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Bridging Battles: Danny O'Neel on Veteran Transformation and the Lifeline of Community Support · Your Thoughts Your Reality

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to your Thoughts, your Reality with Michael Cole, the podcast that shines a compassionate light on the journey of veterans battling through life's challenges.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Michael is a dual elite certified neuro encoding specialist in coaching and keynote training presentations dedicated to guiding military veterans as they navigate the intricate pathways of post-deployment life.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Join him as we delve into the profound realm of neuro encoding science, empowering these Hello, hello, hello everybody.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Society forging a new path forward.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Hello, hello, hello everybody.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: So today I'm super excited.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: I've been trying to get this guy on the show for a little bit and we made it happen.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: So, super excited, we got Danny O'Neill.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Danny joined the Army as a forward observer at 19 years old on 9-11, was not messing around.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: I became a sergeant and a squad leader in 17 months.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Two tours in Iraq and let's fast forward successful business owner, kinetic Ink, tattoo and Kinetic Threads, and he's chairman of the board on Warfighter Overwatch.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: So I mean, we've got a lot to cover today, but I just want to get you started, danny.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I appreciate it, michael.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: Thanks for having me.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: So I was born and raised right here in Northern California.
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: I was born in Stockton, I graduated high school from Grant in Sacramento and you know I played sports growing up.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: Football and baseball were the two primary sports.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: I learned a lot of stuff, you know, about being a good teammate, leadership, things like that, and essentially I grew up with a dad who was in Vietnam and I think that sort of at least pushed me towards, you know, a sense of duty, and when 9-11 happened it felt like a calling.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: I was young and in shape.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: I felt like it was my duty to go defend my country.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Amen, man, thank you Truly.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: I don't say that lightly.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Thank you, and I hope I, my family and everybody else is worth it, buddy, truly.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: So thank you for what you did.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: Thank you so again.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: A lot to go through so real quick.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: Before we really get started, I just want to remind everybody up in the top right hand corner there's a blue QR code and that takes you to empowerperformancestrategiescom and there's all kinds of resources for veterans.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: There are some ebooks that I've written.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: There's all kinds of good stuff there.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: So please check it out and stay till the end of the show, because Dan is going to give us three amazing tips to get veterans and their families further faster.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: So, with that said, if you're good, danny, let's let's roll you good.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: Let's do it.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: So, danny, tell us a little about your journey from joining the Army in 9-11 to becoming the owner of Kinetic Ink Tattoo and Kinetic Threads, for that matter.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: Well, we definitely don't have enough time for that whole journey, but I will say that, uh, there was a lot of trials and tribulations, you know, a lot of pitfalls, things that I didn't think were going to be an issue.
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: If you would have told me I was going to have some mental health problems, I would have laughed in your face.
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: I didn't think that those would be the kind of problems that I would face, and I was wrong.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: Um, you know, I did a couple couple of trips to Iraq and I lost my friends.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: The decision to join on 9-11 cost me my friends.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: I wear dog tags with their names every single day of my life.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: The nine guys that died on my second trip are with me every day the moment I get out of bed.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: I know that I have to honor them, and so the best way I could do that was to live a life worthy of their sacrifice.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: And you know, make sure that people know freedom isn't free and their sacrifice, and you know, make sure that people know freedom isn't free.
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: And I'm lucky to be here.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: So I try to lead each day with gratitude, and that has kind of led me to really betting on myself, to saying you know you can.
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: You can do these things that are hard because you've done hard things before and I've survived 100 percent of my bad days and I expect that to continue.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's, I literally got chills.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: Chills when you were telling the story, when you pulled out the dog tags I remember you showing them to me before when we were talking and literally got chills.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: Man, that's a, that's a fantastic I don't want to say story, but fantastic reason.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: Let's go with that because, because it's the ultimate man, so thank you and thank your friends as well.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, I literally still have chills.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: Thank you, man.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: This is a great man right here.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: I'm just telling everybody right now your experience in Iraq, especially during your second tour in Sadr City, is incredibly intense.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: You know, I know we've talked about it.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: How did those experiences shape your mission, especially with Warfighter Overwatch?
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: I really want to hear this how did those experiences shape your mission, especially with Warfighter Overwatch.
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: I really want to hear this, so when we deployed that.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: On that deployment we left in September.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: Sorry, hey, this is live.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: There's no editing here.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: Everybody.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: Oh good, sorry about 2005,.
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: And we got to our FOB.
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: Those of us who came up a few guys were there a day or two earlier, but we got there essentially Christmas Eve of 2005.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: And on Christmas morning the enemy drove a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device essentially a car bomb, a V-BID is what we call it and they drove it into the front gate and killed two guys who were getting ready to go home.
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: So that was our introduction to the deployment, and the day that we left we'd lost seven guys that year, and on the day we were leaving, november 26th, to get ready to go back home I think it was like two days or something a few days after Thanksgiving to start our journey back to the States we had two guys get killed and so, instead of their family getting home, their hero after a year in hell, they got a knock at the door saying I'm sorry for your loss and every day for them has been Memorial Day.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: So with that in mind, we lost nine guys, had 15 suicides from that unit since I've returned home and I was almost one of them.
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: So Warfighter Overwatch really started after, essentially, one of my buddies.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: We call him Smitty um, adam Smith.
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: He's from Ohio and I talked to him one day and two days later he, he hung himself and I didn't really know where to put that Right.
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: So, you know, I trained my guys to go to war and to be successful in austere environments, but I couldn't teach them how to survive post-combat and they didn't teach me, uh, how to help them with that.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: So this was our way of trying to figure it out as we go.
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: But instead of, you know, we could do nothing, or we could do something, just like on 9-11, and I decided to be, you know, a man of action.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: So we put together warfighter Overwatch, my wife Fawn and I and it has been an absolute pleasure, honor, I mean, obviously it's hard, but it is so fulfilling to help people who are in crisis and feel like there's no hope.
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: I like to think of us as hope dealers.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, absolutely, and you know.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: With that said, two things I'd like to add is how much harder would it be if you weren't doing anything?
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to put a challenge out that out here, to literally everybody you know.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: Call a vet, see if they're OK, call their family member, check in, just do something, you know, because it feels good to be there and be of service with somebody else.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Which is why these brave men and women have done what they've done to protect us in the first place is and be of service with somebody else.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: Which is why these brave men and women have done what they've done to protect us in the first place is to be of service.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: So I just wanted to put that out there.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: Um, danny, as well, you know we talked about this a little bit off off camera here, but anything I can do you, you want me to meet with some some guys?
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: Um, go on, and we're going to get into some of the cool things you do, which I'm excited to talk about.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: But if you want me to meet with some guys, go on, and we're going to get into some of the cool things you do, which I'm excited to talk about.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: But if you want me to go and give some neuroencoding tips and some little things that can really change a mindset.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: I'm there for you anytime.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: All right, anytime, yeah, absolutely, man.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: So you know losing, you know you brought it up losing, you know, 15 members of your unit to suicide.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: It's you know losing.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: You know you brought it up losing.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: You know 15 members of your unit to suicide.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: It's devastating statistics and it's not just in your group, right?
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: It's the story, right, why I'm doing what I'm doing, why you're doing what you're doing?
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: It's there needs to be more out there.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: You know the VA does what they can do and we won't get into that.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: But there, you know, there's so much, there's so much more that I've seen coming out and I'm part of a group that's putting together an event right now as well, and I know you have, you know, your gala and I can't wait to talk about that.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: But it's just we need more people out there on the ground doing the work and helping.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: So how does this affect, how did this affect your approach to mental health and your work with veterans?
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: You know losing those 15 of your friends if you will.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: So I think the biggest impact that it had was I had my own mental health struggles and so when I faced that reality and address my problems, I found strength.
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: When I was terrified that if I asked people for help, that they were going to judge me for what I participated in, that there was going to be this, the stigma attached to the mental health stuff, that it was a weakness, right, and I participated in that same toxic mentality, you know, and I would have called my guys, you know uh, bad names and told them things if they wanted to go get help.
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't have been very helpful in the beginning and I know that that's starting to change and I want to continue to push it into a much more effective and proactive approach.
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: So, specifically, the fact that I had my own issues and suicide attempt, I could relate to other people it wasn't just me when I was really honest about the things that we'd experienced in war, and then, not just myself but generationally, my dad.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: When I was a freshman in high school, I walked into my dad getting ready to commit suicide.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: He's a Vietnam vet and he did two tours in Vietnam, so I feel very lucky that my dad's still here and I.
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: I know that even though I don't carry a rifle anymore I'm not, you know, doing raids and all that stuff, going on patrol I still can serve my country.
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: I can still help people.
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: And when I faced my own problems, it allowed me to connect to other people and be vulnerable with them so I could explain to them.
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: Like, listen when I asked, when I finally asked people for help, I genuinely found people who wanted my quality of life to improve.
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: And when you tell me your issues, I genuinely want your quality of life to improve.
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: I want you.
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: You know, there's a few things that I think we can all take from adversity, and it's, at the end of the day, it's what's inside of you is greater than what's in front of you.
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: You can overcome anything that you face, you know, but you don't have to do it alone.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: Amen, amen.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: And you know it's military's condition Don't ask for help, figure it out.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: Ask for help is weakness.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: You know all of those things right.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: I'm sure you'll attest that.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: I mean, I know the story over and over and over again and it's it's.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: They do it for a reason.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: I mean, I know the story over and over and over again and they do it for a reason.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: You know, for us, it's our job, I think, really to take it from there.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: And you know asking for help is one of the most courageous things you can do, because otherwise how many other people would do it?
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: You know it's courageous, but once you do it, it helps there and everything changes and the story that you're telling yourself changes and your reality then changes right, absolutely.
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: I was drinking and isolating and the moment I stopped doing that, when I leaned on other people and allowed them to help me, when I gave myself a little grace which is what my wife was asking me to do and she was giving to me what you know it really allowed me to uh, put down the bottle, to engage with my community and now obviously have a big impact and that's been, um, it's been good for for my own mental health and for, uh, those around me.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: Awesome, awesome.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: So you know we're talking.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: You keep talking about your amazing life, fawn.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: So how has Fawn contributed to the mission?
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: And you know what is the role of your family play in work with veterans and you know Warfighter Overwatch.
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: Well, Fauna's the hero of this story, without a doubt.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't be here without her, and you know, when I woke up in the hospital after I had my suicide attempt, she was there.
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: She hadn't given up on me, and I'd already given up on myself.
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: It was something I had never, I think, felt that unconditional love, and it definitely allowed me to, I think, receive love in a way that I hadn't before, and even I didn't think I was capable of giving or receiving love.
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: I felt kind of like my emotions weren't working anymore.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: Things are turned off.
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: I was numb kind of to the world and so I wouldn't be here.
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: Warfighter Overwatch wouldn't exist without Fawn.
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: She's the one who said let's do this, let's start a nonprofit, Because we were helping people.
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: But it was different, right, I had these guys who I had trained, who are now starting to become senior leaders, and when they would go on a deployment, and then they would come home and you know, think bad things happen and they would say, hey, I got this guy who's struggling, Will you talk to him?
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: And the answer is always yes.
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: And I think the best part for that, at least in my eyes, was these guys trusted me and they said to their soldiers hey, listen, you can trust this guy because it in the military.
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: It was hard to go tell my chain of command I was struggling with mental health.
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: I felt like they were going to make me give up my job.
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: I had a security clearance, all those things that went along with being a forward observer job.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: I had a security clearance, all those things that went along with being a forward observer.
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: It was for me the best gig in the you know on the planet.
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: And then if I was going to have to give that up because I was struggling due to the job, I didn't like that and again I attributed that to weakness.
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: So being able to tell these guys that that's not weakness, it is strength to ask for help.
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: And you know, I just try to repeat the mantra that I didn't go to war alone.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: I didn't get in gunfights alone.
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: I got in them with my team.
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: I don't fight my battles back here alone.
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: I use my support system so that I'm successful.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: That's so important to really get into your thought process is you're not alone unless you choose to be.
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: Right, it's a choice and we're social people, so we need that support system, and that's really the reason that I have successful businesses, and my family's role in all this was supporting me while doing this.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: And for me, as a dad, it's to teach my kids hey, listen, dad has problems, right, but guess what?
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: Dad has to do something about those problems.
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: I can't just ignore them.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: I have to address them and deal with them appropriately.
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: Drinking alcohol is not appropriate answer for this stuff.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: It's bad coping skills that I was taught as a kid.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: It didn't work, it wasn't effective.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: So how can I show them new ways to have healthy habits and self-care Well, lead by example.
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: So that's what we've done, which I know we'll lead into.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, fantastic.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: So I think I'm done with you.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: Where's Fawn?
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: I'm just joking, no, no, no, I'm joking, no, she's.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: I would love to have you both on at some point.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: That'd be fantastic.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: So how has Fawn contributed to the mission specifically?
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: Do you think I mean other than, obviously, support and those kinds of things?
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: She's invaluable.
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: So the programs that we have at Warfighter Overwatch were all designed based on a need that we saw, whether it was in the veteran community, along with their families, or the first responder community, because we serve them as well.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: So when we see these issues that are plaguing first both communities, you know there's something that we can do to address those.
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: And she's created these programs that are specifically designed to kind of like for our bridge program.
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: It's to have a bridge where the agency's coverage ends and their need continues.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: How can we fulfill that need?
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: To make sure that, you know, this person is focused on their job while they're on duty and can go home and, you know, focus on their stuff there, versus taking things back and forth from home to work and from work to home, because it can be chaotic, trying to worry about one thing while you're doing another.
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: And Fawn has made sure that these programs are designed specifically to address those issues.
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: They're they're phenomenal Cause, like some of the things we discovered was that, you know, year over year we had uh, what we call uh, dysfunctional or, excuse me, uh we call dysfunctional or, excuse me, what did she call it?
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: It's essentially disrupted harmony in the home.
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: There were issues during COVID, started mostly during COVID and then it continued, right.
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: So there was more irritability at home, there were more things going on and there was less effective communication and it led to like fights or things like that, right?
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: So if we could do a couple of things one, help the spouses understand what the service member is going through and what their day looks like.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: And two, find ways to help them communicate better.
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: And some of that was team building, some of that's educational days, and so we do those type of events as well, and Fawn puts all those on and they're amazing.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: Fantastic and, honestly, some of the main things that I deal with with the transition is communication.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: Right, you have to have communication both ways, because we both understand, kind of what you're going through and have each other's back.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: It changes the game, you know, because when you come back from deployment or it reserves or any, any aspect of that you and your family have changed, no one comes back the same right, whether you are in the heat of it or you are, you know, just just doing go ahead, man, you're dying, go ahead.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: No, no, well, just remind me I.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: I remember telling Fawn, like cause.
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: She was like why, if we have a disagreement, why do you think, especially in the beginning, before I'd had much therapy or worked on you know some of my, my issues, you know she didn't understand why I was being aggressive or, um, trying to dominate the argument.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: And I said, listen, I don't fight to compromise, I fight to win.
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: And that like completely shocked her Right.
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: And she says listen, my intent is not to fight with you, I'm on your team.
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: And I was like, wait what?
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: You weren't on my team a minute ago.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: I thought we were having a fight and I was coming at my marriage from the wrong perspective and I think that really hindered it in the beginning.
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: So the best thing we could do for these relationships, like you said, when we address these communication issues, it can solve so many problems because if we have a fair fighting right and a good communication skills, which include, most specifically, as a husband, listening skills, our quality of life will improve, our relationship will improve.
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: And it won't just improve here at home with my spouse, but with others that I, you know, encounter.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: Once you, once you slow down and realize you're not in that fight, like you said, it changes the game.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: You were just busting up and just I had to, I had to stop whatever.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: I don't even know what I was talking about now, but I knew I knew you had something good.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: So, literally that communication.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: That's what I was talking about.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: The communication, if we can slow down and realize, hey, if we can just talk and come from a different angle and we'll talk about this on a different, different show I got some other people coming on um, it changes the game.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: It's and I think a lot of times you know, of course, a man, you know what do we do?
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: We want to fix it right and they don't want to be fixed, they want to be served, yeah, totally.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: So what we do?
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: A lot of times we come in aggressively when we don't want to deal with something, when we actually just, if we come in aggressive, it's going to shut it down and we're not going to have to deal with it right, which so doesn't work because it comes back five times full later on and it's deserved.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: But when you just have that good communication and really being there for each other and slowing the heck down.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: It changes everything, and I see you attest to that as well.
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: Well, that has allowed us to have two businesses that we run together, a nonprofit that we run together, to be able to work together every day.
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: I know that would probably drive some spouses crazy, but I should.
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: To be honest, I feel lucky.
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: I know that would probably drive some spouses crazy, but to be honest I feel lucky.
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: I feel very blessed that not only do Fonda and I get along so well, but that we complement each other very well on the business aspect as well.
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: Business side.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and my wife and I do the same thing 16 years at our construction company and with the other company that we're in power performance it's the same.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: So we're blessed to have found the people that are the yin and yang right.
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: So amen.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: So let's see.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: Warfighter Overwatch really focuses a lot on mental health, right and self-care.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: What specific programs or initiatives have you found to be the most effective supporting veterans and veterans all?
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: right, so it's gonna be easy the the things that we do for the veterans we have.
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: So we have some fishing, we have several events, but some of them are about hiking, getting the folks outside, outdoors and reducing cortisol right, getting uh.
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: Essentially, what this does is it reduces our stress and it makes us feel better about ourselves.
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: So and then it allows us to be vulnerable and connect with others.
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: So we do hikes.
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: We have a Valhalla hike on.
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: That one is a specific hike that we do in Yosemite.
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: Haven't released all this stuff yet, but we got some passes to be.
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not always in Yosemite, it's usually somewhere out in the Sierra Nevada somewhere.
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: But we're going to be in Yosemite and we're going to do a special hike this year.
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: But I need guys to train for it, right, cause I I'm already fat and broken too.
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: I don't need to be carrying both of us off the mountain.
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: So if I could get uh, these folks in shape and capable of making the climb.
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: What we do is we go hike up, uh in in the mountains and the most beautiful place on earth, yosemite National Park, which we're so lucky to have right here we go camp out and we do this amazing hike and then um and help connect with other people who've been through similar experiences, who are like-minded.
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: We also do a local meetup.
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: Hikes that are smaller, not as intense.
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: You don't have to go sleep out in the woods.
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: We do some fly tying events, which are some of my favorites.
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: So we teach guys how to tie flies and then we take them out fly fishing and take them.
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: Same deal it's going to go on a hike and you're going to go.
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: The objective is to catch a fish on a tie that you fly.
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: We have a squad recon.
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: For me, this is it's our cornerstone program for veterans.
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: We have reunions for people who deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan, syria, anything during global war and terrorism, and what we do is we bring those folks who went through the same traumas, bring them back together, remind them that they're not alone.
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: Just like I said earlier, they didn't get in gunfights alone, they didn't get in battles by themselves.
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: They got in them with their team.
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: So we want to bring that team back together, remind them they're not alone.
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: They still have these people who knew them at their worst, at their best, and give them that support system that you kind of feel like you lose when you separate from your unit, absolutely.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and that's one of the main, again, things that, with the transition, that I really focus on is, you know, find a new tribe, find your tribe, whatever it is, but don't go it alone, man.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: You know, when people sit in their shit excuse my language, when people sit in their shit, excuse my language, but I'm going to say it things go bad, you know.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: So that's fantastic.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: I love what you're doing, man, and I would love to go on the.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: You know, just so.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: You know, danny's in my neck of the woods, so this is fantastic, so is Eddie Zamora and so on.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: So it's cool when I get to talk to somebody here, not Chicago, or you know, somewhere else, or in South Korea or something, Um, so I, I, I again would love to go play with you guys.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: Uh, I don't want to do.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: You know, 700 mile hike, local brother, and we're good to go.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: You got it.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: Uh, but seriously getting out, getting the physical exercise and working out to get there, I mean that even elongates the amazing emotional and mental health benefits to that exercise, let alone then the camaraderie that everybody and this is the thing I was going to bring up the camaraderie that everybody's missing when they get out of the military.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: You know, you have that camaraderie like people don't realize, the camaraderie that everybody's missing when they get out of the military.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: You know you have that camaraderie like people don't realize, the camaraderie that's there and then when it gets changed where it's like what the hell happened?
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: And now I'm back in, you know the civilian life, and it's such a shock, if you will.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: So amen, you're doing that man, and again, let me know any way I can help.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: Truly.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: Thank you Absolutely.
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: So I have a note here and I just want to.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: I want to bring it up.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: So you mentioned that someone in your family has fought in every war since the Revolutionary War.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: Yes, so we're all a bunch of dummies.
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: If you go, patriots.
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: Danny Patriots.
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I know our government better than that Patriots they are.
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: So my last name is very rare, it's O'Neill, but it's, as you can see on the screen, o, apostrophe, n-e, e -L.
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: If you type in O'Neill, revolutionary War, you're going to find Major O'Neill, who was actually a prisoner of war during the Revolutionary War.
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: But you know, know, this wasn't something that my dad said hey, when you graduate, you need to go on the service, and you know this is what you do, right.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: But my dad was a vietnam vet when he was a senior in high school.
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: The marines came and said you have a week to pick a branch, you're coming with us.
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: And my dad did not want to.
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: He said marines are getting shot, I don't want to, I don't want to get shot.
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: So my dad joined the Navy, my dad got shot anyways, and so that's how war works, right.
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: But what I learned?
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: What I learned was he didn't like talking about it.
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: Well, my grandfather, you know and this, this part, is tragic, it has helped shape what we do but you know my dad was going to commit suicide.
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: We stopped him.
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: His dad, my grandfather, was in a world war II and he did commit suicide when my dad got sent to Vietnam, and so you know that generational trauma that's been passed down.
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: They didn't talk about it.
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: They drank to excess that they could avoid it, and that was something that I I didn't want to do to my family, that I, once I realized I had started doing uh, I think a very quick uh turnaround to.
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: I have to stop, you know, behaving like this and, even more importantly, this is how I'm going to help these guys behind me.
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: I'm going to turn around and say, hey, this doesn't fix your problems, this doesn't take away what happened, right?
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: So my very first squad leader in the army his name is Jared Monty.
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: Jared got the medal of honor and his there's a song called I Drive your Truck by Lee Bryce, and it's about how Jared's Paul dealt with his death, and I've ridden in that truck.
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: He's from Raina, massachusetts.
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: I went back there.
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: What I learned was that, you know, these guys are all drinking.
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: So are their family members.
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: It doesn't.
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: It's hard to deal with that tragic loss, right?
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: And so if, if I could do something that will help them stop poisoning themselves and start tapping into that warrior spirit, then not only do I need to explain why it's beneficial to them, I need to lead by example and, and you know, show them yeah absolutely Great story, man, and you know, show them.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: Um, great story, man, thank you.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: Oh, in fact, great song too, apparently I'm just hopped up, um.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: So, man, that that's a great story.
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: Thank you for sharing.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: Um, so I'm done.
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: I'm done with questions, I'm going.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: I'm going with questions, I'm going.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: We're going.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: So, with Warfighter Overwatch, specifically, how are you?
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: I know you have a big gala once a year.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: I really want to get people familiar with that, if that's okay.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: So I know you guys are doing all these amazing things for veterans here locally and so on, but you also have a big gala.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: So talk about that a little bit.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: And then, how can people help Warfighter Overwatch just reach more veterans and just get more involved with them and their family?
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: All right, so they can get involved by going to warfighteroverwatchorg.
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: They can sign up for the newsletters to find out when events are coming, follow us on social media Instagram, facebook, that sort of thing and sign up to volunteer.
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: Come meet these people who are local heroes, who you know.
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: Their kids go to school with your kids and we don't really understand everything that they endure, even in a 12 hour shift, right?
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: So I'll give you a quick example.
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: And it's why our gala is, for me, the most special night of the year.
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: So it's always on Patriots weekend, because I signed up for the Army on 9-11.
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: We do it around that weekend.
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: Always on Patriots weekend, because I signed up for the Army on 9-11.
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: We do it around that weekend.
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: So I think it was two years ago now.
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: What we did was we showed a video from a CHP officer out in Amador County Excuse me, calaveras County and what had happened was there was a head-on collision on this road, and it's kind of a rural area, even though they're close to town, if you will and so my father-in-law just so happened this is one of the reasons we were able to get this footage was my father-in-law was involved.
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: He's a battalion fire chief out in San Andreas and the collision happened a little over a mile from his house.
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: And so he was listening to the radio, because that's what these guys do, they ear hustle.
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: And so he hears that call, come over and says there's a head-on collision.
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: He goes down there.
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: One of the drivers was dead on arrival.
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: When he got there His vehicle was completely engulfed in flames.
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: The other driver was impinged, his dash and steering wheel had been pushed onto his legs and he couldn't get out.
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: His seatbelt was stuck and the engine compartment was on fire.
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: Not the cab of his truck, but the engine compartment was on fire and it was getting hot inside of that cab and he couldn't get out.
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: So my father-in-law shows up and then he's trying to get him out.
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: Then a CHP officer shows up.
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: From that moment we get audio and visual recording.
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: They're trying to find a knife to cut the seatbelt.
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: At one point the CHP officer gets out of his vehicle and starts patting his head because his hair is now smoldering.
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: Now he is not in direct flames, but it is that hot his hair is starting to singe.
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: When he gets out of the vehicle he's asking some bystanders if he could get a knife to cut the seatbelt.
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: My father-in-law found his knife in his cargo pocket, cuts the seatbelt, runs around the truck and drags the guy out.
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: I think it's three and a half seconds, but it's less than five and it's on our social media.
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: I think you can go watch the video.
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: They pulled a guy out.
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: That guy's alive today because of their actions.
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: But what I want, the and there was a, you know, collective 400 people gasp in the room when they watched this, because what happened was three and a half seconds after they pulled them out was the fuel line burned through and the entire cab was engulfed.
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: They would not have been able to save him three and a half seconds.
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: So what we call?
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: We call it our hottie award.
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: It's the hero of the year.
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: So we gave the CHP officer and my father-in-law this hottie award and what we explained to the audience was, as a, as a society, we're completely okay with my father-in-law and this officer going home and dealing with that.
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: This guy's dead.
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: This guy may or may not be okay.
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: When he's done, he's going to ICU.
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: We're going to see and figure it out.
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: By the way, show back up tomorrow with a clean uniform, a great attitude, and you better bring the best quality of service when you show up to my house, because that's what we expect, but we don't check on him or ask him how he's dealing with that, let alone over a 25, 30 year career.
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: And it's a grind when these people go through potentially 600 traumatic experiences and the average person goes through three.
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: That's not really fair.
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: So how do we, how do we number one, support them, make them feel seen and heard, and they don't want to talk about it.
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: He doesn't want to be called a hero, he doesn't want an award, but I explained to him that it's not about him in this moment.
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: He's going to have to be selfless again, and this is for our community to support him and show him that we appreciate the service that he provides for us, because you don't call the plumber when your house is on fire.
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: You call the fire department, call 911, and that's who shows up.
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: So let's make sure we're doing a better job of supporting these folks.
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: Amen, amen.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: And you know, I was just listening to Travis House, a fantastic guy, and he was just talking to the same thing.
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: You know what?
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: There's no decompression Right.
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: It doesn't stop for the, for the first responders, a lot of military veterans go into first responding police, fire etc.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: And you know they, when you leave the military, at least there's a decompression.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: You know there's time to deal with things.
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: If you again choice, choose to, uh, but but these first responders, man, there's no decompression so when our two guys got killed the day we were leaving iraq, I had roughly a week and some change before I showed back up in the states right and had to face anyone who was going to ask me questions about what my year had been like.
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: These guys get the time to compartmentalize that.
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: Then go, be home.
• 33:09
  Speaker 3: Go home and be an engaged spouse, an engaged parent, a coach people you to people you don't know anymore, it can be the most overwhelming, difficult thing we have, right?
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: So a firefighter goes to a call where a three-year-old drowns in a pool and the spouse doesn't understand why he doesn't want to have a pool party for the kid this weekend.
• 33:25
  Speaker 3: Those are some of the reasons why.
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: So if we can be more empathetic, if we can do our part in understanding what they go through, we can help mitigate the damage that the trauma has and we can make these people comfortable with seeking help.
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: And even more so, until then, we'll pay for them to go to therapy.
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: In 2022, we were non-profit of the year.
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: We're going to keep doing this work and I'll be glad when I can close my doors and don't have to do it, because we're taking care of the people we send to war and the people who serve our community.
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: I'll be glad when I don't have to do this, but until then, I'm working.
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: Amen, man, I'll be, I'll be right there, man.
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: You let me know again anytime you need me and thank you.
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: Thank you for being vulnerable and talking about these things, because I know they're not easy.
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: I don't care how long it's been, you know.
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: So thank you.
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: And thank you for literally just spending the time.
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: Man, you know, our most important resource, or most valuable resources humans, because we don't get it back.
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: I appreciate you spending the time to just come out here and talk and get it out there and understand the vulnerability is not a weakness, it's a strength, because look at this man right here.
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: That's a strong ass man, absolutely man.
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: Hey, so we are way over time.
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: Amen, that's okay.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: Hey, so we are way over time.
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: Amen, that's okay.
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: So, if we can, first of all, as far as you, someone reaching out to you specifically I know we already talked about Warfighter Watch, I believe, but go ahead and recap how do people reach you?
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: How do people reach your organization?
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: So they can go onto our social media and message us on there, on Facebook or Instagram.
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: It's literally my wife and I answering the messages that come on through there.
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: Um, danny, at warfighteroverwatchorg, you can go to, um, our website, warfighteroverwatchorg orcom.
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: I want to make sure people don't get lost.
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: We got them both and, uh, I mean, literally I'm super easy to find, even on my own social media.
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: Uh, but our website has contact information on there as well.
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: Literally I'm super easy to find, even on my own social media.
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: Uh, but our website has contact information on there as well.
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: I'm on social media.
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: You can literally direct message me.
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: I'll give you my phone number.
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: Uh, you know, people are in crisis.
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: We're here to help them.
• 35:26
  Speaker 3: My wife spent six hours yesterday trying to help a guy who you know he's in crisis, but he he'll lie and be in denial and then you know you're worried he's going to do something that he can't take back, right.
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: So we're trying to stop that stuff and, yeah, I'm easy to find.
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: Amen, hey, danny, I'd love to.
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: Maybe we can get Eddie Zamora and his wife and you and Fawn and we all go out to dinner or something and I love that.
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: So you got it, let's do it.
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: We're all here, man, let's do it.
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: You got it, let's do it.
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: We're all here, man, let's do it.
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: So let's close this up with the three tips I promised if they stuck around.
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: Give me three tips to get veterans and their families further faster.
• 36:02
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 36:02
  Speaker 3: First off, you've got to have a support system.
• 36:05
  Speaker 3: You can't do this alone.
• 36:06
  Speaker 3: You've got to have good people around you.
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: Ok, you have to utilize self-care.
• 36:12
  Speaker 3: You have to take care of yourself.
• 36:14
  Speaker 3: Think about what they say when you get on a plane.
• 36:15
  Speaker 3: You have to take care of yourself.
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: Think about what they say when you get on a plane.
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: You got to put on your own oxygen mask before you assist someone else.
• 36:19
  Speaker 3: If you're incapacitated, you can't help someone else.
• 36:23
  Speaker 3: And three bet on yourself.
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: Man, listen, I promise you're worth it and you're capable.
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: You can do the things, the hard stuff.
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: What's inside of you is greater than what's in front of you.
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: You can overcome any adversity.
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: I didn't know anything about being a business owner.
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: I don't tattoo people and, uh, we're thriving.
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: So I promise you can do this, and I'm here to answer any questions If, if, you have that self-doubt.
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: I love it, man.
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you so much, Truly, um, most important man, just reach out.
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: Just reach out and then take that action, get the life you deserve, because you deserve that life.
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: So with that note, danny, thank you so much, man.
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: We are out of here.
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: Thank you brother.
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us on another insightful journey of your Thoughts your Reality podcast with your host, michael Cole.
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: We hope the conversation sparked some thoughts that resonate with you.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: To dive deeper into empowering your thoughts and enhancing your reality, visit empowerperformancestrategiescom.
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: Remember your thoughts shape your reality, so make them count.
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: Until next time, stay inspired and keep creating the reality you desire.
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: Catch you on the next episode.