January 7, 2026 • 51 mins
Matt Maasdam is a Navy SEAL veteran, business leader, and Democratic candidate for Congress from Michigan. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Matt served over 20 years in the U.S. Navy, deploying to Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, and the Pacific, and working in some of the world’s most challenging environments. His military career included serving as the lead instructor for Hell Week at SEAL training and being selected as a Military Aide to President Barack Obama.
After leaving active duty, Matt transitioned to the private sector, holding leadership roles at Under Armour and founding two e-commerce businesses. He brings hands-on experience in team building, job creation, and supporting working families. Matt lives in mid-Michigan with his wife, Laura, a fellow Navy veteran, their two sons, and their cat, Captain America. Guided by service, integrity, and teamwork, he is running for Congress to deliver practical solutions and unite communities.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, what's going on? This is rad I am your
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Speaker 2 (00:24):
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You're listening to SOFTWAB Radio, Special Operations, Military nails and
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Speaker 1 (00:49):
And by the way, thanks to Callum, my producer who
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(01:12):
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(01:32):
behind the scenes with their library to you so go
check that out. Now. Today I have a former Navy seal,
Matt Mosden on the show today. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Thank you, sir. I appreciate it being here.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
It's great and we're stoked to have you. And I'm
just gonna kind of let my listener know. You know,
you've obviously clicked on the links and they know you're here.
Try to keep it a surprise, but they've clicked on
the link. I've learned that they're like, they know who
they're watching. And today you're going to be talking about
you know, your background and running for Congress, that you're
about to throw your hat. You've thrown your hat in
(02:10):
the ring for this political society that we have to
have around us. Let me just read a little bit
about you and then we'll crack you open. Okay, got it? Okay,
So let's meet Matt Masdam, Democrat for Congress. Forged by
his service as a Navy seal, Matt has dedicated his
life to serving his country and community, with a career
that spans the highest levels of national security and business leadership.
(02:33):
He lives in mid Michigan with his wife, Laura, a
veteran naval helicopter pilot he met at Survival School in
the Navy. They're two boys, both avid hockey players and
their cat Captain America. A graduate of the University of Michigan,
Matt pledged an oath to defend our country and constitution
when he joined the Navy shortly after college and became
a seal, deploying to Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, and the Pacific.
(02:55):
Over twenty years in the Navy, he served in some
of the world's most dangerous and complex environments, working to
truck terrast networks, and keep America safe. A little bit
about Matt is He was also put in charge of
Hell Week for the Navy Seal Budge Training and has
put in over one thousand UH Navy seals through his
course and his instruction and leadership. He worked at under
(03:16):
Armour for a while and grew that organization to what
we know is under Armour today. He went off to
find his own This is off my head, by the way.
He went off to find his own multiple e commerces
hire people that he knows locally, give other people jobs
in his community, and friends and people who are looking
to him to help give them leadership. Probably after he
transitioned out, Man, I'm really happy to have you on
(03:38):
the show. So welcome aboard.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Rad awesome, thank you to be thank you for having
me here. It's really really fun.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Right, and that's a very okay. So we can read
all about you, right, like I just kind of did
at Matt mosdom dot is it org or dot com
dot com? Right, and it's got everything about you, your bio,
you know what's your what you're what you're moving yourself towards.
Right at any given time. You can't do this by yourself,
(04:04):
that's right. Takes a team, takes a team, takes a village,
it takes a country.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
That is right, and you've done nothing but give yourself
to it.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Yeah, service to my country is something I'm huge on, right.
It's one of those things that my dad was big
on service. He was in the National Guard, he was
a doctor, helping other people. He actually picked our house
when I was grown up so he could be a
volunteer firefighter. And so we're kind of on the edge
slash out of town. And it was one of those
places where thousand acre cornfield is my backyard, right, and
(04:39):
my dad loved it so he could like race down
the stairs and get to the fire station as fast
as possible so he could drive the truck to the
fire so we could help people. So my mom's the
same way. She was a middle school music teacher, right,
So school teachers are saints, you know what I mean?
Middle school teachers in particular should be given automatic sainthood.
(04:59):
So from a background of service, So I just I
really care about country and family, and I you know,
when I dedicated my adult life and profession to serve
in the country, and it's something that's.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Important to me. Is your mom and dad still here?
Speaker 3 (05:15):
My mom is? My My father passed away. He had
Alzheimer's early on set and so largely he was in
Iraq a couple of times as a National guardsman and wow,
got hit in the well. He fell and hit his
head really hard in that attack. And they think that
plus a lack of sleep kind of contributed to Alzheimer's.
(05:35):
So he passed away early.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Okay, well, sorry about that, Thanks for service. We're just
around Veteran's Day, so big shout out. Yeah, you know,
and National Guard, all your National Guard out there, you know.
So you're young, right to have a dad who's been
in Iraq while you've also been in the military at
the same time. You know, you had a young dad
or you're young, and I'm going to say that you're
pretty young, so you know, you know, it's refreshing.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah, it's good. And so I actually I almost saw
my dad in Iraq, which was crazy. So I was
going in and he was coming out, and he actually
left on the plane that I came in on, but
we didn't know and kind of like you know, shipped
fasting in the night, so to speak. So it was crazy.
But we were both there at the same time. And
so yeah, he's you know, he was pretty young when
(06:21):
he was there, and I was. I was really young
when I was there.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
So it was.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
It's a time that you're given to your country that
those young years, you know, it's kind of the best
years physically of your life, and it's what you need
is a seal.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
When you went in. Did you go to Iraq as
a seal? Is that how you did? You just go
straight from high school to college and graduate and go
in as ocs or officer or how do Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Yeah, So I went to Michigan for school. I actually
I was a swimmer in high school. I was a
fast swimmer, and I came here and I played water polo.
I'd never played before. And I said to the coach
after a couple days of tryouts, I was the fastest
guy there but had never played. And you can kind
of see that. The coach can see that. So I
said to him, Hey, you know, I can see you
can see that I've never played water pole. But I
(07:07):
promise you by the time i'm a senior, if you
put me on this team, by the time i'm a senior,
I will be the captain. And he was. He kind
of like tilted his head and he's like, So the
next day I come in, I'm twenty fourth of twenty
four people on the team. So I made the team,
made the varsity team, right, and then freshman year didn't
play a game. Most of the time. I was just
(07:28):
egg beetering and watching the offense and kind of learning
how the game works. Second year, I played a couple
of games right. Sophomore year, third year I started, which
was great. In my senior year, I was a captain
and we were a club team. We won club national championships,
so fantastic, you know, just kind of that long term
ish view of like, this is what I'm going to
(07:49):
do accomplishing that goal, dedication, determination, focus, perseverance. Right, So
it was it was great and through that water pole
is an awesome game. Right, It's like fighting in the water, bro.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I mean, like it's deep, right, You're like you a
twenty foot You're like in the deep pool. It's consistent
and my legs are moving like my hands if you're
watching right now, okay, like both ways, Like when you
see the Olympics and you're watching a water polo and
they're underwater with the shots, You're like, wait, they can't
really touch the bottom, you know. It's like so when
they come up out of the water, you know, and
you see those abs and all those lats and all
of that throwing that ball, bro, that's awesome. Yeah, so
(08:25):
I do know, I know water polo of it.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Yes, it's good and it's a great sport and it
does that transitions very well to the seal teams. Actually,
water polo does like comfort in the water is what's
important as a seal and so being a good swimmer
is nice. Being comfortable in the water where you get
punched in the face and dunked and flipped around like
that's that's better for your you know, seal training so.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Well, because they're rolling you underwater and like ripping your
mask off, tying your hoses, like doing all of that,
and you're just like, okay, all right, I get it,
let me fix it. And you have to keep calm,
and like I swim maybe twice three times a week,
and I box just about every day, and I try
to go. I try to push off in a lane
and go as far as I can underwater before I
(09:09):
start freaking out how to come up to breathe, because
we want to breathe. I can usually make it out
to the first two red.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Dots on the rope, yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Yeah, thank you, Yeah, And I can get all the
way there, right, And my son's actually a little better.
My wife's really good. But I just think about free
divers that go down like one hundred meters just on
one breath, and they're just like coming back up that
same three hundred feet, you know, with the same one
breath that they went down on. And then there's you guys.
And I've seen a lot of documentaries on Discovery back
(09:40):
in the day where people are literally dying as they
pull them out of water. But they pass because they
touch the wall, they had to go under back and forth,
and then they resuscitate them, you know, get them to
stop drowning.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah, well you know they're not dying, Okay, Okay, we
take extreme efforts to make sure things are safe, right,
and so people do pass out.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Underwater, well they're giving it, They're all That's what I'm saying,
you know.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Rest assured that we have somebody right there to like
bring them up as fast as we can. We get
them on the surface, and we called slap of life.
We you know, just kind of like pop them in
the face, and that typically is all they.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Need to you know, do the you're born again, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
They come back and they're all they care about is
whether or not they succeeded and.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
So right, I mean really it's just like, yeah, you pass,
now go recover probably.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Yeah, But that's the kind of dedication we want to see. Right,
Like when I went through training, it was like succeed
or die, right, Like there was no there was no right.
And so when you go into training with that kind
of attitude, like those guys tend to do really well.
Because if you go in and say, like we'll see
how this goes, Like, that's not going to do well
(10:54):
at seal training, right, and so because it's gonna you're
gonna have terrible days and every but the thing is
everybody has terrible days, and so you have to be
able to get through those terrible days. And like so
I went from Michigan. I joined the Navy OCS Officer
can at school in Pensacola, Florida. I go to San Diego.
I was in buds class two two three, one hundred
(11:15):
and sixteen guys started. Sixteen of those original guys graduated
on time and so not a lot. But I was
in Hell week. This is you know, to that like
everybody gets hurt. Component I was in Hell week. Nighttime.
We're doing a beach thing. I step in a hole
in my toes, like my foot bent and my toes
(11:38):
touch my shin and I hear a pop in my
calf and you know, a pop like you tore something, pope,
And I couldn't. I could no longer plant my foot.
I couldn't like put it down under, you know, with
any muscle. And I said to the instructor, hey man,
I just I just heard a pop in my leg.
And he said, well, you can keep going or you
(11:59):
can and I said, you know, I was like, well,
I didn't come here to quit. So I kept going
and I couldn't so I couldn't land my foot. Well,
so what I would do for the next I had?
I was Hell Week Tuesday. At Hell Week, right, we
probably had one hundred miles of a round and left
to go boats on my head, no sleep. I'm kicking
my leg forward with my quad as hard as I
(12:20):
can and then throwing it down with my hamstring and
planting it like that so I can run, right, And
so it worked, and I kept going for the rest
of the week, and they were giving me shots of
toward all and whatever, you know, anti inflammatory. It didn't
help it all.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
So but if your perseverance and your drive and your
determination to just you know, be the captain of the
team that you had in college, I could just get
it from you right now.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
But nobody like that was not special in any capacity.
Everybody there had something equivalently wrong with them. And it's
it's whether you decide like no, I'm not going to quit,
or like I'm hurt. I'm I'm getting out. You know,
we kept going and you recover I mean they give
you time to heal right after hell week, and so
(13:09):
that was good.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
But it is good. That is good. And so when
you got tasked with taking that on, right and now
you're like in charge of hell week, right, you're like,
hurry up, hurry up, hurry up. You're the guy probably
on the bullhorn.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Hurry up, I'm the guy behind the guy.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, that's that's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying.
Like I love that. I love that in a truck too,
hurry up.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Yeah, I mean we encourage people to quit, right in
a world where like most people get encouraged to stay.
We're like, hey, hot coffee and donuts in the truck.
If you quit, you know when it's forty degrees out
and there's the water's fifty and you've been in it
for two hours or five in the morning, like it sucks,
and we encourage you to quit, and we find the
(13:52):
people who really really want to be there.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Right.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
But as an instructor, I'm looking for, like the physical
component of seal training is important, Like I would say,
you have to be a good call, a good high schooler,
like college level athlete, you know, to succeed but we're
not looking for Olympians here. What I need is from
the neck up right, like it's somebody who decides this
is what I'm gonna do no matter what, right, and
(14:16):
they're gonna be there all the time. They're going to persevere.
They have the dedication and discipline to do it. And
so I looked for five I sussed out these five
things from physical activity, right, judgment. I wanted to see
people make good decisions, teamwork, they put their team above themselves. Courage,
they're going to do things that are hard, they're passionate, right,
(14:40):
and they have integrity if you do those five things.
When I was an instructor, like we will do everything
you can't we can to make sure you succeed. And
the Seal teams do a lot to make sure people
make it through training. We can't. You know, if you
show up and you can't run and you can't swim,
it's hard to get that person through. But if you
show up and you're will to put in the work
(15:01):
and you're a decent athlete, and from the neck up
you have it like you're going to make it, so
it's a great environment.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
It'd be a good way to like just segue right
into what you're doing right now. I like the neck
up aspect of politics, right. I want to have like
enough bravado, right, and just having somebody who can come
in with some leadership and some ability to just want
to be the captain just like, Hey, I have an
understanding of growing up living in Michigan, going to school,
(15:33):
going to the college in Michigan, being a Michigan you know, resident,
and just being that dude to now want to just
protect you know what you find valuable, which is, you know,
democracy and freedom. And I'm just putting words out there
right for you. But you know that's the head up, right,
That's what I'm saying. You want someone who has a
(15:53):
head on their shoulders. How many times we had heard, oh,
they got a good head on their shoulders, you know.
I heard that when I was injured. They're like, rad,
God give you a good buying, but mine but a
messed up body. Hunt. I'm just like, man, I guess so, bro,
It's like, ah, you know.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
You know what's great about the military, and I can
speak to the seal teams more, but the military in
particular in general is nobody cares about politics. Not once
in my career in twenty years, did somebody say, hey,
you know, are you a Democrat or Republican?
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Right?
Speaker 3 (16:22):
You don't get a damn and right like they care
that you're a good teammate and you're there to accomplish
the mission and you're going to help your your your
guys get it done.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
That that's what they care about. And I think America
needs more of that and they want more of that,
And like, that's that's what I hope to bring to
the table. The ability to reach across the aisle of
the ability to get things done, the ability to like
care for for the folks that I'm there to represent.
That's what I want, you know.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
And I was going to say, I had it kind
of thought about when I was going to talk with you.
Is that, you know, how do you stay you know,
like just out of that situation of politics. And I
keep going back to this admiral that was over the
VA for years during the COVID it and you know,
he's like rat it just says US in front of
my name, says US Army, US Navy, US Marines, US
says US first, and we swear an oath to the
(17:09):
US not to just like one person or one party,
and then I was thinking to myself further on this question.
This is how I was deep diving my thought for you. Right,
It's like you were in charge of Hell Week, where
you could have found out anybody's anything about them and
just decided it's who's who. But you said, I'm gonna
let a thousand people get into the Navy seals at
(17:31):
with their own choices of who they want to vote
for in this life, as long as they can meet
the head on the shoulders and the physical requirements that
you're going to bestow upon them. It's not because of
who they had elected.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Right. These are all people who are put in their
country first. That's right, And that's what it takes. It's
country over party, it's country over self, it's country over everything.
Like you're there to defend the United States from problems
that exist and so.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Foreign and domestic. That's what it's. That's right there, I.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Mean really first and so it's not terribly complicated, but
you know, as and in this process you get to
have fun, right, Like you get to travel the world,
particularly in the Navy, like we go to great places
and so paint. Yeah, I mean, but like so One
(18:20):
of my one of my fun stories is I went
to Sydney, Australia.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Right.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Yeah, We're in my very first deployment. We're jumping with
the Australians and we went to their jump school in
a place called Naurra, Australia. Cool and so what what
is you know, we're seals, So we're jumping into the water.
What what is Australia known for in the water?
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Sharks? Right?
Speaker 3 (18:40):
And so I'm like, you know, I have that in
the back of my mind. Daytime jump. I'm I'm on
the one man on the C one thirty ramp looking
out and the jump masters next to me's knelt down
and he goes, you know, he's got this little box
and he's like scanning the ocean like this, and I go,
what are you doing? And he goes, oh, mate, if
there's more than seven sharks in this little we can't jump.
(19:02):
And I'm like, he goes, but we're okay, and I'm like,
what does that mean?
Speaker 1 (19:05):
We have six?
Speaker 3 (19:06):
And so he goes go and you know, I jump
out of the plane, I watch my shoot open up.
I look down and there are sharks everywhere, right, like
different depths every the whole ocean, Like I can see
them moving back and forth and I'm coming down, and
you know, you can't avoid landing in the water at
that point.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
And so.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
But you know, you know what I said say to
my kids, what I said to myself in these situation
is I'm the scariest thing out here, right. Those sharks
want nothing to do with me. And so even though
it's it's, you know, a treacherous environment, like I land
in the water, I think, yeah, everything was good right,
And I don't think the Australians they were jumping to
(19:50):
they weren't going to put us in a situation that
was bad. And everybody was in that situation, so it
was okay. And I feel a lot like you know,
throwing your hat in the ring for Congress, I feel
a lot the same way where it's like there's sharks
in the water and I'm like, well, I'm the toughest
thing here. So you just have to have that self
confidence in the perspective to keep going when things get hard.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Now with that said, you're going to be running for
the twenty twenty six midterms, is that right in Michigan? Okay?
And so are you going to be doing town halls
and all these types of things. It's like a junket
for Congress.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yep, I already am and so it's the people who
really care about these things are already highly engaged. And
so I go spend my week nights, you know, kind
of talking to the groups of people and introducing myself,
talking about the issues for the district and talking about
why I think I'm a good person for the job.
And so people really care about cost of living, they
(20:51):
really care about preservation of freedom and making sure the
American way of life continues. Right, the American dream is
still kind of alive, correct.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
You know that people have you know, their own somignty
over their own bodies, you know, to do what they
wish with as themselves, you know, male or female, or
you know that they have the ability to choose who
they want to be in an elected office with a
voting system that is you know, tried and true and
not tainted with you know propaganda out there of you know,
(21:24):
election interference and things like that that gets thrown around
and we get polarized with those words, you know. So
I just remember growing up in my household. So I'm
forty eight years old, so I grew up in the
eighties and nineties, and I'd always ask my dad. It
was like Reagan versus do Caucus, Caucus versus Bush, something
like that. Right, it was on TV. Right, it was
just like talking, and I was like, who you're voting for?
(21:46):
He's like, I don't have to tell you that. And
I'm his son, and I was like, Dad, I got
my own little outfit and everything, just like you pop, like,
you're not gonna tell me this classified information. And he
just looked at me. He said, it's my right as
an American to not have to tell you who I choose.
Flash forward to like Obama and whoever was voting, whoever
(22:08):
Obama was going against. I took him to go vote.
He comes out. I'm like, so, who'd you vote for?
He's like, I don't have to tell you. Nothing ever
changed with that, and I have always held on to that.
So I tell my kids, I don't have to tell you. Yeah,
I tell people, I don't have to tell you. That
is my right as an American. I can choose a
B or C as my vote if that's what's on
(22:29):
the ballot. I don't have to say anything. So, my son,
you see so many flags waving. You know, it's like
I've never saw colors. I saw colors the movie Crips
and Bloods, but I've never seen colors like these flags
I'm seeing waving all over you know.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Yeah, you know, like, and that's what we're fighting for
as Americans, right, yeah, your right to vote, your right
to freedom, You're right to do the things you want
to do. And so you know, a story along those lines.
When I was in Iraq, I guarded the vice President
of Iraq because this guy's name was Sprouse Shatways. He
was occurred from northern Iraq. He actually led the Kurdish
(23:08):
resistance against Saddam Hussein after Saddam killed like five thousand
people with chemical weapons in nineteen eighty eight. So this
guy was tough, right, He spoke five languages, electrical engineer,
PhD like head of the Kurdish parliament. Fantastic human and
fighting for his country. And you know, Saddam took over.
(23:29):
They didn't I don't know if they had elections, but
he was authoritarian, you know what I mean. So there
was no free elections at that point. And I was
guarding this guy who was two thousand and five and
the first election for the country came up when we
were there, when I was guarding.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
So.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
I'm watching this guy who's fought for his country, you know,
for decades, so that he could have what we have
here in America every election cycle. And in that or
in that election, you know, multiple suicide bombers killed dozens
of people across the country, people trying to vote, and
(24:09):
you know, I was guarding this guy. So we went
up to the the ballot box and I'm like, good lord.
It was the tensest I think I I was in
that entire you know, we were like his secret service. Yeah,
so it was the tensest I think I was the
whole time going up to the election pool because like
everybody knew where he was going to vote, and so
you could have planned a bomb there. Yeah, And they
(24:32):
were really good at that point with kind of remote
detonated devices. And so we went up there and he voted,
and he was so proud, like, you know, decades of
service to get to that point, and it was so
neat to see him get that accomplished. And and like
it gave.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Dip his finger, right, he dipped his finger in something purple.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Yeah, they had to dip their finger finger to show
that they.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Had voted and they can't vote again. Yeah, yeah, so.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
They couldn't vote again, so finger in ink.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
So proud those pictures. I don't know if it makes.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Yeahs showed that they had voted right right, So it
was such a neat thing. And then like to think,
it's something in America that we just we kind of,
I don't want to say take it for granted necessarily,
but we assume it's going to be that way all
the time. And this guy had fought for decades to
get it to be that way in Iraq, and I'm
happy that it is today.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
So really a lot of folks need to maybe think
twice about what was really transpiring over there was the
fact of trying to have a democracy and today they
just had elections just today, yesterday they just had elections
for a new for Iraq. Like it's it's continuing. This
is kind of been embedded now whether it's you know,
(25:45):
it'll be sorted out through their their mechanisms, that's up
to them. But you know, they got to vote again,
and I didn't hear of anything blowing up.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Yeah, I haven't heard it. You know, they've been stable, Yes,
for quite some time. So that's fantastic, A good job.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Yeah, it's good job.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
So when I came back from that, I went to
grad school and did a couple other things in the Navy.
But after that I got selected as President Obama's military
aid from the Navy. So there are five military aids
at a time, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast
Guard at the time. Now there's Space Force in addition.
And it was a fantastic role. So in that role,
(26:26):
you carry the nuclear codes for the president, right, and
so it's wild, but it's like you kind of in
that capacity, you take care of everything from say starting
at like a nine to eleven event all the way
to nuclear war. Now, while that's incredibly important, you know,
it's it's probably one percent of your job because like
the ninety nine percent is you're coordinating the activities of
(26:49):
the White House Military Office, and so you're making sure
the president can do their job. Air Force one, helicopters, drivers, communicators,
all these people, and you're coordinating their efforts and that
with Secret Service in the White House staff to make
sure the president can do what they need to do.
And so that was that was me. It was a
big role and so but a fun role. And you're
(27:12):
inside the bubble, so you get to see kind of
how the executive branch works from the inside, which is great.
And we went to things like State of the Union
addresses and you get to see how the legislator and
the executive branch, you know, get along and function. So
fantastic job. But every day there is intense as you
(27:34):
can imagine. Not only are you carrying the nuclear codes
and ready for that, but just being around the President
and other you know, his crew. Yeah, it's like you
have to be on your game because questions that have
implications throughout the time, and events come up that some
(27:57):
of them are false alarms and some of them are
you know, quite died down. But events come up all
the time. And I'll give you an example. So I
was flying across the country or flying west from DC
on Air Force one. I get a call and somebody
and the guy said, hey, we've just had a plane
take off out of JFK to New York City squawk
(28:18):
and hijack. And they don't have any comms. And this
is shortly, you know, it's not too long after nine
to eleven. It is two thousand and I was like, okay,
tell me more, and they said, we don't have any more.
And I'm like, well I need more. I said, like
they said, what I said, is the cockpit secure? How
many people are on board? Where's the plane going? Did
(28:38):
anybody take responsibility?
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Right?
Speaker 3 (28:40):
So I'm kind of going through these checklist things. I go,
you have one minute. I hang up the phone, I
walk up. I get it was Valerie Jarrett was the
person that was responsible for the staff at that moment.
And I said, hey, Valerie, we got this thing in
New York. And I explained it to her. Her eyes
get big and she's like, we need to tell the
BOS and I said not yet, give me one one minute.
(29:03):
And because nothing's going to change, right and that, like
I can't affect anything at that point. The President's safe,
which is a big concern of mine, Like we're able
to communicate with the country if that is needed, We're okay.
And so but you know I have that presence. I'm calm,
right like, because calm is contagious, and if I get worked.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Up, everybody it's contagious, that's right.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
And so I stayed calm, and I you know people
are watching me because they could see what was happening.
And I get back on the phone and said, hey,
you know, what's the update, and and the guy goes, hey,
funny thing, you know, they don't have any communications. But
the guy like bumped the hijack button and everything's okay.
They didn't actually get hijacked, they just didn't have any comms.
(29:46):
And I was like, oh, yeah, important update. And so
I'm glad I didn't take that to the president and
ruin his day.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Right.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
But it's a good example of the stuff that comes
up to that person. And it's also a great example
of staying calm because those things, you know, panicking does
not assist with a successful resolution of anything, right, Like
staying calm and being you know, clear thinking the whole
time is what you want to see.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Yeah, because especially if you're underwater and you start freaking out,
you're gonna lose your air quicker. Yeah, you stay calm
and you let a couple of bubbles out, you're gonna
sit down there for a minute and be like, hey,
this is kind of I got control over my situation. Right. Yeah,
I've just been getting better at swimming. I've just been
getting better at the pool by going to it.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
That's good. I love the pool is great. The oceans,
the oceans where it's at, though, you got to go
out there and you know, get used to that.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
I'm a little nervous of that big open water. But
I do have respect for the Navy with regards to
all the jokes that are out there from all the branches.
I'm like, man, they're doing everything that you do on
a boat.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Okay, it's good. You know, my wife, my wife is
a helicopter pilot in the Navy, right, and so she's
having the land on the ships in like heavy seas
at night when it's raining. Yeah, the ship's rocking, and
so I think, you know, it's challenging enough to land
a helicopter on the ground correctly, let alone, you know,
if the ground.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Is moving or moving in fog.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
Yeah, exactly. And so in the the you know, the
blade of her of her helicopter is just inches from
the superstructure of this ship. Like those sheep don't have
extra room, and so like if you you're off a foot, like.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Your helicopter disaster. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
And so my wife and I actually met at survival
school at Pow Training School in the Navy, which was fantastic.
So after seal training, you go to seer school. It's survive, Evade, Resistant,
escape is what that stands for.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
And so.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Fifty seven guys in the class, three women in a
sixty person class, mostly aircrew and helicopter, mostly aircrew, pilots
and seals, and we go and it's miserable, right, like
you don't eat for a week, you're getting beat up,
you don't don't sleep. And so we're out in the
field and she was so chipper and excited and smiling,
(32:06):
happy to be there, and like everything we did, she like,
you know, she was volunteering to be the first person.
Just so happy. And at the end, you know, she's
still that happy after after you know, getting slapped across
the face and putting boxes and you know, getting you know,
kind of tortured ish.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
And so.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
I said to her, how are you are you enjoying this? Like,
how is this? You're so happy? And she's she said,
I just wanted to do this my whole life. It's fantastic.
I'm so excited to be here, and I'm like, I
need more of this person in my life. So I
asked her out right at the end of the.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
School trauma bond at its finest.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Years later, we were married, you know what I mean.
So I love it, still married this day, you know,
twenty plus years, have two kids, and so.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
You can survive that, you can survive anything together.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
Yeah, she's tough rugby for the academy, like tough to so.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
And so she's ready for the political theater that you're
about to get into here.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
Yeah, I think as much as she's going to be.
You know, she is very supportive of me doing it.
I don't think she would want to do it herself,
but you know, it's it's one of those things where
she loves that I want to contribute to the country
and serve the country in this capacity.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
I love. That reminds me of something my dad would
tell me when I'd be like, I don't know if
I want to do that, and he's like, well why not.
I was like, well, I've never done it, and he's like,
well then why not. I was like, well, He's like,
well if not you, then who you know? Kind of
attitude is what he's like. You never know until you try, ye,
And so you know, it seems like you've got a
pretty good head on your shoulders, you know, you've made
(33:40):
it this far in your in your lifespan, so you know, yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
And I have a unique perspective on things, right, like
having gone to war. Yeah, having been a seal, gone
to war and carry the nuclear codes gives you this
kind of like we're gonna be okay perspective, Like bad
stuff comes up from time to time, to fight through
it and sometimes it sucks, but we can do it right, Like,
this is something we can do the country. If you
(34:07):
don't like the direction it's going, I think we're a
couple of good voices from getting it back to that place.
And so this is not something that's impossible. It's not
something that is permanent or you know, unfixable, Like you
move forward in ups and downs, and we're going to
(34:27):
get there, and we're going to get there together.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Which would be great if you could get out to
like an appropriations committee, you know, or like anything like
those types of things where you have experience from your
your perspective to bring to like the military. Right, it's like, hey,
you know, did you say three point eight percent raise
for everybody?
Speaker 3 (34:45):
Bro?
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Like, did you really just say that little of a raise?
Maybe you should try like a fifteen percent raise? You know,
if you want retention, Yeah, I mean really we want retention.
We want guys like you and gals like your wife
and those that have served to remain because you guys
have gone through it and put all the effort in there.
But when a civilian job's kind of chomping at you
a little bit looking here, and you know, the army
(35:07):
or the military branch you're in is like, well, we
can't meet this extra ten thousand a month.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
Yeah, that's hard. And like I think the people that
are in the military, they do it for love of country,
you know what I mean, And so it's service above
lining your pocket books. And like, for me, the reason
I got out was family. And I had two kids
at the White House, two little boys, and like I
was looking at my future career, knowing that I would
be gone seventy five percent of the time, and I
(35:37):
look at that and I'm like, no, No, I had
these kids, and I want to be a good dad,
I want to be a good husband. I want to
be you know, a great family. And so I transitioned
to the reserves at that point because of that, and
worked at civilian jobs, right, I worked at under Omar
like you had talked about a little bit and started
some companies and it's it's one of those I care
(35:57):
about my family. I want to be a good role
model to my boys. And that's a big reason why
I'm running for office now, is because I want I'm
I say to them all the time, like, be the
change you want to see, kandhi right. But also, we
don't complain about problems. We solve them right, like, like
we're not here to bitch about it, We're here to
make it better. And so that's what I'm trying to do.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
I love that. And so you know, I'm not saying like, hey,
you're the one hundred percent perfect person in this world,
but I do like what you're saying right now, and
it makes sense to me. And you know, I would
hope that you have a really good, valiant effort towards
your goal of you know, attaining this new position in life. Yeah,
(36:41):
you know, and I hope the folks in Michigan might
maybe a listener out there who's in Michigan will look
you up and just read on you themselves, like learn
about you that yourself, do some recon you know, read
into your candidates and just kind of say, hey, does
this person kind of go along with what I want
to vote for because they're gonna be on my ballot,
And so if they're going to be on the ballot,
(37:03):
you should be looking at that candidate and not just
you know, choosing you know, an elephant in the room
or a donkey or you know, anything like that. Just
look at the candidate and see if they align with you.
I'm just putting that out there. And you can do
that by visiting Matt's website, which is mattmsdam dot com.
And he's got all sorts of different bio and you know,
(37:24):
you're what you're about. I noticed that there's a donate
button up there, right you are?
Speaker 3 (37:28):
There is yeah, part of things.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
It is, and and we always hear about that, you know,
whether it's like Bernie Sanders, like I just need two
dollars or one dollar, or whether it's the guy on
the other side of the aisle who's a Republican. Let
me think Trump, I need you to buy a one
hundred thousand dollars gold watch, right, Okay, come on man.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Anyways, you know, money is a hard part of politics,
Like you have to have the money to get things done,
to run for office, so you know people are going
to ask you those for support and so, but it's
not for me, it's it's honestly for the country. So
it's a better place. The district I'm running is it's
(38:10):
exactly fifty percent Republicans and fifty percent Democrats, and so
it's it's one of those where it kind of shows
the whole country which way things are leaning, you know,
for that election, and this is going to be a
close one.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
And so, I mean, groceries on both sides, haven't you know,
they're they're still going up like fourteen percent increase on commeters.
You know, there's like, you know, gasoline has not I
don't my local like grocery store gives me like points
on my purchase towards gas. I'm still not hitting two bucks.
Speaker 3 (38:45):
Yeah, those things play into it, right, And so prices
are going up and wages aren't going up as fast,
so people are affording less.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
Minimum wage is still seven to twenty five. I know
you're not running for president. I know you're running from Michigan,
but the mindset is kind of like, you know, you
still have those people that you're going to be you know,
advocating for.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
Yeah, right, and Look, if you work your whole life
like and you work hard, you should be able to
be somewhat comfortable, right and not scraping by at the end.
You should have a you should be able to send
your kids to school. You should be able to afford
a house. You should be able to afford food on
your table.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
And so have food on your table.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Yeah, have food on your table. Take take a vacation
now and then right, and so it's those kind of
things we're after and making sure like the most people
can do, like can be successful to the longest period
of time. That's what I'm looking for. And so I'm
not looking to line pocketbooks. I'm not looking to take
away freedoms. I'm looking to preserve freedoms and make sure
(39:46):
people can live a good life and the most people can.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
Well, I feel good about what you're saying. If I
was just, you know, first time talking with you, and
you were having a round table with me right now,
and you know, just go in the circles. Okay, let's
throw then out there. For the veteran who is in
Michigan that needs to have like legalized cannabis, what's your
position on something like that? For you know, medicinal use. Uh,
(40:12):
let's throw that out there because I have a lot
of veterans.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
So we are we are the model state in the
country for how to get it stood up and be
a successful business. So that's nice to see. So if
people need it, they can definitely get it.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
It's already happening in Michigan. Yeah, it's not fought over,
it's just understood. And is that the governor Gretchen.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
Uh, Gretchen Whitmer.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
She's fantastic, yes, right, right, and yeah, but I mean
she's had her trials and tribulations with people attempting things
to her and her life or.
Speaker 3 (40:44):
Yeah, yeah, she you know, she was in the presidential
you know nominee kind of mentioned and so I think
that brought a lot of attention to her. And there's
some militia folks who who tried to you know, they're
planning to kidnapp her back in the day, and so
that was very frightening. It is not a good thing
at all. No, it should not be tolerated in any
(41:07):
capacity from either side like it is to be condoned period,
whether it's somebody trying to kidnap Whipmer or you know,
attempting an assassination, like, no, that's not how he comes here, right, No,
it is hard to work with the other side of
the aisle. It is not easy. We do not have
the same vision of things or you know, necessarily all
(41:29):
the same values. But you want to you need to
work together and cooperate and compromise a little and we'll
move forward step by step together.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
Yeah, you need to have like some humble houses, you know,
like everybody all just needs to be like we don't
talk about that about each other, Like we don't say
that about the other person, Like we're not going to
let that question, you know, be derogatory towards my opponent,
because you know, like Senator John McCain, you know, the
late John McCain said, you know, I mean he's like, no,
I'm not going to let you talk about anybody negative
(42:00):
like that, and we're going to move on with your question.
And he just was able to like, you know, just
let it go off his back like a turtle, okay,
with armor. But like now today it's so much like
you know, picking on people's disabilities, people on their features,
like going at them like a kid in eighth grade,
you know, bullying it's just like I just would like
(42:22):
to see more. You know, we don't say that about
each other.
Speaker 3 (42:26):
We just read this is a great You're making a
great point. And one of the things that the Seal
teams does a really good job of, and I think
people don't know this enough, is obviously we're tough guys, right.
We get put in tough situations and we train to
that and we're good at it. Another thing we get
trained to be is compassionate in kind. Right, if you're
going if you're at war and you're going into somebody's house,
(42:49):
and you might like you're going into a bomber's house, right,
you might have to kill this guy. You're ready to
shoot somebody as you're going in the door. And on
the other when you get through the door, there might
be a baby there, There might be an old woman,
there might be a little girl.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
Right.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
You have to be able to instantly toggle between I
need to protect this person and take care of them
or shoot them.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
Right.
Speaker 3 (43:12):
And so we get taught to be tough and kind
or tough and compassionate, and that's something that you can do.
They are not mutually exclusive. You can be both, right,
And so when I see leaders or people who are
only tough and they're on the mean dto tough and
they're just proven to the world that they're a badass.
I think that they're misguiding. I think that they're only
(43:34):
half the man they could be or woman they could be. Right,
if you should be tough and kind, you can be
both at the same time.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
And I think it's in all of them. And I
think that they just there's this bravado, right, and it's
like I gotta have this, Like it's almost like they
think they're just blowing up on Instagram and they got
to keep doing the same thing over and over and
over again, when in fact, you know that starts to
get stale and then you'll, oh, I got to change
it up. Well, let me go a different route. And
it's like I watched it a couple of times, but
(44:04):
I'm kind of getting you're just kind of coming up
with shticks now, right, versus like, you know, yeah, so kind,
compassion and you know, be ready to knock someone out right.
I box every single day, bro.
Speaker 3 (44:16):
You have to. That's the that's the tough part of it.
Like you have to be hard and tough and strong
and ready to go and you need to use those
same skills to protect people who need help, correct, right,
And so you're not there to beat on people who
are weaker. You're you're there to help people who are weaker. Like,
(44:37):
that's correct, That's part of the game, and that's what
warriors do. And when you see fighters, whether they're MMA
guys or boxers or tie muay Thai guys, like the
guys that I know that do that professionally are the
nicest people in the world. And it's because they know
they can knock you out in a tenth of a
second if they have right, right, So they don't have
(44:58):
to prove anything in terms of their physicality and toughness,
and that gives them the opportunity to be kind and
gracious and compassionate, right, Like, shouldn't we all do that?
Speaker 1 (45:10):
I think? So? I mean, really, you know, just I
agree with you, Yeah, I do. I don't know, if
you know. I'm not trying to like bag on the
situation of having like these combat fights at Nations, at
our at our White House, you know, but if we're
going to have combat fights happening with these rings and
everything all set up on the Rose Garden, it should
(45:31):
be with congressmen and women. Okay, yeah, let's roll in there,
all right, you guys want to get something done, let's go, right,
it seems it's all legit. What's in the ring? Okay? Yeah,
all right, leave it in the ring right out of
your sense, So let's go. You know.
Speaker 3 (45:45):
So, I mean, you know that's one thing the current
president does well, I think is you know, he goes
to these sporting events that are popular with people. Yeah,
and so whether it's MMA stuff or NASCAR or NFL
football or baseball, all like you know.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
He's using like a pass to get into all these places,
is what it is. Because he just roll right in
and you get to go. Because if you were like
security detail for Obama and Obama's like, hey, let's go
to NASK Let's go to the Indy five hundred real quick,
it's like who's gonna stop that second of all, well,
they're gonna have to give him something to sit in
a special room. So you get the best seat in
the house, and you're gonna roll with him because you're
got in the football You're like, hey, what's up Nascar?
(46:22):
You know. So all these guys hanging around that bubble
feel like they got like this this god passed to
the events.
Speaker 3 (46:28):
Yeah, well maybe you know, they got a job to do. Well,
they're there. So the security guys in particular those events.
Speaker 1 (46:34):
Well not those guys, I'm saying. The guys like when
I see, you know, the current president at a football
game and then you see the commander or no, like
the Defense Secretary of War Hexath's standing next to him,
and then you see Mike Johnson standing next to him,
and the government's all shut down and they're chilling there
flying around on the Air Force one. It just doesn't
it's bad optics.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
Yeah, I agree. You know, I love going to those
sporting events, like we Eric Jones NASCAR ever forty three
is from this district that I'm running for, and like
I know them a little bit, and we go to
the race when it's here in Michigan International Speedway, the
NASCAR race, and it is awesome. Like that kind of
stuff is so much fun, whether it's going to a
(47:15):
big football game or a NASCAR event or you know,
like those things are so fun to watch and particularly
in person, like it's so loud and just thunderous, and
you know, there's a lot of strategy that goes into
all that stuff. It looks simple, like why you know,
why is this? Yeah, you're like why, Like why is
this hard? You know what I mean? They're just driving
(47:36):
a circle, Like, oh my god, the strategy that goes
into the gas consumption and what we you know, how
many tires they change and who's in front of them
and what team are you on and what kind of
engine you have and like all of it matters, and
you got to go pee on the watch.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (47:51):
It's one hundred and sixty in the car and they're
wearing they're wearing cooling suits.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
And it's just like i's got a pe man, let's go.
Speaker 3 (47:58):
Yeah, And they're going to miles an hour, yeah, four
inches away from another car, you know, and.
Speaker 1 (48:03):
They're like in baked and they're like on a really
huge degree.
Speaker 3 (48:06):
Bank track in Daytona, right, and so it's like it's awesome.
Speaker 1 (48:11):
Though.
Speaker 3 (48:11):
I love that stuff, and so my kids love it.
I love it. You know, it's fun to do that
stuff as a family.
Speaker 1 (48:16):
So well, that's cool to do it as a family.
I'm okay with doing it as a family, right, That's okay,
that's okay, But you know, I'll keep that to a
minimal because I had to remember the warning I said
at the beginning the Internet it's real. So yeah, that's right,
all right, all right, I love that. I want my
show to keep going, so I don't want anybody from
(48:37):
real TV reality shows to shut me down in charge
of licensing. I just can't be I don't even know. Yeah,
I got all sorts of smack talk, but you know,
I saw my listener and my viewer that tunes into
us from any of these platforms to just know that,
you know, you and I had just met today and
just had this conversation back and forth. I didn't know
(48:59):
what direction or or really a lot of your politics
and and just talking to you. And if if what
you're going to bring to the table is what we've
talked about today, you know, that's what we kind of
need at the table, right is that? And it should
be like kind of like a round table, I kind
of like King Arthur's you know round table where it's like,
what's going on here, what's going on here? What's going
on here?
Speaker 3 (49:18):
You know, take care of the country, bring costs down
for people, strong national security, like it's not super complicated.
Speaker 1 (49:25):
So with a good with a critical thinker at the helm.
That would be like you right being the critical thinker,
Like I'm gonna be the captain. So you just keep
with that focus, you keep your head down and just
keep doing what you're doing. And you know, I'll be
stoked to watch you on all of your different pressers and.
Speaker 3 (49:42):
Yep, it'll it'll heat up, you know, like the election
is still a little bit off, so people.
Speaker 1 (49:48):
When it happens, me and my wife, I'll just be
like yeah, no, yeah, we're homies. No, yeah, come back
me and Matt right here.
Speaker 3 (49:55):
Please again in the summer when things are hot and heavy, you.
Speaker 1 (49:57):
Know, so please yeah, have you your team or you
reach out and you guys have a welcome platform back
here to you know, have any type of conversation even
if it sooner whatever's going on. If you're like hey
late breaking, hit me up. You know, we'll get it
out there. And again, thanks again for being on the show.
And I've had you for about an hour's time and
I know you're busy doing a lot of this, so
you know, here's to a great kickoff for you. Makes
(50:19):
your best of luck, yes, and and you're wonderful and
thanks to your team and to my listener. This is
Matt Mosdam who's running for Congress in Michigan in sounds
like district forty three. So if you're in that neck
of the woods, oh, district seven. Oh number forty three
was a NASCAR driver.
Speaker 3 (50:38):
Yeah that's right.
Speaker 1 (50:39):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Shout out again, number forty three,
District seven in Michigan. Right, shout out to your governor,
you know, live long and prosper right there to her, okay,
and yeah one hundred percent, and and to you as well. Okay,
So boy, what else do I want to say? Oh? Yeah,
the merch store. Don't forget you guys. Go to the
merch store right it hit all the bells, the whistles,
(51:00):
the light subscribes, because if it wasn't for you that
really you know us, we're talking to you right there,
listener in District seven, that's who we're talking to right now. Okay,
So thanks again for being on the show, and again
you're welcome back anytime on software.
Speaker 3 (51:13):
Thanks God, bless our troops, and thank you. Rad I
appreciate man.
Speaker 1 (51:17):
All right, hey, thanks, I appreciate that. And this is
rad On behalf of Brand New Web and I'm my
producer Callum and everyone behind the scenes who really helped
keep this going. Thank you so much. And to the
fireplace that seems to work all the time. Thanks, I
appreciate that. So this is rad say in peace.
Speaker 2 (51:48):
You've been listening to self recreating
Hey, what's going on? This is rad I am your
host for this episode of soft Rep Radio. Insert all
the cool do do sounds behind me and stuff.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Mute forms. If it doesn't work, you're just not using enough.
You're listening to SOFTWAB Radio, Special Operations, Military nails and
straight talk with the guys in the community.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
And by the way, thanks to Callum, my producer who
does insert all of these things. Like right here between
my hands, it should say the soft Rep Merch Store
and you can just click on that. So I want
to tell you to go check out the soft Rep
dot com forward slash merch store or it might be
stores dot soft Rep, but Callum makes something happen right here, okay.
And then second, we have a book club, all right,
(01:12):
and the book club is the gym for your mind
if you're into thrillers, if you want something that's fiction nonfiction.
You know that means real or not real. You know,
for you out there that are learning still, go check
out our book club, right it is soft Rep dot
com Forward slash book hyphen Club and pick up a book.
They're curated by the Special Operation Forces guys and gals
(01:32):
behind the scenes with their library to you so go
check that out. Now. Today I have a former Navy seal,
Matt Mosden on the show today. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Thank you, sir. I appreciate it being here.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
It's great and we're stoked to have you. And I'm
just gonna kind of let my listener know. You know,
you've obviously clicked on the links and they know you're here.
Try to keep it a surprise, but they've clicked on
the link. I've learned that they're like, they know who
they're watching. And today you're going to be talking about
you know, your background and running for Congress, that you're
about to throw your hat. You've thrown your hat in
(02:10):
the ring for this political society that we have to
have around us. Let me just read a little bit
about you and then we'll crack you open. Okay, got it? Okay,
So let's meet Matt Masdam, Democrat for Congress. Forged by
his service as a Navy seal, Matt has dedicated his
life to serving his country and community, with a career
that spans the highest levels of national security and business leadership.
(02:33):
He lives in mid Michigan with his wife, Laura, a
veteran naval helicopter pilot he met at Survival School in
the Navy. They're two boys, both avid hockey players and
their cat Captain America. A graduate of the University of Michigan,
Matt pledged an oath to defend our country and constitution
when he joined the Navy shortly after college and became
a seal, deploying to Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, and the Pacific.
(02:55):
Over twenty years in the Navy, he served in some
of the world's most dangerous and complex environments, working to
truck terrast networks, and keep America safe. A little bit
about Matt is He was also put in charge of
Hell Week for the Navy Seal Budge Training and has
put in over one thousand UH Navy seals through his
course and his instruction and leadership. He worked at under
(03:16):
Armour for a while and grew that organization to what
we know is under Armour today. He went off to
find his own This is off my head, by the way.
He went off to find his own multiple e commerces
hire people that he knows locally, give other people jobs
in his community, and friends and people who are looking
to him to help give them leadership. Probably after he
transitioned out, Man, I'm really happy to have you on
(03:38):
the show. So welcome aboard.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Rad awesome, thank you to be thank you for having
me here. It's really really fun.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Right, and that's a very okay. So we can read
all about you, right, like I just kind of did
at Matt mosdom dot is it org or dot com
dot com? Right, and it's got everything about you, your bio,
you know what's your what you're what you're moving yourself towards.
Right at any given time. You can't do this by yourself,
(04:04):
that's right. Takes a team, takes a team, takes a village,
it takes a country.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
That is right, and you've done nothing but give yourself
to it.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Yeah, service to my country is something I'm huge on, right.
It's one of those things that my dad was big
on service. He was in the National Guard, he was
a doctor, helping other people. He actually picked our house
when I was grown up so he could be a
volunteer firefighter. And so we're kind of on the edge
slash out of town. And it was one of those
places where thousand acre cornfield is my backyard, right, and
(04:39):
my dad loved it so he could like race down
the stairs and get to the fire station as fast
as possible so he could drive the truck to the
fire so we could help people. So my mom's the
same way. She was a middle school music teacher, right,
So school teachers are saints, you know what I mean?
Middle school teachers in particular should be given automatic sainthood.
(04:59):
So from a background of service, So I just I
really care about country and family, and I you know,
when I dedicated my adult life and profession to serve
in the country, and it's something that's.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Important to me. Is your mom and dad still here?
Speaker 3 (05:15):
My mom is? My My father passed away. He had
Alzheimer's early on set and so largely he was in
Iraq a couple of times as a National guardsman and wow,
got hit in the well. He fell and hit his
head really hard in that attack. And they think that
plus a lack of sleep kind of contributed to Alzheimer's.
(05:35):
So he passed away early.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Okay, well, sorry about that, Thanks for service. We're just
around Veteran's Day, so big shout out. Yeah, you know,
and National Guard, all your National Guard out there, you know.
So you're young, right to have a dad who's been
in Iraq while you've also been in the military at
the same time. You know, you had a young dad
or you're young, and I'm going to say that you're
pretty young, so you know, you know, it's refreshing.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah, it's good. And so I actually I almost saw
my dad in Iraq, which was crazy. So I was
going in and he was coming out, and he actually
left on the plane that I came in on, but
we didn't know and kind of like you know, shipped
fasting in the night, so to speak. So it was crazy.
But we were both there at the same time. And
so yeah, he's you know, he was pretty young when
(06:21):
he was there, and I was. I was really young
when I was there.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
So it was.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
It's a time that you're given to your country that
those young years, you know, it's kind of the best
years physically of your life, and it's what you need
is a seal.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
When you went in. Did you go to Iraq as
a seal? Is that how you did? You just go
straight from high school to college and graduate and go
in as ocs or officer or how do Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Yeah, So I went to Michigan for school. I actually
I was a swimmer in high school. I was a
fast swimmer, and I came here and I played water polo.
I'd never played before. And I said to the coach
after a couple days of tryouts, I was the fastest
guy there but had never played. And you can kind
of see that. The coach can see that. So I
said to him, Hey, you know, I can see you
can see that I've never played water pole. But I
(07:07):
promise you by the time i'm a senior, if you
put me on this team, by the time i'm a senior,
I will be the captain. And he was. He kind
of like tilted his head and he's like, So the
next day I come in, I'm twenty fourth of twenty
four people on the team. So I made the team,
made the varsity team, right, and then freshman year didn't
play a game. Most of the time. I was just
(07:28):
egg beetering and watching the offense and kind of learning
how the game works. Second year, I played a couple
of games right. Sophomore year, third year I started, which
was great. In my senior year, I was a captain
and we were a club team. We won club national championships,
so fantastic, you know, just kind of that long term
ish view of like, this is what I'm going to
(07:49):
do accomplishing that goal, dedication, determination, focus, perseverance. Right, So
it was it was great and through that water pole
is an awesome game. Right, It's like fighting in the water, bro.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I mean, like it's deep, right, You're like you a
twenty foot You're like in the deep pool. It's consistent
and my legs are moving like my hands if you're
watching right now, okay, like both ways, Like when you
see the Olympics and you're watching a water polo and
they're underwater with the shots, You're like, wait, they can't
really touch the bottom, you know. It's like so when
they come up out of the water, you know, and
you see those abs and all those lats and all
of that throwing that ball, bro, that's awesome. Yeah, so
(08:25):
I do know, I know water polo of it.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Yes, it's good and it's a great sport and it
does that transitions very well to the seal teams. Actually,
water polo does like comfort in the water is what's
important as a seal and so being a good swimmer
is nice. Being comfortable in the water where you get
punched in the face and dunked and flipped around like
that's that's better for your you know, seal training so.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Well, because they're rolling you underwater and like ripping your
mask off, tying your hoses, like doing all of that,
and you're just like, okay, all right, I get it,
let me fix it. And you have to keep calm,
and like I swim maybe twice three times a week,
and I box just about every day, and I try
to go. I try to push off in a lane
and go as far as I can underwater before I
(09:09):
start freaking out how to come up to breathe, because
we want to breathe. I can usually make it out
to the first two red.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Dots on the rope, yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Yeah, thank you, Yeah, And I can get all the
way there, right, And my son's actually a little better.
My wife's really good. But I just think about free
divers that go down like one hundred meters just on
one breath, and they're just like coming back up that
same three hundred feet, you know, with the same one
breath that they went down on. And then there's you guys.
And I've seen a lot of documentaries on Discovery back
(09:40):
in the day where people are literally dying as they
pull them out of water. But they pass because they
touch the wall, they had to go under back and forth,
and then they resuscitate them, you know, get them to
stop drowning.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah, well you know they're not dying, Okay, Okay, we
take extreme efforts to make sure things are safe, right,
and so people do pass out.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Underwater, well they're giving it, They're all That's what I'm saying,
you know.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Rest assured that we have somebody right there to like
bring them up as fast as we can. We get
them on the surface, and we called slap of life.
We you know, just kind of like pop them in
the face, and that typically is all they.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Need to you know, do the you're born again, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
They come back and they're all they care about is
whether or not they succeeded and.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
So right, I mean really it's just like, yeah, you pass,
now go recover probably.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Yeah, But that's the kind of dedication we want to see. Right,
Like when I went through training, it was like succeed
or die, right, Like there was no there was no right.
And so when you go into training with that kind
of attitude, like those guys tend to do really well.
Because if you go in and say, like we'll see
how this goes, Like, that's not going to do well
(10:54):
at seal training, right, and so because it's gonna you're
gonna have terrible days and every but the thing is
everybody has terrible days, and so you have to be
able to get through those terrible days. And like so
I went from Michigan. I joined the Navy OCS Officer
can at school in Pensacola, Florida. I go to San Diego.
I was in buds class two two three, one hundred
(11:15):
and sixteen guys started. Sixteen of those original guys graduated
on time and so not a lot. But I was
in Hell week. This is you know, to that like
everybody gets hurt. Component I was in Hell week. Nighttime.
We're doing a beach thing. I step in a hole
in my toes, like my foot bent and my toes
(11:38):
touch my shin and I hear a pop in my
calf and you know, a pop like you tore something, pope,
And I couldn't. I could no longer plant my foot.
I couldn't like put it down under, you know, with
any muscle. And I said to the instructor, hey man,
I just I just heard a pop in my leg.
And he said, well, you can keep going or you
(11:59):
can and I said, you know, I was like, well,
I didn't come here to quit. So I kept going
and I couldn't so I couldn't land my foot. Well,
so what I would do for the next I had?
I was Hell Week Tuesday. At Hell Week, right, we
probably had one hundred miles of a round and left
to go boats on my head, no sleep. I'm kicking
my leg forward with my quad as hard as I
(12:20):
can and then throwing it down with my hamstring and
planting it like that so I can run, right, And
so it worked, and I kept going for the rest
of the week, and they were giving me shots of
toward all and whatever, you know, anti inflammatory. It didn't
help it all.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
So but if your perseverance and your drive and your
determination to just you know, be the captain of the
team that you had in college, I could just get
it from you right now.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
But nobody like that was not special in any capacity.
Everybody there had something equivalently wrong with them. And it's
it's whether you decide like no, I'm not going to quit,
or like I'm hurt. I'm I'm getting out. You know,
we kept going and you recover I mean they give
you time to heal right after hell week, and so
(13:09):
that was good.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
But it is good. That is good. And so when
you got tasked with taking that on, right and now
you're like in charge of hell week, right, you're like,
hurry up, hurry up, hurry up. You're the guy probably
on the bullhorn.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Hurry up, I'm the guy behind the guy.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, that's that's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying.
Like I love that. I love that in a truck too,
hurry up.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Yeah, I mean we encourage people to quit, right in
a world where like most people get encouraged to stay.
We're like, hey, hot coffee and donuts in the truck.
If you quit, you know when it's forty degrees out
and there's the water's fifty and you've been in it
for two hours or five in the morning, like it sucks,
and we encourage you to quit, and we find the
(13:52):
people who really really want to be there.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Right.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
But as an instructor, I'm looking for, like the physical
component of seal training is important, Like I would say,
you have to be a good call, a good high schooler,
like college level athlete, you know, to succeed but we're
not looking for Olympians here. What I need is from
the neck up right, like it's somebody who decides this
is what I'm gonna do no matter what, right, and
(14:16):
they're gonna be there all the time. They're going to persevere.
They have the dedication and discipline to do it. And
so I looked for five I sussed out these five
things from physical activity, right, judgment. I wanted to see
people make good decisions, teamwork, they put their team above themselves. Courage,
they're going to do things that are hard, they're passionate, right,
(14:40):
and they have integrity if you do those five things.
When I was an instructor, like we will do everything
you can't we can to make sure you succeed. And
the Seal teams do a lot to make sure people
make it through training. We can't. You know, if you
show up and you can't run and you can't swim,
it's hard to get that person through. But if you
show up and you're will to put in the work
(15:01):
and you're a decent athlete, and from the neck up
you have it like you're going to make it, so
it's a great environment.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
It'd be a good way to like just segue right
into what you're doing right now. I like the neck
up aspect of politics, right. I want to have like
enough bravado, right, and just having somebody who can come
in with some leadership and some ability to just want
to be the captain just like, Hey, I have an
understanding of growing up living in Michigan, going to school,
(15:33):
going to the college in Michigan, being a Michigan you know, resident,
and just being that dude to now want to just
protect you know what you find valuable, which is, you know,
democracy and freedom. And I'm just putting words out there
right for you. But you know that's the head up, right,
That's what I'm saying. You want someone who has a
(15:53):
head on their shoulders. How many times we had heard, oh,
they got a good head on their shoulders, you know.
I heard that when I was injured. They're like, rad,
God give you a good buying, but mine but a
messed up body. Hunt. I'm just like, man, I guess so, bro,
It's like, ah, you know.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
You know what's great about the military, and I can
speak to the seal teams more, but the military in
particular in general is nobody cares about politics. Not once
in my career in twenty years, did somebody say, hey,
you know, are you a Democrat or Republican?
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Right?
Speaker 3 (16:22):
You don't get a damn and right like they care
that you're a good teammate and you're there to accomplish
the mission and you're going to help your your your
guys get it done.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
That that's what they care about. And I think America
needs more of that and they want more of that,
And like, that's that's what I hope to bring to
the table. The ability to reach across the aisle of
the ability to get things done, the ability to like
care for for the folks that I'm there to represent.
That's what I want, you know.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
And I was going to say, I had it kind
of thought about when I was going to talk with you.
Is that, you know, how do you stay you know,
like just out of that situation of politics. And I
keep going back to this admiral that was over the
VA for years during the COVID it and you know,
he's like rat it just says US in front of
my name, says US Army, US Navy, US Marines, US
says US first, and we swear an oath to the
(17:09):
US not to just like one person or one party,
and then I was thinking to myself further on this question.
This is how I was deep diving my thought for you. Right,
It's like you were in charge of Hell Week, where
you could have found out anybody's anything about them and
just decided it's who's who. But you said, I'm gonna
let a thousand people get into the Navy seals at
(17:31):
with their own choices of who they want to vote
for in this life, as long as they can meet
the head on the shoulders and the physical requirements that
you're going to bestow upon them. It's not because of
who they had elected.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Right. These are all people who are put in their
country first. That's right, And that's what it takes. It's
country over party, it's country over self, it's country over everything.
Like you're there to defend the United States from problems
that exist and so.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Foreign and domestic. That's what it's. That's right there, I.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Mean really first and so it's not terribly complicated, but
you know, as and in this process you get to
have fun, right, Like you get to travel the world,
particularly in the Navy, like we go to great places
and so paint. Yeah, I mean, but like so One
(18:20):
of my one of my fun stories is I went
to Sydney, Australia.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Right.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Yeah, We're in my very first deployment. We're jumping with
the Australians and we went to their jump school in
a place called Naurra, Australia. Cool and so what what
is you know, we're seals, So we're jumping into the water.
What what is Australia known for in the water?
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Sharks? Right?
Speaker 3 (18:40):
And so I'm like, you know, I have that in
the back of my mind. Daytime jump. I'm I'm on
the one man on the C one thirty ramp looking
out and the jump masters next to me's knelt down
and he goes, you know, he's got this little box
and he's like scanning the ocean like this, and I go,
what are you doing? And he goes, oh, mate, if
there's more than seven sharks in this little we can't jump.
(19:02):
And I'm like, he goes, but we're okay, and I'm like,
what does that mean?
Speaker 1 (19:05):
We have six?
Speaker 3 (19:06):
And so he goes go and you know, I jump
out of the plane, I watch my shoot open up.
I look down and there are sharks everywhere, right, like
different depths every the whole ocean, Like I can see
them moving back and forth and I'm coming down, and
you know, you can't avoid landing in the water at
that point.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
And so.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
But you know, you know what I said say to
my kids, what I said to myself in these situation
is I'm the scariest thing out here, right. Those sharks
want nothing to do with me. And so even though
it's it's, you know, a treacherous environment, like I land
in the water, I think, yeah, everything was good right,
And I don't think the Australians they were jumping to
(19:50):
they weren't going to put us in a situation that
was bad. And everybody was in that situation, so it
was okay. And I feel a lot like you know,
throwing your hat in the ring for Congress, I feel
a lot the same way where it's like there's sharks
in the water and I'm like, well, I'm the toughest
thing here. So you just have to have that self
confidence in the perspective to keep going when things get hard.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Now with that said, you're going to be running for
the twenty twenty six midterms, is that right in Michigan? Okay?
And so are you going to be doing town halls
and all these types of things. It's like a junket
for Congress.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yep, I already am and so it's the people who
really care about these things are already highly engaged. And
so I go spend my week nights, you know, kind
of talking to the groups of people and introducing myself,
talking about the issues for the district and talking about
why I think I'm a good person for the job.
And so people really care about cost of living, they
(20:51):
really care about preservation of freedom and making sure the
American way of life continues. Right, the American dream is
still kind of alive, correct.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
You know that people have you know, their own somignty
over their own bodies, you know, to do what they
wish with as themselves, you know, male or female, or
you know that they have the ability to choose who
they want to be in an elected office with a
voting system that is you know, tried and true and
not tainted with you know propaganda out there of you know,
(21:24):
election interference and things like that that gets thrown around
and we get polarized with those words, you know. So
I just remember growing up in my household. So I'm
forty eight years old, so I grew up in the
eighties and nineties, and I'd always ask my dad. It
was like Reagan versus do Caucus, Caucus versus Bush, something
like that. Right, it was on TV. Right, it was
just like talking, and I was like, who you're voting for?
(21:46):
He's like, I don't have to tell you that. And
I'm his son, and I was like, Dad, I got
my own little outfit and everything, just like you pop, like,
you're not gonna tell me this classified information. And he
just looked at me. He said, it's my right as
an American to not have to tell you who I choose.
Flash forward to like Obama and whoever was voting, whoever
(22:08):
Obama was going against. I took him to go vote.
He comes out. I'm like, so, who'd you vote for?
He's like, I don't have to tell you. Nothing ever
changed with that, and I have always held on to that.
So I tell my kids, I don't have to tell you. Yeah,
I tell people, I don't have to tell you. That
is my right as an American. I can choose a
B or C as my vote if that's what's on
(22:29):
the ballot. I don't have to say anything. So, my son,
you see so many flags waving. You know, it's like
I've never saw colors. I saw colors the movie Crips
and Bloods, but I've never seen colors like these flags
I'm seeing waving all over you know.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Yeah, you know, like, and that's what we're fighting for
as Americans, right, yeah, your right to vote, your right
to freedom, You're right to do the things you want
to do. And so you know, a story along those lines.
When I was in Iraq, I guarded the vice President
of Iraq because this guy's name was Sprouse Shatways. He
was occurred from northern Iraq. He actually led the Kurdish
(23:08):
resistance against Saddam Hussein after Saddam killed like five thousand
people with chemical weapons in nineteen eighty eight. So this
guy was tough, right, He spoke five languages, electrical engineer,
PhD like head of the Kurdish parliament. Fantastic human and
fighting for his country. And you know, Saddam took over.
(23:29):
They didn't I don't know if they had elections, but
he was authoritarian, you know what I mean. So there
was no free elections at that point. And I was
guarding this guy who was two thousand and five and
the first election for the country came up when we
were there, when I was guarding.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
So.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
I'm watching this guy who's fought for his country, you know,
for decades, so that he could have what we have
here in America every election cycle. And in that or
in that election, you know, multiple suicide bombers killed dozens
of people across the country, people trying to vote, and
(24:09):
you know, I was guarding this guy. So we went
up to the the ballot box and I'm like, good lord.
It was the tensest I think I I was in
that entire you know, we were like his secret service. Yeah,
so it was the tensest I think I was the
whole time going up to the election pool because like
everybody knew where he was going to vote, and so
you could have planned a bomb there. Yeah, And they
(24:32):
were really good at that point with kind of remote
detonated devices. And so we went up there and he voted,
and he was so proud, like, you know, decades of
service to get to that point, and it was so
neat to see him get that accomplished. And and like
it gave.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Dip his finger, right, he dipped his finger in something purple.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Yeah, they had to dip their finger finger to show
that they.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Had voted and they can't vote again. Yeah, yeah, so.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
They couldn't vote again, so finger in ink.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
So proud those pictures. I don't know if it makes.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Yeahs showed that they had voted right right, So it
was such a neat thing. And then like to think,
it's something in America that we just we kind of,
I don't want to say take it for granted necessarily,
but we assume it's going to be that way all
the time. And this guy had fought for decades to
get it to be that way in Iraq, and I'm
happy that it is today.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
So really a lot of folks need to maybe think
twice about what was really transpiring over there was the
fact of trying to have a democracy and today they
just had elections just today, yesterday they just had elections
for a new for Iraq. Like it's it's continuing. This
is kind of been embedded now whether it's you know,
(25:45):
it'll be sorted out through their their mechanisms, that's up
to them. But you know, they got to vote again,
and I didn't hear of anything blowing up.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Yeah, I haven't heard it. You know, they've been stable, Yes,
for quite some time. So that's fantastic, A good job.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Yeah, it's good job.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
So when I came back from that, I went to
grad school and did a couple other things in the Navy.
But after that I got selected as President Obama's military
aid from the Navy. So there are five military aids
at a time, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast
Guard at the time. Now there's Space Force in addition.
And it was a fantastic role. So in that role,
(26:26):
you carry the nuclear codes for the president, right, and
so it's wild, but it's like you kind of in
that capacity, you take care of everything from say starting
at like a nine to eleven event all the way
to nuclear war. Now, while that's incredibly important, you know,
it's it's probably one percent of your job because like
the ninety nine percent is you're coordinating the activities of
(26:49):
the White House Military Office, and so you're making sure
the president can do their job. Air Force one, helicopters, drivers, communicators,
all these people, and you're coordinating their efforts and that
with Secret Service in the White House staff to make
sure the president can do what they need to do.
And so that was that was me. It was a
big role and so but a fun role. And you're
(27:12):
inside the bubble, so you get to see kind of
how the executive branch works from the inside, which is great.
And we went to things like State of the Union
addresses and you get to see how the legislator and
the executive branch, you know, get along and function. So
fantastic job. But every day there is intense as you
(27:34):
can imagine. Not only are you carrying the nuclear codes
and ready for that, but just being around the President
and other you know, his crew. Yeah, it's like you
have to be on your game because questions that have
implications throughout the time, and events come up that some
(27:57):
of them are false alarms and some of them are
you know, quite died down. But events come up all
the time. And I'll give you an example. So I
was flying across the country or flying west from DC
on Air Force one. I get a call and somebody
and the guy said, hey, we've just had a plane
take off out of JFK to New York City squawk
(28:18):
and hijack. And they don't have any comms. And this
is shortly, you know, it's not too long after nine
to eleven. It is two thousand and I was like, okay,
tell me more, and they said, we don't have any more.
And I'm like, well I need more. I said, like
they said, what I said, is the cockpit secure? How
many people are on board? Where's the plane going? Did
(28:38):
anybody take responsibility?
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Right?
Speaker 3 (28:40):
So I'm kind of going through these checklist things. I go,
you have one minute. I hang up the phone, I
walk up. I get it was Valerie Jarrett was the
person that was responsible for the staff at that moment.
And I said, hey, Valerie, we got this thing in
New York. And I explained it to her. Her eyes
get big and she's like, we need to tell the
BOS and I said not yet, give me one one minute.
(29:03):
And because nothing's going to change, right and that, like
I can't affect anything at that point. The President's safe,
which is a big concern of mine, Like we're able
to communicate with the country if that is needed, We're okay.
And so but you know I have that presence. I'm calm,
right like, because calm is contagious, and if I get worked.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Up, everybody it's contagious, that's right.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
And so I stayed calm, and I you know people
are watching me because they could see what was happening.
And I get back on the phone and said, hey,
you know, what's the update, and and the guy goes, hey,
funny thing, you know, they don't have any communications. But
the guy like bumped the hijack button and everything's okay.
They didn't actually get hijacked, they just didn't have any comms.
(29:46):
And I was like, oh, yeah, important update. And so
I'm glad I didn't take that to the president and
ruin his day.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Right.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
But it's a good example of the stuff that comes
up to that person. And it's also a great example
of staying calm because those things, you know, panicking does
not assist with a successful resolution of anything, right, Like
staying calm and being you know, clear thinking the whole
time is what you want to see.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Yeah, because especially if you're underwater and you start freaking out,
you're gonna lose your air quicker. Yeah, you stay calm
and you let a couple of bubbles out, you're gonna
sit down there for a minute and be like, hey,
this is kind of I got control over my situation. Right. Yeah,
I've just been getting better at swimming. I've just been
getting better at the pool by going to it.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
That's good. I love the pool is great. The oceans,
the oceans where it's at, though, you got to go
out there and you know, get used to that.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
I'm a little nervous of that big open water. But
I do have respect for the Navy with regards to
all the jokes that are out there from all the branches.
I'm like, man, they're doing everything that you do on
a boat.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Okay, it's good. You know, my wife, my wife is
a helicopter pilot in the Navy, right, and so she's
having the land on the ships in like heavy seas
at night when it's raining. Yeah, the ship's rocking, and
so I think, you know, it's challenging enough to land
a helicopter on the ground correctly, let alone, you know,
if the ground.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Is moving or moving in fog.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
Yeah, exactly. And so in the the you know, the
blade of her of her helicopter is just inches from
the superstructure of this ship. Like those sheep don't have
extra room, and so like if you you're off a foot, like.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Your helicopter disaster. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
And so my wife and I actually met at survival
school at Pow Training School in the Navy, which was fantastic.
So after seal training, you go to seer school. It's survive, Evade, Resistant,
escape is what that stands for.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
And so.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Fifty seven guys in the class, three women in a
sixty person class, mostly aircrew and helicopter, mostly aircrew, pilots
and seals, and we go and it's miserable, right, like
you don't eat for a week, you're getting beat up,
you don't don't sleep. And so we're out in the
field and she was so chipper and excited and smiling,
(32:06):
happy to be there, and like everything we did, she like,
you know, she was volunteering to be the first person.
Just so happy. And at the end, you know, she's
still that happy after after you know, getting slapped across
the face and putting boxes and you know, getting you know,
kind of tortured ish.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
And so.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
I said to her, how are you are you enjoying this? Like,
how is this? You're so happy? And she's she said,
I just wanted to do this my whole life. It's fantastic.
I'm so excited to be here, and I'm like, I
need more of this person in my life. So I
asked her out right at the end of the.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
School trauma bond at its finest.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Years later, we were married, you know what I mean.
So I love it, still married this day, you know,
twenty plus years, have two kids, and so.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
You can survive that, you can survive anything together.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
Yeah, she's tough rugby for the academy, like tough to so.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
And so she's ready for the political theater that you're
about to get into here.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
Yeah, I think as much as she's going to be.
You know, she is very supportive of me doing it.
I don't think she would want to do it herself,
but you know, it's it's one of those things where
she loves that I want to contribute to the country
and serve the country in this capacity.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
I love. That reminds me of something my dad would
tell me when I'd be like, I don't know if
I want to do that, and he's like, well why not.
I was like, well, I've never done it, and he's like,
well then why not. I was like, well, He's like,
well if not you, then who you know? Kind of
attitude is what he's like. You never know until you try, ye,
And so you know, it seems like you've got a
pretty good head on your shoulders, you know, you've made
(33:40):
it this far in your in your lifespan, so you know, yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
And I have a unique perspective on things, right, like
having gone to war. Yeah, having been a seal, gone
to war and carry the nuclear codes gives you this
kind of like we're gonna be okay perspective, Like bad
stuff comes up from time to time, to fight through
it and sometimes it sucks, but we can do it right, Like,
this is something we can do the country. If you
(34:07):
don't like the direction it's going, I think we're a
couple of good voices from getting it back to that place.
And so this is not something that's impossible. It's not
something that is permanent or you know, unfixable, Like you
move forward in ups and downs, and we're going to
(34:27):
get there, and we're going to get there together.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Which would be great if you could get out to
like an appropriations committee, you know, or like anything like
those types of things where you have experience from your
your perspective to bring to like the military. Right, it's like, hey,
you know, did you say three point eight percent raise
for everybody?
Speaker 3 (34:45):
Bro?
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Like, did you really just say that little of a raise?
Maybe you should try like a fifteen percent raise? You know,
if you want retention, Yeah, I mean really we want retention.
We want guys like you and gals like your wife
and those that have served to remain because you guys
have gone through it and put all the effort in there.
But when a civilian job's kind of chomping at you
a little bit looking here, and you know, the army
(35:07):
or the military branch you're in is like, well, we
can't meet this extra ten thousand a month.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
Yeah, that's hard. And like I think the people that
are in the military, they do it for love of country,
you know what I mean, And so it's service above
lining your pocket books. And like, for me, the reason
I got out was family. And I had two kids
at the White House, two little boys, and like I
was looking at my future career, knowing that I would
be gone seventy five percent of the time, and I
(35:37):
look at that and I'm like, no, No, I had
these kids, and I want to be a good dad,
I want to be a good husband. I want to
be you know, a great family. And so I transitioned
to the reserves at that point because of that, and
worked at civilian jobs, right, I worked at under Omar
like you had talked about a little bit and started
some companies and it's it's one of those I care
(35:57):
about my family. I want to be a good role
model to my boys. And that's a big reason why
I'm running for office now, is because I want I'm
I say to them all the time, like, be the
change you want to see, kandhi right. But also, we
don't complain about problems. We solve them right, like, like
we're not here to bitch about it, We're here to
make it better. And so that's what I'm trying to do.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
I love that. And so you know, I'm not saying like, hey,
you're the one hundred percent perfect person in this world,
but I do like what you're saying right now, and
it makes sense to me. And you know, I would
hope that you have a really good, valiant effort towards
your goal of you know, attaining this new position in life. Yeah,
(36:41):
you know, and I hope the folks in Michigan might
maybe a listener out there who's in Michigan will look
you up and just read on you themselves, like learn
about you that yourself, do some recon you know, read
into your candidates and just kind of say, hey, does
this person kind of go along with what I want
to vote for because they're gonna be on my ballot,
And so if they're going to be on the ballot,
(37:03):
you should be looking at that candidate and not just
you know, choosing you know, an elephant in the room
or a donkey or you know, anything like that. Just
look at the candidate and see if they align with you.
I'm just putting that out there. And you can do
that by visiting Matt's website, which is mattmsdam dot com.
And he's got all sorts of different bio and you know,
(37:24):
you're what you're about. I noticed that there's a donate
button up there, right you are?
Speaker 3 (37:28):
There is yeah, part of things.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
It is, and and we always hear about that, you know,
whether it's like Bernie Sanders, like I just need two
dollars or one dollar, or whether it's the guy on
the other side of the aisle who's a Republican. Let
me think Trump, I need you to buy a one
hundred thousand dollars gold watch, right, Okay, come on man.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Anyways, you know, money is a hard part of politics,
Like you have to have the money to get things done,
to run for office, so you know people are going
to ask you those for support and so, but it's
not for me, it's it's honestly for the country. So
it's a better place. The district I'm running is it's
(38:10):
exactly fifty percent Republicans and fifty percent Democrats, and so
it's it's one of those where it kind of shows
the whole country which way things are leaning, you know,
for that election, and this is going to be a
close one.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
And so, I mean, groceries on both sides, haven't you know,
they're they're still going up like fourteen percent increase on commeters.
You know, there's like, you know, gasoline has not I
don't my local like grocery store gives me like points
on my purchase towards gas. I'm still not hitting two bucks.
Speaker 3 (38:45):
Yeah, those things play into it, right, And so prices
are going up and wages aren't going up as fast,
so people are affording less.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
Minimum wage is still seven to twenty five. I know
you're not running for president. I know you're running from Michigan,
but the mindset is kind of like, you know, you
still have those people that you're going to be you know,
advocating for.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
Yeah, right, and Look, if you work your whole life
like and you work hard, you should be able to
be somewhat comfortable, right and not scraping by at the end.
You should have a you should be able to send
your kids to school. You should be able to afford
a house. You should be able to afford food on
your table.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
And so have food on your table.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Yeah, have food on your table. Take take a vacation
now and then right, and so it's those kind of
things we're after and making sure like the most people
can do, like can be successful to the longest period
of time. That's what I'm looking for. And so I'm
not looking to line pocketbooks. I'm not looking to take
away freedoms. I'm looking to preserve freedoms and make sure
(39:46):
people can live a good life and the most people can.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
Well, I feel good about what you're saying. If I
was just, you know, first time talking with you, and
you were having a round table with me right now,
and you know, just go in the circles. Okay, let's
throw then out there. For the veteran who is in
Michigan that needs to have like legalized cannabis, what's your
position on something like that? For you know, medicinal use. Uh,
(40:12):
let's throw that out there because I have a lot
of veterans.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
So we are we are the model state in the
country for how to get it stood up and be
a successful business. So that's nice to see. So if
people need it, they can definitely get it.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
It's already happening in Michigan. Yeah, it's not fought over,
it's just understood. And is that the governor Gretchen.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
Uh, Gretchen Whitmer.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
She's fantastic, yes, right, right, and yeah, but I mean
she's had her trials and tribulations with people attempting things
to her and her life or.
Speaker 3 (40:44):
Yeah, yeah, she you know, she was in the presidential
you know nominee kind of mentioned and so I think
that brought a lot of attention to her. And there's
some militia folks who who tried to you know, they're
planning to kidnapp her back in the day, and so
that was very frightening. It is not a good thing
at all. No, it should not be tolerated in any
(41:07):
capacity from either side like it is to be condoned period,
whether it's somebody trying to kidnap Whipmer or you know,
attempting an assassination, like, no, that's not how he comes here, right, No,
it is hard to work with the other side of
the aisle. It is not easy. We do not have
the same vision of things or you know, necessarily all
(41:29):
the same values. But you want to you need to
work together and cooperate and compromise a little and we'll
move forward step by step together.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
Yeah, you need to have like some humble houses, you know,
like everybody all just needs to be like we don't
talk about that about each other, Like we don't say
that about the other person, Like we're not going to
let that question, you know, be derogatory towards my opponent,
because you know, like Senator John McCain, you know, the
late John McCain said, you know, I mean he's like, no,
I'm not going to let you talk about anybody negative
(42:00):
like that, and we're going to move on with your question.
And he just was able to like, you know, just
let it go off his back like a turtle, okay,
with armor. But like now today it's so much like
you know, picking on people's disabilities, people on their features,
like going at them like a kid in eighth grade,
you know, bullying it's just like I just would like
(42:22):
to see more. You know, we don't say that about
each other.
Speaker 3 (42:26):
We just read this is a great You're making a
great point. And one of the things that the Seal
teams does a really good job of, and I think
people don't know this enough, is obviously we're tough guys, right.
We get put in tough situations and we train to
that and we're good at it. Another thing we get
trained to be is compassionate in kind. Right, if you're
going if you're at war and you're going into somebody's house,
(42:49):
and you might like you're going into a bomber's house, right,
you might have to kill this guy. You're ready to
shoot somebody as you're going in the door. And on
the other when you get through the door, there might
be a baby there, There might be an old woman,
there might be a little girl.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
Right.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
You have to be able to instantly toggle between I
need to protect this person and take care of them
or shoot them.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
Right.
Speaker 3 (43:12):
And so we get taught to be tough and kind
or tough and compassionate, and that's something that you can do.
They are not mutually exclusive. You can be both, right,
And so when I see leaders or people who are
only tough and they're on the mean dto tough and
they're just proven to the world that they're a badass.
I think that they're misguiding. I think that they're only
(43:34):
half the man they could be or woman they could be. Right,
if you should be tough and kind, you can be
both at the same time.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
And I think it's in all of them. And I
think that they just there's this bravado, right, and it's
like I gotta have this, Like it's almost like they
think they're just blowing up on Instagram and they got
to keep doing the same thing over and over and
over again, when in fact, you know that starts to
get stale and then you'll, oh, I got to change
it up. Well, let me go a different route. And
it's like I watched it a couple of times, but
(44:04):
I'm kind of getting you're just kind of coming up
with shticks now, right, versus like, you know, yeah, so kind,
compassion and you know, be ready to knock someone out right.
I box every single day, bro.
Speaker 3 (44:16):
You have to. That's the that's the tough part of it.
Like you have to be hard and tough and strong
and ready to go and you need to use those
same skills to protect people who need help, correct, right,
And so you're not there to beat on people who
are weaker. You're you're there to help people who are weaker. Like,
(44:37):
that's correct, That's part of the game, and that's what
warriors do. And when you see fighters, whether they're MMA
guys or boxers or tie muay Thai guys, like the
guys that I know that do that professionally are the
nicest people in the world. And it's because they know
they can knock you out in a tenth of a
second if they have right, right, So they don't have
(44:58):
to prove anything in terms of their physicality and toughness,
and that gives them the opportunity to be kind and
gracious and compassionate, right, Like, shouldn't we all do that?
Speaker 1 (45:10):
I think? So? I mean, really, you know, just I
agree with you, Yeah, I do. I don't know, if
you know. I'm not trying to like bag on the
situation of having like these combat fights at Nations, at
our at our White House, you know, but if we're
going to have combat fights happening with these rings and
everything all set up on the Rose Garden, it should
(45:31):
be with congressmen and women. Okay, yeah, let's roll in there,
all right, you guys want to get something done, let's go, right,
it seems it's all legit. What's in the ring? Okay? Yeah,
all right, leave it in the ring right out of
your sense, So let's go. You know.
Speaker 3 (45:45):
So, I mean, you know that's one thing the current
president does well, I think is you know, he goes
to these sporting events that are popular with people. Yeah,
and so whether it's MMA stuff or NASCAR or NFL
football or baseball, all like you know.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
He's using like a pass to get into all these places,
is what it is. Because he just roll right in
and you get to go. Because if you were like
security detail for Obama and Obama's like, hey, let's go
to NASK Let's go to the Indy five hundred real quick,
it's like who's gonna stop that second of all, well,
they're gonna have to give him something to sit in
a special room. So you get the best seat in
the house, and you're gonna roll with him because you're
got in the football You're like, hey, what's up Nascar?
(46:22):
You know. So all these guys hanging around that bubble
feel like they got like this this god passed to
the events.
Speaker 3 (46:28):
Yeah, well maybe you know, they got a job to do. Well,
they're there. So the security guys in particular those events.
Speaker 1 (46:34):
Well not those guys, I'm saying. The guys like when
I see, you know, the current president at a football
game and then you see the commander or no, like
the Defense Secretary of War Hexath's standing next to him,
and then you see Mike Johnson standing next to him,
and the government's all shut down and they're chilling there
flying around on the Air Force one. It just doesn't
it's bad optics.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
Yeah, I agree. You know, I love going to those
sporting events, like we Eric Jones NASCAR ever forty three
is from this district that I'm running for, and like
I know them a little bit, and we go to
the race when it's here in Michigan International Speedway, the
NASCAR race, and it is awesome. Like that kind of
stuff is so much fun, whether it's going to a
(47:15):
big football game or a NASCAR event or you know,
like those things are so fun to watch and particularly
in person, like it's so loud and just thunderous, and
you know, there's a lot of strategy that goes into
all that stuff. It looks simple, like why you know,
why is this? Yeah, you're like why, Like why is
this hard? You know what I mean? They're just driving
(47:36):
a circle, Like, oh my god, the strategy that goes
into the gas consumption and what we you know, how
many tires they change and who's in front of them
and what team are you on and what kind of
engine you have and like all of it matters, and
you got to go pee on the watch.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (47:51):
It's one hundred and sixty in the car and they're
wearing they're wearing cooling suits.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
And it's just like i's got a pe man, let's go.
Speaker 3 (47:58):
Yeah, And they're going to miles an hour, yeah, four
inches away from another car, you know, and.
Speaker 1 (48:03):
They're like in baked and they're like on a really
huge degree.
Speaker 3 (48:06):
Bank track in Daytona, right, and so it's like it's awesome.
Speaker 1 (48:11):
Though.
Speaker 3 (48:11):
I love that stuff, and so my kids love it.
I love it. You know, it's fun to do that
stuff as a family.
Speaker 1 (48:16):
So well, that's cool to do it as a family.
I'm okay with doing it as a family, right, That's okay,
that's okay, But you know, I'll keep that to a
minimal because I had to remember the warning I said
at the beginning the Internet it's real. So yeah, that's right,
all right, all right, I love that. I want my
show to keep going, so I don't want anybody from
(48:37):
real TV reality shows to shut me down in charge
of licensing. I just can't be I don't even know. Yeah,
I got all sorts of smack talk, but you know,
I saw my listener and my viewer that tunes into
us from any of these platforms to just know that,
you know, you and I had just met today and
just had this conversation back and forth. I didn't know
(48:59):
what direction or or really a lot of your politics
and and just talking to you. And if if what
you're going to bring to the table is what we've
talked about today, you know, that's what we kind of
need at the table, right is that? And it should
be like kind of like a round table, I kind
of like King Arthur's you know round table where it's like,
what's going on here, what's going on here? What's going
on here?
Speaker 3 (49:18):
You know, take care of the country, bring costs down
for people, strong national security, like it's not super complicated.
Speaker 1 (49:25):
So with a good with a critical thinker at the helm.
That would be like you right being the critical thinker,
Like I'm gonna be the captain. So you just keep
with that focus, you keep your head down and just
keep doing what you're doing. And you know, I'll be
stoked to watch you on all of your different pressers and.
Speaker 3 (49:42):
Yep, it'll it'll heat up, you know, like the election
is still a little bit off, so people.
Speaker 1 (49:48):
When it happens, me and my wife, I'll just be
like yeah, no, yeah, we're homies. No, yeah, come back
me and Matt right here.
Speaker 3 (49:55):
Please again in the summer when things are hot and heavy, you.
Speaker 1 (49:57):
Know, so please yeah, have you your team or you
reach out and you guys have a welcome platform back
here to you know, have any type of conversation even
if it sooner whatever's going on. If you're like hey
late breaking, hit me up. You know, we'll get it
out there. And again, thanks again for being on the show.
And I've had you for about an hour's time and
I know you're busy doing a lot of this, so
you know, here's to a great kickoff for you. Makes
(50:19):
your best of luck, yes, and and you're wonderful and
thanks to your team and to my listener. This is
Matt Mosdam who's running for Congress in Michigan in sounds
like district forty three. So if you're in that neck
of the woods, oh, district seven. Oh number forty three
was a NASCAR driver.
Speaker 3 (50:38):
Yeah that's right.
Speaker 1 (50:39):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Shout out again, number forty three,
District seven in Michigan. Right, shout out to your governor,
you know, live long and prosper right there to her, okay,
and yeah one hundred percent, and and to you as well. Okay,
So boy, what else do I want to say? Oh? Yeah,
the merch store. Don't forget you guys. Go to the
merch store right it hit all the bells, the whistles,
(51:00):
the light subscribes, because if it wasn't for you that
really you know us, we're talking to you right there,
listener in District seven, that's who we're talking to right now. Okay,
So thanks again for being on the show, and again
you're welcome back anytime on software.
Speaker 3 (51:13):
Thanks God, bless our troops, and thank you. Rad I
appreciate man.
Speaker 1 (51:17):
All right, hey, thanks, I appreciate that. And this is
rad On behalf of Brand New Web and I'm my
producer Callum and everyone behind the scenes who really helped
keep this going. Thank you so much. And to the
fireplace that seems to work all the time. Thanks, I
appreciate that. So this is rad say in peace.
Speaker 2 (51:48):
You've been listening to self recreating
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