Latest / The Vincere Project / Episode 31. Summons the Sun
Transcript
- Vince: Alright, man. The Vincere Project is still going. We're still getting stuff done. Still recording, making notes, moving the moving the mission along. We had the vet retreat this weekend. That is always sacred and special. Mary was amazing, man. I'll talk about her in a second, but it's it's always fun, right? Like e it's a high risk situation for veterans or or you know, whoever's attending these things, right? Whether it's in a professional capacity or, you know, on their own free will. And a lot of times it's it's the struggle people have with trust, right? Is like in in determining whether they're safe and secure in that environment, especially when it's an emotionally charged thing, like a veteran retreat, 'cause those can take on a life of their own, but we we we do a good job considering those things and this one's the first one Mary just took over and just ran the the show and it's it's just it was just awesome man. But to connect with Uncle Jack and my bad weather coming in and we sacrificed Uncle Jack and we had a had a picture of him. He was from a summer beach event. It was one of my favorite pictures of us and some a past event. and I joked in the beginning 'cause it was rainy and gray and I was like, hey we're gonna we're gonna sacrifice Uncle Jack. Up to the gods and God and the goddesses and and then God again and get some weather and every afternoon the sun would come out and we'd get these incredible sunsets and a beautiful house that we rented and you know the trade winds gang does a good job and their properties and stuff like that. Expert level. You know, like the the the angle, the view and setting and and capturing the sunset. Like that is what makes the property special. So We had that come in once we sacrificed Uncle Jack and then Aunt Jamie just did what she did and and just told the story and keep expanding it and capturing some keepsakes for people. Aunt Shawna Keep everybody focused, man. I think Aunt Shawna's gonna become like our liaison of some sort for the next one. And then you know, we had intern Brock man getting in there doing the intern thing. And dude, he's just the jack of all trades, man. Hey, I you to pick this up. Boom, picks it up, moves it. Hey, I need you to sit there and talk to these people. Sit and talk to some Hey, I'm gonna run a group about motivation. you know, great feedback on that. And you know, I didn't have to be there to to control it or you know, we just had a tentative plan in case things got stupid and it was like, yeah, dude, just call for backup, man. Everybody's here under the guise of a peace, man, and good intentions. You know, and then he had Ken and Barb stop by and you know, Ken, this was Ken's drove this, you know. He had him and Mary have been chatting for months about like, hey, well, maybe we'll do one this way, do one that way. We had an issue with housing for one of them. Didn't do that one and then we pulled this one off and and I say we mean them, right? I I just really was just briefed about like, hey, what's about to happen and where I need to fill in. you know, those those I can I can always do that. I'm a great teammate. I can always do that, man. I'm always gonna pass my teammates open. but back to the veterans, man, it's it's vulnerable, right? It's vulnerable. You come to the door and you got stuff going on, and all the typecast stigma's labels, and everybody wants what they want on their terms. And you know, Mary's learning how to navigate that. Somebody brought their dog and the dog wasn't an issue or problem to itself, but whether the dog was a trained or certified service dog would be a subject for debate. And it's not the first time, right? So those are the kind of things that you to pay attention to because human beings are human beings, man. You know, and is it okay that this person brings their dog and that person doesn't bring their dog? And is the dog actually trained and certified to do what they say the dog does? And more of a no bring your dog guy, but Mary's more flexible and kinder like that. Like, why can't I bring my dog? Right, kind thing. Speaking of my dog, that picture right up there. That's my dog. I had to enshrine her somehow, man. I just had to. I took a picture with that that image right there of the Vincier Project and and Molly and and my father in law, man. It's of my favorites. But yeah. Mary, you know, it's just sorting through and figuring out what's right and looks right and feels right. And so we ended up with essentially bacon infused yoga. We did some fishing. Horseback, some good food, great food, great food, right? We use the all source locally. we do one in-house breakfast because Mary wants to do her thing, and and that's probably the best one in my opinion. But it's really good. And you know, we hit up all our favorite, favorite shops, and we have to share that with these people coming in that aren't familiar with the area, or maybe they are familiar with the area. We hit the lighthouse. I haven't hit the lighthouse in two years. I feel bad about that. but that view, man, that panoramic up there is just good to just reset and recharge, you know, and then go down to Hole Gate and just kind of taking a Down towards Linux City, it was just great weekend. The weather kinda shifted for us. Got a little cold at the end, a little cooler than we'd like. So it's just something we have to think about in the future. And man, it's just good. And you know, think about like how do we expand it and the number of veterans and what size house and who the people are. But I think I think for me selfishly, and I talked to these people about it, like I want to get Kevin in there, you know, and civilian that has his own story of overcoming adversity, and it would just fit man 'cause some of the guys and gals had their own story, but It's a thematic oftentimes in the veteran space, specific to the global war in terror, is that traumatic brain injury is very, very common or not uncommon, I should say. And you know, 'cause that could be from a training iteration, that can be from in combat, but you know, c there's a whole d series of different ways that there could be a head injury during military service. And the d degrees of severity just They matter, but they don't matter because somebody if they're struggling with memory loss or some sort of cognitive impairment, decision making, things like that. It's just a difficult thing to see somebody deal with, right? 'Cause we know it's an early onset of other things to come in the future potentially if there's not significant therapies, interventions and and close management of diet and exercise and things like that at a young age. So, you know, I think I think Kevin, you know, 'cause he had a civilian experience would be student athlete, massively successful now and but has had highs and lows and has a story to tell. Wanna get him in there and and then we got but we give Kevin on the Kev Kevin on the podcast. I talked to him last week man. I'm gonna catch him in November. We'll get him on here. Human interest, I think similarly to Brock, just good person trying to do great things, man, serve people and I wanna highlight that. You know, and then and then flipping around I thought there were some moments and times and degrees of vulnerability who has just an incredible story arc. is one of my interpreters from from Afghanistan, Rohan. And his story's fascinating. I Rohan in in Afghanistan was my favorite. My my first deployment, Mohammed, was my favorite. The second deployment, those guys were dirtbags. by then we had some bad patterns as Americans and we overpaid for services that were underrepresented, but but Mohammed, the first Mohammed, was well not the first Muhammad, the first of many, right? But he he was our turp. I even know Muhammad's real name. It was probably like probably Ralph something Go Ralph. You could see him at an off track track betting place or something like that, or running like a highlight racket for visas and and immigration status or something. he had that in him. But anyway, he dude he would get on the mic with the like you know, the enemy be on one side of the river or the road or you know, whatever. They're over there, you kinda see that they're over there. The AC one thirty is flying overhead, hey they're over here, they're over there, and if they can't get you're kinda setting up trying to get and a lot of moving pieces, right? It's chaotic and you get you would get on the mic and be like, in in Arabic, he'd be like, Hey, to the terrorists, hey, hey, come out and come out come out with your pant hands up and your pants down. I love that guy for that, man. And you know, the Rohad hint Rohan but flash forward into Afghanistan at that point. That was my fourth deployment working with translators, interpreters, different cultures and backdrops and Roman, you he he'd been working for the Americans for a while. He grew up doing it, man. his English was pretty good and still is great now. He's out there selling stuff, man, in America. But that's the happy part of the story. At that time in twenty twenty one, he man, when Afghanistan was crumbling, right? He started I started getting messages from every Afghan ever that I had contact with. And Yeah, some of those guys were pieces of garbage, man. So it was just like immediate delete, block, unfriend, like I just that that's okay if we run it in every game, we're not cool. Like just no way, no how They weren't good people, they were selfish, they'd hurt their own people. It's a very ambiguous great thing. But Rohan, I thought I had good intentions along the way. But Rohan, my first interaction with Rohan, where we became I don't seem friendly, it's not it's not what it is, but you become professionally acquainted. they were like, hey, you know, the the our team leader's like, hey, hey Vince, I need you to go go get one of the turbs set up for tomorrow. You're gonna go out to the Pesh something and take a look at whatever and do whatever. And Yeah, on the petch was my irresponsibility, so that was my job. And so I go down the road and they the Turps got wind of like, hey, they're they're they're gonna send certain people certain areas to do certain things, right? And just but then you all knew the terrain of like, if you're going down there, like that's that that that's not a good that's not a good mission or a good patrol. that's a good patrol. You're going to the market, I can go get some whatever, lamb nuts or whatever the heck they eat. Some lamb testicles or whatever, goat goat nuts. And So I go to Rohan and then I walk there and I'm like, Hey, I need to get a turp and one of them's like, I I got this, I can't. I'm like, All right, stop. And I look right at Rohan and I'm like, Hey, you're coming with me tomorrow morning at this time, be out here with this equipment. You're gonna be with me. And he's like, he's like, I kinda I don't know. He's like, Where you're going? He's like, That's not really my kind of Afghan. I was like, Listen, when I came in here I spelled nothing but come and fear. And right now you're a demonstration of exactly what I thought I was walking into. So I'm gonna see you tomorrow at this time. And we're gonna go from there and That was our first step and and we hit it off, man. And some great meetings, man, sitting with Dr. Fosley and the governor and the mayor and the different imams, sheikhs, all sorts of people that mattered in Afghanistan, those those little villages, right? 'Cause they couldn't pronounce village. They'd say, we have to go to this village. Right. And I and I repeat it back to them because they would all understand it. So I'm like, all right, cool. When I say village, they're all gonna know that I'm talking about a village. And you know, my team leader would get a kick out of that. I would talk about how hey, you guys got some you guys got really serious, you got the best Taliban, right? They talk about this on the Americans back in back in the United States. Nobody never gives a crap, right? But I would tell them this, right? The gas up. yeah, yeah, they talk about Kunar. you guys are known, right? Which is true though, because the level of terrorism across that Pakistani border up there is very real. But all Kidd Hassan, I would say things like this in the media and Rohan would look over like, Hey, Vincent, I don't know if you should say this. I was like, Rohan, I know exactly what I'm saying. I was like, they need to know that. And you build rapport, relationships. You're dealing with people that don't have American values and customs. So you gotta become that man. You know, difference. I teach diversity and culture in graduate school to counselors and I use examples of trying to fix problems in a different country and how they think about it, right? So at one point, you know, this is a serious stuff. You get the mission, you get the warning, like, hey, there's storm coming in, the river's flooding, whatever, and a bunch of their dwellers or travelers, I call them gypsies, but maybe that's not politically sensitive, but that's what these people are. They live down by the river. Right. And they're a nuisance and a problem, but they're part of just it. They're like, Yeah, you where they are, and they migrate bedwinds, but not really. And they do create some problems sometimes, but you kind of accept that they're involved at the gray area, whatever, right? So you know, engineer Asif in a meeting is like, you know, hey, we you know, I sent a guy down there and to to go tell these guys the the water's coming. They stayed. And it washed away like ten of Like flood, drag, drownings. Terrible stuff, right? catastrophic. Like really bad, right? And you know Asif says, Shaba Badaba, Shabla And Rohan looks over to me. I think I would I think it was it was Joe and and and again our team leader, I think Prime is there, and leans over and he goes, Sorry, he's like They said that they told them to leave. He's like, but they didn't leave and they're stupid for doing this. So why are the Americans worried? We already told them. You just this is Allah. Right? And so for us in our American taste, we're like, we see the victim and the hopelessness in the story, but they're just as a matter of fact. hey, I told them to not go talk to the Taliban. I told them to not go in the river. I said, hey, I I told him, I told him, I prayed for him at mosque that this guy, he was an idiot, he was stupid. Right, but Americans now come up with a story and a sensitivity of no, it's because of the diagnosis or where they were born or because what happened when the Russians were here. No, beckon's just as a matter of fact. Like, you know, we'll get another commander, another American in here, whatever, and that's how they were, man. But Rohan is one of the most amazing experiences, people, situation, circumcision, resilience, adversity. What he what he went through, man, and I'll try to keep br brief because I think He needs to tell his story. But he so he I get a message from him though during that time when Afghanistan's fallen and I said, I deleted all the other ones would come through and whatever. And Rohans came through and I was like, this guy About it, would I mind if he was a neighbor? No, I think actually he'd be a really good neighbor to have. He's open, he's honest, he's firm, but he's not yeah, he's got a good sense of humor, he's hard-working. Like, something like, all right, at the surface level, but he does have you know, and and so he sends a message, and then eventually it's personalized. He's like, Hey Vincent, you're not gonna leave me to die in this effing place. I'm like, that's personalized. Like, it's not the Nigerian credit card scam that it could be. So then I reach back, I'm like, hey, what's going on, dude? Like You what do need? And then I just go manic overdrive 'cause I can sense the desperation and I can hear it. He sends these voice recordings, fear and he's like, This isn't good, bro. This isn't good. This isn't good. I'm in Nangar, I gotta take the car, I gotta hide, I gotta get to to Kabul, get to the air peel, I your help, man, my wife, my kids, all these things. And man, This dude's like literally confiding in me and desperate enough to ask me about people. But I'm sure he's asking a whole bunch of the gringos that came through after deployments. And eventually, Lieutenant or Captain Colonel Abbott, I guess is her name now at this point. Amy Abbott. I think he got a hold of her and and then we connected him or connected him back to the Air Force and he found the gringo he needed to find in that craziness. And somehow he got out of there, man. And then his journey out of there's his story to tell, but that was wild too. Like he has to fill in the details, absolutely wild. But Eventually landed in Florida, man, and me and my wife, Mary, went to go visit him and it was just man, it was just good to see him alive and safe. And, you know, they put him in a dump in Miami and he was like, I'm telling they're not he's in a hotel. They just government contract this whole hotel owned by the Patels down there, like a Hampton inn or something. It's all Afghans now and one of the Afghan dudes tunes up his old lady and then Brohan's like, Hey bro, he's like, You gotta help me get out of here. It's like way too many Afghans here. They're gonna do bad stuff. I can't I just can't be around this. One thing leads to the next. It's a phone call here and plus up there, a letter there. And you're like, man, next thing dude's now he's peddling and settling stuff, living out in the Midwest, just doing his thing and getting it done and being helpful and resourceful, Americanizing his kids, and he's like, Yeah, we keep some traditions. He's like, But I love American stuff, man. He's all my kids to love this. He's like, I'm not dealing with the Taliban anymore. So like, what else do you need to know, man? Like about what we're trying to do here, man. Like this this is it. Be a decent human. and it was hard to pick up the phone at the time 'cause I'm like, I got my own problems here. And then Mary and I are out doing diesel day one and two. So for twenty four something hours, thirty hours we're passing each other on this trail and we're talking about this and like what do we gotta do? How do we plus them up? Is it money? Is it cash? An envelope? Is it a check? Is it a mattress, store, a run? What is the deal? And then you know, it's weird. The people in our family and friend groups, the most conservative of them, the most conservative, the ones that hate immigration are trusting that Vince is the person co signing for this person. They're like, hey, here's some money. Here's under bucks. Here's this. Here's that. Hey, let's get him a ticket for that. Get him a new suit so he goes for his job interviews, look at men's warehouse, something like just setting him up to get running, dude. And he didn't need it. He would have figured it out anyway. But it's like that plus up matters more and the gratitude. And now you see him, he's just crushing, dude. And it's crazy when he's in the field he's in. It's like like I think it's like a car wash stuff and like laundromats and stuff. And that company basically took him like, this is a bro. But he speaks the language of the folks that run in these places, like Asalam Aleykum. Right. And that's genius. And he's found that niche and gap and he's connecting it, but he's Americanizing it because he's like, I get the accounts, bro. Yeah, we talk about fasting, a little Ramadan. Hey, what part of the block did you come from in Yemen or Jordan or Iraq? And he's like working the hustle, dude. And it doesn't get more American than that, man. Jets it and he's got more miles on his friggin' travel card than you or I do. just proud of him dude and just proud to be affiliated with good things and good people doing good things. But yeah, I wouldn't say that I ever saved anybody or took credit for that. I'm not in that business, man. I'm in the business of hustle and hope. But I think Rohan was one of the good guys. And I I can't say the other ones needed to be saved or rescued. But that's just a proud, proud moment in Mi Mary and I's history and Fet retreat's an extension, man. how cool is that? We get a GWAP veteran going, a retreat going, and then we get Rohan in the terp to talk about his his six his expedition you know, and have him out there surfing or or riding some horses or catching fish and yeah, and then the G WAP guys I think would take it well. It's like, man, it's cool just to see that it might have been worth it, dude. Like, you know, that's how I have to reframe it sometimes 'cause of the the nature of war and the deception and The lies of all of it and how you gotta do it and it's just there's a lot to it, man. You become really aware of what you're capable of and not all of it's good and you know, you're working these ethical boundaries of like if you're not cheating, you're not trying, but we're in the business of killing and influencing and and leveraging US foreign policy and you know, Rohan is a byproduct of my adventures, you know, and getting to meet him and and see whatever he's gonna do. But I think I think he's the good kind of guy that needs to get through. In the right way, right? And I think I think the immigrant population has been labeled because of the pieces of garbage that try to sneak in or affiliated with that. I think the greater majority of folks that when it's the right person that's innovative and they are hard working and willing to participate and they're okay with their gaining the voting rights and learning English and adding value to their existing culture by extension, but really Americanizing the thing to make it better than the existing thing. I think Varon has that, man. I think he's already doing that. He's outperforming. Dude's outperforming. There's no doubt in my mind that one or two of his kids will be like surgeons or medical doctors kind of thing. Like big time engineers, like accountants, kind of thing. And and I don't mean that like as a direct like challenge or any sort of fortune telling. I just say it in the sense of the values and the character and the attributes. Well law enforcement kind of thing. Who knows, man? Maybe they'd be terps, right? I don't know. But yeah, Varon's my favorite, man. I used to I used to tell him some really direct stuff with the Afghans and he would always relay it and they would look right at me and I think it was mutual respect and admiration. And hey, if you're gonna send the best Taliban to go do it, you've got to spend the the best send the best US personnel to go do it too. And I think that's what that's what Kunar Province was, and I think that's how relationships get born like that. You know, maybe we'll Lieutenant Joe on there too, man. His head is huge. I don't know if it'll fit in the screen, but we'll we'll get these people on here and start building out the characters and yeah, it's gonna be good. But I think Kevin's up next. Personal one. Bacon infused ogre. Hey, that's that's that's what we're pioneering. Bet retreats, all that stuff. Dude, Secure the Beach, November 1st, Halloween's coming, which is cool, but yeah, we're gonna do over on November 13th, Friday the 13th. November 12th is Vince's overdose date something. That's special too, but we keep chipping away. We're gonna raise some money through there. Be the lookout for the GoFundMe and share with all your friends and family. And you know, if they if they consider themselves a good person, they'll they'll donate. I know it. I know there's some good people out there. Cool. Enjoy the day.