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August 17, 2025 62 mins

Welcome to another compelling episode of The First Responder Playbook! Today, Brent sits down with Mr. Whiskey, host of the Couple O' Nukes podcast—a U.S. Navy veteran, speaker, and modern-day preacher with a mission to turn trauma into transformation. Together, they dive deep into the unique challenges faced by first responders and military members: the impacts of shift work, the struggles with mental health, and the critical importance of supportive leadership.

Mr. Whiskey shares raw, powerful stories from his own life and his father's 25 years as a police officer, peeling back the curtain on the unseen emotional toll this work can take. From navigating a controlling and turbulent upbringing to enduring the grueling realities of the Navy’s nuclear program during the pandemic, he opens up about how those experiences shaped his path toward healing and helping others.

Brent and Mr. Whiskey discuss everything from burnout and substance abuse in law enforcement, to the politics of military promotions, to what it really means to build a life—and an identity—outside the uniform. Along the way, they explore the healing power of storytelling, why leadership matters more than ever, and the inspiration behind the Couple O' Nukes podcast, which now covers everything from suicide prevention to self-improvement and community-building.

If you want gritty wisdom, heartfelt honesty, and takeaways for both life and leadership, this episode is one you won’t want to miss.

Want to be a guest on The First Responder Playbook: Insights on Leadership and Training? Send Brent Colbert a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1748037097521814b71b1b454

Check Mr. Whiskey and Couple O' Nukes out: https://www.coupleonukes.com/

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Guys, welcome to the new episode of the First Responder Playbook.
I'm joined today by Mr. Whiskey, who is the host of the
Coupo Nukes podcast. U.S. navy veteran, speaker,
podcaster, modern day preachers Turning Trauma into
Transformation. His podcast Couple of
Nukes where raw conversations about suicide, addiction,

(00:23):
faith and recovery help listeners rebuild their lives. From
the military to ministry to mentoring Gen Z. He
brings gritty wisdom, real life experience and message of hope
that doesn't hold back. Mr. Whiskey, thanks for joining me today and.
Thank you for having me. It's great to be here. I work a lot with
first responders and military members, especially mental health,

(00:45):
suicide prevention, awareness and addiction. As you know
from hosting your show, first responders have a much higher rate of all of those.
Yeah, absolutely. I'm thankful that, you know,
I've been in law enforcement almost going on 11 years full time
now, and I'm grateful over the last five years that
that mental health journey has started changing in a positive

(01:09):
direction for a lot of guys. Originally it was kind of like a suffer in
silence type thing. And you know, thankfully now we're moving
towards actually getting help for people that need it.
For sure. I agree. And one of the biggest things I think needs to be
highlighted more is what police officers especially
see and go through. So many people, you know, especially in the most recent

(01:32):
years, there's been a lot of anti police movements, defund the police, police
brutality and this and that. But just from being the son of a
man who was a police officer for 25 years and hearing some of the horror
stories from him, as well as hosting first responders on my podcast,
I've gotten to experience, you know, their firsthand accounts of some of the things
they have seen from suicide scenes that they had

(01:55):
to show up to and clean and report on, to
performing CPR on, on dying people who, you know, passed away
in their arms. You know, people forget what cops do. You know, they have
this kind of very stereotypical social media, mainstream media
image in their head and they don't actually picture all this stuff that
goes on behind the scenes. Yeah, absolutely. I mean,

(02:18):
there's so many people that see just
a whole bunch of stuff that the general population probably never
sees. And then you have to
process that. And unfortunately for the longest time, you know,
they didn't process it in a healthy manner. You know, they're.
That's. You're exactly right. That's why the alcohol, the substance

(02:40):
abuse, domestic violence, all that stuff is very high in first
responders. And you know, luckily we're starting to get a little bit
better in that slowly but surely. Yeah, for
sure. So tell me, tell me about your upbringing.
You know, you. You kind of told me that you had a little bit of
a rough upbringing. Tell me about that. For sure.

(03:02):
The number one word I like to use to describe it is controlling.
So growing up in that sheltered home where parents kind of
pick your friends and enemies for you, they have a lot of say over everything
you do. Not going out and socializing much, not meeting
a lot of people, a lot of religious weaponization, a lot of
verbal abuse, emotional abuse. And part of that, I

(03:24):
think kind of stems back to, you know, I never really thought of it this
way, but one day my grandfather on my mother's side said, you know, Mr. Whiskey,
your father probably has seen some of the worst parts of the world. And
so he's going to want to be a little more protective. But I think sometimes
parents get controlling in their
protective nature rather than guiding. And it's

(03:46):
more important to. I like someone had made an analogy the other day on
my show. Instead of shooting the bow and arrow for, you know, your
children, help guide them, show them how far to pull back and where to
aim and stuff like that. But it was kind of that combined with his
ongoing addiction, which started before he was an officer.
Obviously it perpetuated quickly

(04:08):
as he became a cop. He was, unfortunately, he suffered from.
He was in a chain of command where they were kind of experimenting with his
sleep cycles. So at one point he was 12 hour shifts,
one month straight A days, one month of nights. Then they changed it to
all right, two weeks on days, two weeks nights. Like he. His
body. I mean, it's not natural, you know, and I'm sure you've done plenty of

(04:30):
rotating shift work and they've gotten slowly better at it,
trying to calculate the ideal thing. But at the end of the day, we know
it's not ideal at all. You know, you can only kind of maximize or
minimize the negative effects of it. And so dealing with the
insomnia, the changing sleep schedule, all the stuff he saw
perpetuated his alcoholism more and more. And then when

(04:51):
he retired, it was a huge change for him because, you know,
as. As you know, with many first responders and military members, because
the career is your lifestyle as much as it is your
job, it gets you on your days off, it calls
you into the station or the ship or wherever. On your days off, on
holidays, on night shifts, everywhere you go, you're kind of seeing things

(05:14):
like my father on his days off. He. He couldn't turn it
off, you know, if he saw someone parked in a no parking zone, you know,
like even the smallest thing. And so because it's your lifestyle,
it becomes such a part of your identity. You know, many people are still a
cop when they're off of work. Many people are still a soldier or sailor into
a degree. It's good to be, to keep some of the good quality, some

(05:35):
of the good traits. You learn about attention to detail and being
hyperactive and all that. But some people just never turn off. And so when
they retire, you know, my father, I mean, that really changed his
whole world. It's one of the most major moments for first responders. And then at
the same exact time his mother passed away. So that year
was just a year that really everything fell apart.

(05:58):
You touch on a couple things that I don't think people
really necessarily realize that aren't in that world.
Shift work for sure. I've
never personally worked the ones where they've, you know, worked like a
week, you know, a couple weeks a day shift and a couple weeks of night
shift. But I've also purposely stayed away from agencies

(06:20):
that I've seen do that. Right. Because it's hard enough as is
when you do it every six months or every year.
Like a lot of agencies do that. It's not
natural to work overnights anyways and then to
flip your schedule back and forth. I mean, it's rough. I
worked overnight 12 hour shifts for, gosh,

(06:42):
five years. And just to have
a normal social life, if you want to
call it that, you know, to talk to your family,
friends, stuff like that, I had to
flip my schedule my first day off
and you know, I would go to bed at like 7:30, 8:00 clock in the

(07:03):
morning, and then I was up by like one or two
just on my first day just to have a normal day, like your second day
off or third day off. And it was rough because you're, you're
just totally exhausted that first day and everybody's
like, why don't you want to come out and do something? You know, you want
to go outside and like, you know, go to Buffalo Wild Wings or something. And

(07:24):
you're so tired, you're just like, man, I just want to stay home and like
go back to bed. And your friends that aren't in that
career don't understand that. Your family doesn't understand that. Like,
they're like, hey, come over and eat dinner, man, I'm
exhausted. I don't want to do anything. And so like, that's Just.
That's rough. Especially when you have a family, you know, I don't want to say

(07:46):
luckily.
And then you do it. For so long, I,
I've struggled with this part in that
I've tried to separate the job from
Brent Colbert. So I, I try to,

(08:06):
when I'm not, you know, not working, I really don't want, you
know, I've got friends that all they want to do is talk about the job.
Yeah. And I try to stay so far away
from work outside of it. Not because I hate
it, it's just because when you're there, it's so
consuming. That culture of like always

(08:27):
being on guard, always being on duty. Like, I've tried to
not let it consume my life because I've seen how it does consume people's
lives. And you're. You're exactly right.
It takes over of always, you know, like sitting to your back
against the wall watching the door of a restaurant. Like

(08:47):
it's draining to be so emotionally on guard all the
time. And it consumes people. And I
tried my best still to this day to like
have non law enforcement outlets when I'm
not at work. Like, everybody makes fun of me all the time because like, I
love sports, like football, baseball, whatever it may be. But I do

(09:09):
that because I don't want the job to consume me. Like I, I want
to just not focus about that when I'm not at work.
Love the job, love being a cop. But I don't want it to take over
my life because I've seen what it does to people who don't have those outlets.
Yeah. And for, for me, I know when I was, well, when I
was working at a acid plant, blue collar side, there's a lot of shift work

(09:33):
as well. At this chemical plant we were doing every few days, you
were switching your sleep schedule. That was rough. And then when I was in the
Navy working on a moored submarine, we also did it, we had
three rotations, so it was eight to 2100
day shift. And then you would go to noon to
midnight swing shift and then midnights, which would be,

(09:55):
you know, like 2100 to 8am about relatively.
And we created this thing called Swidz, which
was swings to mids. And people would,
like the first night just had this huge alcohol fest to knock themselves
out, to transition their sleep. And it, you know,
not. I don't recommend it. Right. I don't encourage it. A lot of people did

(10:18):
that though, you know, and I. The thing is, you're talking about
you're exhausted yet you also can't sleep because your body is just so
confused about when do I sleep, when do I not sleep? You've got the blackout
curtains up, I'm sure. You know, I've had my fair share of
blackout curtains and it's every few days is, is
really rough. I mean, I just always found that working night

(10:40):
shift I just could not sleep during, during the day. I mean
from like mid, from like 1am to
5am that final stretch, that was when I was just like about to
pass out and I would get home and like I'm awake again, it's daytime and
it's just like, where did all that sleepiness go? Because it's not here now that
I need it. You know, you wake up and. And also

(11:01):
it's hard to control your environment during the daytime where got
landscapers outside, you've got kids running and screaming.
And then the worst part too is when you're working
midnights and swings, like you can never get your, you gotta stay up during the
day to get your errands done because everyone's up during the day. So now
you're giving up your sleep to go get your oil changed or you know, go

(11:23):
grocery shopping, whatever it is. So it's just, it's not convenient. You know,
the world isn't set up to accommodate, you know, midnight workers.
100 and I'll never forget,
I finally got to go to Dacia for a little bit
right when I bought my house right as Covet started. And I was so excited
because, you know, I bought a house on a new addition.

(11:46):
Like there's like houses being built around me. It's loud and I'm like,
sweet. I'm finally gonna be able to like work
when all this is going on. And I'll never forget, like
I got sent right back to Knights. I don't remember why I got sent back
to nights now, but I got sent back to nights. And so like
it was just rough trying to sleep with like new construction

(12:09):
being going all around you. And I'm like,
like I had the blackout curtains going, I had like noise canceling
headphones in and like it was just rough.
Yeah. And you know, and then you're supposed to like go to work
and like manage it. It's rough.

(12:29):
So how did you decide finally that, you know, after growing up
you get to the high school age and you're like, I'm going to join the
Navy. How did you decide I want to join the Navy? And then like, how
did you decide I'm going to go down the nuclear submarine route, because
that's actually kind of. You hear about it,
but from somebody coming in the heartland, like, there's

(12:52):
not a bunch of people that work on nuclear subs around here. So
can you talk about that a little bit? For sure. So like I mentioned earlier,
I don't get to make my own decisions or. When I was growing up, you
know. So as quick as I could say this, my whole life
had been set up for the Coast Guard Academy. That's what my parents always pushed
for, what they always wanted me to do. Summer programs, talking to people in

(13:14):
government, right? Getting ready to do that. But it was their
dream. And a lot of times, and most people
know this now, that if you try to force your dream onto your
children, they end up really resenting it. You know, you want your kids
to do something because you, you know, instilling them a curiosity for
or a passion for it. But the way my parents went about it was

(13:37):
so controlling. And so this, this, this like.
And telling me this is what you want? Well, you can tell me what I
want. And eventually I got a job as ice cream salesman
on the beach. And everyone was asking, you know, hey, son, what are you doing
for saving up money for college while you're working a job, try and get a
car, you know. I said, no, I'm going to the Coast Guard Academy.

(13:58):
Funny enough, that job too. My mom just. I came home one day, my mom
was like, I got you a job. You start work tomorrow. You know, it's like,
you know, so that everything has always been, you know, her control.
And people were like, well, what do you want to do, Mr. Whiskey? I said,
me, I have a choice. I didn't know that. Thank you. And I said, you
know, I'd like to be an entrepreneur and, and a creator and definitely an

(14:20):
author. And, you know, I was always really passionate about creating and
working. Definitely wanted to own my own restaurant or business.
And, you know, they convinced me eventually they said, well, if that's what you want
to do, do that. You know, don't go to the Coast Guard Academy just because
your parents are telling you, you know, you're a kid now, but once you turn
18 and you graduate, you know, it's really your life. And you don't want to

(14:40):
look back and regret, you know, living a life that wasn't yours. And
so I decided to not go to the Coast Guard Academy.
Walked away from that opportunity and then covet hit right as I
was graduating, and I didn't even complete my senior year
in the terms of they said, we're taking a two week break. And then we
never came back. You know, diploma's in the mail. So it was like right

(15:02):
when Covid first hit and everything went to chaos. And
so the working world kind of shut down. And so that route kind of closed.
And college was an option for me because my parents had never educated
me on it. I had this totally misconceived notion about what
college was. And I talked about going to community college and
then transferring over once I figured things out. And my parents

(15:24):
said, no. Specifically, my dad said, you know, community college is for
minorities and bums, and no son of mine will go there.
And so that was closed. And so eventually they pressured me
into military again. When Air Force. The day before I
shipped out to MEPs to get everything done. They changed the job
on me that I wanted. So I was going for photojournalism. Oh, we

(15:46):
can't get you that. They said they could, guaranteed, but, you know, they changed their
verbiage at the end. No, no, I said I could try and get you that.
I never said guaranteed. And pulled the rug from under me and said, you're gonna
be a crypto linguist. You're gonna learn another language, and then you're gonna
spy and translate and spend. Like, at some point, he mentioned spending
14 hours in a plane. I said, I've never been in a plane in my

(16:07):
life, and I'm not starting with 14 hours. Throw me in the deep end of
the pool there. So I looked at the other jobs in the Air Force
because I said, well, you know, there's a lot of things. Pest control,
mailman, construction, store clerk, Everything civilian side. There was a
military version of it. I said, honestly, why don't I just get an easy
job? You know, my. My parents were. Hated that idea because of their

(16:29):
pride. But for me, I was like, I still get medical, dental,
food, housing. Like, who cares what job I do?
Honestly, I wasn't like. Like, I respected war heroes, but I
didn't feel the need to be one. And then my parents were like, nope, no
son of ours is doing anything other than that top crypto linguist job. Because,
you know, you're a whiskey and you. You know, our pride. And it was always

(16:51):
about them, them, them, never me. And so I walked away from
the Air Force because of that whole changing last minute. And.
But the thing with COVID was getting worse and worse, and so I
ended up going to Navy recruiting office. Had terrible experience.
It was gray, dimly lit. Everyone hated their lives, and everyone was a
jerk. And I was like, they convinced me to never join

(17:14):
any military branch. My mom was like, no, no, no, no. Maybe you caught them
on a bad day. Takes me to a different recruiting office, which isn't even allowed
because they had started paperwork with me. And they were sunny, bright lights, hey,
come in, watch Netflix, have some pizza. Let me tell you about all these fun
stories. Let me leave out everything else. And you
know, they, they convinced my mom. She loved it. So,

(17:35):
you know, at 17, my parents forced me to join the
Navy, so to speak. And I was going for
photojournalism once again, mass communications. I wanted to do that. They said
nope. So I was going for underwater welding. And then they said, well,
we looked at your ASVAB scores. We'd really like you to be a nuclear operator.
It's the hardest job, the worst job. You'll hate your life, but

(17:57):
it's the most benefits. And I said to myself, well,
I already don't want to be here, so I might as well try to get
the most benefits out of it if I'm going to have to. If I'm going
to be forced to go through this horrible situation, might as well just
go through a slightly worse version of it and get more benefits. What I
didn't realize was that the extra benefits were

(18:19):
only if you stayed nuclear blue collar side, post military.
Guess what? A high ranking mailman in the Navy
got paid more than a nuclear operator. That's just how it works, you know, it's
based off of brain. And all the benefits are the same whether you're a veteran
who served XYZ years or ABC years, or whether you
were a construction man or a torpedo dude, you still got

(18:41):
medical, dental, food, housing, right? So it just.
At the end of the day, yes, there was a bonus for being a nuclear
operator. Ways to rank up faster, great
resume. But, you know, I didn't want to stay
nuclear side post military. And so I kind of
got swindled. And that led to my journey into the navy. And

(19:03):
the submarine was part of the training that all nuclear operators
go through. I ended up on an aircraft carrier because I didn't want to go
sub. I almost changed my mind after working on the live
submarine for training. I said, I kind of like this. I liked it a lot,
but not enough. Not more than sunlight and fresh air.
So. So

(19:26):
did you go through basic during COVID
Yes. And that was. I think my boot camp is
a very unique one that no one else can really
say they went through as well. Because the divisions after me had a different experience.
The divisions before me, all throughout Covid. And, and for people
who don't know, the military was still in the COVID

(19:49):
quarantine months after the civilian world. So months after the
civilian world lifted the mass, Lifted all this stuff, all the mandates, Military
said we need us to be the front line if
anything happens. And if the civilian world is wrong, we'll be
ready. You know, that was the kind of idea that we gotta, we gotta be
extra precautious. And that's everything in the military is always

(20:11):
even more precautious than, than we need to be. And that's a good thing. Now,
I hated it because I hated wearing a mask, and I would have never worn
one if the military didn't force me to. You
know, that that's crazy. That a crazy
time to go through boot camp, you know. So did you guys have to enforce
like all the, the distancing and. Yes and

(20:32):
no. So that was the beauty of the confusion. You've got
one RDC yelling six feet. And then you got another one yelling heel
to toe. Stand in line, right up against each other. So you got conflicting
orders. And it's always, you know, one RDC will come up to you and say,
why aren't, why, why are you staying six feet apart? Stand next to each other.
Well, this rdc. Well, he, I, I said, so? And then that RDC will come

(20:54):
over. Well, why aren't you standing six feet apart? Well, that guy said, well, I
told you to do this right? Why are you listening to him? And it just
became a lot of things that normally you go through boot camp,
I didn't go through because of the requirements. So, like the
going through the gas chamber, we did some
parts of it, but not all of it because of COVID And, I don't know,

(21:14):
some of it didn't make sense. Some of the firefighting stuff we didn't do. It
was also a scary time to go through boot camp in the sense
that anyone who had any symptoms, the slightest
cough, you got set back into a two week quarantine in
boot camp. So basically it's two extra weeks of boot camp, not just
you, but anyone within one

(21:36):
rack of you. So every time one person had a symptom, all six people
got quarantined. So my division started with almost 100 people. We were down
to like 20 at some point because they were just quarantined, quarantining. And the
quarantine was, you're in boot camp, no tv, no
phone, you're sitting in this little space, dimly lit, you've got a
book about naval history and commands. You've got people patrolling in

(21:58):
uniform, yelling at you. You get this little bag lunch. It's like a
piece of white bread with one slice of ham and mayonnaise. Like, the
quarantine food was terrible, Terrible
because they weren't allowed to go to the galley. You had to get these bag
meals, and they needed hundreds on hundreds of them.
Oh, it was. It was just terrible. The only thing nice that people

(22:20):
said was that the military always were the first people to get toilet paper. So.
So did yours get extended? No, luckily,
that. That was the biggest fear. So I had to quarantine the first
two weeks of boot camp. Everyone did to get there, then go through
boot camp, and then I had, like, a few days to
wait to ship out to where I was. And luckily, no. It got

(22:43):
to the point where my RDC was so tired of losing people
that if you were in Iraq, next to someone who, quote, had symptoms,
almost none of these people were actually sick. He would say, were you sleeping
facing them or facing away? They. They. He arranged the bed so now
everyone was facing away from each other. So they did
10. Oh, he never breathed in his face, you know, like, because my RC

(23:06):
was sick of it. Because, I mean, you have these. Some recruits were there for
months. Months. And then you had people who.
This is just how evil people are. People who would fake symptoms just to,
like, get out of doing some job. Like, we had a guy, he. He was
put in charge of doing our laundry. Five minutes later, I have
Covid, I have Corona, disappears, takes six other people with him,

(23:28):
and all because he didn't want to do laundry that day. Now you
have two more weeks of boot camp. I. I could never,
ever want to do that. Why would you want to be in boot camp any
longer than you already have to be? But some people said, hey,
boot camp time counts as service time. So if I just keep
getting into quarantine, I can cut time off of my contract that I

(23:50):
actually have to serve. I mean, this. It was a crazy
time. That's wild.
So you finish that up, you go through your advanced training.
Not really necessarily what you wanted.
Looking back on it, did you enjoy what you ended

(24:11):
up doing? Because over the long term, you're kind of
doing content creation and stuff on your own. Yeah. Now
everything lined up. But do you look back
positively on your time in the military? There was a
pivot point. The first part of training a
school for six months. I hated it. I did not

(24:33):
want to be there. I hated everything about it. There was
a pivot point where. Where I kind of got a little. I got
the bug, so to speak, of the Navy spirit, you know, the lone sailor vibe.
And I started studying and getting higher grades and
being who ya. And what I experienced is,
if you hate the military, you're called a dirt bag, a scumbag. Everyone gives you

(24:56):
a hard time. You hate your life. If you love the military now everyone
else who hates the military hates you. So you can never win.
You can never win. The reason I lost
it is because I got so infected with the
Navy spirit that I was trying for this certain promotion.
I worked 16 hours a day. So I was working four extra hours,

(25:18):
giving the Navy four extra hours a day for no extra pay, nothing,
right? But helping people stay in a nuke program
who were going to get kicked out. I stayed behind to tutor them, to help
them get the training and qualifications they needed. I had eight letters of
recommendation for this promotion. Everyone told me it was
guaranteed. A captain told me to my face that he would sign the paperwork.

(25:39):
It was guaranteed. When it came down to it, they
gave my. Gave it away
to someone, quote, for diversity. So they gave someone
who was Filipino because, quote, we didn't have enough Asian instructors the
promotion. And then they, quote, didn't have room for me, even though we were
so understaffed that they had to involuntarily promote

(26:02):
for over 40 people who did not want the position to be a nuclear
instructor. Once the politics got involved
and screwed me over, and this was foreshadowed to me, I didn't understand
it. I asked a guy who had been
promoted to the promotion I was chasing, like, how did you do it? I want,
you know, I'm trying really hard. I'm working 16 hours a day. And when

(26:23):
you work 16 hours a day, I went home, I slept. I had
nightmares about being on the submarine because I had just been on it for 16
hours and it wouldn't leave my mind. Then I would wake up and go there.
Barely ate, barely slept. I asked him what more
I could do, and he said, have you ever seen another Indian in the nuclear
Navy? I said, no, sir, you're the only one I've met. He goes, I was

(26:45):
told I met a special billet and that's how I was promoted. And
in my head I said, okay. So, I mean, some of the people here,
or getting promoted for diversity, that doesn't really affect me.
I never said to myself, they're taking spots from you because I
figured that's an extra billet. I figured they said, well, they must have put an
extra spot to the side. They didn't.

(27:08):
So after that, I really. I really stopped caring,
and I. I just really began to hate the Navy again.
And then there were so many issues with medical. I saw so many
people being delivered. Injustice from. From
leadership. I've listened to some episodes of your podcast on
leadership and couldn't agree more with the military. One of the

(27:30):
biggest issues that I always talk about on my show is the leadership. From the
Vietnam veterans to 911 era to when I
recently got out, all the same complaints about leadership. You
know, we're slowly seeing some changes, but it's taken a very long
time. It's going to take a very long time. And that
was. I just saw so many people screwed over by Navy medical,

(27:52):
by their chains of command. I saw people in charge who hated their
lives and took it out on us. And I said, I'm. I'm leaving. I
gave extra time and got nothing in return, but
basically told to go ask myself, as the Navy would say, respectfully.
And so I got out. And as much as
I hate the military for the bad sides of

(28:14):
it, you know, I've worked with a lot of people who it. It really
changed their lives. It benefited their lives. I have a lot of respect for the
men and women serving this country, and I do a lot of work
on the. On the, you know, veteran side,
the active duty mental health and suicide prevention
awareness, because it's my way to.

(28:36):
Because I did live through it and because I did serve with those people, and
some of my best friends are still serving. I'm still a part of that community,
and in a way that I enjoy and that is
beneficial to people, but in a way that's not screwing me over or
contributing to them. That makes sense. Yeah, absolutely.
And, you know, that's.

(28:58):
I kind of laugh at this. You know, during COVID I first
tried to jump into podcasting, and I did audio only at the time.
And, you know, I told you that I.
I try to keep it away from law enforcement stuff as much as I can
outside of work. And I. I love paranormal stuff,
like ghosts, Bigfoot, aliens. Like, I just do. And so that was my first

(29:21):
foray into podcasting, was a paranormal podcast.
And I quit during COVID just because it was such a weird
time. And. But I've always had a
love of podcasting. Like, I listen to them all the time. I mean, you're in
a car 8, 10, 12 hours a day. And so I. I
was like, you know what? I'm going to Give it a try. Because I'm so

(29:43):
sick and tired of bad leadership at a lot of places.
And I was like, why not do a first responder theme
podcast over leadership training, share other
people's stories, because that's an outlet to get new
ideas out there into the community. Because
you're exactly right. First responders, military, there's a lot of

(30:06):
bad leadership. And that's why I try to. You know,
I love Pod match for what they do because it's connected
me to a lot of people that have leadership ideas that are not in the.
Community. Because
why would we continue to promote those bad things
of leadership styles that they've always done?

(30:28):
And these people that are not in the community have new ideas, new ways of
doing things. Like, that's my small way of sharing their
message to help change things. And so
I. I love doing this podcast just for
that fact. Like, I may never get huge in the
podcasting world, and I'm cool with that. Like, I enjoy what I do, but

(30:50):
it helps change the culture slowly and bring these new ideas in,
because it's needed for so many
different ways of, like, bad leadership. And that's
why when I. When I became a frontline supervisor, like,
I tried to always do things that were opposite

(31:11):
of what my bad leaders did, because it
was. It was just brutal. And, like, you know, I had a supervisor one time
that, like, a Marine
Corvette that, like, he never,
I don't think, processed his issues from the military,
and he just took it out on

(31:33):
people that he worked with because he never took care of his issues.
And I. I never want to go down that route. I don't, like,
ever wish bad on the guy or anything like that. But, like,
we were just like oil and water at work. And,
you know, and so I try to just do things the exact

(31:54):
opposite the way he did. So here I
am, and I enjoy it. And, you know, we're gonna keep doing the
good fight. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you one thing I'll never forget
from the leadership example I had a master chief say to me.
I don't have to justify myself. I wear an anchor with two
stars. I can do what I want. Like, basically, you know, my

(32:18):
way is. Is right. You know, justice is justified by rank,
which is not true at all. Right. You know, I think
there are ways to hold leadership accountable, but there's a lot of
red tape. There's a lot of people protecting their own.
That happens especially up in leadership, you know, so
it's very difficult, especially for new people coming into an Environment that is

(32:41):
so already cemented in ways that are
toxic or poor leadership. But the idea that,
you know, that'd be like a sheriff saying, well, I wear this badge, so whatever
I do is right. You know, it's. And I listened to your
episode where we talked about, you know, the, the power that corrupts, you
know. Yep. And, and so that's, that's what a lot of leaders go through.

(33:03):
And there's a difference between, I like your guest said, like, misuse of
power and abuse of power, you know, two very different
things. And a lot of times, unfortunately, there are people who are
intentionally abusing their power. A lot of times that,
A lot of times it comes down to laziness. You know, in the military, there's
a lot of tasking off stuff you don't want to do to other people below

(33:24):
you, and that just comes down to laziness and just, you know,
a rank doesn't justify not doing your job and doesn't justify
that your personal beliefs, you, you know, are
what need to now be enforced. You know, and there's a lot of
things that get ignored in the military that, you know, if the
UCMJ was actually held to a standard and,

(33:48):
and different things, you know, the actual naval guidelines for, for
sleep and for health and for fitness, that a lot of these places would be
shut down. You know, I'm sure. Same with, I'm sure law
enforcement has guidelines by the government or the state
or wherever of what your working conditions are supposed to be. And
I'm sure they're not being met. Yep, absolutely.

(34:09):
I, I've never. That's actually something that's
very passionate to me is your rank does not
justify you getting out of doing your job. And
to this day, like, I mean, there's some guys that
I love to death, but, like, they let that, that, those,
you know, Sergeant Chevron's get to him and they're like,

(34:33):
you know, I'm just, I'm so busy doing this. I'm like, dude, you still got
a job to do. And I'm with you on that. 100.
So you get out of the military,
how did you finally realize your passion of finally getting to do content
creation? You know, starting a podcast,

(34:53):
going down that journey because that's where you originally wanted to be.
And now you're here. Yeah. How'd you get there? Full
circle moment, you know, glory to God. That I think
I always said at some point to myself, I said, I feel like
God took me through the nuclear program. Not to be a nuke, but to
experience certain things and meet certain people to do what I do now,

(35:16):
you know, I mean, that's where this all originated. A couple of nukes, you
know, I was listening to podcasts. I was driving about 16 hours a
weekend, a few times a month. And so like you said, I mean, you can
listen to music for only how many hours, you know, you kind of get bored
of it. You start drifting off. So I started listening to podcasts, comedy
podcasts, and they had life advice mixed in. And nuclear

(35:38):
operators are a very small percentage of. A very small percentage of people
who can join the military, especially the ones who actually make it out to the
fleet because of the high suicide and dropout rate. And so
you. When I personally feel this is very true. And
historically, if you look at, you know, historical figures,
the smarter people are, the more weird they are. Usually they're a little more

(36:01):
eccentric, you know, and they. They just work in a different way. Geniuses, don't get
me wrong. But socially, Socially ignorant,
sometimes nukes, a lot of them, especially on the. On
the high spectrum of, you know, nukeness, very
egotistical, very technical about stuff. Very
like talking to nukes. I often describe it as you're in court, you

(36:23):
know, you're in, like, science core or whatever, history court. Like, they're very technical
and stuff, and they're known for nuking it out. So focusing on small
details, having these conversations, lacking common sense.
And so when you get a couple of nukes together, the conversation can be super,
super, you know, fun, super
annoying, super dramatic. And I was sitting down and we were

(36:46):
having one of those conversations, and I said, wow, look at us, a couple of
nukes talking. And like, I want to show this with the world,
you know, and at the same time, highlight this
suicide rate that is so high. We had one to three suicides a month at
one point at our base, you know, so highlighting the issues,
but also sharing the comedy and beauty of the nuclear community

(37:08):
and helping nuclear nukes who are brand new and have been
in as well as just, you know, military in general. But
I always jokingly call the show just a Nuke because it's just me. A
lot of nukes were like, no, I don't have time. I rather podcasting.
No, I'd rather be drinking and getting drunk or sleeping or having a lot of
sex. And so no other nukes were really in on it. And once

(37:31):
I got out, you know, that community is very like
in the nuclear community in the Navy. And then when you get out,
it kind of branches off there's some Facebook groups and stuff like that, but,
you know, once the nuke, always a new kind of ordeal, but, you know, kind
of start living your own life. And so I was already doing the podcast. I
said, well, until I find a couple of nukes to, to host with

(37:53):
me, I guess I'll just do all military branches.
And so I started doing military health and mental health and all that.
But I got niched down to just this veteran helping veterans
kind of guy, which is great, don't get me wrong. Like that. That is my
passion. But I do so much more than just that. And I wanted
to do so much more than that. I didn't want to help just military members.

(38:14):
I want to help everyone. And so I branched out
to overall self improvement. And I now do everything
from, from women's menstrual health to flying airplanes, to
stock investments, to suicide prevention and better
sleep hygiene. You know, because the idea is that not every
episode is for everyone, but everyone has an episode for them and you

(38:37):
can get something from every episode. It might just not be
something applicable to your life to improve, but great knowledge to have.
And so my show, I ended up making it to be something that
builds community, that shares resources, and that people can
improve their lives. And I've kept a couple of nukes because that was the origin
of where it started, you know, and so kind of

(38:58):
to circle back to what you said. I am
grateful for everything that I went through in the military and even
my traumatic childhood, because it, what is what has given
me a voice of relatability, of empathy, of
authority and knowledge to speak on all these subjects, to really connect with
my guests about these subjects and to make a change

(39:20):
and to continue to just make bigger and bigger projects. You know, I think
a lot of people say that there are just certain qualities they took
away from the military that they'll always be grateful for. High work, drive,
discipline, you know, certain things that you take away. And I
think the military is one of those things. Like any life situation, you can take
as much away from it as you as you can or as little as you

(39:42):
want, you know, but either way, you still have to go through it.
Yeah, absolutely. I, I, I can relate to that so
much. And man, I, I'm with
you on that. And like my podcast originally was
just like, you know, I wanted to just talk about first responder
topics. And then I got in here and I'm like,

(40:03):
okay, like there's so much more outside of just
that small niche. Kind of like you said that I've
Started bringing on other guests because it's okay
to like, branch out and, you know, bring these
other new ideas into the first responder world. And
so like, kind of like you, like, I, I love that you're just

(40:26):
like, I'm not, I'm not gonna put myself in just a little
box. And like, you know, I was looking through like your website
and like all these different guests and topics, and I love that
because there's somebody out there that listens to your
podcast that relates to probably every single one of those.
And, you know, even if you touch one person with your podcast, like

(40:49):
you're doing a service to the world, you know, and
I, I love that. So how many seasons are you in
now in your podcast? Yeah, so
today was the last episode of season seven.
So I'll be moving on to season eight. The seasons
are 50 episodes long. But the first few seasons weren't

(41:11):
because originally when I first started out the show,
it was every few weeks. It was very inconsistent, trying to get
nukes together. I was still active duty doing a lot of stuff. Then,
you know, I got civilian world, got a little more consistent
weekly show. And the seasons were like, I don't know, I was trying to beat
them out. Like, okay, from September to June and then, or like,

(41:33):
or I had like from January to New Year to June and
then a summer. And then eventually once I went
every other day with my show, I had so many
episodes that I was like, if I were to make a season
based on, on, you know, the summer and fall, you know, winter,
I mean, there would be a hundred, two hundred episodes. So I decided to

(41:55):
go ahead and make it. Every 50 episodes is a new season. I feel like
that's a pretty good chunk. You know, I'd like to go
daily eventually, but right now it's just me, just a nuke by
myself. And so it's a lot, I'm sure. You know, being a podcast host,
the emails, the scheduling, the editing, the
posting, the social media, the thumbnail, there's so many little moving

(42:17):
parts that to do it by yourself daily,
I mean, it's just, it would be a lot. Plus all the recording time. You
know, I've had 10 hour recording days back to back to back just to get,
you know, one week ready. So it's, it's a lot. But I do love the
work. You know, I'm very. What do they, they say? Like, get a job that
you're passionate in and you'll never feel like you work. You know, that's what I

(42:39):
do. I love This I love sitting down, recording with people, even editing.
You know, you listen back, you get new insights. And like you said,
I've had people reach out and say, like, hey, this episode changed my life. And
that means everything to me because every day,
I'm sure you can relate to this. Every day I'm competing against these videos on
Instagram and X and Facebook and Tick Tock that get

(43:02):
millions of views and likes, and they're this, it's an AI generated video of a
cat exploding. And it's get millions of likes and I've got my wholesome content
about suicide prevention and it gets, you know, a couple likes and shares and
that's it. And it's. We're competing against a world that indulges in
sexual immorality and violence and gore and humor more
than anything. So getting those

(43:24):
personal kind of, hey, this episode reached me. You
know, it kind of counteracts all, all that, you know, fluff, so
to speak. It. But it's, it's still difficult, you know, but I just put
my content out and I say, God, I know that you'll get it to the
right person at the right time. You know, I don't worry about algorithms, I don't
worry about likes or any of that stuff. All I need is God, to get

(43:45):
it to someone. And I always get a little chill out. The idea of
this conversation you and I are having might Change someone's life 100
years after you and I are dead. Know, and it might, they might be like,
man, those, those two guys, those years ago, you know, they,
they recorded this show and it's, it's still relatable to me today. I hope not.
Hope the leadership has changed. And they're like, man, leadership back in

(44:07):
the day. I can't believe they allowed that stuff. You know, they used to allow
smoking in airplanes and they used to allow first responder leaders to suck.
Not anymore. That's illegal now. But, you know,
it's about, you know, creating content that is
consistent and evergreen and just knowing that it
will reach the right person at the right time. Yeah, I agree

(44:28):
wholeheartedly that, and you're exactly right. I, I just,
it, it, it, it's frustrating sometimes because you're out there competing against
these crazy videos that you know will get a million views
and there's nothing of value to them at all.
And people watch them and you're like, man,

(44:49):
you're like, man, I put in six hours of work to get this
episode out and, you know, I may get
100 views, but at the end of the day, if I can touch one of
those hundred views, it was worth it to me. And so
I, I'm glad that we both share that passion of
we're here to help, not necessarily be the biggest or best. And,

(45:11):
you know, that's what we're here for. And you're absolutely right. And a lot of
people don't realize that one episode
may take an hour to, you know, actually record, but then there's
so much more on the back end just to get it out. And
there's so much I've still got to learn about the, you know, the thumbnail video
or the thumbnail images and, you know, I, I'll get there.

(45:33):
But right now I'm just enjoying doing the podcast
all the time. And we've got a, We've got a job to do and
share our message and we're here enjoying it.
So let me ask you this. I'm. I'm gonna wrap up on
three questions. Okay.

(45:54):
My first one is what is your all
time favorite episode of a couple of nukes.
That, you know, that is a great question. And
there's a lot of different angles I could look at that from, like, because
there's. There was an episode that almost brought me to tears, right. And so I
would say that's a very emotionally moving episode. And then there's my most popular episode.

(46:17):
So I would
say there's a lot of shows I
reference all the time, you know, because sometimes you just learn stuff you never imagined.
I want to say the episode that, that is my
favorite is probably my most popular one,

(46:38):
which, you know, was back when Far from my.
It's far from one of my best episodes, quality wise and all that wise. And
I, I definitely want to have that guest back on, but it was Gen Z,
suicide prevention and integrating faith into social media
ads to reach people who have been disconnected from faith
because of social media. You know, just, it's as simple

(46:59):
ad as some of them, 16 different campaigns, some as simple as
just wiping through Instagram. You're, you're suicidal and depressed and you come across this reel
that says, hey, life hurts, but Jesus cares. You know, click
to learn more. And it's a suicide prevention line and stuff like that. So I
have to say that was, that is my number one most popular episode. There was
a point in time where every day someone was listening to it. And

(47:21):
I really hope that people took something
away from that, you know, I mean, and I just post when I posted about
the season seven finale this morning, which was just a regular Episode.
I said, what's so amazing is not only that these
50 new guests that were on the show, but some of them are collaborators

(47:42):
and friends that I talk to every day. You know, podcasting
is a form of community building, as I mentioned. And so
sometimes it's not even the episodes content itself, but the person behind
the episode that is really what touches me more than anything.
I agree wholeheartedly. I love that.

(48:03):
I love that there's a struggle that you're like, I've had so many good guests
that you're like, which one do I choose? Because that means you're doing the right
thing. Yeah. So two more.
Somebody looking to join the military. What is something.
A sage word of advice you can give them when they join the
military. A guest who was on my show,

(48:25):
I believe it was Peter Gunn. In fact, he said, I. I asked him, why
did you join the Air Force? He said, well, I was smart about it.
I went to the VA hospital when I interviewed all
the, you know, veterans there, I said, if you had to do the
military again, starting from when you first enlisted,
what would you do differently? And every Marine, Navy guy and

(48:48):
army guy said, I would have joined the Air Force. So he joined the Air
Force. And so, you know, my thing is
in, in, in on a similar sense, I believe it was
Rob Wheeler. Coach Rob said, if
you don't go talk to veterans, bring one or someone who actually
knows the service with you to the recruiting office. Now you can do either or

(49:10):
both. But I think getting that real experience
because, you know, look, I'm not saying recruiters are bad people, right? They
have a job to do, their salespeople. And I have met some
really honest recruiters. I've met some really, really bad
recruiters who just told terrible lies. And
withholding the truth and telling lies are two different things. You know, that the actual

(49:33):
lie, telling the. I've seen some recruiters post confession
videos like, this is how I got so many people to join this division.
I promised them that they could cross raid into Navy seals or Special Forces,
and that was a total lie. And, you know, they could never find me.
But talking to people and getting the real story,
whether, and maybe it's listening to podcasts, you know, listening to episodes like this,

(49:55):
but I would, I think going to the VA hospital or an American
Legion and talking to some of the veterans and talk to a
variety of them, get the good and the bad, and then weigh your
options. The thing that I regret not doing is letting my
parents bully me into. When I was in that Research phase, because I
started, I went to do it. Look at the different jobs in the Air Force.

(50:16):
Look at the different jobs in the Army. Like, don't just settle.
Find a job that you like. Again, all the
military benefits will follow. So find the job that you would actually
like doing if it was the worst case
scenario. You know, I've had a couple chefs on my
show who regretted becoming a chef in the Navy because it killed their

(50:38):
passion for it. So I would also caution you the
military version of whatever you love to do is going to be different and it
may kill your passion for it. So when you're researching those jobs,
really, really think about it and all. And don't focus
too much on the post transition. So many people pick a job because
of this, this misleading expectation of how

(51:00):
it'll affect their civilian career. When in reality,
sometimes it's just like, hey, you were in the military, Cool xyz,
Sometimes it doesn't matter. So unless it's something very, very
specialized, then think about it and don't get too specialized.
And then you realize, oh, shoot, now this is all I can do now. Now
I'm flipping burgers, I'm back to square one. So I think that research

(51:23):
phase, from looking at the jobs on their websites to talking to actual veterans
and active duty, do your research. Don't just show up to recruiting office,
say, I'm changing my life today. I want to be a Marine. You know what
happened to people on my show? They said that and they ended up in a
rice patty in Vietnam and said, I changed my mind. Don't just
give me any job. I've had a lot of guys on my show give me

(51:44):
whatever job recruiter you pick. Roulette. Do not play recruiter
roulette. You will lose. You will lose. Recruiter
roulette. I, I love that. And you're absolutely right.
That. Don't pigeonhole
yourself into like, because I, I mean, you're
right. You'll. Let's just. I'm just gonna pick something random. But you know, like, if

(52:06):
somebody was like, hey, I'm military police.
And then they get out and they think, well, all I can do is be
a police officer. Don't limit yourself just
to like say, hey, well, that's all I can do. That's all I know.
Continually be a professional and keep learning. And like, don't
let that define you. Like, if you will, if you were a military policeman and

(52:28):
you want to go be a chef, like, go get that culinary training when you
get out and go be a chef, like face your dreams,
not what the government tells you that you can do. Yeah,
stuff while you're in to set yourself up. You know, like, the military offers
a lot of programs for active duty guys to like, from skill bridge
to online classes, whatever it is. Like, just because you're

(52:50):
doing, like you said, if you're a military cop, don't hesitate to take military
courses for other professions or interests. Like, you can start working
on your resume now. You know, the Navy's not, or whatever branch isn't going to
slap you on the wrist saying, hey, why are you taking a course in culinary?
You should be taking a course in security and reenlist. They're going to tell you
that because they want you to reenlist and be qualified, but set up

(53:11):
like, don't let them pressure you. Yeah,
wholeheartedly agree. So now you're doing your passion.
What would you give new content creators, podcasters?
What's your one piece of advice to them?
You know, there's, there's so much advice. I'm so passionate about
podcasting and I, I'm one of those guys. I, I read the

(53:34):
stats every day, the new numbers and stuff like that. I find it very interesting,
you know, to read the stats, but I would say,
I think just
put yourself first is what I would say.
And what I mean is I've personally experienced, A lot of people have

(53:54):
tried to give me their professional advice by trying
to niche me or brand me or
do xyz. I'm not a brand, I'm a person. Yes. I
have a business and a brand. By the end of the day, I come first
in a sense that I will post what I want, I will do what
I want. Take actual feedback and

(54:17):
criticism, but don't take opinions. There's a big difference.
And it's really hard when you're content creating
to kind of differentiate those, you know,
Like, I'll give you an example. Like every. Everything I do, people are
against. So my show is for everyone. They say,
don't do that. They say, say, niche down. They say, hey, sometimes you post

(54:40):
stuff that isn't cowboy or oceanic.
Yeah. Because that's not all my life is consisted to. I don't
just post my thumbnails or clips of my episodes only. I post about
other stuff too, you know, and I
think, like, I have comments disabled on my YouTube and my
Instagram, except for people who actually follow me. People say, well, you're

(55:02):
really killing your growth in algorithm this, algorithm that. My
thing is, especially on Instagram, it is just such a
playground of hate and racism and gore and sexual
immorality that people will just drop hate comments on everything.
All right, I see YouTube videos get dislikes, and it's like, there's
actually zero reasons that anyone should dislike this video.

(55:24):
And obviously that sounds biased because I made it, but sometimes it's just like a
clip about, like, here's this wholesome piece of advice
to do xyz. What. What reason when you have to dislike it, right? People just
hate to hate, right? Everyone has opinions. And my thing is
I want to minimize spreading sinful behavior. So I have my
comment sections off, because why should I give these people a platform? People say,

(55:46):
well, what if good people want to reach you? Good people will take the extra
step to email me or go to my website and find the ways to contact
me, or they'll follow me and then comment. People who spread hate,
they're pretty lazy people unless they're really dedicated to it.
So if they can't comment, they'll just keep swiping. You know, they're not going to
find a way to try because they want publicity. They're not going to email me

(56:07):
privately because that doesn't get them any reaction, you know,
and so a lot of people would be against that. They say, bring the hate
because the hate brings more. More. More attraction and more
content. But think, do you. You know, so many people will say,
well, you should frame this episode or write this book this
way to appeal to more people. I don't chase after people. I

(56:30):
make what I like, and it'll attract the right people and it'll get to the
right people. So I say, put yourself first. People are going to try to box
you down and label you certain ways. I don't lead with I'm a
veteran. Everyone says, make sure you lead with your veteran. So people. No, I don't.
I don't lead with that because I don't want my identity to just be. I'm
a veteran. Just like I don't say I'm XYZ this or that. People

(56:50):
will say, you should really, you know, let people know. Say you're a life coach
and this and that. Like, people will try to label you and box you
down. And I've met a lot of people while podcasting who
have tried to really stereotype me, brand me,
do this. People will try to give you all this unsolicited
advice. That really isn't advice. It's really opinions, you know? So I

(57:13):
think make your content for you first, and the rest will follow
unpopular opinion. No, no, I Actually, I love that
100. So where can
everybody tell them about your website? Where can
they get in contact with you at? And where can they listen to the show
for sure? So couple oh nukes.com I always put that forward

(57:36):
because, you know, you can find my show on a variety of different
platforms. All my website links to
Apple Podcasts or YouTube or. But what I love about
my website compared to listening platforms, I have it organized
so my episodes are categorized. So like I said, you don't have
to spend time scrolling through 200 episodes. You could say, hey,

(57:57):
Vietnam war stories. You could say, hey, women's health, men's mental health,
suicide prevention, addiction recovery, unique stories, comedy.
I really like organizing it because the idea is I want everything to
be as easy as possible for people to change their lives. And I perform my
website even if you don't listen my show. I have every guest that's
ever been on the show and every show I've ever been on there in all

(58:20):
their resources, their websites. So again, the idea
is that my website is a resource hub so you can
listen to the episode. You can find books, courses, discounted programs
from guests, their content, and I always put that forward.
So couple o nukes.com that's nukes. Nukes.
And that has all my contact information as well. So if you want a

(58:42):
guest on the show, you want to connect me with someone, you have questions or
topic you want covered. And then I also have some, some books and
some other stuff, events and just different ways to connect
with people. So you mentioned the very beginning of the episode. I also
do preaching and comedy and writing, speaking. All of that
is the same as the podcasting, just different mediums to reach people.

(59:04):
Some people need a more humorous approach, some people need a more
spiritual approach. Some people need something more grounded in
military. You know, that's why like, I personally don't curse, but there
are some content creators that they curse like a sailor, so to speak. And
some people, that's what they're receptive to. They, they need to be cursed and
yelled at. I'm, I'm, you know, I'm not that person, you know, So I

(59:26):
think that it's important. Like, just like
when I first started my show, I was like, I don't want to work with
other guys who do military content or first responder content because
we're, we're competing. But then, you know, I, I quickly dropped that
mentality and came to realization, you know, we're all here to help people. And if
a person connects with Mr. Colbert better than Mr. Whiskey. Then. Then

(59:48):
go. Go enjoy his content. You know, like, at the end of the day, it's.
It's about you. It's not about me. You. You know, and I think
that's an important mentality to keep too. But some people get so they
turn their podcast into too much of a business. It's okay to make money
off your podcast and content creation, enjoy what you do, but some
people get so business that they. They kind of lose the whole original

(01:00:10):
per purpose and passion of helping people. Yeah. And, you
know, that's actually something I really want to touch on real quick,
is my flavor of
podcast may not be for everybody. Yours. Yours may not be either.
But why would we not celebrate each other and try to say,

(01:00:30):
hey, check it out, you may fall in love with the couple
of nukes podcasts and, like, every episode. And like,
we're not competing against each other. We're here to
celebrate each other. And, like, I, like, I want my buddies
to succeed. Like, same thing in law enforcement. Like, you know, if we go
arrest a guy with six felony warrants, like, I want to

(01:00:53):
celebrate my buddy doing that. And, like, then, you know, when I go out there
and arrest somebody with seven felony warrants, like, they're like, hey, man, you did great.
Like, we're not here to compete against each other. We're here to celebrate
and, like, do good things. And so, same thing with
podcasting. Like, if somebody likes your podcast better than mine,
rock on, like, enjoy it. And I'm glad I'm help

(01:01:16):
making those connections with those people. People need to
realize that at the end of the day, like, who cares? Like, we're not here
to compete. We're here to spread messages and to help other
people. And so, like, yeah, I'm with you on that,
like, wholeheartedly. 100. Like, it's because
social media, mainstream just sets everything up as a popularity

(01:01:37):
competition. A day and age of celebrity and celebritization.
And, you know, that's. That's not what it's about. But people are
getting so caught up on that. And, I mean, I don't. I feel
pity for them almost, in a sense that, you know, you look at some of
these toddlers who are being given an iPad, and they're basically being
raised that more likes is more power, more shares is more power.

(01:01:59):
I mean, they're basically being told, you want to grow up to be a celebrity
rather than a philanthropist or someone who helps people.
You know, we put forward celebrities instead of, what if we gave
our children a book and said, look at this man. Jesus Christ. Look at all
he did. And he. He wasn't a celebrity in the sense that, yeah, a
lot of people loved him, but there was a lot of people who tried to

(01:02:20):
tear him down, you know, but instead, we put up all these celebrities in Hollywood
and on social media, and a lot of them are also doing
terrible things that they get away with just because of popularity and money.
Yep. I wholeheartedly agree. Guys, as we wrap
up coupo nukes, any streaming
platform, YouTube, couple of nukes dot com. Mr.

(01:02:43):
Whiskey, you're always welcome back. Thank you for joining me today.
Thank you for having me.
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