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A Firefighter Shares How Faith Rebuilt His Life with Dana Corriveau · The Elsa Kurt Show

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Today's guest is someone whose story is really about service, struggle, faith, and what can happen when you decide to turn some of the hardest parts of your own life into a way of helping somebody else.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: Dana Korrivo served eight years in the United States Air Force, including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
0:15
SPEAKER_00: Today he's a firefighter with the New Britain Fire Department, a father of two, and the founder of Mantle Challenge.
0:22
SPEAKER_00: But there's quite a bit between those chapters.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: Dana went through a very dark period in his own life, and with the help of friends, faith, and ultimately a relationship with Jesus, he found his way forward.
0:34
SPEAKER_00: Now he's using that experience to reach back for others, particularly members of the Air Force Special Warfare community and their families.
0:41
SPEAKER_00: Through Mantle Challenge and its second annual fundraising event coming up September 26th and 27th.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: Let's welcome Dana to the show.
0:50
SPEAKER_02: Well, hello, everyone, and hello, Dana.
0:53
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for coming on the show today.
0:55
SPEAKER_02: I appreciate you.
0:56
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, thank you.
0:57
SPEAKER_03: Also, thank you for having me.
0:58
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
0:59
SPEAKER_02: So we have a lot to get into here.
1:02
SPEAKER_02: And um, the biggest thing we'll we'll be talking about as we move along is going to be the mantle challenge.
1:07
SPEAKER_02: But I want to I want for the audience to get to know you a little bit because you have a pretty amazing story and uh and I and I want to share it.
1:15
SPEAKER_02: Um, right off the bat, you spent eight years in the Air Force, uh, including tours in Iraq and uh Afghanistan.
1:22
SPEAKER_02: Uh if you could take us back a little bit and you know, right off the bat, what led you into the military?
1:28
SPEAKER_03: Um, so blue-collar family growing up in uh Plainville, Connecticut.
1:34
SPEAKER_03: Um, dad was a framer, started learning this trade up in Canada with my uncles, and then came down here and uh started his own construction company, built the house that is that is still there today.
1:43
SPEAKER_03: My parents still live in now.
1:44
SPEAKER_03: And um we just as a kid playing in the woods all the time.
1:48
SPEAKER_03: It was one of those things where it's like, you know, uh my kids will never understand this, but like you're riding your bikes across town.
1:54
SPEAKER_03: Hey, be home before dark.
1:55
SPEAKER_03: Drinking, you know, it's like, hey, you want water, go to the garden nose.
1:59
SPEAKER_03: You know, so up in the woods all the time.
2:01
SPEAKER_03: And uh yeah, like I as that kind of a kid though, just being out in the woods and just you know, doing all kinds of shenanigans, um, didn't really have a drive for school whatsoever, as most kids do, I think.
2:12
SPEAKER_03: But um Jim was the only class that I excelled in, and I didn't have really any educational aspirations.
2:18
SPEAKER_03: I do remember, as I know most, I think most people do when on 9-11, and obviously with its you know 25th anniversary just passing and everything, I still remember exactly where I was sitting when it happened and what my teacher, which funny enough, I don't really remember that many teachers' names, but I remember his name because again, because of it, um, his name was Mr.
2:34
SPEAKER_03: Bogdan, it was my history teacher.
2:36
SPEAKER_03: He was like, remember the name Osama bin Laden before we left the class and we were dismissed for the day.
2:40
SPEAKER_03: And I was like, this was before, you know, I was in eighth grade, so I was you know, towards pushing towards my freshman year of high school.
2:45
SPEAKER_03: And um, yeah, I just remember being dismissed and that and I just remember seeing all kinds of stuff on CNN and stuff like that.
2:53
SPEAKER_03: Um, when you know the Marines were pushing through, you know, Fallujah and all that other stuff as I was getting ready to think of my sophomore or junior year in high school.
3:01
SPEAKER_03: And I just remember, you know, watching all the movies that I used to watch, like Brave Heart Gladiator, all those kinds of movies.
3:06
SPEAKER_03: You know, I didn't really have a drive for school.
3:08
SPEAKER_03: I didn't really see I knew I knew I I knew I wasn't an academic, so I was like, let me uh let me see uh let me see what else I could do.
3:16
SPEAKER_03: And I had a buddy of mine, my cousins had gone in the Air Force, and I didn't really have that much knowledge of like military stuff in general.
3:22
SPEAKER_03: Like I knew what it was, like it, but only from the movies, not from really having any like family reference.
3:28
SPEAKER_03: Because even when my cousins went, they were just starting Metadjourney into there, so they already in it.
3:30
SPEAKER_03: It wasn't like I had like a touch point to just like grab a hold of them and talk to them.
3:33
SPEAKER_03: And this was just as like I forget when the Next Tale brick cell phones came out and stuff like that.
3:39
SPEAKER_02: I remember those, yeah.
3:41
SPEAKER_03: Those were just like it wasn't like I was just like calling somebody on the cell phone or anything like that to see I can stuff.
3:45
SPEAKER_03: Um, but uh yeah, I I I had the I had the wisdom to see how, for whatever reason, to see how hard my parents were working.
3:52
SPEAKER_03: And I was like, I'm not gonna go to college because one, I don't know what I want to do.
3:56
SPEAKER_03: And two, I think like as a man, like it's like almost it's almost seems like watching all these movies is the right of passage to go fight for your country in some respect.
4:03
SPEAKER_03: So that was that for me was the driving factor for me just getting into the military because no, no uh aspirations to do anything in college or any idea of what I wanted to be.
4:13
SPEAKER_03: And I just yeah, I've always kind of had like somewhat of a protector mindset.
4:17
SPEAKER_03: So like I'm like, okay, let's let's just do that.
4:19
SPEAKER_03: So we'll go from there.
4:20
SPEAKER_02: It's actually such a mature, um, self-aware mindset to have at such a young age to like know maybe you didn't necessarily know what you wanted, but you definitely knew what you didn't want, which is like actually really impressive.
4:32
SPEAKER_02: And and I I think, you know, I think that's a great starting point all the time when you may not know what you want, but you know what you don't want.
4:38
SPEAKER_02: And so you're already kind of like narrowing it down and and finding a path.
4:42
SPEAKER_02: And and I thank you for choosing the path that you did as a you know, as a diehard patriot and lover of this country, you know, anyone who stands up to defend it and uh and the the people here is uh you know, just hero status in my eyes.
4:56
SPEAKER_02: So thank you very much.
4:57
SPEAKER_03: It was my pleasure.
4:58
SPEAKER_02: So and you are a guy, so and you're a guy, a real, like a manly guy.
5:03
SPEAKER_02: So it's like that's kind of fun for you, right?
5:04
SPEAKER_02: The whole thing is also fun.
5:06
SPEAKER_03: It's so funny.
5:07
SPEAKER_03: Like I like because obviously comparisons like the thief of joy and stuff like that.
5:11
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, man, there's still so many things I have to learn how to do to be like the man that I want to be.
5:16
SPEAKER_03: Uh huh.
5:16
SPEAKER_03: This is hysterical, but yes, to your point, yeah.
5:18
SPEAKER_03: Like there's certain things for sure.
5:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
5:21
SPEAKER_02: Now you served in security forces.
5:24
SPEAKER_02: Um, what did those eight years and particularly those deployments do to shape the person that you've become?
5:30
SPEAKER_03: Uh so again, joining up, got into security forces, it just it looked cool enough for me.
5:35
SPEAKER_03: I was like, oh, that you know, like you get to shoot like machine guns and all kinds of other stuff.
5:38
SPEAKER_03: Like, I didn't even like like I knew about infantry, but I was always told, hey, if you have the opportunity to go to the Air Force, they take the best care of you.
5:44
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, okay, so I'll join the Air Force.
5:46
SPEAKER_03: That was like the one little nugget I got.
5:47
SPEAKER_03: That was the one thing I ran with.
5:48
SPEAKER_03: I was like, oh, this job still got guns, that seems cool.
5:50
SPEAKER_03: And so went and did that.
5:52
SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, boot camp was only like a month and a half long, it wasn't that bad.
5:55
SPEAKER_03: It was pretty funny.
5:56
SPEAKER_03: Uh I uh I remember the first couple weeks, I was like, it was a mess.
5:59
SPEAKER_03: I was I was like crying and stuff because I'd never been away from home or whatever.
6:02
SPEAKER_03: But uh I remember one of the drill sergeants, like, you know, it's funny, he uh he didn't like flip the guy like right out of the bed, but he lifted the bed up and the guy came out and I was like, and these guys were like huge, and I was like, whoa, like he's so it's pretty funny.
6:14
SPEAKER_03: And I remember like the it was like the first week or whatever, like you learn that you can't like like your food isn't like really food, it's just liquid.
6:22
SPEAKER_03: You're stuffing it in like a glass of water and just like putting it back or whatever.
6:26
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I couldn't keep it down, and you I remember just throwing up and like the guy was like, you know, just the guy came like hovered across the tables, and he was like, he was like, Holy crap, old faithful.
6:36
SPEAKER_03: He's like, Pick that up, you know, like it was it was so funny.
6:40
SPEAKER_03: Um, and I was like, I was just I was so disoriented.
6:42
SPEAKER_03: But then after like the first two weeks, I settled right in.
6:44
SPEAKER_03: I was like, Oh, okay, I get I get the game here, I get what's going on, obviously everything.
6:47
SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry, you were fresh out of high school?
6:49
SPEAKER_02: Was that fresh out of high school?
6:51
SPEAKER_02: Oh boy.
6:51
SPEAKER_03: So it was my birthday was in September, so I shipped out in October.
6:55
SPEAKER_03: Um, so yeah, I was I was fresh.
6:57
SPEAKER_03: And uh I went to security forces school was cool, did a lot of different things.
7:01
SPEAKER_03: Um, and then uh that was a couple months, and then uh I got to my first base, which was the McGuire Air Force Base.
7:07
SPEAKER_03: And the way like you do it is like you pick, they they they tell you at least the boot camp for the ones that listen, like you can you have a better chance of being where you want to be if you regionalize your selections.
7:17
SPEAKER_03: So for all of your Oakonus bases, overseas bases, just pick bases that are all in the same area.
7:21
SPEAKER_03: So if you want Europe, pick everything around Europe.
7:24
SPEAKER_03: If you want Pacific, pick everything around Pacific.
7:26
SPEAKER_03: And so that's what I did.
7:27
SPEAKER_03: I picked everything around Pacific, and then uh in uh for stateside, I just picked East Coast because it's where my family was.
7:33
SPEAKER_03: So I picked all East Coast, and then I got New Jersey, so it was like right down the road, um yeah, which was like three hours away, three and a half hours away from where I am up here, and uh was there for I was at McGuire for um six years, and that's where I did my you know tour to Iraq and Afghanistan.
7:47
SPEAKER_03: And I remember my first year, it's kind of your first year is kind of like your probation year, like you're getting all of your on-the-job training stuff like filled out, any other qualifications you need, um, quality control exercises that you gotta do to get those qualifications.
7:59
SPEAKER_03: And then um I uh and then you gotta finish your CDCs, which is your course development course or your career development courses, which is just like so you can get like your apprenticeship, your journeyman or your craftsman, and then like you know, um your master craftsman or whatever is, I forget what it is.
8:14
SPEAKER_03: Um, but like you the uh those CDCs are kind of they give you your five level, seven level, and your nine level for like your career field so you can like promote and progress and everything else.
8:22
SPEAKER_03: Um, but for when you get on apprenticeship is what you're kind of doing.
8:25
SPEAKER_03: And so uh or excuse me, journeyman.
8:28
SPEAKER_03: And then so uh I remember the first year is like just like it's like like a lot like probation, like it is at the firehouse that I'm at now.
8:34
SPEAKER_03: And it was you there, I didn't realize the different opportunities that you had in security forces.
8:39
SPEAKER_03: It's really cool.
8:39
SPEAKER_03: You can make like security forces is kind of like the throwaway for the Air Force for like the current field.
8:44
SPEAKER_03: So, like there, because like everything in the Air Force is pretty specialized for the most part, from fighter pilots to you know, whatever intelligence officers to you know, the Air Force Special Warfare guys that we're supporting to, you know, you name it, right?
8:56
SPEAKER_03: Like, not everybody wants to be a cop, and like it's security force is like a combination of like air base defense guys and policing.
9:04
SPEAKER_03: And I think the career field, from what I understand now, is kind of separating into two.
9:08
SPEAKER_03: Uh it because when it when it started, it got its origins in Vietnam, with just there wasn't an air based defense plan like for a while.
9:16
SPEAKER_03: So the Air Force came up with one, and that's how kind of how our storied history came to be.
9:20
SPEAKER_03: But um, it was just through learning light infantry tactics and all kinds of other stuff.
9:24
SPEAKER_03: And um, that doesn't make us like a light infantry.
9:26
SPEAKER_03: We're more of it, or we're support element.
9:28
SPEAKER_03: That's what the Air Force does.
9:29
SPEAKER_03: We we support the moving forces to to do what they need to do.
9:33
SPEAKER_03: Um, and so uh I remember you could do canine, you could do flyaway security, you could go.
9:39
SPEAKER_03: There was uh for us, it was sniper school, not the army's sniper school at the time, although you still have that opportunity depending on what base you're stationed at, like they they still have slots for you to go to that.
9:49
SPEAKER_03: I mean, there's stuff now that I'm hearing about.
9:50
SPEAKER_03: You can go to like jungle school, you can go to like ranger, you know, ranger school to get the to get the the ranger tab if you want to get leadership school, because it's a leadership school at the end of the day.
9:59
SPEAKER_03: Um there's you know, all kinds of there's all kinds of opportunities in security forces.
10:03
SPEAKER_03: So you can have a pretty epic career.
10:04
SPEAKER_03: You could go to jump school, you could go to air assault, there's all kinds of stuff.
10:07
SPEAKER_03: So in to to get to those schools, you gotta be motivated and just be in shape.
10:11
SPEAKER_03: So for the most part, and if you if the opportunity is there, you just strike.
10:14
SPEAKER_03: So um I had the I saw these guys coming through the uh the base one day, they had all these like ghillie suits on and stuff, and uh oh, they weren't on in the truck, but you could see them hanging in the back and they only they had like paint on, they just must have came from like size or whatever.
10:27
SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, what are these guys?
10:29
SPEAKER_03: I've never like I'm on the military base, but I'm an air force.
10:31
SPEAKER_03: This is like an army base, so I'm sure maybe more prevalent.
10:34
SPEAKER_03: Even though Ford Dex is right there, like I'm on the Air Force side.
10:37
SPEAKER_03: This was before they combined it to a joint that doing the stuff with the joint bases where it's now joint base mcuire, decks like hearst.
10:43
SPEAKER_03: And so I was like, man, like this dude was like he was like my he was like my my uh my my drill sergeant.
10:49
SPEAKER_03: He was huge, he was like 240, 250 pounds.
10:52
SPEAKER_03: This other guy was just like mean as a tick, like southern draw and stuff like that.
10:57
SPEAKER_03: And uh um I was like, these guys look cool.
11:00
SPEAKER_03: Like, I like what do you guys do?
11:02
SPEAKER_03: And then I saw like they had like the same patches on, and I was like, and this was before like Delcrow and everything else where everything had to get sewn on, and you still have to like press your uniforms and shine your boots and all that stuff and BDUs at the time or battle thrust uniforms, and so uh so I went and talked to my supervisor at the time.
11:18
SPEAKER_03: I was like, hey, who are these guys?
11:19
SPEAKER_03: Like, oh, those are our those are our snipers, and I'm like, Well, how do I go do that?
11:24
SPEAKER_03: Like, how do how do I get into that?
11:26
SPEAKER_03: Like, right, gate.
11:28
SPEAKER_03: Like, like it's as important as it is, and it is important, like I want to go do something else.
11:33
SPEAKER_03: So um uh they I get an introduction, so I get to that, so they were actually staged at a hangar called Big Beige on uh wire Air Force Base.
11:41
SPEAKER_03: So like we were we went out there, went up, went out to the hangar, was second floor in in the hangar.
11:45
SPEAKER_03: So it was my first time at a hangar, it was pretty cool.
11:47
SPEAKER_03: And get to the get to the second floor and I walk in the room, and it's like the room is set, like the stage is set.
11:52
SPEAKER_03: There's this one guy, he's working on his rifle and some other stuff, and then the other guy's out in the back playing guitar, and there's like the you know, this the uh uh the e-6 uh star uh star Mitchell, he's sitting there and he's just like this guy from Texas just looking as mean as a tick.
12:06
SPEAKER_03: Um like I said, he he just is.
12:07
SPEAKER_03: Um, and uh I get brought back to where the guy that's playing guitar is, the big guy that you know his name is like one of my best friends now, uh basically my brother without being my brother, his name's uh George Rhinus.
12:17
SPEAKER_03: And uh he's he's sitting there, he's like, So what makes you think you're capable of being like you know, doing this?
12:24
SPEAKER_03: I was like, I did gymnastics.
12:26
SPEAKER_03: He's like at least like you wore a guitar.
12:28
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, yeah, okay.
12:30
SPEAKER_03: He's like, I'm gonna think you can get out of here.
12:31
SPEAKER_03: And then he started asking me, he's like, wait, before you do, what kind of music do you like?
12:35
SPEAKER_03: I was like, uh Lincoln Park, disturbed, like he's like, it's not gonna work for you, buddy.
12:41
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, what do I gotta do here?
12:43
SPEAKER_03: You know, it was it's pretty funny.
12:45
SPEAKER_03: So he four stars even following them.
12:49
SPEAKER_03: So uh uh I was kind of like tuck and tail, like walking away.
12:53
SPEAKER_03: Sure.
12:53
SPEAKER_03: But then I got a phone call like the next day, and they're like, hey, they want you to come out and like do some PT tests and stuff like that.
12:58
SPEAKER_03: So I gotta put a ruck on and uh with a with a rifle, with a rifle bag too on the back of the ruck.
13:03
SPEAKER_03: So like was rucking right away, and then they took me out to the range and they were doing some shooting with me and stuff like that.
13:09
SPEAKER_03: And they're like, All right, bud, like we just needed you to go on a deployment before we can send you to the school.
13:14
SPEAKER_03: Like, and we can have you come here, we can it's like a they do like a pre-training before they send you to the training so that way they don't the squadron doesn't waste money spending you because if they it looks like you're gonna fail, they're not gonna send you.
13:23
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
13:23
SPEAKER_03: Um, so uh I went to went to Iraq shortly after that, and that was my first deployment.
13:28
SPEAKER_03: And uh that was pretty interesting because we went to Fort Lewis, um uh out in uh Washington state, and it was pretty incredible.
13:36
SPEAKER_03: Um, this was when like so many different things that are being applied now was like went like just as all this stuff was coming out.
13:44
SPEAKER_03: So this is like this is like tourniquets, this is like what they call now TCCC tactical combat casualty care, but was called CLS at the time or combat lifesaver at the time.
13:52
SPEAKER_03: So like they're teaching us how to do IVs, needle decompressions, all kinds of other stuff.
13:57
SPEAKER_03: We're learning, you know, we were learning uh dismounted, mounted, uh CQB stuff from like guys that were, you could tell it.
14:04
SPEAKER_03: I mean, they were they were all deployed before, like multiple deployments already.
14:07
SPEAKER_03: Some some there was even a couple of like just augmented when they could, a couple of second ranger battalion guys that were from out there, and like they were just like, I mean, it was just the training for me, like still sticks with me today.
14:17
SPEAKER_03: It was like it was some of the best training I've ever received.
14:20
SPEAKER_03: Um, and uh we went we went through everything land nav, heavy weapons, small arm, you know, um, small unit tactic, like all kinds of stuff.
14:28
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and uh we went and got deployed and we had an opportunity during the training, you could do gate guard stuff or like base security stuff, just air base defense stuff, or you could volunteer and do um it was called area security operations.
14:41
SPEAKER_03: So you'd be going off base every day.
14:43
SPEAKER_03: I volunteered to do area security operations, and so uh went and did that.
14:47
SPEAKER_03: Um, and that was that was a pretty interesting deployment.
14:50
SPEAKER_03: It was good.
14:50
SPEAKER_03: I I really loved it.
14:51
SPEAKER_03: It was, you know, I remember the first time we're getting ready to go outside base, and uh, you know, my gunner, he does his he does his check, just a couple of right into the right into the burn pit, just making sure, you know, weapons check right before we go out.
15:02
SPEAKER_03: And uh I just remember the Constantine wire and like the way the sun was and the way like the desert was and the lighting and everything.
15:07
SPEAKER_03: I'll never forget it.
15:08
SPEAKER_03: And like there's just like a little bit of like garbage hanging off the Constantine wire.
15:12
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, oh, we're like actually going out into like a war zone now.
15:15
SPEAKER_03: So yeah.
15:16
SPEAKER_02: I just, you know, I can't obviously I can't even imagine, unless you experience, unless you're living, you can't even imagine.
15:21
SPEAKER_02: But I do think about, you know, I'm I'm a small town New England girl.
15:26
SPEAKER_02: Um, you're a small town New England guy, and that is such a far cry.
15:31
SPEAKER_02: That whole experience is such a far cry from regular small town life.
15:35
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, not everybody from home experienced, or most people from home didn't experience what you experienced, didn't have the just um living out.
15:47
SPEAKER_02: I mean, a lot of people don't even leave town, you know.
15:49
SPEAKER_02: So I'm so curious about what it was like um coming home after all of that.
15:54
SPEAKER_02: What was that transition like going from that life back to your your old life, so to speak?
16:01
SPEAKER_03: Uh it was weird.
16:02
SPEAKER_03: It was a bit surreal.
16:03
SPEAKER_03: Like I didn't I didn't have like PTSD or you know anything like that.
16:06
SPEAKER_03: It was because like even at the time, even even if somebody did at the time, like it wasn't you you didn't really you didn't say anything.
16:15
SPEAKER_03: Um I didn't see anything that would have caused that either, but like you know um you don't like you just like kind of like just bury it, you know.
16:25
SPEAKER_03: If there's if you had any issues, uh it was that kind of culture is kind of what I'm getting at, not talking about me personally, but it's just like you you bury that, you don't talk about things, and you just kind of like because you want to be able to go on the to onto the next one because you don't want to be labeled as the guy that won't go out on a deployment, like period.
16:41
SPEAKER_03: And that was like probably the bigger fear than anything else.
16:44
SPEAKER_03: Um, and uh I was really grateful.
16:47
SPEAKER_03: I wanted to go, I was ready to go on my next deployment after that.
16:49
SPEAKER_03: I remember when I came back um sitting at home, like it was it was it was weird.
16:53
SPEAKER_03: Like I I had I had grown up like very quickly, and I realized like I would try and like intermingle and like fit in, like I'd go to chill to a couple parties, people are excited to see me and everything, and like it was so cool.
17:06
SPEAKER_03: But it was just like I knew that I I had already grown up because some of the things that were happening and being said, I'm like, yeah, but that's like not like important at all.
17:12
SPEAKER_03: Like even at like 19, I was still like I'm like all the like I totally changed, um not totally, but like for the most part, you know, I've changed in comparison to my friends.
17:23
SPEAKER_03: Um so yeah, and then it wasn't too long after that that I got to uh go to sniper school and a couple other schools, and then I went to Afghanistan.
17:32
SPEAKER_03: And uh in Afghanistan was you know, it was the opposite of Iraq in that I was stuck on base, and I was while I know every mission is important when we go overseas and do this stuff, I was miserable.
17:46
SPEAKER_03: I was not hard, yeah.
17:48
SPEAKER_03: I was not I wanted because I wanted to be off base.
17:50
SPEAKER_03: I didn't want to be I didn't want to be on base.
17:53
SPEAKER_03: And uh I was fighting to get off base and it it just didn't happen.
17:57
SPEAKER_03: Leadership had what they had to do, but uh with uh keeping you know everybody together.
18:02
SPEAKER_03: But we we were overstaffed with leadership for the number of people that we got.
18:05
SPEAKER_03: We got two majors, senior, three master sergeants, and like the rest were you know NCOs, and then like it was it was a it was a decent mix between the NCOs and the uh and the junior airmen, but um yeah, it was it was just it was we're it was rank heavy and it wasn't a mission that I was that I don't think anybody signed up for, but I I did what I could with it.
18:27
SPEAKER_03: So I went to I was going to college while I was there, which is crazy because that's when I first started going to college.
18:32
SPEAKER_03: So it took a couple of that yeah, I took a couple of courses, picked up guitar, um, got some like letters of recommendation from you know, like and started training to go into um Air Force uh special warfare or you know and I I and I it wasn't even called that at the time, but I was just I was training to go combat control at the time, and uh came back from that deployment and uh I went and tried out and didn't make it very far at all, made it too nice during during body breathing, cramped up to the point where I couldn't move, rolled back in, but like I just was I I had trained the wrong way, and in my head I quit.
19:09
SPEAKER_03: I did never I never said the words, I quit, but I did quit so at the end of the day.
19:12
SPEAKER_03: And um, but the the guys there saw something in me.
19:16
SPEAKER_03: Uh his name was uh I don't know if he was a senior or chief, but it was Chief Lomonica at the time, I think is what it was.
19:22
SPEAKER_03: And he he he came to the shower room and he was like, Hey man, he wants to get back here.
19:26
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, okay.
19:27
SPEAKER_03: And honestly, I didn't have the courage to go back, I just didn't.
19:30
SPEAKER_03: Um I I wanted to, but like I was like, I didn't know what was going on in my life anymore at that point.
19:36
SPEAKER_03: I was like, I was I was all in on that, but I was sure, but not all in enough.
19:40
SPEAKER_03: So um uh I ended up going to uh Leicesterville, Missouri to start learning how to do like you know manufacturing for for rifle stocks and stuff like that.
19:51
SPEAKER_03: So taking a piece of bar stock and then doing that because I thought I was just gonna go and do stuff with like shooting and all kinds of other stuff, but I thought I was just I was just gonna get into that.
19:59
SPEAKER_03: And um it w ended up being a really cool thing for about a month and a half, but like the population I think was like 300 for the whole town.
20:07
SPEAKER_03: And you want to talk about I mean in the nearest Walmart was two and a half hours away.
20:12
SPEAKER_03: So like you were literally in the sticks.
20:14
SPEAKER_03: Um the town might be might have been bigger than that, but it was it was it was super small, like smaller than I've anything I've ever been used to.
20:21
SPEAKER_03: I was like I kind of had the forward projection of like, I don't think this was where I want to stay the rest of my life.
20:26
SPEAKER_03: So um came back, still ended up getting my my um manufacturing certificates or CNC certificates, uh, and just learning how to do milling and lathing and CNC machines and all that stuff, and was doing manufacturing for a little bit, and then uh that didn't really work out for me.
20:42
SPEAKER_03: I was doing both firearms and aerospace.
20:45
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I just didn't like the growth project projection in it, and then uh got the bug about hey, why don't you go do firefighting or something like that?
20:51
SPEAKER_03: And because I didn't want to be a cop because I had a bad experience like when I was trying to do the policing stuff when I was in security forces, where it was just like I didn't I didn't even want to do it.
20:59
SPEAKER_02: Another one of those moments where you knew right away what you didn't want.
21:02
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, pretty much.
21:03
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and then uh yeah, I got into firefighting uh back in 2014.
21:08
SPEAKER_03: I put myself through EMT school uh with my GI Bill, put myself through the fire, I went and volunteered at uh at the my hometown fire department uh so I could get put through the fire academy, use my GI bill for that.
21:20
SPEAKER_03: Um and then uh after a couple months after the fire academy, which was four months long, I got picked up at New Britain Fire Department, where I'm at now.
21:28
SPEAKER_03: We've been for the last 11 years.
21:29
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
21:30
SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
21:31
SPEAKER_02: What a what a what a journey.
21:32
SPEAKER_02: And again, I go back to that.
21:34
SPEAKER_02: That I'm so impressed that you know you were able to very quickly pinpoint what you didn't want to do.
21:39
SPEAKER_02: And there's people that pinpoint it pretty quickly, but they stay in it just because, you know, they already committed to it or they feel like the change would just be too much or too much work.
21:49
SPEAKER_02: So I admire that um you weren't afraid to make those changes and and just do the hard things that um, you know, led you on to the next step.
21:57
SPEAKER_02: And that's really amazing.
21:59
SPEAKER_02: Um did Do you go through, you know, so many people who have been deployed, who have uh spent more time and uh military experience and the unrelatability to people that you know.
22:11
SPEAKER_02: Um, did you ever go through kind of a darker period with any of that?
22:16
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for sure.
22:17
SPEAKER_03: I think I think most guys go through that.
22:19
SPEAKER_03: Um I mean, you can kind of see it now, right?
22:22
SPEAKER_03: Like right now, especially in the country, like, and not just the country, it's all over the world, right?
22:27
SPEAKER_03: You people are like, well, never forget, and then we forgot, right?
22:31
SPEAKER_03: And it's like, yeah, it means watching a slow erosion of everything you fought for, right?
22:37
SPEAKER_03: It really is a slow erosion, right?
22:39
SPEAKER_03: Um, I know Charlie Kirk, you know, you kind of said a best we found in the nation on Christian, you know, a Christianity.
22:44
SPEAKER_03: And while everything is foundationally built under Christianity, not all of its inhabitants are Christian anymore.
22:49
SPEAKER_05: Right.
22:49
SPEAKER_03: So it's it doesn't mean it's like they're all bad people by any means, but like that's why we're having this, this, this, all this tension.
22:57
SPEAKER_03: So um, yeah, I mean, it's it's for me, it's been it's been harder now than it was when I got out because there's still so much patriot patriotism going on.
23:07
SPEAKER_03: Dudes are fighting to get deployed, fighting to go on deployments, and it was just like, hey, what school are you going to next?
23:13
SPEAKER_03: And like all that other stuff.
23:15
SPEAKER_03: And it was just kind of like it was a little, I'm not saying it was cutthroat, but it was kind of like it was a little bit, you know, it was it was competitive in a good way, right?
23:21
SPEAKER_03: Everybody was still trying to like just become the best at what they were at, whatever irrespective of what it was.
23:27
SPEAKER_03: And uh for me as a as a dad, now it's been harder than when I was in, because you don't realize all the stuff that you have when you're in, like how lucky you are to like have that, like just that just like hey, like you're going to PT with each other in the morning, or you know, whatever it is, or you can just hey you're going right down the dorm rooms, like hey, like and just you know, whatever, or you got after you get out of the dorm rooms, you just got like you make your little tribe and you're just going out and doing your thing together all the time.
23:55
SPEAKER_03: You're literally just with each other all the time.
23:59
SPEAKER_03: And when you become an adult, I guess, and yeah, even though you're an adult while you're doing that, like you're still kind of like that's your kind of college experience, if you will, right?
24:07
SPEAKER_03: From a military point of view.
24:08
SPEAKER_03: So, but like, you know, and the stuff you're doing is a little bit more extreme than when you're not doing in college, but um, you know, like you you lose that a little bit, and like while I still have my closest friends, like we're just scattered everywhere.
24:21
SPEAKER_03: So not having not having that contact does make it difficult sometimes.
24:24
SPEAKER_03: Then when you got to create a new tribe that really can't fully relate, where it's like it's almost like the town, the movie, the town, where it's like, you know, like, hey, we gotta do some stuff.
24:32
SPEAKER_03: I can't tell you what we're doing, blah blah blah.
24:34
SPEAKER_03: But it's like, okay, whose car are we taking?
24:35
SPEAKER_03: Right?
24:36
SPEAKER_03: Like it's like it's kind of like having that level of like, hey, like it's it stinks not having that all the time, but uh, you know, slowly over time that that's you know, that's that's gotten better.
24:46
SPEAKER_03: But um, yeah, I would say the hardest thing about relatability is is you don't have to have done the thing to relate, maybe it's more so just being able to to listen.
24:57
SPEAKER_03: Like and even if an e but I would say even more so for the veteran, like talk and like just fit in with a new tribe, like find a new tribe to fit in with.
25:08
SPEAKER_03: Like then not everybody is going to relate, and you're probably gonna find somebody that you can relate with that tribe.
25:12
SPEAKER_03: So it's I mean, I I didn't have a terrible experience, it just you know, it's I would say cumatively may feel like that, but like sure like I didn't have any like acute scenarios for for for me that I that I specifically struggled with.
25:28
SPEAKER_03: Um relatability is that one of is one of those things, and you are looking.
25:31
SPEAKER_03: I think that the most dangerous thing is like I was so before my divorce, I was looking to go back into the military because I wanted to go try out for uh uh tactical air control party.
25:41
SPEAKER_03: And I was gonna go guard because I still wanted to make it so as we could do the family thing and everything else, and even it would even be a lie, even saying that, because they're gonna be gone for the training's, you know, a year, year and a half, two years for most of these pipelines, and then you have you know uh training that needs to be maintained, which is gonna be at least another six months out of the year.
25:59
SPEAKER_03: So, like, you know, it's it's not just like and I'm not saying I know that because you know I was that or anything, but I'm saying that because that's probably realistically what it would look like, you know.
26:08
SPEAKER_03: So I, you know, I'd be almost like lying to myself, but um, I wanted to wanted to go pursue that again because I wasn't being 100% being fulfilled, being a fireman, and like I felt like I was being tugged towards it, and then that did not happen.
26:20
SPEAKER_03: Something else entirely, something else entirely happened.
26:23
SPEAKER_03: So uh it was me, you know, I got to the point where after the divorce, I had seen a podcast, the guy was on there, the uh his name's Tyler Mace, he's former pararescuemen, and my brother in Christ now.
26:33
SPEAKER_03: I call him all the time, and uh we talk all the time.
26:36
SPEAKER_03: We'd visit his family last year, uh this just this past June for the first time, and it was awesome.
26:40
SPEAKER_03: But uh the broke me, I remember coming through it in the divorce, and it was like he was just man, he was he was so brutal for me.
26:48
SPEAKER_03: Like, if you can, I will say this because again, and like you know, like we were talking about, um, like I'm not gonna say anything negative about my ex-wife.
26:57
SPEAKER_03: I will say this.
26:58
SPEAKER_03: If if there's things you have to be accountable for, you'd be accountable for those things, right?
27:02
SPEAKER_03: You know, you own those things and you move on with it.
27:04
SPEAKER_03: And then so for me, right?
27:06
SPEAKER_03: For me, that was for me, that was infidelity.
27:09
SPEAKER_03: I hadn't, well, I hadn't technically committed adultery.
27:14
SPEAKER_03: The if I'm looking at the standard that God sets, right?
27:16
SPEAKER_03: And in Matthew, with looking at a woman with lust, right?
27:19
SPEAKER_03: That's the standard that God holds, and that's the standard I'm trying to hold in my life um uh every day.
27:24
SPEAKER_03: And that is, I mean, that is I mean, and that's that's the beginning of that umbrella.
27:28
SPEAKER_03: That's not the other side of it, right?
27:29
SPEAKER_03: Like, sure.
27:31
SPEAKER_03: So um uh for me that that was something I was holding myself accountable to.
27:36
SPEAKER_03: Now it wasn't perceived that presumption monster came in, the assumption monster came in, if you will, communication broke down, and then it was just a pointing fingers battle the rest of the way, and then that just kind of led to the the downfall of our our marriage.
27:49
SPEAKER_03: And well, even though I took accountability for what I was saying and I told her those, like, yeah, I was feeling this way, you know, COVID was the was the nail in the coffin for us.
27:58
SPEAKER_03: Um that that for us like really started to separate us um because we kind of were having different viewpoints on that issues in healthcare, screen what she does, she's a cardiac sonographer, and uh, you know, but you know, like she was taking things to an extreme side of it.
28:13
SPEAKER_03: I was trying to use more of a faith common sense side of it.
28:15
SPEAKER_03: And this is where my faith really started to, this is where God really started to intercede, like holy screen interesting kind of thing.
28:24
SPEAKER_03: But if you're going through that, again, the reason why I bring it up is because you know, you you go through almost 40,000 something dollars, you know, from from a divorce, right?
28:32
SPEAKER_03: And you're like, for what?
28:35
SPEAKER_03: So um, if you can kill for your marriage, kill for your marriage.
28:39
SPEAKER_02: I love that.
28:40
SPEAKER_02: And um, I think my favorite part about everything that you said is how you um look towards and lean into your faith, and and that so that's something I want to hear more about if you if you're willing to share.
28:52
SPEAKER_03: Talk to me about your faith.
28:53
SPEAKER_03: So grew up grew up Roman Catholic and did communion, confirmation, all the things, right?
29:00
SPEAKER_03: But I remember being in church, like all I did was fall asleep as a kid.
29:04
SPEAKER_03: So like where was it like I got, oh, I get signed in the sign in the up, okay?
29:09
SPEAKER_03: Right.
29:10
SPEAKER_03: The best part was like, peace be with you, like when you're shaking your neighbor's hand, right?
29:14
SPEAKER_03: Like that was the only interaction you got, like you felt like you're still not alive.
29:17
SPEAKER_03: Um beyond that though, uh I didn't really have that much faith.
29:22
SPEAKER_03: I kind of lost my faith.
29:23
SPEAKER_03: Like I always knew who Jesus was, but like there's there's right, there's the there's the saying of, you know, I don't know who coined this, right?
29:29
SPEAKER_03: But like the devil believes in Jesus, right?
29:31
SPEAKER_03: But he doesn't follow him, right?
29:32
SPEAKER_03: So like following Christ is a totally different experience than just knowing who he is.
29:36
SPEAKER_03: And even as you are following him, you're still getting to know who he is at a much deeper level.
29:41
SPEAKER_03: Um, and that's that's its own experience as I've learned over the last three years since my since my baptism um as an adult, that where I'm fully cognitively aware of the choice that I'm actually making.
29:52
SPEAKER_03: Uh and I think there, I think there is a big difference with that.
29:55
SPEAKER_03: Um, then when you do confirmation, you know, I I know God's mercy is, you know, unbelievable and his love is unbelievable and his forgiveness is unbelievable.
30:04
SPEAKER_03: So, you know, whether to say that's the way or what you know, what I'm saying is like from a non-denominational standpoint, because I'm not denominational, I think we're all supposed to be disciples.
30:13
SPEAKER_03: It's not Methodists, not he says go and make disciples.
30:15
SPEAKER_03: He didn't say go and make Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, critic Orthodox, Orthodox.
30:20
SPEAKER_03: Like, I understand all that matters, but the relationship in knowing who he is and understanding the gospel message is so much more important than being dogmatic, dogmatic with like the the little things, or they may be neighbor things.
30:34
SPEAKER_03: I um for for me again, like I have I've never gone through that kind of process, like that internal processing of like, oh man, like yeah, I'm not supposed to be have done any of this stuff where I'm thinking pornography is completely normal.
30:47
SPEAKER_03: Like, yeah, you're supposed to go and that's what guys do, right?
30:50
SPEAKER_03: There's no, it's not that's not any different than any day life, not realizing how much it actually totally messes up your brain chemistry and all this other stuff.
30:58
SPEAKER_03: And and then you know, leads to you, you know, not having as fulfilling a relationship as it is, because then you start to objectify versus actually being relational like you're supposed to.
31:09
SPEAKER_03: Um so for me, um, learning learning this has been kind of a man, it's been just kind of a dive-in process.
31:16
SPEAKER_03: I don't have like I've had people help me, but this a lot of this has been like self-work.
31:20
SPEAKER_03: Sure.
31:21
SPEAKER_03: Uh self-work for me.
31:22
SPEAKER_03: I've had people, of course, incredible people help me.
31:23
SPEAKER_03: But like I think like I said, Tyler was there praying with me and everything.
31:26
SPEAKER_03: And he gave me a mentor to kind of like attach to me for a while.
31:30
SPEAKER_03: And he was the one that got me this, this, this Bible I have now, which is my John MacArthur Bible.
31:34
SPEAKER_03: Um, right, because I never have a study Bible.
31:35
SPEAKER_03: I was like, Well, you need to get one now.
31:37
SPEAKER_03: So I was like, okay, so I went and got one, and that's where for me things really started to change when I actually started to read this thing, and it does like it's it's one thing to read it, and I think reading it and being convicted is like what like I like, I guess when I used to read it or try to read it, there's no conviction.
31:56
SPEAKER_03: I was just like, okay, let me just read it to like see if I can get anything.
31:58
SPEAKER_03: But like reading it and being convicted is totally different, like it actually comes to life.
32:03
SPEAKER_03: So um yeah.
32:04
SPEAKER_03: The the thing that I have learned, and this is this is more kind of recent, and this is just kind of like a hey, if you're out there and you're struggling with, you know, if you're if your marriage is on the fritz, if if you struggle with lust, it doesn't matter if you're a guy or a girl or whatever it is.
32:19
SPEAKER_03: I kind of have like a I've started to develop kind of like a like a standard operating procedure, if you will, or a guideline.
32:25
SPEAKER_03: Uh start fasting right away.
32:28
SPEAKER_03: You have like start fasting right away.
32:30
SPEAKER_03: Um, the reason why is because when you take away everything that's like inside of you, right?
32:37
SPEAKER_03: Like so if you if you once you empty yourself out, whatever is trying to latch on has nothing to latch on to.
32:43
SPEAKER_03: So empty yourself out so you can't be latched onto.
32:45
SPEAKER_03: And because the reason why I won't be able to latch on is because if you're genuinely emptying yourself out by not um by not eating, I'm not saying don't drink, not not drink water, right?
32:54
SPEAKER_03: If you've never done that, if you've never done a fast, right?
32:56
SPEAKER_03: Like eat dinner the night before.
32:58
SPEAKER_03: That's when your fast will start after that, and then go into dinner to like the next day, right?
33:03
SPEAKER_03: Like have some water, have some coffee, you know, some tea or something like that.
33:07
SPEAKER_03: But don't like, I think eating, taking away the eating definitely helps.
33:12
SPEAKER_03: Um obviously there's all kinds of forms of fasting, but like if you just want to start getting into it, I think that's a good way to start.
33:17
SPEAKER_03: Um, if you can't do that, then just wait till lunch, right?
33:19
SPEAKER_03: And you know, whatever whatever that looks like for you, for each person, it's gonna be different.
33:23
SPEAKER_03: Um, but be in just be in that prayer, like he says, like when you're doing it, like you know, put on put on the whole armor of God, right?
33:31
SPEAKER_03: That's that I mean that's what that's what I this is what I came up with for that.
33:34
SPEAKER_03: That was like I drew that right back in 2023.
33:36
SPEAKER_03: So this was my rendition of it.
33:38
SPEAKER_03: I got it wrong, by the way.
33:39
SPEAKER_03: The broadsword is supposed to be a dagger.
33:41
SPEAKER_03: That could be back to Greek, it's actually a dagger, not a broadsword.
33:44
SPEAKER_03: But I was like, I'm keeping the broadsword.
33:46
SPEAKER_02: I like it.
33:47
SPEAKER_02: It looks good.
33:48
SPEAKER_02: I like it.
33:49
SPEAKER_02: So well, and that obviously that that leads us into really this whole thing culminates to the mantle challenge.
33:56
SPEAKER_02: So tell us about the mantle challenge.
33:58
SPEAKER_03: So Take Every Mantle came from I was again post-divorce, that was in a bad way.
34:04
SPEAKER_03: Um, I uh I was I was there was my coming of faith and everything, and this was before I had gotten baptized.
34:13
SPEAKER_03: Um before I gotten baptized, I think it was back in November 2023.
34:17
SPEAKER_03: And um, I have to look at the day, I always forget.
34:20
SPEAKER_03: Um, but uh the when I when when this all started, I was I knew I knew I needed to like from the military.
34:28
SPEAKER_03: The thing that I appreciate about um the assessment and selection process that I went through for Air Force Special Warfare, even though it was only two days, you get to really peel back everything that you are in even a short amount of time.
34:40
SPEAKER_03: So I used that to make like a self-induced kind of like event that would I knew was gonna peel those layers back.
34:46
SPEAKER_03: It was gonna for I was gonna I was gonna put my phone away.
34:48
SPEAKER_03: I brought it.
34:49
SPEAKER_03: Well, obviously for an emergency or something, but like I only the only time I was gonna use it was to record my thoughts.
34:54
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, how am I gonna record my thoughts?
34:56
SPEAKER_03: Like I'm not gonna have time to write this down, and it's gonna take away from me being able to hike like I want to.
35:00
SPEAKER_03: So recording and for emergencies was the only reason why I brought it.
35:04
SPEAKER_03: But I was like, all right, I'm gonna, I had gone out on a date back in July, and I was like, let me uh like I hadn't been in the woods in a long time, like just forever.
35:13
SPEAKER_03: Like it'd been a couple of years.
35:14
SPEAKER_03: And I and it did like a seven, eight mile hike on this date, and it was great.
35:18
SPEAKER_03: It was Rand's View up in uh Salisbury, uh down in the northwestern uh corner, and uh it was beautiful.
35:23
SPEAKER_03: I was like, man, just gotta get out in the woods.
35:25
SPEAKER_03: This is great.
35:26
SPEAKER_03: So I found a trail on another that was like it was pretty big, and then I found another trail connected to another big trail, and it was on all trails.
35:32
SPEAKER_03: I was like, ah, this is like a whole thing.
35:34
SPEAKER_03: And I found out it's like the New England trail runs from Guildford Harbor to the sound all the way up to uh uh Massachusetts.
35:40
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
35:41
SPEAKER_03: Like Massachusetts, New Hampshire line.
35:42
SPEAKER_03: So it's like 200 and like 205 miles or something like that, 200 plus miles.
35:47
SPEAKER_03: Uh and I looked at the Connecticut portion, and it's like the Connecticut portion is like 10, 12 something miles.
35:53
SPEAKER_03: So I'm like, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna hike the whole state of Connecticut.
35:56
SPEAKER_05: Oh wow.
35:57
SPEAKER_03: And I'm gonna pray the entire time.
35:59
SPEAKER_03: I don't know what I'm praying for, but I'm gonna be praying the whole time.
36:01
SPEAKER_03: But there's a lot I got something going on, but I was like, I know I gotta like get out of like my life.
36:06
SPEAKER_03: That makes sense.
36:07
SPEAKER_03: Totally.
36:09
SPEAKER_03: So tell my pastor about it in my church at the time was like I've lived in a little tiny house.
36:13
SPEAKER_03: It was called uh Generation Church.
36:15
SPEAKER_03: Uh it's no longer here anymore, but that's all right.
36:17
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I told my pastor, like, hey, like I'm gonna, you know, I think we're gonna do this hike.
36:21
SPEAKER_03: So I told him about it.
36:22
SPEAKER_03: He's like, dude, that sounds awesome.
36:23
SPEAKER_03: Like, how far are you going?
36:24
SPEAKER_03: I was like, it's like 110 miles.
36:25
SPEAKER_03: He's like, I'm gonna pray for you.
36:26
SPEAKER_03: I love you.
36:27
SPEAKER_03: That's good.
36:28
SPEAKER_03: That sounds great.
36:29
SPEAKER_03: And so uh, but you know, as I told it to him, you know, I I heard, and I and to this day, like I am I'm I'm I'm 100% confident that it was God.
36:37
SPEAKER_03: There is I heard hike for the house.
36:39
SPEAKER_03: I said, okay, hike for the house.
36:40
SPEAKER_03: And so because the doors of the church were starting to close because they launched just as the pandemic happened.
36:45
SPEAKER_03: So they know a couple years later, like we just didn't have like enough people to keep the church doors open.
36:50
SPEAKER_03: And so I was like, Oh, let me do this to raise money for for the church.
36:54
SPEAKER_03: So it'll be like a dollar a mile.
36:56
SPEAKER_03: That's what we're doing, right?
36:57
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so that's was Operation Hike was born, Operation Hike for the House was born and um launched out in uh launched out in October 2nd and told Tyler about it.
37:08
SPEAKER_03: Tyler, the guys that were getting ready to go go and try out for Air Force Special Warfare were like a mission plan for it and everything.
37:13
SPEAKER_03: So we put that together and we went and executed it.
37:16
SPEAKER_03: And uh it was it was cool because each day my plan was to do it in three days, so it was gonna be like 33-ish miles a day, and it ended up being five days, way harder than I thought it was gonna be.
37:26
SPEAKER_03: So yeah.
37:27
SPEAKER_03: Um uh each day had like a theme to it, it had a theme, and then I didn't have anything pre-recorded like that I was gonna read in the Bible or anything, because I didn't even bring a Bible with me.
37:38
SPEAKER_03: Like it was just I'm gonna pray.
37:40
SPEAKER_03: This is what I'm gonna do.
37:41
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna pray.
37:42
SPEAKER_03: And I had the Bible app, so I was like, I'll just read the verse of the day.
37:45
SPEAKER_03: This is what I'm gonna do.
37:46
SPEAKER_03: I'll just do that.
37:47
SPEAKER_03: I'll just see see where it goes.
37:48
SPEAKER_03: So God, because my my prayer was before I started like, God, if you're gonna talk to me, just just talk to me.
37:53
SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm making myself completely available to you.
37:56
SPEAKER_03: So day one's theme was we get to do this.
37:59
SPEAKER_03: We get to do this because we don't live in like we don't live in Nigeria, we don't live in North Korea.
38:04
SPEAKER_03: We don't live, we have the opportunity to go do things that are amazing, so we get to do this, so you better go and do it, right?
38:10
SPEAKER_03: So um day one's verse for the day was Isaiah uh 60, chapter three, or verse three.
38:19
SPEAKER_03: Uh uh nations shall come to your light and kings to see the radiance of your dawn.
38:23
SPEAKER_03: Like, I don't know what that means.
38:24
SPEAKER_03: But again, I haven't really started reading the Bible yet.
38:27
SPEAKER_03: Like, I was sure I was like, okay, uh, cool.
38:30
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna go walk now.
38:31
SPEAKER_03: And I was like, I ran into that morning, I ran into a couple of bears.
38:37
SPEAKER_03: Uh uh, or one, excuse me, I ran into one big bear.
38:40
SPEAKER_03: Like it was just as dawn was happening, so like it was still pretty dark in the woods because I had stepped off at like six in the morning in fall, so it was still pretty dark.
38:49
SPEAKER_03: Like I had a run and everything.
38:51
SPEAKER_03: And I like so like if there's like a hill here, like a hill here, like this is like going towards where I need to go.
38:56
SPEAKER_03: The bear, like the like we both kind of crushed it at the same time, and the bear just started running, and I was like, oh no.
39:02
SPEAKER_03: Oh it was like, and I'm not exaggerating, it was like it was easily a 400-plus pound bear.
39:06
SPEAKER_03: It wasn't it was a whole grown black bear, like anyway for the nation for the year or you know, for the winter or whatever, and I was like, I'm gonna die.
39:12
SPEAKER_03: And I had like and at nighttime I had my pistol on me um because while it's nighttime and I'm by myself, there's nobody else there out in the middle of the place.
39:20
SPEAKER_03: Um, so I knew that that it's it was a nine mil.
39:23
SPEAKER_03: It's not like the it would have done nothing to that bear, but like I had like a I had like a uh like a light on it, a light laser light on it on the bottom.
39:31
SPEAKER_03: So I think it had the function just robe, so I figured if I could down there would just like scare anything off.
39:36
SPEAKER_03: Um so I had a hammock hand on there and thankfully the bear just like ran down the hill and then ran around.
39:42
SPEAKER_03: And then I just ran for the next like four or five miles.
39:45
SPEAKER_03: Because later on that day, about 18 and a half miles in, when I got close to Cuban Tower in Salisbury, I uh ran into two more bears.
39:53
SPEAKER_03: Oh jeez.
39:54
SPEAKER_03: Oh my god.
39:54
SPEAKER_03: At the same time, one was on a three scratching like this, like the other one just looking right at me.
40:00
SPEAKER_03: And I'll mind you, I have like what's called a dump.
40:02
SPEAKER_03: It's called the dump pouch, is where like you'd put like bags, like if you if you could, like, you know, when you're like when you're a pool kit and stuff like that.
40:09
SPEAKER_03: But I had just trash in there, like honey stingers.
40:12
SPEAKER_03: Oh my all my food trashed was just in there.
40:15
SPEAKER_03: The bears just looking like right at me, and I'm just like, and I could just get big and probably scared away, but they they moved off after like five minutes.
40:23
SPEAKER_03: Like I shifted behind a tree, and I was just like just waiting there for like five minutes, and I saw something that just scurried off, like right where I needed to go.
40:29
SPEAKER_03: I'm just like, well, I guess I'm gonna pause here for the night and then ended up just being like a spawn hike, if you will.
40:36
SPEAKER_03: So I just I just started where I left off the next day.
40:38
SPEAKER_03: Went back home and I just started off right where I left off.
40:41
SPEAKER_03: Day two uh was Hebrews 12, 11.
40:44
SPEAKER_03: Um, for the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields peaceful fruit and righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
40:51
SPEAKER_03: I got about 28 and a half miles in that day.
40:54
SPEAKER_03: I got to I got just about to Castle Craig that day.
40:57
SPEAKER_03: So I was pretty close.
40:58
SPEAKER_03: I got to just I just got past short mountain.
41:00
SPEAKER_03: You know, as like the layers are starting to peel back, like it was for me, it was like, well, you're feeling tired.
41:05
SPEAKER_03: Like I wanted to quit like day one.
41:06
SPEAKER_03: My legs were so cramped up after because the amount of updown that you do between feet, like for all of it, it just it crushes you.
41:14
SPEAKER_03: Uh you know, my kids were kind of my big motivator on day one, and day two my next motivator was um it was it was still pretty much my kids on on day two for the most part.
41:25
SPEAKER_03: Um, but I was it was more for the church a little bit.
41:27
SPEAKER_03: I was like, I can't quit.
41:28
SPEAKER_03: Like quitting now is just like it's it's too early to quit.
41:32
SPEAKER_03: So day three came around, and this verse applied to night two.
41:37
SPEAKER_03: So the um Psalm 19.1, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
41:44
SPEAKER_03: And I was like, the sky was on fire, like day two, and it was like for me, like it was just that that absolutely applied.
41:52
SPEAKER_03: And day two's verse applied to day three.
41:56
SPEAKER_02: Funny, funny, okay.
41:58
SPEAKER_03: So when I went up Castle Craig, it's not like the road path to go to the castle.
42:02
SPEAKER_03: That if I don't know if you've ever been out there, like it's the whole outside of like the mountain there, and it is absolutely miserable.
42:11
SPEAKER_03: Oh no, absolutely miserable, yeah, brutal.
42:14
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that was when like my why had kind of changed.
42:19
SPEAKER_03: So we had a uh my cousin's aunt who was a police officer in Harvard, she just passed away from cancer, and I just started to hear like bad pipes as those coming down Castle Craig in my head.
42:27
SPEAKER_03: It was just amazing grace, and then I just thought about all the sacrifice in the country and everything else, and I was just able to just then I thought about you know just everything else that was, you know, for people that have like lost loved ones and everything else.
42:37
SPEAKER_03: I just was able to like press on.
42:39
SPEAKER_03: Like I was I was able to get I get fired up and just move on.
42:42
SPEAKER_03: It was about like 60 miles at that point.
42:44
SPEAKER_03: That was a that was a short day.
42:45
SPEAKER_03: That was only like 15, 15 miles.
42:47
SPEAKER_03: That was all I got.
42:50
SPEAKER_02: Oh, is that all?
42:51
SPEAKER_02: You know, the rest of us are saying, oh gee, is that all?
42:54
SPEAKER_03: So day four, I did not read I did not read the uh I did not read the verse until the end of the day.
43:02
SPEAKER_03: Day four is where I ended up fighting God.
43:04
SPEAKER_03: Day three, so this would so this would have been like this would have been kind of like in the timeline would have gone with like day three's theme, which is appreciate the journey, um, which is kind of what I labeled it.
43:14
SPEAKER_03: And uh it, you know, it was a rough it was a beautiful, it was probably the most beautiful day for me.
43:20
SPEAKER_03: Like the scenery, the lighting, like the terrain, like the flowers, like in the woods, just like all the lighting.
43:26
SPEAKER_03: You know, I don't know, I don't I know there's a specific word when you see the lighting coming through like the woods and everything, but it was like that like the whole day.
43:32
SPEAKER_03: It was incredible.
43:33
SPEAKER_03: And I get to I ended up getting to um Bessick Mountain, and um like I actually I do want to say this there was some parts of that that hype that day that were like literally like it was like almost feel like you like on the Lord of the Way, Lord of the Rings kind of like it was off.
43:49
SPEAKER_03: It was so good.
43:50
SPEAKER_03: So, like parts of Connecticut that you would just never expect to see on this like trail.
43:54
SPEAKER_03: And so I get to Powder Ridge or Bessick Mountain, which is just passed on Hitby, and uh uh I see this like bluish like hue.
44:03
SPEAKER_03: Like there's a there's a there's a chair lift going down for some burgers and beers and fries and some good stuff.
44:08
SPEAKER_03: You could you could smell it.
44:09
SPEAKER_03: And then there's and then there's this like bench like right over here.
44:12
SPEAKER_03: There's this picnic table.
44:13
SPEAKER_03: And I don't know why I was drawn to the picnic table.
44:15
SPEAKER_03: It just was kind of like a like a mosquito to a blue light kind of thing.
44:18
SPEAKER_03: But like there's like it was just this I I was probably dehydrated but like there's this just this blue hue.
44:23
SPEAKER_03: And I'm like okay so take my shoes off and I for whatever reason I'm like I feel like I had to take my shoes off.
44:29
SPEAKER_03: I don't know why.
44:30
SPEAKER_03: And I still don't would have any significance to it now but it's just just what it just what I did.
44:34
SPEAKER_03: And I I didn't face out towards where the scene like where everything where everything was I just kind of faced in towards the vent and I just said I'm right here.
44:41
SPEAKER_03: I I like I've been like kind of like I haven't really gotten like that much of an answer so far as I've been like praying.
44:46
SPEAKER_03: I didn't really ask for much I just anytime I pray it wasn't like a prayer of asking it was just like I'm here just ready to like receive and that's what this was and that is when he that's when he was there like he just like I could just feel him I could literally feel him like be like right there.
45:02
SPEAKER_03: And I was like oh my god like it got I I like and it's almost like he could it's almost like when he gives you that like hug if you've ever experienced that it just or that arm was coming across your shoulder and you're just it's like you know everything's gonna be okay.
45:15
SPEAKER_03: Everything's gonna be good.
45:16
SPEAKER_03: And I knew and I just knew it was I knew it was real and I knew it was him and I was like like I just I tried to sit in it as long as I could and I was just the mouse I was stomping.
45:26
SPEAKER_03: I was just and um get my shoes back on get ready to keep going and uh I start like you know five minutes later I'm like yelling at him like ah why would you let me do this like because like the update was like it was so bad.
45:41
SPEAKER_03: I was like oh my god it sucks yeah so then I finally read uh day forward's birth uh still shall my word be that goes out from my mouth it shall not return to the empty but will accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it I was like okay like this is yeah I'm starting to feel like hair going or thrown out from like Lord of the rainfall this is great this is so good.
46:03
SPEAKER_03: And uh today I I I get home I record my notes and um day five was it's called take or day four which would would have been on like my like plan was going to be take up your mantle.
46:15
SPEAKER_03: And um I haven't you know that it comes from the story of Elijah Elisha first uh teacher to student like kind of relationship that we see um and uh I I didn't know how the day was gonna go I woke up I did not want to get up I did not want to finish I had like third I I had like 30 something miles I had to go still do and I was like I can't do this for six days I don't have like time and all this other stuff I got up and I just went so sometimes your day's gonna suck get your shoes on and just go.
46:44
SPEAKER_03: You'll be fine the day will figure itself out.
46:46
SPEAKER_03: And so I like it was lunchtime I was already 18 miles in and I was like okay I might actually finish this thing today like yeah and so I get and again I didn't read the verse until the end of the day because of what happened the other night I was like I'm gonna wait till I read the verse.
47:02
SPEAKER_03: I'm just gonna go and so I call everybody like hey I'm gonna finish like really I'm like yeah I'm finishing today they're like where are you I'm like like like you know 12 13 miles from like the sound at this point like I'm like yeah I'm finishing today and so I go I end up doing like 31 miles that day and as I get to because the last last part of the it's not a trail anymore the last part is just following the road you're just on the road going to the beach and um I uh my parents like were like I was like two miles out from the finish.
47:32
SPEAKER_03: I was trying to chase the light because the sun was setting so I was trying to get to the beach by sunset.
47:37
SPEAKER_03: Yeah and uh my parents are like you know they're right there they're like you know they're driving on the truck they see I'm like in a full sprint because I'm just running to get the journey I'm like towards the end of my journey somehow I'm sprinting I'm sprint yeah sprinting the last like three miles which maybe wasn't as much of a sprint as I thought it was but it for me it was a sprint.
47:56
SPEAKER_03: And I'm running and I and I get there and then you know I get to like the terminus because there's like a there's like a there's like a start for for for for the for the trail systems.
48:05
SPEAKER_03: And uh I get to the terminus and then I'm like you know I you know I get down on my knees and I'm crying and then I realize wait I'm not even at the finish yet because the finish is actually the water right I got to get to the water.
48:14
SPEAKER_02: Oh boy.
48:15
SPEAKER_03: So I get to the water and um yeah it was just a surreal moment.
48:20
SPEAKER_03: I was I was like okay so the rest of my walk is going to be with God and I'll put there forward like yeah and uh Ty Tyler uh shortly after that you know he we had a we had a debrief and uh then we came up with like an affirmation which took about a week to come up with but came up with an affirmation uh for just kind of like I guess my life and then how I was going to be projected moving forward.
48:43
SPEAKER_03: So um yeah that that was that was pretty cool.
48:46
SPEAKER_02: That is extremely cool.
48:48
SPEAKER_02: I think that's an understatement it's more than cool it's inspiring.
48:50
SPEAKER_03: Yeah September 26th September 27th um uh eight o'clock at Windsor Locks High School the event is free it costs nothing to sign up it's uh it's it's it mimics this hike but we're not doing 114 miles so everybody just oh darn we're not doing we're just you know for me it's you come uh as you are right it doesn't matter if you have faith if you're looking for faith um or you don't want faith at all if you even if you don't want faith at all and you want to come out here and support you know the Air Force special warfare community please do um if you're trying to go into air force special warfare you better show up um like seriously you got Lori Chapman coming out uh who's John Chapman's sister uh you know he's one of the one of the most epic heroes in the air force special warfare community that there is and the air force just has a sum total for his actions in in 2002 on March 4th in Takagar.
49:43
SPEAKER_03: He's you know like he's just incredible when you read his story and everything like that from the book I want a dawn and then Lori's other book uh First Air Life and Legacy of an American hero um the you know when you read about John you realize you realize how he was able to do what he did on the mountain that day like just from the like the totality of his life and the way the Lori explains it.
50:02
SPEAKER_03: It's just and also uh Colonel Schilling from Awan at dawn um it just is it's incredible.
50:08
SPEAKER_03: Uh and you're not you you don't have to hike 20 miles.
50:12
SPEAKER_03: You don't have to hike 30 miles.
50:13
SPEAKER_03: If your impossible is hiking like one mile because that's all you've ever been able to do I've never been able to do that.
50:18
SPEAKER_03: We'll be right there to help you walk that one mile.
50:21
SPEAKER_03: You know we'll we'll do we'll we're gonna do what we can for you while we're there.
50:24
SPEAKER_03: We're gonna meet you where you're at just like Christ did with everybody else.
50:28
SPEAKER_03: We're not here to force religion or faith on anybody we are going to spread it like like farmers do with this sowing the seeds we're throwing them so get ready.
50:36
SPEAKER_03: But um beyond that you'll hear about like I said you hear about some Air Force Special Warfare guys that Tyler he's gonna give you a little bit about his his history as a pararescuan um but then how he's now becoming a pastor something he never would have thought you know would happen.
50:49
SPEAKER_03: Or me, you hear my testimony um a short much shorter version of what we just said here um and more tied into scripture and just kind of see how that all that ties together and hopefully it applies to your life and what take up your mantle actually is which is us praying that you do a double portion of what God has decided for you in your lives.
51:06
SPEAKER_03: You know and you wanting that and I know not everybody may not want that but that's what we're hoping for for for the kingdom.
51:11
SPEAKER_02: Okay it's an invitation right it's an invitation yeah I love everything that you're doing I I think it's just so wonderful and and just so God breathed and um it what a wonderful opportunity for anyone who's able and and willing to get out there and uh and join this uh join you and join everyone that's going to be there.
51:29
SPEAKER_02: Lori is wonderful Lori Chapman she's uh terrific I I've had a chance as we as you well know I don't know if everybody else knows this uh but we had an opportunity to uh chat and that interview of course is available too and uh just uh such a wonderful group of people putting out uh some really wonderful things in the world so I thank you for what you're doing.
51:48
SPEAKER_03: Yeah no it's uh it's like you said it's it's God breathed it's not something that I ever anticipated ever doing.
51:54
SPEAKER_03: I never something me and Tyler talked about early on like three years ago like hey what's harder for special word for preaching the gospel to like preaching the gospel to the end of getting like not because it's harder but just because it's so it's a vulnerable it's a more vulnerable thing to do and it's you know but it's you know it's something we have to do.
52:10
SPEAKER_02: So no I agree completely.
52:12
SPEAKER_02: Dana thank you so much for coming on today.
52:14
SPEAKER_02: I'm excited to uh spread the word about your event and everything that you're doing uh for everybody watching or listening the uh links for that for the website everything will be in the show notes you'll be able to click right on it and uh hopefully you can join us on uh on those dates and that'll be amazing so thank you again thank you also I appreciate it absolutely all right guys we'll see you in the next episode take care you've got a story worth sharing now it's time to tell it well whether you're an author entrepreneur influencer or podcast guest stepping in front of the camera or microphone can feel overwhelming.
52:46
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