Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, welcome to a different, different type of
Protectors episode.
This is going to be a solopodcast.
You know, I've been thinkingabout doing this for a while and
what these will be is they'regoing to be kind of like short
little clips, kind of like arecap of the last episodes we've
had, but also little tidbits ofinformation.
(00:20):
I've kind of come across that Iwanted to get out to there, to
all you, the Protector community, and one thing that's been on
my mind a lot lately is, no, notpolitics, not religion, not
writing, not books, and yeah,that stuff's on my mind a lot,
but it's the firearms community,it's this community we have and
(00:43):
that's really what it is.
It's a community.
It's a lot of us that gettogether that want to help
others succeed.
And yes, there are theinfluencer types out there and
they're trying to pawneverything off.
And I saw a really good thingtoday, before we get into the
main topic, was that some peopleknow every piece of equipment
(01:08):
an ex-Navy SEAL has and theywant to mirror that equipment.
And what I find funny aboutthat it is it's just it's not
realistic.
I talk a lot about my everydaycarry here and there in
different podcasts and aroundpeople like that.
And I tell you what I'm notcarrying a full-size firearm
(01:29):
with seven mags and something Icould fix a bayonet with.
You know what I mean?
It's just a lot of the thingsyou hear out there are just not
realistic.
While that gear might haveworked for some ex-Navy SEAL
while they're on deployment orwhat they do on their post-life,
it may not necessarily be foryou.
The training they get or thetraining anybody else gets to
(01:53):
when they get to that certainlevel, may not necessarily be
for you.
The firearms you want you mimic, what they want or what they
carry may not necessarily be foryou.
Why do I say this?
It's because we get wrappedaround the equipment axle.
(02:16):
We get wrapped around thefirearms axle.
So many guns you could pick up,you could point them at the
target, you could pull thetrigger and that group is going
to be great for what you neededto do.
And I've been around firearmsfor a while.
That's another thing I wasthinking about this past week is
(02:38):
my poor dad, when I was 12years old and listen, I grew up
in a family you know.
My dad grew up in Brooklyn.
There wasn't a lot of firearmsthere.
They weren't a military, lawenforcement or firearm centric
family.
They were just hey, you knowwhat?
(02:58):
Blue collar, go to work, comehome, do your thing.
It wasn't like a firearmcentric family, but I was, and I
think that had a lot to do withlike my 1980s movies of
watching like all the differentwar movies out there, like you
know, platoon and the Rambomovies and everything else like
that.
But I really really got intofirearms because I played war
(03:21):
like religiously.
So every day, starting at 12years old, every single day, I
don't know all day, like Dad,can I have a gun?
No, dad, can I have a gun?
No, dad, can I have a gun?
No, dad, I really, really wantto have a gun, no.
And I remember I think I wasgosh, I think it was, I think I
(03:44):
was around 13 years old.
It was a year at least a year,maybe two that I really pestered
him.
But I remember Christmas.
I was digging around in thebasement and spoiler alert, if
you do not know that Santa, thepresents provided by Santa, are
from your parents.
(04:04):
This may not be the podcast foryou, you may be a little too
young, but I remember diggingaround in my basement and I
found a box of 22, like 22 longrifle shells, and I'm like what
is going on here?
I didn't dig around anymore,but when I found it I knew, and
(04:25):
I knew that that Christmas wasgoing to be a lot different than
any other Christmas I had,because, yeah, you know, kids
want bikes, they want this, theywant that.
But I remember that Christmasmorning I got my Marlin 22 long
rifle and it had like thattubular type thing where you
just load up all the bullets ina tube and I was like man, this
(04:48):
is the best thing ever and Iremember just shooting
religiously as much .22 as Ipossibly
could.
From there, you know, myfirearms went from that to a
Ruger 10-22 because I had thedetachable magazine.
And then I pestered my dad intobuying a Mossberg 500 riot
(05:13):
shotgun.
I don't know why they call it ariot shotgun, I think that's
what they called it back then,but the Mossberg 500.
And then fast forward a fewyears and I'm in Fort Carson,
colorado, when I'm in themilitary, and I bought my first
Ruger P89, my first pistol, outof a drugstore.
(05:36):
You can literally go into adrug store in Colorado and buy a
pistol, and it was a Ruger P89.
And you know what that thingdid?
It just shot straight.
It hit thetarget.
When I finally eventuallylearned how to use a firearm for
(05:58):
real, as far as pistols is,when I went to the US Border
Patrol in January 2000.
But before then I had all sortsof different things.
As soon as I bought that firstpistol I was like, oh man, I
need this, I need that.
My next major pistol the one Ilove and I can't believe I got
rid of it was an H&K USP .40 cal.
(06:20):
But yeah, it all comes down tothroughout my career and
throughoutmy life.
Because when you get issued afirearm like me, my first one
was the Beretta 96D 40 caliberwhen you get issued that, you
don't have any options.
That is your gun.
Yeah, some agencies will giveyou the option, but if you're a
(06:40):
GS7 or GS5, you can't afford togo out and buy this $1,000,
$2,000 SIG or whatever they costback then.
So you use what you got and youbecome proficient in it and you
learn that weapon.
That's your lifeline.
That is your lifeline.
That's whatyou're carrying.
Throughout my career I'vecarried SIGs.
(07:03):
I've carried Glock.
A majority of my career waswith the Glock 19.
Sigs, glocks, this that theyall did the job.
Some cost more than others,some had better trigger pulls
than others.
That Breda 96D felt like I waspulling a 50-pound weight back.
(07:27):
It was so heavy and I'm just,you know, over-elaborating, but
it was.
But they all did one thing theyall worked when I needed them
to.
They all worked when I neededthem to.
And that is what you need whenyou're going to find a firearm,
one that is going to work whenyou need it to and one that is
(07:47):
going to put holes on targets orthings that you have to do to
protect yourself.
You have to make sure that it'sgoing to work and you can be
proficient with it and you enjoyfiring it.
If you can Listen, if you'reissued something you may not
necessarily enjoy firing it.
(08:07):
The last agency I was afirearms instructor for was
issued the Glock 2240 caliber.
And listen, I can make thatthing work just as good as
anything else.
Was it a fun gun to shoot?
Not so much.
I really didn't like it.
But you know what it worked.
I never had a failure with thatone, never had any misfires
with that one.
I can tell you, in my careerI've had some guns that just
(08:32):
shit the pot.
But listen, when you are goingto get out there and you're
going to buy something, you'regoing to try something out.
Make sure it fitsfor you.
That's kind of the grasp andthe concept of this week of
firearms, because I do talk alot about firearms and we don't
(08:53):
really talk about it a lot onthe podcast.
But outside of the podcast andthe Protectors Foundation and
the Protectors, this and that, afirearm is one of the main
tools out there and is oneyou're going to use and it's one
you're going to use when you'reoff duty.
And this is for the civilianswho listen to this story, listen
to this podcast as well.
A lot of you love firearms, youlove shooting.
(09:14):
Now, the other part I reallywant to talk about
is practicing.
Whether you're new to firearmsor whether you have carried a
firearms for 40 years, 30 years,20 years, 10 years, or whether
you're a civilian, use that oldadage of becoming an expert at
(09:38):
the basics, at the fundamentalbasics, of becoming an expert at
the basics.
At the fundamental basics, youcan fire the best looking group
in the world.
You could just sit there andyou could rapidly fire off five
or six rounds and that grouplooks great.
But can you draw, can youreload?
Can you deal with a malfunction?
(10:01):
Can you deal with a misfeed?
Can you deal with hey, yourmagazine wasn't seated.
Do you slap, rack, reassess,re-engage?
Can you do the basics?
Can you draw fast?
Can you draw fast fireaccurately?
Can you draw fast fireaccurately and move to the left,
to the right, to the rear, tothe front?
(10:21):
Can you move, draw fast fireand then move behind cover?
Can you do all of thesefundamental firing mechanisms,
these techniques, before youwant to move on2,000 pair
(10:41):
of nods?
Or you go out and you buywhatever, that ex Navy seal,
green Bray or tier one operatoror the SWAT guy, whatever,
before you go out and buy theirgear, that thousand dollar,
$2,000, $3,000 pair of nods.
Can you work your firearm, yourpistol, at a a solid
proficiency to where you, youradrenaline is pushed up to the
(11:06):
max and your tunnel vision isstarting to set in.
Your blood pressure is likewhoa, what is going on here?
Can you draw and fire rapidlyto stop the threat Before you go
on to?
And you know, listen, I have aton, a ton of respect and a ton
(11:26):
of friends out there that are inthe firearms training community
and it is great that they teachCQB.
It's great that they do allthese things, but before you go
and take a course for doing oneperson, two person, team, cqb
and stuff, make sure you areproficient in the basics.
It's not that hard if you justpractice, practice, practice and
(11:53):
get very good at that.
Then take it to the next level.
Take that to the next level,level up, as they say.
So, firearms it's so true thatthese are equipment that these
are great things.
But I look at firearms a littlebit different, just because,
(12:15):
man, I love them.
Some people love 66 Corvettes,some people love Mustangs and
all sorts of other things.
I look at firearms as almostlike a piece of art, like there
was just so much to it.
Okay,that is.
One thing I wanted to talkabout this week is really just
(12:35):
when we can get into EDCs andand carry and everything else.
Listen, I carry a little SmithBodyguard 381.
I go to the grocery store.
I got my little Glock 9mm 43X.
There are so many differentthings you can carry.
But the next thing I want totalk about today is something
that is a little difficult forpeople in the protector
(12:59):
community.
It is extremely difficult forthe people in a protector
community to do this, andthere's two different areas I'm
going to touch on today.
One is getting jobs, and whythis area is so really tough for
the protector community, andthe other thing is selling
things and why it'sso tough.
(13:20):
There's one thing I've met, onetype of person I've met I mean
granted, there's more, but it'sthat type of person who was in
the military.
Are they a cop?
Are they a first responder?
There's someone that at onepoint in their life took an oath
(13:42):
.
So many of these people have ahell of a time going from we to
I, we to I.
It's always been about the team.
I mean, when we're talkingabout the authentic ones, we're
talking about the people whotruly are empathetic, who are
truly in this for the rightreason, who aren't like listen,
(14:04):
they're 80, 90% of really goodpeople.
10% of that we'll kick them offto the side, but we're talking
about those 80 or 90% right nowwho took that oath.
They, they raised their righthand and took that oath to
protect others.
They're protectors.
This also goes for a ton of thecivilian community too, who are
(14:26):
always given back and alwayshaving a tough time going from
weto I.
In certain circumstances and Idid write my book Pivot.
I have to give a quick shoutout to that and, like I always
say all the time, that book ispriced at cost because it is my
way of continuing my mission.
But one thing about that bookis I wrote that book because
(14:49):
I've always got these questionsabout people's resumes and being
a hiring manager at one timewith the Fed and being a hiring
manager at one time with the Fed, I've always come across
veterans and protectors typesthat whenever they're giving a
situation out in an interview oron their resume, it's always
about we.
And that's the toughest thing.
(15:13):
It's tough to boost your ownself up because it's like you're
humble and you don't want tohave that ego and we see the ego
types all the time.
But you try to be humble.
But the thing is, when you'retrying to get a job, when you're
trying to get a new position oreven a promotion, it's not
(15:36):
about we anymore, or even apromotion, it's not about we
anymore.
Yeah, you could say you're ateam player, a team leader,
you're this, you're that.
But there are certaincircumstances in this interview
process where you have to say I,I did this and I see that in
the resume summaries, thebullets, where it's we, this,
(15:58):
that.
But you have to get to I tosell yourself and it's tough.
Who wants to have that ego?
So just a little word of advicetoday if you're going into
these interviews or you're goingfor jobs and everything, it's
time to look at you and get fromwe
(16:19):
to I.
The other thing, too, ismarketing.
Marketing and branding.
You could tell I have what?
67, 6,600 followers onInstagram.
That's a lot, believe me,that's a lot.
But it comes down to, it istough to try to sell yourself
(16:40):
and I don't like that.
Nobody likes that.
If you love selling yourself,then hey, more power to you.
You got some great, great grit,you know.
But the thing is I'm going togive a really big shout out
right now to Marcus Torgerson.
Just wrote a book.
He's very proud of it andMarcus is always giving back to
(17:03):
people, he's always doing things, he's always improving himself
and he's trying to spread a goodmessage out there.
And he wrote a book called Be aman what the Fire Truck and I'm
so used to like.
You know, publicists andeverybody else getting old.
You know, if you listen to 500something episodes of this
(17:24):
podcast, you probably know a lotof those work with with authors
, and a lot of those interviewsare based on publicists and
marketing managers gettingholding me.
And I've noticed with marcus,and I noticed what a lot of you
out there, a lot of theseself-published authors and a lot
of ones that don't havemarketing teams behind you it's
tough for you to sell yourself.
It's tough for you to get outthere and be like, huh, I wrote
(17:50):
this book, I want people to readit, but it's also, it's your
book, it's your lifeblood, it'ssomething you poured into that
you want more people to read it,but you don't want to sell.
And it's so, so weird to getinto this space and be like,
okay, well, I got to sell thisbook, I got to do interviews, I
(18:11):
got to do that.
But to be humble at the sametime, and I'm trying to tell
people, like Marcus said, likeyou're allowed to write down
what you know.
You have the 20 or 30 yearsworth of experience.
You can sell this book.
You can.
You're building a future foryou and
(18:32):
your family.
That's what you're doing whenyou do these things, whether
that's you pick up a brand orwhether you do podcasts or
whatever and you get to thepoint where you have to make
money off of it or you woulddesire to make money off of it.
You have to get from weed toeye.
It's almost the same thing withgetting that job.
You have to say, okay, I putthis on paper, I did this and,
(18:57):
yes, you have help.
We all have had help, but Ineed to make something and it's
tough to brand.
It's tough to do this and Iwatched the influencers and I
watched the ones who get intothese echo chambers and they
just get into these echochambers and they just they spew
(19:17):
hate or they spew otherrhetoric or they or they just
emboldened themselves withwhatever, and they have a
certain mentality that a lot ofus don't have.
They're always the I generation.
They're always about I, neverabout we to I.
But it's okay to brand yourself.
(19:39):
It's okay to get to that pointwhere you want to push your
product, something you believein.
It's okay to be doing that.
And that's from Marcus.
I really wanted to get thatmessage out there and this is
for everybody else who wants tobuild something else, that
includes being creative.
Else who wants to buildsomething else, that includes
(20:01):
being creative.
Listen, my life has not alwaysbeen podcasting.
There are certain reasons I gotinto podcasting and I needed an
outlet.
Most of my life has been themilitary or law enforcement or
federal law enforcement, butthere comes a point in your life
where you want to do somethingdifferent.
You want to build something,and it's okay to do that.
It's okay to stumble whileyou're doing it.
(20:21):
I've stumbled so much over theyears trying to build but it's
okay to stumble and it's okay tobe creative.
It's okay to take a step out ofwho you are and what you think
you are.
Your identity doesn't have tobe the job.
Start building outside of thejob.
(20:44):
Start building.
I see Aaron Lohman doing it allthe time Huge fat loser.
He's been on a show a couple oftimes.
I'm always following him.
He's building something outsideof the job.
Use the job to help you buildsomething too.
Get the experience, work withpeople, learn Network.
That's kind of.
(21:06):
My only two preaches this weekare the firearms and getting
from weed to eye andbranding yourself.
I do want to give a big shoutout to my two previous episodes
before this because we got intosome deep topics.
Eric Tung, police commander foryears.
Leo, building something,getting something going, writing
(21:30):
, speaking.
It was great to talk to Ericbecause we got into some deep
topics in the LEO community.
It was great to talk to Ericbecause we got into some deep
topics in the LEO community, andthe same thing with Dr Jenna
Casas last week talking aboutrural I love trying to say that
word rural police agencies outthere and dealing with mental
health.
Please check out those past twoepisodes I believe they're 526
(21:53):
and 527.
But yeah, this is going to be.
I'm going to try to do thisonce a week, try to give a recap
and try to get some lifelessons, because you know, in
all actuality, I love, love,love, love telling people about
my lessons learned, and I'velearned a lot of different
lessons over the past 52 years.
(22:15):
I shouldn't say 52.
Let's say when I first startedwalking, that first time I fell
down.
So maybe I don't even know ifthat's when I first started
walking, but let's just say 50,50 years.
A lot of lessons in him, a lotof things I'd love to talk about
.
So, everybody, I hope you'redoing great and thanks for
(22:37):
listening.
Hey, welcome to a different, different type of
Protectors episode.
This is going to be a solopodcast.
You know, I've been thinkingabout doing this for a while and
what these will be is they'regoing to be kind of like short
little clips, kind of like arecap of the last episodes we've
had, but also little tidbits ofinformation.
(00:20):
I've kind of come across that Iwanted to get out to there, to
all you, the Protector community, and one thing that's been on
my mind a lot lately is, no, notpolitics, not religion, not
writing, not books, and yeah,that stuff's on my mind a lot,
but it's the firearms community,it's this community we have and
(00:43):
that's really what it is.
It's a community.
It's a lot of us that gettogether that want to help
others succeed.
And yes, there are theinfluencer types out there and
they're trying to pawneverything off.
And I saw a really good thingtoday, before we get into the
main topic, was that some peopleknow every piece of equipment
(01:08):
an ex-Navy SEAL has and theywant to mirror that equipment.
And what I find funny aboutthat it is it's just it's not
realistic.
I talk a lot about my everydaycarry here and there in
different podcasts and aroundpeople like that.
And I tell you what I'm notcarrying a full-size firearm
(01:29):
with seven mags and something Icould fix a bayonet with.
You know what I mean?
It's just a lot of the thingsyou hear out there are just not
realistic.
While that gear might haveworked for some ex-Navy SEAL
while they're on deployment orwhat they do on their post-life,
it may not necessarily be foryou.
The training they get or thetraining anybody else gets to
(01:53):
when they get to that certainlevel, may not necessarily be
for you.
The firearms you want you mimic, what they want or what they
carry may not necessarily be foryou.
Why do I say this?
It's because we get wrappedaround the equipment axle.
(02:16):
We get wrapped around thefirearms axle.
So many guns you could pick up,you could point them at the
target, you could pull thetrigger and that group is going
to be great for what you neededto do.
And I've been around firearmsfor a while.
That's another thing I wasthinking about this past week is
(02:38):
my poor dad, when I was 12years old and listen, I grew up
in a family you know.
My dad grew up in Brooklyn.
There wasn't a lot of firearmsthere.
They weren't a military, lawenforcement or firearm centric
family.
They were just hey, you knowwhat?
(02:58):
Blue collar, go to work, comehome, do your thing.
It wasn't like a firearmcentric family, but I was, and I
think that had a lot to do withlike my 1980s movies of
watching like all the differentwar movies out there, like you
know, platoon and the Rambomovies and everything else like
that.
But I really really got intofirearms because I played war
(03:21):
like religiously.
So every day, starting at 12years old, every single day, I
don't know all day, like Dad,can I have a gun?
No, dad, can I have a gun?
No, dad, can I have a gun?
No, dad, I really, really wantto have a gun, no.
And I remember I think I wasgosh, I think it was, I think I
(03:44):
was around 13 years old.
It was a year at least a year,maybe two that I really pestered
him.
But I remember Christmas.
I was digging around in thebasement and spoiler alert, if
you do not know that Santa, thepresents provided by Santa, are
from your parents.
(04:04):
This may not be the podcast foryou, you may be a little too
young, but I remember diggingaround in my basement and I
found a box of 22, like 22 longrifle shells, and I'm like what
is going on here?
I didn't dig around anymore,but when I found it I knew, and
(04:25):
I knew that that Christmas wasgoing to be a lot different than
any other Christmas I had,because, yeah, you know, kids
want bikes, they want this, theywant that.
But I remember that Christmasmorning I got my Marlin 22 long
rifle and it had like thattubular type thing where you
just load up all the bullets ina tube and I was like man, this
(04:48):
is the best thing ever and Iremember just shooting
religiously as much .22 as Ipossibly
could.
From there, you know, myfirearms went from that to a
Ruger 10-22 because I had thedetachable magazine.
And then I pestered my dad intobuying a Mossberg 500 riot
(05:13):
shotgun.
I don't know why they call it ariot shotgun, I think that's
what they called it back then,but the Mossberg 500.
And then fast forward a fewyears and I'm in Fort Carson,
colorado, when I'm in themilitary, and I bought my first
Ruger P89, my first pistol, outof a drugstore.
(05:36):
You can literally go into adrug store in Colorado and buy a
pistol, and it was a Ruger P89.
And you know what that thingdid?
It just shot straight.
It hit thetarget.
When I finally eventuallylearned how to use a firearm for
(05:58):
real, as far as pistols is,when I went to the US Border
Patrol in January 2000.
But before then I had all sortsof different things.
As soon as I bought that firstpistol I was like, oh man, I
need this, I need that.
My next major pistol the one Ilove and I can't believe I got
rid of it was an H&K USP .40 cal.
(06:20):
But yeah, it all comes down tothroughout my career and
throughoutmy life.
Because when you get issued afirearm like me, my first one
was the Beretta 96D 40 caliberwhen you get issued that, you
don't have any options.
That is your gun.
Yeah, some agencies will giveyou the option, but if you're a
(06:40):
GS7 or GS5, you can't afford togo out and buy this $1,000,
$2,000 SIG or whatever they costback then.
So you use what you got and youbecome proficient in it and you
learn that weapon.
That's your lifeline.
That is your lifeline.
That's whatyou're carrying.
Throughout my career I'vecarried SIGs.
(07:03):
I've carried Glock.
A majority of my career waswith the Glock 19.
Sigs, glocks, this that theyall did the job.
Some cost more than others,some had better trigger pulls
than others.
That Breda 96D felt like I waspulling a 50-pound weight back.
(07:27):
It was so heavy and I'm just,you know, over-elaborating, but
it was.
But they all did one thing theyall worked when I needed them
to.
They all worked when I neededthem to.
And that is what you need whenyou're going to find a firearm,
one that is going to work whenyou need it to and one that is
(07:47):
going to put holes on targets orthings that you have to do to
protect yourself.
You have to make sure that it'sgoing to work and you can be
proficient with it and you enjoyfiring it.
If you can Listen, if you'reissued something you may not
necessarily enjoy firing it.
(08:07):
The last agency I was afirearms instructor for was
issued the Glock 2240 caliber.
And listen, I can make thatthing work just as good as
anything else.
Was it a fun gun to shoot?
Not so much.
I really didn't like it.
But you know what it worked.
I never had a failure with thatone, never had any misfires
with that one.
I can tell you, in my careerI've had some guns that just
(08:32):
shit the pot.
But listen, when you are goingto get out there and you're
going to buy something, you'regoing to try something out.
Make sure it fitsfor you.
That's kind of the grasp andthe concept of this week of
firearms, because I do talk alot about firearms and we don't
(08:53):
really talk about it a lot onthe podcast.
But outside of the podcast andthe Protectors Foundation and
the Protectors, this and that, afirearm is one of the main
tools out there and is oneyou're going to use and it's one
you're going to use when you'reoff duty.
And this is for the civilianswho listen to this story, listen
to this podcast as well.
A lot of you love firearms, youlove shooting.
(09:14):
Now, the other part I reallywant to talk about
is practicing.
Whether you're new to firearmsor whether you have carried a
firearms for 40 years, 30 years,20 years, 10 years, or whether
you're a civilian, use that oldadage of becoming an expert at
(09:38):
the basics, at the fundamentalbasics, of becoming an expert at
the basics.
At the fundamental basics, youcan fire the best looking group
in the world.
You could just sit there andyou could rapidly fire off five
or six rounds and that grouplooks great.
But can you draw, can youreload?
Can you deal with a malfunction?
(10:01):
Can you deal with a misfeed?
Can you deal with hey, yourmagazine wasn't seated.
Do you slap, rack, reassess,re-engage?
Can you do the basics?
Can you draw fast?
Can you draw fast fireaccurately?
Can you draw fast fireaccurately and move to the left,
to the right, to the rear, tothe front?
(10:21):
Can you move, draw fast fireand then move behind cover?
Can you do all of thesefundamental firing mechanisms,
these techniques, before youwant to move on2,000 pair
(10:41):
of nods?
Or you go out and you buywhatever, that ex Navy seal,
green Bray or tier one operatoror the SWAT guy, whatever,
before you go out and buy theirgear, that thousand dollar,
$2,000, $3,000 pair of nods.
Can you work your firearm, yourpistol, at a a solid
proficiency to where you, youradrenaline is pushed up to the
(11:06):
max and your tunnel vision isstarting to set in.
Your blood pressure is likewhoa, what is going on here?
Can you draw and fire rapidlyto stop the threat Before you go
on to?
And you know, listen, I have aton, a ton of respect and a ton
(11:26):
of friends out there that are inthe firearms training community
and it is great that they teachCQB.
It's great that they do allthese things, but before you go
and take a course for doing oneperson, two person, team, cqb
and stuff, make sure you areproficient in the basics.
It's not that hard if you justpractice, practice, practice and
(11:53):
get very good at that.
Then take it to the next level.
Take that to the next level,level up, as they say.
So, firearms it's so true thatthese are equipment that these
are great things.
But I look at firearms a littlebit different, just because,
(12:15):
man, I love them.
Some people love 66 Corvettes,some people love Mustangs and
all sorts of other things.
I look at firearms as almostlike a piece of art, like there
was just so much to it.
Okay,that is.
One thing I wanted to talkabout this week is really just
(12:35):
when we can get into EDCs andand carry and everything else.
Listen, I carry a little SmithBodyguard 381.
I go to the grocery store.
I got my little Glock 9mm 43X.
There are so many differentthings you can carry.
But the next thing I want totalk about today is something
that is a little difficult forpeople in the protector
(12:59):
community.
It is extremely difficult forthe people in a protector
community to do this, andthere's two different areas I'm
going to touch on today.
One is getting jobs, and whythis area is so really tough for
the protector community, andthe other thing is selling
things and why it'sso tough.
(13:20):
There's one thing I've met, onetype of person I've met I mean
granted, there's more, but it'sthat type of person who was in
the military.
Are they a cop?
Are they a first responder?
There's someone that at onepoint in their life took an oath
(13:42):
.
So many of these people have ahell of a time going from we to
I, we to I.
It's always been about the team.
I mean, when we're talkingabout the authentic ones, we're
talking about the people whotruly are empathetic, who are
truly in this for the rightreason, who aren't like listen,
(14:04):
they're 80, 90% of really goodpeople.
10% of that we'll kick them offto the side, but we're talking
about those 80 or 90% right nowwho took that oath.
They, they raised their righthand and took that oath to
protect others.
They're protectors.
This also goes for a ton of thecivilian community too, who are
(14:26):
always given back and alwayshaving a tough time going from
weto I.
In certain circumstances and Idid write my book Pivot.
I have to give a quick shoutout to that and, like I always
say all the time, that book ispriced at cost because it is my
way of continuing my mission.
But one thing about that bookis I wrote that book because
(14:49):
I've always got these questionsabout people's resumes and being
a hiring manager at one timewith the Fed and being a hiring
manager at one time with the Fed, I've always come across
veterans and protectors typesthat whenever they're giving a
situation out in an interview oron their resume, it's always
about we.
And that's the toughest thing.
(15:13):
It's tough to boost your ownself up because it's like you're
humble and you don't want tohave that ego and we see the ego
types all the time.
But you try to be humble.
But the thing is, when you'retrying to get a job, when you're
trying to get a new position oreven a promotion, it's not
(15:36):
about we anymore, or even apromotion, it's not about we
anymore.
Yeah, you could say you're ateam player, a team leader,
you're this, you're that.
But there are certaincircumstances in this interview
process where you have to say I,I did this and I see that in
the resume summaries, thebullets, where it's we, this,
(15:58):
that.
But you have to get to I tosell yourself and it's tough.
Who wants to have that ego?
So just a little word of advicetoday if you're going into
these interviews or you're goingfor jobs and everything, it's
time to look at you and get fromwe
(16:19):
to I.
The other thing, too, ismarketing.
Marketing and branding.
You could tell I have what?
67, 6,600 followers onInstagram.
That's a lot, believe me,that's a lot.
But it comes down to, it istough to try to sell yourself
(16:40):
and I don't like that.
Nobody likes that.
If you love selling yourself,then hey, more power to you.
You got some great, great grit,you know.
But the thing is I'm going togive a really big shout out
right now to Marcus Torgerson.
Just wrote a book.
He's very proud of it andMarcus is always giving back to
(17:03):
people, he's always doing things, he's always improving himself
and he's trying to spread a goodmessage out there.
And he wrote a book called Be aman what the Fire Truck and I'm
so used to like.
You know, publicists andeverybody else getting old.
You know, if you listen to 500something episodes of this
(17:24):
podcast, you probably know a lotof those work with with authors
, and a lot of those interviewsare based on publicists and
marketing managers gettingholding me.
And I've noticed with marcus,and I noticed what a lot of you
out there, a lot of theseself-published authors and a lot
of ones that don't havemarketing teams behind you it's
tough for you to sell yourself.
It's tough for you to get outthere and be like, huh, I wrote
(17:50):
this book, I want people to readit, but it's also, it's your
book, it's your lifeblood, it'ssomething you poured into that
you want more people to read it,but you don't want to sell.
And it's so, so weird to getinto this space and be like,
okay, well, I got to sell thisbook, I got to do interviews, I
(18:11):
got to do that.
But to be humble at the sametime, and I'm trying to tell
people, like Marcus said, likeyou're allowed to write down
what you know.
You have the 20 or 30 yearsworth of experience.
You can sell this book.
You can.
You're building a future foryou and
(18:32):
your family.
That's what you're doing whenyou do these things, whether
that's you pick up a brand orwhether you do podcasts or
whatever and you get to thepoint where you have to make
money off of it or you woulddesire to make money off of it.
You have to get from weed toeye.
It's almost the same thing withgetting that job.
You have to say, okay, I putthis on paper, I did this and,
(18:57):
yes, you have help.
We all have had help, but Ineed to make something and it's
tough to brand.
It's tough to do this and Iwatched the influencers and I
watched the ones who get intothese echo chambers and they
just get into these echochambers and they just they spew
(19:17):
hate or they spew otherrhetoric or they or they just
emboldened themselves withwhatever, and they have a
certain mentality that a lot ofus don't have.
They're always the I generation.
They're always about I, neverabout we to I.
But it's okay to brand yourself.
(19:39):
It's okay to get to that pointwhere you want to push your
product, something you believein.
It's okay to be doing that.
And that's from Marcus.
I really wanted to get thatmessage out there and this is
for everybody else who wants tobuild something else, that
includes being creative.
Else who wants to buildsomething else, that includes
(20:01):
being creative.
Listen, my life has not alwaysbeen podcasting.
There are certain reasons I gotinto podcasting and I needed an
outlet.
Most of my life has been themilitary or law enforcement or
federal law enforcement, butthere comes a point in your life
where you want to do somethingdifferent.
You want to build something,and it's okay to do that.
It's okay to stumble whileyou're doing it.
(20:21):
I've stumbled so much over theyears trying to build but it's
okay to stumble and it's okay tobe creative.
It's okay to take a step out ofwho you are and what you think
you are.
Your identity doesn't have tobe the job.
Start building outside of thejob.
(20:44):
Start building.
I see Aaron Lohman doing it allthe time Huge fat loser.
He's been on a show a couple oftimes.
I'm always following him.
He's building something outsideof the job.
Use the job to help you buildsomething too.
Get the experience, work withpeople, learn Network.
That's kind of.
(21:06):
My only two preaches this weekare the firearms and getting
from weed to eye andbranding yourself.
I do want to give a big shoutout to my two previous episodes
before this because we got intosome deep topics.
Eric Tung, police commander foryears.
Leo, building something,getting something going, writing
(21:30):
, speaking.
It was great to talk to Ericbecause we got into some deep
topics in the LEO community.
It was great to talk to Ericbecause we got into some deep
topics in the LEO community, andthe same thing with Dr Jenna
Casas last week talking aboutrural I love trying to say that
word rural police agencies outthere and dealing with mental
health.
Please check out those past twoepisodes I believe they're 526
(21:53):
and 527.
But yeah, this is going to be.
I'm going to try to do thisonce a week, try to give a recap
and try to get some lifelessons, because you know, in
all actuality, I love, love,love, love telling people about
my lessons learned, and I'velearned a lot of different
lessons over the past 52 years.
(22:15):
I shouldn't say 52.
Let's say when I first startedwalking, that first time I fell
down.
So maybe I don't even know ifthat's when I first started
walking, but let's just say 50,50 years.
A lot of lessons in him, a lotof things I'd love to talk about
.
So, everybody, I hope you'redoing great and thanks for
(22:37):
listening.
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