November 1, 2023 • 28 mins
Raised on a farm in Texas, he learned the art of hunting, the value of hard work, and the secrets of survival. In the vast expanse of that Texan wilderness, he honed his skills and ultimately pursued a career with the US Navy SEALs.
Listen up as we explore the life of a true Texan who used every curve ball as an opportunity, who held tight to his roots, and who showed that no matter where life may lead, the heart of a Texan remains resolute.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Beyond imaginable.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
In the heart of Texas, where the land stretches wide
and the spirits run deep, lives a man named j T. Favara.
JT is a product of the Lone Star State, a
Texan through and through with roots that run as deep
as the history of his family's land, which they have
cherished since the late eighteen hundreds. Raised on a farm,
(00:28):
he learned the art of hunting, the value of hard work,
and the secrets of survival in the vast expanse of
that Texan wilderness. He honed his skills and ultimately pursued
a career with the US and Navy sales. But life,
as it often does, had its own plans. Curve Balls
(00:50):
were thrown, challenges faced, and dreams were reshipped. Yet amidst
the storms and unchartered waters, one thing remained constant. JT.
Listen up as we delve into the life of a
true Texan who used every curve ball as an opportunity,
(01:12):
who held tight to his roots, and who showed that
no matter where life may lead, the heart of a
Texan remand's resolute. I'm your host, Jimmy Bryan, and you're
listening to the unimaginable.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
My name's JT. Favera. I grew up in Arlington, Texas,
right in between Dallas and Fort Worth. I have three
sisters and an older brother and spent the majority of
my childhood playing sports and going out to my family's
property in West Texas. Twenty twenty one, I think we
ended up purchasing one hundred and ninety acres that was
(01:51):
across the road from the original property. We got very
fortunate for that. It's some great hunting land. It's not
like their original land that we farmed on. The majority
of the work we do out there is just maintenance.
We you know, take care of fence lines and take
care of the property. There's an old original house that's
been out there. I don't even know the actual date
that it was built. We got a brick on the
(02:12):
old well house that says eighteen ninety four. That's what
I like to tell people. My adolescence and all the
way up into high school and then into my first
stint in college, I spent most of my time out
at my family's property, hunting and fishing and doing what
I could to work out there for the family and
to develop that property to be the best that it
can be. That's where I got to see my grandfather
(02:33):
almost my entire youth. The only time I saw my
grandfather was out of the property. He grew up out
there and no longer lived there, but that's where we went.
And he's the one that got me into hunting and
fishing and really got me, you know, how to understand
how to respect the land and respect the animals that
we harvest for food, and really start to enjoy spending
(02:56):
time out in the country and outdoors and away from
the you know, the loud city is what he always said,
showed me kind of who I wanted to be, and
you know what I really loved. I'd spent a lot
of time in college party and every weekend and hanging
out with people. And it wasn't until I had left
in the military and understood how much I missed that
(03:17):
property and how much it meant to me and how
much it grew me through my youth. That's where I
learned how to shoot guns, which I think played a
large factor in the military. Also, my grandfather was in
the Navy back in Korea. He was on an aircraft
carrier on back to back deployments during the Korean War.
But he's the one that taught me how to shoot.
I mean he started me really young. He put me
(03:38):
out in the middle of the tank, one of our
small stock tanks out there with a twenty two pistol
and have me shooting stuff off the bank and really
learning how to, you know, maintain firearms and treat them
with care and understand the rules behind how serious they are.
But also you know, how they can provide a service
and how they can sustain life for the majority of
(04:00):
people that grow up out in the country and that
aren't able to just go into a grocery store every
single day and buy something that they need, and really
how they can take care of your family, but also
the land itself and how it can provide for your
family and really show you who you want to be.
You know, teach you a lot of life skills that
most people probably don't understand. And you know a lot
(04:21):
of people have something against guns and something against harvesting
your own food. But at the end of the day,
that's the way I was raised and I wouldn't trade
it for anything in the world. My family's always been
very big on firearms, and I think that's something I
really enjoy is getting to go out there and shoot
and spend time with friends and allow them the opportunity
(04:42):
to go and shoot guns and do things that maybe
they hadn't done or they hadn't gotten to experience before
in their lives. And I think that played a large
role into kind of who I was, and wrestling did
as well as far as the I got music playing
in my headphones.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
I hit the wrong button.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I'm like, man, I'm grooving over here. I don't know
what just happened.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Is it still playing?
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Oh yeah, it's like a little bit of nineteen late sixties,
early seventies phone Oh there it goes. That threw me
for a loop. I started looking at both of my screens, like,
what did I click? I did something?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
No, I was just I was feeling what your xana?
Want to put some music behind it? You know.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
That's not the kind of music, because that's what I
was saying, But hey, I'll take it. I grew up
learning firearms safety, learning how to treat firearms, learning how
they can take life, and they will take a life
if you use them in the wrong way. And it's
unfortunate for you know, the direction that the United States
goes most of the time because we're so divided with
(05:53):
you know, states that almost have firearms completely outlawed, and
you have no no teaching experience for anybody. So yeah,
of course, if you grow up in you know, the
city in California. I know there's firearms on the east
side of California, I know that for a fact. And
then a lot of the rural areas in Illinois. I
lived in Chicago for a while, a lot of the
rural areas out there. I mean, it's just the difference
(06:14):
in how people grow up and learn about the safety aspect.
And if you're never taught what's wrong to do, how
are you supposed to know any different? You just grow
up learning that firearms are a negative thing and that
they're bad for the community and they're bad for people
in general to own. Well, that's not the case whatsoever.
I mean, people use that to sustain life. You know,
if we had a better understanding of firearms and there
(06:35):
was a way to teach everybody the safety aspects and
how to respect them and that they can be used
as tools and they can also take a life, I
think we wouldn't have such a big issue that we have,
and the division in the country. I think, you know,
not to get real political on it, but I think
it's just people keeping. I think it's a vote grab
honestly for the most part, Like Republicans want to tell
(06:57):
you that you can keep everything, and the others, Democrats
or whatever other side is trying to go against that,
just to you know, pull something political right before an election.
Beyond my first stit in college, I went straight out
of high school. I went to the University of Oklahoma
(07:18):
and was only there for one year. Took out a
substantial amount of money and student loans, and decided to
move back to Texas and ended up going to ut
Arlington for three years working for my dad plumbing company.
Him and my grandfather started a new construction plumbing company
in two thousand and four, and so I worked for
(07:38):
them through all of college and my senior year, I
dropped out and decided that I was going to pursue
the Navy and try to become a Navy seal, and
so I started training for that. I walked into a
recruiting office one day and said, Hey, I want to
be a Navy seal, and I already know the steps
(07:59):
and the pross thisss like what do I need to like,
what do I need to fill out to be able
to do this? I obviously joined the Navy and went
two buds to become a Navy Seal and spent a
lot of time going through that. I ended up in
southern California in Coronado going through the Navy Seal pipeline.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Do you have to go through a certain amount of
monster trainings up before you start getting paid.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
You start getting paid immediately when you get to boot camp.
So whenever you go through the actual recruitment process and
you go to MAPS and you're qualified and they send
you off to up to North Chicago was my last
duty station. But everybody's paid as an E one, which
is the lowest pay rate you can be, and you're
there until you get out and whatever rating, like whatever
(08:43):
rank you qualified before you joined, is what you'll start
getting paid out after you make it through boot camp.
And that a lot of those pay rates are dependent
on what job you have in the Navy too. There's
a lot of bonus opportunities for specific rates and jobs,
and it just depends on what you're going in with.
There's tiers you're going through the program, once you are
pinned an Avy seal, and I just want to reiterate,
(09:04):
I am not an Navy seal. I never was an
Avy seal. I just went through the program. Once you
get to a team, you're just sent either East Coast
or West Coast or sent to specific teams, and they
all do somewhat different things like you can go and
get a medical background and you know, be a you
can go to they used to have SODOM, I don't
know if they still have it, where you go and
get specialty training to do that, and you can be
(09:25):
a sniper and go to sniper school. But once you
go through the entire pipeline, which is an extensive process,
it's very long, but that's when you'll get put on
a team and you kind of there's a little choice
process there when it gets through all of that. But
I didn't make it that far. I was not a
Navy Seal and didn't make it nearly as far as
the majority of my friends that are and the teams
(09:46):
did what happened. I just didn't have it. It's all
on me. I don't have an excuse for it. I'll
give you a little breakdown on the process after you
get out of boot camp, you go to a prep
program which is two months long and it's basically just
three day workouts. You run, swim, and lift every single day.
If you make it through prep and make it out
to Coronado, which I think they were going to move
(10:08):
Prep to Coronado, I don't know if they have or
not yet. But if you make it to Coronado, you're
physically fit enough outside of injuries to become a Navy seal.
So then it's just all on you. If you don't
perform well enough, or if you quit on yourself, or
whatever the case may be, there's no there's no excuse
after that, somebody's saying, like I wasn't strong enough. Okay,
well you made it through their prep program where they
(10:29):
have Olympic athletes and you know, running coaches and swimming
coaches and lifting coaches training you three times a day, Right,
there's no excuse not to. You can't make an excuse
about being not physically fit enough. And the majority of
the time it's a mental aspect. I mean, there's guys
that'll make it through specifically because they're you know, their
asshole dad told them that they would never become a
(10:49):
Navy seal or some ex girlfriend broke up with them
when they went to boot camp, and it just it
depends on what the factor is. Some people have it
and some people don't. And I obviously didn't have it.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
What happened next for you? Did you stay in the
Navy or what like? What went on? Oh?
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yeah, so I was. I did five total years in
the Navy, and that was the first, almost the first
year of my time in I was in the pipeline
to become a Navy seal. But yeah, it's it's rough.
It's rough for the majority that don't make it through.
A lot of guys end up, you know, getting themselves
kicked out of the Navy for some reason, whether it
be drugs or alcohol related incidents, or you know, thinking
(11:26):
that they're better than somebody else because they were going
to do something that is cool guys stuff to the majority.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
But no, I was.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
I went straight from Coronado actually just across the bridge
into San Diego. I got stationed on a ship, the
LSD forty five. It's a am fib ship, so we
have a you know, a flat bottom hole ship that
we transport marines and their equipment. I went on caught
the tail end of their deployment in twenty seventeen, and
(11:57):
then I spent the next three and a half years
out in San Diego, you know, with that ship and
with those people.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
So you're basically like transporting marines to whatever mission they
may have.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Absolutely all their like they're called like landing craft vehicles,
all their vehicles that we can pull into the hole,
so the whole of our ship, you can ballast it
down and flood the entire well deck and we kick
them out and push them out. So my ship's entire
job is to take a group of marines and deploy
(12:33):
them overseas. And when we push those marines out for deployment,
we pick the group that's coming up, coming out off
of deployment up and then we go back. So that's
I mean, we're a giant, glorified taxi cab. Not to
diminish any of the jobs that those sailors are doing,
but that's their specific mission, if you say, like well,
is to get marines from San Diego to wherever we're
(12:56):
dropping them off around the world. Right, And that's what
I did. That's who I was deployed with, and that's
who I hung out with and I did that for
I was on the ship for exactly two years actually,
and then from there I was an unrated sailor and
undesignated sailor. So basically those are people that don't have
a specific job. You're just needs of the Navy. You
(13:17):
get put within whatever department they want. And I worked
with the bos and mates and ran the deck operations.
So we had a helo deck and we ran all
those marine crafts. We would push them in and out
and run the lines out for them. But after that,
I got a contract to go and be a corman,
which is the enlisted medical side of the Navy. Went
to CORE school down in San Antonio and was down
(13:38):
there for about six months, and then actually picked up
a contract to go to a different special forces program.
So after you become a corman, you can you have
the opportunity if you qualify, to go and be a SARK,
which is a special Amphibious Connaissance corman, and they go
to Marine Recon School and then they deployed with recon
and MARSAK. What is a SARK basically pas on the
(14:00):
enlisted side, but there are some of the highest trained
medical professionals in the military. That are enlisted. I mean,
they're they're so qualified. A lot of them when you
get to the highest levels, like there's some of them
performing like open field operations because they've gone through enough.
And that's as I mean, the Navy seal pipelines very long,
(14:20):
but the SARK pipelines even longer because you have to
go to so many different medical schoolings not medical school,
but you have to go to these all these different classes.
It can take. I mean, the majority of the guys
that I know that made it through the pipeline, they
weren't like schools for almost three years before they even
got put on their first duty station.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
And does that qualified doctor at that point.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
So the military is a very gray area when it
comes to medicine. Like all of the things that I
was trained to do, I can't even do now running
this private medical practice. Like I was able to do
blood draws and push ivs and administer medications in the
military and see patients when I was working in Chicago,
and I can't do it any of that. I'm not
(15:00):
even qualified to be a paramedic or an EMT.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Oh really, And yeah, they don't.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
There's no transfer of qualifications unfortunately.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
You'd think that transfer because it's like it's extreme circumstances
performing that. And then you know they talk.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
About that every year or every two years, about how
they're going to change the stipulations and how we're going
to get people qualified so they can transfer to civilian
life easier. But it's not going to happen. That's that
would mess up their retention. I mean, as soon as
you start telling people, hey, you're qualified to go to
this job, well, awesome. Why would I stay in the
Navy making thirty five thousand dollars a year when I
(15:36):
could just jump out and start making however much sixty
k being a parmatic and work with the fire department
at home. But yeah, So went to recon to become
a sark and ended up getting kicked out of that program.
Got into a little trouble up there in San Clemente
with a group of people, and my punishment for getting
(15:57):
removed from Recon was actually me to North Chicago to
run the boot camp clinic up there. I had never
planned on getting out of the military. My goal was
to retire do twenty years twenty five if I made
it in rank far enough to be able to do that,
and I actually while working in Chicago at that clinic,
the doctor that was in charge of the clinic that
(16:17):
we were running, he was obviously the medical director, and
he ran the officer side of things, and I ran
the enlisted side of things in our clinic. But he
was from Fort Worth, which is just Stressed where I
grew up and I lived for a little while, and
so we, unknown to the military, became pretty good friends
and started spending some time together, and as fate or
whatever you want to call it, life would turn out
(16:39):
to have it, he's my partner in the medical practice
that we now run in Fort Worth. So we got
out about the same time. We both got out for
medical issues, and fortunately we both had nothing else going on,
and we're able to kind of jumpstart this medical practice
that we're now running.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
So at any point when you were in, did you
have any kind of like like rough kind of experiences
with like combat or was there like moments where it
was like it got dicey or difficult or that you
know that you can talk about.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
We ran a couple operations out in the Pacific that
I thought were dicey. Joining the military, that's something I
wanted to do I mean I grew up in that
era of freaking Navy seal movies where everybody's hopping off
and hit that cool stuff, and you know, you think
that you want to do that. But honestly, I think
I'm blessed and fortunate enough that I never actually had
(17:34):
to do that, because I mean, I've had multiple friends
from you know, that I've trained with and did stuff
with that have passed away, and not even being next
to them is hard enough. I can't imagine having to,
you know, deal with the loss and the heartbreak that
these families and friends and teammates and you know, everybody
has to deal with. I think I was in the
(17:55):
grand scheme of things. I think I was fortunate enough
and blessed enough to not have to go through that personally.
Imagine beyond imagine.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
I think you mentioned you got you were able to
get from a medical issue. Was that like that deliberate
medical issue or like no, I.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
That was up in I was actually on Lake Geneva
up in Wisconsin one weekend and uh got jumped by
a group of guys and put in a trauma center
for about a week, and they broke all of the
you know, the bones basically on the right or on
the left side of my face. They fractured my old
(18:36):
little floor all the way back. They crushed my sinuses completely.
I had subcutaneous inmphysema all the way down and then
I had a traumatic new meathorax. I had air in
the plural space around my lungs. Well, you know, it's
one of those things that you hang out with the
wrong people, and unfortunately I was with the wrong people
that weekend. Nobody stepped in to help as I was
(18:56):
getting kicked and uh but yeah, after all of that,
I was actually requalifying and training to go back to
become a SARK. And the fractures around my sinuses and
because of the traumatic normal thorax and everything else that happened,
I was no longer cleared to dive like like you
(19:17):
would scuba dive like. They didn't think I could go
to pressure and I wasn't going to be able to
do advanced free fall, which are two of the portions
that I mean. There's a combative dive course that you
have to go through to become a sark, and you
have to go to free fall.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
So and what are the distances are the depth of
those to.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Get qualified, they have to put you under pressure at
one hundred meters for I think it's four or five minutes.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
And they do that in a hyperbaric chamber, which I've
done multiple times. They take you they like mimic, going
to one hundred meters bit the pressure. Yeah, it's a
pressurized system. You get in this little tank and they
suck all the pressure out and you feel like you're
talking like Mi mouse. But I was no longer clear
to go back to any special Forces program. That completely,
(20:07):
you know, took away my chances of doing anything that
I had originally joined and wanted to do. And so
after I was disqualified, they actually opened the door for
me to get out early. So I was actually supposed
to be My active duty contract was supposed to go
through January of this year, twenty twenty three, and they
released me in My last day in the Navy was
(20:29):
July first, twenty twenty one. So they released me almost
two years early and allowed me to get out. And
I was fortunate enough for that, honestly, because you know
how life worked out. And Thomas, the MD that I
work with now, he actually got out for a medical
issue as well, and it just happened at the same
exact time, and you know, gave us this opportunity that
(20:49):
we have.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Now, what is it that you guys are doing?
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Not private medical We basically are taking over as the
primary physician. You know, people typically go in for an
annual check up and get their tested and all of that.
We're doing that, but way more in depth. We have
personal trainer on staff and nutritionists. We have a bunch
of deals brokeer with different labs and pharmacies and things,
(21:12):
so we can you know, give these guys the most
benefit and you know, the most opportunity from a failed
medical system that we have in the United States. It's
almost miserable for you anybody to go and see a doctor.
And that's why the majority don't and don't take care
of themselves because it's going to cost you, you know,
your leg right right or your first born child and
money and then and then you're not even getting taken
(21:34):
care of. And the only I mean, we joined the
military and did the things we did in the medical
field to take care of people. And this is giving
us the most in depth and biggest opportunity to do that.
Force people and you give them the best opportunity to
be the best versions of themselves and actually think about
their health and where they can go in life without
you know, just bypassing every day sitting on the couch
(21:57):
and not taking care of yourself.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Yeah, it's interesting. It's interesting how when sometimes, like you know,
you have these ambitions and these goals and these things
that you want to achieve in life, and you go
for it. Quite often it just doesn't go the way
you expected to go, Like life just doesn't work out
how you think it's going to work out. It's interesting
that if you have like what you have, which I
(22:19):
admire because it's like you keep the attitude of like, Okay,
this didn't work out exactly how I want it, and
but I was able to get over the fact that, like,
I'm not going to like complain and bitch about it.
I'm going to move on with my life and learn
from it and just move on to the next thing.
And eventually you end up with a business that is successful.
And then and also you're still kind of like doing
(22:41):
what you were signing up to do anyway, and you're
still helping Americans and in a way that you know
the people need, right, Like I mean, if you don't
have insurance here, just absolutely dumb. Shit's creak, you know,
without a paddle. So it's really cool that you guys
are providing starts to do that. And I think it's
cool that you've you've kind of like used your experience
to get to that point. So done.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
I mean, I think that's just I don't know. I
guess I was fortunate to not have achieved too much
at a young age. I was, you know, I was
as if you ask anybody around here, I was a
phenomenal wrestler growing up. I don't think I was all
that great, but you know, I was ranked pretty high
going into state in high school and never won a
(23:22):
state championship, and I was always you know, up there
in the conversation. And and then I go to school
and didn't make it through college the first time or
the second time. And so, you know, I think the
failures early on in life actually kind of developed me
to be able to move past things a little easier
than most folks. And you know, I just think it's
(23:45):
I want to be able to live the most you know,
opportune and best life that I possibly can, and that's
just taking the cards as they're dealt You know, I
can't change every little aspect. I can't go back in
time and say like, hey, guys, don't kick the shit
out of me in this random freaking restaurant. But it
all worked out how I think it was supposed to.
(24:06):
I don't know if that's fate or whatever you want
to call it, the way that life works out. And
I think I was fortunate for all of that. And yeah,
you were talking about the insurance thing that was I
even had to deal with that. With that, actually, I
was supposed to be covered by the military and still
got thousands and thousands of dollars worth of bills for
you know, a six day stay in the hospital. And
(24:28):
that's what we're trying to get away from with this practice.
We don't take any insurance whatsoever. We don't even deal
with insurance companies, and honestly, it's cheaper for a lot
of people to go and pay cash prices.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Is there a website or any what's the name of it.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
The company is TKCU Solutions, that's Actulutions. Yeah, TKACU. It's
actually old military thing. It's to keep comfortably uncomfortable cool.
It's just kind of something we live by and think through.
And Thomas, the MD that I work with, he actually
was a dive medical offic So he was an MD
(25:02):
before he joined the Navy, and then he went to
you know, the officer's dive course, which is like their
special forces training, and so you know, he had to
he went through a lot of the same hardships that
I went through, and you know, the same kind of
getting medically discharged before you ever got to do anything
you wanted to do. He had the same thing happened.
He was actually, uh, the MEU surgeon for the ship
(25:23):
that was on that Afghanistan pulled out, and so that's
he was in the middle of all of that whenever
they found a complication with his medical past and they
had to pull him from the middle of that. He's
running the entire medical department of a ship that's trying
to pull every single marine out of Afghanistan at that time.
So I mean, the chaos that he was going through
and then to be told like, oh, well, you're leaving
in two days. You're getting flown to Germany because of
(25:45):
something that's going on with your you know, your medical stuff.
So you know, we just we kind of came from
the same background and fortunately enough we got together when
we did up in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
You can't really go back to the Navy at this point,
right like with the medical stuff, or is there is
there any recourse there? Would you ever want to do that?
Speaker 1 (26:04):
If you could, I could, but it would be in
a job that I wouldn't want, and no, I don't.
I would never I would never go back. I would
never take the time that I had in the military away.
I think it was the most like one of the
most you know, beneficial and developmental stages of my life.
I think I really needed it, and I think a
lot of people that joined the military do need it,
(26:25):
and it's really beneficial for him. If you would have
asked me when I was in San Diego right out
of BUDS, I hated it, every aspect of it. But
now that I'm you know, older, and get the opportunity
and the chance to look back at the things that
I got to experience and the people I got to meet,
and you know, the lessons that I learned throughout my
entire time, I wouldn't take a single second of it back.
And I think it was I think it would be
great for a lot of people that you know, are
(26:48):
lost because I think that's originally why I joined. I mean,
I was going to school and working for my dad's company,
and I hated both of them. I didn't hate his company,
I just didn't. I felt like I wasn't doing something
I was supposed to be doing, and.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Was it like a purpose thing or like I think
so yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
I think it was like a I don't know what
I yes, like an identity crisis, like who what am
I doing? I don't like, I'm not happy here right now?
And I hated school. I always hated school. I didn't
even tell anybody when I was joining. I walked into
a recruiting office after I got off work one day
and just said like, hey, what do I need to do?
Like what do I need to fill out? And then
I told my parents, actually after I'd already filled out
(27:23):
all of my people. They weren't very happy, But you know,
it's it's I think I needed it. I think I was.
You know, I was doing probably some things I wasn't
supposed to be doing. I was drinking a lot and
partying and wasn't really dedicated to any one thing. I
wasn't dedicated to school and I wasn't dedicated to work,
and yeah, I think I was just lost. I didn't
(27:46):
find the things that I thought I was going to.
But I definitely found a purpose in life, and I
definitely found you know, the type of people I want
to hang out with and be around, and the type
of person I wanted to be. I think it changed
me for the better, absolutely, And I wouldn't never take
any of it back. I wouldn't go back into it
right now. But that's also because I would never be
able to do the things I want to do. And
you know, I've found a new purpose and I'm still
(28:08):
getting to take care of people like I wanted to.
And yeah, I'm back home where I can spend four
days a week out at the property and get to
do the things that I really enjoyed and loved as
a child I'm now getting to do again. We're building
a cabin on the backside of the property for my
dad actually right now, trying to get it ready. Next
weekend's opening weekend for hunt seasons, so trying to get
(28:29):
that all finished up so he finally has, you know,
a nice place to stay
Beyond imaginable.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
In the heart of Texas, where the land stretches wide
and the spirits run deep, lives a man named j T. Favara.
JT is a product of the Lone Star State, a
Texan through and through with roots that run as deep
as the history of his family's land, which they have
cherished since the late eighteen hundreds. Raised on a farm,
(00:28):
he learned the art of hunting, the value of hard work,
and the secrets of survival in the vast expanse of
that Texan wilderness. He honed his skills and ultimately pursued
a career with the US and Navy sales. But life,
as it often does, had its own plans. Curve Balls
(00:50):
were thrown, challenges faced, and dreams were reshipped. Yet amidst
the storms and unchartered waters, one thing remained constant. JT.
Listen up as we delve into the life of a
true Texan who used every curve ball as an opportunity,
(01:12):
who held tight to his roots, and who showed that
no matter where life may lead, the heart of a
Texan remand's resolute. I'm your host, Jimmy Bryan, and you're
listening to the unimaginable.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
My name's JT. Favera. I grew up in Arlington, Texas,
right in between Dallas and Fort Worth. I have three
sisters and an older brother and spent the majority of
my childhood playing sports and going out to my family's
property in West Texas. Twenty twenty one, I think we
ended up purchasing one hundred and ninety acres that was
(01:51):
across the road from the original property. We got very
fortunate for that. It's some great hunting land. It's not
like their original land that we farmed on. The majority
of the work we do out there is just maintenance.
We you know, take care of fence lines and take
care of the property. There's an old original house that's
been out there. I don't even know the actual date
that it was built. We got a brick on the
(02:12):
old well house that says eighteen ninety four. That's what
I like to tell people. My adolescence and all the
way up into high school and then into my first
stint in college, I spent most of my time out
at my family's property, hunting and fishing and doing what
I could to work out there for the family and
to develop that property to be the best that it
can be. That's where I got to see my grandfather
(02:33):
almost my entire youth. The only time I saw my
grandfather was out of the property. He grew up out
there and no longer lived there, but that's where we went.
And he's the one that got me into hunting and
fishing and really got me, you know, how to understand
how to respect the land and respect the animals that
we harvest for food, and really start to enjoy spending
(02:56):
time out in the country and outdoors and away from
the you know, the loud city is what he always said,
showed me kind of who I wanted to be, and
you know what I really loved. I'd spent a lot
of time in college party and every weekend and hanging
out with people. And it wasn't until I had left
in the military and understood how much I missed that
(03:17):
property and how much it meant to me and how
much it grew me through my youth. That's where I
learned how to shoot guns, which I think played a
large factor in the military. Also, my grandfather was in
the Navy back in Korea. He was on an aircraft
carrier on back to back deployments during the Korean War.
But he's the one that taught me how to shoot.
I mean he started me really young. He put me
(03:38):
out in the middle of the tank, one of our
small stock tanks out there with a twenty two pistol
and have me shooting stuff off the bank and really
learning how to, you know, maintain firearms and treat them
with care and understand the rules behind how serious they are.
But also you know, how they can provide a service
and how they can sustain life for the majority of
(04:00):
people that grow up out in the country and that
aren't able to just go into a grocery store every
single day and buy something that they need, and really
how they can take care of your family, but also
the land itself and how it can provide for your
family and really show you who you want to be.
You know, teach you a lot of life skills that
most people probably don't understand. And you know a lot
(04:21):
of people have something against guns and something against harvesting
your own food. But at the end of the day,
that's the way I was raised and I wouldn't trade
it for anything in the world. My family's always been
very big on firearms, and I think that's something I
really enjoy is getting to go out there and shoot
and spend time with friends and allow them the opportunity
(04:42):
to go and shoot guns and do things that maybe
they hadn't done or they hadn't gotten to experience before
in their lives. And I think that played a large
role into kind of who I was, and wrestling did
as well as far as the I got music playing
in my headphones.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
I hit the wrong button.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I'm like, man, I'm grooving over here. I don't know
what just happened.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Is it still playing?
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Oh yeah, it's like a little bit of nineteen late sixties,
early seventies phone Oh there it goes. That threw me
for a loop. I started looking at both of my screens, like,
what did I click? I did something?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
No, I was just I was feeling what your xana?
Want to put some music behind it? You know.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
That's not the kind of music, because that's what I
was saying, But hey, I'll take it. I grew up
learning firearms safety, learning how to treat firearms, learning how
they can take life, and they will take a life
if you use them in the wrong way. And it's
unfortunate for you know, the direction that the United States
goes most of the time because we're so divided with
(05:53):
you know, states that almost have firearms completely outlawed, and
you have no no teaching experience for anybody. So yeah,
of course, if you grow up in you know, the
city in California. I know there's firearms on the east
side of California, I know that for a fact. And
then a lot of the rural areas in Illinois. I
lived in Chicago for a while, a lot of the
rural areas out there. I mean, it's just the difference
(06:14):
in how people grow up and learn about the safety aspect.
And if you're never taught what's wrong to do, how
are you supposed to know any different? You just grow
up learning that firearms are a negative thing and that
they're bad for the community and they're bad for people
in general to own. Well, that's not the case whatsoever.
I mean, people use that to sustain life. You know,
if we had a better understanding of firearms and there
(06:35):
was a way to teach everybody the safety aspects and
how to respect them and that they can be used
as tools and they can also take a life, I
think we wouldn't have such a big issue that we have,
and the division in the country. I think, you know,
not to get real political on it, but I think
it's just people keeping. I think it's a vote grab
honestly for the most part, Like Republicans want to tell
(06:57):
you that you can keep everything, and the others, Democrats
or whatever other side is trying to go against that,
just to you know, pull something political right before an election.
Beyond my first stit in college, I went straight out
of high school. I went to the University of Oklahoma
(07:18):
and was only there for one year. Took out a
substantial amount of money and student loans, and decided to
move back to Texas and ended up going to ut
Arlington for three years working for my dad plumbing company.
Him and my grandfather started a new construction plumbing company
in two thousand and four, and so I worked for
(07:38):
them through all of college and my senior year, I
dropped out and decided that I was going to pursue
the Navy and try to become a Navy seal, and
so I started training for that. I walked into a
recruiting office one day and said, Hey, I want to
be a Navy seal, and I already know the steps
(07:59):
and the pross thisss like what do I need to like,
what do I need to fill out to be able
to do this? I obviously joined the Navy and went
two buds to become a Navy Seal and spent a
lot of time going through that. I ended up in
southern California in Coronado going through the Navy Seal pipeline.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Do you have to go through a certain amount of
monster trainings up before you start getting paid.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
You start getting paid immediately when you get to boot camp.
So whenever you go through the actual recruitment process and
you go to MAPS and you're qualified and they send
you off to up to North Chicago was my last
duty station. But everybody's paid as an E one, which
is the lowest pay rate you can be, and you're
there until you get out and whatever rating, like whatever
(08:43):
rank you qualified before you joined, is what you'll start
getting paid out after you make it through boot camp.
And that a lot of those pay rates are dependent
on what job you have in the Navy too. There's
a lot of bonus opportunities for specific rates and jobs,
and it just depends on what you're going in with.
There's tiers you're going through the program, once you are
pinned an Avy seal, and I just want to reiterate,
(09:04):
I am not an Navy seal. I never was an
Avy seal. I just went through the program. Once you
get to a team, you're just sent either East Coast
or West Coast or sent to specific teams, and they
all do somewhat different things like you can go and
get a medical background and you know, be a you
can go to they used to have SODOM, I don't
know if they still have it, where you go and
get specialty training to do that, and you can be
(09:25):
a sniper and go to sniper school. But once you
go through the entire pipeline, which is an extensive process,
it's very long, but that's when you'll get put on
a team and you kind of there's a little choice
process there when it gets through all of that. But
I didn't make it that far. I was not a
Navy Seal and didn't make it nearly as far as
the majority of my friends that are and the teams
(09:46):
did what happened. I just didn't have it. It's all
on me. I don't have an excuse for it. I'll
give you a little breakdown on the process after you
get out of boot camp, you go to a prep
program which is two months long and it's basically just
three day workouts. You run, swim, and lift every single day.
If you make it through prep and make it out
to Coronado, which I think they were going to move
(10:08):
Prep to Coronado, I don't know if they have or
not yet. But if you make it to Coronado, you're
physically fit enough outside of injuries to become a Navy seal.
So then it's just all on you. If you don't
perform well enough, or if you quit on yourself, or
whatever the case may be, there's no there's no excuse
after that, somebody's saying, like I wasn't strong enough. Okay,
well you made it through their prep program where they
(10:29):
have Olympic athletes and you know, running coaches and swimming
coaches and lifting coaches training you three times a day, Right,
there's no excuse not to. You can't make an excuse
about being not physically fit enough. And the majority of
the time it's a mental aspect. I mean, there's guys
that'll make it through specifically because they're you know, their
asshole dad told them that they would never become a
(10:49):
Navy seal or some ex girlfriend broke up with them
when they went to boot camp, and it just it
depends on what the factor is. Some people have it
and some people don't. And I obviously didn't have it.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
What happened next for you? Did you stay in the
Navy or what like? What went on? Oh?
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yeah, so I was. I did five total years in
the Navy, and that was the first, almost the first
year of my time in I was in the pipeline
to become a Navy seal. But yeah, it's it's rough.
It's rough for the majority that don't make it through.
A lot of guys end up, you know, getting themselves
kicked out of the Navy for some reason, whether it
be drugs or alcohol related incidents, or you know, thinking
(11:26):
that they're better than somebody else because they were going
to do something that is cool guys stuff to the majority.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
But no, I was.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
I went straight from Coronado actually just across the bridge
into San Diego. I got stationed on a ship, the
LSD forty five. It's a am fib ship, so we
have a you know, a flat bottom hole ship that
we transport marines and their equipment. I went on caught
the tail end of their deployment in twenty seventeen, and
(11:57):
then I spent the next three and a half years
out in San Diego, you know, with that ship and
with those people.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
So you're basically like transporting marines to whatever mission they
may have.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Absolutely all their like they're called like landing craft vehicles,
all their vehicles that we can pull into the hole,
so the whole of our ship, you can ballast it
down and flood the entire well deck and we kick
them out and push them out. So my ship's entire
job is to take a group of marines and deploy
(12:33):
them overseas. And when we push those marines out for deployment,
we pick the group that's coming up, coming out off
of deployment up and then we go back. So that's
I mean, we're a giant, glorified taxi cab. Not to
diminish any of the jobs that those sailors are doing,
but that's their specific mission, if you say, like well,
is to get marines from San Diego to wherever we're
(12:56):
dropping them off around the world. Right, And that's what
I did. That's who I was deployed with, and that's
who I hung out with and I did that for
I was on the ship for exactly two years actually,
and then from there I was an unrated sailor and
undesignated sailor. So basically those are people that don't have
a specific job. You're just needs of the Navy. You
(13:17):
get put within whatever department they want. And I worked
with the bos and mates and ran the deck operations.
So we had a helo deck and we ran all
those marine crafts. We would push them in and out
and run the lines out for them. But after that,
I got a contract to go and be a corman,
which is the enlisted medical side of the Navy. Went
to CORE school down in San Antonio and was down
(13:38):
there for about six months, and then actually picked up
a contract to go to a different special forces program.
So after you become a corman, you can you have
the opportunity if you qualify, to go and be a SARK,
which is a special Amphibious Connaissance corman, and they go
to Marine Recon School and then they deployed with recon
and MARSAK. What is a SARK basically pas on the
(14:00):
enlisted side, but there are some of the highest trained
medical professionals in the military. That are enlisted. I mean,
they're they're so qualified. A lot of them when you
get to the highest levels, like there's some of them
performing like open field operations because they've gone through enough.
And that's as I mean, the Navy seal pipelines very long,
(14:20):
but the SARK pipelines even longer because you have to
go to so many different medical schoolings not medical school,
but you have to go to these all these different classes.
It can take. I mean, the majority of the guys
that I know that made it through the pipeline, they
weren't like schools for almost three years before they even
got put on their first duty station.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
And does that qualified doctor at that point.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
So the military is a very gray area when it
comes to medicine. Like all of the things that I
was trained to do, I can't even do now running
this private medical practice. Like I was able to do
blood draws and push ivs and administer medications in the
military and see patients when I was working in Chicago,
and I can't do it any of that. I'm not
(15:00):
even qualified to be a paramedic or an EMT.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Oh really, And yeah, they don't.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
There's no transfer of qualifications unfortunately.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
You'd think that transfer because it's like it's extreme circumstances
performing that. And then you know they talk.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
About that every year or every two years, about how
they're going to change the stipulations and how we're going
to get people qualified so they can transfer to civilian
life easier. But it's not going to happen. That's that
would mess up their retention. I mean, as soon as
you start telling people, hey, you're qualified to go to
this job, well, awesome. Why would I stay in the
Navy making thirty five thousand dollars a year when I
(15:36):
could just jump out and start making however much sixty
k being a parmatic and work with the fire department
at home. But yeah, So went to recon to become
a sark and ended up getting kicked out of that program.
Got into a little trouble up there in San Clemente
with a group of people, and my punishment for getting
(15:57):
removed from Recon was actually me to North Chicago to
run the boot camp clinic up there. I had never
planned on getting out of the military. My goal was
to retire do twenty years twenty five if I made
it in rank far enough to be able to do that,
and I actually while working in Chicago at that clinic,
the doctor that was in charge of the clinic that
(16:17):
we were running, he was obviously the medical director, and
he ran the officer side of things, and I ran
the enlisted side of things in our clinic. But he
was from Fort Worth, which is just Stressed where I
grew up and I lived for a little while, and
so we, unknown to the military, became pretty good friends
and started spending some time together, and as fate or
whatever you want to call it, life would turn out
(16:39):
to have it, he's my partner in the medical practice
that we now run in Fort Worth. So we got
out about the same time. We both got out for
medical issues, and fortunately we both had nothing else going on,
and we're able to kind of jumpstart this medical practice
that we're now running.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
So at any point when you were in, did you
have any kind of like like rough kind of experiences
with like combat or was there like moments where it
was like it got dicey or difficult or that you
know that you can talk about.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
We ran a couple operations out in the Pacific that
I thought were dicey. Joining the military, that's something I
wanted to do I mean I grew up in that
era of freaking Navy seal movies where everybody's hopping off
and hit that cool stuff, and you know, you think
that you want to do that. But honestly, I think
I'm blessed and fortunate enough that I never actually had
(17:34):
to do that, because I mean, I've had multiple friends
from you know, that I've trained with and did stuff
with that have passed away, and not even being next
to them is hard enough. I can't imagine having to,
you know, deal with the loss and the heartbreak that
these families and friends and teammates and you know, everybody
has to deal with. I think I was in the
(17:55):
grand scheme of things. I think I was fortunate enough
and blessed enough to not have to go through that personally.
Imagine beyond imagine.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
I think you mentioned you got you were able to
get from a medical issue. Was that like that deliberate
medical issue or like no, I.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
That was up in I was actually on Lake Geneva
up in Wisconsin one weekend and uh got jumped by
a group of guys and put in a trauma center
for about a week, and they broke all of the
you know, the bones basically on the right or on
the left side of my face. They fractured my old
(18:36):
little floor all the way back. They crushed my sinuses completely.
I had subcutaneous inmphysema all the way down and then
I had a traumatic new meathorax. I had air in
the plural space around my lungs. Well, you know, it's
one of those things that you hang out with the
wrong people, and unfortunately I was with the wrong people
that weekend. Nobody stepped in to help as I was
(18:56):
getting kicked and uh but yeah, after all of that,
I was actually requalifying and training to go back to
become a SARK. And the fractures around my sinuses and
because of the traumatic normal thorax and everything else that happened,
I was no longer cleared to dive like like you
(19:17):
would scuba dive like. They didn't think I could go
to pressure and I wasn't going to be able to
do advanced free fall, which are two of the portions
that I mean. There's a combative dive course that you
have to go through to become a sark, and you
have to go to free fall.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
So and what are the distances are the depth of
those to.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Get qualified, they have to put you under pressure at
one hundred meters for I think it's four or five minutes.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
And they do that in a hyperbaric chamber, which I've
done multiple times. They take you they like mimic, going
to one hundred meters bit the pressure. Yeah, it's a
pressurized system. You get in this little tank and they
suck all the pressure out and you feel like you're
talking like Mi mouse. But I was no longer clear
to go back to any special Forces program. That completely,
(20:07):
you know, took away my chances of doing anything that
I had originally joined and wanted to do. And so
after I was disqualified, they actually opened the door for
me to get out early. So I was actually supposed
to be My active duty contract was supposed to go
through January of this year, twenty twenty three, and they
released me in My last day in the Navy was
(20:29):
July first, twenty twenty one. So they released me almost
two years early and allowed me to get out. And
I was fortunate enough for that, honestly, because you know
how life worked out. And Thomas, the MD that I
work with now, he actually got out for a medical
issue as well, and it just happened at the same
exact time, and you know, gave us this opportunity that
(20:49):
we have.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Now, what is it that you guys are doing?
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Not private medical We basically are taking over as the
primary physician. You know, people typically go in for an
annual check up and get their tested and all of that.
We're doing that, but way more in depth. We have
personal trainer on staff and nutritionists. We have a bunch
of deals brokeer with different labs and pharmacies and things,
(21:12):
so we can you know, give these guys the most
benefit and you know, the most opportunity from a failed
medical system that we have in the United States. It's
almost miserable for you anybody to go and see a doctor.
And that's why the majority don't and don't take care
of themselves because it's going to cost you, you know,
your leg right right or your first born child and
money and then and then you're not even getting taken
(21:34):
care of. And the only I mean, we joined the
military and did the things we did in the medical
field to take care of people. And this is giving
us the most in depth and biggest opportunity to do that.
Force people and you give them the best opportunity to
be the best versions of themselves and actually think about
their health and where they can go in life without
you know, just bypassing every day sitting on the couch
(21:57):
and not taking care of yourself.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Yeah, it's interesting. It's interesting how when sometimes, like you know,
you have these ambitions and these goals and these things
that you want to achieve in life, and you go
for it. Quite often it just doesn't go the way
you expected to go, Like life just doesn't work out
how you think it's going to work out. It's interesting
that if you have like what you have, which I
(22:19):
admire because it's like you keep the attitude of like, Okay,
this didn't work out exactly how I want it, and
but I was able to get over the fact that, like,
I'm not going to like complain and bitch about it.
I'm going to move on with my life and learn
from it and just move on to the next thing.
And eventually you end up with a business that is successful.
And then and also you're still kind of like doing
(22:41):
what you were signing up to do anyway, and you're
still helping Americans and in a way that you know
the people need, right, Like I mean, if you don't
have insurance here, just absolutely dumb. Shit's creak, you know,
without a paddle. So it's really cool that you guys
are providing starts to do that. And I think it's
cool that you've you've kind of like used your experience
to get to that point. So done.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
I mean, I think that's just I don't know. I
guess I was fortunate to not have achieved too much
at a young age. I was, you know, I was
as if you ask anybody around here, I was a
phenomenal wrestler growing up. I don't think I was all
that great, but you know, I was ranked pretty high
going into state in high school and never won a
(23:22):
state championship, and I was always you know, up there
in the conversation. And and then I go to school
and didn't make it through college the first time or
the second time. And so, you know, I think the
failures early on in life actually kind of developed me
to be able to move past things a little easier
than most folks. And you know, I just think it's
(23:45):
I want to be able to live the most you know,
opportune and best life that I possibly can, and that's
just taking the cards as they're dealt You know, I
can't change every little aspect. I can't go back in
time and say like, hey, guys, don't kick the shit
out of me in this random freaking restaurant. But it
all worked out how I think it was supposed to.
(24:06):
I don't know if that's fate or whatever you want
to call it, the way that life works out. And
I think I was fortunate for all of that. And yeah,
you were talking about the insurance thing that was I
even had to deal with that. With that, actually, I
was supposed to be covered by the military and still
got thousands and thousands of dollars worth of bills for
you know, a six day stay in the hospital. And
(24:28):
that's what we're trying to get away from with this practice.
We don't take any insurance whatsoever. We don't even deal
with insurance companies, and honestly, it's cheaper for a lot
of people to go and pay cash prices.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Is there a website or any what's the name of it.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
The company is TKCU Solutions, that's Actulutions. Yeah, TKACU. It's
actually old military thing. It's to keep comfortably uncomfortable cool.
It's just kind of something we live by and think through.
And Thomas, the MD that I work with, he actually
was a dive medical offic So he was an MD
(25:02):
before he joined the Navy, and then he went to
you know, the officer's dive course, which is like their
special forces training, and so you know, he had to
he went through a lot of the same hardships that
I went through, and you know, the same kind of
getting medically discharged before you ever got to do anything
you wanted to do. He had the same thing happened.
He was actually, uh, the MEU surgeon for the ship
(25:23):
that was on that Afghanistan pulled out, and so that's
he was in the middle of all of that whenever
they found a complication with his medical past and they
had to pull him from the middle of that. He's
running the entire medical department of a ship that's trying
to pull every single marine out of Afghanistan at that time.
So I mean, the chaos that he was going through
and then to be told like, oh, well, you're leaving
in two days. You're getting flown to Germany because of
(25:45):
something that's going on with your you know, your medical stuff.
So you know, we just we kind of came from
the same background and fortunately enough we got together when
we did up in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
You can't really go back to the Navy at this point,
right like with the medical stuff, or is there is
there any recourse there? Would you ever want to do that?
Speaker 1 (26:04):
If you could, I could, but it would be in
a job that I wouldn't want, and no, I don't.
I would never I would never go back. I would
never take the time that I had in the military away.
I think it was the most like one of the
most you know, beneficial and developmental stages of my life.
I think I really needed it, and I think a
lot of people that joined the military do need it,
(26:25):
and it's really beneficial for him. If you would have
asked me when I was in San Diego right out
of BUDS, I hated it, every aspect of it. But
now that I'm you know, older, and get the opportunity
and the chance to look back at the things that
I got to experience and the people I got to meet,
and you know, the lessons that I learned throughout my
entire time, I wouldn't take a single second of it back.
And I think it was I think it would be
great for a lot of people that you know, are
(26:48):
lost because I think that's originally why I joined. I mean,
I was going to school and working for my dad's company,
and I hated both of them. I didn't hate his company,
I just didn't. I felt like I wasn't doing something
I was supposed to be doing, and.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Was it like a purpose thing or like I think
so yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
I think it was like a I don't know what
I yes, like an identity crisis, like who what am
I doing? I don't like, I'm not happy here right now?
And I hated school. I always hated school. I didn't
even tell anybody when I was joining. I walked into
a recruiting office after I got off work one day
and just said like, hey, what do I need to do?
Like what do I need to fill out? And then
I told my parents, actually after I'd already filled out
(27:23):
all of my people. They weren't very happy, But you know,
it's it's I think I needed it. I think I was.
You know, I was doing probably some things I wasn't
supposed to be doing. I was drinking a lot and
partying and wasn't really dedicated to any one thing. I
wasn't dedicated to school and I wasn't dedicated to work,
and yeah, I think I was just lost. I didn't
(27:46):
find the things that I thought I was going to.
But I definitely found a purpose in life, and I
definitely found you know, the type of people I want
to hang out with and be around, and the type
of person I wanted to be. I think it changed
me for the better, absolutely, And I wouldn't never take
any of it back. I wouldn't go back into it
right now. But that's also because I would never be
able to do the things I want to do. And
you know, I've found a new purpose and I'm still
(28:08):
getting to take care of people like I wanted to.
And yeah, I'm back home where I can spend four
days a week out at the property and get to
do the things that I really enjoyed and loved as
a child I'm now getting to do again. We're building
a cabin on the backside of the property for my
dad actually right now, trying to get it ready. Next
weekend's opening weekend for hunt seasons, so trying to get
(28:29):
that all finished up so he finally has, you know,
a nice place to stay
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