B (7:30)
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And yeah, you're right, I do have very serious background. I've been training different operation, different areas and operations levels of special Forces, which is really SOF special operation forces for about 23 years. And it started out with batteries and power because they had to understand batteries and state of charge as good as they understood bolts, ballistics and minutes and angle. And this happened after the whole Tora Bora fiasco when their batteries are dying and they're trying to get bin Laden and they can't keep their soft lam on to keep on lasing to where so the bombers overhead can drop the bombs. And this was before jdams. And so I, that's how I slipped into this whole thing. So the people I'm teaching are serious as hell because they want to know everything. They want every little detail, and they want it right. It's got to be right. Because if it's not, they're by not be coming home. And so it's heart attack serious that I'm used to teaching this stuff at. And you're going to hear this in my videos, in my classes, you're going to hear this seriousness, this enthusiasm and absolute emphaticness for when I'm making a statement about something that might be even as trivial as your cable, charging your phone and how your phones, your lifeline and everything else. And it's like I have a, you know, a dedicated, very emphatic, really serious and dedicated thing to this, because it's not a question of like, oh, I'm sorry, my phone, I did. My phone died. And it's like. But I knew I'd be home in a couple hours. It's like, you know, if your form of communications goes out, it's like. And you're in a wrong area. It's like, you can be dead. You know, I'll tell a story later about how some of this actually saved my mother's life. But yes, very good question of what started the Shadow loadout kit. And I had a friend of mine and his son joined the army and then he was going into, he passed selection and he was going into the 75th Rangers. You got Rangers and you got 75th Rangers. 75th Rangers are basically a Tier 2 Special Forces. Tier 1 would be like what, you know, as SEAL Team 6 or Delta Air Force Pararescue Jumpers, third Tier 1. And so there's Tier 1 and Tier 2, but your Navy SEALs, your Green Berets, your 75th Rangers, all your, you know, the generic ones in those fields are specialties, but those are all like two Tier two special operators. So when you're seeing, like all the cool things Navy SEALs are doing, you know, locking out of a submarine and, you know, jumping from high altitude, you know, 30,000ft, then opening the chute and landing in like 30 seconds as, like, those are generally, you're seeing a lot of Tier two SEAL activities. And it's like, they're, they're awesome, but there's a level of awesomeness even above that. So these people are really, really, really, really serious. And, you know, that's why I have to teach a serious thing. So my friend's son is going off, and this is just as Ukraine was kicking off. It was 2022. And it's like, hey, I'll put together a list of some things that will help your son because he could be deploying over to Europe or Poland or Germany. Now, we all know that NATO forces of one type or another are actually in Ukraine itself. So I said, I got a bunch of stuff that can help them. And all of this stuff has been fielded around the world. All of this stuff has been deployed and everything. And it's like, hey, I'll make you a list. And then it's like, oh, well, I better explain the list. So it's like, okay, I'll make the list and I'll make an MP3 file. And then it's like, well, if I'm going to make an MP3 file and make a list, why don't I just bring up everything on the computer that I'm talking about and where you get it and how you get it and what version of it is and everything. And I just do a recording of it that way. That way you can see it and hear me talking about it, and you can make a decision of like, yeah, this will work for me, or this won't work for me. It's like, one of the things I want him to take over. There was a Garmin inreach, which is on the Iridium satellite communications network. Not the Starlink. It's on the one that goes back to the. Started in the late 90s. It's the one that used to use, or you still use, for making satellite phone calls. And it's really affordable. And what it allows you to do is send text messages from anywhere in the world all the way back to, like, my phone. You can send messages from Iridium to Iridium through your phone, or you can send it. I can send, you know, I can be in Timbuktu and send a text message to my mother's cell phone. And it shows up on her cell phone. And I told her it'd be coming through on a special number. And she hits reply, types back to me and goes to the cell network, goes up to the bird and comes back down to me wherever I am. And it's like, okay, fine. It's like, you're not taking this into the field. Check with your senior NCO and everything. You don't take phones. Bluetooth earbuds. I watch it as Apple watch. You don't take any of that stuff out into a combat environment because the enemy is going to pick it up, triangulate you, you're going to have incoming mortar, artillery. But there's a lot of little things you can either have at your forward operating base or where you're deployed and everything else that just makes things a lot easier. And I was talking with some of my buddies that I teach and, and they go, I told them I was going to make this and they go, Harris, what the heck do you know about being in, you know, deployed in a combat environment? I go, squishy bowl. And they go, damn it, never mind. Because I mean, I've between them finding stuff and giving to me and it's like, tear this thing apart, you know, evaluate it, you know, find all the goods and bads of it. And I find stuff and I do the same thing and then I send it to them. They're like, tear apart and evaluate and everything. It's like been doing this for a long time. It's like I got a long list of things that we worked on. So I just went down the list of things and it's like started pulling out the things that were going to be appropriate for a young man. 75th Rangers, you know, deploying to European theater and, and stuff like that. And it's like, okay, a list. And then like I got to describe what it is because them looking at it, it's going, go, why do I need a Garmin satellite thingama jiggy or whatever? And why would I he go out with a, a squishy bowl? It's like, I don't get. So you know, that turned into an MP3 file. Then it's like, hell, the heck with it. I'm just going to sit down and record the whole darn video. And this became one video, which became two videos, then three videos. So you could take it in bite sized chunks. Then that was like three hours long right there. I do not make stupid 13 minute YouTube videos. I do not. I make epic videos. And when you're done with the epic video, you go, I get it, I understand. I can do this. I empower and enable you. And everything I'm doing, it's not like clicky clickbait type of stuff. This is a class. I mean, you go, oh. And then I make an update for you. Because it's like, well, we just can't put this out, Gabe. It's like, I got to do an update. Because things have changed. Things have been updated, things are gone, newer things have replaced them. It's Like, I got to do an update. So I did a fourth video for you that's an update for 22.5. And it's like, that video is two hours long. There's nothing wrong with going through the first three. It's like, I get it, I get it, I understand. And then my update video is like, well, you remember me talking about the Garmin Inreach Mini 2. Wow, that's been replaced by the Garmin Inreach messenger, which is superior because of this and this and that. And the price was down because of other competition and everything else. And so it just keeps on evolving. And these are the little things you take to a combat environment or a deployment or an area that's contested, whether you're support personnel, whether you're a trigger puller, warrior, whatever. This leads back to something one of my mentors was doing since literally before World War II. Because he knew his country was going to war. He started the jungle training platoon with, I think it was General Singlob down in Panama to help train our troops because they knew they were going to be fighting the jobs in the Pacific. And he was an exploration geologist for Venezuela, Standard Oil in Venezuela. So he had a lot of jungle experience. And, and so the whole idea of these little things is that, well, for the war fighter, it improves your combat effectiveness. You know, are you, I mean, are you properly hydrated? Do you not have diarrhea because, you know, you were able to purify, not filter your water? You know, did you have, you know, were you able to sleep and actually sleep good for one reason or another? You know, there's so many little things that go. It's like, are you getting, you know, boot blisters and rashes? You know, do you have a cut and affection? This is not a medical kit type of thing. I'm talking to you about it all. There's very little medical stuff in there. Anything I talk about is tools that you want to have as backup for trauma related things for you and your buddies. I do cover tourniquets and the mindset and suggest some other training that you can get. But everything I'm talking about here applies to a civilian in the United States. You know, if it works for the war fighter in the combat zone, whether he's, you know, out on, you know, downrange and being a trigger puller or he's, you know, back in the kitchen, you know, making food at the FOB or the base or whatever for everyone, all of this stuff applies. And you can go, oh, that's Neat. Oh, I like that. You know, it's like, oh, my son's going Boy Scout campaign. And you can. You can get the stuff. But I mean, all of the stuff is basically what we call COTs. C O T s civilian off the shelf. So you can get it on Amazon, you get it on ebay, you can get it at Walmart, you can get it here and everything else. And then it's like, you know, then you test it, then you play with it, then you get the knowledge between your ears. And now you start to know the stuff and be able to use it. And it'll help you from anything from, you know, a thunderstorm to being out of gas to traveling. And, you know, you go to a conference in Phoenix and you sit there at the conference and it's like all the lights went out. It's like, huh, it's going to start getting warm in here pretty soon in the middle of August. So the warfighter is going to be definitely a higher level of mindset and equipping, I guess I would say. And the knowledge behind why are you equipped with that? And so that's overqualified for most of your environments as a civilian you're going to run into, which is good. It's like, tell people. It's like, okay, you need to be at a level five. It's like, okay, I'm going to train you to a level seven. Oh, how come? Well, if you're a level five and then you're in, like, an emergency at level five, it's like you're trained to a level seven. It's like, easy day. And if, like, things get harder, like, the wind kicks up, you know, the power's out. Everything else, you're home, you know, you're doing your stuff, you know, stuff that I taught you and everything, and you're doing good. And it's like, okay, well, now the tree falls through part of your roof, you know, puts a hole into it. It's like, well, we just went to a level six, but I was trained to a level seven. And then things get worse. And, like, the blackout going on for three, four days now, there's no gas. And it's. Now you're up to level seven, and it's like, okay, I'm ready for this. And if you have to go up to level eight, it's like, I got the basis for everything. It's like, I can figure out the extra stuff that I need. So, yeah, I'm very much about over training and the reasons and the reasons why it's like, why do you have this? And I'm not telling you to get this. It's like this thing is going to make you safe. It's not. The knowledge of that thing is going to make you safe because other than that, it's just a thing unless you know how to use it and why to use it. And then you made the decision to get it. It's just a thing and not a tool. So I'm not saying get this, get this, get this, get this. I'm explaining it because all of you are different and so you are being enabled and empowered to say, I like that, I like that. Oh, that's stupid. No, I don't need that. Oh, that's cool. And I guess, I mean, there's 106 things in the video that I go through and, and there's about 60 different concepts or principles I go through for those 106 different items that I mentioned as I'm showing it to you and everything else, it's like, well, this is why. And that I guess that's the long version of like, should have been the short version of how did the. The Shadow loadout. So the shadow loadout is everything that is hiding in the shadows that you didn't see or no one else told you to take and you didn't know about. So you guys actually came up with the better name, the Shadow Loadout. And then I said, oh, that's perfect because of what I just described. And it's like, love it, love it. Okay, it's now the Shadow Shadow loadout for possible combat deploying kit. And so what I'm going to talk to you is this is not a tactical class at all. Okay. There's nothing tactical in here. This is like some YouTuber, you know, tactical guy talking about battle rattle and everything else. None of this is in here. This is everything they don't tell you.