Was that.

[D]

Oh, that's a 40 year old thing. How much caffeine was in Jolt Olds?

[B]

Enough to stunt my growth.

[D]

You know, it's like that poor, poor man's Mountain Dew spray, bro, that was crack.

[B]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[D]

Fantastic.

[B]

Was it Joe or was it.

[A]

Oh, there was another one. The vault or something.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Was that it or was it Joel? Well, jolt was the thing, right?

[D]

One lightning bolt.

[A]

I remember because at like, Hardee's or Carl's Jr. Or whatever, that was the one, like, growing up that they had had vault in the.

[B]

The dispenser.

[A]

The dispenser thing, the little thing. You just refill it. And like, as a kid, I was like, oh, I got something I'm not supposed to have. And so I would just get geeked out on caffeine for no reason.

[B]

Do you remember, like, pressing all the things? Like, I'm gonna mix all these drinks now. I'm like, babe, one suicide, please. Yeah.

[A]

Like, babe, is.

[B]

Is this the salami I should be getting? She's like, read the package. I'm like, I don't understand the word. She's like, then don't get it. I'm like, life used to be so easy when I'm like, ooh, pretty marketing. I'll Buy that. It looks like a whole meal in one package, you know? But, dude, if you want to live and, like, if you want to, like, I don't know, give your body a chance to recover from all the we've done to it, like, you got to, like, actually think for yourself these days, and it's not easy. It's hard as.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, so well, dude, it has

[D]

been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for coming on unsub. You have to come down to San Antonio. It will do a proper one at unsub and you can hang out for a few days.

[B]

Awesome.

[D]

And then we'll go do I began in Mexico.

[C]

You can have that.

[D]

We're going. I'm going back to Iowa. No, Nick, you're going to Mexico.

[C]

No, bro, the trees are going to start exploding when I get home.

[A]

I heard about that.

[B]

What?

[C]

I have an exploding tree warning on the day I'm supposed to fly home.

[B]

Yeah. What? That's a thing?

[D]

Yeah. Explain that.

[C]

Well, it's supposed to be minus 47 heaven, and when it gets that cold, the water in the trees can freeze, causing the trees to explode.

[B]

Really?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Have you seen that in real life?

[C]

No, I have. I mean, I've seen videos, but, like, it's not like they don't, like, concussively explode, but, like, the real danger is, like, it ruins the structural integrity of the tree and then it falls on your house or your car or whatever.

[A]

The be crazy. Like, like, if it actually did, it's like, oh, yeah. No, it's gotten so cold that the landscaping at my house has become a claymore.

[B]

Yeah, I'm thinking, like, tannerite explosions. Damn, bro, you live in Ukraine.

[C]

The Lorax has chosen violence.

[A]

And on that note, thank you for coming to the unsubscribe podcast.

[D]

Close us out, Mr. Brandon.

[A]

We have Eli Double Tap, the other Cody, Nick the fat electrician, and myself, Brandon Herrera. We will see you in the next episode.

[B]

Thank you.

[D]

Love you, bitches. Goodbye.

[B]

You know my name.