533 | Deny Caballero

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Jason and Denny share candid reflections on veteran mental health, personal growth strategies, and the journey toward authentic living after military service.

• Veterans don't need to define themselves by brokenness or past trauma
• Mindfulness and meditation can be powerful alternatives to long-term medication for anxiety
• Creative outlets like photography and growing plants provide therapeutic benefits and new perspectives
• Physical activity, starting with simple daily walks, significantly improves mental wellbeing
• Building authentic relationships requires healing yourself first and understanding your attachment patterns
• Podcasting and media creation offer veterans ways to share stories and create community
• Focus on daily positive experiences can shift perspective and create resilience
• The "internal critic" can be acknowledged without letting it control your thoughts and actions
• Content that is authentic and serves a clear purpose will find its audience

If you're struggling, reach out. Whether through the Special Forces Foundation or Security Hall Podcast, there are resources to connect you with support specifically designed for veterans and first responders.

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Make sure to check out Jason on IG @drjasonpiccolo

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Hey, welcome to the protectors podcast.
Denny, welcome to theprotectors podcast.
Thanks a lot, before we begin,for helping me out with an
article I'm working on for askillset on how to be so.
You want to be a green beret.
That's what it was yeah sowelcome brother yeah, thank you.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Uh, thank you for having me, man, it's my pleasure
fellow podcaster of thesecurity hall podcast yes, sir,
how many episodes you in now?
I just hit uh 275, 276 releasingFriday.
Yeah, man, I just got off thephone a little bit ago talking
to another guy that just started, and you can find yourself in

(00:53):
this space feeling like, oh man,I'm doing something scary, I
don't know if I can supportmyself.
I'm like, look, I'm livingproof.
If you're out there and you'repassionate about this and you
want to get into this medium,I'm telling you if I can make
money doing this, if I can turnmy passion into a daily
entrepreneurial endeavor, youcan too.

(01:13):
Uh, there's, there should benobody holding a gate or a
barrier to entry in this.
Uh, it's just.
Uh, find your way to make aliving out of it.
Uh, I'm a dog shit entrepreneur,so if I can stumble into it, I
know certainly everybody elsebehind me can do it and I hope
you succeed.
I hope someday.
I'm calling you to let me geton your show, whoever you are

(01:34):
listening to this, because letme tell you, our stories matter.
Your veteran story matters,even if you're not a veteran of
law enforcement first responders, those stories matter.
And the uh more advocacy, themore voices in this space hell
yeah you know the podcast pieceis.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
It's this it's like hey, look, if you're going to
start a podcast, get past fouror five episodes, then get past
10 episodes and just keep going,keep grinding at it and you
know, listen.
And then go back one day andlisten to your first 10 episodes
and go, wow, who's that dude?
Because you're going to getbetter.
This is like one of it's like afighting position.
You keep doing it and you keepgetting better.
You know, your episode 275 isdefinitely better than your

(02:10):
episode 200.
It just keeps getting better.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
I think the number one thing that you have to
understand is is it your passion?
I've certainly met people thatit wasn't.
It was an attractive thing.
Um, they reach out to you, theywant to get guidance, but it's
always like well, how much?
Until you were able to monetize, when were you able to get
money?
I'm like I had to get good atother skillsets within the

(02:34):
podcasting world to make money,in that I had to get good at
production, I had to get good ataudio editing and then show
those skills off and be able tosay like hey, look like this is
my passion.
I'm trying to keep this shipafloat, but if this portion of
my abilities can help you, I cando it for you.
But it'll come at a cost.

(02:54):
Um, and it's certainlyimportant.
I mean, there's so many assetsto everybody just thinks it's
getting in front of a camera andrecording.
But there's blogging, there'swebsite building.
Before you it.
You're building a whole new setof skills that you can make a
living off of, and other peoplewill desire what you're doing.
But you have to be passionateabout it.
You can't wake up hating it.
You can't stay up till 4 pm or4 am doing this.

(03:17):
If you hate it, if youabsolutely hate it, so just go
into it if it's what you want todo and you're passionate about
it.
Not looking at to make money,and certainly look at it from a
point of of creator's point ofview.
That's the one thing that mostpeople don't focus on.
They see a genre and they wantto go into that genre.
They want to go into that space.
They don't stop to think.

(03:37):
If they're even fuckingpassionate about it, that'd be
like me going into it and tryingto do, you know, completely
different.
Trying to do the haunted, thenightmare fuel stuff, like this
week on haunted exposures withwe're going to go into the woods
in northern Cali.
Fuck, that that's not a pieceAll right, I don't even know if
I can cuss on this.
Yeah, you can Like go into whatyou want to do, go into what

(04:02):
you're passionate about and letthat guide you.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
And do it.
It doesn't.
The worst thing you couldpossibly say when you first
start podcasting is how can Imonetize it?

Speaker 2 (04:14):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
Use it for what it is .
You know you're, you're gettingyour message out there.
The other thing you're using itfor networking and you're using
it for cross branding.
So if you have anything elsegoing on in life, you could
cross-brand it.
So let's say you have a companyand I tell a lot of companies
this I'm like you have afirearms manufacturer.
There's no reason they shouldnot have a podcast, even if it's

(04:36):
just a 15-minute weekly.
Hey, this is the state of theindustry, this is what we're
doing, et cetera.
I mean any industry becausethis is what we're doing, et
cetera.
I mean any industry becauseyour information flow now is
this you turn on mainstreammedia.
Nobody's watching it.
You're either listening topodcasts or you're on like some
sort of social media platform,and even social media platforms
are hardly getting a reach.

(04:56):
Most of it now is, I think, islike the sub stacks, it's the
websites, it's the newslettersand it's podcasting.
That's why you have to mergeall of these things together.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
When you don't have a powerful backing presence, you
have to create all those assets.
That's one thing I've beenworking with, been grateful
enough to work with a fewnonprofits.
And I will tell you this likeif you're in a nonprofit space

(05:27):
and you don't have your ownpodcast, you don't have your own
media assets to help propelyour message, who's going to do
that for you?
Who's going to do it for you?
Uh, and you already havecaptivating people within your
own, and if you don't get onsocial media and find somebody
that can be the voice, can bethe face for you, because the
reality is like you can have agreat mission, but if we don't
know what you're doing forveterans or first responders,
how is anybody going to back you?

Speaker 1 (05:49):
especially, especially when you want to get
a corporate funding for anythingas well.
They need.
They do their research, they dotheir, their social media dives
.
Before they donate a thousand,two thousand, ten thousand,
hundred thousand, they look andsee who they're giving money to.
That means, when you do getsomeone to represent you, that
you need to keep your eye on theprize.

(06:12):
A lot of people try to get intospaces where they should have
no reason being in there otherthan just being in an echo
chamber.
We've both seen them, the onesthat jump on any hot topic right
now, just because they want tohave a voice, a message that
really isn't that relevantexcept for self.

Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yeah, exposure yeah, that's funny, uh, that's.
That's one thing that I Ireally hate and I refuse to do
is like, except when it comes tomemes, there's a lot of good
memes to be had, oh yeah, butjumping on something purely
because it's the, the lemmingsyndrome, like we're all going

(06:52):
to be talking to this one hottopic, it's like no dude like I,
I don't need to add to that.
Nobody had, and there's,there's so many of them.
There's like the latest trendis to hate one specific person.
We all got a dog pile on that.
Everybody that follows me wouldknow my opinion on situations.
I don't need to add fuel to it.
It doesn't bring anything toyou.
It's like it's hard to sellpositivity, but it feels better

(07:16):
at night.
It certainly feels better atnight knowing you're not adding
fuel to the fucking fire.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
I'm glad you mentioned that word.
That is my favorite word word Ithink in the past week.
Fuck is positivity.
I'm helping some people and Idon't.
Yeah, I've been helping somepeople and you know I don't
charge for all.
My advice is free, believe me.
I get online all the time andI'm like I'm on this workout

(07:43):
kick now, but but two people I'mhelping out right now want us
to do PT tests.
One's going through a prettydifficult time and I'm like, hey
, look, in the morning I wake up, I text him, because we both
know texting is like you got tokeep your network A lot of times
.
A good morning and a good nighttext or whatever really help
people out.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
So in the morning Absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
I'm people out, so in the morning, absolutely,
absolutely man, I'm like bro,I'm like here's, I'm like give
me two positives of the day, twopositives, and they give it to
me, and I'm like I do the samething, and it could be like my
daughter had a soccer game lastnight and she won.
I was super excited.
That's a huge positive for me,just seeing the look on her face
, and but that's the thing,though, is like positivity is so
hard to push when everybodywants to be negative.

(08:27):
They love that.
Echo chambers.

Speaker 2 (08:29):
Yep, you know it's funny, we that positivity.
That's part of gratitude, whichis a great component of
positive psychology Something Iabsolutely love talking about
that mindfulness.
When you stop and realize thatyou have more going right in
your life than you have goingwrong, then you can start moving
forward.
And that's the truth that a lotof our veterans, a lot of our

(08:52):
service members and justeveryday people don't realize
because we're constantlybombarded and sold the power of
negativity.
You never see an advertisementwhere it's just normal people
having a good day.
It's always catastrophic event.
This is what will solve it foryou.
Now you can be happy.
Do you really need that?
Is that the messaging that weneed bombarded with from our

(09:14):
fucking toothpaste or cereal?
You can't have a great lifeunless you have this brought to
you by colgate.
Fuck that dude.
You don't need that.
The reality is, life is filledwith horrible, shitty days and
good days too.
Focus on the good rather thanthe bad, and it's hard to focus
on the positive stuff.
When you can sell the negative,you can sell why this person is

(09:37):
a piece of shit.
Here's a YouTube video breaking.

Speaker 1 (09:40):
Apologies, we're having a little hiccup there,
but, brother, yeah, focus on apositive, go ahead man.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yeah, man, apologies, we're having a little little
hiccup there, but, brother, yeah, focus on a positive, go ahead
man.
Yeah, man, it's.
It's hard to sell positivitywhen our mainstream media and
everything that we see withinour own veteran space is always
constantly selling the negative.
Like we, we do a really shittyjob of turning away from that,
and what I mean by that is, youknow, we do a really good job of
Monday morning quarterbackingdifferent service members,
different things, and then thatyou know, you highlight that on

(10:12):
a YouTube video, that video isgoing to get 5 million clicks,
whereas a video that's simplysharing the story of a, of a
veteran that's overcomingaddiction or overcoming a
difficult chapter in their life,you know, get probably like 300
.
And that's because we lovewatching somebody fall apart.
We love finding somebody that'sbeen lifted up and held up high
and then watching them fallapart, and that, to me, is like,

(10:35):
not attractive to me anymore.
It doesn't do anything.
Um, that's just like any, youknow, murder, porn, mystery on
Netflix or any of those showsLike.
It's just to me, it's like, man, if we're going to take just a
little bit of our times andrelax and watch something, is
that what you want to watch.
Is that what you really want togive your time to?
And for me, it's a no.
So that's why my message hasalways been the same, and I try

(10:57):
to stick to it show somethingthat's authentic in the moment,
real, that provides a real,actual purpose, and it could be
of service to the veteran orfirst responder that's in need.

Speaker 1 (11:08):
I think we need more of that, not less you know, the
biggest thing about this, too,is like when you get negative,
everything seeps into your lifeis negative yeah it's tough, you
know.
Yeah I talk about all the timeon the show is about depression
and about the bad days, and alot of that is just.
It's a lot of negativity thatgets in your head and you then
you get into your head.

Speaker 2 (11:29):
So the least amount of negatives you could put in
your head, the better,especially when you're dealing
with everything else yeah, it'sso that that internal critic, a
critic, that internal dialogueman, like that's one thing that,
uh, we're not really good about.
We're taught, and from an earlyage, that we have to believe
everything that runs through ourhead, that we have to grasp

(11:51):
onto every single thought.
And because we all have aninternal critic, some of us,
that critic is more amplifiedwhenever that negativity comes
in.
Holy shit, do we hang on to it?
And even the greatestperformers in your unit, in the
military, soft professionals,all those guys have that

(12:11):
internal critic.
And if we just learn to let goof those thoughts, if we just
learn to like hey, acknowledgeit, let it go, rather than hold
on to it, rather than justgrabbing that death grip of that
negativity and just letting itrun through our head and
ruminate with it, just let it go, acknowledge that it's there.
Okay, I failed at this.
A perfect example.
You're talking to somebodyabout a PT test how many times

(12:33):
have you failed or not performedwell on the PT test?
And it just eats away at you asa young private or as a young
soldier.
It can become something thatyou just can't walk away from
and then it hinders yourperformance the next time you
take it you get, you getperformance anxiety.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:50):
And especially with PT.
You know, PT tests can be likethe easiest thing in the world.
You can be in the best shape ofyour world, your life, but when
you get there your stomach's alittle queasy.
You're a little queasy and whatam I doing here?
I'm not going to pass.
This is horrible.
I'm going to trip on there andsomething I don't know,
something you always get in yourhead.
Your own worst enemy isyourself.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
Dude.
So true, and it can happen.
And it can be just as simple asa PD test, or it can be as
complex as doing a free falljump at night.
Performer's anxiety isperformer's anxiety.
It can happen at the very basiclevel or highest levels
imaginable, and the only way youcan get over that is by taking
a deep breath and letting it go.
What happened yesterdayhappened yesterday.
There's a moment in time I cango back.
I can't go back and touch it.
I can't go back and redo it.

(13:36):
So why am I focusing on it?
Let it go and I get it.
People sitting here listeningto her like, well, that's easy
to say.
I'm like, well, try it, let itgo.
Radical acceptance is one of thegreatest things that I ever
learned.
Let it go.
I accept that this moment isexactly how it should be.
I don't like it, I don't wantit.
Fuck it.

(13:57):
It's here.
I have to let it go.
Breathe, let it go.
Everything dissipates.
Everything you're going throughright now will pass.
I think anxiety has becomesomething that we latched on as
a culture.
Luckily, we're talking about ita lot more, but now more than
ever, people want to make itseem as if it's not something
you can overcome, and it'sunderstanding that normal

(14:20):
anxiety is a part of everydaylife.
Abnormal anxiety are things thatwe have.
It's when you have to go gethelp.
Maybe that help comes from theform of sitting down with a
therapist, a coach, and maybe itleads to short-term medical
prescription.
Short-term, because none of usshould be on medication for the

(14:41):
rest of our lives, short ofcertain certain, certain people
with certain conditions.
Um, now, a big believer inpharmaceuticals are needed, but
they shouldn't be an end all andit shouldn't always be that the
thing that we lean on.
I know intimately, I was onthem for a very long time until
I decided that, hey, like, thisstuff isn't forever for everyday

(15:01):
use, these aren't things that Ishould be taking every day for
the rest of my life, and there'sso many things we can do to
take control of our ownbreathing, taking control of our
own anxiety, and learn how tominimize the effect of it on our
day to day lives.

Speaker 1 (15:17):
Oh, this is a wake up call for a lot of people out
there, because here's thereality is like normal people
you and me, I mean, I guesswe're kind of normal, but hey,
like me, I was on.
I was on lexapro for over adecade yeah and you know I think
it was probably about eight,nine months ago I weaned myself
off of it.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
Rough to get off of it, but you know, when you want
to make clear decisions in yourlife, you need to be off the
medication bro, and if I could,if I could share this with you,
like same thing thing from highdoses of mini press, high doses
of pretty much everything youcan think of for anxiety and

(15:54):
then coming off of it and thenliterally having nothing but
mindfulness and meditation toget me through it, I can tell
you right now I think that isthe greatest tool that anybody
can give you.
A breathing exercise formindfulness, for meditation when
dealing with a panic attackwill help you.
I didn't want to hear that atfirst.
I'm very open with.

(16:15):
My first reaction tomindfulness was a complete fuck
you.
That's what the fuck are youtalking about?
I want something to help mewith pain.
I didn't want to believe that Icould be in control of this and
it turns out you can be.
It turns out that if you workat something and you are focused
and you tell yourself like Iwant to do this, if I feel like
I am upregulated, if I feel likeI absolutely cannot be in this

(16:37):
environment, I can still dosomething.
Being in control of youremotions, being in control of
your reactions, is one of themost freeing fucking experiences
you can ever have as a humanbeing and this comes from
somebody that's dealt withanxiety, severe anxiety, and I
can tell you like you can, ifyou're listening and you're
struggling with this.

(16:57):
It takes work, it takes effort,it takes dedication.
You will have to sit down andread full catastrophe living If
you want.
You have to understand JohnCavett's teaching.
You have to understandmeditation.
You have to understand your ownbody, but you get to choose it
at your speed.
I went through my doctor.
I gave him my plan of action,what I wanted to do, like look,
I don't want to have to take anextra dose of medication just to

(17:20):
face people because I feel likeI'm going to explode.
I don't want to do this forever.
How do we step down from thismedication?
How do I go back into beingable to control this with
mindfulness, meditation?
And I'm telling you, more oftenthan not, doctors will sit down
with you and say like, yeah,this is actually an awesome
course of action.
I support this.

(17:41):
Let's get working through this,let's take you down a step.
That's what it was for me as agradual step down and then being
able to do things like hey, I'mgoing to go to my car and
meditate, I'm going to do abreathing exercise, I'm going to
face this situation.
I'm not going to walk away fromit.
I'm not going to run away fromthis meeting I'm having with
people that are giving me thisanxiety, but I'm going to lean

(18:01):
into this.
I'm going to lean into this andthe more you lean into
discomfort and you're willing totouch it and you're willing to
be in that space, you realizeyou have nothing to be worried
about and you literally feel theblood pressure drop and you
literally start to feel like,okay, no one's staring at me,
the world isn't imploding, I'min control, I'm here in this

(18:23):
moment and this will dissipate.
This uncomfortable situationwill walk away if I'm willing to
just dip my toes a littledeeper into this water.
And and at first I wasn't opento that message and I'm really
glad and really grateful that Iam because ultimately, like now,
I don't take medications, I Ivery rarely get to the

(18:43):
situations where I'm like, oh,oh, wow, I don't want to fucking
be here, I should really bounce, because the reality is I'm
going to have to function inthese spaces, I'm going to have
to go after big dreams and biggoals and they're rarely going
to come without this comfort.
It's going to always come withsome sense of having to be
around lots of people in crowdedspaces with loud noises, and

(19:04):
it's okay, because I'm not somefucking cliche disgruntled
veteran.
I can be in control.
If we're gonna see, if we'regonna tell ourselves that we're
big, strong, competent men, yougotta be willing to say, hey, I
can deal with these things, Ican face these things, I can get
better.
I don't have to pretend likeI'm not being affected by it,
but I certainly don't have togive away all the control.

Speaker 1 (19:27):
Now, it has nothing to do with being a stoic warrior
either yes.
I'm a.
I'm at this point now where I'mdoing the same thing.
I do transcendental meditation.
I try mindfulness next, but, um, you know, I'm even like I read
the stamp book you knowattached, trying to deal with my
emotional issues.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
Oh, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:45):
It's a fucking great book, man.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
Let's dive into that one, yeah, yeah.
But you know, jason, a lot ofthings that you're sure, because
we're, we're, we're talking,we're being vulnerable about
things that are, by by large,shared amongst a vast majority
of our brothers, who have thesame experiences, the same

(20:09):
attachment styles, the same dude, the amount of times we've
probably done the same thingsand experience the same pain.
And now you're, you're, we'reolder, we have the, the, the,
the knowledge, and we'reempowered and being able to
reflect back and look back at alife well lived, with a lot of
bumps on the road, but we canidentify with like, oh fuck, how

(20:31):
lost were, where are we?
How lost was I as a young man?
How many times did I ruin arelationship because of my, my
shitty behavior and poorunderstanding of what it means
to be a good, decent human being?
And that's like understandingthat that's a lived experience.
We can't go back and say I'msorry to the previous people

(20:54):
that you know didn't get thebest version of ourselves, but
we can look forward to beingbetter human beings, being
better mentors for others,because that's something that I,
look back, I didn't have.
I didn't have a father figureand have a mentor that guided me
through that I had a lot oflost young men who are leaders,
trying to do their best to helpme.

(21:14):
But that's a beauty of growingolder, beauty of getting better
and reading and learning andadapting and knowing that like
man, I can't go back to thatyoung 20 version or early 30
version of Denny, but I canassure that whatever kids I have
or whatever young men that I goforward and mentor, they know
that like hey, if you want to bea good person, these are some

(21:36):
things you might want to focuson and I think all the work that
we're doing now is still vital.
It's still important to growand continue learning about
ourselves because we have such apowerful influence now.

Speaker 1 (21:48):
Brother, I'm glad you recognize this book because if
I understood relationship typesand my own relationship type, I
probably could have saved a lotof heartache over the past years
.
And everybody, what I'm talkingabout is this book.
It's called Attached A NewScience of Adult Attachment how
it Can Help you Find and KeepLove, by Amir Levine, and I'm

(22:13):
very comfortable talking aboutthis now.
I wasn't for the longest time.
I used to talk about, you know,going to therapy for anxiety
and this and that, but I'm at adifferent phase of my life now.
You know I'm at a differentphase of my life now.

(22:47):
I'm 52 years old.
I don't even know if I've eversaid this online, but I'm
divorced.
It's a different lifestyle forme that I need to understand the
type of person that I'm goingto be with and they.
And the other thing too, is torecognize that if, when you get
into these next relationships,that they understand what you
are because if you can'trecognize what you are, then
they're not going to, they'renot going to have a clue, and

(23:08):
then you're just going to,you're going to keep falling
into the same habits.

Speaker 2 (23:13):
You know, one thing that we do as men as young men
and older is we're really goodabout selling bullshit, we're
really good at selling thefucking mask.
And until we stop and do thework, until we get better, like
we can't be good spouses.
We can, we can dip our toes andhalf-ass it, but I'll tell you

(23:38):
like I am a million times betteras a spouse now, having gone
through my journey, having gonethrough my build back, than I
was before.
I had my spiral, before I brokeapart.
Like it's easy to bullshit yourway, um, but you, you're.

(23:58):
You're a fraction of the spouse, of the man, of the support
structure that you can be if youjust take a knee and get better
, if you really stop and youwork on yourself, like and I
know nobody wants to hear thatlike, but we, even the greatest
soft dudes, the greatest leadersin the military, if you don't

(24:19):
stop and address your issues andreally work on yourself, you're
doing a disservice to yourfamily you truly are.
Is that the best version of you?
Is the version of you that'swilling to look in the mirror
and say I need to come clean,I'm dealing with x, y and z?
And if I don't take care ofthis shit.
Like how can you move forward?
How can you be there forsomebody when you're constantly

(24:41):
struggling with demons thatyou're not willing to talk about
?
Get rid of that, shed thatweight, go, get help, be the
best version of yourself or yourspouse.
And I'm saying to somebody like, completely honest, like I was
a dog shit partner.
I was halfway and I did a lotof good things, but I wasn't the

(25:01):
person that I am today.
That is fully committed and Ithink that's why everything
works out perfectly in God'splan.
Because let me tell you like Iwasn't ready to be a father
throughout my entire militarycareer.
I know that looking back.
I know that because I hadn'tanswered for it, hadn't done any
of the thing, any of the workto get better.
But it's funny how life works.

(25:22):
You know the moment that youfinally get everything figured
out, you start doing the work,you're no longer running away
from the things that werehaunting you and you start
facing them and you start beinghonest and you start working
through all that backlog ofbullshit, like then you realize
that you're being, you'recapable of being 100, the best
partner you can be, the besthusband you can be.

(25:44):
Then find myself as a fathernow and realize, huh like,
everything happens for a reason.
Do the work, man.
It's not easy losing a marriagelike part of that club too.
But I didn't do any of thatreflection work.
After that marriage fell apartand just continued moving
forward and relationships,girlfriends, you know how many

(26:08):
women got the worst version ofyou, how many people didn't get
the best version of you?
And then you go into your nextmarriage and you want to make
sure that you're giving thatperson like the best foot, the
best possible version of you.
Like two, two broken peopledon't make a happy marriage and
I know that now, like you wantto meet somebody that's 100

(26:29):
hundred percent themselves andyou are a hundred percent Like.
I'll tell you one thing I knowabout high achievers.
High achievers, go after highachievers and even if you're a
little, you'll wear the mask weall do.
You'll put on that mask andyou're good to go.
But if you're listening, don'tlike, take care of yourself, go
after healing and doing the workand then worry about because

(26:50):
it's one thing that's like, it'salways bothered me.
Like you, you see guys like usand they're always constantly
looking for a relationship andit's like dude, why are you
always looking for arelationship man, like, take a
knee, figure your own shit out,you don't need to be attached to
someone.
Like, be 100 committed to you,fix yourself, then then go

(27:14):
looking.
Uh, I think that's a messagemore young men need to hear.
But we don't talk about that.
We always talk about you know,the, the, the frivolous hookup
culture getting getting in arelationship, getting on
tinder's like no man, fuck that.
Go have adventures.
Go get some personaldevelopment, seek help from a

(27:34):
professional counselor likefigure out yeah, how about?

Speaker 1 (27:38):
how about, before you jump into it?
I have this multi-faceted planright now, before I do anything
in my life when it comes torelationships.
First off, I broke up with mytherapist.
I broke up with him.
I said, hey, you know what?
You've got me to the pointwhere I can make different steps
in my life.
But hey, here's the deal.

(28:01):
My next therapist and I have acall with him tomorrow is going
to help me work on my anxiousstyles, my anxiety.
It's going to help.
I'm going to tell themeverything about me, everything.
No, nothing is hidden in mylife anymore.
I'm going to go in there and bea complete open book and I'm
going to say we're going tofucking fix this.
And the other thing is themeditation, it's the therapy,

(28:23):
it's the working out, becauseyour mind cannot work if you're
you just bloated on a couchfeeling sorry for yourself.
But the thing is, you have totake this approach uh, leave the
apps away, focus on yourself,like you said, go on adventures,
learn about yourself.
You know we always want to jumpfrom one thing to the next, and

(28:44):
there's a point in your lifewhere you're like you know what?
Maybe you should figure out whothe fuck you are before you go
and try to ruin someone's life.

Speaker 2 (28:51):
Fuck you know dude, yeah, dude, there's no, there's
no way of going back you.
You can't.
You're not gonna be able to goback to those old relationships
and apologize for being adickhead, for being the asshole
that ghosted you, for being anasshole that didn't text back
like you don't want that longlist of failures like stop, and
and I think it's an addictionfor a lot of people.
You're addicted to that likehookup culture.

(29:13):
You want to feel good in themoment.
No one wants to go home aloneand I see that in our culture in
the military, both in soft andconventional guys.
No one wants to come off thatplane from a deployment and not
have somebody to go to.
So you have all theseshort-lived hookups and they
feel good for a moment, but inreality, like you don't really
care about that person.

(29:34):
You just want somebody therefor you while you're here before
you go away on train up.
Once you take that time to workon yourself, when you take that
time to address the real issues,make something out of yourself.
Like military, I used to alwaysthink my time in the military

(29:54):
was like I just need to worryabout train up and work like,
did you have so much time fordevelopment?
You have so much time forliving, go do something with
your life.
Get off tinder, get off fuckingwhat every other app that's out
there, because I think there isa reality that we're not
talking about, like what ittakes away from you as a man to
be constantly looking for thatadmiration and the short-lived

(30:18):
highs of these constant hookups.
You don't really need that.
What you need to do is figureout who the fuck you are.
So when you find the rightperson, you have value, value,
you have worth.
You can build something withthat person.
You can say like, hey, I'vedone all this awesome shit, I
know who I am.
I've been freaking.
I like I've been on a journey toget to this moment oh man, this

(30:40):
internet connection is greatbut, yeah, being able to like
have a connection with a realhuman being in real time, like
like I I, the moment I met mywife, like like I, I didn't meet
her on a nap.
I have this moment in time forboth of us that you know,
started out two people meetinglike and ended up with us having

(31:03):
an amazing journey through lifeso far like did was able to
propose to her in in italy likean amazing experience taking jet
setting off to italy, didn'ttell her where we're going,
being able to propose to herthere, being able to do an
amazing wedding, and thosethings are like super important
for me to look at and I wantthat for everybody out there to

(31:25):
be able to have that authenticmeeting with someone you don't
know in a away from an app-basedrelationship where it's just
like frivolous sex.
Like I spent more time gettingto know my wife's family than I
did, uh, getting to know likeher face to face because, you
know, after we had our you know,you know first initial

(31:47):
encounter, like she was off toher duty station and like her
family lived here and uh where Iwas stationed at the time.
So it's like I didn't have thiswonderful like ability to sit
down and, you know, worry about,like the, the frivolous hookup
culture, like no, like I metthis amazing person.
We got together, we went to dosome great things and the next

(32:08):
thing I know I'm spending moretime face to face with her
family than I'm able to do withher.
So it's like it to some peoplelike, yeah, it seems like way
too old fashioned for them.
I'm like, but there's somethingto be said about old fashioned.
There's something to be saidabout low burn and getting to
know your partner and theirfamily.
That is they were missing outon these days.
That is they were missing outon these days.
I, I love that we're able to dodigital stuff so much more, but

(32:31):
when it comes to like real love, real romance, real development
of a relationship, to bewilling to find somebody outside
the app space, be willing.
You'll be amazed.
Like you, you'll be surprisedhow wonderful that can be is.
Now I don't have to tell mykids I met my wife, uh, through
an app called tinder and anybodyout there who's met their loved

(32:54):
one through that.

Speaker 1 (32:55):
That's perfectly fine .
I'm saying like, when you getto a different version of your
life, you know you have to, youknow kind of different,
different phases here.
Yeah, it's a the apps and thisand that and the drinking and
and finding that, that hookupculture, it's just you get to a
point in your life where it'snot worth it, and I think a lot
of it is.

(33:15):
You're trying to escapesomething in yourself and you're
trying to find it in someoneelse through these frivolous
connections and it's just.
There are so much you could dowith your mind and your body and
your life other than justfocusing on someone else yeah,
yeah, it's.

Speaker 2 (33:32):
I don't want another generation of young men to feel
like they're missing out on lifebecause they're not just
burning it down every weekend ata bar and it's hard to like
promote that I, I want, I don'tknow.
It's like wanting an entiregeneration of people to live a

(33:53):
better life than what you weresold as a young man because
that's what we were given.
We're given this idea thatgoing out to bars, hooking up,
like that was that, was the coolthing to do.
But but now more than ever, Irealized that like the greatest
thing you can do is just pushaway from your hometown.
Uh, either join a military,join an organization that will
allow you to travel, or say,screw it all and do the

(34:15):
traveling on your own.
Yeah, get a cheap motorcycle andget on the road, hit the road,
go to south america.
Like it sounds dangerous, butit's always a life of quiet
desperation.
Like living a normal lifeshould not be for everybody.
I really, truly it sounds crazy, but really I think we make

(34:35):
better citizens when we promotethe idea of being able to get
outside of your small comfortzone and having a life,
especially in your early yearsin life.
That's why military service isso important and that's why I
try to advocate for it becauseif you get a perspective of what
life is like in other places,when you come back, you can
appreciate what we have here.

(34:56):
You can appreciate the value ofhaving a family, having loved
ones that you're willing toprotect and and work hard for,
and I I think more young peopleneed to start living outside of
the confines of this Like yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
Or you know what?
You have that damn thing inyour hand.
It has a really good camera onit.
You know that it's a guy outthere and take some pictures.
You know, go just I, I listen,man, I invested in the iPhone 16
and the camera is absolutelyamazing.
My life is now like getting outthere and seeing things and not
just be like, oh, look, howgreat I am, but like visualize
it.
I have 15,000 pictures on here.

(35:33):
You know, what I post on socialmedia is hardly any pictures.
It's always like some podcastsor something else.
Yeah, find a hobby.
I you know, when you're goingthrough a lot of mental distress
, you're going through a lot ofthis anxiety.
You have a lot going on in yourlife.
You're used to doing the normsto quell it.
You're used to well, listen.
The gym's one of the bestthings I've found to do it.

(35:56):
And walking I do a ton ofwalking.
That helps.
But outside of that, um, stayaway from booze, especially when
you're going through depressionor you're going through anxiety
.
Um, but what?
I have a routine now and I tellpeople I have.
I have two things I love doing.
One is um photography.
I've always wanted to dophotography.
I took a couple of classes hereand there.
So now I'll go out and I'lltake pictures and I love it.

(36:20):
Um, I don't post them all online, I just some of them are just
for me.
It's fine, but it's something.
You're seeing the world througha different lens and it's
calming because you're you know.
But the other thing I alwayslaugh because I think I
mentioned this on the past fewpodcasts is I come home and I uh
, I do paint by numbers, so I'mdoing like this everglaze one
now, and it's like every day Icome home and I do one number.

(36:41):
I want to do more, but I tellmyself, okay, I'm just going to
take my time, I'm going to do myone number and, uh, it's very
calming, but it's something that, like, you don't think about.
You don't think about differentthings.
Now I'm looking for other towhere it's not just the norm.
Listen, man, I shoot all thetime.
I do all that sort of stuff.
But I want something that'sjust different, something

(37:04):
outside of my past 30, 40 years.

Speaker 2 (37:07):
Dude, grow orchids.
I'm telling you, get someorchids.
And here's why it is a greatmetaphor for life as a veteran.
We come out of the military andwe think this is the end of our
life.
This is it.
I can never do something.
That's great.
That's 90% of the times whereyou're going to see in the

(37:28):
orchid aisle, home Depot all thewilted ones that haven't
bloomed, and you can find themfor like a dollar, $2.
Buy those.
Buy a handful of those orchids.
Figure out, read the label,figure out how much sunlight you
need and you'll find out.
The majority of what you needto do is take it out of that
plastic shitty pot.
Put it in a proper orchid pot.

(37:50):
It's got holes so that air canget through Just put in the
right amount of sunlight.
Give it the right, just theright amount of water.
Oftentimes it's just soaking itonce a week and then spraying,
bottling it, and what you willfind is in the right environment
, the right amount of sun, theright amount of water.
That thing's going to bloom overand over and over again.

(38:12):
And it is exactly what we needas veterans when we're getting
out of the military.
We're getting out of themilitary.
We're not getting out in ourpristine early 20s or early
18-year-old selves Like, no,when we're getting out of the
military.
We're getting out of themilitary.
We're not getting out in ourpristine early 20s or early
18-year-old selves Like, no,we're broken.
We have to rehab.
We're probably nursing a lot ofsurgeries, but give it some
time, give it some space andgive it the right support

(38:36):
structure that's not willing toquit on you.
Give it the right environmentand it's going to start growing.
You're going to start growing,you're going to get back into
shape, you're going to go backto the gym and you're going to
start flourishing again andyou'll look at that work and
it'll be a perfect reminder ofwhere you were in that
transition period when you firstleft, versus where you're at
now.

Speaker 1 (38:55):
I tell you this must be the thing that you do, Cause
I'm looking around my apartmentand I'm like, okay, I got like
the first thing I bought wasplants.
I'm like looking around, I'mlooking at all of them, I'm like
, you know, I water them, it'ssomething, I'm nourishing them,
but now I have to get orchids.

Speaker 2 (39:10):
You do, I'm telling you, and it goes hand in hand
photography, cause that was theother thing, photography.
And then they, everybody's likeoh, you can just have
mindfulness to anything, it'llbe an exercise, and we go.
If you're going to do itmindfully, you have to be in the
moment, be in a moment.

(39:30):
Don't take a picture and lookat it and dissect it.
No, you walk around, breathingin, breathing out, take a
picture and take another picture.
The mind, if your mind tellsyou to take a picture, then you
take that picture.
Then, after you're done, you goback, you go into your editing
process and you'll be blown awayhow many times you caught, you
captured something that's justlike holy shit, I took that.
I took that.

(39:51):
Of course you did.
Of course you took that greatfucking shot because you weren't
in your head thinking, oh,that's a good shot, it's a bad
shot, and you're just open andwilling to take a picture and
don't do it.
Or, cell phone go get a camera.
Yeah, go get a good olympuscamera, go get a sony camera,
whatever camera you want to do,because I think that there's a
photographer and a lot of us, alot of veterans, like taking

(40:11):
pictures.
Maybe they're not like, like,maybe they're like me.
I don't want to.
I didn't want to admit that Iwas a creative.
I didn't want to look at thataspect of me and say, yeah, I
can do that.
But some of the best shots Iever did were just being mindful
, walking around and when I feltit just took the picture, took
the picture and just continuewalking around instead of being

(40:33):
in my head because before Iwould try to take photos and I
would pause, look at it.
We go, that's not the propersetting.
Put it on fucking auto, justleave it on fucking auto and
take the picture.
Come to find out that's what alot of fucking photographers are
doing anyway.
There's time and place for youto learn all the other different
features.
But get out there, start takingpictures and don't be

(40:55):
judgmental.
Just take the fucking pictureand then look at it when you get
home.
Okay, you'll have so manylittle fucking happy accidents
like.

Speaker 1 (41:03):
And one thing about photography is you don't you go
out there.
You take 500 pictures.
Maybe two are good.
Yeah, you know, I've noticed Ialways think I'm taking more
than I am.
So I come home with like 26, 27pictures.
I'm like one or two are prettygood.
And I did the things.
I went to the classes andfigured out some of the
apertures and all this stuff,but a lot of times you'd leave a
lot of the settings on auto.
Yeah, a lot of them.
You know when you're you'reyou're shuffling between

(41:26):
apertures here and there and andlenses.
You know you can work with them, but you just keep like you
said, just get a nice camera putthrough a real camera compared
to a cell phone, is it's adifferent experience?

Speaker 2 (41:43):
yeah, it's.
We get used to like, especiallyin this, in this space, like
when you have to create contentand you're creating content with
the phone because the phone has, you know, better apps for you
to edit with and if you'retrying to do your camera, it's
going to be a four-step processversus two man.
Put the phone down for a littlebit, stop worrying about what

(42:03):
the clicks and likes are goingto be.
Just go out there and takephotos.
It's a great hobby.
Yeah, it can cost a little bit.
I've now upgraded a few times,but it's.
I will tell you right now.
It's one of the greatest thingsto do.
To like start getting out there, because I know there's a lot
of people that deal with likeanxiety when it comes to social
spaces.
Dude, get a camera, hide behindthat lens all day.

Speaker 1 (42:26):
Dog and you know what , go to facebook marketplace or
somewhere else and pick up aused one.
Yeah, if you want to do that.
And then another thing find acreative outlet, anything,
because I tell you what yourmind needs time to process, uh,
pain, yep, you know you have alot.
A lot of us have pain, theloneliness, the anxiety, and it

(42:48):
comes, it comes in waves, dudeand I I want to be respectful.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
I know you're in this this moment, right now.
It's very raw, you're in thisin this moment, but this is
something that I get in my inboxa lot.
It's funny, you, you, you don'texpect to become like real
close with people you meet onthe internet, but I've had a few

(43:14):
people reach out on Instagramwhen they're going through a
tough thing and one of thetoughest things that always
comes across is divorce.
But it's the anxiety that'sconnected with divorce, because
divorce is sometimes a mutualthing, but more often than not,
it's something that is droppedon our service members and it's

(43:37):
something that creates thisanxiety of like I didn't want
this, I want this person, I wantmy wife back, I want my family
back.
How do I deal with this anxiety?
And the short answer is youhave to be okay with letting it
go.
You have to be okay withembracing that discomfort in the
moment and breathing All right,like I can't call this person,

(44:01):
I can't immediately reach outand I'm not going to be able to
get any sort of satisfactionfrom this person right now.
I have to sit here in thismoment like, how have you been
dealing with this?

Speaker 1 (44:14):
oh me, I don't even yeah, I won't even get into that
with uh, it's very amicable,it's very um, I'm just trying to
come up with my new.
Who is this new person?
You know, it's not even aboutlike relationships, it's about
like.
You know, who is this nextversion of me?
And that's why you know thatthe I like I I'm doing the glow

(44:37):
up where you know you're workingout all the time, but to me,
the working out is different.
Yeah, dude, not it's not aboutit's easy to fix the physical
yeah, but the thing about theworkout too it's not even about
looking better.
Yeah, it's about um, gettingthere, getting in front of that
steel and just and doing it andand putting into work.
And the same thing with walkingevery day, or like I was

(45:00):
overdoing the walk and I waswalking five, six miles a day,
twelve on the weekends, on perday, and uh, I said, okay, my
body can't do that, so now, likedude, I'll jump on the bike at
the gym.
But the thing is the workout isit's more of, uh, my mental
clarity yeah it's more about megetting in there and showing
people that you can do it, thatyou're not this broken version.

(45:23):
And I, I see these people allthe time.
They want to live off of thatversion of themselves.
I hate that.
You know that they, I see this,I, this shirt pops up on my
instagram all the time and I'mlike what's what sponsored ad
says?
Broken, not broken or broken.
I'm like, bro, we're not broken, we're not yeah, the
disgruntled I'm broken,disgruntled, angry veteran.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
I hate that too.
I, every dude like you, havelimitations depending on your
injuries, depending on thingsthat happen to you.
Yes, if you you're missing aleg, you're definitely.
You have something.
You have something that you arenot going to be able to recover
.
You have to adapt to that.
But you're not broken in thesense that you can never fix

(46:07):
yourself and overcome thisinjury.
Overcome this, this injury,like that's the thing we have to
understand.
Like just that.
Overcome this injury, overcomethings we're dealing with.
All of us can do that, everysingle one of us.

(46:27):
Chronic pain doesn't have toimpede your life forever.
The idea that we can have alife free of pain is just
impossible.
Man, I will tell you, if Iwould have allowed myself to
believe that I'm going to justbe controlled by my pain, I will
never go after any of thethings that I've gone and done.
Like, you have to at some pointunderstand that there is a cost
to living this life.
It's a full contact sport.

(46:48):
You're going to have to gothrough some pain and it's okay.
It's okay to understand thatpain is a good thing.
It says you're fucking alive.
Back pain that's the number onething that you always hear,
like back pains, knee pain, yeah, okay, what if I told you that
if you just went to the gym fora few times a week, you can get
to the point where you canminimize that pain in your back?

Speaker 1 (47:11):
People don't want to hear that.

Speaker 2 (47:12):
They want a medication.
They don't want to look at theamount of weight that it would
take to lose, to get off theirmedication, to get to feeling
better, because it just seemstoo painful you know, the back
is one of the first things to go, because it's not just it's not
just injuries, it's stress yeahyeah, holy shit, brother, I was

(47:33):
um.

Speaker 1 (47:34):
I don't think I said this online.
I don't think I've ever toldanybody how fucking fat I got,
but um, about five years ago Iwas damn near 300.
I was about 300 pounds dude andthen, um, my back, the stress,
the booze, the booze, yep, andthen, um, I was at the point
where my back would seize and Icouldn't even walk, I couldn't

(47:57):
move.
And then I'm like, what finallyhit?
It was, uh and I've told thisstory before as I was out
getting some ice cream with mydaughter and, um, I just I went
past that straight on my facebecause it's stress, anxiety had
to go to the hospital.
I had a buddy help me, I put meon a workout plan and, uh,
dropped over 50 pounds.
And the thing is, fuck, yeah,jason what happens.

(48:22):
And you know, I tell people thatbecause the first thing I did
when I first started was walkyep walk.
You don't have to.
I I did a post the other day onig and youtube and I was like
look, get out there and walk.
A lot of people they want to do, is they?
I want to run K.
And what they'll do is they'llget out there and they'll run,

(48:42):
like you know, five, six miles,or they'll try to run five or
six miles.
What the reality is they'll runa half a mile.
Then I'll be like I can't dothis, yep, and then I'll quit.
But if you tell yourself you'regoing to walk 10 minutes, then
the next week you walk 15minutes, next week you walk 20.
The next thing you know you'redoing, like you know, 70 miles,
like it's nothing.
And the walking, the steadystate movement, and it's not

(49:08):
just the walking that'shappening right there.
It's like after you get past acertain 10, 15 minutes, you
start getting into your mind andyou start working through
things.
Then the next thing, you addyour diet to it.
And your diet doesn't have tobe crazy.
Me now, I just I watch sugar.
I'm like I really need thesecarbs, but all it is is just

(49:29):
starting.
Yeah, we always, and that's theproblem with the types of
people we are and the types ofpeople we were around is like,
we want to be that version ofourself we were when we were 22,
and that's the other post I putout the other day.
I to be that version of ourselfwe were when we were 22, and
that's the other post I put outthe other day.
I said look, my version ofinfantry officer uh, captain
piccolo, is a lot different thanthis 52 year old version of me.

(49:53):
This version of me is going tobe mentally and physically
better than I ever had beforebecause you, you know what?
When I came back, I was 198pounds when I got back from Iraq
.
Now, it's not about the weight,it's about I don't want to be
that mental space I was backthen and I want to be in this

(50:15):
great mental space now and plus,I also want to be in great
shape to be a great father.

Speaker 2 (50:20):
Yeah, it's understanding.
Like different periods in yourlife demand different, uh,
demand you to be different inmany ways.
Like you, you don't need thebody of a fitness influencer in
their 20s.
When you're a 50 year old man,a 40 year old man like what do
you want to do?
What do you want to go after inlife?

(50:41):
And here's the thing whateveryou want to do, like you get to
decide.
Do you want to go run ultramarathons?
And in 50s and 60s?
Because you can just get theworkout plan for it.
Figure out what your life isgoing to be for those next
chapters in your life?
Like you get to decide that.
But you have to start somewhere.
You have have to do something.
Nobody should look at themselvesin the mirror when they're 300,

(51:04):
400 pounds and say, yeah, thisis perfect, I like where this is
at.
That's not reality.
And if people are telling youthat you're good the way you are
, I'm the first positive voicethat will tell you, sadly.
No, you need to change.
If you want to live, if youwant to be here for your family
members, physical fitness shouldbe on the list of things that
you have to prioritize Because,guess what, it's directly linked

(51:27):
to your mental health 100%.
When you look good, when youfeel good, when you're out there
moving, getting naturalendorphins and it's not coming
from sugar and it's not comingfrom laying down playing video
games you're going to feelbetter, like, and you're 100

(51:47):
correct.
The easiest thing to do isstart with walking.

Speaker 1 (51:48):
That's what I did just keep doing it, man.
And that's the other thing toois just keep doing it yeah, yeah
well, brother, we have a couplemore things we got to get over
today, and one of them is acouple questions I'm starting to
do at the end of it and we'regoing to get into the.
And one of them is a couplequestions I'm starting to do at
the end of it and we're going toget into all the whole.
You want to be green brain andstuff like that, but just wait
for the article.
It'll come out eventually andyou could google most of this

(52:08):
stuff, but I think today'sconversations are a lot more
important than you know.
That stuff, um, I do want to.
Uh, we'll get into right beforewe get off too, but what is
your why now?

Speaker 2 (52:22):
So my why is to be the connective tissue to our
outreach or our veterans thatare in a critical space, that
are on the verge, that may befeeling like they don't belong
or that they should be doingsomething that could drastically
end their life, or that theyshould be doing something that

(52:43):
could drastically end their life.
To those resources, to either amental health professional, to
a nonprofit that I brought on tothe show or to the Special
Forces Foundation that I'mworking with now, and that's
everything to do with my podcast.
Anything that I do is connectedto that why?
Because I feel that I canconnect with you and get you in
with the humor, get you in withsomething that made you laugh,

(53:04):
but then I can bridge that gapand show you that, like, hey, a
simple Google, which I willgladly do I will sit on the
phone with you and Google aresource for you.
I've done it thousands of timesnow, but to show you that, like
, hey, you can reach out to me,I can bring other people that
will, whose stories willresonate with you and that will
give you the courage to justGoogle and stay here a little

(53:26):
longer to get the help youdeserve, because now more than
ever.
We have to admit that this issueof veteran suicide isn't going
away and it's not going to besolved by the VA.
It's not going to be solved bysome grand organization.
It's going to be solved by us,by the veterans and by the
nonprofits that are created byus.
That's why I'm proud to workfor the Special Forces

(53:49):
Foundation, because it's led byGreen Berets for Green Berets,
and I know that, yes, now partof our mission is completely,
100% dedicated to our specialforces green berets.
But that's where security hallis also still going to continue
being around, because withsecurity hall I can still help
every single service member andfirst responder, regardless of

(54:12):
conventional military backgroundor special forces background.
You need help, I can help you orconnect you to the person that
can help you.
But I am very passionate aboutbeing the social media rep over
at Special Forces Foundation.
So if you see a humorous memeor you see a new post, know that
it's me, know that I'm speakingto you and certainly would love

(54:33):
to get anybody that's willingto throw some money or backing
and support to that nonprofit,because they are absolutely 100
of the boys for the boys and weneed more support well, you're a
meme farmer no 100 man all day,every day I don't even know how
many memes I send every day.

Speaker 1 (54:52):
Every day, I, I might like the meme.
The meme thing is, it's thebest.
I, I love it.
It's like the best thing outthere.
Yeah, because you need humor.
You need because you a lot oftimes you relate to him, man, so
much.
Yeah, the last thing is uh,what is the best piece of advice
you have ever been given andwhy it's tough one?

Speaker 2 (55:19):
I've gotten some great advice over the years, but
, um, honestly, man can't saythis man's name enough today
he's been.
A lot of people have beenasking me for information.
I have to give this out to danrayburn.
Um, he's the first person thatgave me a shot to produce a
podcast and I'm still with himtoday.

(55:40):
But the best piece of advice heever gave me is funny enough.
Like, when it comes to creatingsomething whether it's a
podcast, a blog, social mediasite if you're a creative,
content is king.
Make it authentic, make itundeniable, and make it purely

(56:04):
because you want to make it andyou'll find an audience.
And, to this day, dan Raymerpodcast is one of the number one
streaming media news podcastsout there and we don't market it
outside of his blog post andhis personal page on LinkedIn.
It's because his content isKing when it comes to streaming
media.
So if you're out there andyou're making a show, content,

(56:27):
content, content make sure it'sgood content and the rest will
take care of itself, even ifit's a show about kittens.

Speaker 1 (56:35):
I'm glad you brought that up too, because you can
make a show niche.
Your show down Kittens.
Hey, who doesn't love kittens?
I mean, there are some peopleout there, but when you come
down to when, if you were going,my piece of advice too is, if
you're going to create a podcastis commit.
Yeah, I've.
I've gone through over theyears.
I've kind of lost focus on thepodcast.
I've been up and down with it.

(56:55):
But then, when you do commitcommit all your resources.
That means like you're doingthe YouTube videos, you're doing
the IG posts, you're reachingout to guests, you're getting
feedback and you're using yournetwork.
You have so many people thatwant to support you.

Speaker 2 (57:12):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (57:14):
Well, the other thing , too, I need to say is I
started this new thing that wementioned before about positives
.
What's your positives for today?
Give me two positives.

Speaker 2 (57:22):
Number one I woke up to the two greatest women on
earth my wife and my little girl.
Another positive is I'm herewith you, jason, got to share
some positivity with the worldand got to give a positive
mention to, um, some people outthere that are doing the same

(57:45):
thing.
Uh, so, right now, now morethan ever, we need storytellers,
we need veterans that arewilling to get in to this space
and share their story and makeit as big and as popular as we
can, because if you succeed, ifyou succeed, then I succeed, and
that's the absolute truth.

Speaker 1 (58:04):
They're wins.
Little things like that arewins.
Just waking up and having greatconversations that's my biggest
thing now is I tell people,find a win every day, something
that's a positive win To me.
My positives are well, one mydaughter had a great soccer
match last night and they wonand the face, the look on her

(58:24):
face was incredible.
I loved it.
The second is I'm going to beable to see my kids tonight.
I see him.
I see my kids almost every day.
I got to give it to that.
There's no crazy things there.
But the other thing is I'mstill.
I'm still having goodconversations.
I'm still able to have positiveconversations and spread a
message.
Brother, hell yeah man well,brother, I appreciate you

(58:45):
everybody.
Make sure you check out thesecurity hall podcast.
Make sure you go to specialforces foundation see what they
got going on and how.
Where do we find you at,brother?

Speaker 2 (58:54):
now.
You can find me on instagram uh, either my personal page, danny
underscore, tanner underscorejunior um, or check me out
security out podcast onInstagram as well.
Same thing on every on X.
Same thing security out podcast.
And YouTube as well.
Go ahead on over there, hit meup.
I respond almostinstantaneously, unless it's

(59:15):
like past bedtime.
Then I'll give to you the nextmorning.
Stop by our website atsecurityhallcom and check out
our blogs.
Got a lot of good informationout there.
We do a good mix of wrapping upepisodes or latest information
about stuff that's pertinent toveterans, whether it's cancer
information, sleep issues or VAstuff.

(59:37):
Love to cover all that stuffbecause I like to write, so yeah
.