Latest / The Lost Art Project: Veterans’ Voices / #688 FireSide Chat w/ the Crew & Focus Marines; 25 Jun 2026

Transcript

#688 FireSide Chat w/ the Crew & Focus Marines; 25 Jun 2026 · The Lost Art Project: Veterans’ Voices

0:00
It's thinking.
0:39
Hello, hello, my friends,
0:40
and welcome back to the Lost Art Project
0:42
Veterans Voices.
0:43
This is Andrew Cox.
0:45
And today we're having a fireside chat
0:46
with the crew and some special guests.
0:49
But before we get into the episode,
0:51
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1:00
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1:12
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1:20
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1:38
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1:40
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2:09
All right, here we are.
2:10
Holy moly,
2:11
look at this crew that we got tonight.
2:13
It's exciting.
2:15
I'm going to start at the bottom and
2:17
hit my regular crew,
2:18
and then I'll come back and introduce
2:19
everybody else.
2:20
But going down on the left there, man,
2:22
Nurse Dredd, looking good.
2:24
I'm loving the hat.
2:26
It's awesome.
2:28
You look exactly like all the nurses that
2:30
I know.
2:33
A hundred and ten percent.
2:34
And yeah, no,
2:37
just just graduated nursing school
2:40
literally last Wednesday.
2:42
And thank you, Mark.
2:44
And fortunately,
2:47
I was not lied to and sold a
2:48
bill of goods by the government.
2:50
All these electronic things have happened.
2:52
And I scheduled my NCLEX,
2:54
my National Nursing License Test test.
2:58
I take it tomorrow at ten thirty a.m.
3:01
Northgate, Seattle, baby.
3:02
So I just got to knock out this
3:05
last little.
3:08
That's that's the last thing you have,
3:09
though.
3:10
Yeah.
3:10
Formality.
3:11
And then I get to start working.
3:13
So I should be working right after the
3:15
Fourth of July.
3:17
I hope it's a multiple choice test.
3:19
It's all multiple choice and then some
3:21
weird matching.
3:23
Buddy, it's too easy.
3:24
Too easy.
3:25
They're teeing me up a softball so I
3:28
can crush this and get on with the
3:29
rest of my life serving others again.
3:32
I like it.
3:34
Good stuff.
3:36
Well, Nurse Dredd looking good, man.
3:39
We'll jump over to Mark over here.
3:42
Mark, how are things in California?
3:46
Except for the prices of politics and
3:48
politicians,
3:48
it's a
3:50
Gorgeous weather.
3:52
Unbelievably nice weather.
3:54
Sunshine.
3:58
So other than those other three things,
4:00
I can't complain.
4:01
I like it.
4:02
I like it.
4:03
Yeah.
4:04
It's a good area, you know,
4:06
except for a couple of things.
4:07
No big deal.
4:09
We did drop down to like five,
4:10
twenty a gallon on gas.
4:12
Really?
4:13
Wow.
4:13
That's pretty good.
4:16
I mean, for you guys, that's pretty good.
4:19
It's not good on my end.
4:20
That's like the best you can find.
4:23
Oh man.
4:27
All right.
4:27
Well, we'll jump over Mike.
4:28
How you doing, man?
4:29
I'm doing okay.
4:31
Where's everybody else from before I go on
4:34
to Mark's?
4:36
I follow up Mark.
4:37
Jennifer, where are you from?
4:39
Where are you at?
4:39
I'm in St.
4:40
Charles, Missouri.
4:41
Okay.
4:42
Brian?
4:43
Maryland, right near Fort Meade, Maryland,
4:46
near Annapolis.
4:47
Gotcha.
4:47
Nick?
4:49
Balverde, Texas.
4:51
Okay.
4:52
I know where Bones is.
4:54
God's country, Linden, Washington.
4:58
Second to the furthest northwest place you
5:00
can be.
5:03
Well,
5:03
I filled up my work truck today at
5:05
.
5:05
.
5:05
.
5:05
.
5:05
.
5:05
.
5:05
.
5:05
.
5:05
.
5:05
.
5:05
.
5:05
.
5:05
.
5:05
.
5:05
.
5:05
.
5:05
.
5:05
.
5:05
.
5:05
. .
5:29
Marine, you got taken advantage of.
5:31
You should have found another gas station.
5:34
Yeah.
5:34
You should have waited in the line.
5:39
Yeah.
5:39
Very nice.
5:40
I'm doing good down here.
5:42
Other than the weather,
5:43
it's raining almost every day.
5:45
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
5:47
I can't complain.
5:47
Other than the boss,
5:48
I'd like to figure out how to tell
5:52
him what to do.
5:53
Yeah, no, I hear you on that.
5:54
Yeah.
5:55
It's that whole working thing, man.
5:57
It's messed up.
6:00
Well, we'll jump up.
6:01
Jennifer, you've been on here before,
6:03
Focus Marines.
6:05
You just got finished doing a session
6:07
today, which is pretty cool.
6:09
But welcome back.
6:10
Jennifer, how are you doing?
6:11
I'm doing really well.
6:12
Thanks for having me.
6:14
Yeah, absolutely.
6:16
Would you like to introduce the two
6:18
gentlemen to your left on the screen
6:21
there?
6:22
Sure.
6:23
So we have Brian Jaffe.
6:24
He is a graduate mentor as well as
6:26
a team leader at Focus Marines Foundation,
6:28
which means he's come through our program
6:31
and he helps other people walk through it
6:33
like he did himself.
6:35
So he's part of the peer support team.
6:37
part of the program.
6:37
And then we have Nick Popadich,
6:39
who is our program director,
6:41
and he is also a board member at
6:42
Focus Marines Foundation as well.
6:46
All right, nice, very nice.
6:47
Well, hey, welcome to all of you, Brian,
6:50
Nick.
6:51
It's good to have you guys here.
6:53
I'm excited.
6:55
I don't know, we met, well,
6:57
I met Jennifer before because I've had her
6:58
on,
6:58
but met in person when we went to
7:02
Modern Day Marine.
7:03
So I went down the line interviewing
7:04
people and for the different nonprofits
7:07
and different organizations.
7:08
And I stopped at your guys' booth and
7:10
we just had a good old time for
7:12
probably, what,
7:12
about fifteen minutes or so at least.
7:15
So thanks for putting up with me.
7:17
I appreciate it.
7:17
Yeah, it was awesome.
7:25
Well,
7:25
let's talk a little bit about the
7:26
organization for those that don't know
7:28
anything about it.
7:29
Jennifer or whoever wants to jump in and
7:33
talk about it real quick.
7:35
Sure.
7:35
We have a seven-day, we're a nonprofit.
7:38
We host a seven-day program four times a
7:40
year that really helps veterans,
7:43
primarily post-Nine-Eleven veterans,
7:47
look through their trauma with different
7:49
lenses.
7:50
So maybe it's no longer holding them back
7:52
and then help them with peer support,
7:54
figure out what it is that they want
7:56
to do moving forward with their life.
7:58
And then
7:58
On the other side of graduation,
8:00
we do monthly Zoom sessions two to three
8:04
times a month so we can stay connected
8:05
with them for as long as they would
8:07
like to do.
8:08
And that's for all graduates of our
8:09
program.
8:10
And so they can really dive into the
8:13
material even further and apply it to
8:15
their daily lives for better outcomes and
8:19
just having support along the way.
8:22
Yeah, that's awesome.
8:23
And Brian,
8:24
you've gone through the program,
8:26
like going through it,
8:27
what do you see on that end,
8:29
that side?
8:31
You know,
8:32
I've never experienced another veterans
8:35
program like it.
8:37
It's very unique.
8:39
We bring people and
8:41
from all across the United States.
8:43
So it's not just,
8:45
and it's not just Marines too.
8:46
We allow some other branches of service in
8:51
as well in a limited amount,
8:54
but we bring them in and I say
8:58
that, but it's Marine centric.
9:00
So it's run by Marines,
9:02
it's all Marines and we just adopt them
9:06
into the Marine Corps.
9:06
So it's okay.
9:07
Yeah.
9:09
phenomenal course, um, really, uh,
9:12
gets down to the,
9:13
to the nitty gritty and, um,
9:16
opens you up and, and, uh,
9:18
allows you to take a good close look
9:21
at, uh, you know,
9:24
victim versus responsible.
9:26
I'll just say a lot of people,
9:29
you know, they're a victim to their,
9:32
to what's happened to them, um,
9:33
through the military and in combat.
9:36
And it can, uh,
9:37
It can really derail them.
9:40
I got derailed myself,
9:41
so I can say that.
9:43
And it'll definitely get you back on
9:45
track.
9:45
It's awesome.
9:46
That's awesome.
9:47
And then, Nick,
9:49
what's your take on the whole thing?
9:51
You're a part of the board, too,
9:52
so you really got to sell it.
9:55
Well,
9:56
my primary function there is the program
9:58
director,
9:58
and that's to make sure it's the right
9:59
material being presented in the right
10:01
manner so that it's being received.
10:04
And I'm very proud of what we do
10:06
there.
10:06
As Jennifer mentioned,
10:07
we're a program that...
10:10
takes a look at where you are right
10:12
now and where you want to go.
10:14
And sometimes, as Brian mentioned,
10:15
it's not always a pleasant experience
10:17
looking at where you might be right now.
10:19
So it's a very honest program.
10:21
It's very honest and full of hard work.
10:24
And I think that's why the Marine ethos
10:27
lends so well to it.
10:28
Because as Marines,
10:30
it's our wheelhouse to take a look at
10:32
something, and in particular,
10:33
take a bad hand and turn it into
10:36
a good thing.
10:38
And a lot of times,
10:40
a lot of the classes I'll present to
10:41
them,
10:42
just what an expert at that sort of
10:43
skill they are.
10:45
That, for instance,
10:46
when we were all in boot camp,
10:47
we failed at everything.
10:52
If you have a story of succeeding in
10:53
anything in boot camp,
10:54
your drill instructors did you wrong.
10:57
You never succeeded in anything.
10:59
But what did we learn through that?
11:01
We learned commitment.
11:02
We learned confidence.
11:04
We learned to never quit and that sort
11:06
of thing.
11:06
And now it's a matter of taking that
11:07
same skill set, that same ethos,
11:09
and applying it to post-service situations
11:12
or in some cases pre-service or in some
11:15
cases, as Brian mentioned, you know,
11:18
those experiences in the service.
11:20
How to apply that Marine Corps ethos to
11:22
it, courage, honor, commitment,
11:24
all those leadership principles.
11:27
And
11:28
It's amazing how relevant they are to
11:30
everything in life, you know, as we know.
11:32
But sometimes we can just not be looking
11:36
at it through the proper lens.
11:38
And that's kind of what the course is
11:40
all about,
11:41
is how to take those experiences,
11:42
look at them through the right context,
11:44
and turn them into the life of your
11:46
choosing.
11:48
Right.
11:49
Man, it's awesome.
11:50
You know, speaking, you talk about,
11:53
you know,
11:54
the core values and those types of things.
11:56
And I got to throw this out there.
12:01
We do have a resident author with us.
12:06
Validated Leadership is the name of the
12:07
book.
12:08
I'll just throw that out there, Mark.
12:09
He just finished that.
12:10
So maybe you have some new material you
12:13
could use while you're up there teaching,
12:16
you know.
12:17
And Mark could be a guest instructor.
12:19
Hey, congratulations on your book, Mark.
12:21
Thanks, Nick.
12:23
Nick actually read the manuscript ahead of
12:25
time to make sure I wasn't totally out
12:28
in left field.
12:29
Oh, that's Mark Laughlin.
12:31
Yeah.
12:32
Oh, man, I'm sorry, Sergeant Major.
12:33
I didn't know.
12:34
My screen's real small.
12:35
I didn't realize I had a very good
12:36
friend on here.
12:37
You one-eyed Muppet.
12:41
Dude,
12:41
you got to do that before the time.
12:43
Come on.
12:47
You're giving us a bad name.
12:51
No, like I said, Andrew,
12:52
I sent my manuscript to Nick before it
12:54
got published.
12:58
Nick is a published author also.
13:01
and uh so i want him to take
13:02
a look at it before i before i
13:04
put it out there for the public uh
13:07
public value yeah well looky there nick
13:11
you you were already doing it uh you're
13:13
ahead of the game i'm behind as usual
13:16
nothing new here so that's all good
13:21
well um with mike when he was joe
13:23
i think it was mike was the one-eyed
13:25
guy i was gonna tease and say this
13:26
this is this is my this one's my
13:28
good one and so that's my excuse sir
13:30
major sorry for uh not recognizing nice oh
13:37
man well uh you know running the
13:40
organization i mean it takes a lot to
13:42
run it uh how many like how many
13:44
come in and help and uh like for
13:46
staff and those types of things
13:51
we have like yeah we have about a
13:57
hundred and twenty volunteers that make
13:59
focus happen and not all of them
14:01
experience the participants we have people
14:04
that make beds and you know empty trash
14:06
cans and things like that right you know
14:09
all of that stuff is is unseen but
14:11
in the room we probably have
14:14
thirty volunteers and then all the kitchen
14:17
staff,
14:18
probably sixty total on site for the
14:20
session.
14:22
Yeah.
14:23
Wow.
14:23
That's a lot.
14:24
That's great.
14:25
There's a lot of people who make that
14:26
go.
14:27
And one of the things we do throughout
14:29
the course is we pull out some of
14:30
the unseen folks and bring them up because
14:33
gratitude is a huge thing.
14:34
And we will touch on that throughout the
14:36
week as well,
14:36
that it leads to a more joyous life.
14:39
The more you express gratitude and simple
14:41
things, as we know,
14:42
as being Marines that recognize that not
14:45
everything, nothing happens by accident.
14:48
And so it's just an amazing team.
14:51
And as I always like to point out,
14:53
amazing teams don't happen by accident.
14:55
They happen from great leadership.
14:57
And Jen, as our executive director,
14:59
just provides that amazing leadership to
15:03
get this team all on the same sheet
15:04
of music.
15:05
And it's all very Marine Corps centric.
15:10
As it should be.
15:11
As it should be.
15:13
That would fly.
15:14
At least my opinion.
15:15
I don't know.
15:16
I might be biased.
15:17
Oh, I was going to say something.
15:20
I forgot what it was.
15:22
It was to Nick.
15:22
Oh,
15:23
I know which one I was going to
15:24
say.
15:25
So, Nick, you talk about gratitude.
15:27
And we discussed this whenever we were at
15:29
the Modern Day Marine.
15:31
me being in the band mike also was
15:33
in the band marine band so twenty nine
15:36
palms uh when you came back from uh
15:39
the hospital when they released you uh the
15:42
band played for you were the only one
15:44
coming back the band played for you and
15:45
then you paid them back with your
15:48
gratitude so uh now tell us a little
15:50
bit about that if you don't mind
15:52
So I got released from the hospital after
15:54
hours,
15:54
and they drove me back to Twenty-Nine
15:56
Palms.
15:57
Me and my wife drove us back,
15:59
and we got back on deck at like,
16:01
you know, zero-one, something like that.
16:04
And then we opened the door.
16:06
The band started playing,
16:07
just like a whole unit had come back.
16:09
It was just so awesome that they came
16:11
out, and they didn't have to do it.
16:14
Apparently,
16:14
the word went through their head, hey,
16:16
we got one guy coming in tonight.
16:17
So it was a voluntary thing.
16:19
But the whole band came out and played
16:21
the Marines hymn for me when I came
16:22
in.
16:24
How awesome is that?
16:26
So not being a band guy or not
16:28
being of any musical talent whatsoever,
16:32
I got a CD of the Marines hymn.
16:34
And me and my wife and my son,
16:36
I talked to the band leader and I
16:37
said, hey, when are you guys coming in?
16:39
Give me a time when you guys are
16:40
coming in late at night.
16:42
And so when their bus pulled in,
16:44
we were waiting with our truck there.
16:45
And we had the CD player cranked.
16:47
And we played the Marines.
16:48
Well, we didn't play.
16:49
We turned the Marines hymn on.
16:53
And we had a cooler full of sodas
16:55
and stuff.
16:56
And it was just a very small way
16:58
of paying them back.
16:59
And it could in no way match what
17:01
they did for me, though.
17:02
It was just amazing.
17:06
Well,
17:06
they still continue to tell that story,
17:09
just so you know,
17:10
and it gets passed around.
17:11
Because I wasn't there for it, but, man,
17:14
I heard about it from several different
17:15
people.
17:16
So thanks for doing that.
17:17
You're a great guy, stand-up guy,
17:21
I'd like to say.
17:23
All right.
17:24
It was very nice of you to say
17:25
it, but it was a very small gesture.
17:30
It was the least I could do for
17:31
such an amazing thing they did for me
17:33
and my family.
17:35
Yeah, absolutely.
17:37
Well, uh, what else you want to, uh,
17:39
bring up about the organization,
17:41
what you guys are doing and, uh, uh,
17:43
anything else?
17:46
Well, I would say spread the word,
17:48
spread the word that for one,
17:49
that we exist because, uh,
17:51
finding the right person for the program
17:54
and making sure the program is right for
17:55
the person.
17:57
Uh, you know,
17:57
not everybody is a good fit for,
17:59
and it's not a good fit for everybody.
18:01
And so, um,
18:04
Jim,
18:04
you want to talk about what our ideal
18:06
candidate would be?
18:07
I think that would be a good thing
18:08
to start off with.
18:10
Because we're peer support,
18:11
we're primarily post nine eleven.
18:13
So we do we take males and females
18:16
and we can have a cohort and we
18:19
have about twenty five people per session.
18:22
So right now,
18:24
most of our people are coming from
18:25
graduates.
18:26
So the graduates are out there doing a
18:28
lot of our recruiting and then letting
18:29
their friends know and vetting the program
18:31
for them, for us,
18:33
which is super helpful and interesting.
18:35
getting them on the plane and having them
18:38
come to this organization in the middle of
18:40
the country.
18:41
We do pay for everybody's travel and we
18:46
don't want this to be an expense to
18:47
anybody.
18:48
So we do take care of that.
18:50
And we're just looking for people who
18:52
maybe their life isn't going exactly how
18:54
they thought it was.
18:55
You don't have to be in the depths
18:57
of despair
18:58
to get benefits out of our program.
19:00
We need you actually kind of trying to
19:02
pull yourself out of it because we can't
19:04
help you if you're not there to help
19:05
yourself.
19:06
So we need somebody that is on that
19:08
path or wanting to start that path because
19:11
we can help from there.
19:12
But if they're just stuck in their ways
19:14
and don't want to make any changes,
19:16
there's not much anybody can do until
19:17
they're ready to make that choice.
19:20
we need people kind of, you know,
19:22
heading out of the basement and reaching
19:24
out for help and letting people know that
19:26
they're really struggling.
19:27
And they don't have to be,
19:29
like I said, in the depths of despair.
19:31
It could just be they keep hitting this
19:32
glass ceiling and they don't know what
19:34
that is.
19:34
And so they're trying to figure out how
19:36
do they move ahead?
19:37
This isn't what they expected.
19:39
And how do they just break that glass
19:42
ceiling so that they're no longer holding
19:44
themselves back from this amazing life
19:46
that they've earned and deserve?
19:48
And, you know,
19:48
and and reminding them that they earned it
19:51
and they deserve this amazing life they
19:53
don't have to be miserable they can they
19:55
can have joy in their life and it
19:57
looks different for everybody but you know
19:59
somebody that's that's actively seeking
20:01
that and we can we can take it
20:03
from there and i think our program is
20:05
really good at helping people reveal that
20:07
even if it is just the tiniest bit
20:09
of hope we can we can help them
20:11
find that that hope and joy and we
20:14
have amazing speakers that come in and
20:17
you know, really help them,
20:18
like remind them that they're not alone in
20:20
this struggle.
20:21
They have now all of the support from
20:23
this room.
20:24
And I think the community is helpful.
20:26
I think the graduate mentors,
20:28
because they're proof of concept,
20:29
Nix uses that term,
20:30
but they're proof of concept.
20:32
They've taken this material and they're
20:34
doing amazing things.
20:36
They can share their journey with them.
20:37
And so it's yeah,
20:40
it's I can't say enough.
20:41
And I know my elevator pitch is really
20:43
long because I can't make it short.
20:45
It's so big.
20:46
We do so much.
20:47
I don't know how to condense it down
20:49
to a small little thing.
20:51
It's just so powerful, in my opinion.
20:53
And.
20:54
Anyway, so I could ramble on and on,
20:55
but that's it in a nutshell.
20:57
Please add Brian and Nick if there's...
21:00
I think one of the best things Jen
21:01
said there was that one of our guiding
21:03
principles is if you raise your right hand
21:06
and say,
21:06
I do solemnly swear to give everything up
21:08
to including your life for people you've
21:09
never even met for their freedom,
21:12
you've earned the right to live a life
21:14
of your choosing on this side of it.
21:15
And that's one of our guiding principles.
21:18
And as Jen said,
21:20
you could be just somewhere you want more
21:21
out of life.
21:21
And you know,
21:22
As I say, you know,
21:23
that ten-point pain scale,
21:25
you could be a one or you could
21:27
be a hundred and one somewhere on there.
21:29
And one of our graduates had this way
21:31
of saying,
21:32
and I don't know whether it works for
21:34
everybody else as well as this little
21:37
summation.
21:38
It worked for me.
21:39
But he said this program works for the
21:41
CEO of a corporation or the guy living
21:43
in a dumpster out back.
21:44
It works for everyone in life.
21:48
The tools work for you wherever you are.
21:51
Wow.
21:52
Yeah, that's powerful.
21:54
Now, what is when somebody arrives,
21:56
you know, their demeanor,
21:58
how they're interacting,
21:59
what they do versus, okay,
22:01
now I'm graduating, I'm moving on.
22:04
Kind of what is that difference?
22:05
And, you know, Brian,
22:06
you can tell us from your perspective on
22:08
that.
22:08
Yeah,
22:09
so we get them coming in and bring
22:12
them in off the bus.
22:13
Usually some of them drive in,
22:14
but get them from the airport.
22:16
We will bring them in and they are
22:17
closed off.
22:20
They really don't want to talk to anybody.
22:22
They got their arms crossed.
22:24
They got an attitude and we just try
22:26
to get them to come in,
22:28
get them settled, you know,
22:30
tell them everything's going to be okay.
22:32
And it's a huge turnaround from that to
22:37
at the end of the graduation,
22:39
you get guys will completely open up.
22:42
They'll be, you know,
22:44
we'll have a little party afterwards,
22:46
just sing karaoke.
22:47
They're just having a blast and,
22:50
and amazing things that they do after
22:53
graduating.
22:53
I mean,
22:55
we run a buddy check during the month
22:57
and,
22:58
And I don't know a lot of the
22:59
graduates.
23:00
I graduated three and a half years ago.
23:02
So young lady called in from ten years
23:05
prior and gone through the course.
23:07
She was just hitting her big blue star
23:13
goal that she had up there that she
23:15
was shooting for.
23:16
And she was opening up a veteran's
23:20
ranch,
23:20
and she was hauling four horses behind
23:23
her,
23:23
and she had another truck with four horses
23:26
behind that.
23:27
And ten years later,
23:29
she was hitting the goal that she put
23:31
together at Focus.
23:32
That's awesome.
23:35
Yeah, it's amazing, actually.
23:37
It's good for the PFC.
23:39
They say the CEO to the guy in
23:41
the dumpster.
23:41
I say the PFC all the way up
23:43
to the colonel because we've had all of
23:45
the above.
23:46
Yeah.
23:47
It's great for majors, too.
23:49
I'm just saying.
23:52
I think that's another neat thing about
23:54
our program.
23:55
We've had them from privates up to
23:56
colonels.
23:57
We've had sergeant majors in there.
23:59
And it runs the garment because everybody
24:02
I think is the tools work for everybody,
24:05
wherever you are,
24:07
whether things are going your way or your
24:09
way,
24:09
just how to contextualize things in a
24:11
positive way.
24:13
And it's not done through therapy.
24:15
So I get that question a lot.
24:17
It's not a group therapy program.
24:18
It's not any sort of therapist that's
24:21
running it.
24:22
We have facilitators that take this
24:24
material across the world and it's a
24:27
leadership course out in the corporate
24:29
America and not in.
24:30
But for us, it really just helps.
24:35
people understand how we're all created
24:38
and how our minds work.
24:39
And if you know that part and you
24:41
know how it gets placed there,
24:43
all of our thoughts and our ideas and
24:45
our behaviors,
24:46
then you can also know how to make
24:48
those changes.
24:49
It doesn't make it easy,
24:50
but to be aware of how to make
24:52
those changes, I think is how...
24:54
That's where the secret is, you know,
24:55
because if you're quick to anger,
24:57
but we teach you something called the gap
24:59
so that you choose your response instead
25:01
of just reacting so quickly,
25:04
then that is where all their power is.
25:05
And that's probably the biggest takeaway
25:07
they have is just making a choice instead
25:11
of being led around by, you know,
25:12
their subconscious behaviors is staying
25:15
aware and making the choices that they
25:17
want.
25:17
Sometimes it's worth the yell.
25:18
Sometimes you're mad and you need to
25:20
express that.
25:20
But other times you're like, okay, well,
25:22
why am I,
25:23
you can go through the process and maybe
25:25
it's not that big of a deal once
25:26
you, you know,
25:27
break it down inside your mind.
25:28
So that's basically important.
25:32
And it's,
25:32
it's very Marine oriented because like,
25:34
for instance,
25:35
that like Jen talked about the gap,
25:37
that's something you did every minute,
25:39
every day in the core.
25:40
Engage your brain before you engage your
25:42
weapon.
25:42
It was a skill you were very good
25:44
at in the core,
25:46
and now it's a matter of applying that
25:47
to other situations in your life.
25:50
And Brian touched on another one with the
25:52
blue star goal, where when we were in,
25:56
you're in that nice, good, covered,
25:57
concealed position,
25:58
and you get that prepare to rush.
26:00
You know you're going.
26:01
You absolutely know you're going to go
26:02
when you get the command to rush.
26:05
Because you had a why.
26:06
You had a why you're going to do
26:08
it.
26:08
A very strong why.
26:09
It might have been slightly different for
26:11
all of us,
26:11
but we had a very strong why.
26:13
And now out in the civilian world,
26:15
in the post-life, in the veteran's life,
26:18
what is your why?
26:19
What makes you get up and leave that
26:20
position of safety and those unknown
26:23
situations with confidence, with courage,
26:25
with commitment?
26:27
What makes you go?
26:28
And the Blue Star goal is one of
26:30
those tools we use.
26:33
I like that.
26:34
Yeah.
26:35
Now, real quick, all of you were Marines,
26:39
is that right?
26:40
Semper Fi.
26:41
Yeah.
26:41
Okay.
26:41
That's what I thought.
26:43
If you don't mind,
26:44
just kind of tell us a little bit
26:45
about your Marine Corps experience and
26:48
we'll just kind of hit the row there.
26:50
But Jennifer, you want to go first?
26:52
Sure.
26:53
I served, I'm an Army brat,
26:54
so I grew up in the militaries,
26:55
but joining the Marine Corps was not
26:57
outside of the realm of possibility when
26:59
you're in that life.
27:01
And so I joined the Marine Corps in
27:02
ninety three.
27:03
I was a disperser.
27:04
I served four years.
27:06
I met my husband,
27:07
who also is a Marine.
27:08
We've been married thirty years now.
27:09
And I found this organization and it was
27:12
like the perfect fit.
27:14
It was everything that I mean,
27:15
I have the best job in the world.
27:17
I absolutely love what I do.
27:18
So nothing happened when I was serving.
27:20
So I actually feel like right now is
27:23
my service giving back to the folks that
27:25
did sacrifice.
27:26
And, you know, it was their time.
27:28
It just wasn't my time.
27:29
So.
27:33
Yeah.
27:33
Wow.
27:34
Love it.
27:34
All right, Brian, you want to go?
27:35
Sure.
27:36
I, I joined,
27:37
I went to bootcamp in eighty-two,
27:40
August of eighty-two.
27:41
So got to love that,
27:42
or at least I graduated August twentieth,
27:44
eighty-two.
27:46
But I came in as a reservist.
27:49
I was,
27:50
my plan was to be a Marine officer.
27:52
We have a lot of Marines in the
27:53
family and Army, and that was a plan.
27:56
Didn't quite work out that way.
27:58
So
28:00
But I just decided to go on active
28:02
duty and then got my warrant in ninety
28:08
four and I stayed in a long time.
28:14
No, I stated a long time.
28:15
When you say long time.
28:17
Those old warrant officers, you know,
28:20
that was CWI.
28:23
You were the unicorn that was out there,
28:25
is that right?
28:26
Yeah, something like that.
28:28
I never pinned on five.
28:29
That was one of my blue stars I
28:32
didn't get to.
28:34
They didn't even have much wine,
28:35
so it was okay.
28:37
Oh, really?
28:38
Well, hey, you could always, who is that,
28:41
Nancy Kerrigan?
28:42
Is that how you say her name?
28:44
You could do that.
28:45
Chop them off at the knees.
28:46
I think it was Julie DeFuco that did
28:48
the pipe swinging, if you want.
28:49
Oh, yeah, well, yeah.
28:53
Good point, good point.
28:55
Our pop references might be a touch off
28:57
there.
28:57
Is it Diego Genius?
28:58
Yeah, that's right.
29:05
That's what I'm here for, Nick.
29:06
Sorry.
29:10
Oh, that's great.
29:12
Anyway, I did spend a few years.
29:15
I spent most of my time with the
29:16
wing, actually, but I did do a tour,
29:19
a grunt with the, you know,
29:21
tour with the grunts.
29:23
I'm sorry.
29:25
In Marmotti, in Marmotti, you know,
29:27
so it was awesome.
29:30
Headquarters there, Blue Diamond.
29:33
We were there at the same time, Mike.
29:35
Mike was there as well at the same
29:38
time frame.
29:39
So Brian was working up at the
29:41
headquarters.
29:42
You squirted my interest when you said
29:43
headquarters of battalion and Blue Diamond
29:46
in two thousand four.
29:47
I was like, oh, so that's it.
29:50
I look the same,
29:51
except I didn't have any gray hair,
29:53
or maybe just.
29:54
Yeah, so do I.
29:55
I look the exact same.
29:56
Yeah.
29:59
I don't.
30:00
Yeah.
30:01
I've gained way more weight.
30:02
Yeah, I can attest to that, Andrew.
30:03
You don't look anything like you did back
30:05
then.
30:05
I'm sorry.
30:05
No, not even close.
30:10
Oh, man.
30:11
I wish you could have had this back
30:12
then, because I would have been,
30:14
it would have been, you know,
30:16
gunny at that point.
30:16
That stache.
30:17
Yeah.
30:19
I think if you can grow a stash
30:21
like that,
30:21
you should be able to keep it,
30:22
you know?
30:23
That's what I think.
30:26
Yeah.
30:27
I mean, it's a Magnum PI perfect stash.
30:29
You just got to ask the Sergeant Majors.
30:31
I mean, they could tell you.
30:32
I mean, I'm sure.
30:35
He's giving you the stink eye right now.
30:40
Cultivating something on your face.
30:46
Oh, man,
30:46
we just have a conversation about shaving
30:48
later in the day.
30:51
It's in the desert environment or the
30:53
mountainous environment.
30:55
I apologize.
30:57
I thought what you said was shave later
31:00
next year.
31:03
That's what I thought you said.
31:04
Sorry, Sergeant Major.
31:06
That's every dirtbag airman with a shaving
31:10
waiver.
31:11
I have pseudofolliculitis barbae.
31:14
No, you don't, you zit-faced punk.
31:17
You're full of crap.
31:18
Wash your face and shave.
31:20
I swear on all that's merciful, like,
31:26
I just want to slap the stubble off.
31:29
Like, you do look beautiful.
31:31
You're all day.
31:33
You know what I mean?
31:36
So does Mark.
31:37
Mark knows.
31:38
He's like, yeah, exactly.
31:42
Hey, while I shave my head, I mean,
31:44
what do you want?
31:44
That's why I got to wear a hat
31:45
in here because none of you will be
31:47
able to see this.
31:47
Are you sure that it's the shaving aspect
31:50
on your head?
31:57
It's not natural?
31:58
He's probably fifty-fifty like me.
32:00
Yeah, fifty-fifty?
32:02
He had a big hole in his haircut.
32:04
I can grow the sides in a nice
32:06
George Carlin.
32:08
Oh, nice.
32:09
Which I always threatened to do if I
32:11
had to go to federal pound me in
32:12
the ass court.
32:14
It's like, that's what's happening.
32:16
I want to be every mother's son, dude.
32:18
This George Carlin mealy mouth,
32:24
bad tan suit.
32:24
I had my plan for the day that
32:28
came.
32:29
but God saved me from that.
32:31
Um, it was a,
32:32
it was a different exit.
32:34
Yeah, no, it was a different exit.
32:36
I didn't have to eat that crap,
32:37
which that would have been a nightmare.
32:38
Cause Lord knows I wanted to go bald
32:42
and clean shaven with my shit wire type.
32:44
But, um, so, you know, uh, Nick,
32:52
if you, uh, don't mind,
32:53
tell us a little bit about you.
32:55
Uh,
32:55
not everybody out there knows anything
32:57
about you.
32:57
So,
32:58
It's hard to follow smacking around
33:00
zip-faced punks, but I'll give it a shot.
33:02
Yeah, I joined in – No, it's okay.
33:09
That's my wheelhouse right there.
33:13
I joined in – I joined in –
33:15
I was assigned as a tank crewman.
33:16
And, you know,
33:17
if you – from that neck of the
33:19
woods, you start as a driver, loader,
33:21
gunner,
33:21
and then become a tank commander –
33:24
And then I did that for the rest
33:25
of my time.
33:26
I took one little hiatus to go be
33:28
a drill instructor for a few years.
33:30
But other than that,
33:33
I spent my whole time with the first
33:34
MARDIV and first tank battalion.
33:37
Nice.
33:40
I got my eyes messed up a little
33:41
bit.
33:41
As you see,
33:42
the fact I didn't recognize any of you
33:45
shows why the Marine Corps said, hey,
33:48
maybe a weapon in your hand isn't the
33:50
best thing right now.
33:52
Maybe it's time for you to find another
33:54
line of work, Gunny.
33:54
So yeah, I was medically without it.
33:55
Bye.
33:56
Oh, man.
34:00
So I have a picture here that I'm
34:03
going to throw up here in just a
34:05
second, as soon as it loads.
34:07
And because you mentioned...
34:10
drill instructor so uh i don't know if
34:13
you can see that uh nick but that's
34:16
you oh yeah that's you in the middle
34:19
there sergeant motivator what was that
34:34
carson peterson carson uh
34:39
And then, so, I'll shoot Davis.
34:44
Matt Sarden Davis, retired Aaron.
34:46
He's a regular on the podcast.
34:47
He was in your company.
34:50
It wasn't your platoon,
34:51
but he was in your company.
34:53
And he was, unfortunately,
34:54
couldn't make it tonight.
34:55
But he sent me that picture of you.
35:00
Yeah, too bad.
35:00
I could have yelled at him and everything.
35:02
That would have been fun.
35:03
I know.
35:03
It would have been great.
35:04
Don't worry.
35:04
We can pull you back to do that.
35:06
One of our guys,
35:08
if that's Carson next to me,
35:09
I think I heard the name was one
35:12
of the guys in our focus team.
35:13
That was his drill instructor.
35:15
That was his senior drill instructor.
35:16
Oh, really?
35:17
Wow.
35:18
Is that Lionel?
35:20
That was Lionel's senior.
35:21
Oh, my gosh.
35:21
I didn't see his whole face.
35:23
I kind of want to see his whole
35:24
face now so I can put a picture
35:26
to the stories.
35:27
The rest isn't much better.
35:28
He's a scary guy.
35:34
one of my favorite people to work with
35:36
he was fantastic let's see uh now mark's
35:40
got plenty of uh drill instructor stories
35:43
i i tell you that nick i'm sure
35:45
you and major so he so he got
35:48
to yell at drill instructors i mean i
35:50
did really badass to yell at drill
35:52
instructors
35:53
Yeah,
35:54
I will say I was on the receiving
35:56
end of that a couple times,
35:57
so just throw that out there.
36:01
So, Nick,
36:01
when I had second battalion and I knew
36:04
that A.J.
36:06
was going through DI school,
36:07
I knew him from the band already.
36:10
And so, of course,
36:11
I grabbed him because I knew he could
36:12
march.
36:13
I knew he could make alignment, you know.
36:15
So I grabbed him right away.
36:19
You wear him out.
36:20
Yeah.
36:21
Yeah, well,
36:22
he wore me out for the first year.
36:25
And then he said,
36:26
you're going to the swim tank.
36:28
You're going to be the staffing COIC at
36:29
the swim tank.
36:30
Because I was pinning on Gunny.
36:32
And I was like,
36:32
I don't want to go to the swim
36:33
tank.
36:34
He's like, you're going to the swim tank.
36:35
I was like, ah, okay.
36:36
I don't know what you wanted out of
36:38
that situation.
36:39
Andrew, what did we play?
36:43
Yeah.
36:44
Rock, paper, rank.
36:46
He won.
36:47
Yeah.
36:48
Mark won that one.
36:50
I lost a lot on that one,
36:53
but it turned out great.
36:55
But your first sergeant lost also when I
36:57
brought you back as a senior.
36:58
That is true.
36:59
Yeah, you played rock, paper,
37:00
rank with him,
37:01
and you brought me back as a senior,
37:03
so I can't really complain too much.
37:05
Is that the greatest job in the world,
37:06
senior drill instructor?
37:07
Yeah.
37:11
It is.
37:11
It is.
37:11
It's amazing the influence that the senior
37:14
drill instructor has on the whole platoon.
37:16
It's pretty cool.
37:17
Yeah.
37:18
deep hole world.
37:21
That is what the whole deep hole world
37:22
evolves around.
37:24
It was kind of neat.
37:27
I got five platoons as a senior drill
37:28
instructor in my two tours.
37:30
Amazing.
37:32
I only did two and they said,
37:33
that's enough.
37:34
You're done.
37:34
We don't want anymore of what you're
37:38
making here.
37:41
The good thing is with the organization,
37:43
you obviously
37:45
being a senior,
37:46
being on the drill instructor,
37:47
you got a lot of that impact that
37:49
you can share with everybody that's coming
37:51
through.
37:51
Brian, same thing.
37:52
I mean, you were the unicorn,
37:53
so I mean, everybody knows, right?
37:56
So you guys,
37:57
you can impact them very well.
37:59
I think that's a good deal.
38:04
I seem to relate to everybody in there
38:06
because I was a reservist.
38:07
I was active duty.
38:09
I was enlisted,
38:10
but I was a warrant officer.
38:12
I went to Iraq.
38:13
I went to Afghanistan.
38:14
I was in the wing.
38:16
I was with the grunts.
38:18
You just did it all.
38:21
Yeah, I did a lot anyway.
38:22
It was awesome.
38:24
When you serve over thirty years,
38:26
you're going to have quite a few hats
38:28
that you wore at some point.
38:29
Yeah.
38:30
Now, how many years total was it?
38:33
you served i got thirty good years and
38:36
a couple i i was uh not so
38:39
good but yeah it happens i got forced
38:44
out at thirty i was i was not
38:47
physically qualified so okay and then i
38:50
had some guys in my corner were trying
38:52
to like how i was up for promotion
38:54
i was up for five is that a
38:56
thirty year mark and they just went you're
38:58
you're done so
39:00
And so God's trying to talk me into
39:02
getting promoted and I wasted a couple of
39:06
years trying to do that.
39:07
Wow.
39:08
Well,
39:12
you're going to have to come on and
39:13
tell your story sometime.
39:15
Jennifer,
39:15
you never came on and told your whole
39:17
story, did you?
39:18
We did a fireside chat and we were
39:19
just chatting about focus.
39:23
Yeah,
39:23
you're going to have to come on and
39:24
tell your story.
39:25
Nick, same thing.
39:26
You're going to have to come on and
39:27
tell your story.
39:28
We'll get you signed up.
39:31
It'll be awesome.
39:32
It'll be good.
39:33
Yeah,
39:33
I don't know how fireside chat that'll be.
39:34
Hey, guys, please do.
39:40
I couldn't hear you.
39:41
Say it again, Bone.
39:45
Oh, sorry.
39:46
Nick jumped in.
39:47
I was just going to say, guys,
39:47
please do.
39:49
You know, get on there.
39:50
I shared mine with A.J.,
39:55
um after getting referred by a friend of
39:58
a friend of a his son's girlfriend's
40:00
associate whatever it was but um just
40:03
getting on there and then being able to
40:04
get on here but uh people still um
40:07
you know the internet never goes away um
40:09
and i probably said some loud shit at
40:11
night but you know really i was just
40:13
telling the story it's all good
40:15
you know,
40:16
it comes back on a weird loop cycle
40:18
and it's nice to be kind of probably
40:21
what you guys are, you know,
40:23
but now with your group and then that
40:25
type of, I know it's not therapy,
40:27
but therapy is like, you know,
40:30
telling your own story,
40:31
running your own story,
40:33
to be able to like tell a story
40:36
about where I came from, what I did,
40:39
what my service was about,
40:41
which militarily,
40:43
what much, um, is, is amazing.
40:47
But I can tell you that just being
40:49
like, I've also been cannon fodder for,
40:53
um, you know,
40:54
police shooting videos that go around in a
40:57
cycle, uh,
40:58
that gets six million views a whack.
41:01
So I've seen none of that internet money
41:04
and, uh, don't control that narrative.
41:07
So I also don't live in the comments.
41:09
Otherwise I'd,
41:11
Yeah.
41:12
BF any of you clowns that think you
41:14
know how to call the duty.
41:15
You want a gunfight?
41:16
Come to my house.
41:18
That's what's up.
41:20
So that being said, see,
41:23
do you see how PTSD works?
41:26
So what I'm saying is,
41:28
is like what you guys are putting out
41:30
there is amazing.
41:32
I love it.
41:34
my diversion and to come back is,
41:36
but no, you guys need to, I just,
41:38
I mean,
41:39
and that's up to including the service
41:40
you're doing now because the service
41:42
you're doing now is service connected and
41:44
it's, it's amazing.
41:45
And God love you for doing it.
41:47
I think that it's such a blessing that
41:51
all of you have found that.
41:52
And it's, I mean, I'm just a,
41:56
kind of a adopted bastard, non, you know,
42:00
Marine Air Force guy in this,
42:02
in this group, but they accept me.
42:04
But I mean, you guys,
42:05
especially doing for people in the Corps,
42:07
because guess what?
42:08
But all joking aside,
42:10
that is a special group of people in
42:15
a different mindset,
42:16
and it can be a harder nut to
42:17
crack, I think.
42:19
So, you know, let's just get on,
42:24
all of you.
42:25
Jennifer, Brian, Nick, if you haven't,
42:26
I think you might have.
42:28
You know, get in there, share, and then,
42:31
yeah, come back on.
42:32
And just, you know,
42:36
keep paying it more for Ford.
42:39
Yeah, and I will tell you, Bone,
42:42
we also, when we do the interviews,
42:43
and Bone can talk to this too, well,
42:45
actually all of them because all their
42:46
stories are on there,
42:47
but we start at where did you grow
42:49
up, what was that like,
42:50
all the way to where you are now.
42:52
So it's not just the military service
42:54
itself, although we discussed that,
42:57
but we talk about the whole gamut.
42:58
So it's your life story,
43:00
and all those are getting archived at
43:02
Marine Corps History Division as well.
43:04
So you'd be...
43:08
like, archived with the likes of, like,
43:11
Chesty Puller, right?
43:14
Yeah, well, Mark and Chesty, I mean,
43:16
Mark served with Chesty, so.
43:17
Yeah, that's true.
43:19
He did.
43:20
Chesty, so.
43:25
What was it you said last time, Mark?
43:26
You and Chesty, what was it?
43:29
I can't remember what you said.
43:32
You guys.
43:33
Good night out there.
43:34
When you served together.
43:37
That's what I say.
43:38
Mark was saying something.
43:40
He's ignoring us now.
43:46
Oh, man, good times.
43:48
Well, shoot,
43:49
is there anything else that you guys want
43:50
to bring up, talk about?
43:52
I know we're just kind of sitting here
43:55
shooting the shit right now,
43:56
but is there anything else?
44:00
I would just say if you are struggling
44:02
and you apply, like stay with it.
44:04
Don't give up.
44:05
Don't back out.
44:06
Because oftentimes,
44:08
especially with Marines,
44:09
they're so like self-sacrificing that I
44:12
will have thirteen Marines back out.
44:15
And I am sure it's because they don't
44:17
think.
44:18
it's they're bad enough to take a seat
44:20
and so they're being self-sacrificing by
44:22
giving their seat up and letting somebody
44:23
else sit there but really those are the
44:26
folks that we want filling our seats and
44:28
you know just just stay with it and
44:30
trust the process and you know um we
44:33
got you we will take care of you
44:35
and that's yeah that's my pitch on that
44:38
so
44:40
And we'll take you guys, too.
44:41
So just, you know.
44:42
Whoa.
44:43
Whoa.
44:44
You didn't tell me that.
44:45
I'm cutting you guys off now.
44:47
I'm just kidding.
44:47
I'm just kidding.
44:48
Just kidding.
44:49
What did Brian say?
44:51
I apologize.
44:51
I didn't hear.
44:53
I was saying we'll take Air Force guys,
44:55
too.
45:00
I won't hold it against you.
45:03
Just some.
45:03
Bone actually offends us on a good day
45:06
every time we do the podcast.
45:07
We're like, hey, dude, calm down.
45:12
Just calm down.
45:12
It gets a little worked up sometimes.
45:13
At least once.
45:18
What was it?
45:19
You got us kicked off X,
45:20
I think it was.
45:21
Was it X or TikTok?
45:23
I don't know.
45:23
I can't remember.
45:24
You got us kicked off one of them.
45:30
Yeah,
45:31
it was bad because all of a sudden
45:34
Mark pulled out the knife hands and he
45:35
was like, stop.
45:36
Yeah.
45:36
Stop.
45:36
No.
45:36
Stop.
45:38
Out of control.
45:43
All right.
45:43
I was thinking of being out of control.
45:47
No, bringing it back to full center, AJ.
45:50
And, you know,
45:50
when Jim was talking about it and Nick,
45:53
I think you really dovetailed into it on
45:55
the back end.
45:56
You're not pitching –
45:59
i say pitching i don't mean that in
46:01
a bad way i'm just talking uh what
46:04
what you're talking about is uh
46:06
essentially cognitive behavioral therapy
46:09
or talk therapy or just therapy or however
46:12
you want to say it without the word
46:13
therapy
46:15
and that's what you're given to these
46:18
individuals and mostly from the core uh
46:21
but that in any of those other words
46:25
i i i've said is it's such a
46:31
there's a negative connotation added to it
46:33
there's a weakness there's perceptions
46:37
faults obviously um there's a lot and i
46:41
mean over the last
46:43
definitely over the twenty five years in
46:45
the global war on terror specifically.
46:49
But and I can say this even for
46:51
the law enforcement community over,
46:53
you know,
46:54
eighteen and a half years working in there
46:56
is those walls and those perceptions have
46:58
been broken down, but they still exist.
47:02
So not having to talk to a shrink
47:05
and say I'm talking to whether it's a
47:08
psychiatrist, psychologist,
47:11
I got a master's degree at the community
47:14
college or the air force,
47:15
whatever nonsense,
47:18
but just making it that core group.
47:22
And obviously it's not group therapy,
47:24
but everything you've said,
47:26
everything I heard is a hundred percent in
47:31
line with what
47:32
you know should be happening for people to
47:35
you know get some kind of recovery from
47:39
ptsd and if you and if you don't
47:42
believe you even have ptsd guess what all
47:44
you devil dogs um even if you're just
47:47
doing your four years your six years your
47:49
eight years whatever if if you've gone
47:52
into the service and you've served
47:57
A, thank you.
47:58
God loves you.
47:59
I love you.
48:00
And you're punching out.
48:01
You need help.
48:04
You need some sort of outlet to talk
48:10
about your feelings.
48:11
You need something to unfuck yourself.
48:14
And you need something to give you
48:15
perspective and an anchor.
48:17
Now, you know,
48:20
not everybody goes in right there with it
48:24
being Jesus or whatever else they have.
48:27
But if you can find that through a
48:31
program like this,
48:34
then you can either
48:36
you know, find your bearing,
48:37
get that blue star like Brian and you
48:39
guys were talking about, get those goals.
48:41
I've had a couple of blue stars.
48:44
I know I was wearing a goofy nursing
48:47
hat at the beginning of this.
48:48
And again,
48:49
it wasn't to make light of the show.
48:52
It's, I'm a mad nurse,
48:53
which is funny as fuck.
48:55
So,
48:56
but like to get a new career to
49:00
go serve people, you know,
49:02
you know,
49:03
is is something that I didn't have an
49:07
organization to do that with.
49:09
But I had other avenues and outlets and
49:13
other things.
49:14
And I'm lucky and I got lucky.
49:16
And, you know, I also wasn't a Marine,
49:19
so I was an Air Force guy,
49:20
so I wasn't as stubborn and probably a
49:22
little bit smarter and less full of
49:24
crayons.
49:24
And but I just want to say is
49:26
like,
49:28
you guys have it right.
49:29
And so stripping away things that might be
49:33
barriers to people mentally or emotionally
49:37
is amazing.
49:38
Like men, women, get in there.
49:42
If you've served,
49:43
get in there and at least talk to
49:47
somebody.
49:48
Talk to somebody who's served because the
49:51
mindset's different and you know that.
49:53
And every single one of them has.
49:55
And I'm looking at a guy that's
49:58
know i i still have a quasi working
50:01
eye but you know at least you know
50:03
me and nick can even share that beyond
50:05
our uh service in the dod but outside
50:09
of that what i mean being on this
50:12
podcast but i think we get it and
50:15
i think uh listening to his words
50:17
listening to brian's and jennifer's um
50:19
hugely powerful uh because
50:24
that's, that's your way to healing.
50:25
That's your way to recovery.
50:26
That's your way to moving on.
50:28
Right.
50:29
You know, um, I could have been,
50:32
and I could have been laying in a
50:34
pile of my own, um,
50:36
just piss and self misery, uh,
50:41
wasn't an option, uh,
50:43
but for the grace of God, uh,
50:45
but a lot of other things,
50:47
including therapy,
50:48
I'll say the real therapy,
50:49
because I did real talk therapy,
50:50
but that being said is, um,
50:55
know if you don't want to hear it
50:55
from me but you want to get something
50:58
a little bit more palatable and you want
51:01
to go bro out or sis out with
51:03
your devil dog brothers and sisters this
51:06
is what you need to do and uh
51:09
hey man just just great great to hear
51:12
what you guys had to say and just
51:16
really uh kind of you're hijacking this
51:19
for a minute i talk too much but
51:21
you're you're coming in at the end of
51:22
my
51:24
part of the end of my journey and
51:25
just,
51:25
it really hits and it lands and awesome.
51:29
Just awesome.
51:33
Well, that's good.
51:34
Really well.
51:34
Thank you very much for all of that,
51:36
because you're absolutely correct.
51:37
And I did want to say one more
51:38
thing is that we are privately funded,
51:40
so we don't take any money from the
51:42
government.
51:42
And so there's nobody that we're reporting
51:45
to.
51:45
So when you come there and if you
51:46
do choose to share,
51:47
it truly is a judgment free.
51:49
It doesn't go anywhere.
51:50
So you're very safe to talk about whatever
51:52
you want to talk about.
51:53
It stays there.
51:54
It's they call it hallowed ground for a
51:56
reason.
51:57
And so, yeah,
51:58
I appreciate your kind words about our
52:00
program.
52:01
Thank you very much.
52:03
And I'd say that's pretty incredible.
52:06
We have like a ninety nine percent success
52:08
rate, too.
52:09
I just throw it out there.
52:10
It's amazing.
52:12
Guys go through this.
52:14
It's a really matter of getting my I
52:16
recommend everybody come even if I didn't
52:19
think I needed to be there.
52:20
I was bringing two guys with me because
52:22
they needed to be there.
52:23
Of course,
52:24
I went through all the talk therapy and
52:26
all the BS.
52:27
The VA makes you go through and hated
52:30
it.
52:31
And then.
52:32
Um, I absolutely needed to be there.
52:34
I was estranged from my daughter for seven
52:36
years.
52:37
I was,
52:38
I got real sick during COVID and got,
52:41
I was already, um,
52:43
I was retired by then,
52:44
but I got forced retired by my,
52:46
by the company I was working with too,
52:48
for many, many years.
52:49
So you don't really know till,
52:52
till maybe someone, a buddy says, Hey,
52:56
you know what you need,
52:57
you need some help.
52:58
So, yeah.
53:00
Hopefully the word goes out,
53:01
because like Jennifer said,
53:04
it's mostly word of mouth,
53:05
to be honest with you.
53:08
That's the way we get people in.
53:12
Well,
53:12
we're going to try to spread the message
53:14
here.
53:15
So I'll try to – we need to
53:17
get you on the website too.
53:20
So on my website,
53:22
we can talk about doing that later if
53:24
you want.
53:25
You don't have to.
53:26
I'm just throwing it out there if you
53:28
want to.
53:29
But, yeah.
53:30
Well, anything else?
53:35
Parting shots?
53:36
No?
53:36
I know Nick's got something to say.
53:38
He always has something to say.
53:41
He's over there being silent right now.
53:43
I'll get him to say something.
53:48
To piggyback off what Jen was saying about
53:51
we're privately funded,
53:54
I think one of the points she was
53:55
making is we don't report to anybody.
53:57
It's hollow ground,
53:58
and what goes on there stays there other
54:00
than all the great tools you take with
54:02
you.
54:03
But also our board of directors,
54:05
they're all Marines,
54:07
And our organization is guided by Marines
54:09
taking care of Marines.
54:10
Nobody tells us what to do other than
54:12
our own core values and ethos.
54:15
And so I think the fact that nobody,
54:17
that we don't get any government money is
54:20
another great thing about our
54:22
organization,
54:22
that we're guided by Marine values,
54:24
Marines taking care of their own.
54:27
And I'm very proud of that.
54:29
Absolutely.
54:30
As you should be.
54:31
That's great.
54:31
I love what you guys are doing.
54:33
What's the website, Jim?
54:39
focusmarines.org.
54:40
Okay, focusmarines.org.
54:41
That's where you go to find out more
54:42
information.
54:43
If they want to apply,
54:44
I'm assuming they can go on that website
54:47
application.
54:47
Yes.
54:50
Awesome.
54:51
Well,
54:52
thank you guys for coming on and sharing.
54:54
I had a good time.
54:55
Hopefully you guys had a good time,
54:56
but I'm not going to let you get
54:57
out of here that easily because we're
54:59
going to do our last segment here.
55:02
And this is everybody's favorite.
55:05
We call this words of wisdom.
55:15
so uh jen i don't know if you
55:17
remember this uh so we do these words
55:19
of wisdom you have to come up and
55:21
you got to say something uh what we'll
55:23
start with like bone and we'll go to
55:25
mike uh and then we'll go up to
55:27
you guys uh because the sergeant major is
55:29
the sergeant major the sergeant major goes
55:31
last uh he he's uh bringing up the
55:34
rear with the gear i'm just kidding not
55:37
really but uh bone what do you got
55:39
for us
55:46
No, phone didn't hear me.
55:51
Phone.
55:52
I can hear you.
55:54
We were all put on this earth for
55:55
a purpose.
55:57
Can you hear me now?
55:58
I hear you.
55:58
Can you hear me now?
56:00
Yeah.
56:01
All right.
56:06
We're all put on this earth for a
56:07
purpose, and that purpose is...
56:15
It should be to serve others beyond
56:17
yourself.
56:18
And I know everyone here has done that.
56:21
So keep on keeping on.
56:24
I like it.
56:27
I like it.
56:28
Cool.
56:29
Nurse Dredd,
56:30
congratulations on graduating.
56:32
It was last week, right,
56:32
that you graduated?
56:34
Or am I a week behind?
56:35
I think it was last week.
56:38
Last week he graduated.
56:40
So congratulations.
56:42
Love the hat today, by the way.
56:43
Yeah.
56:45
And then Mike,
56:46
what do you got for us, man?
56:52
It's never too late to be what you
56:53
think you may have been.
56:56
Ooh, okay.
56:59
That's good, that's good.
57:01
All right, we're gonna go up.
57:03
Jennifer,
57:03
you wanna go first or you wanna put
57:05
them on the spot?
57:06
Which would you prefer?
57:08
I'll go first if that's okay.
57:09
Yeah, go ahead.
57:11
So life doesn't get any easier just
57:13
sitting there and doing nothing.
57:15
So get up and find something to do.
57:18
Get out of here.
57:19
Good words.
57:22
Yeah, I like that.
57:23
Brian, what do you got for us?
57:25
Well,
57:25
I don't want to get all the scripture
57:28
on you or anything,
57:29
but I would say trust in God with
57:32
all your heart and lean not on your
57:35
own understanding.
57:36
In all your ways, acknowledge him.
57:38
He will direct your path.
57:42
Absolutely.
57:43
That was good.
57:47
Way to go, Smad.
57:48
I love it.
57:50
I love it.
57:51
Thank you for saying that.
57:53
All right, Nick,
57:53
what do you got for us?
57:55
He's first time following zip face,
57:56
slapping around zip face,
57:58
triple face kids.
58:00
Now I'm following the almighty.
58:01
You're teeing me up not really good here.
58:05
I apologize.
58:07
As a gunny,
58:08
I always think it's like being a cover
58:10
band.
58:10
You don't come up with your own stuff.
58:11
You're just playing other people's tunes,
58:13
you know, and hopefully you do them right.
58:15
So for my word of wisdom,
58:17
I'm going to borrow one from one of
58:18
our speakers at the program there.
58:20
Great individual.
58:21
This guy, Harry Weber,
58:22
he's a fantastic guy.
58:24
He's a Vietnam veteran.
58:25
fantastic speaker and he's talking about
58:29
uh when he got the first time he
58:31
learned to meditate but i'm gonna use it
58:32
with regards to our program because bone
58:34
uh teed up people's apprehension to a
58:37
program like ours and the way he summed
58:39
it up was he said this speaker he
58:41
said that's okay you don't have to believe
58:43
in gravity for it to work too so
58:45
that's our program
58:47
Wow, that was good.
58:49
I like that.
58:51
Mark's going to have a rough go tonight,
58:54
but we all know what time it is.
59:05
Bringing up the rear with Sergeant Major
59:08
Mark O'Loughlin.
59:10
He's going to bring it.
59:11
I know he is.
59:12
I feel it.
59:12
I feel it tonight.
59:14
Mark, I don't hear you, Mark.
59:19
Are you on mute?
59:20
Mark Scott, he'll be back.
59:23
Don't worry.
59:24
Don't worry.
59:25
He'll come back.
59:26
What do we want to talk about behind
59:28
his back?
59:30
Nick,
59:30
I know you got some stories on him.
59:31
Pop, pop, not going out.
59:33
Hit the right buttons.
59:34
Are you kidding me?
59:41
How about that?
59:41
That was a Luddite.
59:42
There he is.
59:42
He heard me.
59:45
He got for us, Mark.
59:48
never look down on another human being
59:51
unless you're helping them up yeah that
59:56
was good that was good and that my
59:58
friends
1:00:00
This is why Sergeant Major comes in with
1:00:02
the humdingers at the end.
1:00:03
So I appreciate you.
1:00:06
Jennifer, Brian, Nick,
1:00:07
thank you guys for coming on and sharing
1:00:09
again and just having a good time.
1:00:11
If you ever want to come back on
1:00:12
and just have fun,
1:00:13
you're more than welcome.
1:00:15
Just let me know and we'll get you
1:00:16
on here.
1:00:17
So, yeah, we do it every Sunday,
1:00:20
same time, Save Matt channel,
1:00:22
all that good stuff.
1:00:24
Mark, Bone, Mike, thank you guys.
1:00:26
I appreciate you.
1:00:26
I love you.
1:00:28
Any last words, Jennifer, Brian, Nick,
1:00:30
anything?
1:00:31
Thanks for having us.
1:00:32
I really appreciate the opportunity.
1:00:34
You bet.
1:00:37
All right, awesome.
1:00:38
Well, hey, to everybody out there in this,
1:00:39
the same way I end every program,
1:00:41
but if you're out there and you're
1:00:42
struggling and you need help,
1:00:43
don't forget the VA does have some good
1:00:44
resources.
1:00:45
You can always dial, press option one.
1:00:47
You can always text,
1:00:48
or go to veteranscrisisline.net,
1:00:51
click on that chat icon.
1:00:53
Any of those options will put you in
1:00:54
contact with somebody that can help you
1:00:55
out.
1:00:55
But remember,
1:00:56
one veteran life lost is one too many.
1:00:58
I care about you.
1:00:59
This whole crew right here cares about
1:01:00
you.
1:01:01
The whole veteran community cares about
1:01:02
you.
1:01:02
So please reach out for help.
1:01:03
And if you're out there and you're not
1:01:04
struggling,
1:01:05
reach out to the buddies you served with.
1:01:06
Ask them how they're doing,
1:01:07
and if they need a helping hand, please,
1:01:10
please give it to them.
1:01:12
All right, one last time.
1:01:13
I love all you guys.
1:01:14
Thanks for coming on and doing this.
1:01:15
To everybody out there, stay motivated.
1:01:17
Change your socks.
1:01:18
No more .