Andy Stumpf
Appearances
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Episode 384 - Josh Thurman
In my head, I'm like, you're a fucking liar. You're a liar. Yeah.
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Episode 384 - Josh Thurman
sports particularly in skydiving and base jumping and he gained attention for his record-setting wingsuit jump taking on the challenge of flying incredible distances while using only a special suit designed for gliding his adventures highlight his spirit of pushing limits and embracing daring feats beyond his military life in addition to his adventurous pursuits Andy has become a motivational speaker sharing his experiences and insights on leadership resilience and overcoming adversity
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Episode 384 - Josh Thurman
Glacier National Park is a wonderland of natural beauty and adventure, offering a mix of activities for every nature enthusiast.
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Episode 384 - Josh Thurman
Damn. What if you ask it's something outside of your age-appropriate range? What do you want to ask? That's ballsy. What should we ask, Michael?
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Episode 384 - Josh Thurman
But here let me show, we have a rotating list of dynamic channels.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Welcome back, everybody, and good morning. Today's episode, probably a darker topic than most people maybe want to start their Monday with, but I think it's incredibly important. I never shy away from these topics. I think they're critical. I think we have to have these conversations.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
They might've used the term second responders for your outfit. Yeah. So again, if there was a firefighter sitting here, I'd be using exactly the same thing, but just the other side of the coin.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
You might actually believe it worked if that was 1905. Right. All right. Nowadays, I don't think so. Yeah. I don't think so. No, it's an interesting crew. My brother-in-law is a San Diego City Fire Captain. And actually, this episode won't come out probably for almost a month, actually, because we have a few backlog. But next week, we'll be in Canada snowboarding with them.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
It's true. It's like department-wide, East Coast, West Coast, it doesn't matter. There's going to be a guy who is a firefighter, just dick broom model.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
They're down like you can't see their front teeth. Sometimes I've seen it wrap under the chin, which I don't know how that works with a seal on a mask. And I don't care. It's not it's not my problem. Shooter's choice.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Today's episode is brought to you by Black Rifle Coffee. Let's head over right now to their website. Well, it just switched on me. First thing I'm seeing, and actually, this is probably what I'll focus on for today. Don't sleep on the coffee club subscription. So there's two versions. The first one that's up on this rotating banner is the, I'll call it the traditional coffee club subscription.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Great for undercover work, but... God. Man. Okay, so, Pops, what a crazy area. Yeah, I was telling you on the walkover. I don't think people realize how active... in stretch than law enforcement is there and to include myself. So I was super fortunate. I happened to be in the area for a speech and a guy from the air division reached out, offered me a ride along. So I'm just sitting in the back.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I mean, it's like, I love rhetorical questions when people ask them to me. Hey, do you want to ride in the back of our LAPD helicopter? Yes. Yes, I do. And it was amazing. Their facility was cool. The number of helicopters they have were cool. And I don't know the exact number of radios. I'm going to guess it was something along. Actually, it probably wasn't radios, just frequencies. Five freaks.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
But they certainly were on LAPD. I know for a fact they were on the sheriff's office frequency as well, probably fire. There was one frequency or channel that you could use to reach out directly to them and it would beep at them. And I think there was another one. In the three hours that we were flying, I am not joking.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
There may have been a total combined time of 10 minutes where one of those radios was not active. And that helicopter was just all over the place. And people talk a lot about the gun laws in California. Almost every one of those calls was not necessarily gun violence, but kind of gun violence adjacent.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah. Or, you know, they would find it or they, Hey, they found a magazine or, Hey, and they're looking. And so, and it was, it was interesting. It was really cool to see how a little bit similar to us overseas. You can task shed stuff up because they have a better view. So they would work on coordination. You know, they were actually doing an aerial test.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
They had surrounded the house, but they had them get on the, it must've been a very loud speaker and basically tell them to come out. I don't know how you don't have an entire block of people coming out of their home when that thing's circling overhead. Like I get that the light, the eye of God was on the house, but that thing was so loud. You could have heard it for blocks.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
There's just people just walking out. Yeah. Yeah. It's wild. I mean, you're talking the speaker on the helicopter. Yes. Yeah. I mean, the helicopters are loud. That speaker was louder. Yeah. Yeah. And like I said, they're orbiting at a couple hundred feet. I don't know how you don't have everybody in an entire city block walking out with their arms up.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
All they hear is blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they come out of their house.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
back in those guys were working it though it was cool to see it was cool to see and you could tell that the officers on the ground appreciated when they showed up overhead absolutely because they actually I think on almost every every they would kind of loiter and then when they would hear something or get called they would haul ass and obviously without having to hit stop signs and they can just go straight as opposed to zigzagging right but I think almost every time if not every time the units on the ground
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
And right now you can get 30% off. When you start a coffee subscription, you can use the code COFFEE30, all one word. The last two, 30, are numbers versus letters, coffee, normal spelling. You are going to get – it's actually really cool. You get more than coffee. The Coffee Club, they're going to get offers from other brands that are associated with Black Rifle.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
specifically said, thank you, which is cool. You can tell that they appreciated it being overhead. It's like a super small gesture, but it would be really easy to not say. And so the fact that they went out of the way to say that, I'm like, all right, these guys, they have a good relationship.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
9.6. That is 8.7 times more population than the state of Montana. Yeah.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
It's unbelievable. And then if you add San Diego to that, that's going to be another probably six to seven million. You're talking 15 million people easy in the first 120 miles north of the southern border of the US.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
So my decided on my own, my dad wanted me to be a firefighter. I don't, do you, do you need us to cut that out of the episode? No. Michael, let's make note of this. I think that was an error. Yeah.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
It is reasonable fears and unreasonable fears. Fires, fires are scary. Yeah. If you don't like tight spaces and you don't like masks and you don't like heat. Yeah. You probably shouldn't be either like a chef or a firefighter.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I've actually worked with a few of them to get them introduced into that. But you can pick whatever coffee you want, get it delivered where you want on the cadence that you want to. But there is another – subscription. And this one is really cool. Evan was posting about this. Evan and Logan oftentimes see them posting about the new ECS or exclusive coffee club subscription that comes out.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Looking back, do you think that's a touch young for that job?
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
And I'm going to add to that, I think we have to talk about the burden that this type of occupation places on the individuals. I'm not so sure... Actually, I'm positive. It's not for everybody. And I think there's a maximum exposure. My guest today is Garrett Maxey. He is a special victims unit detective, been in law enforcement for 12 years in the Idaho area.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Where, so there's, I know the San Quentin, Where are the other prisons in Cali? There's one up by Monterey. Right. It's basically the time you see the don't pick up hitchhiker signs. Yeah. Oh, yeah, 100%. You're driving through. Well, at least you got a pretty view there. Yeah. The desert. I'm trying to think. East of San Diego, I think there's one out in the desert. Yeah. Actually, you know what?
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
There's a prison under where I used to skydive. Not directly under. Oh, no way. If you tried... You could make the yard, and I don't think you should try that at all. Nah. Okay, so southern San Diego, up in San Fran. How does that work? How do you – what's – If you're going to be held for a short period of time, do you go to jail? If it's more serious, you go to prison?
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
It's a single bag per month, but it's a really curated experience. The, the art on the bags is really cool. The beans, man, they, it's, it's wild. Uh, I am not somebody who would ever be paid to give you a flavor profile of what coffee tastes like, but it really is all over the place in a good way. It's just a different type of experience. Don't sleep on that stuff.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I don't know if I support that. I don't either. I would need to know why somebody was in prison for 40 years. And if it was super fucked up, maybe you don't get a radio.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
And yeah, I'm not saying I want to participate in any of the application of my concept. I'm just saying, I don't think a guy in prison for 40 years for something super fucked up should get a radio.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Probably not. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'd love to see the stats on that. I'd love to see how many of them actually show up to their designated court hearing.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah, yeah. How does that happen? How does somebody sit down and say, you know, here's a good idea? Yeah. The rape of an unconscious person, you know, it just doesn't sound as bad. Maybe it shouldn't be a felony. Who in their right mind says that?
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
That's what I'm trying to do. And I don't understand how you could arrive at a place where you would make the punishment for that less severe. Right. But it's a nonviolent crime.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
But then how do more than 50% of people vote for that? Or maybe it's not 50% of people, just the majority. So I don't under, I mean, there's probably my recollection of California. There were so many different propositions and bills.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Those two subscriptions are pretty cool. I am a member of both of those, and I appreciate both for what they are. I get the normal beans and then the exclusive ones as well. Looks like they also have rounds. For those of you, I'm going to call those K-cups if I'm wrong on that. I don't know. I don't drink coffee this way because I don't hate myself.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Well, it's a good way to decrease crime. It's by lowering the threshold as what's reported a crime.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Scrolling down the page, again, if you're going to join that Coffee Club subscription, just take this rotating or this slider bar. You can go all the way to light to extra dark. You can see everything that they have to offer. Here's an example right here of this cover art that I'm talking about. Elixir, I'm not even saying that word, but the V, that's a really cool bag.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Well, and I don't know a whole lot about the career of sheriffs other than through my local touch points. And I've seen a good buddy of mine. He navigates through, he did a drug task force. He is, uh, went back to working on patrol. He augments his, uh, I don't think he has a paramedic qual. EMT, maybe? He rides around in the technical rescue helicopter as well.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
There's apparel, all the other stuff that I've talked about before. Focusing it on the coffee club subscriptions. Take the work out of getting your coffee. Have it delivered to you. And if you have somebody who's a total coffee nerd, sign them up for that ECS. You will not regret it. All of that can be accessed through BlackRifleCoffee.com.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
They have a deputy in that for as well. He's a detective now, which is shocking, and I feel like crime is not being solved because he doesn't pay attention to a lot. I feel like he could be surprised by his own shadow sometimes. So yeah, if crime is actually up in the valley, I would actually probably look in that direction. But so he's navigated around a little bit.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
So of all the type of stuff that you could get into. Yeah. How did you find your way into the ICAC stuff? Which for people listening means internet crimes against children. Which to me, when I hear shit like that, I'm like thinking the darkest, deepest, most fucked up shit that human beings do.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
And I, it leaves me feeling pretty gross, you know, kind of a shared sentiment, law enforcement, wild, like, yeah, not that you don't want to be there to help, but it, that it takes a special type of person to be able to tolerate that. Yeah, I'd say so.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah. It's just. Almost everybody I've talked to, there's a, they can, they believe people can change. Yeah. There's some pathway to forgiveness. And then you bring up things with little kids and they're like, no, no, kill that motherfucker. Yeah. Right. It's the wildest thing. Obviously, I don't condone that. I do. I 100 percent.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
And I wish that they would federally allow me to do that because I feel like it's a service not being fucking utilized. But almost everybody has that line.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Well... I was going to say, have you tried making out with a dude for science? I haven't. Still open to that, yes. So how do you know? I don't. I don't. So you live in the gray area. You don't even fucking know. You don't even believe in science. It's hard to believe sometimes. I guess. Hard to believe sometimes. Yeah, I don't know. There is something in that step.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
And the fact, you know, one of the things that is, again, it falls in line with that. How does this person or a person sit down and go, you okay? Rape of an unconscious person. We should probably round the edges on that and make the punishment less severe. The attempt to change pedophiles into a minor attracted individual is like a fucking razor blade on my skin.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I can't believe that anybody would try to round the edges on that. Right. Right.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Oh, fuck, every day. And the problem is, he hears it, too. I was just going to say, does he hear it? Oh, my God. He wants to do merchandise. He has started... Were you there when he was telling... I think he was telling Leah, oh yeah, Flintlock. That's what everybody calls me. And I said to him, what?
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
It leads people to believe that there's consent. And even in adult pornography, there's an argument to be made. There's a trafficking aspect of that. There's a monetary aspect of it. Consent. Yeah. Okay. Right. So in, how about this though? A child can't consent.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
God. And everybody's known about the older creepy dudes forever and ever. Right. You know, the worst advice we give our kids. What's that? Stranger danger. How so? It's almost always somebody you fucking know. It's not a stranger. Yeah. I mean, I'll talk about this broadly because it just happened, but at the coffee shop where I met you, most of our staff is younger women. Okay.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
There is an interesting occurrence of older fucking men making comments. They are lucky that I haven't been there to hear one because I would come over the fucking counter. Yeah, man. And for the younger women, I worry because they're not recognizing – the slight pushing of boundaries to see what somebody can get away with. They're testing the water. Right. Make a little bit of a comment.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
We had an incident where an older man was soliciting for hugs from the barista. And it breaks my heart because I want the people to understand that there's no reason for that. I don't give a fuck if that person reminds you of your grandfather because it's not. It's a random stranger. Notice they're not asking for hugs from everybody.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Notice that once you said yes the first time, it became more progressive. Notice that there was a phone number that was given to you after that. It's predation. Exactly. Exactly. I wish they would do it when I was there. Yeah, man. It's, I mean... But it worries me because... It wasn't recognized by the person it was happening to. And I had a conversation with the person about it.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah, because I called that episode Flintlock Friday because that was the technology that was current when he was fucking young. He goes, yeah, everybody calls me Flintlock. And I said, dad, not a single person anywhere is calling you Flintlock. And he says, that's not what I heard. And I'm like, where did you hear that from? And he goes, you know, just the people. Oh, yeah.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
And then I ejected for life the person associated because it happened to be in the store. Oh, man. And they approached me. And Michael was in there for that. I forgot about that. He noticed my knife hand when I was discussing. You should have cruised over, Michael. It looked really funny. It would have been a nice learning.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
It was like a nice E5 fucking counseling, just up one side and down the other with instructions to get your coffee and get the fuck out of here. Yeah. But stranger danger. I mean, you probably know the stats. Again, we'll get into the stuff that you were working on, but I bet more often than not, it probably wasn't a total stranger. Yeah. No, and you're 110% right.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
There is the internet shit where they try to off-platform. Right. But it's like this fucking creepy uncle, you know?
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah. See, and that's a tool where maybe stranger danger actually is becoming more real because those tools didn't exist when you and I were growing up. Right, right. Like a dude who was kinked out on shit that is just horrendous, but they lived in... Florida, weird shit happens in Florida. I think we can all agree upon that. Florida man's a real thing. He is a feature, not a bug.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Um, so let's just say Florida and you lived in California, right? 0% chance of having to worry about that. Correct. Now it's totally different.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Really? Yeah. Yeah. On the like online enticement? Yes. That makes more sense because they grew up with that tool. That's my thinking too. Yeah. That's my thinking too.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I mean, if I try to apply this to my father, he wouldn't be able to entice anything because he'd be DMing Michael, you know, accidental pictures of his feet from his sofa, which let me tell you, nobody wants to see those Raven claws. 50 years of feet and rugby boots. You know what I mean, Michael? No, I didn't see the picture, thankfully.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I heard you, to totally tangent, I heard you scored another try playing rugby. I did. In practice. Let's clarify. In practice. What I hear when he says that is he was out on a field by himself with a ball running around, and he scored what he thought was basically a touchdown, but in rugby.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Essentially, that's what happened. That's what I told Leah today. Because she was all excited. Oh, I heard Michael scored another try. We were at breakfast today. It's like my middle son's home from college. And these two fucksticks are over at the house with my dad. He could watch rugby for 10 centuries straight. And they're talking about all these drills.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
That dude tried to tell me. So did he follow you, Michael? No. Okay. So he did a recent episode. We were talking about Instagram. Okay. Two days later. My sister hits me up over text and says, I think somebody is pretending to be dad on Instagram because I just got this essentially non filled out account. But the name was Vaughn Stumpf and it just followed me.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
And yeah, Leah's all excited that Michael scored a try. I'm like, listen, there was nobody else there. Nobody was chasing him. Let's back it off the edge here a little bit. Yeah, that's basically what happened. I know. Yeah. Yeah, I know. I tell her you are out in the field by our townhouse and that's where you score all the tries. Yeah. Nobody else is out there. I just do my own practices.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah. So, stranger danger. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, yeah. So how did you, so the guy was asking you, how can you not work these things? Was that kind of your intro? Kind of sorta. Yeah.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Pretty easy transfer. You don't have to go back through an Academy, any of that stuff. It's like a lateral Academy. Okay. Yeah. So it was like, I feel like that's a little bit of a gentleman's course. It was, I'll tell you what. I mean, so all the other California probably should be at a certain amount of experience level.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I moved from Southern California up here too. I totally understand what you're saying.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Is it still a felony, though? In Idaho? Okay. Oh, yeah. How about weed? It's still a misdemeanor. Michael, well, it's federally illegal. What is it? It's recreational and medicinal here, right? Yes. So that's not a misdemeanor at all? No, I don't think so. That's weird that it can be state legal, but federally legal. Yeah, I don't know how that works. I don't understand how it works either. Yeah.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I'd say we're a couple of election cycles, though. I feel like they probably at some point will decriminalize weed. Probably. I think more than half the states are already at least medicinal, if not recreational. Yeah. Whatever. Yeah.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Just help out. Do you have to go to a different school or additional training to become a detective? Yes. What do they teach you? It's like basics of investigations. Okay. I think it could be... Like a process or are you... I mean... Not quite. Yeah. I mean... Not quite.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Again, I think people think Sherlock Holmes would be a non-fictional detective where you're out there and you're just leaping to conclusions and... A CSI laboratory can get your results in six minutes as opposed to six months. Exactly. Yeah. Okay.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
So we need to check to see if somebody is pretending to be dad online. This is the same time period he got his new phone. Okay. So of which he needs fucking help. So I'm over there and I was going to try to sneak Life 360 on there so I could track him and his wife. He is now agreeing that it's probably a good idea that it's on there.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
What kind of additional training do they, do they give you to prepare you for the shit you're going to see in the special victims or ICAC world?
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I think if they did that, somebody who went through something like that would just be like, yeah, I'll go back on the street.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
So when we find them in a park somewhere lost, we can go get them. I'm scrolling through the apps and I see the Instagram app on there. I'm like, hmm. Click on it. Von Stumpf, all lowercase, no profile picture, zero posts, following seven different versions of my name, none of which is the correct account, and my sister. So I started asking him about it. Dad, why'd you download Instagram?
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Did you ever roll up any of those guys, catch them? What are they like when you're sitting across the table from them? And I'm curious as to, I mean, obviously the, the, the internet lives forever to a degree, you know, that people try to obfuscate and hide stuff, but you know, there's white hackers or white hat hackers and all that stuff that help law enforcement.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
And, you know, it just, it leaves a breadcrumb. Today's episode is brought to you by ExpressVPN. I do not know how many times I have had conversations with individuals, with brands, with organizations talking about online security. Let's be real honest about our anxiety rectangles right here.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Most of the interface that we have, unless you're being super targeted, and I mean you targeting the information that you're looking for, our attention is being monetized. That's I do my best to manage my time on Instagram, but you can almost feel it.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
It's barely behind the curtain of they are trying to monetize your attention, to keep you on there, to keep you scrolling, which doesn't necessarily have anything to do with a VPN, except when you start talking about privacy, people's ability to track you, brand's ability to track you. So a VPN is is a virtual private network.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
And I have some examples, actually, of where I've had to use a VPN, even just when I'm traveling, to upload the podcast so I could get around local country restrictions. And I had to change my location from the country that I was in back into the US so I could actually access portals like Spotify, which people didn't know isn't allowed in all countries.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
So it's really tough to upload if you're in one of those countries. A virtual private network is a secure tunnel between your device and the internet. There, you would like to believe that on your device, you have unfettered access to all information throughout the world. The reality is though, each country offers up, serves up different types of info.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
If you don't believe me, download ExpressVPN, change your country to somewhere other than the United States, or if you're in the United States, go to somewhere else. And it'll be really interesting to see what they have to offer. I see it the most when you're talking about things like Netflix, the local offerings in the area, which totally makes sense.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
But if you think that your Netflix screen interface is what everybody sees, that's 100% not the case. VPNs allow you to connect to a secure server, and your internet traffic goes through an encrypted tunnel that nobody can see into, including hackers, governments, or your internet service provider.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
He's like, I didn't. And his wife starts chiming in. You know he doesn't know how to do that. There's no way he did it. Like, do you think a fucking mouse came in here and started typing, you know, downloading Instagram? Finally, he admits, he's like, well, I was curious what it was. And I just started pushing buttons. I didn't know what I was doing. Like, you randomly, this is the...
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
If internet privacy, security, and the ability to look at what you want to look at, you know, away from the prying eyes of a government, sounds good. Head over to expressvpn.com slash clearedhot. You can get up to four extra months for free, just for listeners to the show. That is expressvpn.com slash clearedhot. Let's get back to the show. Do you try to get them... How do you do it?
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Because I imagine it like... you know, the matrix where he puts the fucking massive file down, Mr. Anderson and then winds it and flips it open and starts going through the pages. Do you lay it out for them or do they know they're fucked when they're sitting there anyway?
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I wish it would happen more. I would again volunteer my services to any agency that needs help with this. I just need a blanket pardon and an address and an eight and a half by 11 glossy headshot.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I condone pedophiles taking their own lives. I would be, I would feel comfortable going on record with that. I'm okay with the pedophile killing themselves. I don't say that. And I don't say that lightly. And there's very few things that I would be okay with that with, but somebody that harms children like that, fuck off into the sunset.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
It's not a good experience. And I appreciate that. Even among criminals, there's honor among thieves. And from what I've heard from some people who are deeply in the know, it is a rough ride. No pun intended.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I believe I've seen you in both of those shirts often at the same time. We're going to need to open a case. First off, don't ever wear your Star Wars shirt again because that's what it means now. We're going to double leg anybody we see wearing a Star Wars shirt on the street. For the record, I don't have a Star Wars shirt. Yes, you do. I just want people to know that.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
You know, the theory that if you gave a fleet of monkeys a typewriter, they would at some point produce Shakespeare's greatest works. Right. So randomly he claims he created an account with his name, which is V-A-U-G-H-N. A lot of people just put Vaughn, V-O-N. And I'm just – I can't – for whatever reason, he is emotionally unwilling to admit that he just created an Instagram account.
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
It's always anime or Star Wars. How do they act when you're laying it out and they realize they're fucked?
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Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Jails patrol, major crimes, and what we talked a lot about was his time in ICAC, Internet Crimes Against Children. To me, this is the worst of the worst, what these people are exposed to. And I mean those who are trying to stop these individuals. What they're exposed to is unbelievable. I don't even have the vocabulary for the behaviors and activities of those that they are after.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
And finally, also there's a variety of probably other fucking legal means that you could get back at your wife if you wanted to. Right. Or don't be a dipshit. Maybe sit down and talk with your wife.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
which still I don't think is quite enough, but it's enough. If every day somebody is wearing him like a condom while fucking somebody else. Yeah. Yeah. That's where my mind goes. I don't think he's having a good time. I hope it's the worst ever. Yeah. His not that it would be better if it was somebody who was unknown, his fucking niece. Yeah.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
And again, this is where the stranger danger thing, we have to do a better job of, of presenting a realistic picture of where the danger comes from. And it might be coming more real because of the ability of the interconnectedness, but that story, that level of connection, somebody that you knew is so much more common in this, in the conversations that I've had than the random unknown. Yeah.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I did. I think I did have him follow you or I did that for him. So you might have a, a Vaughn stump following you. Okay. Maybe I haven't seen it, but I'll check the next day. He just, he's like, I don't know how to use this thing. I could just push buttons.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Go look through their rooms. Yeah, and that brings up an interesting – so answer as broadly as you need to. I'm curious in that – oh, you said it was adjudicated. Yes. But again, obviously, answer however you're most comfortable. In that situation, how was that uncle able to –
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
convince her that a, what was happening was normal in any way, shape or form and B get her to a place where the burner conversations, not telling an adult, how, how does that happen?
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Well, I mean, there's a level of proximity. So we know how they met, right? It wasn't a creepy dude with an ice cream van down by the river. Correct. Which Michael would fall for 100% of the time, if I'm being honest. So it's not that, right? So they're probably fucking having Thanksgiving, whatever it may be, whatever. And so I'm fascinated how...
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
How do they convince the, maybe she was just too young to understand, but the burner phone, the sneaking out, how?
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah, the boundaries just get pushed and pushed and pushed, microscopically.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
So my sister texts me a picture of his feet that he had sent to her accidentally while trying to text her, the camera icon popped up, captured a picture of his feet. And he's just like, I didn't know how to get off the screen. So I just kept heading the arrow button until it went away. So, and then here's the thing.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I don't think I have it. I also feel like the legal system should allow before they're sent to prison, somewhere between five to 30 minutes alone in the room with the person. And whatever happens, just kind of happens. It is what it is. You have a 30 minute pardon. Have that. What happens in here? We don't know. There's no cameras. There's no windows. The door locks from the outside.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
We're just going to put you in there and we'll be back in 30. Yeah.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
It's wild how well they can do. So in that instance, the parents found the burner phone. When people are into this type of shit, is there almost a community of people that communicate back and forth? I'm curious how a lot of the, I mean, the reality is, the hard, hard reality to absorb is,
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
If there's a smart person out there that wants to do really fucked up shit and they're able to compartmentalize it well, it may never hit law enforcement radar. Yeah. So I'm curious if there's any tendencies, and it's not like I'm trying to give a shopping list to people that maybe, you never know where this might go. Right.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah, he's fantastic on the show, but this is the shit I have to deal with off of the show. Or, you know, we're at dinner, you know, recently Leah had me tell him the story about when I flushed an orange down the toilet when I was young. We're at dinner the other night and he is trying to convince people that I did that when I was 13.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
So again, answer however you want to, but it seems as if there would be a slip up or an error along the way where it finally lands on radar for law enforcement.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
So I like hide burner phone better. Yeah. You know, I mean, but I actually, I'm legitimately thinking about that as we're having this conversation because I have an immense amount of empathy for the victim and absolutely none for the fucking predator.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
They can't. Well, the problem with that problem is... they don't allow for what I consider to be the reasonable solution, which is lights out.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Meanwhile, where we lived at that time, I couldn't have been more than eight or nine years old. So he's with fingernails holding on to fucking reality.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Your day is coming. Well, let me ask you this along those lines. In your experience, when you're getting to that point where the objections or denial is a weakening and then you finally, it's like, hey man, how often Do they want to flip on somebody else?
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
And I ask this because the local cops here, even like the petty theft, they're like, hey, if I were to have information for you, could I enjoy not being in jail for 96 hours? And they'll try to tell you where a stolen bicycle is. So it's not as if people in the criminal world are unwilling to flip on others. I'm curious, though, how it is with something of this level.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah. And yeah, Shady Acres. Shady Acres is the name of the home I'm going to put him in. Or at least that's the name of the home I tell him I'm going to put him in. And my sister and I have agreed that, yeah, we're just going to keep doing that until he believes it.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
And are they more lone wolves, or do you find that there are groups of people that communicate?
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
They could maybe flip and like, hey, this is where I communicate with people who are like-minded.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I mean, if they did have access to something or a portal or... Because I feel like law enforcement, and I say this, I've never spent a second in it, is a chess match. Yes. I mean, it's the same thing as what I used to do overseas, too. We would have a tactic. They would watch. They would evolve. Sometimes they would fuck us up. We would watch. And it was just constantly back and forth.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
So... I have to believe that the people that participate in this understand that they're broken in some way. Yeah. But they also probably understand that there are others out there like them. And isolation, if COVID taught us anything, is that isolation fucks human beings up. Yes.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
And not that I want there to be a portal or way for these people to either share access and means or their own tactics, techniques, and procedures, but... They're out there trying to figure out ways to do what they do to avoid and evade law enforcement. And I feel like they're constantly out there looking for ways to communicate with others who are like-minded. Sure.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah. Michael, get on now and follow Von Stumpf. See if you can find it on IG. Yeah, I was going to find them. V-A-U-G-H-N-S-T-U. Anybody who hears this, hop on there and... Give my dad a... Oh, here it is. Yeah. Did you notice how the profile is completely not set up? Yeah. No posts. No posts, no profile picture. Because he says, well, what do you do with it? What do you put on there?
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
And like you said, the encryption is evolving as well, too. Yeah. Yeah, that is an uphill battle for sure.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
How does this work? And I said, these are questions you could have asked before you opened this account. I said, most of the time people... I said, if you follow people... you kind of get to see what they post. It's a curated collection of what people it's pick. What I said was it's mostly pictures. And he's like, yeah, yeah, I can take pictures. I'm like, fuck.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Here's a fucked up question. Have you ever heard of somebody who specialized in ICAC stuff that ended up actually being one of these predators?
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Um, I feel like that should be in the world we live in. I would like to imagine a world where you don't have to ask that question. I would too. I would too. It's like saying, Hey, do you eat your own shit? Like, why would anybody ask that? Of course I don't eat my own shit. Yeah.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I mean, think about the long game that that person would play. Correct. To get into that unit. Well, not only that. I mean, I would assume that they probably didn't develop a... Desire for that because they volunteered for that unit. So you probably can imagine that it was even maybe before fucking who knows lifelong.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
So they bury that and then wear a mask that's good enough that they get into law enforcement. Right. Work their way towards that unit. I mean, that's a long game. It is. It is. And I...
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Not politicians, though. Never. Cops and firemen, for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Never politicians, ever, ever. I like the cops or the firemen that end up pyromaniacs and they're bored, so they're lighting fires. Yeah, man.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
You gotta make them somehow. Goddamn building codes just keep getting better with these auto sprinklers. Sons of bitches. Well, I mean, again, if you were a pyromaniac, And you had some intelligence. And again, I'm not trying to give an instruction manual. Yeah. But these are the things that I think about when I can't sleep. Like, what would a pyromaniac do if he loved fire?
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Probably fucking work with fire. Right. You know, he's either a Hollywood pyrotechnic specialist or probably an FDNY dude. And I don't know why I just said New York, but whatever. There's a lot of firemen there. Where was the movie Backdraft, Michael? Which is, I know, a movie you haven't seen. Was it Chicago? I haven't seen it. This fucking kid, dude. I swear to God. We got some Backdraft, though.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I'm telling you, there's a good chance that he would have posted that picture by accident and not known it. And, uh, So, yeah, for all the people out there who keep encouraging my dad, at some point you're going to get what you asked for and you may not like it.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I'm not even a fireman. I've seen that multiple times. He hasn't seen the Budok Saints. Was it Chicago? I can't find it. Unbelievable. Yeah, but Bull, spoiler alert to a 30-year-old movie, was lighting fires. Yeah, exactly. Imagine that. Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. I'm surprised that there hasn't been a massive sex ring at either Disneyland or Disney World, to be honest.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I mean— I have to imagine that those task force— however they're structured, I have to imagine that they understand that there is a limited amount of time where people can tolerate exposure to that.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Well, I was going to ask when you went to whoever you needed to go and say, hey, you were done. I'm assuming they didn't like, hey, man, get back in there. Just give me the gravity of the subject matter. Oh, dude, for sure.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I mean, here's an idea, right? You heard about the explosive pagers for Hamas? Yeah. That's where my mind goes. Oh, man. A little pressure sensor in there? Yeah. I got an idea. Let's put about a pound and a half of C4 in that motherfucker. Oh, man.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I don't think it'll ever get to a million. Did you follow Michael? I did. He's probably at eight.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Maybe. It was Stumpf.Andy, Andy Stumpf. I mean, I don't. And again, just pushing buttons, right? Just accidentally followed five different incorrect versions of my username.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
And then you went to an additional unit, the special victims unit. Right. I mean, man, that's a step, I'll say, back towards that direction, separated by some layers for sure. Why did you want to do that?
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah. Yeah. And my sister. And I'll get him to follow Michael. And then Michael, you know what? I'm going to let you mentor him. No. Yeah. I do not get paid enough for that. Nobody does. It wouldn't matter if I paid you in gold bars. It's not enough. Send them a DM and see what happens. No. I don't think you would even know that that happened.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
How long have you been a cop now? Gosh. Or a deputy? Yeah. I know the terms are not interchangeable. I got hired in 2013. All right, so 12 years. Yeah. How does it work in Idaho? Is it a certain number of years or 55?
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah. I don't, I don't quite understand the math. Like I would just start that job at 72 then and do eight years. Yeah. Yeah.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I don't get time. Yeah. Is there a way to use technology to reduce the burden on the humans that have to deal with that stuff? Like I didn't realize you had to watch the video with two different forms or watch it once and then listen to it. I got, I, there's gotta be a way that no human could do that without screaming on their fucking eggs here.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I don't know if it's that it's less, but I think the threshold to reach it is more. God, I had not thought about the difference of it actually being a human victim versus AI generated.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I do like those YouTube videos where the people get busted in Walmart and they try to run. They're screaming, help me, help me. It's like, we're about to help you. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like, what's crazy though, is that some civilians are doing that like full vigilante style. Yeah. Not advisable. Not advised.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Is that enough? Let's say somebody does that. They go to Walmart, they tackle the Dukes. I've seen a video like this. Law enforcement eventually shows up.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I don't, it's like citizens arrest. Fuck. I guess. I don't know. Is there enough probable cause for you guys to start looking into that behavior? Can you just, you know what I mean? Like, yes. Can you take the word like this guy was, I'm here. He was supposed to be my 12 year old sister. They could show you that. Is that enough PC to get you guys looking in that direction of that person?
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
The app, the icon itself is not even on any of the home screens. So it's, you know, as you swipe to the right, they're clustered. First off, I don't know if he even knows how to do that. But I'm pretty sure he'll never be able to find it again. But I don't know. He might have four years left before he heads into Shady Acres. So I don't know. What do you think, Michael?
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I would say so. Would I take that person to jail? I don't know. I was going to say, cause if you don't take him to jail, he might change his behavior and get the fuck out of there. Sure.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
As much as I appreciate the and understand the headspace of the vigilante video.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah. Um, the reality is though, like you said, it might get a bunch of likes. Nothing may be happening to that person. It may be the cracking the door and finally the spotlight is put onto them. Right.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Well, and they're also living in, you know, silver bracelets. Yes. So something is immediately going to happen to them. Correct. Yeah.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
So we talk a lot about that. But we also talk a lot about, like I mentioned in the intro, the burden and cost that it places on people who have to knowingly go into this world. Somebody has to. We have to have an ability to find these people where they are. And the people that do that, man, they get nothing but respect for me.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah. I mean, I want to ask you, I'm curious. I don't know how you could answer this question, though, without educating people. And that is, I'm just fascinated by the level of sophistication. There has to be probably a case or a person that sticks out of like, holy shit, had never thought of that. Yeah.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Should we just lean into his social presence? Yes. Yes. What would you recommend as his profile picture of Santa Claus? The Playgirl photo. Well... You used to work, you know, internet crimes against children. How does a group rugby photo from the 1920s, where they're not wearing anything but their cleats, I don't know if that is necessarily safe for internet consumption.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
And I don't know how you could even talk about that without educating people or giving somebody an idea. Yeah. But have you found... In that predator pool, highly intelligent, highly sophisticated people that have gotten away with this for a long time. Absolutely. Absolutely. Was it a – broadly, was it a stupid small mistake that they made that got them on your radar or was it somebody else?
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
That's not a browser. I'm already like, I got to go. Oh dude. Yeah.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Perfect. Yes. Perfect. Yeah. Cool. I have immediately disqualified myself if I have to understand that.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah, man. Yeah. So I'm the dude, I'm my dad in this scenario when it comes to that type of stuff.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah. All right. So there are some savants and super high level sophisticated people. Yes. What's the dumbest criminal you've ever come across? Because there's got to be the other side of the bell curve. Gosh, there's there is definitely the other side of the bell curve. Yeah. And generally they think they're the smart ones. That's one of my favorite features of these people.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I've heard Oregon has taken another look at their decriminalization policy. I sure hope so. Almost as if decriminalizing everything solves nothing.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I think I can one up that. Apparently, this is not uncommon, and I bet you've encountered this. And this is, again, through my local buddies. They roll somebody up. OK. In their pockets is a shit ton of whatever. And they say, well, these aren't my pants. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Dude. Have you ever heard that one, Michael? Oh, man. Apparently, it's incredibly common. Yeah.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
But like, well, sir or ma'am, whose fucking pants are these?
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah, they've been worn so well. And your Zinn, I was going to say dip, but your little Zinn thing has just worn through. And it's weird that your wallet has the exact same imprint on these. Yeah, these aren't my pants.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I don't know. My buddies tell me that shit happens all the time, all the time. And I think it's a pain.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
The picture would be very small on the Instagram profile picture, but that's what it is.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
We just haven't found it yet. All right. So let's reverse engineer this and think about this from the perspective of probably I would say from the lens of the parents more than the minor, because I feel like I have more listeners that are of age than are of age. Given what you've seen, where would you start parents on keeping their kids safer? I'm not going to use the word safe.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
There's risk to everything. If they leave your house, there's risk, but let's be honest. if you have a large family and they come over for Thanksgiving, they may not be safe even inside of your own house. Right. Depending. So safer.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Have you found that with victims, that is something, a conversation that is often not had? Yeah. Yeah. It definitely happens. I was going to say, or is that a barrier that a family member might be able to break their way through? Because from a stranger... I see what you're saying. Like a stranger, that seems like it could be a harder barrier. Yes.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
And not that it should be a softer barrier, but we're talking about not fully formed brains. Sure. Family. Oh, he hugs mom and dad. You know what I mean? This is uncle so-and-so.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
The amount of pubic hair. Did you notice that, Michael? Because I know you surveyed that picture closely. Yeah. You were pinching it. Yeah. Did you notice that, though? I did, unfortunately. Yeah. Heavy, heavy, heavy. Yeah. I mean, people live your life however you want to. I'm not saying you should be a hairless cat, but...
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Oh, my God. I can't even fathom being a teacher on the receiving end of that. Yeah, man. I'm assuming that's a mandatory report in every state. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Are they generally open about saying that or is that something you have to claw out?
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
And they just blah, everything. Well, they probably think it's, or it's been conditioned into them that it's normal. So why would they talk about it?
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
So I've heard this, never tried it, but I've heard it because I don't have Snapchat nor do I want it. Yeah, man. Or ticky talky. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I have had people on the show who specialize in that and they did a little research before coming on the episode and trust me, anything you could possibly want is for sale.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I mean, kids are curious. Kids are sneaky. I worry sometimes you hear parents say, well, I'm going to have an electronics-free household to a certain degree. Right. Or to a certain age. But if they go to school with people that have smartphones, they have access to a smartphone. Correct. And it's so easy to, oh, in this little bubble of the world that we can control, this doesn't exist.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
With my own kids, the older they got, the more influence their social circle had. And it was competing at best. Probably the kids had more influence over them at a certain age than I did. I mean, they've heard me say the same thing over and over again, but they're like, shut the fuck up, dad. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, go ahead and take a smartphone away from your kid or don't give them one.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
If they're ever unsupervised with their friends who have a smartphone, I hate to tell you, they're looking up shit or exposed to stuff you don't want them to see. Yeah.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
It wasn't actually the 20s, but I just, that's when I tell him he was bored. Oh, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. He's old as shit.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I was just going to say, I have tried to hammer into my kids that the internet is forever. Anything that you ever type into your phone, regardless of how pissed you are, how upset you are, you should at some point in time think at a job interview, somebody's going to slide something across the table and say... Is this yours? Yeah. It lives forever.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Pictures, random thoughts you want to type away on whatever. Yeah. It doesn't disappear. And you have to remember that.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah. Yeah. I think they have developed electricity like in his early 20s, but oh well. Yeah. So point being, welcome to the show and try to keep the mic about a fist away. Yeah. I mean, I know what I want to talk about. I want to talk about the type of casework that you do.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
But you can. I mean, at the young age or early teen years, your optic on time is the end of the day. It's the longest amount of time anybody's ever lived. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I'll never make my way through this. I'm going to be embarrassed forever. This is all the people are. No, that's none of that shit's true. None of that's true.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah, that's probably using some AI and looking for that in the digital signature of the picture. Yes, yes, exactly. That's a beautiful use for that type of AI.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Well, and I mean, I noticed Michael taking notes off the corner of my eye. It's like, take it down.com. It's like, son of a bitch, I finally have a route to freedom.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I'm on the website right now. I'm not even joking. He's just airdropping shit from his own. He's like, get this one, then this one, then this one. There has to be some lore in the ICAC world of people working in that. What is the most prolific case of Predator targeting... Oh man. There's gotta be some ones that are just like, like unbelievable scope, size or scale.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah. You know, my dad was so like, why do you go sheriff over PD? I bet you there's a nice potentially friendly slash unfriendly rivalry between the two.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah. Yeah. No. Somebody needs to be just... But fucking that dude until Elon Musk calls him for advice on his tunneling company. And even then, in my mind, that's not enough.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah. What do you think, if you could lay out the rest of your career, what kind of stuff do you want to do? Do you think you'll stay in the SVU stuff? Do you look ahead two and a half year, five year, 10 year?
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I didn't realize all the different task force jobs that were available, interagency stuff. I didn't get that until I became friends with some guys locally. I was like, you're doing what? You guys are doing what? You're attached to who? Like, fuck. Okay. It's a lot more than people would think just sitting in a patrol car. Oh, yeah. What do the sheriffs call their vehicles? Is it a patrol car?
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Like a radio car. That's what I've always called it. They're in trucks. Would you just call it a patrol truck? Gosh, I guess. Or suburbans.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah, you're just trying to make it to the end of your shift. What would you change if you're king for a day in law enforcement? What would you change about the occupation? That's a great question.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I don't feel like I can sustain this anymore. That's a super dangerous lie when people tell themselves they can't do anything else. Yeah, it is. Or the sunken cost fallacy where I've been doing this for a decade. I can't start over. You have no idea where your life could be. I've had to reinvent myself multiple times because I'm an idiot and don't think about my future very much.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
And I put myself in these places where I'm like, well, I guess I better figure this shit out real fast. And then you look back a few years later and you realize, none of these opportunities that I have now would have even been possible had I stayed the path I was on. Right. Right. And that makes total sense. And that's not always the case.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I'm not trying to paint a rainbow picture for people of, ah, fuck it, let's just reinvent. I'm not saying that. Yeah. But if you need to, just don't lie to yourself and say you can't do anything else. Yeah, man. And super tragic.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Cause if you're just asking for help is a sign of strength, not a sign of weakness.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Well, shit, man, we've been at it a few hours. Your wife is probably waiting for you at the coffee shop. What do you want to close it out with?
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
They design phones for that. Are there any good state or federal resources or websites you would point parents at for educational services?
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah, that makes sense. Cool, man. I'm not going to bother. I mean, I know you're still active, so you probably don't want to put out your social handle or a way for people to get a hold of you. Yeah. You know, I...
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Dude, that's my dad's retirement job. Yeah. Social media account manager. That's a really good idea. I will legitimately pitch that to him today, and I bet I can get him to say yes. And I bet I could find him a client or two. Perfect. Yeah. He'll start with Debbie. Which is his wife.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah, I think we did a good job of not educating predators and hopefully giving parents some good ideas. That's the name of the game, man.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Michael and I suck too. Michael sucks more than me, but... More than most people, actually. Oh, bro. Guess what? You're never going to master it, and there's always somebody out there that has your number. Oh, 100%.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Do they have a separate academy from the PD guys? Yes. Of course they do. Yeah. That could have nothing to do with the rivalry.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah. Good for you. Good for you, though. it was from my buddy who was a cop who wouldn't shut the fuck up about jujitsu. Nice. He got his blue belt shortly after I started. He is still a blue belt. Yeah. That's how often he comes to class. It'd be like that sometimes. Hey, listen, shift work sucks. All right. What was the last time? I'm not going to use any names.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
So like a hypothetical, like when was the last time you saw Nelson in class? Um, Was it last year? Definitely last year. Well, he blew his knee out.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
But before that, I hadn't seen him in there for eight months. Yeah.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I was at his blue belt Ironman as a one stripe white belt. The motherfucker is still blue belt. It'd be like that sometimes, man. You know what he says? He's like, I know enough. I can handle most people. Yeah. I just, I want to entice him. I need to steal a car and figure out and get him to pull me over. There's a lot of ways this could go south and I could get shot and killed. Oh, man.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
But I need to, I want to fucking tackle him and just beat the shit out of him.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Yeah. It's an uphill battle for sure. Yeah, man. Cool. Let's get you back to your wife. Cool. Thanks, brother. Of course.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
And I'll never stop talking about this topic because, I mean, people who listen to the podcast understand the potato peeler theory that I have. Still waiting for a federal, state, local agency to reach out for me. I'll donate my services, but I don't know if that call will ever come. Let's get into the episode. But before that, stick with me. Give me 90 seconds. Let's pay the bills.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I have it on good authority. It's identical curriculum and length.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
There was a time in the military where those existed. I don't know what they've done with them, but it was a TTO card, a training timeout. A training timeout card. Yeah, which is really reflective of a combat environment. You can really use those, and your enemy will certainly respect when you are emotionally at your brink. Yes. Yeah. Legitimately, though. I remember hearing about that.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
Training timeout cards. Was that before or after your time? It was kind of in the middle, actually. Okay. Yeah. And again, I heard that. 15th hand from people who, you know, had new people who were going through it. So there was probably some validity to it. And I will admit some of that was probably blown well out of proportion.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
So, so LAPD, LASO, LAFD. Yes. Do they ever, does like LAPD and the fire department ever gang up and harass the sheriff? Do you guys ever gang up with the fire department and harass the PD? Because that gets tough when there's three entities on scene. Oh yeah. Do you know what all, you know what LAPD, LASO and the fire department all have in common? They all wanted to be firefighters.
Cleared Hot
Episode 383 - Garrett Maxey
I don't think that's the case. I've heard that the LA Fire Department secures the scene for you guys, and then you guys go in.
Cleared Hot
Episode 374 - John Fussel
Okay, copy. West of the smoke. I'm looking at danger close now.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back. Before I forget, first podcast shirt of the year just came out. It's pretty simple. It says surrender with a line through it, meaning don't surrender. Link to it in the show notes, shop.clear.podcast.com. Get one if you want, don't if you don't. My guest today is Douglas Terrell. He is...
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Before we get into that, give me a brief one minute. Let's pay the bills here real quick. Today's episode is brought to you by Montana Knife Company. Let's dive right into the website and see what they currently have to offer. Now, I've said this many times. If you're a friend, a friend, if you're a fan of the podcast, you're probably going to have heard the episodes I've done with Josh Smith.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
It's not often talked about, the number of people who made that choice.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
He is the founder of Montana Knife Company, the youngest master bladesmith, real overachieving asshole, if you will. The knives he make, the makes, are right down the road in Frenchtown, Montana, about 90 miles from where I'm sitting right now. Born and bred in Montana, Montana inspired, but truly inspired.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
truly a global brand they are exploding i'm looking at right now the mini speed goat they're rotating banner across the top shows a small variety of the knives that they have to offer i'm just going to rotate down and it's going to show you the stuff that they have in stock some of the versions are going to be sold out but you'll you'll tell immediately different blade types
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Chef, butcher, meat eater edition knives, collaborations. This is a great chef knife, the Meat Church chef knife. I'm just going to click view all and let's see what they have to offer. Actually, I'm going to go up here to just shop knives. all knives, not the ones that are in stock. I'll talk about that in a minute. And I'm just going to scroll through this.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Why'd you choose New York over LA? Not, and let me tell you, I don't know much about the acting scene, but for most people, and maybe this is something from TV and movies, where do young people go when they want to be discovered? They head to the West coast to LA. Why you chose New York over that?
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
actor a thespian if you will and honestly this is my favorite part about the podcast this is what i enjoy the most being exposed to people that i probably never would have had the chance to be exposed to sitting down having a conversation with them about what makes them tick specifically and i'm going to read this right from his website he has a play called the american soldier
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
For those of you who are watching along on video, you can see the ridiculous amount of offerings that they have. You'll also notice that the vast majorities of these say sold out. And the reason for that is, is that they sell out within 60 seconds, 120 seconds. So be quick when you get the notification that they're back in stock. They're releasing them Thursdays and Saturdays.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Unless you were directly tied to the monetary value of the military industrial complex.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Shareholders might have been happy for about two decades. Probably still are to some degree. For sure, for sure. Why'd you leave New York? Because I was asking where you came from here today and you said back in Tejas.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
You can sign up for text and email notifications. They oftentimes will do drops outside of those dates. Be fast. If you get the chance, get one. All I ask is this. First, support a really cool brand founded by really cool people that are bringing jobs back into Montana. They're actually building a massive warehouse in Missoula right now, production facility.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
But one of the main reasons why they're happening is the Santa Ana winds, which are uncontrollable, but they're a yearly event.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
And I used to experience them because I lived in San Diego. When those suckers would turn on, it feels like a hairdryer coming out of the Eastern California mountains.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
It would. Would help. Yes. I don't mean, man. Yeah, of course. Undoubtedly, it would help. I'm reading reports of 80, 90 miles per hour sustained wind. I don't know if there's enough water in the world to stop that.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Secondly, if you're going to buy something at some point in time in their purchasing portal, they're going to ask you how you heard about Montana Knife Company. Do me a favor, put down Cleared Hot or Andy Stumpf, whichever one of those options actually present themselves, because I'm not sure. Or both. Or don't put anything down. It's up to you. But that's how you can help me help them.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I have never been a huge fan of, I guess I consume it digitally and you know, the times never had a subscription even on digital.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
And where would you go? Do I take, do I get to take the knowledge with me or is it a clean slate? Yeah.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Because I can't put my finger on the pace of our evolution and trajectory. I just am fascinated to know where it leads.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
But you can gather some information about it now. True. Forward, you can gather none. I'd rather be a cosmonaut and go forward.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I am neither a military buff nor a history buff. Or the combination of the two, a military history buff. Okay. Just because you serve in the military doesn't necessarily mean you are steeped in all the knowledge. No, no, no.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Okay. I still think I would go forward because that's the true unknown. Even the 1500s, we could make an approximation based off the information that we do have because we do have information. Yeah. We don't know about tomorrow, though. And I'm telling you, with technology, the pace that things are evolving, I got to see it a little bit. Yeah. No, I hear you. Yeah.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Yeah, the subways from a New Yorker. I mean, obviously, almost every day that goes by, that's not happening.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
The problem is you'd be in your little bubble and somebody would come cut you in pieces with your lightsaber and you wouldn't be able to come back with any information.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I was going to say, you go forward and it's just black and you're sitting there like.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
you know can we go backwards 20 years we're all we're all we're all holograms yeah yeah you're like or just the world's not there anymore that's even scarier because we're idiots with nuclear weapons and somebody decided to let one off the chain and yeah you're just in the shadows like can we rewind 20 years and you're still in the shadows like shit can we ride 20 more and just figure out exactly what happened and where yeah we could warn people probably i don't know if they'd pay attention
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Well, I know that you're laying the foundation for the play that you wrote. What got you interested in acting in the first place?
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
And so you landed on acting. So, all right. Most people are like, I'm going to go to the gym, sculpt my guns, get a beach body, an eight pack, find a hotter chick.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
How was it before? And actually, what brought you to New York? Are you from NYC?
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
No. I'm going to gauge Michael's knowledge on this one too. Have you ever experienced a waterbed? I mean, I know what they are. I don't know. I've never had one. Have you ever seen one in real life? No. Okay. Just making sure.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
His, I tell you what, his life experience compared to ours, I worry not about him, but I worry. Yeah. You worry. Even though, first off, here's a question. Whoever thought that a waterbed was a good idea?
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Yeah, they would also destroy your back due to lack of support.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Are you talking about sexual benefits? Yeah. Ride in the tide? Yeah. I have no experience with that on a waterbed. I think of it from the perspective of... If I had to write a list out of things that I would not, like accidents that I wouldn't want to have happen in my bedroom, about 100 gallons of water would be one of them.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
But acting was not some burning passion. It doesn't sound like there was a family history of people coming from that world.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Walk me through that decision process of taking the SAT and, and getting high first. You're like, I know what. This is a really important test, so I'm just going to mellow out a little bit.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
You mentioned earlier there was some trauma involved in your childhood.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Did you guys ever talk about it as you got older as a man? Did you discuss?
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
No, no. What do you think would have happened if you would have brought it up?
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I think the important part is what you just said to a degree.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Yeah, when you're younger, they're the answer to every question, problem that you have.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I think so. Michael, you let me know. Just a little closer. Okay. He gets really, like, get in there, you know? Yeah, as you get older, you realize your parents are 100% human beings. Yeah. Fumbling their way through life just like you are.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
So I was kind of like... Damn, you were swinging in the big leagues.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
So you heard this guy say, I'm going to be an actor in Famous and you're thinking-
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Because in the pretty close proximity to 9-11 that happened, because I can't imagine they kept them there for a long time.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
What does that actually mean? Studying acting? Yeah. Do you, do you study people? Do you study mannerisms? Do you study dialect?
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Today's episode is brought to you by Element. Now, some people see this and they say LMNT, just like on the can that I am holding up in front of the camera. And some people call it that. It's called Element, or actually call it both. It doesn't really matter. What are we talking about? We're talking about electrolytes. We're talking about salt. We're talking about potassium.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
We're talking about magnesium. We're talking about really easy, portable, in these little travel containers. You can hear the shake. A variety of flavors, and now they have sparkling Element. This stuff is awesome. There's a refrigerator in the studio. Off camera, obviously, it would make no sense to have it on camera. Stock full of those.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Both Michael and I, after a nice day of jujitsu, we try to do jujitsu and then come in and do the episodes. We both are slamming one of those things, and it drastically helps. I do remember what recovery felt like before, and I remember what recovery felt like after. And because I'm an idiot...
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I ignored the advice of my good friend, Rob Wolf, who is one of the co-founders, who was talking about all the benefits of rehydrating with an electrolyte beverage, to which I, of course, said, yeah, and didn't do that. So I felt like I got run over by a steamroller every time that I trained jujitsu. Now, I still feel like that to a degree, but my recovery is faster and my brain works better now.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Other than almost everything. Okay. So an AK is a traditional European Eastern block. How about a big gun? That probably would be it. My guess is an M4 or AR based platform. 762 by 39 is an AK-47. It's a large round. And I think, what is it? 556 by, I don't know, 35, something like that for a 223 round.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
In the days that I train, that I sweat, that fluids are pouring out of me and I rehydrate with Element, my brain just works better. I'm not a scientist, but it feels like the electricity is moving through my body in a much better fashion. They do seasonal stuff. They do stuff where you can get hot chocolate. It's a variety of different types of salts.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
1000 milligrams of sodium, 200 milligrams of potassium, 600 or 60, I should say, milligrams of magnesium. That's just in one of these little packets. Looks like it's the exact same thing on the sparkling. I highly recommend these. I would say dilute it more than you necessarily think. I personally think their recommended dilution is still a little bit strong for me.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
And I'm also trying to increase my hydration. So I double that. I'll pour half of that into a bottle of water, slam it, half of it, nurse that one a little bit longer. And that works for me because I'm killing two birds with one stone. It's used by athletes. You could use it for keto or paleo diets.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
It is very adjacent friendly to those type of diets and it makes an absolute difference in performance and recovery. If that sounds like something you want to mess around with or explore, go to drinkelementee.com slash clearedhot. Here's what you're going to get. A free LMNT or element, like I said, sample pack with any purchase. And don't forget to try the sparkling, the element sparkling.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
It's 16 ounce can of sparkling electrolyte water. And there's a variety of flavors, just like in the packets at will. So that is drinkelementee, drinkelementee.com slash clearedhot. Let's get back to the show.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
So I'm just trying to array this against Hollywood. What percentage of the actors that people are generally seeing on the big screen would be considered a trained actor?
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I was just going to ask that because I swear I just saw, I think it was Russell Crowe. He was asked about an acting method and his answer was, I don't know what that is. I just figured it out.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Now I've heard him say that, but in fairness. There's probably a thousand people that tried that path too for him to be in that spot to be able to say that.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
And being mentored probably by people who had figured it out. Yeah.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
So why do you think in the modern era most people are not trained actors? Are they in this figure-it-out train as well? Because everybody wants to be famous, man. No one wants to train anymore. Do you think it shows in the final product? I think so. What do you think of modern cinema? Is it dog shit? I don't think it's dog shit, but— And here's the litmus test.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
People are going to eviscerate me in the comments because I should know, but I never cared because I just stuffed them in my magazine and never paid attention. My guess would be if we're talking about police.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
This is probably the most important question I'll ask you today. Maverick, good movie or bad? The last Top Gun? Correct. Correct. Answer carefully. With a seal. Pete Mitchell is a fucking national treasure.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
No, I'm messing with you. It's my wife's least favorite movie. So I put it on TV all the time.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I mean, I watched Top Gun when it first came out, you know, and so... She has one question about it and there's no real answer to it. Why would they pick some guy who'd been in the military forever? Aren't there younger pilots who could be doing this? Why does it have to be him?
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I know. I tried to explain that, but she's like, no, really, how does it really work? I'm like... There is no Pete Mitchell for real. Not at that age. That's like a hundred people. Yeah.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I just don't think, you know, people, I mean, look, I'm sure. So is there still value to the traditional acting path then if they're able to create what they're creating now without it?
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Different, but I don't judge the difference. I just acknowledge that it is. You know, it's not for me to say better or worse, but it certainly is different.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
But is that better or worse for actors? And also, what does it mean to be an actor? Because you see people who certainly have no training in any traditional sense of the world, but they might have millions upon millions upon billions of people who are watching them, I mean, does that make them an actor or actress?
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
If it was soldiers, US soldiers, definitely an M4 platform, not an AK.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
AI. AI. We're talking about being able to damn near do anything from face to voice to background to extra.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I think it's better than most people would give it credit for if they can find something that's compelling.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
His words from his website, which is theamericansoldiersoloshow.com. To raise awareness of the struggles of veterans and military families face when they either come home from war, transition out of the military, and of course, the invisible wounds of post-traumatic stress.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
What do you think that is? Meanwhile, you know, I don't know anything about TikTok, so what I'm about to say is based off what I've heard other people say, it's a 15-second churn. That's a big gap between the couple hours that you and I will sit down and talk. And I think people, a person... Could be a fan of both.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I think people have the ability to have a longer attention span than they're given credit for. They're just constantly bombarded with shorter attention span stuff.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Constantly. I actually, I started jujitsu six years ago and what I love about it is it can't be mastered.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I just enjoy that it can't be solved. And a lot of people, I think, get lost in the winning or losing. I think it's more about just constantly getting better. And if you can't master it, that means that your ability to microscopically get better, because you might have to reduce your optic down to that size to notice the improvement. then it's still there. And I think that's pretty awesome.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Did you get somebody share a clip with you or, um, I don't know if I've ever, have we ever asked anybody how they found the show, Michael? I don't think so.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Not that I'm aware of. If I have, I'm sorry, Megan, for not remembering.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I've had all four people- Who claim to be – so it's a person and I actually have a very good friend who with 100 percent certainty and specificity knows exactly who it is. So there's the person in that radio call, which for everybody listening to this, it's not me. I've never claimed it's me.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I've had no less than four people reach out and tell me that that person is them and none of those people were the person that my very good friend knows well.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
You know, the world's become so politicized now that unless... They don't want to talk about theater in general or the subject matter of your play?
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Well, let's get into it. Talk to me about the play so we can kind of unpack maybe why that is.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
So how do you do it? Are you playing a character that is the person writing the letter?
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
So this is through the lens of 14 different soldiers throughout the history.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I played, I sound like Jocko in that first monologue. Okay. He's well known for his approach to discipline and waking up at times that I prefer to be sleeping.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
You cranked through that many people in 20 minutes. Say what? You were able to make it through all those characters in 20 minutes.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I was going to say, Holy cow. That's like two minutes per letter.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
You wrote this. You put the time in to do all of the research, which I bet felt more like a passion project anyway, or an addiction or something, just a gravitational pull for you. Yeah. You're the one up there performing. It's a single person show. What is the role of the director if you're the only person up there and you did all that legwork?
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I think there's a lot of people out there saying every night in bed that they want to be rich and famous that are not. Might argue against that particular premise, but that's neither here nor there.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I had heard that as far as it, I mean, there's a horrible question to ask, but I had heard that jumping off of those platforms in front of the trains is one of the methods that people will choose to end their lives.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I don't know. But there are guys I worked with that if asked to find their dick with their clothes off, it would be a search and rescue mission.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Now we're talking people who have an extraordinary amount of PSI tension on the belt buckle and top button on their pants. What is the pressure? You mean pressure? I mean their stomach, their belly pushing out. How the fuck can you be a SEAL when you're, when you're fat?
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
That is a good question because supposedly there's standards that are supposed to be- But when you were in combat, was anybody fat next to you? Yes. Really? Yes. I'm not saying it was the norm. Chubby or fat? I mean, out of shape or- Both. We're talking land whales. That- Am I blowing your mind right now? Fuck yeah.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
From a performance perspective and ability, you know, to shoot, move, and communicate, I'd say that that's true. Special operations... at large. I can only speak for the community I came from, but I'm going to reach out tonight to some buddies of mine that span the special operations community. And I'm going to ask him, did you ever serve with anybody that was fat? And I,
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I hesitate to use terms like always and never, but I feel like there's a really high level of certainty. I'm going to get some feedback that, you know, meal team six or gravy seals, we're not the only people dealing with that issue.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
And at some point in time for people. They just give up. I wouldn't say they give up. I'll say their standards are more on a slide rule than etched into stone.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I'm not a religious man at all, but it's a gift from heaven. Yeah, with lobster? Now you're talking my wife's language. She's powerfully Italian. Is your wife Italian? Yeah. You ever watch the old movie, Tron movies? I didn't actually. Okay.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
their outfits you know it had like the neon and it's actually funny if you go back and look at it now the uh special effects were just absolute dog shit oh yeah but they would drink from the water and it would make them glow more and i feel like that's lobster mac and cheese for my wife oh she glows she could just a pasta she could be having a shit day or like a hard day on the mat she's a jiu-jitsu coach oh is she really yeah she's a world champion black belt
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Oh, gosh. But if she's had a day and you get some mac and cheese, a little lobster mac, and she just starts glowing.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
What's really wild is sitting here watching me blow your mind about fat seals. I'm so happy that I can provide this optic for you.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
You know, is it more nerve wracking to perform in front of a small audience or a packed house for me?
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Okay. Well, I will. I could tell you some stories where you might rethink your orbit of the world for that job title.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Also, I'm not a SEAL anymore. That was over almost a decade and a half ago.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I'd say switch the octave. Like, listen, this is a practice rep, but we're going to give everything. Yeah. You know what I mean? Whatever you got to do, talk yourself into it for sure. How do you do the play? Do you go sequentially through time? Do you bounce around a little bit?
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
More importantly, I want to help those who have no connection to the military better understand what service to our nation sincerely means. He describes what the play is, so I'm not going to get into that. But it's fantastic. I love the concept. It spans multiple generations, multiple wars. It's really cool. And he has a skill that I just will never have.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Out of all those acts, is there one that's more difficult for you to do than others?
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Like from underground, you'd come up the stairs and you were at the base of them, essentially?
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Michael, what would Michael put into Google to pull that up? Because we can look at it on the TV and you can describe it for the viewer.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Michael's a master Googler. God, this TV does weird shit. I know. There you are. Okay, yeah. There you go. Yeah.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
It's got to be wild being up there just by yourself. Yeah. You might be impressed with the job title of Navy SEAL. I would rather get shot at over and over and over and over and over and over and over again than get up on stage by myself and have to do some shit like this.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I don't think it'll be easy, but I think the margins will be in his favor. Yeah, I think so. I think with what's happened with the...
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I do believe that life and politics intertwined is a little bit like a pendulum.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
And I do believe that the reason that the outcome of the election was what it was and the color changes on the map were what they were is because people, whether they were vocal or not, Before, during, or after the election, they voted in the booth.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
They voted... Your pocketbook. Well, they voted that the pendulum may have gone a touch too far, so we're going to course correct. Yeah, and I think that's why he'll get through. Yeah. Keep on scrolling down there, Michael. Let's see what we got.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I mean, okay. Of all the things people could ever say, I did not think you were going to say that.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Do you want to continue doing it? Or are you thinking ahead the future to a new project? Or can you do both simultaneously?
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I wonder if you could almost create an extension of it or another play based off the interactions you've had with vets after. Yeah. Because you're probably bombarded with stories.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Just because people are big sometimes doesn't mean they're scary.
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Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I don't have the words for how overwhelming that sea of white headstones is.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I think it's in the low eights, but again, I mean, yeah, seven or eight. It's very, very, very safe to say that the suicide deaths have eclipsed that.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I listen, usually. Yeah. Try to remind people that nothing is permanent unless you make it. Nothing lasts forever. High points, low points. Might seem like it's going to, but it doesn't.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I get that question a lot. Yeah. It starts with being able to listen, hear them out, hear how they're feeling. Yeah. It's a tough one. It's a tough one for sure.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
Well, we can do better than that. I mean, unfortunately, I got to get you back to the coffee shop in like the next 10 minutes. Great. Where can people reach out to you?
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Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I've heard that from a lot of people, like just crisp, beautiful, clear day.
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Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
The ability to get up and perform in front of people. The desire to be an actor. Good. Good on you. No way in hell am I ever participating in that. I don't know if there's anything that can make me feel more uncomfortable. And I don't really know why, but whatever. irrelevant when it comes to the show. Today's episode is going to be 376 with Douglas Terrell.
Cleared Hot
Episode 376 - Douglas Taurel
I think another one honestly came out this month. You want to talk about a franchise that's really getting its money squeezed out of it? Godzilla. That and Superman.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
What's up and welcome back. Literally, welcome back. I've been back in the United States, well, got back into the United States yesterday, overnighted in Atlanta, home from Costa Rica, just got back. My wife taught a combined jujitsu and surfing retreat at Hero BJJ, a place I've talked about quite a bit. What a cool place.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
You seem to have more things, you're a little bit generally more established in your path, and the idea of pushing all the chips in can seem overwhelming and overbearing. When you're younger, it seems as if there is less to lose. And I guess in the sense of things or collections, length of relationship, duration of things that you might have been involved in, sure, there is less.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Link down in the show notes to where you can buy it directly. The only two places you can get it are from me directly or from the Black Rifle Coffee Kalispell store. I'm sorry. That's it. So yeah, one of those can ship everywhere in the world. And the other one, you're going to need to be here in Kalispell. It's amazing. I'm biased, but it's my favorite blend.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And if you guys notice, hopefully, excuse me, I'm talking about everything other than risk to life, because I'll put that as a separate category. I'm talking about to the things that you have, whether it's a risk to a relationship, a risk to failing, a risk to losing your job, a risk to losing all of your money, fill in the blank.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
When you get older, it seems like you have, well, it doesn't seem like you have, you have less time. When you have less time, man, getting people comfortable pushing their chips in, it's very difficult. For some people, it's impossible and they're never going to do it. And that is okay. Let me actually add this too.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
There's actually nothing wrong with living what people would consider or call a traditional or conventional life. If you're happy, if you're fulfilled down that path, good on you. Live whatever type of life you want to. My point in saying if you want to be extraordinary, you're going to have to do extraordinary things. I'm talking specifically to these young people between the ages of 15 to 18.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Do you want to look back on your life and have a sense of regret for the things that you didn't try? Now, is there a risk in ignoring your parents' advice and ignoring your friends' advice? There is. But there's also risk in following every piece of your parent's advice, following every step of the conventional path, following every step of your friend's advice.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And the risk there is when you come to the end of your lap, the lap of your life, you have a list of things you wish you would have done or said or experienced. And I can't imagine how much that likely sucks. For the young people,
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Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
I didn't realize, I knew that the odds weren't in my favor when I chose the path that I did when I was younger, going into the military at that age and pursuing that occupation. I didn't realize how much luck was involved. And I mean that from the injury rate percentage of students. I had no understanding of that.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
I had very limited knowledge about the training pipeline itself and actually what came after that. I could never have forecasted 9-11 and how that changed from a very conceptual job to a very practical job. There's no way I could have forecasted those things.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
But I wouldn't have the life experiences that I do had I listened to the vast majority of people in my life at that age, outside of my parents. Who are telling me there's no way you're going to be able to do it. Have you researched the math? Do you know what the stats are? You weigh 150 pounds. How are you going to go do that job? Fill in the blank.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
My absolute favorite blend to make cold brew with. I think that's it. Before we get into the show, you know the deal. Give me, I always say 90 seconds, but people have told me that I'm lying and it's somewhere closer to two minutes. I can't help myself. I legitimately like the brands that I work with. Give me a couple minutes.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Write a fucking novel on the things that people will tell you. that they think you're not able to do. Meanwhile, they're not doing shit themselves, by the way. That's a little asterisk.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
A lot of the times, the things that people are saying to you, the reasons that you're not gonna be successful, I honestly think that if they were to look in the mirror and say those things to themselves, they'd be equally, if not more accurate. I made a decision at that age. I put all my chips on the table.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
I had no plan B, which I'm not saying is smart, but it's the same advice I'm gonna give those young men and women between those ages of 15 to 18. If you are lucky enough to find something that is lighting a fire under your ass, potentially pulling you towards this gravitational true north at that age, which is very atypical.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
All three of my kids did not feel that way, and I'm completely supportive of the path that they're on right now. There's just zero judgment. If they had found that, The only thing I would have told them was, how can I help?
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Now, obviously, if they were going to try to repeat the path that I went down, I would explain to them some of the things that I knew from just a cost perspective and a burden perspective, a long-term wear and tear, psychological things that may come from that. And I just would have at least allowed them to make a more educated decision, but I would have never gotten in their way.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
If you find that fire and you are that young, Grab your chips and slide them into the middle of the table. And I'm not saying ignore your parents. And I'm not saying ignore your friends. But neither your friends nor your parents have to live your life. And remember that throughout the course of your life when people are making suggestions or recommendations or giving unsolicited advice.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Nobody has to walk a day in your shoes. It's you who gets to the end of that lap and has to sit there and look back and ask yourself, did I live the life that I wanted to? Did I become the man or woman that I dreamed of when I was young? And if you didn't, do not try to blame that on other people. Because the choice to do so was exactly that.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
At that age, slide your chips in and fucking put your head down and absolutely devote yourself to that. The worst case scenario is this. Most of the emails I've gotten were based on occupational pipelines. The worst case scenario is this. You won't be successful. Try again. You may not be successful. Try again.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Let me pay the bills so you get the show for free and I can turn the lights on and off at this place. All right, let's get into it. This episode is brought to you by Peak Life. How do you know that this tea that I've been talking about all year is good? Here's the simplest answer that I can give you. I actually drink it, and I enjoy it, and it's part of my morning routine.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And if it's truly not a fit, you are still going to be at an age in your life where you have, of 360 degrees available to you, you're going to have like 350. You'll have a wide open universe in front of you that you can explore and hopefully find something else that can light that fire underneath you from a motivation or passion perspective.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
at least you will sleep well at night knowing you gave it everything that you had, as opposed to sleeping poorly at night, wondering what would have happened had you made a different decision. I understand why parents and friends give advice like that. I understand why people suggest the conventional path. It is hammered into your head From damn near birth, stability, right?
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
This is the steps you need to make to have the life that is acceptable. Who says conventional wisdom is a good fit for everybody? I have lived my life in a very unconventional manner. And I don't recommend that anybody make the decisions that I made, but I'm thankful that I did. Not only for the failures, but the limited successes that I have had as well. Those experiences have made me who I am.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
They color how I view the world. They color how I answer the questions that people submit to me. My answers would be completely different if I had a different life experiences. Different life experiences, yeah. I have pursued paths that most people want nothing to do with, but I did. So who's right in that situation? Or is it even a matter of right and wrong? I don't think that it is.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
For me, it made sense. For them and for most other people, it didn't. And that's okay. I'm not a conventional path person. Conventional wisdom, cool, but I don't believe in absolutes, always and never, right? Always following conventional wisdom, to me, is a path to absolute boredom.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Never following conventional wisdom, to me, would probably be a path of struggle and hardship and challenge, because I think it's a blend of both. But I don't want to be conventional. I don't want to be ordinary. I don't want to live an ordinary life. I would rather be extraordinary or attempt to be extraordinary and pursue the things that light that fire under my ass.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
That's going to rub a lot of people the wrong way. It's okay because they don't live their life the way you do and they're never going to live your life ever for a single day. Just remember that when you are considering the advice that you are given, especially when people are trying to govern or boundary your behavior with that advice.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
So hopefully that answers the question for those of you out there who are asking that particular question to me. This episode is brought to you by David. Now you might ask yourself, who is this David? It's not a who, it's a what. It is a new take on a protein bar. How many of you have a sweet tooth? I'm raising my hand for those of you who can't see me.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And I am not a tea guy up until – Earlier, actually late last year when I first tried it, I was not a fan of tea. And I've said this before. This also, though, to talk about this tea, I'm holding up right now one of the convenient little packs that it comes in. You can take these things on the go everywhere.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
This is something that has gnawed at me for a while. I enjoy a little treat from time to time, just a little treat. And man, it has derailed the best attempts at eating strategies that I've ever had. That's why I like David. These bars are actually really, really tasty. They have 28 grams of protein and they're only 150 calories with zero grams of sugar.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
I have my three favorites in front of me right here. Salted peanut butter, double fudge brownie, and peanut butter chocolate chunk. Get out of here with these three. They are so good. There's always one of these things in my backpack. I am historically somebody who doesn't do the best with self-care and timing my eating.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And what'll end up happening is I get far too hungry and then I eat far too much. I'm really working on eating more consistently and these help me bridge the gap. They're delicious, they satisfy my sweet tooth craving, but they're not completely knocking me out of the ballpark when it comes to trying to reduce excess sugar in my diet.
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Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
In addition to the three flavors that I listed, they have chocolate chip cookie dough, lights out good. Blueberry pie also lights out good. And cake batter, I'm going to be honest, I don't like anything cake batter flavored. I like cake, but not the batter. I'm not going to tell you how to live your life, psychos, but do what you want. If you're looking for a way to get more protein in your life.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And if you don't know this, protein is extremely important in helping you feel full. It's a crucial building block for optimal health, and it's very difficult for most people to get an adequate amount every single day. It really helps you regulate your energy, your appetite, and overall well-being. Again, 28 grams of protein, 150 calories, zero grams of sugar. Don't take my word for it.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Head over to davidprotein.com slash cleared hot. And pick up a sample pack for yourself. That is davidprotein.com slash clearedhot. The three flavors, again, that I said were my favorite, which this is subjective, of course. Chocolate chunk, salted peanut butter, double fudge brownie. You're not going to be disappointed. Get some more protein into your life. Back to the show. Question three.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Andy, let's say in the future... Your daughter is now 23. Michael approaches you with the request to date her. Let's run the math on this. My daughter is 16 right now to about turn 17 plus another six years. Call it six years. So Michael would be 29. She'd be 23. Actually, Michael's 21 and 23. There's an age gap there for sure. How exactly would you fire him?
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And if you can see this pack, you can tell this is not your grandmother's bag of tea where you have to get the hot water and put the tea bag in it and then throw that away. I still would recommend hot water even though you can make this with cold. We're talking new technology at this point. It's delicious. And I actually drink it. That's how you know it's good.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And in what way would you remove Michael from the gene pool?
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Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
potato peeler, crucifixion, or do you send him with a one-way ticket to Bud's and let your buddies know that he requires special treatment, and that his many attempts to DOR will not be accepted, but will only be punished with more physical and mental evolutions, and that he will not be allowed to graduate under any circumstances, regardless of not being allowed to DOR, due to a mixture of safety violations and personality-slash-character flaws.
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Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
But regardless, he will not be allowed to leave the program until completion, even though he will then be denied... graduation. That is a horrendous situation you just laid out there as far as the training scenario. Michael right now is currently on vacation still. I've talked about this. I believe he went to Ireland and the UK.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
where he is certainly not talking to any members of the opposite sex, probably taking pictures of stray dogs and architecture. He did send me a picture of a hot dog exhibit from a museum, which is completely on brand for Michael. So he's out and about, so I can talk freely without him in the room here like he would normally be. And here's what I'll say.
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Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
I give Michael a really hard time, and it's good-natured. For people who listen to the show, you only catch the interactions between Michael and I that are on the show, and they are good-hearted. We laugh about it. I don't think I've ever actually said anything to Michael that he took personally or offense to on the show. I've tried off of the air, but he takes it well.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
My point in saying all of that is, I would be stoked for my daughter to find somebody like Michael. When I first met him, he, my wife introduced us actually a few years ago. I think we've been working with each other for three or four years at this point. Up until that point, if you made an order on the store, I received the order, I printed it out, I packaged it, I sent it off to you.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
I did every aspect of the podcast. I did the recording, I did the editing, I did the booking of all the guests. I still do the vast majority of that. So Michael handles all the deliverables when it comes to the soft good stuff. I really look forward to him getting back. There's a bunch of orders in for the coffee already.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
So I actually really like trying to ambush him when he's gone for a day or two, just to punish him for even considering taking time away from things that matter to me. And
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
uh other than that he does the in camera the in room camera switching and the rest of it i still handle i book all the guests i do all my own social media i do all the editing i do the intros outros the ad reads obviously it's all in my voice and you guys can see me doing it but when i first met michael he was maybe 150 pound white belt who had just started jujitsu my wife was
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Because if it wasn't, I would actually tell you. Actually, if it wasn't, I wouldn't work with the brand. Specifically today, we're going to talk about their Puerh tea bundles. It's a combination of green and black teas designed to transform your gut health, support your metabolism, and enhance your overall vitality. Again, gut health naturally fermented for living probiotics and prebiotics.
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Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
really pressing on me to have somebody come in and help. And of course, I was arguing against that because who knows better about my own stuff than me, right? It's idiotic, which is completely on brand for myself. Smashing my head against the wall instead of going around an obstacle more often than not.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And even in the short period of time that I've gotten to know Michael, he has grown in a lot of ways. Physically, for sure, I think he's 30 to 40 pounds heavier. Now, he's an absolute pain in the ass in jiu-jitsu. He's way more dynamic than I am. He can bounce around. His cardio is better. It pisses me off. It forces me to just lay on him and smother him. But he's also grown as a person.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And I think people get this. They can see it on the show. He's a really smart kid. He's a really caring person. He doesn't care about people at a shallow level. I think for the people he cares about, he cares about them deeply. He's responsible. He's honest. He has integrity. He treats men and women with respect.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And when it comes to somebody that I would want my daughter to end up with, that's hitting a lot of the wickets. I personally believe that all men should be very capable of violence and that they should avoid it at all costs. Jujitsu, I'll say it again, is not magic. It's not the end-all, be-all. A gun is not magic. It's not the end-all, be-all. A knife isn't magic. The end-all, be-all.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Krav Maga, boxing, none of it's magic. Pros and cons. Blend, have a mixed capability. And then never, ever, ever, ever, ever get into a fight. But for anybody out there with a daughter, what kind of man would you want to have her with?
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
One that is waiting to become a victim or one that is willing, able, prepared, trained, current, and competent at handling just about any violent confrontation that comes his way? I'll take the latter, please, especially when my daughter's there. He's the kind of person that I would want my daughter to be with. Would I ever tell him that to his face?
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Of course not, that fucking curly-haired little shit, ginger cabbage face. I mean... And I say that because of his hair. I see the little TikTok videos. Not TikTok. I've actually never been on TikTok. There's this Instagram video of these two kids, and it was the most amazing half pipe of hair. I assume they put a cap on and then blow their hair up to get that.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And then these two adults made fun of them with lettuce on their head. That's where I get the cabbage head from. Great video. It occasionally works its way back through my feed, and I enjoy it every single time. Watch it more than once every time it pops up, too. But I mean, to shorten the answer up, he's the kind of guy that I would be looking for.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Longevity packed with antioxidants that fight oxidative stress and support cellular regeneration. And convenient. I already held it up. Dissolves in water. No tea bags, no brewing. It can help you with your microbiome reset. It balances gut flora for better digestion and smoother metabolism. Energy and mood. Who doesn't want more of that? And immune support.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And again, if you've ever heard me try to pull out of him his experience with dating, he's not liking the online dating thing. He's not looking for transactional relationships. He wants an actual relationship with somebody. He is an old soul for sure. He's like a 40-year-old trapped in a 23-year-old's body. And I worry that he's going to have a hard time finding the right person.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
But I do know this, when he finds the right person, it's going to be amazing for him. And I think he would look back and say, you know what? The bullshit that I went through, it was worth it because the person that I am with and the relationship that we have makes it worth it. Now, is Michael ever going to be allowed to date my daughter? No, no.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
His cock and balls would become my personal property and I would keep it in a mason jar on top of the refrigerator. But He is the type of person that I would want my daughter to be with. He's a good kid. And he's a good role model, in my opinion, for people of that age demographic. So next question. We're prepping for a month-long road trip with our seven- and eight-year-old boys. God help us.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Kalispell and Glacier is going to be a stop on the trip. For those of you who don't know, Glacier National Park is just northeast of Kalispell. You can see there's a couple buildings that are in the way, but from where I am right now, I would be able to see at least the opening towards Lake McDonald of Glacier National Park.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
People get all pissed when I talk about how awesome Montana is. Yellowstone is amazing. Go see Yellowstone. Please don't get out of your car and try to pet a buffalo. If you're gonna do that, at least film it and send it to me. People know I like that type of content. Actually, everybody likes that type of content.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
You know, go out there, and there was literally a video forwarded to me the other day of somebody throwing bread at a grizzly bear that was slowly approaching them, and then the last thing it did before the video cut out is it lunged at them. And I'm just gonna assume that didn't go well for the bread feeder. Glacier rivals Yellowstone in every aspect. It's just not as highly trafficked.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And I'm not trying to, like, drive more traffic. I'm just saying Yellowstone's amazing, but there's some other amazing things in Montana as well. Yellowstone, for most people, is down south of Bozeman, Glacier, GNP, if you will, and then the Bob Marshall Wilderness, which is just south of Glacier, is up in the northwest corner of the state. So definitely hit up Glacier.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
They, I think, train somewhere between 150 to 200 kids for free and often, actually I shouldn't even say often, they have a calendar up every year, Once a month at this point, they're bringing in a coach and what they do is they split the revenue and fund the teaching of all the kids through the participants of the seminars or retreats, depending on what you would want to call it.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And if you want to fly in here to do it, fly into Kalispell. FCA is the airport. They're actually working on it right now. It's a pretty kick-ass little airport at this point. Moving on. I have heard you mention you utilize a fanny pack for concealed carry. Well, hold on. Let me grab it because I happen to have it right here in front of me. We can talk about this.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Polyphenols bolster your body's resilience. Now, I already said it's good, but the sourcing of this tea is unbelievable. Wild harvested from 250-year-old tea trees for unmatched purity and nutrient density. And they use an innovative cold extraction technology which retains maximum phytonutrients.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
What I don't remember is the brand of it. I've always been an inside the waistband person, but I wear similar stuff to you, which is me in the summertime board shorts and a t-shirt. In the wintertime, it's a t-shirt and pants. And I've been struggling to find something that doesn't say, hey, there's a gun in this one, like most 5.11 brands make. That struggle is real.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And the easiest way to wrap your head around this one and the way that I view this, and I might be wrong in how I view this, but any man I see carrying a fanny pack, I assume that there is a gun in it. Because they're really easy and convenient ways to carry a gun. I also always assume that people are just armed. Not like, oh no, everybody is armed.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
But I'd rather go with the assumption that they are and be proven wrong than assume that they are not And then be proven wrong in that in a moment that mattered. So it's interesting as well. It'd be an interesting social experiment to watch behavioral interactions in a group of individuals where they knew that nobody was armed and they weren't allowed to fight.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
versus a group where maybe some of the people were armed and you were allowed to fight. My hypothesis, with no scientific data to support this in any way, shape, or form, is that the latter category would be a lot less contentious. But I digress. The current one I have is an Eberly stock. For people out there, Inside the waistband, carry a firearm however you want to carry a firearm.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
In Montana, we even have people who like open carry, and I have seen one person, I am not joking, open carrying two AR rifles. How he was gonna use both at the same time, I do not know. He did not have any load-bearing equipment that had extra magazines for either, so he might have been one mag in each of those, which is likely still plenty of ammunition, depending on what he was gonna do with it.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
But yes, he was full send. There are some people who really want you to see their firearm in most... Actually, I can't say most. In some states, it's very illegal. In Montana, it is very legal. Not my cup of tea, though. I like inside the waistband holsters. For myself, I like an appendix carry. Used properly...
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
With a holster that covers your trigger and trigger guard, you're not gonna shoot your dick off, which is something I hear all the time. People say, oh, I don't wanna put a round in the chamber, because it's pointed at my junk. Well, it really shouldn't be pointed at your junk and guns, unless you're talking about the SIG 320. I'm just joking, SIG.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
If you are ready to elevate your day and transform your health for a limited time, you can get 20% off on the Puerh bundles plus a free starter kit, which includes a rechargeable frother and glass beaker. I've used these on the show before and literally made a cup of tea during a two-minute ad read. You need to use my link to do that. Head over to peaklife.com slash clearedhot.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
I'm just repeating some things I've heard on the internet. Don't generally go off in the holster. Now, I'm not an expert on the SIG 320, and I actually love SIG products. I don't think I've ever shot a 320 I'm just hopping on the bandwagon. I'm having a little funny ha-ha about something that's not funny ha-ha, which is guns going off in their holster. It shouldn't do that.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
You are not going to shoot your dick off pulling your gun out of the holster or putting it back in the holster. As long as you keep your finger off the trigger, you take your time, you look at what you're doing, especially when reholstering, making sure that the T-shirt isn't working its way into the trigger guard, you're going to be okay.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
My theory when carrying a firearm, personal opinion is that there should be a round in the chamber because otherwise you're carrying a hammer with an effective range of whatever you could throw it at or hit somebody with. Yes, I understand you can draw a chamber around. Fine motor skills are some of the first things to go in high stress situations.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And unless you are practicing that at a very high volume, Be prepared to not perform at your best in those moments. So carry however you want to. My recommendation is develop a level of comfort with whatever handgun, because that's what I'm talking about specifically.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
If you have to find a rifle that can go into a fanny pack, well, you understand that the weapon, there are perhaps external safeties depending on the weapon you're using. There are internal safeties depending on the weapon that you are using. There is the safety of the individual actually touching the firearm itself. There are ways that you can cover the trigger guard.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
There are, I suppose, ways you could lock the slide. There's a variety of different things, and people are innovating all the time.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
But develop a level of comfort with your weapon that you understand exactly how it's going to work, why it functions when it won't function, when you should be very cautious, which is at all times with the firearm, because it's an item that is designed to kill, so let's treat it with that respect.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Um, so you should never not be cautious with a firearm, but you also don't need to be overly anxious thinking your dick is going to fly off or at least have a hole in it. So a little bit of a diatribe there. Let's talk fanny packs. Like I said, Everly stock. I don't know if you're going to be able to find a fanny pack that doesn't scream at least a little bit. Hey, I've got a gun in here.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And maybe that's okay. I do have a gun in here, but I got a lot of other things in here as well too. I have all of my keys. We can open this bad boy up. I have keys in there. I have this awesome Montana knife company, Fixed Blade Knife. I think this is the War Goat. This thing's amazing. I get in knife fights with cardboard boxes with this.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
An envelope sometimes if I'm feeling real sassy, just give a little. I've almost cut myself with it many times. For the love of God, people pulling these knives out of the sheaths, please Here's how I do it. I put my thumb on the back of the kydex, leaving even a little bit of space from that first part where the blade may be. And I pull with my thumb, look at that.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
I have watched quite a few people grab the sheath like this. And for those of you who are audio only, my pinky is essentially below the kydex. And you can imagine if I were to pull that thing out, you're gonna get a little slicey dicey. There's a video of Dana White doing exactly that. He went to the hospital afterwards and got stitches, so let's not do that.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
All right, so I have keys and stuff in here, and most fanny packs designed to carry a firearm are gonna be set up in this manner, where there are gonna be pockets up front, one or two, and then there's gonna be a different pocket that is in the back that generally fully unzips, right? And... What is going to be displayed? Ba-boom, your firearm.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
So I have the SIG 365 Fuse, I think it is, with the SIG red dot on there and then the TLR-7 sub light. I don't have a relationship with SIG. I paid full retail price for everything that was on here. I carry a light on my pistol because half of every day occurs at night, for those of you who don't realize that. The red dot sight is backed up with visible night sights as well.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
They're glow-in-the-dark sights, so even if the sight fails, I'm gonna be able to see it at night. And let me see if I can find a way. This is kinda how it fits in the old fanny pack. So not a whole lot of extra space, but that's okay, because I have a 21-round magazine plus one in the gun, so 22 rounds on me. It's very convenient storage. It's secure storage. It's not gonna go anywhere.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Trigger's not gonna pull itself. It's not gonna get ripped off me. And the one thing I will say is this, carrying in a fanny pack adds more steps to your draw sequence than an inside the waistband holster, unless you're wearing like a ton of clothes and you're really digging to get out of the way. If you're gonna switch to a fanny pack, make sure you take the time to practice your draw sequence.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
do this with an unloaded firearm please can you do this with one hand you can Is it easier with two? Yeah, more than likely because unlike an inside the waistband holster, a traditional one where it's just kydex and you can pull straight out and you can even if you need to just pull on the fabric of your t-shirt with your thumb, be able to actually index the pistol well and then pull it out.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
This right here, it's just, it's behind a zipper. So it's gonna add some steps. Figure out how you're gonna carry this thing and then how you are going to get it open because not only are you gonna need to open it, Then you're going to need to get your dominant hand, unless you want to shoot with your non-dominant hand, which, if you're a psycho, go ahead, as your primary.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Great to do on the range. I don't know if I'd go with that as my optimal performance metric in a real-world two-way range, but, you know, you do you. You're going to have to open this thing, and then you're going to have to actually get in there and get your hand on the firearm itself before you're able to do any work with it. It's just different. Better or worse, I don't know.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
I like the fact that the fanny pack, you know, inside the waistband holsters, I've used them for years. It can get old a little bit, especially getting in and out of a car. It can dig into you a little bit. It can be a little bit uncomfortable. I like to wear board shorts. I know that there are options out there with reinforced waistbands and things like that. I don't really like them.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
They don't feel great. It's a lot easier for me to throw a fanny pack on. I've actually kind of switched to it to be in my year-round. It adds some more steps, and that's okay. Practice. Practice, practice, practice, practice. When I carried with an inside the waistband holster, and I still do this every day that I do, I'll unload the firearm.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And the first thing I'll do is maybe three to five times practice actually drawing from concealment all the way to the point of aligning my sights. And if I have an empty chamber and an empty gun, I'm going to go ahead and pull the trigger, work myself all the way through that trigger squeeze. Reset, put it back in. Same thing with the fanny pack. You have to practice. That's the biggest thing.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
What I have noticed with the fanny pack is sometimes the light will come on and you'll feel like, God damn, my belly's a little bit hot. And you look down and there's a little bit of light on. Turn that off. That's about it as far as a difference. Eberlestock, this is a specific fanny pack for a firearm. What I would never recommend doing, let's say that you had only a two-zipper firearm.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
All right, let's dive into this thing. I got a bunch of questions picked out in front of me. They're all pretty diverse and different. We'll just see how far I get into this. Question one. Good morning. I thoroughly enjoyed or enjoy the Fallout of Fridays and want to ask you this. In the last few years of your life, have you gained some level of celebrity or notoriety?
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Or I'm sorry, it wouldn't be a firearm. You had a two zipper fanny pack. Let's say that this back zipper wasn't available. Well, what I definitely wouldn't do is have a knife in there and a set of keys, the coffee shop. And normally I have the rest of the keys in there to get into the studio and the house and all those things.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
What I definitely wouldn't do is have all that stuff in there and then put a firearm in there just rattling about. Why? That's not secure. Things like keys, key fobs, the end of this. You know what? Let's unload this thing, I bet you. I bet you, right? Remove the source, eject the round, double check, clear and safe. Okay, I bet you this is exactly why I would never do that.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
You could get, oh yeah, look at that. All the way in there, you can just imagine that was the trigger going all the way back.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
That would suck, and that's exactly why I would rather have people saying, oh, he's probably got a gun in that fanny pack than trying to make a fanny pack work that isn't designed for a firearm, combining all these other accoutrements, if you will, and all of a sudden smoking a hole in the side of your fanny pack in God knows where else downrange. So just food for thought. Pros and cons to both.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
You know, one thing I will say about fanny packs is that you can accessorize them and you can pick colors that align with who you are and what you like. Maybe you like red. Maybe you like pink. I don't know. Live your life. It's just a nice little accessory that you could use as well. And that's it. That's all I have for this week. Hopefully that was helpful. Again, this is an Eberle stock.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
I have no relationship with the brand. I paid full price for this. Same with the Sig. I was joking about the 320, sort of. And yeah, that's all I got. See you guys Monday with a pretty awesome episode. A buddy of mine, we went down and we flew Migs together. We did that episode right before we did Migs. See you guys then.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
You have a busy coffee shop, a podcast with a large amount of listeners, been on Joe Rogan, one of the biggest shows in the world, if not the biggest. Many more things to list. Has this had a positive or negative effect on your life slash privacy concerns? As a follow-up, they say you should never meet your heroes.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Have you since becoming more well-known met any celebrities that either really impressed you or really surprised you? I will say that I was at the opening of your coffee shop and you were truly gracious with your time meeting and welcoming people. I appreciate your podcast. All the best. Interesting question. I... I'm not a celebrity. I'm not rich and famous. I'm neither of those things. Trust me.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
I don't think I'm a celebrity of any kind. I don't think of myself that way. I might be slightly more recognizable because of this awkward platform that I have. Not awkward meaning that it feels awkward to do. It's just a really weird job. I still struggle to wrap my head around that because I don't think of it as a job. I feel very lucky that I get to do this. I enjoy it. It's enriching for me.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
I talk about that all the time. Do I get recognized from time to time? I absolutely do. And here's what I'll say, especially at the coffee shop. I see people sometimes who have traveled from all over the world to visit the coffee shop. And I pass through there. I'm not there all the time. And sometimes I'm there to go do a meeting. So I have to kind of zip in and get out of there.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
If I'm at the coffee shop and you see me there and you want to say hello, please do. I enjoy meeting people who are fans of the podcast or have found the podcast or have had a good experience in their life because of the podcast.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
What I will say though is this, and this answers a part of the question here when it comes to well-known celebrities that either really impressed you or really surprised you. I have met some pretty famous people and I didn't get really surprised or really let down because I view them as normal people.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Regardless of how well-known you may be in the world, I'm yet to meet somebody, regardless of their station in life, that doesn't suffer the same problems that other people are suffering.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Now, they might suffer different type of economic problems, and the problems may be totally different, but I think the overall volume of problems that people are gonna encounter, and maybe problems isn't the best word. Let's say challenges, to stay a little bit more positive. The challenges that people are gonna face,
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
So not only did you get to go visit a really cool place, you're giving back to a really cool cause. Just got back from that. It was pretty damn awesome. It was the first retreat where it was legitimately surfing as part of the schedule and jujitsu. They had always offered surfing lessons, but this time it was actually structured into it. Feedback was pretty cool.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
If you make more money, you're going to have a higher level of income challenges. If you make less money, you're going to have a lower level of income challenges. They're two very different on the economic scale. But everybody's got a family. Everybody has relationships. Wants, desires, needs, money can solve some of those things. I think money makes some of those things more difficult as well.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
The reason I don't feel like I've ever been really overly impressed or let down is I don't go into the situations meeting people like that with a high level of expectation other than At some core level, they're just a human being. Why do I feel that way? Because that's all I am as well.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Yes, I have a bizarre platform that I have the ability, and I'm thankful that people reach out for my advice, even though I don't feel qualified to give it. And I will give you my advice if directly asked on a particular subject. And I'll tell you exactly where I am an expert on things, which is almost nowhere, or where my opinion comes from.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And I'll always say that I'm open to having my mind being changed. And my opinion counts for only my opinion. I don't speak for other communities or organizations. I'm just a normal person. I have As many up days as I have down days. Sometimes I have more down days than I have up days. I have the same struggles. I have three children. I'm in the trenches of parenting just like everybody else is.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And yeah, occasionally people will recognize me and I just do my best to be myself. It's the same thing that I try to do. Every time I have a guest on the show or every time I'm answering a question, I'm not trying to think in my head, what does the audience want to hear? What should I portray so I could gain more followers or listeners? That is not how my brain works.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
I will give you an honest answer. and do the best that I can. Sometimes I'm wrong. Sometimes I say really stupid shit. People who know me in real life will be able to tell you I'm a smart ass and it's something that I actually have been working with and on most of my life. Sometimes my mouth outstrips my brain a little bit. Is there ill intent behind it? Most times not.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
When you call somebody a dusty old cunt, is there ill intent behind that? Yes. And I will add this, having now a few weeks between that incident of calling that nearly 80 year old woman that and now Still very proud of that particular moment. A plus effort for me on that one. Hasn't always been the case. Shouldn't always be the case. But in that instance, fuck yeah, I'd do it again.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
I realize that everybody's human. So just because most people on earth might recognize their face, the sound of their voice, them on a screen of some size, whether it's iPhone to iMacs, I try to treat them exactly the same. I'm not a starstruck type person. I've never been starstruck by anybody that I've met.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
I'm not saying that that couldn't be the case because when I meet somebody, I shake their hand, I look them in the eye, and I remind myself, you know what? Maybe they're having a bad day too. Maybe they're having a good day. Maybe they're in between an up day and a down day maybe because that's where I am on that day as well, and I leave it at that.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
I can respect whatever it is that they're famous for. I can have appreciation for that, for their success. It doesn't change at the end of the day that they are a baseline person. Somehow I got off of this at the coffee shop, right? So again, I am a completely and utterly normal person. Please stop me and say hello.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And a lot of people have hit my wife up saying that they would like to go if she gets the opportunity to go again. So if she does, I'll let people know. I think there was 20 people at the camp. Could probably go a little bit bigger. I don't know if you would want to. That was a really cool vibe. Everybody there was really legit. Super friendly. The Mac culture was great.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
If I have time to spend with you, I'll spend as much time as I can chatting with you about whatever you want. I'll show you around the store, talk with you about why we designed it the way that we did, whatever it is. I saw somebody in the airport today and I was with my kids. They got an absolute kick out of it, specifically my daughter. Dad, that's so, what was the term she used?
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Oh, I'll tell you exactly what she said. Dad, that's so gay. That's what she said. To which I said, what is gay about that? A guy was walking by. He said, holy shit, it's Andy Stumpf. And I stuck out my hand and I said, very nice to meet you. And he said, nice to meet you too. I'm a fan of the podcast. And we went on our day. I think my daughter just likes to make fun of me.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
That's what it comes down to. Both of my sons, completely oblivious to what was going on around them, were like, huh? What just happened? And we continued on and went to our flight. So pros and cons, though. Another part of the question. I am careful. The way I protect the potential negative aspect of crazy people wanting to interact with you, which has happened to me a few times.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
That's a subject for another podcast. Because there are crazy people out there, and crazy people do crazy things, which you should expect them to do. So how do you protect yourself from that? Be careful about what information you present. Example, I just got back from Costa Rica. I made one post from there of a sunset the day before we left and didn't exactly label where we were, very nondescript.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
So I'm very broad. I oftentimes will post about things after I have already left the location that I'm at. I'm very careful with privacy. I will talk about my children to a degree, but I leave out the vast majority of any identifying details. Same thing with my personal life. I mean, obviously people know that Leah and myself are married.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
I don't talk about where I live, the living condition that we have. You know, the internet is a real thing. People have tried to sleuth and figure stuff out and they forget that a lot of information on the internet is historic. So good luck with that. I do a good job trying to protect my internet footprint as well. when it comes to identifiable information.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
But more than anything, I just am cautious about oversharing personal details of my life. Now, sometimes I'll talk about places that I'm going to be because either a brand, an individual, or an organization will ask me to do so. I have no problem doing that. But other than that, I keep it pretty casual, as my daughter would say. Casual. I try not to get too specific.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Protect the details that helps protect my family. Because at the end of the day, I care about them more than anything else. And it's not that hard to do. I think a lot of people... overshare on social media. And I don't think that they're doing it maliciously. I think it's just an attempt at volume.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And they're probably not thinking about the negative consequences or potential negative consequences of getting on the radar for people who are crazy because they are out there and they will do crazy shit. And all I'll say about that is for the crazy people out there, pick your target wisely. If I land on your radar and you want to play the fuck around and find out game,
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
An overall just awesome trip. And I got to take the whole family, so it was great. What else is new? Before we get into this. Oh, yeah. Check this out. For those of you who are visual, visual, visual, visual. I finally got another distribution of cleared hot coffee from Black Rifle. I don't know how much of this I'm going to get. I know I have some right now.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
I will leave that one up to you. I treat threats as exactly that, threats, and I act accordingly. So other than that, nothing but net positive from any level of notoriety. I try to do nothing with it other than be the best version of myself on whatever size platform that I have access to. I think that's the best that I can do.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
And a lot of that comes with just being able to be honest about the variety of mistakes that I have made in my life and will continue to make. I do not think I am capable of stopping. Try not to repeat mistakes, but yeah, yeah, they're coming for sure. Most likely in business because I'm not real good at it, but I'm doing my best. So hopefully that answered your question. Question number two.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
I've talked about this before. I try to batch questions thematically. This is one that has shown up for about the past 10 days. Versions of this question. I am between the ages of 15 to 18. That is the sweet spot of the emails I've received. I, more than anything in my life, want to go down the path, and there's a couple versions, being in the military special operations.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Police, fire, or an obscure occupation. Everybody around me in my life tells me that I'm crazy. My parents are telling me that I should take a more traditional path Go to college first. Get a stable job first. What should I do? Versions of that question. I'm young.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
I have an idea of something that is lighting a fire underneath me, but I am being told I'm not being smart, that I'm being unreasonable, I'm being irrational, I'm being unwise, and I need to take the traditional or conventional path. What should I do? Here is the simplest answer that I can give you to that question. If you want to have a conventional life, stay on a conventional path.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
If you want to have an ordinary life, stay on an ordinary path. If you want to have things in your life that are extraordinary, if you want to become extraordinary, extraordinary, if you will, you're going to have to get to a place at some point in time in your life, multiple point in time in your life, where you slide all your chips in and you say to yourself, let's fucking go.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 5/23/2025
Now, risk tolerance... seems to change for most people as they get older, and this makes sense. When you're young, your concept of basic time and how long a day, a week, a month, a year is, is really different than when you're in your late 40s and it's like, how in the hell is the calendar whipping by as if there is a tornado force winds just flipping through the pages?
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
We are back. Friday programming. Last Friday was Negligent Discharge Friday with Young Michael. I think I'm going to stick with that name. I tell you what, these Friday episodes, even though it's a little bit weird, you're sitting here staring into a camera, you know, like a dead fish eye of a lens. I really enjoy the questions because it forces me to question my own beliefs.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
Because as long as it's entertaining for you and as long as you're getting meaningful, useful rest, you might as well take advantage of that time. I wish I could direct my dreams in that way because I can't. I go to sleep and I dream about whatever I dream about. What you're talking about could sound pretty awesome. So as long as it's being positive for you, I'd say enjoy it.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
If it's not positive for you though, maybe go talk about somebody who understands dreams. And yeah, that's really all I have. Hopefully that answers your question. Dreamt about it a lot before, not really at all after, but for you, get in there. That's what I think you should do. This episode is brought to you by Stopbox. Let's talk about self-defense with a firearm here for a second.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
There seems to be A very binary thought process. You have your weapon on you and you're ready for defense, or it is secured maybe in a wall safe. And the middle ground in between the two is where it can be challenging.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
You obviously don't want to leave a firearm unsecured, but you also don't want to have it in a storage location that is difficult to access, especially in moments where you need it quickly. Stopbox USA recognized this problem. and designed a groundbreaking solution. It is called the Stopbox Pro, and I have one here right in front of me. I'm going to demonstrate how this works.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
There's nothing in this right now, but you can get an idea of size. It's probably as big as an 8.5 by 11 notepad. It's a little bit thicker. For those of you watching, you can see that. And it has the factory code in it right now, but I'm using three fingers to push down, a little bit of downward pressure. and the thing opens up.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
Obviously big enough to carry a full-size firearm in here if you wanted to, a light, a knife, sensitive items, whatever it may be. You can close that thing back up, and it is secured. You don't need keys or batteries. It's 100% mechanical, so it's going to work every time, no power required of any type. With the Stopbox Pro, you can handle security and readiness all in one.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
In one easy serving size, you put it in the refrigerator. I like it better with cold water than with warm. Taste is very variable. People ask me if it tastes good. I think it tastes great, but I also don't like the taste of tomatoes. So maybe somebody who doesn't like tomatoes, you see where I'm going with this? Nobody really knows. It's very subjective, but it's super easy.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
All Stopbox products are made proudly in the USA in their own facility. Not only does this ensure the highest quality craftsmanship on every product sent out, it creates meaningful jobs and opportunities for American workers. For those of you who travel, You can rejoice. The Stopbox Pro is TSA compliant.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
Now, obviously, you can't have a loaded firearm in this, but you can have your firearm and travel with it. You can sort your ammunition issues to whenever you get where you're going, and you can travel with ammunition. Just make sure you understand the restrictions and regulations associated with that. Checked luggage, obviously. You're not going to carry this on an aircraft.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
stopbox also offers a range of other innovative products including their vehicle safe chamber lock and other essential gear designed to keep you prepared and protect you wherever you are this sounds interesting for a limited time only listeners are going to get a crazy deal not only do you get 10 off your entire order when you use the code cleared hot which is all one word at stopboxusa.com but they're also going to give you a bogo or buy one get one free for their stopbox pro which is the same item that i just held up that's
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
10% off and a free stop box pro when you use the code cleared hot at stopboxusa.com. Discover a better way to balance security and readiness with stop box. Let's get back to the show. All right, second question, drastically changing gears from dreaming about war in the trenches. I need some guidance. If I'm 100% honest, I am really embarrassed that I'm faced with this problem.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I'm reaching out because at the age of 42, I find myself in a very lonely state, and I'm not sure where to go from here. To be clear, I have an awesome wife and a wonderful family, but even though I have that... I am struggling in the department of friends, especially on how to find and make new ones. My current friend group and I just aren't on the same page anymore.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
A lot of them are still stuck in an immature place in their lives and haven't changed much since their college years. Most are just couch potatoes or have their life still revolving around getting drunk at the bar on the weekend. And at worst, they have simply become unreliable friends, failing to be there for me in times of need. That sucks.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
That sucks when it happens to you, and it sucks when you fall short of what other people need as well. So I can understand, and I'm not trying to answer these as they come up. Recognize how much that sucks for you and use that as motivation not to be that person for somebody else.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
As somebody who has fallen short of the friend that they want to be at times in their life and then having had people fall short for me, I know how much it hurts. And I take that hurt and I kind of just try to throw that on the pile of motivation to not repeat that. So just make sure and remember that there's two sides to that coin.
Cleared Hot
Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
There's people being friends to you and you being friends to people as well. It doesn't help that all of my friends don't have kids and most are lifelong bachelors. While I respect that life choice, it makes it hard to relate to them. Overall, it feels like we're at different points in life. That is because you are at very different points in life. And anybody who has
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
gone from not having kids to having kids will tell you that there is a shift for most people in just their view of life, in their priorities, on the things that they value.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
One of the things that is key in my health goals is water intake, hydration. I had a surgery in late 2023 and I realized how dehydrated I was walking around. First thing I do in the morning is is I make one of these bad boys and I slam the entire thing. So it's allowing me to attack multiple things at once.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
They might even be able to redefine differently what love means to them, looking down at something, a creation between them and another person that you have so much love for that you can't even describe with your limited vocabulary. Priorities shift when you have kids.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
When you don't have kids, and even if you're single or the lifelong bachelor, I mean, you can sit there and be as selfish as you want to be. Hopefully it's not selfish to the detriment of other people, but you get to choose to live your life how you want to because at the end of the day, the number of people you're responsible to is one. As that number grows, priorities shift.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
If you took a trajectory in your life where you have kids and you have a wife and you have a family, Yeah, it might be difficult to connect with, at the same level, your friends who have chosen to remain bachelors, who want to go get drunk at the bar on the weekend, which, you know, everybody has their own desires. relationship with alcohol.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
What I can tell you as you get older and you have kids, it hurts a lot more when you wake up the next day and your kids are still there and they don't actually care if you went to the bar and had a good time with your bachelor friends. They still want you to show up as dad. So you have to start making choices again, because the number of people that you are responsible for
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
And responsible two is now greater than one. It just is what it is. So I would expect a little bit of a drift in that area because if you're going to use an iceberg analogy, you might have carved off from the same one, but you're just on a different trajectory. And that is the way that it is. It's not good or bad.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
It's just different life choices that is going to lead you in different directions in your life. Well, I got rid of that question. Here we go. I do have some friends from my time in the National Guard, but we are all slowly losing touch. Our conversations always revolve around the job, and I don't feel like I'm able to connect with them on a deeper level.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
More than anything, I just want a strong core group of friends who I can trust and rely on and for them to know that they can trust and rely on me. Sounds equitable. The kind of friend you could call at 4 a.m. in the morning and you could trust that they'd turn up for you. I'm feeling guilty bitching about this as I have a great family life.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
That said, it feels like there's a hole missing in my life that should be filled with good, reliable friends. With that said, I am completely directionless on how to make friends in my 40s while working a remote IT job with no work colleagues to speak of. I'm reaching out to you because I value your perspective.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
Have you ever experienced this problem when getting out of the Navy and trying to make new friends in middle age? Excuse me, sir. I am not middle-aged. I am still young in life now.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
chipper young man middle age is 60 until I get to be 60 and then I'm going to say it's 80 any advice you can give on where I could start would be appreciated I do have some advice on this one and I'm not going to say I've ever been somebody who's had a large friend circle or social circle but I do care very deeply about the friends that are in my life and okay let me think here for a second
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I geographically moved from where I served in the military. So I understand what you're saying. It's not like I have a remote IT job with no work colleagues, so to speak of, but where I moved to, there are no people that I used to work with. So that was accurate. And I'm trying to think of the people who are in my life now, my social circle now.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I maintain contact remotely with some people that I did work with. Not probably as many as people listening to this or watching may think. And that's not a bad thing. I just, I'm not Hugely socially driven. But for everybody else in my life, the relationships are a product of where I live now. So how did I do that?
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I did not carry a sign down the street saying I was looking for friends, even though there are some crazy people where I live who do carry signs down the street. And I was just bummed to hear that one of them is probably going to be in jail for the next five years because he actually was determined to be crazy because his signs were fantastic.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
We're talking seven foot signs, three feet wide, completely full. I was interested and he would never hold it in place long enough for me to read both sides. It pissed me off because I was just trying to get an understanding of how 5G was controlling my mind and he would flip it to the other side and then the light would switch and I was let down.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
He is in crazy town now for a couple of years, but I'll miss him. He'll be remembered. My social circle now exists from people who participate in the activities that I participate in. I knew one person who was doing jujitsu, Nelson is the one person who got me into jujitsu, here in Kalispell. I met him randomly at the top of Big Mountain and we went snowboarding for a day.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
So he and I actually met each other and connected over snowboarding. He introduced me to jujitsu and through jujitsu, that is where the vast majority of my local social community and contacts comes from. Now, not everybody's interested in jujitsu and I totally get that. The cool thing about jujitsu is there's a pretty high level of trust.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
You are training in a compromising environment where you can get hurt. You have to be a good training partner and you have to be cognizant of other people because you can hurt them if you go too hard and they can hurt you if you go too hard or are unwilling to tap or submit. So there's a level of trust inside of that. And through that, I met a bunch of members of the law enforcement community.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I met my wife, Leah. I've been able to travel internationally now at this point doing jiu-jitsu related activities. I've been continuing to meet other people. Not all of them are incredibly tight in my social circle. But for most of the people that are close to me in my life now, thinking about it, the pin in the ground that connects a lot of us is actually jiu-jitsu.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
And we'll spend an hour or two a day when we're together doing that. And then we're off doing other stuff, whether it's in Costa Rica, hanging out, talking about life, talking about business, talking about every aspect of humanity, traveling the world, doing again an hour or two or jujitsu day, and then going out and seeing the rest of the world. My biggest suggestion for you
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
is instead of lamenting about the place that your relationship is at with your old social circle or the people that you were growing in life with and then have had this difference in trajectory, I would say go find physical activities. It's going to be helpful for you at the age of 42 anyway, mentally and physiologically. It doesn't have to be jujitsu.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
If you want to go do that, cool, but hey, or do judo or do Muay Thai or go do boxing, whatever. Go do whatever you want to do. Climbing. Go find an indoor climbing gym. I guarantee you're going to meet some people there that will have overlay outside of that. Find a sport that potentially that you would want to play. Be careful at the age of 42.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
You're a little bit more brittle in the glass man than you used to be. Maybe it's golf. Maybe it's pick a ball. I don't know. And I don't have to know. But my advice is seek physical outlets that will be rewarding to you regardless of whether or not you develop a social circle. And just keep looking around for things that you're interested in.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
And I'm telling you right now, what will happen is you're going to meet cool people that share an interest in that one thing. which will probably lead to conversations about other things in their life where you might find shared interest and connection, and you will be able to rebuild your social circle. I wouldn't base it off of numbers.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
At this point in my life, I don't care how many friends I have. I care how high quality my friendships are. I'm not looking to push people away from me, but I pay a lot of attention to how people act, how people speak, how people treat me, And I hope that they are doing the same to me as well. Anything that I just said, I put myself into that same level of scrutiny.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I would hope that other people are viewing me in that manner. And if I'm not the right fit for them, I would hope that they distance themselves from me. You don't have to be an asshole about it. You can just choose how you spend your time and who you spend your time with. So this one I think will be simple but not easy because I don't know how extroverted you are.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
But that's where I would start, physical activities. Join a gym. I mean, you can even go as simple as that. The gym that I work out here locally, I mean, I don't think I've ever been in there where there's not a hundred people. There's always somebody in there doing relatively the same thing that I am doing, or maybe you need a piece of equipment or you're sharing space, whatever it may be.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
There's always opportunity to strike up a conversation, especially if you're doing something cool together. Because if I look back at some of my closest friends, I mean, what is jujitsu? It's an activity. Most of my closest friends come from that world now.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
If I didn't have that, I don't know what I would be doing, but I know that my social circle would be comprised of the people that I share those activities with. Simple, not easy, but it may enrich you. more than you think it could potentially do because you are at a different phase in your life and that's okay.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
You'll probably find people who are doing the exact same thing as you are about your age, about your same life situation. Maybe they're out looking for an outlet for themselves as well, but also a different social circle. Let me tell you right now, that's going to snap together like two Lego pieces. So there you go. Last question for today, slightly darker topic. Here we go.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
It all started about five or six years ago when I was on top of the world. I was about four years old or four years old. I was about four years out of the Marine Corps and I was killing it at work. In a matter of a couple of years, I was getting promoted to areas that were filled by people twice my age. That's awesome. I had a good marriage, a family that I loved.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I was stable financially and woke up every day trying to make the most of my life. I was working the, I'm going to leave that part out, shift, which sucks big ones. And I was working a lot. It really messed up my immune system and I started getting really bad staph infections.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
Over the course of two years, I probably got 100 different infections and I was basically on antibiotics for about a year and a half straight, which for people who don't know, that is gnarly. That kills the good stuff. That kills the bad stuff. That might mess up your biome for the rest of your life. That is a gnarly sentence right there. I'm not sure of exactly what happened, but this ruined me.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
West of the smoke. West of the smoke. Okay, copy. West of the smoke. I'm looking at danger close now. Come on, win it, baby. Give it to me. I need it. You're cleared hot. Copy. Cleared hot. All right. Three questions for today. Very different. This first one, I don't know if I've ever been asked a question about this topic, which is why it stuck out to me. Long story short, it's about dreams.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I turned into a zombie of a human being and couldn't handle anything in my life. My marriage started falling apart and I became very absent in my duties as a father and husband. I felt like I was running on empty and just shut down into emergency life support mode.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I basically resigned my responsibilities and demoted myself a few rungs down the ladder and have been trying to get back on my feet ever since." I would say that I am in a good place in my career again, but as a human, I am still a zombie. I have absolutely zero zest or joy for life. Everything is just going through the motions like I'm a machine.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
It's led to some success, but it's getting to the point where I just don't know what a life without emotions looks like for much longer. I'm not talking about doing anything stupid. Thankfully, I'm glad to hear that. But I generally don't know what else to do and how to get my soul back. Excuse me.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I feel like in a way I kind of just went through too much too fast and just shut down emotionally because I found out that emotions just made things harder to deal with. But I don't know how to turn that back on. I've tried everything I can think of and I'm still just a meat suit. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Holy shit. Okay.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
One thing stuck out to me here, a couple did, but this small sentence, I have absolutely zero zest or joy for life. That's how I feel sometimes too. And I feel like that's probably how most people feel at times in their life. So you're not alone feeling that way. And you've identified that you're not going to do anything stupid, right?
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
Because if you had ideations of suicidal tendencies or taking your life, then this would probably be a little bit of a different conversation. I think it's normal for most people to not wake up every day filled with this feeling. zest for life. Life is hard, right? It's full of challenges. I struggle with more things in my life than I find things in my life to be easy.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
And people may not believe that because they don't get to see it. I am aware that I put content out on the internet, but I choose when I hit record, I choose what I'm going to say. And I choose to let people in on the hardships of my life and other ones that I would rather work through privately.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
It is not regardless of the person that you see or maybe measuring your life against a fair and equitable value scale because you don't actually know what is going on in that person's life. Regardless of how happy they may present themselves to be, we're all going through shit at any given time in our life. I think most people –
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
would be lucky to 50% of the time be able to hop out of bed and be full of just like passion and zest for life. If you're at a higher percentage than that, that is awesome. Do you. If you're at a lower percentage than that, it's okay. Life is about challenge and struggle.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I think it might be more painful than it is pleasurable, but I think it's that painfulness that allows you to take that pleasure and have it be so impactful. When I say the term pleasure, take from that whatever you want to. I know there's some people out there who are high and right and off into left field, whatever. That's not what I'm talking about.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
The dreams that I had, the dreams this person has had. And what do they mean? And I tell you off the top of my head, I don't know shit about dreams. I am not an expert on what goes on between people's ears. But this is fascinating. So here's the question. Mr. Stumpf. I've never been much of a dreamer. I always had a difficult time managing my sleep schedule.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
So the other thing that stuck out here, which I mentioned before, the amount of time that you are on antibiotics, that can change. And I'm not a doctor, by the way. I got my MD by watching House years ago. But that level of antibiotic exposure can 100% change the makeup of your body, your gut biome.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
And if you do start doing some research into this, which I have been doing because I'm trying to dial in my own gut biome and have a better understanding of, again, input versus output, the foods that I eat, how it's responding to my body, anti-inflammatory, all of this stuff. It's an interesting journey into how much your gut biome actually can regulate almost everything else.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
Your health, the meat suit that you mentioned, I would, if I were you, dive in very deeply with an MD or a nutritionist or the combination of the two and figure out where you're at from a gut biome perspective right now, from a general health perspective.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
Because if you are suffering and you put yourself into the basement because of that exposure to antibiotics, which it sounds like you had almost no choice in doing, you're going to have to solve that issue before the mentality aspect of this is going to improve as well.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
If your body is in survival mode, it would make absolute sense to me that you're not going to wake up with a zest for life because you just are drained. You're fighting to survive. And long before people are able to thrive, they have to be able to survive first. That might be where your body is stuck. So I would absolutely go headfirst into that from a medical perspective. What else would I do?
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I'm going to be a broken record again. You need to find somebody who is A professional at understanding counseling and or therapy, whatever term that you would want to use, somebody that you can talk to about your feeling of lack of emotionality, your feeling of being a meat suit, your feeling of not being able to derive any pleasure from things in life. I don't know.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I mean, I think if you're a sociopath or a psychopath, you probably can turn off your emotions or maybe you're just wired to not have them to begin with. Somebody choosing to turn off their emotions because they're going through a really difficult time, I think you could choose to turn them back on.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
Now, you might have the ability to turn them off by yourself, but maybe we don't have the internal wiring or understanding to be able to turn them back on without help. And that's where this person can come in. There are people out there who have dedicated their life to working with and improving the situation of people like yourself, both on the medical side and the psychological side.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
Why do I believe what I believe? What do I actually think? How many mistakes have I made in my life that I can hopefully try to round the edges on other people's experiences? The answer to that is numerous and far too many. But I enjoy it. I get asked all the time, how do you submit a question? The easiest way to do it is to shoot me an email. It's my name, andystumpf212 at gmail.com.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
find them. And you might say, well, that might take a lot of time. That might cost a lot of money. Okay. How much is the zest for life worth for you? How much is the relationship with your wife, with your family worth to you? I hope your answer to that would be everything.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
And if that's the case, it's going to be a matter of you putting in work in moments where you feel like you don't want to at times where you feel like it's not making a difference. And you're going to need to take a really low trajectory towards a distant horizon and set a timeline for this that might seem unacceptable at this point in time in your life. It's not going to be overnight.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
It's not going to be instantaneous, but I guarantee you can do it. And at the end of that, you might actually find from time to time some zest in your life. I think right now, I bet you if you could wake up for a day and find it, it would have a huge impact. And at least you would know it's possible. There's people out there that can help you do that.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I worked second shift for three years, and through that time, I don't remember having a single dream. A little context, I'm a 24-year-old father of three. Goddamn, man, really getting after it, okay? I tell you what's going to be awesome for you, though, is that by the time you're 48, double your age right now,
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I wish I could be one of those people for you, but I'm not an expert in any of those things. You went through a fucked course of antibiotics for two years. That has impact psychologically and physiologically. Go attack both of those. And I think your life will be better for it. That's the advice I have. See everybody on Monday. Have a good weekend.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
Your kids are going to be at a totally different phase of their life and you're going to be able to do awesome, active, amazing things with them throughout that time period. I mean, it's pretty cool to have a 21, I'm talking about myself here, to have a 21 year old son now who's getting into jujitsu, who likes doing stuff outside that you can be super active with and travel and share experiences.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
It's awesome. I'm glad that I had children when I was younger or that I didn't have any children. That my ex-wife and I had children when we were younger. I really do think there's something to be said about being physically active with them as they grow. Having said that, nothing wrong with having children when you're later in life.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I know some friends who had children in their late 40s and I think early 50s. 50s as far as people that I know. I know Al Pacino just had a girl, a kid with his girlfriend. Al Pacino, I believe is 174 years old. I don't know how old his girlfriend was. I'm not so sure he's going to be around for high school graduation. Maybe not here nor there.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
The older people I know who have had children later in life, they were in such a different phase in their life, had such a concrete idea of who they were and just an amazing amount of experience, context, Patience. So different. I have heard most of them express, though, concerns about as they age and their children are getting older. So I don't know if one's either right or wrong.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
Three kids at 24. All right. That's a lot. Strap in, man. I'm happy for you, though. I have an amazing wife, and we are learning and making a priority of growing together and spending quality time. I work 50 hours a week in a welding facility, and I make it home to my bed every night. What guy wouldn't dream of the life I have? Here's my question. Yeah.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I don't have many dreams, but when I do, holy shit fuck bleep. His words, not mine. Choose your expletive. I have reoccurring dreams of vivid, vivid CQB, which would stand for close quarters battle, in some country with brick buildings, checking angles, getting hit with mortar rounds, grenades, hand-to-hand combat. It sounds scary, but I have never seen anything like that.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
How is it so thrilling waking up soaked in sweat wondering why? Just why am I having... vivid, wild dreams of war. Obviously, I've never been to war, and I can't say the dreams are even realistic. It's based on the things I see in our culture, but damn it, it feels real. Thank you again if you choose to read this. So I'll get to his description of it.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
Prior to joining the military, did I ever have dreams of war? One of the most common questions I will get is, how did you know what you wanted to do since you were a young man? And for those of you who are unfamiliar, I guess, with my origin story, I knew what I wanted to do since I was 11, which is not normal to hear an 11-year-old say. And I don't mean I knew broadly what I wanted to do.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
That's the easiest way. Now, before we get into today's Friday Q&A, hold on. Man, a little tickle in the back of the throat. Allow me about a minute. Let me pay the bills. That's how this works. I love bringing this to you for free, but I also have bills as well. So help me pay them so I can hopefully continue to help others and keep spreading the word. Today's episode is brought to you by AG1.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I didn't say, hey, I want to join the military and I'll figure it out from there. I knew exactly the job inside of the military that I wanted to do. It was at least atypical with my peer group. And I have another data collection point of my own three children's and asking children's. God, the words today. You know what I mean? Sometimes you struggle. The data point of my own three children.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
you ask each of them, what do you want to do? And they can give you a broad brush stroke, which I completely and utterly support. I actually think it's totally fine for people to figure out what they want to do as they age through life. And it's okay if it changes. None of my kids, and I've asked, I would say a good amount of their social circle, the same type of question. So I have anecdotal
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I don't even want to say evidence, but anecdotal data points of this, not a single one has been able to say, this is what I want to do. And this is the path that I want to take to get there. I knew what I wanted to do. Not broadly, but precisely. I knew I wanted to join the Navy. I knew I wanted to follow the SEAL pipeline. But I didn't have any idea of what I actually thought it was going to be.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
It consumed my thoughts from the age of 11 on. Not in a negative way, but it was always in the back of my mind. I, you know, in high school would junior lifeguards. Actually, did I even do junior lifeguards in high school? I think that was before high school. It was more sports in high school. But still always in the back of my mind, I know this is what I want to do. So I'm going to go work out.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I'm going to go to the – it was literally a 24-hour fitness that I don't think was open 24 hours a day. It's bullshit marketing. But again, this was the 90s. So who knows? Maybe it was open 24 hours a day. I wasn't going at 2 o'clock in the morning. I had not adopted the Jocko philosophy of getting up at 4 o'clock either. So who knows? Maybe they were open. Maybe I was sleeping. I digress.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I always had that in the back of my mind. My dad bought me a weight set in the garage and we would actually go work out together. And my cousin would come and my uncle would come as well from time to time. And I would train in the off season. And even when I was playing sports, I had it in the back of my mind.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
When I played water polo in high school for four years, I would think about as I was swimming, especially when you're doing swimming conditioning. For those of you who have never done swimming conditioning or have ever done laps in a pool, there's usually a black line at the bottom. And you watch it and you watch it. And you watch it. And sometimes you watch it going a different direction.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
And then you hit the wall and you go back and forth. And I would think about, is this getting me ready for what I want to do? I know there's going to be water evolutions. I need to be as good in the water as possible. So this was 40 years before I even went into the military. But four years after I had decided this is what I wanted to do. It was all consuming.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I think I did dream of what I thought the occupation was going to be. I thought the occupation was going to be something very similar to a Charlie Sheen, Michael Bane movie that I saw that involved people jumping off of the back of Jeeps into the river and locking out of submarines and haloing out of C-130s and wearing telemarketer headsets with your AK-47, no earpro whatsoever.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
You know, switching from starlight to thermal, getting everything but the onions, falling in through skylights and just wearing Nomex flight suits, shooting MP5s with handlebar mustaches. Not that I can grow a handlebar mustache. That's what I thought it was going to be. And I would daydream about that stuff. And I definitely had dreams about that.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
But this goes to exactly why I think you're having the dreams that you're having. That was the only optic I had because that was the only movie that was titled Navy Seals. And I guess you could look at Rambo stuff, you know, where they're shooting, you know, Rambo's pulling back and shooting these explosive tipped arrows that are bringing down helicopters. It was all over the top, overly dramatic.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
A grenade is thrown in a 55 gallon drum somewhere in a Hollywood set full of gasoline is ignited. And you think that's what it is. Yes, I absolutely agree. had dreams of that. And I could not have been more wrong about what the reality of it was. Grenades don't go off and create a fireball. They go pop. I didn't get to go through any skylights.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
A lot of people make fitness-related goals around the tail end of the year or the first of every year, and I think the math shows that most people have given up on them by about the last day in January. If not, where we're at right now, which is mid-February. I have fallen victim to that myself. As I get older, it is one thing that I am not willing to budge on.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I did get to wear a Nomex flight suit with an MP5 though, doing room clearing. And it was in the summer and it was so ungodly hot that I never wanted to wear one again. I believe Nomex is slightly fire retardant, which is why they allow air crew to wear them or actually probably mandate that air crew wears them.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
And let me just tell you, in the summer with a bunch of gear strapped on you and a black helmet that is basically like a pot, a cooking pot on your head. It's the worst. What else did I not? I never got to Halo wearing a dragger. I did get to do some sub lock in lock out stuff. I never wore a telemarketer headset. Man, I wish I never switched from starlight to thermal.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
It would have been cool if we did, though. I wish it would have been like that. It would have been cool. The SEAL community was everything I thought it was going to be and so much stuff that I didn't. So, yeah, I had some dreams, but they were wrong. Your dreams.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
You're having these dreams because this is what you're, you know, I believe at least I'm not an expert in psychology or physiology or anything for that matter. But I believe inputs inform outputs. The inputs you're getting around combat. Let me read this sentence again because it's amazing. Vivid dreams at CQB in some country with brick buildings, which is every country in the world pretty much.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
How is it so thrilling waking up soaked in sweat wondering why? Why am I having these visit dreams of war? Here's a better question. Who cares? I say this. Enjoy it. I don't know why we dream the things that we do. And I don't know if anybody else has had the experiences that I have had. Sometimes my dreams make absolutely no sense. And it is if I am watching TV.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
a fictional TV show from a third person's perspective. And sometimes I will wake up with the solution to a life problem that has either been nagging at me or that I haven't been able to figure out a solution for. And in a dream, even though it's just, you know, your brain is doing whatever your brain is doing, especially while you're in REM sleep,
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
Sometimes, not always, and not as often as I wish it would happen, I am able to unlock a different way about thinking of something. And maybe because I'm not putting a boundary on my thought process and my mind is free to drift in whatever direction it wants, it provides for me real-world solutions to, hey, this is what we're encountering in this subset of problems in business.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
So for me, I am working on everything I can to be efficient and effective with my health journey moving forward in my life. And that is exactly where AG1 fits in for me. There's nothing easier than filling up this container that comes with the AG1, shaking it up, and helping support my energy, digestive regularity, immune support, and even a healthy mood.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
And I wake up and I'll think, huh. I've never thought about it from that perspective or something in the dream. I'll play out multiple situations in a dream, not by any level of control because I gave up trying to control my dreams long ago. And one of those pathways will net a solution that I'm looking for in the real world. So I have vast experience in both. You know, what's interesting.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
I very rarely, if ever dream about anything that I used to do in the military anymore. So I thought about it and dreamt about it a ton before I joined. Since I've been out, I think about it and dream about it almost never. And I don't know why that is. Maybe I satisfied that level of my curiosity. Maybe that's the way that the brain works.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
Maybe your brain chooses to access certain things and avoid others while you're sleeping. But even, yeah, just talking out loud, it's interesting that, you know, before and after are starkly, starkly different. But for you, as long as it's not giving you like night terrors, and as long as you're enjoying the ride, I'd say treat it like a TV show, man.
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Full Auto Friday - 21 Feb 2025
And in the TV show, it sounds like you're getting to participate. So I say go wild. Go to town. Throw a bandana on. Throw a little schmog around your neck. Get a teleprompter headset. Strap an RPG to your back. Get an M60 with about 500 round of linked ammo. Put it crisscross on your chest like Rambo. Start shooting arrows at people. Start hucking grenades. Go to town.
Cleared Hot
Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
Not really, but I'm also, I don't think, the right person to ask because I'm not, I'm just not a huge drinker. Yeah, you're more likely to be found playing.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
Yeah, I mean, I've, yeah, I've... especially like I've gone to a Bozeman with a couple of buddies before. I know I bought you a bottle of Rose there. Oh yeah. I forgot about that. Yeah.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
Uh, I mean I have, but not like, I mean, let's set a date then. Not crazy. Yeah. We can go out Vaughn.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
Leave the rest of that story. No, I mean, I would say it's probably pretty much the same as every other generation. It's like, well, we're going to start probably in like sophomore, junior year of high school and go hard until out of college. And some people stay going hard. Well, I think it's because it's new too.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
Do you drink Cognac, Michael? It's really good.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
I got a free one at a bar because my buddy was the bartender.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
I know people who are flat earthers, but I would not call them friends. Okay. Yeah. So they exist in your generation too? Former co-workers, yeah.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
I mean, I have, especially at the federal level, pretty much zero faith in the government.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
you have to somehow show that the government is actually working for the interests of us.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
A detailed breakdown of where my tax dollars are going would be great because as of right now, Um, I don't feel that, especially at the federal level, it's being used efficiently at all. Um, unfortunately I think it's being sent off to other countries indiscriminately and it's like, Hey, we have problems here. Um,
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
So I think a focus inward, at least for a couple of terms, needs to happen because we're building on such a shoddy foundation. Like we're so top heavy. It just doesn't seem like it's sustainable at this point.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
I mean, I again, I think Tulsi probably comes the closest just with her being more open to transparency and also caring about like the common person, because it seems like a lot of Congress and just the government in general. Doesn't really care. They just care about getting their next paycheck.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
Yeah. Well, and it's like, this is kind of a tangent, but I'm on the APAC website right now. And what do you see? I see that almost every member of Congress in the house is backed by APAC, a foreign government organization. From a donation perspective, you mean? Yeah, from a donation and like endorsed by AIPAC.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
And it's like, I mean, I'm not, I don't hate Israel or anything, but to me, when I see that all of the members of Congress are involved with an organization from outside of the country, that seems like a huge conflict of interest to me. That's a good point. And other facts like that, like, for example, the lobbying.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
I don't understand how you can have the best interests of Americans and the people who voted you in at mind while at the same time turning the other face and taking a multimillion dollar check from a lobbyist. Yeah, I don't think you can.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
What do you use it for? Does it look like this?
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
Well, no, but if I had to register, I would register for the Republican party. Okay.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
What's that? Why? Um, the values I align with slightly more, but I'll be completely honest. I, I'm not really political anyways. You strike me as more of a libertarian anyway. Yeah, I'm very libertarian.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
What do you guys chat about? I actually, this is interesting. So I have a really, really good friend. He lives in New York. And we've actually been chatting back and forth just kind of about current events. He's pretty, I would say pretty liberal. Like I said, I'm just pretty middle of the road. I try to take every issue as it comes. You just want to play chess and be left alone.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
Yeah. No, but we actually have really good conversation because we're both very capable of entertaining an idea without accepting it.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
Yeah. And so that's why I like talking to this friend is because we're both able to say, hey, this is what I think of this and not get mad at each other for having a difference of opinion.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
You know? Well, and that's the thing is like. Aside from some political beliefs, everything else we have is in common. But it's just the political beliefs that set us apart in some ways. But it's really not that big of a deal.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
Yeah, the fact that that's even a possibility in the first place is wild.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
Well, yeah, I mean, it's kind of a privilege.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
Well, maybe, maybe. We're going to look at numbers tomorrow.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
I will never not buy a Toyota, probably. Way to support the American economy, you piece of shit. Well, if American companies made their trucks better, then I would consider buying an American truck.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
The difference is I actually, I don't need this car, but soon I will need a new vehicle.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
I think it was like $30,000 and then depending on what my... I bought my first house for $30,000. That's insane. That's insane. Wish I could buy a house for $30,000.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
$30,000 for a house. Yeah, that sounds really nice right about now.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
So say no. Basically anything besides your phone and cellular for your phone, just say no.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
For my life, that's a long time ago. That's true. It's the fifth of your life. Yeah.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
No, I'm just going to... What's your plan? Hermit? Honestly, I don't really know. I'm kind of just seeing what happens.
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
Yeah, well, trying hasn't worked out, so... Because you'll get up in five years. Have you tried trying harder?
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Flintlock Friday - With Vaughn Stumpf and Micheal Shelton
You're still along for the ride. Yeah.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
Yeah, there's a difference between post-traumatic stress and post-traumatic growth. And sometimes it breaks people, and sometimes it unlocks a level that I, again, believe that allows you to become a better version of yourself. That takes time, though, and it takes a willingness to reach out for help when you need it.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
But I can tell you right now, from what I've heard, again, to tie it back into DEI or the wokeness ideology, not a single portion of that is going to help the warfighter at that level that is being asked to make those decisions. That stuff, it's not helping them be a soldier. It's not helping them be more lethal.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
And it's certainly not helping them deal with any of the long-term consequences that can come from the occupation.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
Yeah, I mean, I think one of the benefits that especially the soft community, and then it can get even more refined as you dive in and you screen for the JSOC commands. The soft community, regardless of the military branch, is so much smaller than the greater military branch. So in the Army, let's say it was Rangers or Green Berets.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
You have per person in those units, so much more money to train and they focus on hyper realistic training. I mean, it's so much more than going to range and shooting an E type silhouette with no reaction whatsoever. I mean, you can elevate it to force on force training. And we used to do this in a desert environment. And it was essentially high speed laser tag that
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
would shut down your weapon's ability to shoot a laser out if you were contacted and people could coordinate in real time and put people down for down man drills or introduce medical situations. And then in an urban or internal environment, we're shooting at each other with wax bullets that hurt and elicit a normal pain response.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
And inside of that, we're using role players and simulated explosions
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
and daytime and nighttime and assets and what you're trying to do because it's a smaller unit and our budget writ large is so much larger than say what an aircraft carrier can do because we can get a budget probably not that big but the seal community could probably get an aircraft carrier's budget but we're only talking about 2 000 people versus a massive infrastructure with 5 000 people and all the things associated with that so it becomes this hyper realistic training
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
that i believe it does a very good job of preparing you to get overseas but at the back of your mind you always know that in a training environment yes of course there's a risk to life because you could fall out of a helicopter a helicopter could crash there could be an accident but you can't really replicate
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
the real two-way range where somebody is shooting lead or rockets back at you or a real IED that you might step on. And again, I can only speak for myself. The first time I was ever shot at for real, I didn't even realize it because we were sitting in a helicopter and I was covered in chem bio gear. We were hitting the number one target, chem bio target in Iraq at the kickoff.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
The first objective, we flew like four hours in to hit what ended up becoming an agricultural school, dressed up as if we were gonna go into sarin gas. And we were getting shot at a minute before we landed, and I couldn't see a goddamn thing. I didn't even know about it until after we got back and we looked at the helicopter. There's like 28 holes in this thing. So it progressed beyond that.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
I never lost that sense of fear. The fear is always there. But what helps is that hyper-realistic training. And what helps even more than that
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
is your bond with the people to your left and right you might be scared shitless but if you see somebody to your left or right that you deeply care about that you came through the same pipeline that you've worked with for years and they're doing something or they're in a vulnerable position you're going to take action to help them or to try to get them out of that vulnerable position or to support them but it's still it's an interesting mental geometry
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
You know that that thread is there and you work your way through it. But the key to that, I think for most people is that hyper, hyper realistic training. It really does help.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
It's not far off. but that shit freaking hurts you're like damn it every time how the fuck you hit my hand every single time those things suck man so i don't want to give anybody ideas but hypothetically if you were to put your sim rounds in the freezer overnight it could always be like winter right yeah the hand hurts so bad i tell you what hurts worse is the back of the calf
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
It drops people like a sniper shot to the chest.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
Yeah, and that goes back to the training. I mean, the shooting standards, even in a conventional team, I mean, there's an E-type silhouette, but then there's an A-zone inside of the E-type silhouette, which is going to be much tighter where the vitals are generally going to be.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
And up on the head, yeah, there's the space of the head that you can shoot at, but again, there's that A-zone in there as well. And, you know, as somebody who served on the Navy side of JSOC, I've heard it so many times, right, the comparison between Delta and seals. And, you know, I am not one to say anything other than I have the utmost respect for that organization.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
I actually was able to train and deploy with them one time. And I still have very close friends that were associated with that command and they're amazing. And I, and I think what would shock people is,
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
is it's not really like the movies the speed that we move on target isn't incredibly fast it's calculated it's like 3d real-time chess there's not a lot of yelling you're not i mean if i had to choose between to go to your example of a somali shooting at me if i have to have somebody shooting at me i'm going to request that they're on full auto because you're not going to hit anything your most accurate round is going to be your first one unless we're like five feet away from each other but what you'll notice is professionals i had uh you know our weapons in the military i had
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
safe, single round and fully automatic. I never once flipped it to fully automatic because I have to carry the ammunition that I'm in the field with. And I'll let somebody dump an entire mag at me and take my time and get a, you know, a stable shooting position, hopefully behind cover and take one shot because that's what a professional does. And it, it is in it.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
I wish people could see how surgical and precise it is. these tip of the spear special operations forces are. They would be so underwhelmed at the speed. They would be shocked at the lack of communication. It's almost all done off of body language because these people, all they do is practice this. They are absolute surgeons and specialists in the conduct of warfare.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
Yeah, I don't know if I can live up to that intro. I'll do my best. I aim to set the bar low and then just stumble over the top of it.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
Yeah, you know, given my military background, I was fortunate or unfortunate, depending, I guess, on how people view it, to be around amazing and explosive and powerful ordnance. But I truly think the most impactful and probably will be the best description of it. The most lethal tool that human beings actually have access to is leadership. And there's not a one size fits all model.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
Leadership is very difficult. And to go with what you were saying about when you need to be more of a supporter versus you need to be a little bit more directive, that comes from, it's a combination of IQ and EQ. And you have to, each person is different. What I will say is this, in the military, leadership is actually easier because of what we talked about
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
when we first got on this, the selection and the refinement and the training. I mean, 80% of people who attempt to become a SEAL, they don't make it. And then another 40% of those people who attempt to go to a JSOC level aren't going to make it either. So the person on the far end of that has such an amazing level of buy-in that you can lead in almost any way that you want to.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
You can be very directive. And let's also not forget they're contractually obligated to be there. So if they don't like you as a leader, they can't really go anywhere because they got to serve out their commitment. Civilian leadership is so much more difficult because people are, you know, I own a coffee shop as an example.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
The average age of the employee that we have is 17 to 19 years old and they're there for a variety of reasons and they're not going to make it a vocation and they're going to come and go. It might be seasonal or they might have a relationship. If I treat them like I did the people that I worked with in the military, I would have zero employees. So it takes more nuance. It takes more time.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
It takes more EQ to understand what motivates people and what drives people. But leadership is the most powerful tool that human beings have access to. It trumps the power of anything that I have seen overseas in some way, somehow, especially in the civilian world.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
We've lost this emphasis on being a leader and people, the mistake I think people make is when they hear, well, you know, leadership, they're looking to somebody else. Leadership is about how you view yourself. Don't look to somebody else to be your leader. I mean, fuck, look in the mirror and start leading yourself and your family at a local level.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
Every team, regardless, I mean, if you have 10 of the most highly refined selected operators, the best military operators on planet earth, there's still a bottom 10%. Right. And in that cohort, they're a turd. So the dude at the top of that is the most amazing operator ever. And they're looking down the line, like you fucking suck. Right.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
Now to everybody else, that would be the top performer in any sector everywhere. So, and I totally agree with you. Great leaders, I mean, they can enhance everybody. So you can polish the turd a little bit, but guess what? It's still a turd in the bowl at the end of the day. But you can actually, and I wish people want, equality of outcome is not something I agree with.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
Equality of opportunity, I definitely agree with. And the difference in those two things is people's ability to perform. And let's just be honest, we're not all created equal. Some people are smart and some people are idiots. And that's just the way the cookie crumbles. And nothing is going to make the idiot a smart person.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
But a great leader can take that smart person and maybe turn them into a genius or unlock for that person their genius capability. Leadership is a great tool. But as human beings, we all have glass ceilings. And when you hit that, as much as it may suck, I'm sorry, that might be your station in life.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
So to even get to BUDS on your first day, you volunteered multiple times and you've taken physical screening tests that if you pass them, you possess the physical ability to graduate. People don't quit because of the muscles above the neck. They quit because they get fatigued. Actually, I need to flip that. The muscles below the neck, right, the combat chassis, if you will,
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
It can tolerate so much, they quit because they get tired of the grind. And I describe buds as sandpaper. If I told anybody to get a piece of sandpaper and on your first day, you're gonna take it across your knuckles with a good amount of pressure. People can do that.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
And they might do it the second day and the third day, but two months in when your knuckles are red and raw and there's pus seeping out of it, And I keep telling you to take the same piece of sandpaper across your knuckles. That's where you start separating the wheat from the chaff. And it's not that your body can't physically take it. You talk yourself out of it.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
So there is a huge physical component to being at Bud's. But when I went back to an instructor there for 18 months and actually talked to the students about why they quit, Almost nobody expressed anything physical. They expressed that they got overwhelmed with the totality of their goal and how far they were from where they wanted to be to their current station in life.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
There were 120 days from graduation, 130. And they said to themselves, there's no way I can keep doing this for that long. And they quit. It was more mental than physical almost every single time.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
Yeah. There's no heater. And it's almost as if the instructors know this because we all went through training. So there is an instructor, like my main tool to get people to quit is I would sit there and I would talk to them about how long I was going to keep them in that water. How long do you think you can tolerate this? Oh, you think this is going to be 30 minutes?
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
Maybe today we're doing two hours. You don't know. And maybe hypothetically, I would set up a picnic table with steaming hot, hot chocolate on there and say, Hey, if you want to end this right now and get one of these, come on up. All you need to do is say, I quit, you know?
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
Yeah, it's, you know, I... There's pros and cons to the internet. One of the wild things is you can see things that are going on all over the world. And sometimes in my feed, these drones from Ukraine show up. And what they are doing over there and the velocity that warfare is shifting is unbelievable. I mean, they're chasing people down and exploding them into pieces with drones.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
I mean, these drone operators, I have no idea how far away they are. But that is not a threat that I had to face when I was in. And I'm really thankful that I didn't have to. So it is changing. I do believe that the U.S. military is aware of this and that they are changing as well. A lot of people are talking about what's going on in New Jersey, and let me be clear. I want it to be aliens.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
Yeah, you know, you hit on something that I don't know if maybe the listener would pick up on, and that is the cohesion. And one of the things about the military, specifically the units that I served in, even the conventional SEAL teams, you make it through BUDS, which is a six-month training pipeline. Everybody who wears a trident goes through that pipeline. It's a known origin.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
God, I think it would be awesome if we weren't alone. Like, come on down, guys. Let's have a beer. If you wanted to nuke us, you could have done it already. So I want it to be aliens. But I don't think it is. And the best example of why I don't think it is, is I can point people towards Operation Neptune Spear, which I was not involved with. But that was the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
And a lot of people made a big deal about that. But to me, from somebody who was peripherally familiar with one of the programs involved with that. And almost nobody focused on it was the actual helicopters that were used to get there. And we left one of the helicopters in the courtyard because it crash landed. The technology being used with those helicopters, I never rode on those things.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
I don't even think I actually saw them in person. But again, I was peripherally aware that that program existed. They had to create those things, test them only at nighttime. They had a reduced signature with both radar and sound. And my point in that is there are a lot of things that our government, specifically military,
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
that they are developing that they're not going to tell anybody about until they have to or until it meets the front page news criteria, which I was shocked. People can go on to Google. I'll talk about the program broadly because people can go on to Google and see pictures of that helicopter in the courtyard in Abbottabad. That, to me, was the biggest surprise that came out of that operation.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
Talking to the guys that were there that night, they're like, yeah, man, it was just another Tuesday, a totally average target. That asset sitting there that I guarantee you was exploited by foreign adversaries within 24 hours was shocking to me. So I know that those programs exist. How that ties into the drone stuff and why they're in New Jersey, I'm not so sure.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
And even though as much as I wanted to be the little green men, I'm reminded that there are areas out there in our government or in contractors working with our government where they're really pushing the front-leaning edge of what is possible. And the government's not going to tell us until either one of those things gets shot down or they're forced to.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
You get to a conventional SEAL team. You've been through multiple crucibles, selection courses. You've been tested and refined and trained, and your level of buy-in
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
You know, I did not want to go to BUDS as an instructor. I was injured on a target actually with the Delta guys. We were doing a cross-training deployment. I got injured in Iraq and the command I was at basically said, we're moving at a velocity that we don't need somebody who can't walk right now. So I got sent to BUDS and I didn't want to be there because I was loving my old job.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
And after being there for 18 months, it was the single most rewarding tour of my career because I got to make sense of the curriculum that I was put through. And you've mentioned some of the tools that I had access to as an instructor. I could water, sand, of course, in combination, obstacle course, running, physical conditioning, sleep deprivation. We couldn't really mess with their food.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
That was actually one of the things we really had no control over. We could mess with when they got it, but not how much they got. And none of those tools are even remotely comparable in their effectiveness than the human mind. When I understood and when I sat down with these students and talked with them about why they quit, and it was this resounding narrative, I became overwhelmed.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
for the overall mission and the community and the command and then you can take it to another level an additional six months of screening at a jsoc command and the cohesion is without question you definitely have people who have different levels of belief but it's all reverse engineered towards crossing the threshold of the door overseas everybody is bought in on the mission everybody is focused on their role regardless of their personal beliefs because it is a melting pot of society
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
I let my optic of time become so wide that I was only thinking big picture instead of staying in the small picture. I stopped using all of those other tools. I would let the instructors do that. And I weaponized people's mind against themselves. And all of those tools, those are all external. The most powerful one is the internal tool that you have. And you get to determine where your ceiling is.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
Yes, physically painful things hurt. But does it hurt enough that you need to quit? Nobody can answer that for you. But people limit and self-govern themselves so far before they get to the point of what they're capable of. It's a fascinating case study.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
Yeah, man. Thanks for inviting me. And you guys know how to get a hold of me. I'll join you anytime. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
And we're not this carbon copy repeat of each other. But we put all of that aside so that you can be as lethal as humanly possible. I mean, at the JSOC level, you are at the sharpest edge of the pointiest spear. And the only thing that you need to be thinking about, especially if you want to survive the sometimes and often very dangerous things that the country asks of those units,
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
is to be completely bought in on that mission. So anything subtracting from that lethality is a detriment to the people that are serving overseas, specifically in that role.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
You know, wokeness is an ideology that survives in an academic environment. In my own personal experience overseas, Combat and warfare, it doesn't care about your personal beliefs. It doesn't care about the color of your skin. It doesn't care about your gender, your age, any of those things.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
A bullet, I've never watched a bullet, not that you can really watch a bullet, but I've never seen a bullet or heard of a bullet carving around somebody because they were the DEI hire for that particular organization. It's a structure that falls apart in real life. And
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
fortunately in my experience even though i have heard in communication with people that are still in that there is this creep uh towards you could call it dei you could call it woke i would call it um and attention suck outside of lethality.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
That does exist even in a special operations world, but it's such a small community that they can do a better job of kind of pushing it away and focusing on that lethality. And it's one of the things though, that I hope will change with the oncoming administration.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
And I'm very interested to see how Pete Hegseth approaches this, because at least listening to what he has said, he wants to be rid of all of those things. And from somebody who operated in that environment, and my opinion only counts for myself, I think that's what the military needs. It's what are we required to do on the battlefield? And everything is targeted towards exactly that.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
We reverse engineer from that. And in my own personal experience, wokeness and DEI doesn't appear in that calculus.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
I mean, let's just be honest. The world was better before social media. Oh, God. You know, and stuff like... You could be yourself. I mean, we're all human beings and we all make mistakes, but now mistakes can be captured on social media and the internet lives forever. You know, the military...
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
and again i can only speak for the seal community it's heavily steeped in a drinking culture but having said that it's also steeped in the responsible use of alcohol at least from a doctrine level and actually now in the modern military one of the fastest ways you can be ejected administratively is what's called an alcohol related incident so it's an accepted portion of the culture but they expect you to be a professional both in your off time
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
and the time where you're clocked in overseas you know i don't know what it says about me um probably that i'm an but i love the fact that pete's potential nomination has people up in arms i love that the people who are like he's not a four-star general yeah that's the point
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
maybe you know maybe you don't need to be a four-star general to hold that position maybe four-star generals and admirals although there are some great ones out there maybe at that level you have become a politician inside of the military system and what we actually need is somebody who didn't get to that rarefied air and status or stratus and hasn't you know who can come in and give it a fresh look i mean if an old four-star general or admiral can it up why can't we give a younger guy a chance and you know give him some time behind the wheel and see how it goes yeah
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
Yeah, you know, the way I describe it is, is that if you touch war, it's going to touch you back. And a lot of the time the narrative is around more of like a broken toy. Like if you go to war and you come back, the damage is so great that you have to be broken. And I haven't actually found that to be the case. The things that the military is asked to do, specifically my old job, they are.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
I mean, if you were to just write it down on a piece of paper and have somebody read it out loud, the requirements that your job may entail, it's horrific.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
but you spend a career training um you know and again working with people being bought in on the mission statement being bought in on the cause being bought in for the country and understanding of what your actions are doing and tying into the totality of the united states and what it stands for but it shouldn't be romanticized the way you described it is correct if i look back at my old job
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
Almost everything that we did was to lead up to the point of, it's called 3FEA, find, fix, finish, exploit, and analyze. It's kind of the targeting process. But it is all based around finding an individual or organization, fixing them in place, and then getting an element to cross the threshold of a door somewhere in another country. to do something about an identified threat.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
And it shouldn't be romanticized. We should be able to have open and honest conversations about what we are asking certain segments of our population to do. And we shouldn't expect them to come back as the same person.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
But in my own personal experience, even though those things are horrific and they will weigh on you for the rest of your life, they can actually turn you into a better version of yourself. Like for me personally, I think I have a greater appreciation for what we have. I think I can love at a deeper level.
The Dan Bongino Show
Saving The U.S. Military w/ SEAL Andy Stumpf (Ep. 2392)
I have a deeper appreciation for my friends because I've seen those things just be taken away in an instant. And I actually wish that more people didn't share the experiences that I have, but they could at least share in some of what those experiences have given me from at least the view that I have of this country and the world.