Latest / The Warriors & Watchmen Podcast / Engagement, Hunts & Brotherhood: CJ3 Stories from Warriors and Watchmen and Mike Constantine

Transcript

Engagement, Hunts & Brotherhood: CJ3 Stories from Warriors and Watchmen and Mike Constantine · The Warriors & Watchmen Podcast

• 0:15
  Welcome back to another episode of Warriors and Watchmen, presented by Raven
• 0:19
  Tech and Negative Bounce.
• 0:20
  Hosted by CJ3 Foundation and No Boundaries, I'm Eric Thomas with CJ3 Foundation,
• 0:26
  the founder and director. With me is my partner in crime, Roger Singh,
• 0:33
  my senior advisor for Virginia.
• 0:36
  I mean, I'm not a guest this time. No, you're not a guest. No,
• 0:39
  you're going to be a host. You're going to be a host. I'm sorry.
• 0:42
  No, come on. All right. Hey, it's been a week. It has been a week.
• 0:46
  So how was the week? Kind of a quiet week, wasn't it? No, not at all.
• 0:49
  It was a very quiet week. I think we should, I should ask you, how was your weekend?
• 0:52
  What'd you do this weekend? Oh man, I just sat around, relaxed a little bit.
• 0:55
  It was nice. We went out for dinner. That was really nice. We did.
• 0:58
  What did we go out to dinner for?
• 1:00
  Friendship, brother. Oh my God. Was it friendship? Yeah. We actually hang out
• 1:04
  outside of here? We do. Every once in a while. Every once in a while.
• 1:07
  Everybody, I don't hang out with them, but I believe there was something shiny
• 1:10
  you might have bought this week.
• 1:12
  I went broke. How'd you go broke?
• 1:17
  How did you go broke uh let's just say i believe i found love again did you
• 1:24
  so what did you do exactly this weekend then nothing what'd you do.
• 1:33
  Eric got engaged this weekend i did get you there we go there we go.
• 1:42
  Thank you, thank you, thank you The fly is right there He's so comfortable talking
• 1:47
  about this I love to talk about everybody else It's great Phenomenal woman that
• 1:54
  takes good care of me And been around and made sure,
• 1:57
  You've been with me through the good and the bad, and so it was time to lock her down.
• 2:02
  So basically she deals with your bullshit, yes, and your grumpiness as an old man. All over the place.
• 2:10
  That's awesome. Yeah. Congratulations, Eric, even though you don't like to talk
• 2:14
  about yourself. No, I don't, but I like to talk about her, and Michelle's a
• 2:18
  phenomenal person, so it's good to surround yourself with people better than
• 2:22
  you. And so I will hook up with somebody much better than me.
• 2:26
  Well, there you go. Congratulations. But hey, thanks for covering the bill,
• 2:29
  taking us out. That was impressive. I mean, that's not what we're talking about
• 2:32
  today. That was, that was.
• 2:34
  I have no problem moving out. Again. Wait, wait, wait. Where'd you guys go?
• 2:38
  We went to Tuskegee's. Well, for the dinner. For the dinner,
• 2:41
  we went to Tuskegee's. Yep. So.
• 2:43
  Where'd you go for the engagement? So ultimately what happened was,
• 2:46
  you see what happened was, I'm relatively spontaneous on, and I don't like to
• 2:52
  plan things out too much outside.
• 2:54
  Not at all. I'll get to that in a second. Outside of the charity.
• 2:56
  The charity's all planned out, and I like to do that.
• 2:59
  As a matter of fact, this guy, I drive him nuts with some of that.
• 3:02
  However, in my personal life, I find if I plan things, I don't ever want to follow through or do it.
• 3:08
  And I get angry and upset and grumpy about it. And so we woke up,
• 3:12
  and I was like, it's a good day to buy a ring.
• 3:16
  Guy, I got to tell you, this is how it went down.
• 3:18
  You only saw that. Well, I want to hear truth. On my side of it,
• 3:22
  this is how it went down. I get a text. Now, I got up early that day,
• 3:25
  and I was taking a nap. I'm not gonna lie I was taking a nap Middle day I get up at 3 o'clock,
• 3:31
  and i hold on hold on what time did the text come to you text came through like
• 3:35
  2 10 it was fine okay and so i get it just so you know your your gal responded.
• 3:43
  In a second so i'm taking a nap i get up and i read i read a text and i thought
• 3:49
  he was bullshitting me at first he's like,
• 3:51
  i got a ring i was like oh that's awesome man when he when is this happening
• 3:55
  he's like today i'm like are you fucking kidding me.
• 3:59
  So i'm sitting there going okay and i go downstairs and jen already knows my
• 4:03
  my fiance already knows and i'm like okay,
• 4:05
  what are we gonna do and i'm like i'm asking him what do you want to do anything
• 4:08
  you guys want to go meet for drinks you want to go to dinner he's like i don't
• 4:11
  know i don't want to make a big deal meanwhile i was on the toilet probably
• 4:15
  it's fine so you know i was napping he was on the toilet,
• 4:18
  so within two hours i got and i got jen over there that is like she's a planner
• 4:23
  and she still stresses out when she's planning but she's like i gotta get her
• 4:25
  flowers we gotta plan dinner we We got to do it really.
• 4:28
  You really didn't have to, but thank you very much. It was going to happen no matter what.
• 4:32
  But within two hours, my, my fiance was like, we got to go here.
• 4:36
  And I'm freaking out. Cause I'm like, we got to get to the fucking restaurant,
• 4:39
  get seats. And she's like, I got to get flowers.
• 4:41
  So this guy talk about lack of planning. He literally texts me at two 10 and
• 4:47
  by five 36 o'clock we were having dinner because they were engaged. Yep. It is.
• 4:52
  He's crazy. That's all I'll say. So the other side that you didn't see,
• 4:57
  and she's here, and I'm afraid she might cut me in my back because I can't see her in the booth.
• 5:03
  I'm going to watch what I say and hope my friends look out for me,
• 5:06
  what's coming behind me.
• 5:08
  But no, so I woke up and I was like, it'd be a good day to do this.
• 5:13
  And she was unaware of that.
• 5:15
  And so she's got little baby fingers. So I wanted to make sure,
• 5:18
  you know, to guess at a ring is not what you want to do.
• 5:22
  I tell Carrie she has sausage fingers, so baby fingers is much better.
• 5:26
  I mean, it works on so many different levels.
• 5:31
  But no, she's got baby fingers. You don't want to get the sizing wrong for that.
• 5:34
  And honestly, we're very different in style.
• 5:39
  I don't like it for me. I don't like lavish show-off things,
• 5:42
  except there's a couple things, my rat rod and some things. But overall,
• 5:45
  I'm pretty low-key as far as what I get.
• 5:48
  And his giant truck and his rat rod, yes. Please go on this. But that's about it.
• 5:53
  But she's very much that way. She doesn't like big bling and all that other
• 5:57
  stuff. And she's very conservative in what she, you know, she has no real expectations.
• 6:02
  She's real easy to please when it comes to that stuff.
• 6:04
  And so, but I want her to have big, shiny, gaudy, everybody sees something she's
• 6:09
  proud of and all that. And I knew that wasn't the answer either because it would
• 6:12
  have pissed her off. So we went to look.
• 6:15
  We went to look. And we're looking and we, it took a little bit,
• 6:21
  but we both kind of decided on something pretty, but simple and shiny. And.
• 6:26
  I literally sat there and went, I laid the Amex down on the table.
• 6:33
  And she's like, what are you doing?
• 6:35
  I was like, this is happening. She's like, what? I'm like, this is happening. And so bought it.
• 6:42
  Then we drove out to Veterans Park in Leesburg. And meanwhile,
• 6:46
  somewhere in between, I was talking to you.
• 6:48
  And I was like, you don't have to show, bro. It's happening today.
• 6:51
  We're just going to hang out. That sounds a lot like the move back in the day.
• 6:54
  You remember that? Oh, my God.
• 6:56
  Don't sidetrack this. Don't sidetrack this. Yeah, went out to Veterans Park.
• 7:00
  We sat down and we just had a conversation and asked her. And of course she
• 7:04
  said yes, got to put a ring on her.
• 7:07
  And it was funny because Havoc was wallowing around in the grass and not paying
• 7:11
  any attention to what's going on. And we couldn't barely get him in for a picture.
• 7:15
  So we took a couple pictures and then loaded up and was driving to the restaurant.
• 7:20
  And I was like, oh, crap, let me make sure they're not dressing up because we're
• 7:22
  in jeans and a T-shirt and hanging out.
• 7:25
  And so I was in jeans and a T-shirt. It was fine. Actually, Jen.
• 7:31
  Jen did dress up and wore heels for the first time in a very long time since I've seen it.
• 7:36
  She did the right thing she dressed up for the occasion so i have to ask you
• 7:40
  though now that you're engaged has the relationship changed at all yeah she's
• 7:43
  got me right i mean what is it all of a sudden it's like who are you you're
• 7:48
  like i got you i got you now bitch that's what.
• 7:52
  Once you put that ring on dude you got no not no control at that that's the real ring,
• 7:58
  didn't warn me for with you know when she was doing all that dad didn't say
• 8:02
  we gotta put a ring on it because shit's going to change she didn't say anything
• 8:05
  about changing so speaking of the topic we're talking on,
• 8:10
  something now would be a good time to bring in our guest and and why because the topic,
• 8:15
  about my engagement and the individual we're talking about and my fear of her um,
• 8:22
  this gentleman shares the same fear just from a little bit of a distance so,
• 8:26
  i will bring in our guest, Mike Constantine, person,
• 8:31
  the foundation in Ohio, the funnest.
• 8:39
  State in a country. It is. Is it really? It is not. Right. Just above,
• 8:44
  just above Indiana. It's still better than Michigan.
• 8:47
  Oh, you're not even going to say that in this studio. How are we going to compare?
• 8:51
  I'm sorry. Wish again. There we go.
• 8:54
  It's close. It's fine.
• 8:56
  Mike of course if anybody knows me and knows me around mike he goes by mikey
• 9:01
  although i've watched him as he has,
• 9:04
  some of this in front of us some of these beverages he doesn't always like being
• 9:08
  called mikey by strangers no no yeah am i a stranger,
• 9:15
  you're just you're strange sir strange so i'll call you i will call you michael
• 9:20
  from now on all right michael you call me sir.
• 9:24
  So Mikey That's to a different part of your body I salute that area So Help
• 9:32
  debunk some of this Is the little El Salvadoran as scary as Roger's Making her out to be?
• 9:39
  Hell yeah she is I think she's got Two knives now aimed at both of you so I'm
• 9:43
  staying Out of this conversation please continue She threatens to cut me all
• 9:46
  the time Well that'd be in her defense,
• 9:50
  I've seen her in the gym she's stone cold killer saying how long ago was that,
• 9:56
  It was like two years ago. He's making fun of her now. She came here.
• 10:00
  Once a killer, always a killer.
• 10:01
  Yeah. Now she loves the gym. So good on her. I need to find my way back. That'd be real nice.
• 10:07
  Right, Roger? Ditto. Yeah. Especially we have to do some sort of fucking thing.
• 10:12
  Oh, no, no, no, no. We've got, we have got it. We're going to be doing this,
• 10:17
  this workout event. We absolutely are.
• 10:20
  CrossFit. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I actually explained. Mikey should be going to it with us.
• 10:24
  Oh, that'd be awesome. Michael, I'm sorry, Michael. Hey, that would... Hey.
• 10:28
  You can call me Mikey. The funny thing is, so for the listening audience,
• 10:33
  Mikey has a tendency to back out and use work as an excuse for not showing up to a event. He does.
• 10:38
  But this will be the one that he actually can go to, and I will check with his
• 10:42
  bosses to validate that he can make it for a CrossFit competition.
• 10:46
  I am sure my supervisor will back me up and say, if I am not able to make it,
• 10:50
  do you work on the game? Not if he wants a job somewhere. Mikey.
• 10:54
  Oh. So Eric has a question. I'm going to tell him. What do you got here?
• 11:01
  Well, so, I mean, is he allowed to go to the golf tournament that's coming up?
• 11:06
  What's the golf tournament that's coming up?
• 11:08
  So, yeah, we got a golf tournament. What's the date? April 27th.
• 11:12
  There we are. Where are you going to be, Mikey? I am going to be in Ohio.
• 11:17
  What are you doing? Why? Because I'll be working and I'll be returning to the area a few days later.
• 11:24
  Okay. I mean, that, that's kind of fishy that he's returning to the Virginia
• 11:29
  area a few days later. Yeah. So one in a few days before.
• 11:33
  Because my wife would kill me. Well, I don't know his wife, so Eric will have
• 11:38
  to talk to that one. Oh, she's an awesome lady.
• 11:41
  That's what I'm going to stick to. She's super pleasant, super nice.
• 11:46
  I love her with all my heart. The word pleasant was used. She's an angry little German thing.
• 11:51
  She's going to be mad at me now. That's okay. You called her pleasant, dude.
• 11:56
  That was very stoic, right? She's very pleasant. Hey, guy in the sky, hold on.
• 12:03
  You were attracted to the idea we have a workout event coming up.
• 12:06
  Oh, let's not get back to this. So are you going to come out with us?
• 12:10
  It depends. Where's this happening? It will be happening at PR Star Fitness.
• 12:14
  So the owners of Honor Brewery and PR Star Fitness are the same people.
• 12:17
  They're very supportive of the foundation.
• 12:20
  And every year they host an annual CrossFit competition, Heroes for Heroes.
• 12:26
  And we have been the charity they've supported through that program.
• 12:31
  So when is this happening? I believe September time frame, but I'll have to
• 12:35
  look for sure. I'm in. I'm in.
• 12:37
  We'll do a podcast. But it's pretty awesome. So I like the gym,
• 12:43
  but I like to lift weights. I don't do CrossFit. And so when I go there,
• 12:47
  I suck at it compared to half these people.
• 12:49
  And they all tilt their head sideways and go, that was so sweet.
• 12:52
  Good effort. Good effort. My Lord.
• 12:56
  I got to tell you. So it's like put a wreck on, bitch. Guy, literally.
• 13:00
  Let's do it. Let's do the wreck.
• 13:01
  So I showed up at the event last year. I showed up late because I didn't realize
• 13:04
  it. Because you were dodging it. I didn't realize I had to do it. You were dodging it.
• 13:08
  I didn't know we were supposed to actually participate in the event.
• 13:12
  Bro, it's a CrossFit competition. So hold on. I didn't know.
• 13:15
  You were like a table. We have a table. Oh, you were going to put a suit or
• 13:18
  something? Pretty much. That's what I came in. I came in in a three-piece and
• 13:23
  some dress shoes. He waited until the event was over to come in.
• 13:27
  I was making an appearance. Smart. That's smart. The smart, well played. So,
• 13:32
  When I get in there, I have to say this about Eric's new fiance.
• 13:36
  I walk in. She's not sweating at all. Eric is fucking soaked through his shirt.
• 13:43
  And, oh, by the way, he went to his dog, Havoc, and on command said,
• 13:48
  shit on this floor so I can stop this immediately. It wasn't on the floor.
• 13:51
  It was out on the running track.
• 13:52
  Same difference. It was somewhere. Eric had to stop. It took 45 minutes to fucking
• 13:58
  clean up dog. Oh, we're out of time.
• 14:01
  Oh. oh so bad but i have to say so then eric goes hey i want you and jen and
• 14:07
  me and michelle to do the event this year and i was like this is this is a terrible idea but sure,
• 14:13
  but he also has to take havoc can i run havoc yeah i'm definitely running havoc
• 14:17
  and i gotta learn the shit on command word so i can so,
• 14:20
  guy in the sky i need to tell you something i'm a little disappointed with roger
• 14:23
  and let me tell you why so he he's known michelle for a while and he said you
• 14:28
  know what else doesn't sweat besides your girlfriend at the time before she
• 14:33
  was my fiance. He said a pig.
• 14:35
  He compared her. No, that was. He compared her to a pig. Oh,
• 14:39
  see, just. Oh, it's turned on. So you're actually said that.
• 14:44
  I did not. Yes, you did. Yes. She should have shibbed you.
• 14:47
  Cause I didn't. That's why she wants to cut Eric all the time.
• 14:50
  You know what? That comment.
• 14:52
  I should kind of believe Roger. Oh, it's definitely true. you're a dick.
• 14:59
  Wait, but wait, wait wait eric let's let's get back let's get back to mikey
• 15:02
  right yeah wait wait before mikey though because we have to like mikey okay no,
• 15:06
  oh i mean it's michael i did not i did not mean like i respect i respect this
• 15:12
  what you're saying about your name so i'm i'm gonna try not to call you mike
• 15:15
  no you can call me mikey it's fine in this environment he's good with it it's
• 15:19
  it's when a stranger comes up and just,
• 15:22
  he just totally screw with him yeah and this guy what,
• 15:25
  What? He was screwing with you, Roger? He was screwing with me about calling him Mike.
• 15:30
  So explain legitimately. I want to know more about this event,
• 15:36
  this CrossFit thing. So here's a cool thing.
• 15:39
  So I've talked about Honor Brewing being good partners of ours.
• 15:42
  They support us. The owners of Honor Brewing own PR Star Fitness.
• 15:47
  And so I don't know why.
• 15:51
  They know I like to go to the gym, and they know part of our mental health and
• 15:54
  wellness and all that stuff involves physical fitness.
• 15:57
  And so they were like, we're looking for a charity. We love working with you.
• 16:02
  Would you be our charity for this thing? I was like, that's awesome. What's it about?
• 16:06
  And it's called Heroes for Heroes. And what they do is they'll find a hero veteran,
• 16:12
  a hero law enforcement, a hero firefighter. And so there's three different workouts
• 16:16
  of the day you do all back to back.
• 16:18
  And it comes along with stories of these usually post-mortem heroes you know
• 16:24
  somebody that died serving or whatever,
• 16:26
  and cool not cool is they've asked us to provide one of the people that we honor,
• 16:33
  each year and so each year we've provided some of the died serving or something like that,
• 16:38
  and to honor them we do a workout of the day and so it's three workouts back
• 16:42
  to back and And really cool. The people are friendly as hell.
• 16:46
  The businesses get behind it, donate a lot of things, and they provide a good
• 16:50
  donation at the end. And it's just phenomenal camaraderie.
• 16:53
  Because as you know, like from our military days.
• 16:55
  Work out together, suffer together, brings you the bond, gets closer,
• 17:00
  and just phenomenal people that show up.
• 17:02
  And so it's out at, I can't remember, is that considered Sterling, Chantilly area?
• 17:08
  It's considered Sterling. Okay. At Honor Brewery, yeah. Okay.
• 17:12
  Yeah, that's right. It's literally attached to the same boat as Honor.
• 17:14
  And then we end up over at Honor Brewery right after and pouring some out for the home.
• 17:20
  I mean, before you get to the guests, I'm sorry. We'll use that word very lightly.
• 17:26
  You're not a guest. You're a brother and friend. He is. All right. So there. There's that.
• 17:32
  When you do this, there's this dude. His name's Dan Sensen. They call him Santa Six.
• 17:37
  He has this thing where he brings a dog tag making machine and he reads dog
• 17:44
  tags out of fallen heroes.
• 17:46
  And, you know, if someone doesn't have a dog tag of somebody,
• 17:49
  one of their loved ones, he'll make it right there in the spot.
• 17:52
  And it's really cool. And he would 100%. And then he'll do, he'll have like
• 17:58
  brief periods where he stops making dog tags for like two or three hours.
• 18:04
  And he just reads the names on a microphone. Oh, that's cool.
• 18:07
  Yeah. And if you would like to link up with him, I mean, that would be a pretty
• 18:11
  easy thing to do. He would love this.
• 18:12
  Yeah, certainly. Let's talk. I think
• 18:14
  that would fit right in the venue of something he'd be interested in.
• 18:18
  Yeah, that's very cool. So Mikey. Eric.
• 18:21
  So you're wearing CJ3 stuff. So what we usually ask our guests is,
• 18:26
  how'd you get affiliated with the foundation, brother?
• 18:29
  I got affiliated through you. You didn't have much of a choice, bro. I know.
• 18:35
  You will do this or you will die. I could actually see him saying that.
• 18:40
  You know, for the audience and everybody, I've known Eric for 20 years.
• 18:46
  First met on a deployment.
• 18:48
  We'll probably end up going to that story later, but. Yes, we will.
• 18:51
  Oh, yes, we will. It gets gross. Yeah.
• 18:53
  And then, what was it? Two years later?
• 18:57
  A year and a half. Ended up living in the same area. Yeah. Yep.
• 19:00
  And working together again. In Georgia. Yep.
• 19:03
  And becoming friends and, you know, families got together and all that.
• 19:07
  Been in touch ever since, really. Yeah, ever since. Yep. Cross the paths and
• 19:10
  all that with work and, you know, Eric, you know, went through some stuff and,
• 19:15
  uh, you know, he started the charity, told me about it, asked my opinion, you know, about it.
• 19:21
  Like we're, you know, kind of direction to go, gave him some,
• 19:24
  you know, ideas and, and supporting. What have you been through,
• 19:28
  Mike? Cause you've been through some of the stages of the charity.
• 19:30
  What have you been through, brother? Well, I call it the, the retreat.
• 19:34
  Which one's the? The Iowa. Oh, well, cause you already kind of knew my folks anyway. Yeah.
• 19:40
  I met his parents at his son's basic training graduation.
• 19:46
  For everybody out here, my kids call him Uncle Mikey. Well, Mike.
• 19:53
  Your kid's basic training. No, Eric's.
• 19:56
  I was going to say, we've heard about Eric's kids. I don't have any kids.
• 20:03
  My wife calls fur babies. And he's got nephews that, like I said,
• 20:07
  my kids call him uncle. and then he's got his own on his family side.
• 20:12
  A couple nieces and a couple nephews.
• 20:15
  So, but yeah, so I met his folks in the past and all that and then,
• 20:22
  2023, I think it was, I went out to Iowa. Eric, you know, told me I needed to
• 20:26
  do it. He, he knew some stuff that was going on in my life at the time.
• 20:30
  Bro, we all got struggles, right?
• 20:32
  And so he had me, uh, apply and, you know, got into the program, went out there.
• 20:38
  I think the conversation went so, cause I've been through it too.
• 20:41
  And, and, you know, it's, if I can't, if I can't use it and I can't put my friends
• 20:47
  through it that, that I've served with, what good is this all for anyway?
• 20:51
  Anyway and so you know one it was it was humbling for me to try to ask him and
• 20:56
  go hey will you do this because i don't know what he thinks about it right and,
• 21:01
  the amount of trust he put into me to go to this thing. Now,
• 21:04
  granted, I think he was going through some things at the time.
• 21:06
  We talk pretty, pretty regularly, but no, I think it was good for him and level
• 21:12
  of comfort because he already knew some of the folks, some of my people that were already there.
• 21:18
  And then what else have you done besides? Freed is what you call it though.
• 21:21
  But it's cool. It kind of is. Hey guy, let me tell you, but Mike,
• 21:26
  you'll tell you a little bit about it.
• 21:27
  There is something weird about this whole thing. So one, so it's in a,
• 21:31
  Our mental health and wellness facility is in a town in Albia, Iowa.
• 21:34
  It's a town of 4,800 people. Very small town.
• 21:38
  How do you spell Albia, A-L-B-I-A. Albia, Iowa. Yep. In Iowa spelled I-O-W-A.
• 21:46
  Look here, motherfucker. We're from Ohio. It's those big poor letters.
• 21:52
  So it's interesting. People go, well, why back there? And I'll tell you this straight up.
• 21:56
  So my mom runs our mental health and wellness facility. Why my mom?
• 22:00
  Well, my mom, you know, she's a psychologist and, you know, she used to see
• 22:05
  a lot of Navy folks. So just put that out there in Norfolk, Virginia, while we were there.
• 22:11
  And so I figured if she can handle some of those issues, she can handle these.
• 22:16
  And when we first started this, she was having the same thoughts I was about creating this thing.
• 22:21
  We came together and built this thing. And so we've got psychologists,
• 22:26
  a gut health doctor, a chiropractor, social worker, all these people converge on.
• 22:30
  To love on and take care of our wounded heroes while they're going through this process.
• 22:35
  And so it's a Thursday through a Tuesday. You get about four months worth of
• 22:39
  therapy jammed into that time from about, what, Mike, eight to five,
• 22:43
  you're in therapy and doing all these non-medicated, non-traditional things.
• 22:50
  But it also doesn't stop there, though. Right, to support you.
• 22:52
  Yeah, so, like, you know, it's like 8 to 5, and then, you know,
• 22:56
  you break for dinner and all that. And I don't know what the status is with
• 23:01
  it now. Same. But, yeah, you know.
• 23:03
  It's dinner table therapy. It's all that other stuff, right?
• 23:06
  You know, we were, you know, taken out to local restaurants,
• 23:08
  and, you know, the community was just phenomenal.
• 23:11
  You know, they're very supportive. It's a town of 4,500 people. It's ridiculous.
• 23:15
  They have a monument out there called the Welcome Home Soldier Monument in Albee, Iowa.
• 23:20
  It rivals the monuments here in washington dc it he's not the one you sent to me online and.
• 23:26
  That thing is like and they're partners of ours so i have no problem give them
• 23:30
  a shout out they're phenomenal,
• 23:31
  but it's amazing isn't mike you go yeah and then so you know the cool thing
• 23:35
  is so while you're going through our mental health program we have the house
• 23:40
  that belong that that's right across the alley behind it,
• 23:43
  and it used to belong to the i think 23rd governor of iowa governor kendall
• 23:48
  we call it it's called the kendall place it's on the national registry of historic
• 23:52
  homes we we were gifted the home we renovated it,
• 23:56
  it's a four-bedroom historic home where like i said the governor the 23rd governor
• 24:00
  of iowa 100 years ago he used to help veterans out,
• 24:05
  of that same house and here we are doing it 100 years later so mike got to stay
• 24:08
  there see some of that or see some it wasn't open when you wasn't open yet it
• 24:12
  was still in our renovation and and so that's cool but then,
• 24:16
  like so we have a flag pull out in front of it so anytime a member of cj3 comes to town
• 24:21
  they raise a cj3 foundation flag it's announced on the radio and put in the
• 24:26
  newspaper that cj3 is in town
• 24:28
  how cool is that do i feel like this is like walking tall where eric just goes
• 24:33
  into town or sends somebody into town and they all know about the foundation and,
• 24:37
  basically come out to see everybody that's a part of the foundation which is
• 24:40
  very cool went to the restaurants, right?
• 24:42
  They all know. Oh yeah. That's insane. That's awesome.
• 24:45
  Yeah. You know, the, I forgot it was.
• 24:48
  Mistake bogeys bogeys yeah yeah
• 24:52
  and they yeah the uh it does but well you don't mess with the owner she,
• 24:57
  she's awesome yeah but yeah you know she knew like you know we were we were
• 25:01
  out there and you know came up made sure to come over the table and
• 25:05
  you know say hi and you know give eric's dad a hard time which no he deserves
• 25:09
  no matter where you go they know what you're there for they know who you're
• 25:12
  with and it's kind of funny because dude you just the love you feel in this
• 25:16
  down it's kind of crazy that's awesome so it's a great time,
• 25:20
  so you so you went through that program you went through the mental health and
• 25:23
  wellness program thank you for doing it and candidly i think it was good for
• 25:26
  you and it's not a one and done you know every once in a while i found i need
• 25:32
  you know i needed to tune up and needed to go back through,
• 25:35
  what else have you done because i'll be honestly i can't you went through georgia
• 25:39
  right yeah i went through georgia let's say eric's getting old his memory's
• 25:42
  faded so you're gonna have to tell or maybe we helped so many veterans I can't remember them all.
• 25:47
  God. Including the one his kids call uncle. I can't remember what he did.
• 25:51
  Well, they sell out easy. He buys them stuff.
• 25:56
  That way you drink together. We kill some brain cells. It's true.
• 25:59
  There's facts to that. So the hunt, man. Describe the hunt. Dude,
• 26:03
  I'll tell you, Junior Coker, my associate director down there in Georgia, non-vet.
• 26:09
  Right. Roger, non-vet. Oh, my Lord. He loves veterans and does more for veterans
• 26:14
  than any veteran I've seen, but. He's got the biggest heart.
• 26:17
  Pretty phenomenal program down there as well. Mike, I'll let you talk about
• 26:21
  that because you went through it.
• 26:22
  Yeah, so it was a good experience. I was hoping to go back this year,
• 26:25
  but, you know, work took me out of the air. There's that work excuse.
• 26:30
  So I had to go, you know, save the world. And. Will you take your hands off
• 26:35
  your hip when you say that?
• 26:36
  You're not Superman. His name isn't Mikey. It's James. We all saved the world
• 26:40
  at one point. Whatever. Yeah.
• 26:43
  No, it was, it was a great time. I drove down, you know, you know,
• 26:47
  linked up with everybody down there. It was 13, 13, uh, veterans.
• 26:53
  And, uh, 12, usually it's 12 every once in a while we have to pop in an extra
• 26:57
  one. Yeah. And, but it was good, good experience, good camaraderie.
• 27:01
  Everybody's there, you know, just the same thing, just, you know,
• 27:05
  you know, for the experience and just be able to just talk and,
• 27:08
  you know, not have any judgment, you know, towards you in the community.
• 27:13
  Wow the community is great you know like from like the food that's donated i've
• 27:18
  heard the stories man i'm looking forward to going down myself but i've heard
• 27:21
  the stories i'm gonna tell you so what mike is not telling you is,
• 27:25
  so for these folks down and so it's right outside of albany it's kind of funny
• 27:29
  so we're headquartered in leesburg virginia,
• 27:32
  the hunt is in leesburg georgia it confuses the hell out of our post people
• 27:36
  and we're gonna have a clubhouse yeah so it's it's pretty.
• 27:40
  It's pretty interesting because the hunt happens on plantations that people
• 27:45
  will flat out tell you we'd sell our kids to hunt on these there's people in georgia that
• 27:49
  would love to hunt on these and they don't get to and so these these properties
• 27:53
  are prepped for all year long for this annual veteran hunt which is awesome and,
• 28:01
  you know they get to go out and just lay deer i mean well basically whatever
• 28:04
  removed but deer this is a whitetail hunt this,
• 28:08
  is a whitetail hunt like i said so i said i actually said this on our last podcast
• 28:12
  he keeps telling me we're going hogging when we go out there so different meaning
• 28:15
  different meaning different meaning i gotta find a knife apparently that's gonna
• 28:18
  gonna stab a hog in the face so i don't kind of been we talking about,
• 28:24
  so hey so here's the deal i mean to wait wait wait wait jen was back here giving
• 28:29
  him like the noose look. You better shut up. Pretty much.
• 28:33
  It was happening. Why don't you go hogging? Go back.
• 28:39
  So, but yeah, you know, it was, uh, you know, predominantly it's,
• 28:44
  uh, the whitetail, but if you can, you know, get a hog, you know,
• 28:48
  you're able to shoot and all that.
• 28:49
  And depending on what the landowner, you know, tells you is like,
• 28:53
  you can shoot and whatever. So, but yeah, it was great.
• 28:56
  Guy in the sky. I'm going to tell you, man, every year it keeps getting bigger, bigger and bigger.
• 29:01
  And the amount of swag people walk away with, bro, people were walking away with rifles.
• 29:07
  They're walking away with optics. They're walking away with binos.
• 29:10
  They're walking away with, with all these, this hunting gear.
• 29:14
  They almost have to have two duffel bags now to carry with them,
• 29:18
  just to bring it on top of the three or 400 pounds of meat they take home.
• 29:23
  Look, a venison they take home. Eric, like all these events that you guys talk
• 29:27
  about, I have a really, what I think is an important question to Mike about this.
• 29:33
  Because the biggest thing for whether you're a veteran or a first responder,
• 29:38
  it's the stigma of, of not going like, like what, what was it that I know you
• 29:46
  had Eric as a friend and he convinced you, but as a person, as a veteran, and.
• 29:53
  Maybe you didn't even realize you needed help. I don't know.
• 29:56
  Or maybe you did and you were like, okay, it's time. He knew at that time we'd
• 29:59
  talk yeah but but the the whole point is is like a lot of veterans they they
• 30:04
  don't get past the stigma of it and mike from your experience with what you experience.
• 30:11
  What would you tell a veteran or a first responder how do they get past that
• 30:15
  stigma to just reach out and just go do it great question so i mean,
• 30:20
  every veteran first responder i mean they're going to go through you know their
• 30:23
  own different you know the way of dealing with it and you know ask them for that help.
• 30:28
  I just explained like how it all started for me.
• 30:33
  So it was 2019.
• 30:36
  You know, stress at work, you know, it was kind of getting to me a little bit,
• 30:39
  just, you know, some other things that were going on.
• 30:42
  And I would notice how I would react with my wife.
• 30:47
  And that, that was the main thing is like, because at home with your spouse,
• 30:52
  your spouse is your safe place and you can just be yourself and just, you know, let go.
• 30:59
  Unfortunately, they also become the brunt. They take the brunt of a lot of our
• 31:03
  anger and because we can get away with things at home that we don't it could
• 31:07
  be us just you know being you know silly goofy or you know what have you but
• 31:12
  again like eric just said.
• 31:15
  Being the, the, I want to say the target, but, you know, bearing the,
• 31:19
  you know, the brunt, because we're just expelling it out. Right.
• 31:23
  So I would notice, uh, you know, my shortness, my, you know,
• 31:27
  I wouldn't say necessarily anger, but just real shortness, or I would say something. And. Instantly.
• 31:35
  As soon as it rolled off my tongue, I was like, shit.
• 31:40
  And I would stop. Like she don't deserve that. And I would say,
• 31:43
  I'm not upset with you. I'm not directing at you.
• 31:46
  It just had to come out. Well, Mike, I'm going to combat you on this a little bit. Okay.
• 31:54
  And what I mean by that is, from the sounds of it, you have a pretty good head
• 31:58
  on your shoulders to begin with.
• 32:00
  And there's a lot of folks out there, a lot of men and women that don't.
• 32:05
  And they let it go way past that because of ego or a lot of things have happened.
• 32:12
  And it's, they're very deep sunk into that.
• 32:16
  And, you know, the question that I have is, you know, okay, how do we get these
• 32:22
  people to wash away that stigma of reaching out for help for people that love
• 32:28
  them and to go in and receiving that help?
• 32:31
  Guy, let me jump in and say one thing, though.
• 32:34
  There is a reason we offer different things, right? Because I will say this,
• 32:38
  and Mike, you can definitely correct me if I'm wrong as a person that went through
• 32:42
  it. I mean, I went through it as well.
• 32:45
  There's definitely a stigma to sit there and say, hey, will you send me through
• 32:49
  your mental health and wellness program, right? Because anything involving,
• 32:53
  given our jobs and the federal government, given all these different things, there's still a stigma.
• 32:58
  Even I think about it or I associate it to the VA and some other things and I just don't like it.
• 33:04
  One of the reasons we have multitudes of services, one is to help people in
• 33:10
  different ways, right? Because there's no one solution for every single person.
• 33:14
  And some people need multiple solutions.
• 33:16
  There may come a day Mike wants a service dog and needs one,
• 33:19
  and we're going to provide him with a service dog, right? There's a reason we have different.
• 33:24
  If you think about it, some people would be more willing to go to the hunt than
• 33:27
  they would be to ask, you know, would be willing to ask to go shoot whitetail
• 33:31
  than they would be to say, I want to go to Iowa.
• 33:36
  Well, here's the thing. You don't think this is a topic when we go,
• 33:38
  when they go to Georgia, because every evening after we get done shooting deer
• 33:43
  and whatever we're sitting around with beer and cigars around the fireplace
• 33:48
  right and doing all kinds of craziness whatever,
• 33:50
  but that's that's the time when the brotherhood really starts opening up that's
• 33:55
  when you start seeing people's struggles that's when you start seeing people talk,
• 33:59
  and the mikey's that are there and anybody else that's been through the program
• 34:03
  that's when those stories start coming up and go bro.
• 34:07
  You're slight yeah i heard slaying deer but i see at home you're struggling
• 34:10
  i see you're struggling with whatever you really need to consider i i don't
• 34:14
  want to say they're more vulnerable to but they're more receptive to it you
• 34:18
  know after they've gone through one of our other programs because it's like,
• 34:22
  oh these same guys that can smoke and joke and have a good time and play and
• 34:26
  do all that they're still they're really serious about helping and oh shit eric
• 34:30
  went through it himself and and you know.
• 34:34
  It's a requirement for all our primary staff that have to go through it.
• 34:38
  And when they find out you've been through it and we actually celebrate it instead
• 34:43
  of making it a stigma issue, they're a lot more apt to do it.
• 34:46
  So sometimes it isn't they're asking for help. Sometimes they're just signing
• 34:50
  up to go shoot and go hit deer. And they don't realize they're getting that. Great. Guess what?
• 34:55
  I got you, though, because when we sit around that campfire,
• 34:58
  that's more than just smoking and joking and drinking beer.
• 35:01
  That's therapy in itself sitting around the campfire.
• 35:05
  I noticed recently you guys did support a car show.
• 35:10
  And, you know, you're doing a golf tournament and, you know,
• 35:14
  you do the whitetail hunt.
• 35:16
  And so I can, I know exactly like you have to appeal.
• 35:21
  You have to get that hook, that initial hook to just get them in and be able
• 35:27
  to have a brotherhood or a sisterhood with them. But you got to be relevant,
• 35:31
  right? You got to be out there relevant. You got to be.
• 35:35
  And let's face it, you know, not all veterans are created equal. We're all different.
• 35:38
  We're all over the place. So at the end of the day, yeah, I got a,
• 35:41
  I got a, we got the rat rod with the CJ three foundation.
• 35:44
  We were out at the car show that brings a whole different group of people.
• 35:47
  Right. And, and, you know, those are usually the people that sign up to go do
• 35:52
  when we, when we take veterans out racing and things like that.
• 35:55
  You know, we've got the hunt. We've got, we try to keep things all over the
• 35:59
  place to make sure we're appealing to the masses.
• 36:02
  People learn about the foundation and that way, when you're talking to them
• 36:05
  about it, it's just, it becomes like I'm not being a vet.
• 36:09
  I don't know what you guys go through in certain situations,
• 36:12
  and this is one of them, but I can imagine being in an environment like that
• 36:15
  where you're at a hunt in Georgia, and you're there.
• 36:22
  You're around a circle of people that have been through what you've been through.
• 36:25
  I'm assuming they're much more vulnerable and receptive. Bro,
• 36:28
  I'm going to tell you this. You know how relaxed veterans get there?
• 36:32
  Sometimes you don't even realize how much you miss those circles until you get
• 36:36
  there. Right. It's funny.
• 36:38
  I think one of our previous guests was talking about it. You, you.
• 36:41
  He drove out there i think it was anthony drove out there and immediately knew
• 36:47
  i'm surrounded by vets there's nothing else out here like that it was fine but
• 36:51
  but he was like dude i was instantly relaxed because these are my people,
• 36:56
  and and then he could turn off,
• 36:58
  and then he was receptive and not not worry about everything,
• 37:02
  he didn't need to take kids he didn't need to take care of a house,
• 37:05
  on a front for people that's and that's that's the
• 37:09
  the that's the beauty of some of the stuff we do and like I said bringing knowledge
• 37:11
  with all the events we do and being relevant like you said is very important
• 37:15
  and think about the hunt man you know because I'll be honest with you so we
• 37:18
  used to have three tenets to our foundation and it used to be,
• 37:23
  advocacy piece which is not sexy that's more the hill piece it's changing policy
• 37:27
  and legislation but something that needs to be done that helps the masses mental
• 37:30
  health and wellness and service dogs I I didn't want to grow it any bigger and
• 37:34
  I didn't want it to branch out,
• 37:37
  but our partner we started growing partners and our partners and supporters
• 37:40
  were like, nah, we want this other thing. We want this other thing.
• 37:42
  And I'm like, nah, I was fighting it.
• 37:44
  Well, then a group came on board, American Defense Manufacturing came on board
• 37:48
  and supported us and said, nah, we want you to start taking wounded vets hunting.
• 37:52
  I was like, not happening. That's not what I'm getting into because I also didn't
• 37:56
  want to look like a charity that was out playing. Eric's not stubborn, is he? A little bit.
• 38:01
  But I didn't want the perception that we were out playing, right?
• 38:05
  And I struggled at first to make the connection, but I'm going to tell you,
• 38:07
  you have to run the hunt and I'll let Mikey chime in and tell me his thoughts
• 38:11
  as, as a participant in the process.
• 38:14
  It fits in very nicely, the therapeutic aspect of being out there,
• 38:19
  because I'm going to tell you, we talked about this before, there are some veterans
• 38:23
  that haven't touched a weapon since Iraq.
• 38:25
  And it's an emotional experience for them being out there with a gun,
• 38:30
  shooting it alive, anything.
• 38:32
  Like that's an emotional roller coaster to be on.
• 38:36
  And then you combine that with, we call it fire pit therapy because it's really what it is.
• 38:42
  We, we just throw in, you got alcohol and we throw in cigars and,
• 38:46
  and veterans. These were the smoke signals you were talking about.
• 38:50
  I got it. I got it. But Mike, tell me, I mean, I think what I thought was going
• 38:54
  to be, you know, was going to be perceived as play.
• 38:56
  But when you really think about it, it's a place where, you know,
• 39:00
  they get to get their adrenaline up, shoot a gun or race a car or do whatever,
• 39:04
  but then be surrounded by veterans and
• 39:07
  talk and chat and make friends and learn about some of the other things we offer
• 39:12
  and go get some of those services as well.
• 39:14
  I mean, that's all therapeutic. That's great stuff. But yeah,
• 39:16
  I want to hear, I want to hear your experiences before I get into the funny stuff with Eric.
• 39:21
  Eric nailed it in terms of it's, uh, it's therapeutic, you know,
• 39:26
  to me, you know, going out, you know, target shooting is kind of therapeutic.
• 39:31
  Hold on one, Mike just bought a new truck. So he was glad to drive that cross
• 39:34
  country and bring it off road a little bit down in Georgia on the dirty on the
• 39:38
  red on the red dirt road yeah,
• 39:42
  got myself a taco and uh I took a road trip I got a taco too oh,
• 39:50
  that's gonna be another cut Eric we're not gonna put that in there actually
• 39:56
  we are we are we are I know we are because he's heading down a road let's get serious but you know,
• 40:02
  it's therapeutic you know like going target shooting and all that so in all
• 40:06
  honesty that was my first time hunting so so it was a really good experience and you know,
• 40:13
  So kind of going with the stigma, you know, going back to the stigma aspect,
• 40:17
  is as a veteran, you know, talking about your time with non-veterans.
• 40:25
  That sucks. It does because, you know, you always get the, thank you for your service. It's like.
• 40:36
  We go through this every time we have a guest on and the cringe.
• 40:40
  What are the two things you hear you you hate hearing hero,
• 40:44
  or thank you for your service bro we all die in there like yeah so it's like
• 40:49
  going to the va right you know like oh thank you for your service i'm like,
• 40:53
  just give me my medical treatment so i can leave give me my drugs,
• 40:58
  don't talk to me just tell me what i can do and like i even told my wife she
• 41:02
  she was she's a nurse And, you know, she's gone through nursing school and one
• 41:06
  of her clinicals was at the VA and the, uh,
• 41:11
  the VA rep nurse, whoever was, you know, leading that, that,
• 41:16
  that clinical said, Hey, when you talk with a veteran, always thank them for their service.
• 41:22
  And I always comes home and she's like, okay.
• 41:25
  What do you think about this i go don't fucking do it oh no,
• 41:29
  hold on hold on i i'm gonna challenge you on one thing mikey and and obviously
• 41:34
  i know your wife very well and i know whatever i will say this and it was put
• 41:38
  to me very succinctly and and made me eat my words a little bit,
• 41:44
  an old vet told me one time because i told him i said man how do you deal with
• 41:47
  i struggle with this i i literally hate it i don't like it and i'll shy away from it,
• 41:52
  and the one thing he told me put it in perspective and said for some people
• 41:57
  that's all they have don't steal their joy by not allowing them to do it so,
• 42:02
  and and he challenged me and i think i made fun of it last time a little bit,
• 42:06
  he said how about you turn around and say thank you for being somebody worth protecting,
• 42:11
  yeah that's good i'm just i'm just saying this mike we talked about this a little
• 42:15
  bit last week and we had a had a guest on a few weeks ago named mac who was a vietnam vet big man,
• 42:21
  yeah you know at mac so eric was in here and he kept saying welcome home to
• 42:25
  him and i was kind of like it finally dawned on me yeah why he said thank you
• 42:29
  for your service and welcome home because of the vets like that that went to vietnam who didn't
• 42:33
  get welcomed back the way that people do today and all your service so i,
• 42:38
  i would say yes it's i know it's awkward but it's also fun knowing you guys
• 42:42
  making you squirm a little bit when i when i say it to you it's kind of a great
• 42:46
  time why are you aware would you say it's.
• 42:51
  Because it's the american flag
• 42:53
  underwear that i have on and you're rubbing your nipples too please stop,
• 42:58
  that's just the oil it's fine so go ahead mike what were you saying,
• 43:02
  about the about the what the uh the hunt yeah well i mean we went off topic
• 43:07
  i wasn't sure right i mean we'll call that tbi chalk it up,
• 43:12
  hit my head a couple times but no it's therapeutic you go out you know you,
• 43:19
  You shoot the, you know, the rifle. Well, yeah, like when I went down there,
• 43:23
  somebody actually brought a, a bow and did some bow hunting. It was a Marine too.
• 43:29
  Oh my. Yeah. We subscribed to those.
• 43:32
  I don't even know what you're trying to throw out there, but I don't like it. I'm not in my sex face.
• 43:40
  We gave him some crayons. He was all right. So. Were they orange?
• 43:44
  No, they were, you know, the red and purple. Burt. Sienna.
• 43:50
  Only the good Marines only like orange ones. I'm just going to say that.
• 43:54
  Why, why orange? Because they taste better.
• 43:58
  They taste citrusy. That's the vitamin C. The vitamin C.
• 44:03
  The things I learned about you gentlemen here. But, but then like afterwards,
• 44:08
  you know, getting back to, you know, the base camp, getting us some dinner and
• 44:13
  all that, which, you know, the community comes in and they have dinner with us and all that too.
• 44:17
  So, you know, talking with you know some of the community members is is good
• 44:21
  and you know learning about more about the area and sharing ourselves and then,
• 44:26
  you know the uh the campfire,
• 44:28
  you know therapy just you know sitting there you know bullshitting are you going this year,
• 44:34
  i'm trying to what's that i've got a little bastard i no i i plan on going i've
• 44:41
  actually blocked off the time for work awesome so i know a few people like make some calls.
• 44:48
  In fact uh i'm trying to get some some person to go to oh yeah yeah okay if
• 44:55
  he applied i don't know if you i don't think he did we'll see i will call him
• 45:00
  tomorrow all right because i know where he works,
• 45:03
  So as for Roger, I just don't. Apparently. So Mikey, so you've done that.
• 45:09
  And then, so here's the other side, the, the, the side people don't see about
• 45:13
  Mikey, Mikey, probably out of all the people, I don't know, tomorrow, our, our,
• 45:20
  our ambassador in Wisconsin is in competition too. But out of,
• 45:27
  the people that haven't taken a leadership position in the charity,
• 45:31
  Mike is probably rivaling for the biggest gear queer out of the CJ3 Foundation family.
• 45:37
  Gear queer? Gear queer. Swag, whore, whatever.
• 45:43
  Because if I don't, I get ridiculed by somebody. You do.
• 45:48
  I mean, so that goes into my next question, too. Oh, real quick, real quick.
• 45:55
  I don't praise Mikey for many things because I want to beat his ego down and
• 45:58
  stomp it in the dirt and whatever else, usually. However.
• 46:05
  Guy in the sky, you're from Ohio, right? Or know about Ohio?
• 46:09
  He's filling up on some water. He's getting some water, which is really vodka. It's fine.
• 46:14
  I will say Mikey did something really cool that really impressed me.
• 46:18
  I was floored by it, and I think it was a really neat thing to advertise.
• 46:23
  Mikey turned a tower CJ3 colors in Ohio. Mikey, tell us a little bit about that.
• 46:29
  I thought that was cool. I saw that was cool shit. I thought that was really cool.
• 46:33
  Explain this to me again. Yeah. That's all right. Mikey's going to explain it.
• 46:36
  So in preparation for, you know, CJ3. Preparation H. Yes.
• 46:42
  Preparation Ohio. It's about the same. The two are the same.
• 46:47
  Ohio is a pain in the ass. Yes.
• 46:50
  And dealing with Eric is a pain in the ass. There you go. Ohio is the cure for
• 46:54
  the pain in the ass. Yeah.
• 46:56
  You got to remember, I'm an Iowa guy, so I'm an elitist when it comes to y'all.
• 47:02
  Just because you have more corn. He's an elitist in general.
• 47:05
  It's fine. Are you going to finish your story, Michael?
• 47:10
  So there I was. Now, yeah, as was it two years ago?
• 47:14
  Yeah, it was two years ago. Sounds about right. Yeah. So getting ready for CJ3's
• 47:20
  anniversary in September.
• 47:22
  Five-year the five-year anniversary is that what that was for something like
• 47:26
  that but it was just i think four years anyways there's an anniversary,
• 47:31
  Somebody didn't realize the significance of the date when I told him.
• 47:36
  Yeah. He's looking up. You see him right now. He's like, is that?
• 47:39
  He's a little confused. Hold on. We started in 2020. What year did you do this
• 47:44
  in? I'm just out of it. So if it's two years ago, then I'm in 2024.
• 47:49
  Are you sure it was 20? No, I'm saying, are you sure that's when it was done?
• 47:52
  Yeah, it was like two years ago. Then it wasn't that significant. Because I was.
• 47:58
  Because you don't even remember the date. No, because for the fifth one,
• 48:01
  I was going to try to do a significant building. But you didn't.
• 48:05
  But you didn't. Because, you know, they required. So let's go back to your success
• 48:09
  since you couldn't make the other one. So I'm not going to name the name of the other.
• 48:14
  He needs to be on Not That Smart. This is what it is like working with me. Sorry.
• 48:19
  He's got ADHD. Yes, he does. Go ahead. And memory loss. It's fine.
• 48:25
  Shiny. Anyways, so, you know, in Cleveland, and Sky will, you know,
• 48:30
  realize this too. Cleveland rocks. Yep. It does. And, uh, it, it does.
• 48:34
  And so there's a building called Terminal Tower. Yep.
• 48:38
  So it's one of the, you know, it's the oldest, you know, like skyscraper in Cleveland, I believe.
• 48:44
  Got their own website. Yeah. Got their Facebook site. Yeah.
• 48:47
  It's a significant landmark for Cleveland. So the land is often called. Yeah.
• 48:54
  Or Believe Land. Or Believe Land. Home of the Guardians, whatever the hell those
• 48:58
  are. We have two. That's fake. That's actually false stuff. The Guardians really don't exist.
• 49:05
  No, they exist. They're like, you know, gargoyles. Mike, you got it.
• 49:08
  How about you get all that?
• 49:11
  Do not follow a guy in the sky. He'll leave you a mess. So, you know,
• 49:17
  so like every night, you know, Eternal Tower is lit up in different colors and
• 49:20
  all that. And so they support, you know, different charities.
• 49:23
  No, they do a lot of really cool things. I researched them after you sent that.
• 49:26
  So, you know, I reached out to them about, you know, getting CJ3 colors and
• 49:32
  all that. So they sent me the link for, you know, to sign up for it and all
• 49:35
  that. So able to get it done.
• 49:39
  But the other side is not only does the building turn colors,
• 49:41
  but then there's a radio station and their website talks about.
• 49:45
  Yeah, the website does. The significance of the colors and why the building's
• 49:49
  doing it and all that. Really cool. It's very cool, man. No, I saw, I saw that.
• 49:54
  I got up really early that morning so I could drive down and take,
• 49:57
  you know, photos and send to Eric.
• 49:59
  So. And then Eric looked at you and said, what is this for? I don't understand.
• 50:02
  So Mikey basically said, yo, senior advisor in Virginia, what have you done close to that?
• 50:08
  I turned the whole building. I believed I helped us start doing this, by the way.
• 50:14
  You got your cousin, didn't it? I can't give you credit. Family doesn't matter.
• 50:18
  It's family. It doesn't matter.
• 50:20
  But. Your girl's my sister. Oh, my Lord.
• 50:25
  Freaking freaking people are you a sister,
• 50:29
  yeah oh my god she's giving the thumbs up another mister she's giving a thumbs
• 50:32
  up he gave two thumbs up she said watch yourself mikey oh,
• 50:37
  so so can i move on to my question now bro i yes so we're gonna we're gonna
• 50:42
  get to the entertaining part of the show really yes we are i thought we did
• 50:46
  we we we said we don't like to talk about the host.
• 50:51
  So i want to hear some stories you served with eric and you still talk to him
• 50:55
  to this day so i'm still trying to figure this part here we go mike yeah let's
• 50:59
  let's talk about meeting day i want to hear i want to hear some stories this
• 51:03
  this will be honest me and mike will play off each other we tell the honest
• 51:06
  truth about this oh shit this is,
• 51:08
  this is the introduction of the two of us i want to hear about eric we'll need
• 51:12
  to judge you yeah we will oh this is straight mike mike will So yeah, I want to hear a story.
• 51:17
  So, so leading up to how you, you showed up later. How are you going to start us off?
• 51:23
  No, just. You don't get to lead this part, sir. It was a question.
• 51:28
  Guy in the sky. Can you mute Eric or do something?
• 51:31
  Guy in the sky. We're not doing or make him sound like a little girl or something
• 51:35
  like that. Yes, he can do that.
• 51:37
  Come on, Mikey. All right. Bring it on, bitch.
• 51:42
  So before I met Eric, my.
• 51:46
  My unit i was serving in the army just like eric so my uh command cadre they
• 51:51
  went out to iraq i'm not sure we want to talk about where we're at but it's fine man,
• 51:57
  bottom line is we we were my group was the cleanup crew at abugrid so after
• 52:03
  the pyramid scheme i'm throwing air quotes up we were the team responsible for
• 52:07
  going out and cleaning that place up,
• 52:09
  so so they were out there and they experienced some significant stuff.
• 52:13
  And I'll let Eric talk about that April 5th, right?
• 52:17
  Second okay close enough is
• 52:20
  april oh really he remembers that day but not the foundation it's kind of.
• 52:27
  So so eric got to to meet my command cadre and that that was not a uh a good
• 52:35
  good start you know for our relationship so they sucked.
• 52:41
  And i what did eric say to him i'm kind of it's more It was more than what my command cadre said,
• 52:50
  and I wasn't happy to be there in the first place because, you know,
• 52:55
  my battalion commander wanted a combat command, so he needed a certain amount of people.
• 53:00
  He was a D-bag. Yeah, 48. And I was lucky number 46 in the group.
• 53:06
  And I was like due to like, you know, either ETS or re-up and like move on.
• 53:11
  And I lost like three significant opportunities, like some really good assignments because of this.
• 53:17
  So I ended up getting out because I got stop lost for this.
• 53:20
  Sent me the training and all this stuff. Anyways, get out to,
• 53:24
  you know, I'll be great. Well, how about before that?
• 53:27
  What's that? So, so I'm the guy out there. So they're the team coming in to
• 53:31
  replace it. I was getting there. You were ticketed. Shut up.
• 53:35
  So, hold on. Anyways. So, I will, but, but hold on.
• 53:40
  Eric, Eric is still in control. That's one of the stories I want to hear.
• 53:43
  I've been out there for almost a year. You need to understand that.
• 53:45
  That's a long time at this little base that we were getting pummeled.
• 53:49
  Is this when you had the beard down to your belly? No, no, not this one.
• 53:54
  Okay, that was not this one. Okay.
• 53:55
  No, that was our other trip. That was later. Yeah. And he was with me there,
• 53:58
  too. And we kidnapped him.
• 54:00
  I heard about that one. I said, when you're not storybooked.
• 54:03
  So, yeah, I'd already been out there for a year, and these guys were our replacement.
• 54:07
  Never met him, never anything. They were our replacements. Go ahead, Michael.
• 54:11
  So, you know, we came in a bit of January. wearing fresh smelling like new linen.
• 54:18
  Yeah brand new uniform heat it was fine fresh me they were still smiling hey happy to be here,
• 54:26
  yeah so we you know we end up meeting and all that and you know get the the
• 54:30
  gruff you know kind of handover and all that which whatever it's fine it happens
• 54:35
  so the military's got a thing called rip toa relief in place transition of authority,
• 54:39
  basically it's usually,
• 54:42
  for a lot of places, it's a week where,
• 54:46
  we remain in charge and they come along and see what we're doing.
• 54:50
  Then the next week is they take over lead and we kind of assist and advise from the backseat.
• 54:56
  Okay. So Riptoa, we did that and we didn't like each other.
• 55:02
  So he, uh, he was an asshole. I mean, has that changed at all?
• 55:09
  I'll say this in his defense. When it was a year later, when I was doing the
• 55:15
  rip toe with the inbound crew, I was a dick as well.
• 55:18
  So when you've invested that much time into a mission and you watch the folks
• 55:25
  coming in, that's a hard thing to hand over.
• 55:27
  And yeah, it just, it's interesting.
• 55:30
  Yeah so uh so yeah we did did everything you know by the book you know doing
• 55:36
  you know the handover and all that and you know one of the things that i you
• 55:40
  know looking back and we've talked about this in the past too,
• 55:45
  when i got there he had like like almost a brand new up armor humvee still plastic on some of the seats,
• 55:53
  that's where i'm getting to bro,
• 55:55
  oh shit on a gun.
• 55:59
  I won't call you sob because i know your mom is this gonna get him in trouble with michelle no no no no,
• 56:05
  it gets him in trouble with me still so so the back two seats are still covered
• 56:11
  in like this hard plastic you know shipping like your grandma's couch yeah roger
• 56:15
  yeah like your grandma's couch yeah so,
• 56:18
  so i'm like he's like yeah we just keep this on because you know you know,
• 56:22
  just in case, you know, the interpreter, like, you know, craps himself or whatever.
• 56:26
  I'm like, all right, whatever.
• 56:29
  So we're, we transition, you know, we take over and,
• 56:34
  This guy goes, yeah, we've got this really cool source.
• 56:39
  So, you know, we were doing. So Mikey and I were doing human things.
• 56:42
  So, yeah, we were running sources and going after weapons, caches,
• 56:48
  bad guys, whatever. So we were doing that good.
• 56:51
  So that's a really good source. Top notch. Called Billy Ray.
• 57:01
  And I'll get in the description in a second. Billy Ray. So, so he's like,
• 57:06
  he's, he's, he's like a, like on vacation or he's, he's out of the area,
• 57:11
  but he's going to be coming back in, you know, like the week after.
• 57:15
  I already feel like this is a setup that Eric would do. So please continue.
• 57:18
  It is a fricking setup. This is a huge setup.
• 57:20
  But this is like kind of stuff that, you know, within our line of work that
• 57:23
  we do just for the, you know, shits and giggles, because we're never going to see these assholes.
• 57:32
  So, so that was a different story. Anyways. Yeah. So, uh,
• 57:35
  you know, he tells us about Billy Ray and all that, and we can't get the honest
• 57:39
  answer about Billy Ray, like anything about it, because the interpreter that,
• 57:44
  you know, he, you know, he, his team was using was on, on leave.
• 57:50
  And, and mind you, our interpreter, our interpreter. So they wish he was there
• 57:54
  because he was a deacon at a church. He was like, he would have been honest. Yeah. Oh yeah.
• 58:00
  So we had a guy named Ray or something like that, and he was just trash.
• 58:04
  Billy Ray? No, this was a guy.
• 58:07
  Billy Ray was trash, too. Anyways, so about like a week later, maybe two weeks later.
• 58:12
  And mind you, I'd set this up. I'm like, you need this guy, his information. Yeah.
• 58:16
  I hadn't met with him. I met him once and went, oh, fuck, no,
• 58:19
  we're not doing this again.
• 58:20
  But I set him up like he is the source of all sources in the country.
• 58:25
  He's going to find you every bad guy you possibly get. My friends call that dooming somebody.
• 58:32
  Yeah. But here's why. So.
• 58:37
  So we get a phone call from the front gate saying, hey, you know,
• 58:41
  we got this guy here. He's asking for, for screaming chicken.
• 58:45
  That was the, the call sign that got passed down to me.
• 58:49
  What would happen when people called that on the radio, Mikey? Fuck off.
• 58:58
  And there might've been a few times when they came over the radio and my battalion
• 59:01
  commander had to come get me and very,
• 59:05
  in an unpleasant manner, tell me to answer the damn radio yep so which i had
• 59:10
  turned off because i didn't want to work,
• 59:13
  so i was too busy and anyways so billy ray's at the gate so we go get him so
• 59:18
  it's me they're excited yeah it's me my assistant uh team chief,
• 59:24
  rika and our interpreter so we go get billy ray i'm like i'm like oh my god,
• 59:31
  bro this guy he had the mullet he had the billy ray cyrus literally had a mullet and.
• 59:38
  He he had like this like 1980s you know tracksuit you know windbreaker thing set up going on,
• 59:47
  dude smelled like crap like literally like literally ate shit yeah so that was
• 59:54
  his that was just his breath but I mean, like him himself, he just,
• 59:57
  that's when I realized why the plastic was still on the seats.
• 1:00:01
  That is a very valid reason that plastic on the seats.
• 1:00:05
  You don't want that son of a bitch spit, no? Oh my God. Well,
• 1:00:09
  and then their interview room is only about a hell of a lot smaller than the studio. Oh yeah.
• 1:00:15
  Like a quarter of the size. And so they're stuck with shit breath. I am, I am stuck.
• 1:00:21
  I am stuck like from like, from here to this bottle right here.
• 1:00:25
  That close and he's talking right into my face and he gets excited he's got
• 1:00:30
  mints he's popping mints and trying to fucking breathe through his own hands
• 1:00:33
  and shit and and the whole time he's going eric and by everybody this.
• 1:00:38
  Is so this story happens and then why the fuck would you ever hang out with this clown again,
• 1:00:43
  well so so i mean look at him i mean i mean so i hey so i go down to georgia
• 1:00:49
  i i get out of the army i go down there as a civilian to do a lot of the same
• 1:00:53
  kind of work mike mike got out unbeknownst to me we'd separated never seen him again because,
• 1:00:59
  i just screwed him over and i didn't i didn't count on seeing him again well
• 1:01:03
  i get down to this organization and as a as a dod civilian i deployed afghanistan
• 1:01:09
  that was what we were down there for to deploy okay great i'm in afghanistan,
• 1:01:13
  well this knucklehead shows up down in the same place while i'm gone.
• 1:01:19
  So did you remember him totally from what he did before when you saw him?
• 1:01:23
  Oh yeah. Oh, he's been remembering, but, but because I'm deployed,
• 1:01:27
  not, we don't, we don't put two plus two together. So like when I get there, I'm still like new.
• 1:01:33
  Cause I got there in beginning of November timeframe and I don't remember when
• 1:01:38
  he got back, but it was like, it was before Christmas or something like that.
• 1:01:41
  So I wasn't there all that long, but I was still like meeting people and all this stuff. So one day.
• 1:01:47
  So yeah this is this is actually kind of hilarious,
• 1:01:51
  so i'm sitting there in this like kind of like big open bay type place and i'm
• 1:01:58
  like sitting at a computer and to my right is the door you know the exit door,
• 1:02:03
  and door opens i'm sitting like typing you know like trying to you know correct
• 1:02:08
  some reports look busy yeah look busy.
• 1:02:12
  Cause, uh, you know, what's his face was going around and, uh,
• 1:02:15
  trying to, uh, is that screaming chicken? Yeah. Is that the screaming chicken
• 1:02:21
  call sign? That's what we're doing.
• 1:02:23
  That's awesome. It's actually a screaming chicken right there.
• 1:02:26
  So, so we had this guy named Darren who would kind of sound like that actually.
• 1:02:32
  Who'd go around and, you know, make sure we were working so he could report
• 1:02:35
  it to, you know, his supervisor and all that. So, so I'm sitting there like,
• 1:02:40
  you know, typing on the computer and the door opens and bright ass light coming through.
• 1:02:45
  And, uh, this big motherfucker. And like everybody, like for some reason,
• 1:02:49
  everybody like starts like, you know, congregating by the door.
• 1:02:52
  Like, oh, hey, welcome back. Hey, I miss you, man. Oh, my boy. Oh, yeah.
• 1:02:58
  So I'm like, I'm like, the fuck? And then, and then I look over in the seat.
• 1:03:04
  The sea part that is literally the sea you know the red sea parted i and we're
• 1:03:10
  looking at each other in the eye and he's like he's like oh shit i'm you,
• 1:03:17
  you bastard so i remember you you son of a bitch billy ray that's all i'm gonna
• 1:03:22
  say and i'm walking away billy ray and his screaming chicken.
• 1:03:31
  So that actually sounds like it's getting uh screwed there but uh i will,
• 1:03:36
  i will tell you hey guy this guy you know this one thing i will tell you based
• 1:03:39
  off all this man after you've been in the military it is a small world you run
• 1:03:45
  into people all the time it's crazy,
• 1:03:48
  it is crazy it's awesome though it is so hey before we continue on we got more of the story.
• 1:03:54
  Let's take a quick break and we'll hear some more bullshit that isn't true from Mikey.
• 1:03:59
  Yeah, it's all true. It's fine.
• 1:04:20
  Break. All right, Mikey, in the spirit of the conversation we're having,
• 1:04:24
  one thing Roger likes to ask about, and I'm always curious about,
• 1:04:28
  I know a little bit of your story, but leaving the military,
• 1:04:32
  man, not an easy decision.
• 1:04:34
  You didn't retire like I didn't. And I'll be honest with you,
• 1:04:40
  there were a lot of time I looked back and said, what if, should I have, or whatever, right?
• 1:04:45
  I'm proud of my decision. I don't look back now, but there for a little while, it was tough.
• 1:04:50
  So what was the decision to get out versus stay in and did you regret it,
• 1:04:55
  how did it work out so you know is there some regret yeah you know but looking
• 1:05:00
  back and that it's just for the camaraderie doing the job,
• 1:05:04
  but then i think about other aspects like going to motor pool and all that kind
• 1:05:07
  of crap which is or or how about it especially now it's not the same army you
• 1:05:12
  left no it's not i mean you know we all can,
• 1:05:15
  we all can look back now and go oh my god i wish i was back in bro you you and
• 1:05:20
  i would not survive in the army that's now no,
• 1:05:22
  i love the service and my son's in and that's awesome eo violators but it ain't
• 1:05:27
  the same military and in some regards it's good and then you know other aspects it's bad,
• 1:05:33
  anyways when i was getting out and all that and like shortly after i got out
• 1:05:37
  yeah i had some regret of getting out because you know the camaraderie and all
• 1:05:40
  that you know my reason for getting out was.
• 1:05:44
  For the first two years of my marriage i was only home for the first six months.
• 1:05:48
  So I went to training back at, I was stationed overseas in Germany,
• 1:05:53
  went back stateside for training for basic non-commissioned officer course.
• 1:05:58
  And when I was there, I get a phone call from my tech commander saying,
• 1:06:03
  hey, you need to check your secure email.
• 1:06:09
  So I, you know, I checked that and I'm like, oh, I'm not going to like this,
• 1:06:12
  you know, when I was logging in. So I check it and I'm like,
• 1:06:14
  oh yeah, I'm not going to like this because I was, got the deployment orders.
• 1:06:18
  And I'm like, son of a gun.
• 1:06:20
  And on top of that, they're like, oh, we're going to send you to,
• 1:06:25
  you know, interrogator school.
• 1:06:27
  I'm like, what do you mean you're going to send me to interrogator school?
• 1:06:30
  I'm already freaking here.
• 1:06:32
  So I was at Fort Huachuca and- Before we got you. Yeah. Yeah, they got me all right.
• 1:06:38
  So, yeah, I ended up, you know, spending, you know, like from beginning of May,
• 1:06:43
  middle of May, anyways, May, May to November.
• 1:06:45
  Thinking back on it now, it was good training to have.
• 1:06:48
  It actually worked out. It worked out for me. I got to say, like my entire,
• 1:06:52
  you know, military career, you know, really worked out for me.
• 1:06:55
  I was, you know, very fortunate with getting training, getting experience in
• 1:06:59
  deployments and all that.
• 1:07:01
  But, yeah, you know, like I was only home for the first six months.
• 1:07:04
  And when I was in Iraq, halfway through, that's when the surge was announced.
• 1:07:12
  So, you know, the U.S. military was surging forces into Iraq.
• 1:07:17
  And, you know, at the time, Army had the longest deployment in Iraq.
• 1:07:23
  So, I think it was Marines were doing seven months or something like that. Air Force was doing six.
• 1:07:29
  More of a vacation at that point. And, you know, Army was doing.
• 1:07:33
  Unless you were 10th Mountain, then you were doing like 18 months.
• 1:07:36
  Well, that's what I ended up trying to, because it was 12 months.
• 1:07:41
  And then it turned into 18 months, and we were there.
• 1:07:44
  Brother, the suicide rate went up tremendous. Oh, yeah. That was crazy.
• 1:07:49
  The 172nd out of Alaska, they were actually, you know, doing the Riptoa.
• 1:07:54
  They were, parts of them were.
• 1:07:55
  Was that the one that was in Kuwait at the time? They were in Kuwait?
• 1:07:58
  No, some were actually back in Alaska.
• 1:08:01
  And they were on their RNR leave and they get the phone call.
• 1:08:03
  Like, you need to come back. Don't answer your phone. You need to come back.
• 1:08:07
  So, you know, we all had that fear. Like, oh, snap, are we going to get stuck
• 1:08:12
  here for another six months?
• 1:08:13
  And I'm like, no, I'm not doing this ever again. Because I knew what was going
• 1:08:17
  to happen was I was going to, you know, go back to Germany, PCS,
• 1:08:22
  you know, backstage side.
• 1:08:24
  And then, you know, the way the Army works is like, you know,
• 1:08:27
  you go from, you know, for our line of work, you go from a strategic unit,
• 1:08:31
  which is what I was in, even though I deployed, and then you go to a tactical unit.
• 1:08:36
  And, you know, so I was going from OCONUS, from a strategic,
• 1:08:40
  you know, unit to CONUS, to a tactical unit, which means the first unit that's
• 1:08:47
  going out the door is where you're going to go.
• 1:08:49
  So I'd be only, you know, home, you know, air quotes, right,
• 1:08:53
  for three months before I found myself back in Iraq for 18 months.
• 1:08:58
  So knowing, you know, you know, what that would take a toll on my marriage,
• 1:09:05
  I was like, no, I'm out. I'm done.
• 1:09:08
  You know, forget this. How long, how long would you say before it normalized after you got back?
• 1:09:14
  Because I know it took me a while, especially because I redeployed from Iraq
• 1:09:19
  to Korea, got out of the army in Korea. It took me a long time to throttle down.
• 1:09:24
  So for me it was i i had the soft you know fall really because i got up is that because you were fat,
• 1:09:33
  i wasn't as not yet fluffy fluffy i was a little pudgy mr xl over here who's
• 1:09:41
  not an xl is telling us bro because i like the way he squeezes my alarm.
• 1:09:47
  He's a medium that's what we need to put him in the stadium yeah baby mike was
• 1:09:52
  big boned leave him alone.
• 1:09:55
  Because he's from ohio so when i got out you know i,
• 1:10:00
  i separate from the army from germany came back stay side out and you know went
• 1:10:04
  back home to ohio but you brought one of them with you yeah i was about to say
• 1:10:09
  and what is your wife my wife is german the shaman.
• 1:10:13
  But i'm sure i'm scared of her actually so i apologize yvonne i love you.
• 1:10:18
  You're the best thing ever.
• 1:10:20
  Yeah, she is. I, you know, I, you know, I honestly, I wouldn't be here.
• 1:10:24
  I wouldn't be here today. Have you learned German?
• 1:10:27
  Enough that's a funny guy i i need to hear it well we'll have to you know circle
• 1:10:32
  back to that one guy ask ask mikey what his background is,
• 1:10:36
  my wife will kill me i know she will that's why here's the cool thing i will
• 1:10:41
  tell you this she's a she's a phenomenal woman but enough's enough because when,
• 1:10:46
  i'll go hang out with mike at the house and he's got some pictures that show this is how you know,
• 1:10:52
  she'll be hanging out in the kitchen mike's two dogs and my dog hanging out
• 1:10:57
  with her and she'd much rather be there than hanging out with me and his retarded
• 1:11:01
  asses sitting in the living room.
• 1:11:02
  So that tells you a lot of it. She's got a big heart. She's a phenomenal,
• 1:11:06
  phenomenal woman, but she knows the dogs are much better than the two of us together.
• 1:11:11
  So yeah, that's a good compliment when it comes to me, right?
• 1:11:17
  It's spot on. I've got nothing to add to that. It's fine. Eric,
• 1:11:21
  that was a good recovery. Take a look at that. Can you see that?
• 1:11:27
  Don't say what it is because this is this medium shirt he will be wearing soon
• 1:11:31
  what nice nothing don't worry about it stop it's coming to you in the mail oh great,
• 1:11:37
  you might want to close that out you guys send me that i'm gonna make sure you
• 1:11:41
  flash it on the screen absolutely have jen send it to you right now,
• 1:11:45
  Hey, a question we've talked to a number of folks for. So you're how old right now?
• 1:11:51
  I am 46. God damn it, he's young. For a few more days.
• 1:11:57
  Oh, is your birthday coming up? No. You're a spring chicken.
• 1:12:01
  Yes. He's a screaming chicken.
• 1:12:05
  If I can't remember when CJ3 was born, I'm not going to remember when he was born. Damn it, Eric.
• 1:12:10
  Actually, you know it's going to come on. You know I'm going to say happy birthday.
• 1:12:13
  Happy birthday, yeah. Right, yeah. It's next week. Hey, let me ask you a question.
• 1:12:17
  9-11, bro. You remember where you were at? I know. Exactly where I was at. Come on. Tell us.
• 1:12:21
  So, September 11th. Ohio. No.
• 1:12:27
  I was in high school. Leave Ohio out of this.
• 1:12:31
  I was in elementary school. Oh, my.
• 1:12:36
  That's a lie. Hold on. Can we ask Michelle?
• 1:12:41
  Oh, my Lord. You're bringing this up, and you blame me for this all the time.
• 1:12:44
  No, I wasn't even born then. It's fine. She was too. On 9-11,
• 1:12:48
  I was, I was in Kuwait doing a- Uncle Frosty's?
• 1:12:53
  Uncle Frosty's. Love the place. No, I was actually with the 202nd. Yep.
• 1:13:01
  We were running, we had a field office out there and I was actually getting
• 1:13:05
  ready. Hey, well, hold on.
• 1:13:06
  Don't mean to interrupt, but what was, I can't remember, honestly.
• 1:13:10
  What's the time difference kuwait to stateside east coast side nine hours,
• 1:13:16
  is it no it's not nine hours no i think i think it's less than eight hours yeah
• 1:13:20
  depends on what time of year so nine and the reason context matters right because
• 1:13:25
  it happened in the in the late morning here
• 1:13:28
  yeah it was like right and so it would have been afternoon yeah it was like
• 1:13:31
  it was after 1600 right okay,
• 1:13:34
  that's the only reason i asked because military trying to figure out trying
• 1:13:38
  to figure out where you were or what you were doing.
• 1:13:41
  So I, you know, we were in a, we'll call it a D1E room, just a little,
• 1:13:46
  you know common area i was actually getting ready for a history class and i
• 1:13:51
  signed up for the college yeah hey it was free tuition right.
• 1:13:57
  Army's tuition assistant program helped me get my my education hey bro it's
• 1:14:01
  the way to go that's not bad,
• 1:14:03
  so yeah i was getting ready for you know coming to my college class and you know the first you know,
• 1:14:08
  plane hit and we had it on tv yeah but be honest bro i mean because i'm gonna
• 1:14:12
  say this i hear a lot of people after the fact now that it's done whatever oh
• 1:14:16
  i knew i knew right there shut up no bro it was weird as hell,
• 1:14:21
  don't get me wrong you're like how the how did how did they miss or how did
• 1:14:25
  they not miss a building right you're like how the hell yeah so now don't get
• 1:14:28
  me wrong number two i was like oh okay like this is stupid but so yeah you can
• 1:14:32
  see they're like oh shit you know right like big deal but,
• 1:14:35
  i think i'll be honest for me when they had the first picture the first and
• 1:14:39
  i saw a plane coming right behind it i was Like, what the fuck is going on here?
• 1:14:44
  Are they in the tower giving them bad fucking instructions on how to fly? I'll take you one more.
• 1:14:49
  I'll be honest with you because I don't know New York. I'm an Iowa kid,
• 1:14:51
  man. I was like, what's the World Trade Center tower in New York?
• 1:14:54
  I didn't even know the significance, to be honest with you. Not back then. I didn't.
• 1:14:58
  I'd never been there, didn't I? Eric's in a cornfield eating some straw,
• 1:15:02
  just going fucking whatever. World Trade, what? World Trade, what?
• 1:15:06
  What's going on around here? So yeah, like, you know, we're,
• 1:15:08
  we're sitting there watching the, the live footage and all that,
• 1:15:11
  you know, after the first one, but it was, it's the second one that hit.
• 1:15:15
  Then you're like. Yeah. And we're like, yeah.
• 1:15:17
  Yeah. Oh shit. Same thing. And that's when like everything. You're like,
• 1:15:22
  that's not a mistake. Everything is just, you know, locked up on,
• 1:15:24
  on base. Especially out there. Cause then if you were in Guaite. Yeah.
• 1:15:28
  And yeah, we went to, you know, we were at Charlie, Charlie plus,
• 1:15:33
  we ended up going to Delta. Yeah.
• 1:15:34
  And i just walked horse protection level by the way i assumed as much.
• 1:15:40
  I didn't assume they were just you know saying deep no he was going around to
• 1:15:43
  charlie and delta seeing how they were doing today,
• 1:15:47
  is that your is that is that a woman's name or their sororities dc yes that's the dc's yeah it's fine,
• 1:15:54
  so i ended up like walking over to you know the class and i told my uh professor i'm like hey uh,
• 1:15:59
  i i gotta miss class because you know what he was like he was like fuck this
• 1:16:03
  i don't need history we're about to create history yeah he was worried about
• 1:16:07
  failing the class so he went to
• 1:16:09
  professor first before he was like hey i don't think i can make it today,
• 1:16:13
  i don't think i can make it something happened so so he he was a lieutenant
• 1:16:17
  colonel he actually taught at west point and all that too and so he's like he's,
• 1:16:22
  like you know you should really stay in class we need to really kind of focus
• 1:16:25
  give us you know some time to you know really you know adjust what's going on
• 1:16:29
  because we're going to be busy in next you know a few weeks and all that i i go i i can't I,
• 1:16:34
  I've got to go, I got to go do my job.
• 1:16:37
  And he's like, he's like, he's like, what do you do? I'm like,
• 1:16:40
  I work in counter Intel. He's like, all right, bye.
• 1:16:45
  Hey, by the way, phenomenal job. You've countered any type of intelligence in
• 1:16:49
  the army. Thank you. There you go. I mean, I've got two of you here and I don't
• 1:16:54
  feel any safer. I'm just going to say that.
• 1:16:57
  I single-handedly saved America.
• 1:17:01
  Team America. I mean, should we get you a Shmedium Captain America shirt for
• 1:17:06
  yourself? Is that what we need to get?
• 1:17:08
  I'll wear it every day. I'm sure you will. I don't think I won't. I'm sure you will.
• 1:17:11
  With your belly hanging out, hold
• 1:17:13
  on. You know what? I think he's got the shield tattooed. On his chest?
• 1:17:19
  Hold on. No. Hold on.
• 1:17:21
  I don't want to be homophobic, but Mikey knows what I look like naked.
• 1:17:25
  Unfortunately. Multiple times over. I wish I had, you know. Never seen it.
• 1:17:30
  Steal Woola. All right. We're going to take this to a different direction.
• 1:17:33
  No, hold on. We had a game.
• 1:17:35
  We had a game. Mike, explain from the feet all the way up.
• 1:17:42
  I'll just say this. The AC was cranking.
• 1:17:49
  That's what he would say. Wait, this was in Kuwait. No, this was in Iraq.
• 1:17:56
  Hey, cool. Actually. There was no AC there. Really cool story,
• 1:17:59
  actually. So I appreciate the hell out of Mike.
• 1:18:02
  Mike had just got back from a deployment. I'm down in Georgia.
• 1:18:04
  This was later after we already knew each other was there.
• 1:18:07
  Became friends and hung out. After he saw you naked. We never hit that story
• 1:18:11
  about how you became friends, by the way.
• 1:18:13
  Because I don't, I say it was the fuck you moment. It just happened really,
• 1:18:17
  realistically from there.
• 1:18:18
  But they were naked when it happened. He just happened organic.
• 1:18:21
  Right because he was thinking it's fine i get it now so the real cool thing
• 1:18:24
  was right so mike just got back from from a diploma because we were kind of
• 1:18:28
  on different deployment cycles and you could actually down there go,
• 1:18:31
  an entire tour without seeing somebody if you were on separate cycles anyway
• 1:18:36
  he he got back from a deployment i got tabbed hey we want you to go be the director
• 1:18:40
  of iraq i think iraq right yeah and i was like oh okay,
• 1:18:45
  All right. I looked at Mike. I was like, bro, how long you been back?
• 1:18:49
  And he told me it was like a month or two. It wasn't long at all.
• 1:18:52
  Yeah, it was about a month. And I was like, cool, tell Ivan you're coming back
• 1:18:55
  over to RAC. He's like, no, I really can't do that. I'm like,
• 1:18:57
  no, come on, man. You got to come over and hang out with me because I know the
• 1:19:00
  alternatives. I want you to come out. I said, you ask her.
• 1:19:04
  I did. I did. I did.
• 1:19:06
  But ultimately, he ended up deploying, which is cool. The other neat thing that
• 1:19:11
  happened besides Mikey seeing me naked, we'll get into that story.
• 1:19:14
  But realistically, the cool thing was, so one thing you learn when people deploy,
• 1:19:20
  especially when they deploy as individual augmentees, nobody's really, truly tracking.
• 1:19:26
  Right? Right. I was going to ask this question. There was a comment made earlier
• 1:19:30
  about a kidnapping. Yes.
• 1:19:32
  And you two being together and he had a fucking beard down to his stomach.
• 1:19:36
  I got to hear those. That was of my brother, right? Yes. It was kidnapping of Eric's brother.
• 1:19:40
  It was also the night he almost died. Right. I almost died of it.
• 1:19:44
  So we're over there. I'm the director. He's operations officer.
• 1:19:47
  We're running counterintelligence teams across the country.
• 1:19:52
  Well, we find out my brother's coming over. My brother was in the Army.
• 1:19:55
  He's an E6 working for a certain organization, and he's going to deploy over it.
• 1:20:01
  Well, we heard where he was going. We're like, well, that's stupid.
• 1:20:04
  And, and, and we're like, and he's like, no, that's what they said.
• 1:20:07
  It was in the building where we, but it was, but it was in a part of it.
• 1:20:13
  We really didn't want him to be. And we're like, well, that's dumb.
• 1:20:16
  So we happened to, I just happened to the general that was over there at the
• 1:20:19
  time, happened to be an old boss of mine and old, you know, she used to be a
• 1:20:23
  colonel for me back in the day. And I was like, huh.
• 1:20:26
  So we went and had a whole conversation about what would happen if,
• 1:20:30
  and do you need another intelligence analyst or whatever? She's like,
• 1:20:35
  yeah, if you can make it work. I'm like, oh, okay.
• 1:20:38
  And we talked to Brian. Right. And so. Who is the, uh. So he was the non-commissioned
• 1:20:42
  officer in charge of the analyst.
• 1:20:44
  And bottom line is everybody was like, yeah, we could really use an analyst
• 1:20:47
  and we could really, yeah, if you can make it work. And we're like, huh.
• 1:20:50
  So we decided I had the flight manifest for my brother coming into Iraq.
• 1:20:56
  He was coming in as an individual augmentee, which means nobody's really tracking
• 1:20:59
  him. And we were like, hmm, this would be pretty interesting.
• 1:21:02
  So we're both bearded, big bearded dudes with beards down to.
• 1:21:06
  Are there photos? I don't remember the photos. There are.
• 1:21:09
  And so what we decided is the plane touches the ground. We roll up.
• 1:21:15
  We're in civilian vehicle.
• 1:21:17
  We don't look like anybody else there because they're all in uniform. They're all in.
• 1:21:21
  And when they get off the plane, they all stand in formation and do all that.
• 1:21:24
  And me and Mikey went up and said, we need Sergeant Thomas.
• 1:21:29
  No well first we we walk up and he goes oh this is special agent constantine
• 1:21:36
  i'm eric you know i i'm eric,
• 1:21:39
  We need to talk to Sergeant Thomas. So they say, Sergeant Thomas, my brother.
• 1:21:44
  It's a Sergeant Major who's calling him. My brother does one of these.
• 1:21:47
  He's like, rolls his eyes and was like, oh God. So he looks, rolls his eyes.
• 1:21:53
  Then he breaks formation, runs around.
• 1:21:55
  And I look at Sergeant Major. I said, we need this guy right here.
• 1:21:59
  Yeah, but he's got to check in. We got him. Okay.
• 1:22:03
  So we just look at my brother. I said, shut up and start walking.
• 1:22:09
  To start it you know he told his brother like hey do not say anything yeah just
• 1:22:15
  go along with what we're saying,
• 1:22:17
  and he's like he's like oh and so we grabbed a hold of him we took him back
• 1:22:22
  we introduced him to his new non-commissioned officer in charge told the general
• 1:22:25
  we got my brother we secured him he now works for you,
• 1:22:29
  and so there for the next year he sat there and so every what was every Sunday,
• 1:22:34
  kind of during our down day, he'd come, we'd buy pizza for our entire group
• 1:22:39
  and watch movies and whatever, and we'd bring him over.
• 1:22:41
  It wasn't for Domino's, obviously. No, no, no.
• 1:22:44
  Are you hungry, guy? Domino's a little bit. Are you hungry? Are you hungry?
• 1:22:47
  So, yeah, so we basically kidnapped my brother in Iraq, which was really cool.
• 1:22:52
  And it was probably what I would venture to say, and I think he would say,
• 1:22:57
  probably one of his best deployments ever. He was a blast. Disclaimer for all
• 1:23:00
  those out there, this was a legal kidnapping, just so you guys know. Well, legal.
• 1:23:05
  The final thing is, you know, several years later, his brother was in a car accident.
• 1:23:11
  A bad one. A bad one. A really bad one. Yeah, broke his back.
• 1:23:14
  And he was in the hospital and his brother's supervisor.
• 1:23:18
  So I'm there, I show up and like, so he was in a, I think it was like a 1978,
• 1:23:25
  he'll hit me for getting it wrong. I can't remember what it was,
• 1:23:27
  beautiful bronco, whatever.
• 1:23:29
  Drunk driver hit him, broke his back. And I was one of the closer people.
• 1:23:34
  And so I showed up and was, and sat with the hospital for a couple of days with him.
• 1:23:39
  And to Mike's point, then his supervisor showed up. and I wasn't quite sure
• 1:23:44
  what I was supposed to say or what I wasn't, because she was his boss when we
• 1:23:49
  kidnapped her. When you kidnapped her.
• 1:23:52
  But he eventually told her.
• 1:23:55
  I'm the one who kidnapped him in Iraq. She's like, I wonder where you went.
• 1:24:03
  I don't know why I'm here right now, ma'am. But yeah, Roger,
• 1:24:06
  here's the picture of Eric and I with Paula. That was our supply zone.
• 1:24:11
  She was our nc i see yeah holy shit and she was the one who almost killed him,
• 1:24:17
  so so shout out to paula now wait a minute now you you have to now send me that
• 1:24:22
  oh you'll get it oh you'll get it so because the audience needs to see it now
• 1:24:26
  miss paula bless her heart whatever,
• 1:24:30
  Combat was not her thing, I don't think. And so she was a little nervous, a little jumpy.
• 1:24:36
  And so usually me and Mike did our thing and never bothered her,
• 1:24:42
  whatever. Well, she was responsible for housing my brother.
• 1:24:46
  And so we told her about this, evidently. I don't know if she forgot the day or forgot whatever. So,
• 1:24:55
  we go over to where she's living. and I guess evidently I have a heavy hand
• 1:25:01
  because when I banged on her door, it sounded like the SWAT team.
• 1:25:05
  And so I bang on the door, nothing.
• 1:25:09
  So I check the door, it opens up. She's laying on the ground with a do-rag over her head.
• 1:25:16
  She obviously just got out of bed and I hit M16, pointed at my head and thought
• 1:25:22
  we were there to rape her or something. I don't know what happened.
• 1:25:25
  Right, Mikey? Yeah. i i was in the truck with his brother.
• 1:25:30
  I was like i don't i don't know what happened that's the picture of eric with
• 1:25:33
  his brother the uh the night you know we left oh my word the night before we
• 1:25:36
  left you didn't always have a gray beard i don't understand this,
• 1:25:41
  eric they used to call me eric the red like the viking and and and you know
• 1:25:45
  what that's you know what they'd say in afghanistan,
• 1:25:48
  blood beard yep they were like it was it was stained by the blood of your enemies
• 1:25:54
  So we've got Screaming Chicken and Bloodbeard over here.
• 1:25:56
  Actually, Screaming Chicken wasn't mine. That was his. That was his?
• 1:26:00
  Yeah. Yeah. Him and his...
• 1:26:04
  Yep, Screamin' Chicken Zero. You know, they were trying to figure out a new,
• 1:26:08
  call sign because they had to have a call sign and they didn't want to go with
• 1:26:11
  Tiger. Well, I was just shopping for Firebirds back then. Yeah.
• 1:26:15
  I was shopping for a Firebird and I went, Screamin' Chicken.
• 1:26:18
  So I became Sierra Charlie Zero One is what I became for the rest of it.
• 1:26:22
  So he's never told me that story. He's like, I used to be Sierra Charlie Zero
• 1:26:27
  One. He didn't tell me he was Screamin' Chicken Zero One. The big bird off the
• 1:26:31
  hood. That's fantastic.
• 1:26:33
  Screamin' Chicken. Roger, roger, roger. Here's what we need to do.
• 1:26:36
  For CJ3, we need to have a screaming chicken shirt. Hold on, hold on. We do.
• 1:26:42
  Hey, hold on. If you look at, and Mike knows this thing because he's seen it,
• 1:26:46
  I have an Abu Ghraib banner in my garage.
• 1:26:49
  What's on that banner? Screaming chicken. Oh, my Lord. That is the next fucking CJ3 shirt.
• 1:26:56
  I still have the email. My email is still that, right?
• 1:27:00
  He made it sound badass. I was zero charlie zero one.
• 1:27:04
  I was screaming chickens. Now you know what it's. You're a Charlie's dance floor.
• 1:27:09
  Why aren't we the Screamin' Chicken Foundation? I don't understand.
• 1:27:13
  Are you joking the bandit? We can't do that.
• 1:27:16
  Are you joking the bandit? The bandit? The Screamin' Chicken.
• 1:27:19
  I always thought the bandit was more of a rising from the ashes with a phoenix. That's what I was.
• 1:27:24
  The Screamin' Chicken. It's not a Screamin' Chicken. That is a phoenix, sir.
• 1:27:27
  What do rednecks call a phoenix? A Screamin' Chicken.
• 1:27:30
  I don't believe I've ever heard a redneck call that in my life.
• 1:27:34
  Oh, yeah, because you're so redneck friendly. She's 20 years old.
• 1:27:37
  Come on, dude. You live in D.C. areas of Indian. This man Brown,
• 1:27:41
  he makes fun of me and said, you know about Rubex. I'm not Indian. I don't scream.
• 1:27:46
  What? I've ate a couple of those.
• 1:27:49
  They're screaming when I ate them. Fucking. Put some curry on that thing.
• 1:27:53
  So the Screaming Chicken Foundation. That's horrible. Screaming goats.
• 1:27:59
  We've all seen a number of those. That's another story, guy.
• 1:28:05
  There's videos on the internet.
• 1:28:07
  So, I got, so knowing that this guy, one, that Mikey's a friend of mine and,
• 1:28:13
  and family friend, and, and honestly, you know, we, we always joke,
• 1:28:17
  I've got a lot of acquaintances, but I got very few friends.
• 1:28:20
  Mikey's one of my true friends.
• 1:28:22
  What questions you got, guy in the sky? You haven't had the opportunity to ask too many things.
• 1:28:28
  Oh, I have lots of questions. Oh, God. First of all, what did Eric look like
• 1:28:32
  naked? I'm just joking. He's singing it. He's singing it.
• 1:28:35
  Unfortunately. No, we're not going to go there. He would always be like, hey, Mikey, look.
• 1:28:42
  Bro, that's glorious. After the 16th of the time, we'd figure he'd quit looking.
• 1:28:46
  Did you see the screaming chicken heart?
• 1:28:50
  That's the tattoo on his chest. The situation is, you know, we,
• 1:28:56
  we bunked in the same room and we had two bunk beds and we would take the,
• 1:29:01
  uh, the, uh, whatever the, uh, those, you know, whoobies, the whoobies.
• 1:29:05
  There weren't whoobies. They were like the, the, you're an asshole. Mine was a whoobie.
• 1:29:09
  No, it was a PX blanket. Oh, you know, you know what I'm talking about?
• 1:29:12
  Like the, you know, yeah, the wool blanket. The catch rags.
• 1:29:15
  Yeah. That's gross.
• 1:29:19
  So, so we had those like, you know. Michael Mike just stood up in his mouth
• 1:29:24
  he's like yeah he's right but no,
• 1:29:28
  so we had those like you know you know for privacy you know so and,
• 1:29:35
  I would be sitting there like reading a book and all that we know you can't
• 1:29:38
  read you're from Ohio wait it was big letter book okay that's a picture book
• 1:29:43
  pictures he's trying to make himself,
• 1:29:45
  himself sound super educated in this I was I was reading war and peace and they
• 1:29:50
  came by and this is what happened really it was a chronicles of narnia.
• 1:29:57
  It was fhm i was reading the picture gq gq those days it was he was reading
• 1:30:04
  it for the articles it's fine,
• 1:30:08
  But I'd be sitting there and Eric would be like, hey, Mike, you know, sound legitimate.
• 1:30:13
  Like, yeah, he's like trying to like, you know, say something to me.
• 1:30:16
  So I'm trying to be, you know, you know, respectable. And like,
• 1:30:19
  so I open up like the curtain thing and he's there fucking naked.
• 1:30:24
  Like, damn it. Bro, after 16 times in one evening, really? How many times you
• 1:30:29
  go? It was not 16 times in one evening. So the only thing I can tell you guys, it's not serving.
• 1:30:34
  You guys sound like the fucking locker room of a football team.
• 1:30:38
  It is totally a locker room situation where we would fucking smack each other with stupid shit.
• 1:30:44
  A locker room for six to 12 months straight. Right.
• 1:30:49
  Everything they've told me, the stories they told me about the two of them,
• 1:30:51
  I'm like, Jesus Christ, this is all shit I did with the football players.
• 1:30:55
  But I trusted one of my kids. I know, right?
• 1:30:58
  I might not do that. Guy in the sky, have you ever watched a movie called Waiting?
• 1:31:03
  Oh, Lord. I'm sure I have. So Wayne Reynolds was an early Ryan Reynolds movie. Yes, yes, yes.
• 1:31:10
  I attribute that movie to single-handedly shutting down,
• 1:31:14
  Bennegan's yeah like I think it did because it was a knockoff it was shenanigans
• 1:31:20
  but it looked just like a Bennegan yes so they had a game called the penis showing
• 1:31:24
  game unfortunately this was a cult classic it was kind of a.
• 1:31:29
  A a sleeper movie that didn't catch on unfortunately right before me and my,
• 1:31:33
  me and Mike and and a bunch of us went to Iraq it came out so then for the next
• 1:31:39
  year There was a penis showing game in Iraq.
• 1:31:42
  And for a bunch of heterosexuals, it's the most homo thing I've ever seen.
• 1:31:47
  But to your point, Roger, it's interesting.
• 1:31:50
  I'm just going to say, are we sure it's heterosexual? It was.
• 1:31:55
  Males there. I just got with a brown girl. I mean, you...
• 1:32:01
  Cut him a break, dude. What the fuck? I mean... I just went back to y'all's place.
• 1:32:09
  She doesn't like you, Mikey. She's going to cut you.
• 1:32:13
  After that, I know nothing. I see nothing. Whatever you do, just give me back to the house.
• 1:32:21
  Mr. Constantine, you've heard of MS-13, right? You're not making it home.
• 1:32:27
  I guess I'm hitchhiking.
• 1:32:30
  She had to laser off the little teardrops on her face.
• 1:32:34
  Straight to El Salvador. dork we'll go into this story at like off camera like what i,
• 1:32:40
  she used to go to the gym and like what like angry hardcore hardcore you stay
• 1:32:46
  the hell away from her but i do have a to answer your hulk,
• 1:32:50
  No, she's very focused in the gym. No, she wasn't. Because when I came around, she was not.
• 1:32:57
  I did something. Oh, is that what happened? Hey, did you hear the introduction
• 1:33:03
  of me and her in the gym? No.
• 1:33:06
  Do tell. So I'm going to try to tell this as factual as possible because damn,
• 1:33:11
  she's close and things will fly.
• 1:33:13
  So I'm going to say this as factual as possible. I've removed the little shark.
• 1:33:16
  Right. Thank you very much, Guy. Put the bottle down.
• 1:33:19
  Put the bottle down. michelle so she is very intense in the gym and she honestly
• 1:33:25
  i'm very impressed with her workout regimen and all that stuff she does a good
• 1:33:28
  job and and and all that so anyway i was trying to figure out how to approach her.
• 1:33:34
  I'm just going to be me. So she's working out. That's a terrible idea.
• 1:33:38
  She's working out. She happens to be right across from me, sitting on benches and whatever.
• 1:33:43
  And I look up at her intently and they go, are you ever going to smile, bitch?
• 1:33:49
  That was my introduction. That is it not. Oh my Lord. And that worked.
• 1:33:54
  That worked. Cause here we are. Oh my God.
• 1:33:57
  Look, dude, you're talking to a counterintelligence specialist.
• 1:34:00
  Well, either that or she's with him so she can kill him later.
• 1:34:05
  But think about this. It knocked her off her game, right?
• 1:34:09
  She was used to, I mean, look what Guy said. He said, I wasn't going to even
• 1:34:12
  interfere with that. I wasn't going to, now granted Guy's not talking to people
• 1:34:15
  in the gym, whatever, because he's getting his time in.
• 1:34:18
  But think about it. It knocked her off her game. She's like,
• 1:34:20
  this mofo just said this.
• 1:34:22
  She is MS-13. So there is the possibility that she's playing the long game with
• 1:34:27
  you to stab you. It's fine.
• 1:34:28
  It's fine. Maybe, or I'll have her whole family living in my house.
• 1:34:31
  You could be the next John Bobbitt. I'm just saying.
• 1:34:35
  Oh, that's not good there, son.
• 1:34:37
  Don't picture up. You know that reference? But look, I'm going to reel this
• 1:34:40
  back in. I guess we'll start calling him Jane.
• 1:34:44
  I'm going to reel this back in. Please do. What is that? Please do,
• 1:34:47
  because Eric won't do it. Please do it.
• 1:34:49
  So, Eric, you asked me a question if I had, other than the naked questions. All right.
• 1:34:55
  So, Mike. Sir. We're going to go back to...
• 1:35:00
  What we were talking about with you know how the cj3 foundation helps you so
• 1:35:04
  on and so forth we talked about you know what you did with the cj foundation
• 1:35:08
  cj3 foundation and we talked about what he continues what you continue to do,
• 1:35:14
  let's talk about as you know real quick or as brief or as long as you want to,
• 1:35:20
  how you think the cj3 foundation could even be better oh i'll punch you in the
• 1:35:26
  mouth now this is good no this is good i'm playing bro he's gonna say what when
• 1:35:32
  he takes over it'll be better.
• 1:35:35
  Let me get rid of that director he's an ass let me put some guardrails on this
• 1:35:40
  i'm not asking i'm not asking this question dude i i get you you're good,
• 1:35:45
  like i'm not asking this question to like to throw cj3 under the bus what i'm
• 1:35:49
  saying is there's always room for improvement bro yes and,
• 1:35:52
  and every opportunity everybody's got different perspectives and you got to
• 1:35:55
  take every perspective in.
• 1:35:57
  And the second part of that question is, is like what CJ3 already provides,
• 1:36:03
  And you know the people, you know what their heart is, so on and so forth.
• 1:36:09
  And you look outside of that, and there's a lot of other really great organizations out there.
• 1:36:14
  He's coloring you. He's ignoring your statement. No, I'm not.
• 1:36:17
  I'm taking notes so I can answer. That's kind of he gave you a five-part question.
• 1:36:21
  He is writing what he wrote.
• 1:36:23
  I know. I can't remember. Damn PTSD and TBI.
• 1:36:28
  This is actually just a one-part question. I'm just going a long way around
• 1:36:32
  about asking it. No shit. is but i need a fucking map look,
• 1:36:38
  you guys are analysts at heart no no together.
• 1:36:44
  Analyze people and conversations look you analyzed michelle and liquid where you're at all,
• 1:36:52
  right i mean there's interrogation going on here now am i so so,
• 1:36:56
  to finish up with it on it So like you see other organizations and you know
• 1:37:01
  what CJ3, where their heart is and what they want to provide and can provide,
• 1:37:05
  what would it be different?
• 1:37:07
  Not different, but what would you add on to the support that they're already
• 1:37:11
  doing that would make your experience better and what your experience going
• 1:37:16
  into it, you know, whatever, whatever the traumatic experience was or whatever.
• 1:37:21
  Like how would how could CJ3 even though they did a great job already but how
• 1:37:27
  could they serve you better there's always room for improvement screaming chicken 3.
• 1:37:35
  Hard call son come here that's,
• 1:37:39
  a hard question and I apologize for getting out there but you know what it is
• 1:37:43
  a very difficult question because I'll just say that I think CJ3 is doing an
• 1:37:47
  excellent job with I will pay you later I know you are.
• 1:37:54
  He knows it's not going to be with much because he's seen you naked,
• 1:37:56
  but that's fine. Hey, Mikey.
• 1:38:00
  He knows the bottles I like. So, no. Are we talking champagne bottles? No.
• 1:38:06
  This is my bourbon boy right here. This dude will do whiskey and bourbon like
• 1:38:10
  it's going out of style. Yeah, I'll show you pictures of what I got.
• 1:38:13
  Me and Mikey get a love of bourbon and whiskey.
• 1:38:16
  So, yeah, what can CJ3 do better?
• 1:38:19
  I mean, at first, like I was saying, CDH3 does an excellent job all around,
• 1:38:26
  and I would say that just expanding out,
• 1:38:32
  getting the recognition beyond the local area here in Leesburg,
• 1:38:40
  the greater NCR area and all that.
• 1:38:43
  And it's trying to, you know, get those recipients that are from all over the country.
• 1:38:50
  Because I, when I went through, you know, the retreat, as I call it,
• 1:38:54
  I went with a former, you know, army soldier.
• 1:38:57
  He was a firefighter. Who'd you go, first names, who'd you go with?
• 1:39:01
  I was like, I can't remember off the top of my head.
• 1:39:04
  I wasn't trying to put you in there. Yeah, yeah, well, you did.
• 1:39:07
  Clearly, it wasn't memorable. Can't remember names.
• 1:39:14
  I can remember his face now you're just turning into him he remembers him naked hey Michael.
• 1:39:25
  But like encouraging those who've gone through the program, you know,
• 1:39:28
  whether it be the retreat, the hunt, the golf tournaments, you know,
• 1:39:33
  you know, racing, you know, whatever it is, getting them to promote within their, their communities.
• 1:39:39
  Um, you know, granted, like some other, you know, some people are introverts
• 1:39:43
  and they're, they're unable to do that. Some are extroverts and they're,
• 1:39:46
  they're great at it. You know, like gold star, uh, tomorrow up in Wisconsin.
• 1:39:50
  Awesome. That's a great job.
• 1:39:52
  The bottom line is you're talking about make recipients become enforced multipliers
• 1:39:56
  to put the word out. Yeah.
• 1:39:58
  I was just going to add that, like what recipients can do to help.
• 1:40:04
  Just so you know, the stats are, and it fluctuates, but we're at about 82% of
• 1:40:10
  all people that go through one of our programs or multiples come back and are part of the team.
• 1:40:16
  We have a Facebook chat that we put out information on.
• 1:40:21
  You watch folks tag the foundation for things they're doing or trying to do,
• 1:40:26
  in support of the organization and.
• 1:40:28
  We fluctuate, but like I said, about 82% of our recipients that go through one
• 1:40:32
  of our programs come back and do some form of something, which I don't think is a bad thing.
• 1:40:39
  But to Mike's point, we can't be everywhere and everything to all people.
• 1:40:44
  So we need our recipients to help get the word out. Otherwise,
• 1:40:48
  we just can't be in all those areas. So I agree with you.
• 1:40:50
  Yeah, you know, like I have an idea.
• 1:40:53
  I don't even know if you'd be able to do this, but it seems like you guys create
• 1:40:57
  gremlins. You guys, you should make a CJ3 gremlin t-shirt to create some motherfucking gremlins.
• 1:41:06
  Don't feed after dark. Michelle, do you know what that is? Okay.
• 1:41:12
  I think she just said yes for Joey. Yes. Jenna didn't tell her who Lorena Bobbitt
• 1:41:18
  was, by the way, and she then made a face behind you. And I was like,
• 1:41:21
  you just told her, didn't you? Yep.
• 1:41:23
  Who knows what it is? No, you don't, Michelle. You never know what that is.
• 1:41:27
  Yes, you do. And your knives come in handy for that. Just so you know,
• 1:41:29
  please continue. We are, we are working on Sasquatch. Go ahead, Mike.
• 1:41:35
  So, you know, the bean force multipliers and all that, and it's just encouraging,
• 1:41:39
  you know, the recipients to, to actually do it. You know, everybody's got their,
• 1:41:43
  you know, thing, you know, going on with their lives or they're busy and all
• 1:41:45
  that. And Eric and I have talked about it.
• 1:41:48
  I'm actually starting to get out, you know, and doing some stuff.
• 1:41:51
  I've got something lined up at the end of, you know, January.
• 1:41:54
  So, hey, let's be candid, right?
• 1:41:55
  Yeah. So, and then this has gone into another thing. Mikey's my family friend.
• 1:41:59
  Mikey's been around in my life for a long time. So I asked Mikey,
• 1:42:03
  you want to take on a leadership position, right? He would be my guy in Ohio.
• 1:42:07
  He turned me down, hurt my feelings, but I understood, right?
• 1:42:11
  I made him cry. Just one tear. And all joking aside, hurt my feelings because
• 1:42:15
  I want you on board, right? because I know what you believe in,
• 1:42:17
  and you believe in this, and you're supporting it.
• 1:42:20
  What I realized was you turning me down didn't change anything,
• 1:42:25
  really, because you still support.
• 1:42:27
  But the candid part was at the time, and it's still that time, but it may be morphing.
• 1:42:34
  He wasn't ready for it. It wasn't his time. He was like, I'm still dealing with
• 1:42:38
  stuff. I'm still busy with this. I'm still, it's not my time.
• 1:42:42
  But I'll be honest with you. He's done more for me. you know,
• 1:42:45
  the, the part I had to stand back and go, Oh, hold on. I need,
• 1:42:49
  I need to check myself is he was still doing more for the foundation than some of the people on staff.
• 1:42:56
  I was like, we're good. He's still a friend.
• 1:43:00
  I couldn't, you know, dedicate specific time to do, you know,
• 1:43:04
  things because, you know, as we've joked around about me, you know,
• 1:43:07
  you know, coming down here to, you know, to do whatever event.
• 1:43:10
  Well, Roger, Hey, Roger's learning this.
• 1:43:13
  As you reach different levels, there's a different level of responsibility and
• 1:43:16
  requirements, right? That's just a fact of life. We had that same conversation,
• 1:43:21
  which is why you said not right now.
• 1:43:24
  Roger has experienced some of that through good and bad because we've had some
• 1:43:27
  tough love in both ways where I had to put myself in check and he was like,
• 1:43:31
  oh crap, this really meant I had to do this. So,
• 1:43:35
  all good right he does a really good job explaining things to me at times and
• 1:43:38
  sometimes i need that that that two-year-old hey tell me the tell me you need
• 1:43:43
  me there and he's like i don't like to ask or or we need to make sure or we
• 1:43:47
  need to make sure jen's on the calendar.
• 1:43:50
  Hashtag facts i'm not gonna lie because she she when she met me i was indian
• 1:43:56
  standard time oh god and and being indian i can say that on the air it's fine,
• 1:44:02
  well look i'm gonna now i'm the one that runs early like she takes a shower
• 1:44:06
  first i'll take a shower i'm ready to go before she's out the door and i still
• 1:44:09
  get blamed for indian standards five years ago look i'm gonna i'm gonna interject
• 1:44:14
  here because i heard something i would,
• 1:44:17
  i was at hammer and nails last week that's the that's the hair and whatever
• 1:44:22
  place yeah yeah it's the man but bro did you get your nails done in a facial no no you did,
• 1:44:29
  you're the guy in a hey i get you know it pamper yourself I would self-share
• 1:44:34
  that I wouldn't do it. Is that your $80 haircut?
• 1:44:38
  No, I have a membership, so.
• 1:44:42
  But no, listen, there's a young
• 1:44:44
  guy in there. He's been there since they opened. His name's Jazz, right?
• 1:44:48
  And he took a phone call and it was another employee because he's the manager.
• 1:44:53
  And the dude or woman, whoever he was talking to, had done something.
• 1:44:59
  And Jazz was squaring his person away.
• 1:45:02
  I, as you know, he, he, I went in for a neck trim, right.
• 1:45:06
  They had a meeting and I didn't want to have a hairy neck.
• 1:45:09
  And so he's, you know, he's talking to this person as he's doing my neck trim.
• 1:45:14
  And he said something that resonated with me and he apologized after,
• 1:45:19
  after he got off the phone, he's like, I'm sorry for that.
• 1:45:21
  And I, and I thanked him for it because it was a good reminder.
• 1:45:24
  But his thing was, is like, look, I support you.
• 1:45:29
  But what, what comes with supporting you is, is I have to hold you accountable. Yes.
• 1:45:33
  And the thing is, is like, when it comes to us and CJ3 and
• 1:45:38
  like Roger and Eric and now Mike and like whatever someone's responsibility
• 1:45:44
  is, it doesn't mean like holding someone accountable isn't lack of support.
• 1:45:49
  That is support. And when you don't hold somebody accountable,
• 1:45:53
  that is not supporting somebody. Yep.
• 1:45:56
  You know what I mean? And so like, like how you guys keep each other in check,
• 1:46:00
  that's a good fucking thing that is needed across the board.
• 1:46:03
  Most, most businesses, if they did that, they would prosper.
• 1:46:07
  A lot of businesses don't do it.
• 1:46:09
  And that, that is supporting your people is holding them accountable.
• 1:46:14
  That's support, man, if you do it in the right way. Well, and the other thing
• 1:46:17
  is you can love each other and still call each other's bullshit out,
• 1:46:20
  right? I mean, there's nothing wrong with that.
• 1:46:23
  That's true. By the way, Jazz is not a young man. He has been around for a very long time.
• 1:46:28
  But he's not a young man, but he was the manager there from when they first opened. Yep.
• 1:46:32
  And like, you know, what he had said. So I used to go there too.
• 1:46:36
  He runs all their places whenever they open. He actually stays in.
• 1:46:39
  Jazz is awesome. He's a good dude. And like when, when he apologized,
• 1:46:42
  you know, he was talking on the phone with this, this person and,
• 1:46:45
  you know, he was like, man, I'm sorry for that. I didn't mean for you to hear
• 1:46:48
  that. And I told him, I was like, no, that was really encouraging because, you know.
• 1:46:53
  I support you, but figure it the fuck out is basically what he was saying to
• 1:46:56
  the person. No, like I'm holding you accountable because you fucked up.
• 1:47:00
  That doesn't mean I don't support you. That means I do support you.
• 1:47:03
  There's, there's some parenting skills in that as well. Yeah, man. So.
• 1:47:08
  So anyways. Hey, just to let you know, so one of the things you're talking about
• 1:47:12
  is levels of responsibility. Roger is very familiar with this because we talked
• 1:47:16
  about levels. Mike, we had the conversation.
• 1:47:19
  So we have various levels in CJ3 Foundation, right? We got first level is just
• 1:47:24
  first tier is your CJ3 Foundation tier team member, which basically means you've
• 1:47:28
  been through one of our programs. You're a supporter.
• 1:47:31
  You wear the swag when you want to. You do what you want. You talk about us
• 1:47:35
  if you want, but there's no level of responsibility.
• 1:47:38
  The other one, which Roger is for Virginia, is a senior advisor.
• 1:47:43
  Senior advisor comes with, hey, there's some things going on in Virginia I need help with.
• 1:47:48
  You get access to some of our sponsors and some of our things.
• 1:47:51
  I need your support in being my guy to help arrange some of this because I've
• 1:47:55
  got national to worry about. I need you to be my guy.
• 1:47:59
  The last level, which there's another level of responsibility in that that I
• 1:48:03
  have to be able to count on.
• 1:48:04
  The last level is you're me, but you own the state.
• 1:48:07
  And that's an ambassador. We have an ambassador for Wisconsin.
• 1:48:10
  And so we get to ask ambassador for Georgia or Florida, for Alabama and for
• 1:48:15
  some other states. But that is basically your me forward deployed to one of those areas.
• 1:48:21
  And you are running all things, all things CJ three in that area with my backing.
• 1:48:27
  And so those are kind of the three levels we operate at and kind of move forward in right now.
• 1:48:33
  Roger is a senior advisor for this area. We'll see if he's going to make the turn. No.
• 1:48:39
  And we're waiting on what mike is getting ready to do with ohio let me ask you
• 1:48:44
  guys this because jen she just told me something uh-oh he's gay no maybe maybe,
• 1:48:54
  maybe 80s gay oh it's about rocky the worst part is i know what you're talking about.
• 1:49:02
  And not to, not to take the, the spotlight off of you, Mike,
• 1:49:05
  but you know, this whole, this
• 1:49:07
  whole process of having a podcast is to really highlight what CJ3 does,
• 1:49:12
  and you know, Warriors to Watchmen, which you're a watchman,
• 1:49:15
  you know, you're involved and you're, you've been through the program,
• 1:49:20
  but there is a, an event coming up and it's the 50th of Rocky.
• 1:49:28
  Yes. Oh, yes, it is. And it's going to be an interesting one because we're splitting functions, right?
• 1:49:35
  We're going to be in two separate areas the same day. We're splitting functions.
• 1:49:38
  The Ashburn and Percival Pup are hosting a Rocky 50th benefiting the CJ3 Foundation.
• 1:49:45
  So they have two different locations.
• 1:49:48
  So Eric and I, for the first time, which I think is making him exceptionally
• 1:49:51
  uncomfortable. Really?
• 1:49:52
  It kind of might be. I've been running these for a while. I'm just saying.
• 1:49:56
  Like, I'm so used to running it with you. I don't know what to do right now.
• 1:49:59
  He's going to be in Ashburn. I'll be in Percival. And we are going to be having
• 1:50:04
  people come out to both locations and doing a duel, which is very awesome for Kevin Bednars to do.
• 1:50:11
  It's phenomenal that they're sponsoring at both locations. We're doing it both
• 1:50:15
  locations the same day when he knows he's going to have crowds there.
• 1:50:18
  We're trying to bring CJ3 supporters out, bring everybody out to the events.
• 1:50:23
  It's going to be a fun day. And I mean, just wow.
• 1:50:27
  Let me tell you the level of impressed I am with them coming on,
• 1:50:30
  right? So we had the opportunity to go support them when they first opened up
• 1:50:35
  the Percival Pub. That was phenomenal. I appreciate him allowing us to be out
• 1:50:39
  there, and that was an honor to be able to support that.
• 1:50:41
  Eric, can you back up and say who you're talking about?
• 1:50:45
  So the Percival Pub, when they opened up, we had the opportunity to,
• 1:50:49
  you know, it was, they were new, we were new, and they were like,
• 1:50:53
  and we just, I don't even remember how we came together.
• 1:50:56
  But they said, hey, we'd like to invite you out for our grand opening.
• 1:50:59
  And so we were part of the grand opening now a few years later.
• 1:51:03
  Interesting enough, with Rogers, our senior advisor, they go out to those locations
• 1:51:07
  and they're very familiar with the owner.
• 1:51:10
  A lot of times what we do at new places is we say, we tell them,
• 1:51:14
  hey, what are your slow days?
• 1:51:16
  We're going to come here, bring you business, and bring our followers in,
• 1:51:21
  make you money, which then in turn, we hope that makes the charity money, right?
• 1:51:25
  And we want to show them what we can do because as charities,
• 1:51:28
  we're notoriously takers.
• 1:51:30
  Interesting enough, Kevin, the owner of both of these pubs in Percival and Ashburn,
• 1:51:36
  said no for the first one i want you to come on our busy night i want to make
• 1:51:41
  you money i want to support you guys which i just blew me away that was actually
• 1:51:45
  really cool what he's doing yeah he came he came to me one day and and i we i told him i gave him
• 1:51:50
  eric spiel we're notorious takers want to get back so you guys make money,
• 1:51:55
  he said we can do that another time but i think for your first event it should
• 1:51:59
  be a double event at the ashburn and percival pub and we'll do it i was like,
• 1:52:04
  are you shitting me? He's like, no. I was like, okay.
• 1:52:07
  And normally when we do an event, I've realized Eric working behind the scenes,
• 1:52:11
  the events take a lot of work.
• 1:52:13
  And Kevin's like, no, I got a whole list. I was like, hey, we have stuff we
• 1:52:16
  can do for giveaways. He's like, all right, if you want to.
• 1:52:19
  I'm like, what does that mean? He goes, you don't need to. You're going to do well.
• 1:52:22
  He goes, but if you want to do a raffle or something like that,
• 1:52:24
  he goes, I'll take care of, you know, just bring in your stuff.
• 1:52:27
  I'll take care of all that. I'm like, he's like, I got a checklist.
• 1:52:28
  I'm like, are you shitting me?
• 1:52:29
  I need this checklist for future events in other places no kevin bednar's has
• 1:52:35
  been was awesome with this one because i.
• 1:52:38
  I definitely whenever i give speeches to people i say the same thing eric does,
• 1:52:42
  that you know foundations the same thing i do kind of i mean i say it in my
• 1:52:46
  own words because i have a prettier voice and it's prettier singing voice than
• 1:52:49
  you do hold on can we can we go back to something right oh shit let's go back
• 1:52:53
  to this early days roger was a little nervous about giving the spiel,
• 1:52:58
  I didn't know I was supposed to. Right.
• 1:53:01
  So, and Eric, again, wasn't like, hey, you're giving the spiel.
• 1:53:04
  He jokingly said, you should talk up there. And I'm like, maybe no.
• 1:53:09
  So, I've got a problem with talking. Really?
• 1:53:12
  I know, really is a lie. The one that really made me laugh was...
• 1:53:16
  Me and roger decided we're going to get on a phone call with with actually it
• 1:53:20
  was involving this it was involving this it was involving raven tech and negative bounce yes,
• 1:53:27
  and it was our our first kind of our meet our first call guys our first call
• 1:53:32
  got with you and you and uh mike and i can't remember a lot of other persons
• 1:53:35
  so so i looked at roger i was like hey bro,
• 1:53:38
  you're my virginia that recording was not good by the way no no not the recording
• 1:53:43
  the the conversation conversation Our first recording was not good.
• 1:53:48
  So bottom line is I was like, Roger, you're my Virginia guy.
• 1:53:53
  You go ahead and carry this, whatever. We're going to, you know,
• 1:53:55
  this is a great initiative.
• 1:53:58
  So Roger put together notes. I don't, I can only picture this by a story.
• 1:54:01
  He's like, I got all these things typed and written. He was driving.
• 1:54:05
  I was driving and I had notes in a notebook sitting next to me.
• 1:54:08
  So I hit topics with you guys.
• 1:54:11
  And so I'm ready to go. And I'm actually, I had stopped driving when we really
• 1:54:15
  got out of the call. I'm sitting in the parking lot restaurant we were going
• 1:54:18
  to, and I'm sitting in the parking lot. It was Denny's.
• 1:54:22
  It was Denny's. It was totally Denny's. All you can eat buffet that night.
• 1:54:26
  I literally, I'm sitting in the parking lot, and so I have my notebook with
• 1:54:30
  me. He's ready. I'm ready to go.
• 1:54:32
  This is his first opportunity in front of me and with Mike.
• 1:54:36
  So it's a big deal because, you know, hey, Raven Tech and Negative Bounce have
• 1:54:41
  been phenomenal partners.
• 1:54:42
  This is a big deal this is the first meeting right so i'm sitting there all
• 1:54:47
  right ready to go with all the questions and i think it was mike that asked
• 1:54:51
  eric a question he's like well roger i'll go first and come to you,
• 1:54:55
  and he fucking spills off everything on my goddamn checklist without having anything ready,
• 1:55:00
  well hold on my internet goes down yeah i gotta take it i gotta take it from my phone.
• 1:55:07
  So legitimately he's on a he's literally on his phone because the shit goes
• 1:55:10
  down i'm talking to you guys through my car got everything ready to go fucking air,
• 1:55:16
  So, and then, and then he has the balls at the end of all of it,
• 1:55:20
  Roger, you got anything to add? No, motherfucker. You covered every goddamn
• 1:55:24
  topic I was ready to cover.
• 1:55:25
  Roger, let me give you my perspective. Yeah, I want to hear this. This is awesome.
• 1:55:28
  So, you know, that happened and like Eric's like, Roger, you got anything to add?
• 1:55:34
  And there was a slight pause of about four or five seconds and you're like,
• 1:55:37
  well, uh, you know, Eric covered everything.
• 1:55:41
  There was literally, so this was a joke we had. You, you've seen that,
• 1:55:45
  that meme where the guy goes like, I'm Maximus Cerelius Cerelius of the general
• 1:55:50
  of the fucking Northern armies.
• 1:55:52
  And then the guy goes, my name's Jeff.
• 1:55:56
  Literally that's, that's how I felt at that moment. Cause you got Eric,
• 1:55:59
  literally, I know all this shit. This is me. This is what I'm going to do.
• 1:56:03
  And, and, and do you have anything, Roger? No, motherfucker.
• 1:56:07
  You already answered every goddamn question. I, anything I had to ask was already
• 1:56:12
  asked, already answered. And I'm like, I feel like I felt like such a bitch.
• 1:56:16
  And I cussed him out about it. And I'm sorry. That wasn't the intent.
• 1:56:20
  You know, I just get excited. So then I just, son of a bitch.
• 1:56:22
  And then I get yelled at, you weren't doing enough for the foundation. Well, I wish I could.
• 1:56:27
  Won't you stay home one day? If you're such a fucking mouth.
• 1:56:31
  So then at the next event or at an event, I call him up to talk.
• 1:56:36
  He calls me up to talk. And he's like, you bastard. Well, I'm like, so we do an event.
• 1:56:40
  And I mean, Eric loves to, I'll be honest.
• 1:56:43
  He loves to talk. No, I like to talk about the foundation. He loves to talk.
• 1:56:46
  About the foundation. So then he goes, when you're doing the announcing today,
• 1:56:50
  I'm like, ha, ha, ha, whatever. Like, I'm like, bullshit. You're not doing the
• 1:56:53
  announcing. I said Jen up. I told Jen, call your husband up.
• 1:56:56
  You know what? You said you went up to Kerry.
• 1:57:00
  You went up to Kerry and got Kerry on board. The guy, Kerry Wimbish was singing
• 1:57:04
  for us at the event that day, and he goes,
• 1:57:06
  And Roger's going to come up and give the, I'm like this motherfucker, for real?
• 1:57:10
  So then I go up and then, then I'm like, all right, shit, I wasn't prepared
• 1:57:14
  for this. I had no problem talking about the foundation. I have no problem thanking
• 1:57:17
  people for the foundation, but I just don't want to take it away from you,
• 1:57:21
  sir. Cause you definitely like to talk.
• 1:57:23
  You love to talk a little bit. When it comes to the foundation,
• 1:57:25
  I'll talk. Mikey, am I right about that? As, as the Ohio guy that you're going to become.
• 1:57:30
  Senior advisor of Ohio. Oh, no, I don't agree. I do. I don't agree.
• 1:57:34
  I don't agree. Oh, Mikey, you're not a bad, bad choice. Mikey's just a team member.
• 1:57:42
  So while Mike's talking shit, I'm going to tell you Mike's got a fat bastard story.
• 1:57:47
  Why do you call me fat? Did you just call one of his babies fat?
• 1:57:51
  Because of Mikey, I missed a deployment to Iraq because he wanted cheesecake.
• 1:57:57
  Wait, what? Because he wanted cheesecake so bad, I missed a deployment to Iraq.
• 1:58:03
  Cheesecake? What's going on here?
• 1:58:05
  No, that's not the story. Really? My shoe came untied.
• 1:58:09
  And then my other one came untied. And then the other one and the other one.
• 1:58:13
  And we missed it. I mean, I was wearing slip-on shoes, but still.
• 1:58:16
  And he was like, well, we're going to have to go to Cheesecake Factory and stuff.
• 1:58:19
  No, we didn't know there was a Cheesecake Factory. Bro, you did too.
• 1:58:22
  No, we did not. We did the research. No, we did not.
• 1:58:26
  Mike, as we're on this topic. Cheesecake?
• 1:58:30
  Not cheesecake. You're hungry, right? On you as a topic. I'm going to reel this back in.
• 1:58:35
  And here's what I'm going to ask you. So with the CJ3 Foundation,
• 1:58:39
  what could, like, from what you know in Ohio, your land, Believe Land,
• 1:58:45
  that's where I'm from too. Yeah.
• 1:58:47
  What could the CJ3 Foundation, what ideas could you bring to the table for there?
• 1:58:53
  Well, we got a very light presence there. I'll tell you that right now.
• 1:58:55
  And that's not a hit on Mikey. That's just a lack of presence there for us. Yeah.
• 1:59:00
  But I mean, Mike's there. Yeah. So, yeah. Get the fucking work, Mike.
• 1:59:08
  I just want to say, you know, Eric said we have a light presence there.
• 1:59:11
  I'm there. So he's saying I'm thin.
• 1:59:14
  That is not what I said. That's what I got out of it. Basically not brown.
• 1:59:19
  Oh, that just happened. Oh, snap. That just happened.
• 1:59:24
  Now we know why Eric doesn't want to go to Ohio because there's very few brown
• 1:59:27
  people. Hold on. Oh, I'm very popular in Ohio. I have no problem there. I did just fine.
• 1:59:33
  Especially at a couple restaurants. Yes. So waitress fell in love with me there.
• 1:59:38
  He took me to the Guardians during gay day, pride day.
• 1:59:43
  It was pride day. It was Guardians. The Guardians isn't a real team.
• 1:59:46
  Even though the Guardians already bring out pride. By the way,
• 1:59:49
  it wasn't the Guardians at the time. It was the Indians. No,
• 1:59:52
  it wasn't. Yes, it was. Okay.
• 1:59:54
  I will sign off on that. It wasn't the first year. Bro, that's my town. That's my town.
• 1:59:59
  No. The next year they switched. Anyways. You switched teams.
• 2:00:06
  This is taking a turn. Please continue. As a senior advisor for Ohio. All right.
• 2:00:11
  So it's kind of going back to the question that you already had.
• 2:00:16
  Not you guy in the sky shut up.
• 2:00:23
  Man, you're letting this Ohio rep smack the president down here.
• 2:00:28
  Hey, Jen, can you get Eric another adult beverage, please? Because he needs it.
• 2:00:34
  So, kind of go back to your question, Guy. You know, what does,
• 2:00:37
  you know, CJ3 do that others don't or better?
• 2:00:43
  There are so many different, you know, I think this is where you're getting
• 2:00:45
  at. There's so many different veteran organizations out there,
• 2:00:48
  you know, provide support to veterans and first responders and all that.
• 2:00:53
  And I, I think it's, you know, it's important for us to partner up with, with the good ones.
• 2:01:00
  Some are good, some are bad, whatever that may be. Some bad ones.
• 2:01:03
  A lot of bad ones, man. So.
• 2:01:05
  Money stealers. Well, I, hold on, I'm going to say this because I'm going to,
• 2:01:08
  I'm going to plug the foundation real quick. It's pretty cool. Just, just a reminder.
• 2:01:14
  Nobody gets paid for the work with the foundation here. This is all volunteer force.
• 2:01:19
  So when you talk about giving money to the foundation, when you talk about,
• 2:01:23
  you know, why does Mikey support, why does friends of mine support,
• 2:01:28
  it isn't because they're my friends, because they tell me to go to hell if I
• 2:01:32
  wasn't doing right by it.
• 2:01:33
  At the end of the day, 90-some percent of everything that comes in goes right
• 2:01:38
  back out to directly to sport because, I mean, Roger, you just got a 20% raise not long ago, right?
• 2:01:44
  What's 20% of zero? 20%.
• 2:01:50
  It's still 20% of nothing. Funny math is 20% of something.
• 2:01:54
  But at the end of the day, we don't get paid. Why? Because we're truly doing
• 2:01:57
  it because people have asked over and over again, what's your ultimate goal?
• 2:02:01
  Is it to grow this thing? It's like, no, it's not to grow. It's to professionalize what we already do.
• 2:02:06
  Mike, you're going to hear, you can understand this.
• 2:02:08
  When I say I want to professionalize it, I mean, the people that go down to
• 2:02:12
  the hunt, we pay for their flights down there. We pay for, you know, those kinds of things.
• 2:02:17
  Professionalize means instead of us busting our humps to raise money for the
• 2:02:22
  next dog, we already have that money.
• 2:02:24
  We already have that dog funded. We already have the next 20 veterans going
• 2:02:29
  through the mental health and wellness facility funded.
• 2:02:32
  And we're just, we're sketching out a year ahead. That's what I mean by professionalizing.
• 2:02:36
  I don't want to grow. I don't want this to be, because part of what we believe
• 2:02:40
  in is this friend, family environment.
• 2:02:43
  And I truly do believe in that. And I don't want to grow outside of that because
• 2:02:48
  that'll take away our effectiveness.
• 2:02:50
  I'd be curious, your thoughts. And the, you know, it's kind of like what's going, you know, going at it.
• 2:02:54
  It's like, we need to identify, you know, good organizations that,
• 2:02:57
  you know, we can partner up with that we can, you know.
• 2:03:00
  Basically you know be compatible with in terms of we offer something that they
• 2:03:05
  don't or vice versa here's the four things we do really good
• 2:03:08
  now we're a rolodex for other partners we support right right well it kind of
• 2:03:13
  went populated with junior right so down in atlanta doing doing the hunt even
• 2:03:16
  though eric was opposed to it,
• 2:03:18
  it makes sense it's it's it's not about having fun it's about actually it's
• 2:03:23
  a therapy that thing was another charity before right and consumed it right
• 2:03:27
  and you told I remember you told me that Junior reached out to you, and you were like, no.
• 2:03:30
  Well, I actually went through the hunt. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 2:03:33
  I went through it as a recipient, and we ended up consuming it because it was a good thing going on.
• 2:03:40
  But to his point, it's, you know, we've got Operation, you went to the sports.
• 2:03:46
  Oh, Warrior Wishes. Yeah, Warrior Wishes.
• 2:03:49
  Warrior Wishes does a phenomenal program. And Craig is awesome.
• 2:03:52
  Craig sends people to different sporting events, different whatever. We've been to them.
• 2:03:57
  I've taken some people down to the commander's training camp with them.
• 2:04:00
  You wouldn't take me that year, but that's fine. Well, you're not a wounded hero.
• 2:04:05
  But at the end of the day, that goes back to Mike's point.
• 2:04:08
  It's like we don't have to be all things to everybody, but we find that phenomenal
• 2:04:13
  group that we support, that we agree with what their background is,
• 2:04:18
  that do those other things.
• 2:04:19
  We don't have to do it all. I just need to have a war and turnover place to
• 2:04:22
  be able to have people. We help each other grow.
• 2:04:25
  So let me, let me, let me, let me toss this out there.
• 2:04:28
  Then let me make a call out to all of our Ohio friends, anyone that listens to this.
• 2:04:33
  So, I mean, we're going to share this on LinkedIn, all of us will share it on
• 2:04:38
  Facebook and any of our Ohio friends. If you want to get involved,
• 2:04:42
  contact CJ three and what's the website, Eric?
• 2:04:45
  CJ three foundation.org. Yeah. And here's another thing. We all have resources and friends.
• 2:04:54
  For instance, like, you know, with the Cleveland Browns, you know,
• 2:04:57
  why, why can't we try to leverage a friend to support this within the organization of the Cleveland Browns
• 2:05:04
  and get veterans and first responders to go meet one of the players or,
• 2:05:09
  and have an event with them to raise money for this.
• 2:05:12
  Like there's, there's stuff we can do in Ohio, you know, even just going to
• 2:05:16
  the football hall of fame, bro, you know, that I mean, at the end of the day,
• 2:05:19
  you get in the Midwest, great lakes.
• 2:05:21
  I associate them all to be the same, whatever. But at the end of the day,
• 2:05:25
  you got some tremendously patriotic people that want to serve and support.
• 2:05:29
  I see it every time I go back there, whether it's Ohio, whether it's Iowa.
• 2:05:32
  I've lived in Wisconsin.
• 2:05:34
  All of them have some phenomenally patriotic folks that want to support.
• 2:05:40
  But that goes back to we can't be everywhere as staff.
• 2:05:44
  So we need to go back to, you know, how do we get our recipients involved?
• 2:05:48
  We're doing okay, but I still consider us a small to medium charity.
• 2:05:54
  I don't have any desire to grow it. If it does, great. If it doesn't.
• 2:05:58
  We're still helping out a number of folks.
• 2:06:01
  You're helping out more people than are not helping out.
• 2:06:05
  You know what I mean? Yeah, no, I hear you. It's like, and what I mean by that
• 2:06:09
  is like, a lot of people will say they want to help out, but it's all words.
• 2:06:14
  Brother, let me tell you now. It's all words. I can tell you this running a
• 2:06:17
  charity, and Mikey, you've seen it. Not all helps, good help, right? Mm-hmm.
• 2:06:21
  And to Mikey's point, he didn't want to be not good help at that time,
• 2:06:24
  because that's why he said he didn't want to become our ambassador for what for ohio,
• 2:06:29
  and that's fine because he's still doing phenomenal work but he does sounds
• 2:06:33
  like he's a leader in ohio already oh yes he absolutely is but he's doing it
• 2:06:37
  as he can when he can versus right what you took the step which is,
• 2:06:42
  why eric's basically calling out not all help is good help and he's pointing
• 2:06:46
  at me when he says that it's fine.
• 2:06:49
  I'll just call you a second million out of there he was looking at me He was
• 2:06:53
  looking at you because he didn't want to point at me exactly.
• 2:06:55
  But I'm, I'm going to tell you, you know, one of the biggest things I will tell
• 2:06:58
  you, I'm, I'm humbled by running this program when I have my personal friends,
• 2:07:04
  Mikey being one of them and, and truly we bust each other's hump a lot and I
• 2:07:08
  appreciate the hell out of you.
• 2:07:10
  When they voluntarily go through the program, find value, provide feedback,
• 2:07:16
  and then become part of the process, dude, that's humbling, man.
• 2:07:21
  Like, no greater compliment, you know, could I have than, you know,
• 2:07:25
  I've got Mike, I've got Chris as our deputy director, I've got,
• 2:07:29
  you know, folks like that.
• 2:07:30
  You know that it's worth it, Eric. what you started has created a a following
• 2:07:35
  of people that i mean not everybody that goes through is is,
• 2:07:39
  you know is gonna is gonna love it but most people like you said you have a
• 2:07:43
  high percentage of people that go through that that,
• 2:07:45
  and it just shows the value of what you created and we and i don't know if you've
• 2:07:49
  ever talked about why you created it with your challenges coming to the va and
• 2:07:52
  the challenges you have with that and it's not no shot against the va but,
• 2:07:56
  it's not easy and i've,
• 2:07:58
  When you guys, I've heard other vets talk about, you know, when you go in and
• 2:08:02
  say you have a mental health issue to the VA and it's put in your file and it's
• 2:08:06
  not a good thing to be put in your file. And that's not okay either.
• 2:08:09
  Like you're trying to help people and you are. You're successfully,
• 2:08:13
  you've started a foundation that you started out of necessity and created a
• 2:08:17
  following like this where people are willing to help you for no money because
• 2:08:22
  20% of nothing is nothing. I do know the math.
• 2:08:25
  And want to help you. You got a phenomenal award. I know, but it's not,
• 2:08:32
  it's not even about the growth of it, whether it grows or not,
• 2:08:34
  you can only put so many three people, three people through Iowa.
• 2:08:37
  But I think the part that you miss out on is like when you do the hunt in,
• 2:08:41
  in Atlanta or down in Georgia.
• 2:08:45
  We have other things that we, you know, we're probably going to be adding on
• 2:08:48
  in the, in the years to come.
• 2:08:49
  That also helps. It's not everybody going through Iowa. I agree.
• 2:08:52
  It's all those other things that you're creating to help that environment, which, well, listen,
• 2:08:56
  well, I'm going to tell you this, It's not even just that even I'm,
• 2:08:59
  I'm amazed at what it does for some of our sponsors, because some of our sponsors
• 2:09:03
  are just looking for, man, we're looking for that good cause to get behind that we believe in.
• 2:09:08
  That's doing the right thing by the money, by the veterans, by the,
• 2:09:13
  and so it's cool to watch the whole thing transform. Cause Mike,
• 2:09:16
  it makes him feel better about giving back.
• 2:09:19
  I hate kissing Eric's ass, but I mean, he did a great thing here.
• 2:09:22
  Really hate this. It's a pain in my ass right now to do that.
• 2:09:25
  Can I, can I interject on this?
• 2:09:27
  Please and and go back to mike on this why do we always go back to mike he's
• 2:09:32
  the guest oh yeah okay i mean he is here for a reason thanks mike he is from ohio you're welcome,
• 2:09:40
  i showed up for you yeah did you really though i was in the area this is this
• 2:09:45
  is a serious question three things,
• 2:09:51
  three parts no it's not three parts it's name three things that made your life
• 2:09:58
  better by going through the cj3 foundation crap.
• 2:10:05
  That is putting him on the spot it'll be good seeing eric naked,
• 2:10:12
  so that contributed to my mental health issues,
• 2:10:17
  so eric ultimately owed you to go through iowa because in my defense i had shower shoes on,
• 2:10:26
  in a lake shower shoes don't make it cold and a light coat of clp because mike
• 2:10:32
  and i both know the floors are gross to blow all together.
• 2:10:39
  We clean that. But in all seriousness, for anyone that's listening that might
• 2:10:45
  be on the fence about going to CJ3, how did it enrich your life?
• 2:10:51
  And obviously, don't talk about things you don't want to talk about.
• 2:10:56
  But say something. And we're not the only game in town. There are some really good ones.
• 2:11:00
  There's a lot that I wouldn't subscribe to, but There, there are good ones.
• 2:11:06
  Just we're not the only game. And they're very, there's some very good ones. Yes.
• 2:11:10
  So, you know, first, first and foremost, I would say,
• 2:11:15
  going through, you know, the program and becoming involved in CJ3 in the capability
• 2:11:21
  that I, you know, in the past that I could, and you know, what I'm able to do now.
• 2:11:26
  In fact, you know, Eric and I were talking about, you know, a couple months ago.
• 2:11:30
  I'm actually going to be supporting Tunnels to Towers in Lynnhurst,
• 2:11:34
  Ohio, setting up a table there and supporting them.
• 2:11:37
  It's their first annual 5K run. Phenomenal organization, by the way.
• 2:11:41
  And so in that just, you know, we're making cracks about Roger's wardrobe being
• 2:11:47
  CJ3. You know, he's got the CJ3, you know, suit.
• 2:11:52
  It's got CJ3 all over it. CJ3 lapel, pants, underwear, socks.
• 2:11:58
  Is there CJ3 underwear? There will be. I did.
• 2:12:02
  I did. I did. I did. So, uh, but it's a small. By the way, before you,
• 2:12:08
  before you continue Tunnels for Towers, I actually ran into somebody at the
• 2:12:11
  other night who saw me with a CJ3 shirt on cause it's all the clothes I have.
• 2:12:16
  She works for Tunnels of Towers or Tunnels and she, we, she couldn't talk that
• 2:12:21
  night cause she lost her voice, but I actually was supposed to get her business
• 2:12:24
  card to figure out how to, how to work with them up here. So. Yeah.
• 2:12:28
  So the funny thing is, I was, I was wearing, you know, a CJ three sweatshirt
• 2:12:34
  and I had to go to the dentist because, you know, my crown popped out and, you know, one of the, uh,
• 2:12:41
  the techs there, she just asked about CJ three. She goes, what,
• 2:12:45
  what is, what is CJ three?
• 2:12:47
  So I started explaining to her and she's like, she's like, Hey,
• 2:12:50
  I'm part of Tunnels of Tower in Lyndhurst.
• 2:12:55
  We're starting an annual run.
• 2:12:58
  I would like you to see you run. Oh no, I'm setting up, I'm setting up the table.
• 2:13:05
  I I'm setting up. No, you're running for us. Right, Mike? Mike.
• 2:13:09
  Yeah tell him tell him to fuck off right now no my me saying yeah is telling
• 2:13:15
  him to fuck off but sorry you gave me billy ray fuck off.
• 2:13:21
  Good recollection sir so i mean,
• 2:13:25
  you know she asked hey would would you be willing to do this i'm like i'm like
• 2:13:29
  yeah i think it sounds like you know a good time a good opportunity to you know
• 2:13:32
  support a good organization i've heard about tunnels and towers in the past
• 2:13:34
  they're phenomenal yeah and so so i'm like i'm like yeah you know,
• 2:13:39
  and i'm like i'm like when is it and she goes you know it's around july 4th
• 2:13:42
  i'm like like please don't say it's like july 4th of the week because i'm not
• 2:13:46
  you know supporting because i'm going to be busy doing some other things,
• 2:13:50
  but it's like the weekend before at the date it's the saturday before 4th of
• 2:13:54
  july so but yeah going out there to partner up with that and i think just partnering
• 2:13:58
  up with good organizations,
• 2:14:01
  you know it's just good for for business no there's there's some organizations
• 2:14:05
  we're willing to partner with we get nothing out of other than showing solidarity,
• 2:14:10
  and working with but and that's one of them yeah for for me it's like you know
• 2:14:13
  with my job i'm probably like the most you know like a lot of us actually are are,
• 2:14:20
  very extroverted introverts so,
• 2:14:24
  i you know i'm talking to people all day you know you know but it's painful
• 2:14:29
  right when you get done you're just exhausted after this we're gonna gonna be
• 2:14:32
  like what the hell just happened you just exhausted i'll be like i'll be like,
• 2:14:38
  that was a lot right but uh that's after we because we didn't get fed yeah we,
• 2:14:43
  were whoa we were promised pizza,
• 2:14:46
  that's on dominoes not me.
• 2:14:49
  Zoid got it but uh.
• 2:15:01
  But so you know just you know being part of the organization you know wearing the apparel.
• 2:15:08
  It gets people all the time right i mean i could ask dude all right let me ask this.
• 2:15:14
  What what shirt do you wear that gets asked about the most i know what you're gonna say,
• 2:15:19
  what what shirt do you wear out of the cj3 paraphernalia do you get talked to
• 2:15:23
  the most and it's probably because i wear it the most is a polo shirt okay roger
• 2:15:28
  which one's yours i know what you're gonna say well i'll be honest as of today this shirt might have,
• 2:15:34
  won because i'm wearing i'm wearing it to work now and i got a lot of questions
• 2:15:37
  prior to work it is the send me shirt that always gets the questions so that
• 2:15:41
  that's what's phenomenal like to me all right here's what's funny guy you'll appreciate this,
• 2:15:46
  so when when we were first creating swag and all that stuff so,
• 2:15:51
  our red shirt was was number one top seller every friday because you know we
• 2:15:56
  kind of pimp it and we we were always posting about it and all that and i think
• 2:15:59
  it's a phenomenal movement and i love all the people that are getting behind
• 2:16:03
  it and all that, that's phenomenal.
• 2:16:05
  Red Friday is not just a CJ3 movement. It's a national movement that we just do one part of it.
• 2:16:12
  But- Wait, wait, wait. Yeah. Explain, you explain this every time.
• 2:16:15
  Do it again, though. Red Friday, remember everyone deployed,
• 2:16:18
  all right? So on Fridays, you should wear red, and it's remember everyone deployed.
• 2:16:23
  There's a number of businesses in Loudoun County that are getting behind that and wearing it.
• 2:16:27
  We wear it as CJ3 foundations. If you don't have one and you want one,
• 2:16:31
  go in our- raven tech is doing it now our sponsor there's a number of places
• 2:16:35
  you can go but it's interesting.
• 2:16:38
  Our number two selling shirt is one that i was actually told not to do or advised
• 2:16:44
  not to do which is funny because when when i put it out or when i conceived of the idea i was told,
• 2:16:52
  typical u.s kind of thing mikey you've heard this,
• 2:16:56
  Don't do politics, don't do religion. So, but I was like, you know what?
• 2:17:01
  One of my founding verses is the send me. Who shall I send? Send me.
• 2:17:05
  So we have a send me shirt and it's really cool shirt. You know,
• 2:17:08
  it's got the silhouettes and all that stuff of the different services on it
• 2:17:12
  in the send me logo. And it's got the verse on the back.
• 2:17:16
  Oddly enough, that's our number two selling shirt behind Red Friday.
• 2:17:19
  Do you know how many people will read the back of my shirt or they'll see the front.
• 2:17:22
  They tell me they love it. And then they read the back of the shirt and they're
• 2:17:25
  like, that's fantastic. It is absolutely astonishing. It doesn't matter.
• 2:17:29
  I wore it this weekend at some point, and someone asked me about it.
• 2:17:33
  It's just insane, the number of people.
• 2:17:35
  And they caught me off guard, and I went back and gave them the card to go look
• 2:17:39
  online to order, because they're like, oh my God, I love that.
• 2:17:42
  And I get one. I don't fucking know what you're talking about.
• 2:17:44
  I'm amazed by the response of it.
• 2:17:46
  I got a wonderful idea for you guys. Uh-oh. The guy in the sky.
• 2:17:50
  You guys should commission Invader Girl to make a send-me artwork.
• 2:17:55
  Oh, shit. Ooh. Let's do it. Yes.
• 2:17:59
  Is that before or after we built the 1968? 68.
• 2:18:04
  No, I mean, Invader's Girl's going to be a little less expensive.
• 2:18:08
  It's a weekly thing now. Apparently, Guy tells us that we have to buy things.
• 2:18:14
  I think Guy has stock. It kind of sounds like air. Guy has stock across Loudoun
• 2:18:18
  County, and he's like, you need to buy this and do this. It'll be a good idea.
• 2:18:22
  You know, Google will actually.
• 2:18:26
  Invader Girl, though, it would be a couple thousand. Hey, I'm going to tell you this, guy.
• 2:18:30
  So you originally talked about
• 2:18:33
  Invader Girl and the art, and I'm kind of like, eh, okay, okay, okay.
• 2:18:37
  Me and Roger came into your studio and saw...
• 2:18:42
  The art you have from her and dude i'm floored i mean bottom line is the art
• 2:18:48
  you have in your studio and this is just a,
• 2:18:50
  small percentage of what she does naz phenomenal so kudos to her that she does
• 2:18:57
  an amazing job and from what i understand is,
• 2:19:02
  we're going to have a piece in one of our upcoming raffles you are you are going
• 2:19:06
  to have compliments compliments of negative bounce production well no compliments
• 2:19:12
  to the warriors and watchmen,
• 2:19:15
  that's what it's complimenting to that that's cute we appreciate you but,
• 2:19:19
  the support the support that everybody provides it takes a village it takes
• 2:19:23
  a village but but but like in all seriousness now like i'm going to go back
• 2:19:27
  to this if you commissioned her,
• 2:19:31
  for send me holy shit could you make epic,
• 2:19:37
  epic Because I'm going to work with that.
• 2:19:38
  I'm going to tell you one, just if you know, if you're familiar with the verse,
• 2:19:42
  the whom shall I send, send me like, dude, every one of us answered the call. Let's face it.
• 2:19:47
  That's 1%, right? You and I have talked about that over and over again. 1%.
• 2:19:52
  That's such a powerful statement in our culture, in our world of what we support and what we do.
• 2:20:00
  So, dude, I love that thing. And I would love to see what she came up with. That'd be awesome.
• 2:20:07
  Sure. Yeah, we should figure that out.
• 2:20:09
  Let's get her on the phone, man. Let's get her on the phone.
• 2:20:13
  That'd be cool. We'll do that. Not tonight.
• 2:20:16
  No. That wouldn't be good. You couldn't even get down with him.
• 2:20:20
  I didn't get him on the phone.
• 2:20:22
  Unfortunately, they barely spoke English.
• 2:20:27
  All right, Mikey. Thumbs up, thumbs down. Where are we at, brother?
• 2:20:31
  All right. I've got two other things I've got to tell. Did we cut you off?
• 2:20:35
  Yeah, we did. Of course we did.
• 2:20:38
  What do we do here? So, one of the other, you know, three things I got out of.
• 2:20:42
  Cut Michelle. No, I'm scared of her.
• 2:20:46
  So, one of the other things is the holistic approach to a physical health aspect during the retreat.
• 2:20:53
  So, it's using different kinds of technology.
• 2:20:57
  Alternatives. Yeah, the alternative stuff. So, you know, it had the infrared
• 2:21:00
  sauna, the pulse electronic.
• 2:21:03
  Neurofeedback. Yeah, neurofeedback, the pulse, you know.
• 2:21:06
  The what? PMF. PMF, yep. you know magnetic uh field therapy.
• 2:21:12
  And just like that stuff you know it it was amazing i mean i kept my you know
• 2:21:17
  bro it sounds like voodoo yeah yeah,
• 2:21:20
  yeah it does but i kept an open mind but like i felt so much better like after all that like i would go,
• 2:21:29
  you know the bed at like eight o'clock and i was out like a light and i slept
• 2:21:33
  through the night and you did nothing all day yeah right Literally,
• 2:21:36
  you did nothing all day but go through treatment. Yeah.
• 2:21:38
  And, you know, just sitting there, you know, and all that. So,
• 2:21:42
  to that effect, I mean, I took a lot out of that. And I ended up getting myself
• 2:21:46
  an infrared sauna for my house. And I got a PMF, you know, mat as well. Bougie. Yeah.
• 2:21:53
  You know, your HSA will pay for it, by the way. Well, that's Cleveland, Bougie.
• 2:21:59
  That's fine. It's Cleveland. It's fine. It's, I'm sorry, outside of Cleveland.
• 2:22:03
  I don't know if you can count, but now you're at number three.
• 2:22:06
  Yeah, I've got it. Number C.
• 2:22:12
  So, C, J.
• 2:22:17
  Nicely done. so the uh the third one would be the mental health looking at the
• 2:22:25
  aspect so you did the neurofeedback we also spoke with you know,
• 2:22:30
  dr thomas and going through you know the the aspect of like hey what what's
• 2:22:36
  affecting us learning more about ourselves took a couple tests you did the rorschach
• 2:22:42
  test right yeah i did yeah,
• 2:22:44
  and that's the one i threw her off so we won't bring that up there,
• 2:22:51
  i don't want to know i don't want to know your rorschach test hippa,
• 2:22:56
  but you know the one test you know it was you know,
• 2:23:01
  at at the end of the day you know you're provided with a printout of hey this
• 2:23:05
  is the basics of what we're going to talk about the following day you know the
• 2:23:09
  homework was hey you know read this and see how you know,
• 2:23:13
  how actually accurate it is to your life and it was spot on 100 dude the number
• 2:23:19
  of people i hear say that which is spooky right it's almost it's creepy yeah
• 2:23:23
  and i'm like i'm like okay and then you know speaking with you know dr thomas and,
• 2:23:28
  Like, yep, sorry.
• 2:23:32
  I'm sorry. Sorry, my Rorschach test. I saw your son's penis.
• 2:23:36
  It's weird. It's weird for me too. I love him.
• 2:23:39
  You know, Mike, like, um. She's like, she's like, now I know why you're such
• 2:23:43
  good friends with my son.
• 2:23:45
  That is the funny thing. So my friends go through and they go,
• 2:23:48
  I understand why you're friends with him.
• 2:23:52
  You know, it's a crazy thing is so like with what you guys are talking about
• 2:23:55
  and what Mike's talking about.
• 2:23:57
  So I don't know if you guys listen to this Huberman, like the Huberman podcast.
• 2:24:02
  He goes into the neurological stuff specifically with men.
• 2:24:06
  And, you know, he talks about the chemical stuff, even things like your diet,
• 2:24:12
  your, how you build muscle, all kinds of different things.
• 2:24:15
  And you know what you just described is he's described that in several podcasts
• 2:24:20
  from the because he's a neuro doctor,
• 2:24:23
  and it is so interesting to listen to and and knowing what you know being through
• 2:24:28
  what you've been through if you listen to huberman and some of those things
• 2:24:32
  it would all add up it would it would all just make sense
• 2:24:36
  also when all that happens guy let me tell you this is it's also interesting so,
• 2:24:40
  the person that leads is our mental health is my mom as stated so it's really
• 2:24:45
  interesting so i'm a human professional my job is to turn people against the
• 2:24:50
  governments against their whatever right your job is to destroy people.
• 2:24:55
  I'm joking but at the end of the day it's interesting,
• 2:24:59
  because a lot of the training and a lot of the dynamics and things are the same,
• 2:25:04
  it's just for a different outcome outcome yeah it's to read people for the set
• 2:25:08
  to get the same things but it's for a different result and so i i it's very
• 2:25:13
  interesting talking to my mom about some of these things that she's,
• 2:25:17
  but but i'll tell you thank god for thank god for uh the people that support
• 2:25:22
  this i appreciate the hell out of mikey he's a great friend he's a great ally
• 2:25:26
  he's been a great buddy throughout.
• 2:25:29
  The nice thing about having my buddies go through,
• 2:25:33
  As you can tell, we're brutally honest. If he went through and saw something
• 2:25:36
  he didn't like, he would go, bro, are you kidding me? What was that?
• 2:25:40
  Right? Like, the phenomenal thing about my buddies going through.
• 2:25:44
  He could probably go through and not say anything. He'd be able to know if it
• 2:25:47
  was good or not. Oh, yeah. But he wouldn't either. He wouldn't do that. I would tell.
• 2:25:53
  My handful of real good friends. Especially when he treated you when you first met.
• 2:25:56
  I'd try to tell you, too. Shit. My handful of good friends would tell me and tell me for real.
• 2:26:00
  And so the fact that it was able to help them out, man, I could,
• 2:26:05
  I could be done today and no better blessing candidly that like the fact that
• 2:26:09
  it helped me and help them.
• 2:26:12
  I don't need anything else. All the, all the extra is gravy.
• 2:26:15
  And I'm just glad where we're at candidly.
• 2:26:18
  So Mikey, I very much appreciate you being here.
• 2:26:21
  We love you. You're down here pretty regularly. Roger's gotten to know you.
• 2:26:25
  He likes you, even though he's tired of your ass being down here. No, I want him down more.
• 2:26:31
  He's not coming down more. You are not allowed to talk to my supervisor either.
• 2:26:35
  Guy in the sky, I got one. You met him last time. I got a challenge for you, guy in the sky.
• 2:26:41
  Accepted you need to come you need to come to iowa and come see oh i a hundred
• 2:26:47
  percent like great job like mike mike we can i i think michael agree we can
• 2:26:52
  give it words but it doesn't do it justice until you see it,
• 2:26:56
  yeah i mean i would like to go through it and that'd be awesome and then be able to like,
• 2:27:02
  point some of my friends that need a hundred percent there that'd be great The
• 2:27:06
  biggest thing I would say is, you know, or, you know, especially for,
• 2:27:11
  you know, from my point of view,
• 2:27:13
  it's for men is the, the mental health thing is like, Hey, I'm supposed to be strong.
• 2:27:19
  I'm supposed to, you know, just, you know, internalize it and not,
• 2:27:22
  you know, not share it, not share my thoughts, my feelings or whatever.
• 2:27:26
  And it just builds up to a point where you know it becomes just totally bad
• 2:27:31
  for a person you know whether it leads to you know that that energy you know
• 2:27:36
  that negativeness being you know dished out to a loved one or to somebody else.
• 2:27:42
  It needs you know it's like a pressure cooker it needs a release somehow and
• 2:27:46
  going through through the retreat as i you know i keep saying it actually helps you know,
• 2:27:54
  release that you know that negative energy and the aspect of like the stigma of you know,
• 2:28:02
  being able to talk you know share the the experiences share the thoughts you
• 2:28:07
  know the you know the concerns the fears and all that so
• 2:28:11
  whether it be going or sitting around you know a campfire you know shooting
• 2:28:15
  the shit with it you know fellow veterans you know you know first responders
• 2:28:18
  or whatever, or going to actually seek a mental, you know, health, you know, professional,
• 2:28:24
  getting the help, you know, whether it be just talking or in some cases where
• 2:28:28
  people actually need, you know, the medication aspect,
• 2:28:31
  getting that help, you know, just knowing, you know, that it's available to
• 2:28:34
  you and you're able to get it and just, you know, get the, just get the help that you need.
• 2:28:42
  You know, I'm going to pile, I'm going to say one last, my last thing before.
• 2:28:46
  Oh Lord. That we probably do have to wrap up. My last thing.
• 2:28:50
  Yeah, I talk a little too much on this. Sorry. You're fine.
• 2:28:53
  You're not talking too much. Not as much as Eric. The thing is, it's like,
• 2:28:58
  you know, sometimes me personally, and I'm sure everybody in this room.
• 2:29:03
  The women that are here, your ladies, you guys, when sometimes all it takes
• 2:29:09
  is just someone to listen.
• 2:29:11
  Sometimes that's the first part of the healing process. Like,
• 2:29:15
  I know like personally, you know, I might be stressed out and it's just a buildup of stuff.
• 2:29:21
  And, you know, all I want to do is just call one of my buddies.
• 2:29:24
  I just want to call one of my buddies and just be like, dude,
• 2:29:27
  what's up, man? And just hear their voice.
• 2:29:29
  And, you know, the thing is, is with groups like this and foundations like this,
• 2:29:32
  you know, it provides that.
• 2:29:34
  It provides, you know, you don't, you don't have to do a doctor,
• 2:29:39
  but you know what I mean? You don't have to do that, right?
• 2:29:43
  But the first step is, is like, you got some dudes around a fire and that are just there to listen.
• 2:29:48
  Or even show up to our local events and hang out with like-minded people, right?
• 2:29:51
  Yeah, that's it. Hang out with your deployed brothers. Yeah,
• 2:29:54
  that's the start of the whole process of, you know, whatever you're going through.
• 2:29:58
  And, you know, like, I think that's the important part of it. It's fellowship.
• 2:30:03
  It's fellowship across the board. And, you know, that fellowship might lead
• 2:30:07
  to a treatment of some sort, but it all starts with fellowship.
• 2:30:10
  And sometimes all that's needed is fellowship. Yep. Right. That's it.
• 2:30:15
  Nope. I agree. Well, yeah.
• 2:30:17
  Mikey, appreciate the hell out of you being here. Yeah, man.
• 2:30:20
  It's an honor and a privilege to have my buddy on here.
• 2:30:23
  Yeah. Appreciate what you're doing in Ohio. Can't wait to see what that grows into being.
• 2:30:27
  Yeah. I hope you get additional help out there to support the foundation and
• 2:30:32
  we continue to grow out in your area because candidly, selfishly,
• 2:30:36
  that gives me more reason to come out and see you and hang out with you.
• 2:30:39
  But luckily, you come down here pretty regularly and me and Roger get to see
• 2:30:43
  you and hang out with you.
• 2:30:43
  Yeah. Somebody comes to Ohio, you know, on a regular basis. They all make an
• 2:30:47
  effort to come see me. I'm just saying. I'm putting it out there.
• 2:30:49
  I mean, I believe you were drinking whiskey last time. Can I tell you this,
• 2:30:53
  though? It sounds really far, but when you look at a map, it's only five and
• 2:30:56
  a half hours. It's not that far. It's only five and a half hours.
• 2:30:59
  It really sounds far. It's not very far. Before he finishes up,
• 2:31:02
  I do want to say, and I know this is going to make you uncomfortable,
• 2:31:04
  and I'm doing it because I'm being honest. Thank you for your service.
• 2:31:07
  Yes, I'm going to hug you later. That's late. It's tonight.
• 2:31:10
  Thank you for your service, and thank you for your friendship,
• 2:31:12
  and I appreciate you coming out to know this. Appreciate it.
• 2:31:15
  Mikey, love you. Love what you do. Love your support. And thanks for me and my good buddy.
• 2:31:22
  And thanks for coming on board. And this is the...
• 2:31:28
  Go ahead, Roger. He's going to screw it up. Warriors and Watchmen.
• 2:31:31
  There you go. This is a warrior.