May 24, 2024 • 48 mins
When the uniform comes off and the service is over, what's next? Join us as we sit down with Jeremy, the co-founder of the Mighty Oaks Foundation and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, who candidly recounts his own journey. From the echoes of duty in the heart-wrenching transition to civilian life, to the inception of a foundation that has become a beacon of hope for over 5,000 veterans, this episode is a deep dive into the soul of service and the unyielding bonds of brotherhood. Jeremy's story isn't just about the battles fought overseas, but also about the internal wars waged within, and the relentless pursuit of purpose beyond the battlefield.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Charlie Mike the podcast Veterans helping
veterans.
Talking about things happeningin the veteran community, Things
we've experienced and overcome,such as addictions, PTSD,
depression, legal trouble, andwe also promote veteran-owned
businesses.
If you're talking about it,we're talking about it.
(00:24):
This is Charlie Mike thepodcast.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yo, what's going on everybody?
Thank you for joining CharlieMike the podcast.
As always, I'm your host,raulul hey.
Today I got a special guest fory'all is Jeremy.
Jeremy's the co -founder of theMighty Oats Foundation and he's
also a United States MarineCorps veteran.
So you guys be sure to staytuned.
Check this one out, jeremy.
(00:59):
Introduce yourself.
Tell us a little bit aboutyourself.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Yeah well, thanks for having me on.
Man really appreciate it and,uh, really excited to have the
conversation.
Um, you said it all I'm amarine corps veteran.
There's nothing much else tosay.
That's.
That's kind of the end all andbe all right I mean, I've got a
few things since then, but, um,I served as a, as a, an infantry
officer in uh in the marinecorps force.
Uh served my last deployment inIraq in 2003 as part of the
(01:26):
initial push into Iraq.
So that was my last deployment,which is crazy to have that as
your last deployment, but wewere part of the initial push.
The Battle of Baghdad was ourlast fight in April of 2003.
And then we did a few otherthings for a few months and then
came home and since then I havebeen involved in ministry.
(01:47):
I was in church ministry for awhile and some different things
and for the last 12 years havebeen working with the Mighty
Oaks Foundation, which is anonprofit that works with
veterans, active duty servicemembers, first responders and
spouses, all dealing with somedegree of trauma, whether it's
trauma related to combat, traumarelated to service in the
(02:07):
community for the firstresponder folks.
A lot of it's trauma that wasbrought into those communities
and has been, kind of, you know,made worse by their service,
and so we've been doing that for12 years.
We've had just over 5,000students graduate from our
programs and we went from acouple of Marines trying to get
our friends and other people weknew to come and do this week
(02:29):
long thing that we were doing tonow having about 40 weeks of
programs in places across thecountry.
So yeah, it's been an adventure, to say the least, but really
glad to be a part of it.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
That's amazing.
Now I want to know okay, I wantto go back a little bit and
learn a little bit about Jeremy.
So where are you fromoriginally?
Why the Marine Corps?
Was the military always athought?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yeah, you know it's crazy and I've thought about
this a lot.
I've got four kids and my twooldest are young adults now and
they're doing their jobs and Ihave two teenage kids and so
we're having these conversationsa lot and have over the last
few years about what you'regoing to do with your future,
right?
So I think about man, how did Imake those decisions?
I was raised in a veryconservative home.
(03:15):
My dad actually was a pastor ofa small church in Southern
California, so I was raised inthat environment and didn't
really have anyone in my familythat had served in the military.
But when I was probably 11 or12 years old, I got a book that
was it had been my dad's when hewas a kid.
He found it in my grandparents'house and he's cleaning out
some stuff, gave it to me.
(03:37):
So it was written back in thesixties but it was stories of
congressional medal, of honorrecipients from World War II.
And I remember as an 11 and 12year old kid reading, you know,
these stories and they weren'tthe citations, they were the
stories, right.
And so reading all the storiesand and man, like I remember
just as a kid, for the firsttime thinking I could be a part
(03:57):
of something bigger than myself,I could do something important,
and you learn about honor andyou learn about teamwork and all
those things, and so that, Ithink, planted the seed in my
mind and as I got older I reallyhad a.
My focus was on militaryservice.
Why the Marine Corps?
I'm not exactly sure.
I don't know when it started,but I just grew up believing
(04:18):
that if you went into themilitary, that meant you were
going in the Marine Corps.
I don't know where I got thatfrom, but that's kind of what I
always believed.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
You never played GI.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Joe yeah, I could play GI Joe.
I like watching war movies andMarines are pretty cool, and
there were a few people in mylife that had been Marines, and
so that was probably theinfluence, and I also believed
at the time that if you're aMarine, that means you're an
infantry Marine.
Right, like that's what theMarine Corps is about.
I've learned that it's a lotmore than that since then, but
so I was 14 years old when Itold my dad I'd really like to
(04:49):
go into the Marine Corps, I wantto be an infantry Marine and
that's what I want to do with mylife.
That's a little surprising formy.
You know my dad, who was apastor, to you need to go to
college first, after that, dowhatever you'd like, and so my
plan was to enlist out of highschool.
My parents said you need to goto college, and so I was able to
(05:11):
go through a commissioningprogram while I was in college
and was commissioned the day Igraduated.
So yeah, it's probably not yourtypical story.
I don't know exactly whatstarted it, but I don't remember
ever wanting to do anythingelse, and that was kind of my
whole goal pointing my lifetoward that service.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Around what time?
What year did you enlist?
Speaker 3 (05:33):
So I went to officer candidate school in 1996.
And I did some reserve time andthen my active duty time.
My schooling and all of thatstarted after my commissioning
in 99.
So yeah, 96, 98, I was goingthrough the Marine Corps has a
(05:54):
program called the platoonleaders course.
So you go to officer candidateschool.
It's kind of a split program.
I did that and then I wascommissioned that next year.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
So you were fairly fresh in when, when the nine 11
happened.
Do you remember exactly whereyou were at or how, that, if
that had any effect on you?
Speaker 3 (06:17):
know what was going on.
Yeah, man, I.
So when I, when I checked in asa rifle platoon commander,
second lieutenant, six monthslater we deployed to Okinawa for
the Marine Corps, I was calleda 31st Mew deployment out of
Okinawa, and so I did that as arifle platoon commander.
We came home and that was, Iwant to say, july of 2001.
(06:42):
And so we took our leave, asyou do when you come off of a
deployment, and we were justback in that recall and all that
stuff after deployment.
So we were actually on therifle range just doing our
regular rifle calls on nine 11.
And that came over the loudspeaker.
This happened and you know I wascoming out of a a peacetime
(07:03):
military environment my entirelife.
You know we had Desert Storm,which was a pretty big deal, but
it was over really quick.
Panama kind of happened when Iwas a teenager, and so there
were a few things, but nothingcrazy.
It was mostly a peacetimemilitary peacetime environment.
So when they made thatannouncement, I remember having
a Marine come up and say, hey,sir, we're gonna.
(07:24):
What does this mean for us?
Like it doesn't mean anythingfor us, right?
This is not going to be a bigthing, special forces,
somebody's going to take care ofthis, but we'll never deploy
that.
That Marine found me when wewere in Kuwait getting ready to
go to Iraq and reminded me thatI said it would never happen.
But yeah, I just didn't take itthat seriously, I guess, in
(07:44):
terms of what that would meanfor us.
But very, very quickly, I meanwithin days, our whole world
changed training changed,uniforms changed, access to
equipment and ammunition forlive fire training all of it
changed and we started that spinup to eventually deploy.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
That's, that's insane .
So you're from California,correct?
Yeah, Southern California, Yep,and uh what?
How'd you get to Texas?
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Yeah, well, so the Mighty Oaks Foundation, um, we
have grown and things havehappened that, uh, you know, put
us in a pretty strong place andwe wanted a place to call home
and, uh, this area of Texas thatwe're in, montgomery County,
texas, is a super patriotic andsupportive of veterans and all
those things, and there's landshere so we can, we can build a
(08:33):
building, which we're doingright now.
So I actually still live inCalifornia, okay, even though
our headquarters is here inTexas and I kind of commute back
and forth and I travel a lotbut yeah, our, our team is here
in Texas and I kind of commuteback and forth and I travel a
lot, but uh, yeah, our, our teamis here in Texas, uh, making it
happen.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
So so, um, your organization is a lot different
than a lot of other ones thatI've researched and that I've
had on the podcast, and one ofthe things that y'all are real
strongly and based is faith.
Yeah, now, since your fatherwas a pastor, is that always?
Faith has always been in yourlife.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Yeah, faith has always been important to me and
you know there is anunderstanding that faith is
important and then there is arealization that it needs to be
personal.
So, growing up around, you know, in a Christian home and around
church, and you know my wholelife has been around church I
was definitely raised in that.
(09:27):
I would say that I became aChristian when I was a child,
understanding my need for asavior and putting my faith in
Christ when I was a child andgrowing up in that and then
really owning that, I think whenI was in the Marine Corps
actually and really owning that,I think when I was in the
Marine Corps actually and reallyunderstanding that faith is
more than just something outthere, that it is personal and
(09:51):
it is a relationship that issomething you need to walk out.
And so I think there werestages you know like there are
for a lot of people of growthand understanding what all that
means.
But I became a Christian when Iwas young and I really grew
into an understanding that Ineed to live this out when I was
in my 20s and so, yeah, it'salways been very important to me
(10:11):
.
And then you know, particularlyas it relates to the work that
we do.
When I came home from Iraq, Iwent to work at a church out of
the Marine Corps.
I left the Marine Corps, wentto work at a church and the
bottom fell out of my life Corps.
I left the Marine Corps, wentto work at a church and the
bottom fell out of my life.
My marriage found itself in avery dark and difficult place.
(10:35):
I was not well at all and a bigpart of me not only not, you
know, completely falling, butgetting back on my feet and
being able to move forward wasthe faith community around me,
and so even understanding traumaand understanding brokenness
and understanding hope andpurpose and all that from a
faith perspective, that's alwaysbeen important to me.
It was personally important tome when I was struggling and so
(10:56):
it's really, I think,organically, you know is is
something that I understand andwe're able to help people work
through so how did the initialidea come about?
Speaker 2 (11:06):
So, is it something that you've, I know you
experienced?
You experienced some difficultyand that was, I'm assuming, the
transition from Marine Corps to, I don't want to say, you know,
civilian life, but is thatwhere you know?
You found a lot of thedifficulty.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Yeah, for me, the transition from the Marine Corps
.
So we were in Iraq, part of theinitial push, first KIA of the
war.
Lieutenant Shane Childers wasone of our guys.
We were sitting in a blockingposition while his platoon was
clearing a building.
So we were there breaching theberm.
We were there for the firstobjective, securing the first
(11:45):
objective.
We fought our way to Baghdad.
The battle of Baghdad on April10th was our battalion as well.
Um, I was, uh, leading Marinesthrough all of that and then
came home and literally a monthlater I was out of the Marine
Corps and so, in that, in thatprocess and this is 2003, right,
(12:05):
so no one was talking abouttrauma or post-traumatic stress
or even transition.
Really, I mean, there was kindof like a you know, checking the
box process for the transitionout, but that's all it was and
there was no conversations aboutit.
There was no access to help oranything like that.
So so I left the Marine Corpsand in the process of leaving
(12:26):
the Marine Corps and literallygoing on to a church staff, I
lost myself.
I lost my identity.
I didn't know how to function,I didn't know who I was.
I felt like what I had been apart of was very important, and
the stuff I was doing now waskind of stupid, and it led to
this frustration that becameanger, that became I was a
(12:49):
disaster at home and even on achurch staff.
Again, for people that spendtime around church, this is not
normal.
I was a wreck to the point that, you know, my boss, who was the
pastor of the church, had tosay this is not working anymore.
You either need to findsomewhere else to work or you've
got to figure.
You either need to findsomewhere else to work or you've
got to figure this out.
Right, and again, we weren'ttalking about trauma, but you've
(13:09):
got to figure this out.
And so then I was confronted bysome people in the church and
some family members, and I wouldsay the process of really
moving forward and understandinga lot of these things took a
long time, but it was about ayear that I was able to really
engage with you, know againpurpose and understanding
(13:30):
identity and finding hopeoutside of what I did in the
Marine Corps and all that.
So for me, that was myexperience.
Now, mighty Oaks started in 2012.
So 10 years later, nine yearslater, in 2012.
So 10 years later, nine yearslater, um, uh, chad Robichaux
(13:50):
and his family he's also aformer Marine um, similar
several deployments.
Uh came home post-traumaticstress, all this stuff bottom
fell out of his life and it wasa man in the church that uh
really mentored him back to aplace of understanding who he
was and how he should live andhow he should function as a
husband and father and all thosethings that we talked about.
And so he started Mighty Oaksand we met really 10 years after
(14:14):
I got out of the Marine Corpsthrough a mutual friend, and it
was one of those.
You know, military people arefunny because whether you know
each other or not, if you havethat service in common, right
like your friends, right, rightaway.
And we met and right away he'slike, hey, man, uh, I need help
doing this, would you help meget this thing going?
And um, the answer was yes andand I had fought through all
(14:36):
that kind of alone personallywith, with church people and
family, but but I didn't havelike a community of veterans or
anything.
In fact, I kind of walked awayfrom the veteran community
because it was just so hard tobe a part of for me, so
re-engaging with that and thenreaching out to people that I
had served with and people thatI was in the Marine Corps with,
and then the larger veterancommunity.
(14:57):
I understood and it took me along time to get there, but but
in that process of Mighty Oaksgetting started, I understood
that it's veterans that have aresponsibility to help other
people who have served continuemoving forward.
There are a lot of great peoplein the world, but if veterans
don't take care of each other,then no one else will.
And I just it took me like 10years to get a hold of that
(15:20):
right Because I thought thatwhen I brought my guys home from
combat that that I did a goodjob and I was done.
But then I realized likethere's suicides and there's
broken homes and there'shopelessness, and so I brought
these guys home and then walkedout on them and let them fend
for themselves and and it wasgetting mighty oaks going.
(15:43):
That caused me to really stepback and go.
I still have a responsibilityto those guys and I've got to do
everything I can to help them.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
That's, that's insane .
Just, I can just imagine likeyou going from the Marine Corps
to the church, right, right,like a night and day scenario,
right, yeah, it was a greattransition.
That's got to be, you know.
Transition, that's got to be,you know.
Uh, that's got to be adifficult thing.
Um, did you have you know withwith most veterans that I've
(16:11):
experienced and myself, did youhave an oh shit moment like yeah
, okay, something wrong here,yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
So I would say it was about 11 months after I came
home is when I had that moment,because I started to.
So my behavior was horrible.
My wife stayed with me becauseshe loved God and she loved our
family and she really wanted itto work, but she probably had a
(16:43):
lot of good reasons to leave.
I was super angry and just adisaster, right.
And then the people I wasworking with I was a disaster,
but I blamed them.
I blame my wife, I blame mykids, I blame the people I
worked with, I blame Americans,right, like, all of this is
someone else's fault.
None of this is my fault issomeone else's fault.
(17:06):
None of this is my fault.
And it wasn't until like 11months into this thing when I
started to receive confrontationfrom people that I cared about
and that I respected and thatthat kind of backed me into that
place where I had to go shootman, like I guess I'm the
problem.
I've been blaming everyone else.
I've been saying that everyoneelse is the problem.
I've been saying that you knowproblem.
I've been saying that you know,no one knows who I am, no one
knows how special I am, all thestupid stuff we say, um, I'll
(17:30):
never be what I was over there,maybe I should go back in the
Marine Corps.
All that stuff I was tellingmyself and then taking it out on
everyone else.
When people that I really caredabout finally confronted me, um
, that was the moment I had tostep back and go.
Oh no, I've had this wrong andI've hurt quite a few people in
the process.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
So what was the recovery like?
What was the first thing thatyou I know it's, you know, mind,
body, soul, is it you just hadto find, redo your faith
structure, or what was a lot ofit?
The?
Speaker 3 (18:07):
the big, the big key for me.
So it's important for people tounderstand that I think working
through that whether you callit healing or recovery or just
working through it however youwant to phrase it it takes time
right, and everyone thinks thatit's like you make a decision
and now everything's different.
Well, I spent a year destroyingevery relationship that was
(18:30):
important to me.
So I wasn't going to turn thataround in a year or in a moment
and then just trying to figureall this out.
But what started it for me wasaccepting responsibility and it
sounds too simple, but Icouldn't be responsible for a
lot of things, but I had to befully responsible for myself,
(18:51):
how I behaved, how I wastreating people, how I was
looking at people, the thingsthat I was thinking.
I had to be responsible forthat.
And we have a guy in ourprogram who says look, if, if
you're only 10% responsible forwhat's happened to you, then you
need to be 100% responsible forthat 10%.
Right, and that was me.
(19:11):
I looked at everyone else.
I'm like well, you guys justdon't get it.
You're the problem.
And if any of this is going toget better, it's going to be
because I'm willing to acceptresponsibility for how I've been
behaving and the things thatI've been doing.
I like to say that there's noexcuse for bad behavior.
We might have reasons, you know, and a lot of veterans have
(19:35):
reasons, and then they use thatas the excuse.
There may be reasons, butthere's no excuse.
All of us know you're not outof control until you're out of
control.
There are moments before youlose control that you can stop
that thing from rolling downhill, and yet we use these
circumstances or situations orour trauma or hurt to justify
(19:56):
our bad behavior.
And I had to be responsible forthat.
So really it was me acceptingresponsibility personally and
then apologizing to the peoplethat I'd hurt.
Really it was me acceptingresponsibility personally and
then apologizing to the peoplethat I'd hurt.
You know, basically, my wife,you know people I work with, my
family, the people who are closeto me, and letting them know
I'm acknowledging this, I'maccepting responsibility for it
and then walking it out.
(20:17):
I could have took me.
You know my wife would say Ialways say took me about a year.
My wife would say, and does sayit takes me about 10 years to
really get all that back.
And someone asked me about thatnot too long ago and they said
well, when you came to thatrealization, did you go to
counseling?
I should have, is the answer,and if I had sought out a
(20:39):
counselor and I had been honestabout a lot of the stuff that
was going on in my heart, itwouldn't have taken 10 years.
But I didn't until much later.
And so I worked through thatkind of on my own by standing up
and trying to make it look likeI had it figured out, I had
(20:59):
accepted responsibility for me.
I started reading books andlistening to things and talking
to people and trying tointernalize that, but doing it
on my own.
And it wasn't until much, muchlater that I brought other
people into that conversationand that's when I was able to
really start experiencing truehealing, if you will, or really
(21:21):
getting to a place where I wasmoving forward in a real way
other than just kind of fightingthrough it.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Right now.
You know it's crazy Cause I'venoticed that about a lot of us
it's when it, when it comes to.
You know we like to keep ourown personal battles to
ourselves, but you know we wepreach to others.
Hey, tell us what.
What's going on, tell us.
You know exactly.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah, we say battle buddy, wesay all this stuff and like you
need to be honest andtransparent and whatever, but
we're not any of those thingsRight.
Yeah, we're really good atpreaching but really bad at
receiving.
And yeah, I mean, that was,that was definitely me and, and
you know, I can see this inhindsight.
But if, a year into that thing,I said look, I've got a problem
(22:08):
, I'm accepting responsibilityand I need to sit down and
actually get help from someoneand bring some other people into
my life, but it did take longerbecause I just it was, it was
more than 10 years before I waswilling to sit down and actually
tell someone like I'm reallyhurting and I'm having problems
and I know it and I don't knowhow to get forward or move
(22:29):
forward from here.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
No that that it all makes sense, it sounds.
It sounds like something youknow, it sounds familiar, it's.
It's something that we've.
I've done myself, so I knowwhat you mean by that.
So with the Mighty OatsFoundation, okay.
(22:52):
So y'all have locations allover the United States.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
We do so again, we've been blessed with some great
partners and so we don'tcurrently own we own property
for our offices and that kind ofthing, but we don't own a
facility that we do our programon.
We have five differentlocations across the country
California, texas, ohio andVirginia.
Two of those are in Texas andthere are folks who have either
(23:20):
like retreat centers, you knowthose kind of it's a great
setting, kind of like a ranchsetting, think of that in each
one of those locations and theygive us exclusive use to it.
So we've got some greatpartners come along, folks who
love veterans and want to serve,and so we run our programs it's
a week long in one of thoselocations across the country and
we bring folks to us.
(23:41):
So it's it's pretty neat.
Yeah, it's pretty neat.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
And there's so many different communities and state
out, there's, you know,different States that care about
our veterans and our firstresponders, and maybe I'm, you
know, I'm partial because Texasis my home state, but I honestly
want to say that Texas is oneof the best state.
But I honestly want to say thatTexas is one of the best.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
If Texas had California weather and geography
, it'd be a great state.
Hey, you're right, I'm not goingto lie on that, but when it
comes to treating our veterans,yeah, texas is great about
treating veterans right and Imean that's why we made the
decision to settle here.
So we had our headquarters inCalifornia and it was great.
(24:24):
California, you know, has a lotof problems, I'm not going to
argue that, but more veterans inCalifornia than anywhere else
in the country and you know,california is, particularly
where we were near CampPendleton, generally pretty,
pretty supportive veterans, butas a, as a state for sure, texas
is definitely pro-military andpro-veteran, which is great.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
So what is your current position at the
foundation currently?
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Yeah, I'm the CEO, so oversee the kind of the
operations of what we do.
We've got an incredible team,we've got a great programs team
that runs all those programs,and then you know our admin
teams and we've got someincredible employees that make
it happen.
So my job is to pretend likeI'm in charge of everything, to
(25:10):
take credit, you know, but alsoto know that all the work is
done by people who are much morecapable than me.
So we again, we've been blessedman.
So we again, we've been blessedman.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
We've grown from just two guys trying to make it
happen to a nationalorganization that has, you know,
thousands of folks every year.
Man, congratulations on that.
It looks like y'all are doingan amazing thing, and I'm sure
you are doing amazing things.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
I didn't mean to say it looks like you.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Yeah, I know what you mean, so are you also an author
.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Yeah, I've written a number of books.
We have produced some resourcesfor kind of the work that we do
.
You know a lot of folks that wetalk to, so a book on
post-traumatic stress disorder,a book on resiliency and a book
recently that just came out onsuicide, and you know what we
can do about that.
We try to write all of thosebooks from the perspective not
(26:13):
of there is a problem, becausewe know there's a problem, but
how do we address the problem,and so that's what those
resources are for.
On our website they're freedownloads, so we just want
people to have those.
And then I've written a coupleof other books.
I wrote a book about my time inIraq called March or Die, and
stories from when I was in Iraqand then making application to
life.
You know your voice is only sobig and can only get to so many
(26:34):
people, and so you try toproduce resources that will
allow people to get the helpthat they need.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
No, that makes sense.
What, what, what was yourinitial push to do your first
book?
Speaker 3 (26:55):
So the first one was that book March or Die, and I
had, um, I want to say it was onthe 10th anniversary of going
into Iraq that I just started towrite some things down and I
look at most events in life andtry to go okay, what are the
(27:16):
lessons that can be distilled?
Right, I'm a big like what arethe 10 things?
Kind of person.
Right, I'm a big like what arethe 10 things?
Kind of kind of person, and soI started to think about some of
the times that we had and someof the things that we did and
some of the specific events thattook place when we were in iraq
, and then started to ask whatare the lessons that I can learn
from that?
So this is for me personally.
And then again, I think it wason the 10th anniversary I did a
blog post.
(27:37):
I had a personal blog, did ablog post about some of those
things and just posted it, and alot of the guys that I had
served with got ahold of it andstarted sending it around and
and it was received really well.
And then someone said you know,you should put this in a book,
and so I did and it and mostlyit was for me and just you know,
(27:58):
anyone that would benefit fromit, which I thought would be the
guys I served with and me, andthat was it.
So telling a story of somethingthat happened in Iraq.
And then you know, the secondpart of that is and here's the
lesson and lining that out.
So there's 12 lessons in thebook and and it man, it did, it
did really well and it resonatedwith a lot of people.
(28:19):
So that was the first one isvery personal.
And then the second one was aleadership book.
I, I learned leadership in theMarine Corps, then I learned
leadership like in the ministry,and they didn't really connect.
And so I had to ask myself anapproach, right, yeah, different
approaches.
So what, what is leadership?
Fundamentally?
(28:39):
Right, like, not how do you doit, but what is it?
It's not this and it's not that, but there has to be something
that is leadership, what is it?
And so, um, again, as a projectto help me understand it, I
wrote that book and um, uh, tryto come to some definitions and
some ideas about what realleadership looks like in any
environment.
And that was a help to me andand, uh, some other folks who
(29:00):
found it helpful, helpful aswell.
So environment, and that was ahelp to me, and some other folks
have found it helpful as well.
So, yeah, I write.
You know, when I've writtenit's all been pretty personal.
I don't I've been taught somany things by so many people.
You know, I've been in ministrya long time, but I never went
to college for ministry, so whatI've learned has been people
(29:21):
sharing their stories with meand reading books and trying to
learn from the experiences ofothers, and so when I write, it
really is just about I'velearned this and I want to share
it with you, and so that seemsto be the best way to
communicate with other people.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
What was your original degree in Criminal
justice?
Wow, you got to get everywherewith that right.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Yeah, I figured, if the Marine Corps doesn't work
out, then I'll go into lawenforcement like that was my
whole thought.
My parents said you have to goto college.
And uh, I didn't want to.
I didn't do great in highschool.
I knew I wasn't going to dogreat in college, right, um?
And so I'm like well, if I haveto be there, I wouldn't mind
studying criminal justice forfour years and maybe I'll become
a police officer someday.
Um so yeah, that's what I did.
(30:05):
And then over the years I'veI've started uh college again
several times.
I just haven't finished Cause Ifeel like I'm always involved
in the work and I don't havetime to get the degree.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
So um, I think I'm on six.
I think I'm on six.
Start overs right now.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
I don't think I have six, but I'm pretty close.
I'm like one class into a lotof programs.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Oh, yeah, life, life happens, man, it gets, it gets,
it gets crazy.
So so you're also, you do a lotof motivational speaking,
correct.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
Yeah, again, that's born out of our experience here
at Mighty Oaks and talking topeople about resiliency and
about moving forward and hopeand all those topics,
approaching those from a faithperspective, and then just kind
of my own journey and some ofthe things that I've learned
personally and trying tocommunicate that with other
people.
Yeah, it kind of the wholeprinciple that what we do is
(31:04):
built on is and this is why itworks, I think, for veterans.
It's not a professional talkingdown to other people, it's us
going.
Hey, I know where you've beenbecause I've been there.
I've experienced what you'veexperienced or something similar
.
I don't have it all figured out,but I have learned a few things
.
I'm a few steps further downthe road than you and I want to
(31:25):
take you with me and so, whetherit's writing or speaking or
teaching or whatever that's it,man it's I've learned some
things.
I want to share it with you andyou can move forward, and I
know that because I've been ableto move forward and I want to
help you do the same and it's awhole different approach when
it's different when you'rereceiving advice from someone
who's been there and done that.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
You know I could if I gave you advice, and everything
I learned was in a textbook istotally different than what I've
experienced.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Yeah, and that's that's one of the reasons that
what we do at Mighty Oaks works,because when someone comes to
one of our our our programsright, it's five days long and
veterans are super cynical anddon't want to listen to anyone,
right.
But when they come to ourprogram, they're sitting in a
room full of other veterans oractive duty service members and
the person standing in front ofthem everyone who works for us
(32:14):
came through our program as astudent and then we brought them
through this year-longleadership training program, and
so everyone in the room has ashared background it's probably
not exactly the same, butsimilar background.
And so there's no walls, right,Kick the walls down.
Nobody cares.
Nobody here is going to thankyou for your service, right?
Nobody cares, we're all exactlythe same.
(32:35):
So let's just get busy.
And we just want to help youmove forward, because we had
some people help us move forward, and we just want to help you
move forward because we had somepeople help us move forward,
and we just want to help you dothe same.
And, yeah, the approach is sodifferent but so effective.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
Right, yeah, that that's a I I understand.
Hey, with with everything thatyou have going on in your life
uh, mighty oats, uh, speakingengagements, book writing.
How do you got time for jujitsu?
Man Mighty Oats speakingengagements book writing.
How do you got time for jujitsu?
Speaker 3 (33:07):
man.
Well, if anything goes, it'sthe jujitsu.
You know what's funny?
So my son, he's a policeofficer now, my oldest son.
When he was like 11 years old,he said he wanted to be a police
officer and he was like a fatlittle 11-year-old kid, right.
He loved video games andstaying inside.
That was his whole thing.
And I'm like, look man, you'renever going to be a professional
(33:28):
athlete.
So I want you to learnsomething and I want you to get
involved in something physicalthat that will be a skill you
can take with you and you wantto be in law enforcement someday
.
He's a little kid, you want tobe in law enforcement someday.
You need to learn.
(33:48):
You know these types of skills.
And so we got him into ajiu-jitsu gym and he loved it.
I mean just took to it and hewould stay.
And we dropped him off somedays and he'd stay there for
four hours worth of class and hewould just love it.
Well, you know, 11, 12, 13 yearsold, he's getting bigger and
jiu-jitsu is a thing that if youlearn the technique you can
deal with somebody bigger thanyou.
So it got to the point whereI'm like we're wrestling around
in the house and one day we'rewrestling around the house, he's
(34:09):
like 13, maybe, and he took myback.
I didn't know jujitsu, I justkind of wrestled a little bit.
He took my back and I thoughthe was going to put me out.
And I think the next day I wentand signed up for a class
because I'm like this kid manhe's not going to take me out.
So I started jiu-jitsu becausethat's where he was.
And then eventually all my kidsare trained and and uh most of
them still do, and so you knowthey're there all the time and I
(34:32):
wanted to be with them and so Istarted training with them and,
um, yeah, so it's it's kind ofa family thing.
It is harder.
It's harder when you're on theroad, but I get in there when I
can now that's got to be amazing.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Uh, uh, bonding, you know event for the family.
I mean that you know.
Hey, you made, you made yourbrother mad.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
Now go go check him out yeah, yeah, my wife hates it
because, uh, my boys think it'sfun to, you know, grapple with
her when she doesn't want to begrappled with.
Oh yeah, they're pummeling, uhunderhooks in the kitchen.
But, um, it has been great andit has given us a common ground.
You know, I could talk aboutjiu-jitsu for a while, but I
(35:13):
think jiu-jitsu is a veryimportant skill for kids.
I think it teaches them a lotof really important lessons,
just that they can apply totheir lives.
But but as a family, it's beengreat because we're we're there
together, we're doing the thingtogether, you're learning
together.
It's been, it's been great forus and me and my boy.
I have two girls and two boysand my girls have both trained,
(35:34):
my boys still both trained, andit's been the best bonding thing
I could have with my, with myson.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Did any of your kids ever express interest about
joining the service?
Speaker 3 (35:47):
My, my son, who is a police officer at one time and
talked about the Marine Corps,maybe a reservist or something.
So he talked about it but thenkind of, the steps to becoming a
police officer startedunfolding and so he just pursued
that.
My 14 year old he's my youngestwants to be a paramedic and he
(36:07):
is very focused on.
I want to be a paramediceventually, but I'd like to go
into the military to get mymedical training.
So he wants to be a corpsman.
Now again, he's 14.
We'll see how that all shakesout right, but yeah, man, he's
as focused as a 14 year old canbe on going into the navy and
becoming corpsman.
So so we'll see what happensthere that's incredible, man.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
You're raising a bunch of superheroes, for sure.
I don't know about that.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
I need to tone down the military rhetoric apparently
.
Why do you want to go in themilitary?
He's like, because you talkabout it every day.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
I'm like, oh, okay, yeah yeah, well, nah, I mean,
and girls, what are they doing?
Yeah, I didn't mean to get toopersonal, I was just no that's
all right.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
No, so on the other end of the spectrum, my oldest
she's 24, is an accountant.
So I have an accountant and apolice officer.
And then I have a 16 year olddaughter.
She's in high school, she wantsto be a nurse, and then my 14
year old wants to be a paramedic.
So, yeah, they're kind of allover the place.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
You're just missing a lawyer in there.
You got yeah.
We got yeah, that's awesome,man, that's that's amazing.
What.
What do you have?
What do you have on yourschedule the next few months?
Any events you got coming up,what do you?
Speaker 3 (37:22):
have on your schedule the next few months?
Any events you got coming up.
We've got a few speaking events, man off the top of my head, I
know they're coming up, butthose are all on our website and
the Mighty Oak social mediakeeps that updated too, so if
someone is in an area, they canfind us, and we're always
involved in something.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
So I was going to ask you so, out of everybody in
your life that you've met, whohas been your biggest influence
on your life?
Um, your father, correct?
Is that what?
I think you had said it earlieryeah, my dad definitely.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
if there's one person , there have been a lot of great
influences on my life.
If there's one person, it wouldbe my dad.
You know, from the time I wasvery young until I mean last
last night, I've been goingthrough a few things recently
and and still my dad, you know,is the one I call and talk to
and and walks me through thatand and has always been that
(38:17):
person.
I've been.
I've been really blessed tohave just some incredible people
in my life.
So I mean my dad, obviously,huge kind of oversized influence
in my life.
But military leaders I meansome of the folks that I worked
for when I was in the MarineCorps over 20 years ago still
(38:38):
keep in touch with me and still,I would say, influence me and
some of that's influence thatthey had when I was at that Kind
of moldable stage of life andand some of it has been just
over the years they felt to me.
Friends and other people havecome into my life.
I've been very blessed out ofthe right people in my life and
I don't know where I learned itor where I was taught it, but
(39:00):
the one thing that I have alwaysrespected I guess I haven't
always sought it out, but I'vealways respected is when people
speak into your life, you needto listen, right.
And so, again, I I mentionedthis earlier I did a terrible
job seeking that out, but whenthose people have come into my
life, um, I've thankfullylistened and learned an awful
(39:21):
lot, so a lot of good people.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
That's, that's awesome.
Give us a.
What is something that you youwish you would have known 10
years ago?
Oh, 10 years ago.
Speaker 3 (39:33):
There's so many things I wish I would have known
10 years ago.
I think one thing that I wish Iwould have known 10 years ago,
and I continue to learn now, iswhat I just talked about.
You need to surround yourselfwith the right people not just
people, but the right people.
You need to have people in yourlife that you can influence.
You need to have people in yourlife.
(39:55):
You know that you're working toinfluence, and then you need to
have people in your life thatcan speak into your life, that
are influencing you.
One of the conversations that Iseem to have often is this idea
of we call it mentorship.
It's called different things,but there need to be some people
in your life that care aboutyou but are not emotionally
(40:16):
invested in the decisions thatyou make.
This is something that I've beenreally growing into, so people
that care about you, but if youshipwreck your life, it's not
going to shipwreck their life,right?
So my wife cares about me, mykids care about me, my family
cares about me, but if I blow up, they blow up too, right, right
(40:38):
, right, and so they have anemotional, very vested interest
in the stuff I do, which meansit's hard for them to look at it
from kind of the outsider'sperspective.
I need somebody that can lookat my life and speak the truth,
because whatever I do will haveno impact.
I mean, they care about you butit's not going to change their
life, and so finding thosepeople it can be tough, but you
(41:01):
need that person.
I care about you, I want you todo the right thing, but I don't
have a vested you knowemotional interest in whether or
not you do the right thing, andso I can give you an objective
outsider's view.
That has become more and moreimportant to me over the years.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
That makes a lot of sense.
I wanted to speak into yourlife.
I like that.
Yeah, that's amazing.
So just a couple more questions, man, I'm going to get out of
your life.
I like that.
Yeah, that's amazing.
So just a couple more questions, man, I'm going to get out of
your hair.
Hey, do you have a?
Speaker 3 (41:30):
bucket list.
A bucket list, you know, I have.
I've never had a bucket list,but I started a few years ago
running ultra marathons and andwhat's an ultra marathon?
So, an ultra marathon, it canbe a lot of different things,
but it's a it's.
It's a race longer than amarathon.
(41:51):
A marathon is 26.2 miles, soit's anything longer than that
would be considered ultra, right, it's beyond the 26.2.
So, um, one of the things thatI'd always wanted to do.
I've been a runner since I was alittle kid and I've never liked
it, I've never enjoyed it, butit's I'm, I'm built like a
runner and I it's.
It's something that's alwaysbeen a part of my health regimen
(42:12):
, right?
So so I started hearing aboutpeople who did these ultra
marathons, and so one thing Ialways wanted to do is kind of
run a long race like that, andso I think four years ago now, I
signed up for, uh, 50k, whichis 32 miles, 31 and a half miles
, and that was kind of the thingI was going to do and I did
(42:34):
that and then, like a lot ofthings, man it, it got out of
control.
So I did that, I did a bunch ofthose, I did 100k, I did 100
miler last year, so, um, I'vegot a few races on my bucket
list, I guess that I'd like todo before I die, but it just
gives me something to pursue andto stay healthy for, but
(42:55):
nothing.
I'm really thankful for thelife I've been able to live and
I want to keep adding meaningand value to people's lives, but
I don't have any big thingsother than you know, stuff like
that, I guess.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Hey, would yourself, at 12 years old, think that you
were cool right now?
Speaker 3 (43:14):
Well, I have two teenage kids and they don't
think I'm cool at all.
So, no, I don't think so.
I don't think so.
Man, it's hard when you're thatage to think someone like me is
cool.
I have a complex, actually,because my teenagers are
relentless.
But uh, yeah, no, I don't thinkthey think I was cool.
I hope they'd be.
I hope a 12 year old me wouldbe proud of me right now.
Yeah, um, but no, I think theythink I have some real problems
(43:37):
with you know, dressing and theway I talk and the time I go to
bed and things like that.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
My girls they let me have it.
It's abusive, it is, it is.
We'll be at church and I grab asecond donut.
My little one will look at meand go.
You think you need that, yeah.
Speaker 3 (43:57):
Get out of here, leave me alone.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
Yeah, that's funny.
What is the worst advice youever received in your life?
The worst advice, the worstadvice.
Speaker 3 (44:11):
I think the worst advice that I ever received,
that anyone can receive, isfollow your heart.
Do what makes you happy.
I believe in being happy, Ibelieve in experiencing joy and
doing those things, but if weset as the objective of our life
pursuing our heart, which isentirely selfish and entirely
(44:34):
self-serving and entirely aboutus, then we're going to hurt a
lot of people and eventually wewon't be happy, even though
we're following our heart.
Do whatever you have to to behappy.
Again, that's so self-centeredand self-focused, and I think a
life well lived is a life that'slived for others.
And I think, when you get tothe end of your life, what will
(44:55):
bring you peace and happinessand contentment is knowing that
you didn't get it right all thetime, but that you did what you
could with the resources thatyou had to be a blessing to
other people, to encourage otherpeople to help other people.
And so this silly notion thatyou need to be a blessing to
other people, to encourage otherpeople to help other people,
and so this silly notion thatyou need to follow your heart or
whatever it's just to say weneed to follow what makes us
(45:15):
emotionally satisfied, is justterrible advice and a lot of
people pursue that and end up insome very dark places or very
alone.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
I've never heard it said that way and that was
absolutely amazing.
Jesus, you just got me thinkingabout some some approach, Just
trying to make you think.
Definitely did.
Okay, On the other side, whatis the?
What is the best advice youever received?
Speaker 3 (45:49):
I mean, I think the best advice I've ever received
is, you know, is live for otherpeople.
I, again, I don't remember aperson giving me that advice,
but the people that I've alwayslooked up to in my life, and the
leaders that I respect are, arepeople who lived for the
benefit of other people, arepeople who lived for the benefit
of other people, and that's, Imean, I think that's the best
(46:11):
advice any of us could give.
I believe that God equips usall differently.
He gives us all differentresources and opportunities and
all of those things, but I thinkwe are given the opportunities,
the resources, the skills, thetalents, all that stuff.
I think we're given all of thatnot for our own benefit but to
(46:32):
be a benefit to other people.
And so the best advice I wouldgive, could give is use what
God's given you to bless otherpeople, to other people.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
Wow Dang, that was perfectly answered.
You left me at a speechlessmoment and that doesn't happen
very often.
Well, I'm glad I could help.
Hey, did you have any closing?
Speaker 3 (47:06):
comments anything you'd like to say.
Man, the only thing I'd like tosay other than thank you, and
I'm really appreciative of theopportunity is, you know, for
anyone interested in what we do,just visit our website and know
this there's no cost to theprograms that we offer, and even
the cost of travel we coverthat so we can help you get to
(47:26):
where you need to be, to getthat, get that help, so it's
free to you.
That's not free.
We work hard to raise thatmoney, but we want to make it
possible for anyone who needshelp to get it.
So go to our website,mightyoaksprogramsorg and to
fill out the application andwe'll take care of the rest.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
Jeremy, it's been a pleasure.
Man, Thank you for jumping onthe show and chatting with me a
little bit.
I'm going to share yourinformation so people can reach
out, Not your information, buthow to reach you.
Yeah, perfect.
Again, thank you for joining meon the show, man.
Thank you, man, it's awesome.
Thank you, We'll talk to youlater.
Thank you for tuning in.
Guys know that we love you andwe're always here if you need
(48:08):
anything.
If you or a friend are incrisis, please dial 988, or you
can actually text 988.
If you're a military veteran,press 1.
As always, you guys, thank youfor tuning in to the show and
Charlie Mike.
This is Charlie Mike the podcast Veterans helping
veterans.
Talking about things happeningin the veteran community, Things
we've experienced and overcome,such as addictions, PTSD,
depression, legal trouble, andwe also promote veteran-owned
businesses.
If you're talking about it,we're talking about it.
(00:24):
This is Charlie Mike thepodcast.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yo, what's going on everybody?
Thank you for joining CharlieMike the podcast.
As always, I'm your host,raulul hey.
Today I got a special guest fory'all is Jeremy.
Jeremy's the co -founder of theMighty Oats Foundation and he's
also a United States MarineCorps veteran.
So you guys be sure to staytuned.
Check this one out, jeremy.
(00:59):
Introduce yourself.
Tell us a little bit aboutyourself.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Yeah well, thanks for having me on.
Man really appreciate it and,uh, really excited to have the
conversation.
Um, you said it all I'm amarine corps veteran.
There's nothing much else tosay.
That's.
That's kind of the end all andbe all right I mean, I've got a
few things since then, but, um,I served as a, as a, an infantry
officer in uh in the marinecorps force.
Uh served my last deployment inIraq in 2003 as part of the
(01:26):
initial push into Iraq.
So that was my last deployment,which is crazy to have that as
your last deployment, but wewere part of the initial push.
The Battle of Baghdad was ourlast fight in April of 2003.
And then we did a few otherthings for a few months and then
came home and since then I havebeen involved in ministry.
(01:47):
I was in church ministry for awhile and some different things
and for the last 12 years havebeen working with the Mighty
Oaks Foundation, which is anonprofit that works with
veterans, active duty servicemembers, first responders and
spouses, all dealing with somedegree of trauma, whether it's
trauma related to combat, traumarelated to service in the
(02:07):
community for the firstresponder folks.
A lot of it's trauma that wasbrought into those communities
and has been, kind of, you know,made worse by their service,
and so we've been doing that for12 years.
We've had just over 5,000students graduate from our
programs and we went from acouple of Marines trying to get
our friends and other people weknew to come and do this week
(02:29):
long thing that we were doing tonow having about 40 weeks of
programs in places across thecountry.
So yeah, it's been an adventure, to say the least, but really
glad to be a part of it.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
That's amazing.
Now I want to know okay, I wantto go back a little bit and
learn a little bit about Jeremy.
So where are you fromoriginally?
Why the Marine Corps?
Was the military always athought?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yeah, you know it's crazy and I've thought about
this a lot.
I've got four kids and my twooldest are young adults now and
they're doing their jobs and Ihave two teenage kids and so
we're having these conversationsa lot and have over the last
few years about what you'regoing to do with your future,
right?
So I think about man, how did Imake those decisions?
I was raised in a veryconservative home.
(03:15):
My dad actually was a pastor ofa small church in Southern
California, so I was raised inthat environment and didn't
really have anyone in my familythat had served in the military.
But when I was probably 11 or12 years old, I got a book that
was it had been my dad's when hewas a kid.
He found it in my grandparents'house and he's cleaning out
some stuff, gave it to me.
(03:37):
So it was written back in thesixties but it was stories of
congressional medal, of honorrecipients from World War II.
And I remember as an 11 and 12year old kid reading, you know,
these stories and they weren'tthe citations, they were the
stories, right.
And so reading all the storiesand and man, like I remember
just as a kid, for the firsttime thinking I could be a part
(03:57):
of something bigger than myself,I could do something important,
and you learn about honor andyou learn about teamwork and all
those things, and so that, Ithink, planted the seed in my
mind and as I got older I reallyhad a.
My focus was on militaryservice.
Why the Marine Corps?
I'm not exactly sure.
I don't know when it started,but I just grew up believing
(04:18):
that if you went into themilitary, that meant you were
going in the Marine Corps.
I don't know where I got thatfrom, but that's kind of what I
always believed.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
You never played GI.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Joe yeah, I could play GI Joe.
I like watching war movies andMarines are pretty cool, and
there were a few people in mylife that had been Marines, and
so that was probably theinfluence, and I also believed
at the time that if you're aMarine, that means you're an
infantry Marine.
Right, like that's what theMarine Corps is about.
I've learned that it's a lotmore than that since then, but
so I was 14 years old when Itold my dad I'd really like to
(04:49):
go into the Marine Corps, I wantto be an infantry Marine and
that's what I want to do with mylife.
That's a little surprising formy.
You know my dad, who was apastor, to you need to go to
college first, after that, dowhatever you'd like, and so my
plan was to enlist out of highschool.
My parents said you need to goto college, and so I was able to
(05:11):
go through a commissioningprogram while I was in college
and was commissioned the day Igraduated.
So yeah, it's probably not yourtypical story.
I don't know exactly whatstarted it, but I don't remember
ever wanting to do anythingelse, and that was kind of my
whole goal pointing my lifetoward that service.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Around what time?
What year did you enlist?
Speaker 3 (05:33):
So I went to officer candidate school in 1996.
And I did some reserve time andthen my active duty time.
My schooling and all of thatstarted after my commissioning
in 99.
So yeah, 96, 98, I was goingthrough the Marine Corps has a
(05:54):
program called the platoonleaders course.
So you go to officer candidateschool.
It's kind of a split program.
I did that and then I wascommissioned that next year.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
So you were fairly fresh in when, when the nine 11
happened.
Do you remember exactly whereyou were at or how, that, if
that had any effect on you?
Speaker 3 (06:17):
know what was going on.
Yeah, man, I.
So when I, when I checked in asa rifle platoon commander,
second lieutenant, six monthslater we deployed to Okinawa for
the Marine Corps, I was calleda 31st Mew deployment out of
Okinawa, and so I did that as arifle platoon commander.
We came home and that was, Iwant to say, july of 2001.
(06:42):
And so we took our leave, asyou do when you come off of a
deployment, and we were justback in that recall and all that
stuff after deployment.
So we were actually on therifle range just doing our
regular rifle calls on nine 11.
And that came over the loudspeaker.
This happened and you know I wascoming out of a a peacetime
(07:03):
military environment my entirelife.
You know we had Desert Storm,which was a pretty big deal, but
it was over really quick.
Panama kind of happened when Iwas a teenager, and so there
were a few things, but nothingcrazy.
It was mostly a peacetimemilitary peacetime environment.
So when they made thatannouncement, I remember having
a Marine come up and say, hey,sir, we're gonna.
(07:24):
What does this mean for us?
Like it doesn't mean anythingfor us, right?
This is not going to be a bigthing, special forces,
somebody's going to take care ofthis, but we'll never deploy
that.
That Marine found me when wewere in Kuwait getting ready to
go to Iraq and reminded me thatI said it would never happen.
But yeah, I just didn't take itthat seriously, I guess, in
(07:44):
terms of what that would meanfor us.
But very, very quickly, I meanwithin days, our whole world
changed training changed,uniforms changed, access to
equipment and ammunition forlive fire training all of it
changed and we started that spinup to eventually deploy.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
That's, that's insane .
So you're from California,correct?
Yeah, Southern California, Yep,and uh what?
How'd you get to Texas?
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Yeah, well, so the Mighty Oaks Foundation, um, we
have grown and things havehappened that, uh, you know, put
us in a pretty strong place andwe wanted a place to call home
and, uh, this area of Texas thatwe're in, montgomery County,
texas, is a super patriotic andsupportive of veterans and all
those things, and there's landshere so we can, we can build a
(08:33):
building, which we're doingright now.
So I actually still live inCalifornia, okay, even though
our headquarters is here inTexas and I kind of commute back
and forth and I travel a lotbut yeah, our, our team is here
in Texas and I kind of commuteback and forth and I travel a
lot, but uh, yeah, our, our teamis here in Texas, uh, making it
happen.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
So so, um, your organization is a lot different
than a lot of other ones thatI've researched and that I've
had on the podcast, and one ofthe things that y'all are real
strongly and based is faith.
Yeah, now, since your fatherwas a pastor, is that always?
Faith has always been in yourlife.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Yeah, faith has always been important to me and
you know there is anunderstanding that faith is
important and then there is arealization that it needs to be
personal.
So, growing up around, you know, in a Christian home and around
church, and you know my wholelife has been around church I
was definitely raised in that.
(09:27):
I would say that I became aChristian when I was a child,
understanding my need for asavior and putting my faith in
Christ when I was a child andgrowing up in that and then
really owning that, I think whenI was in the Marine Corps
actually and really owning that,I think when I was in the
Marine Corps actually and reallyunderstanding that faith is
more than just something outthere, that it is personal and
(09:51):
it is a relationship that issomething you need to walk out.
And so I think there werestages you know like there are
for a lot of people of growthand understanding what all that
means.
But I became a Christian when Iwas young and I really grew
into an understanding that Ineed to live this out when I was
in my 20s and so, yeah, it'salways been very important to me
(10:11):
.
And then you know, particularlyas it relates to the work that
we do.
When I came home from Iraq, Iwent to work at a church out of
the Marine Corps.
I left the Marine Corps, wentto work at a church and the
bottom fell out of my life Corps.
I left the Marine Corps, wentto work at a church and the
bottom fell out of my life.
My marriage found itself in avery dark and difficult place.
(10:35):
I was not well at all and a bigpart of me not only not, you
know, completely falling, butgetting back on my feet and
being able to move forward wasthe faith community around me,
and so even understanding traumaand understanding brokenness
and understanding hope andpurpose and all that from a
faith perspective, that's alwaysbeen important to me.
It was personally important tome when I was struggling and so
(10:56):
it's really, I think,organically, you know is is
something that I understand andwe're able to help people work
through so how did the initialidea come about?
Speaker 2 (11:06):
So, is it something that you've, I know you
experienced?
You experienced some difficultyand that was, I'm assuming, the
transition from Marine Corps to, I don't want to say, you know,
civilian life, but is thatwhere you know?
You found a lot of thedifficulty.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Yeah, for me, the transition from the Marine Corps
.
So we were in Iraq, part of theinitial push, first KIA of the
war.
Lieutenant Shane Childers wasone of our guys.
We were sitting in a blockingposition while his platoon was
clearing a building.
So we were there breaching theberm.
We were there for the firstobjective, securing the first
(11:45):
objective.
We fought our way to Baghdad.
The battle of Baghdad on April10th was our battalion as well.
Um, I was, uh, leading Marinesthrough all of that and then
came home and literally a monthlater I was out of the Marine
Corps and so, in that, in thatprocess and this is 2003, right,
(12:05):
so no one was talking abouttrauma or post-traumatic stress
or even transition.
Really, I mean, there was kindof like a you know, checking the
box process for the transitionout, but that's all it was and
there was no conversations aboutit.
There was no access to help oranything like that.
So so I left the Marine Corpsand in the process of leaving
(12:26):
the Marine Corps and literallygoing on to a church staff, I
lost myself.
I lost my identity.
I didn't know how to function,I didn't know who I was.
I felt like what I had been apart of was very important, and
the stuff I was doing now waskind of stupid, and it led to
this frustration that becameanger, that became I was a
(12:49):
disaster at home and even on achurch staff.
Again, for people that spendtime around church, this is not
normal.
I was a wreck to the point that, you know, my boss, who was the
pastor of the church, had tosay this is not working anymore.
You either need to findsomewhere else to work or you've
got to figure.
You either need to findsomewhere else to work or you've
got to figure this out.
Right, and again, we weren'ttalking about trauma, but you've
(13:09):
got to figure this out.
And so then I was confronted bysome people in the church and
some family members, and I wouldsay the process of really
moving forward and understandinga lot of these things took a
long time, but it was about ayear that I was able to really
engage with you, know againpurpose and understanding
(13:30):
identity and finding hopeoutside of what I did in the
Marine Corps and all that.
So for me, that was myexperience.
Now, mighty Oaks started in 2012.
So 10 years later, nine yearslater, in 2012.
So 10 years later, nine yearslater, um, uh, chad Robichaux
(13:50):
and his family he's also aformer Marine um, similar
several deployments.
Uh came home post-traumaticstress, all this stuff bottom
fell out of his life and it wasa man in the church that uh
really mentored him back to aplace of understanding who he
was and how he should live andhow he should function as a
husband and father and all thosethings that we talked about.
And so he started Mighty Oaksand we met really 10 years after
(14:14):
I got out of the Marine Corpsthrough a mutual friend, and it
was one of those.
You know, military people arefunny because whether you know
each other or not, if you havethat service in common, right
like your friends, right, rightaway.
And we met and right away he'slike, hey, man, uh, I need help
doing this, would you help meget this thing going?
And um, the answer was yes andand I had fought through all
(14:36):
that kind of alone personallywith, with church people and
family, but but I didn't havelike a community of veterans or
anything.
In fact, I kind of walked awayfrom the veteran community
because it was just so hard tobe a part of for me, so
re-engaging with that and thenreaching out to people that I
had served with and people thatI was in the Marine Corps with,
and then the larger veterancommunity.
(14:57):
I understood and it took me along time to get there, but but
in that process of Mighty Oaksgetting started, I understood
that it's veterans that have aresponsibility to help other
people who have served continuemoving forward.
There are a lot of great peoplein the world, but if veterans
don't take care of each other,then no one else will.
And I just it took me like 10years to get a hold of that
(15:20):
right Because I thought thatwhen I brought my guys home from
combat that that I did a goodjob and I was done.
But then I realized likethere's suicides and there's
broken homes and there'shopelessness, and so I brought
these guys home and then walkedout on them and let them fend
for themselves and and it wasgetting mighty oaks going.
(15:43):
That caused me to really stepback and go.
I still have a responsibilityto those guys and I've got to do
everything I can to help them.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
That's, that's insane .
Just, I can just imagine likeyou going from the Marine Corps
to the church, right, right,like a night and day scenario,
right, yeah, it was a greattransition.
That's got to be, you know.
Transition, that's got to be,you know.
Uh, that's got to be adifficult thing.
Um, did you have you know withwith most veterans that I've
(16:11):
experienced and myself, did youhave an oh shit moment like yeah
, okay, something wrong here,yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
So I would say it was about 11 months after I came
home is when I had that moment,because I started to.
So my behavior was horrible.
My wife stayed with me becauseshe loved God and she loved our
family and she really wanted itto work, but she probably had a
(16:43):
lot of good reasons to leave.
I was super angry and just adisaster, right.
And then the people I wasworking with I was a disaster,
but I blamed them.
I blame my wife, I blame mykids, I blame the people I
worked with, I blame Americans,right, like, all of this is
someone else's fault.
None of this is my fault issomeone else's fault.
(17:06):
None of this is my fault.
And it wasn't until like 11months into this thing when I
started to receive confrontationfrom people that I cared about
and that I respected and thatthat kind of backed me into that
place where I had to go shootman, like I guess I'm the
problem.
I've been blaming everyone else.
I've been saying that everyoneelse is the problem.
I've been saying that you knowproblem.
I've been saying that you know,no one knows who I am, no one
knows how special I am, all thestupid stuff we say, um, I'll
(17:30):
never be what I was over there,maybe I should go back in the
Marine Corps.
All that stuff I was tellingmyself and then taking it out on
everyone else.
When people that I really caredabout finally confronted me, um
, that was the moment I had tostep back and go.
Oh no, I've had this wrong andI've hurt quite a few people in
the process.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
So what was the recovery like?
What was the first thing thatyou I know it's, you know, mind,
body, soul, is it you just hadto find, redo your faith
structure, or what was a lot ofit?
The?
Speaker 3 (18:07):
the big, the big key for me.
So it's important for people tounderstand that I think working
through that whether you callit healing or recovery or just
working through it however youwant to phrase it it takes time
right, and everyone thinks thatit's like you make a decision
and now everything's different.
Well, I spent a year destroyingevery relationship that was
(18:30):
important to me.
So I wasn't going to turn thataround in a year or in a moment
and then just trying to figureall this out.
But what started it for me wasaccepting responsibility and it
sounds too simple, but Icouldn't be responsible for a
lot of things, but I had to befully responsible for myself,
(18:51):
how I behaved, how I wastreating people, how I was
looking at people, the thingsthat I was thinking.
I had to be responsible forthat.
And we have a guy in ourprogram who says look, if, if
you're only 10% responsible forwhat's happened to you, then you
need to be 100% responsible forthat 10%.
Right, and that was me.
(19:11):
I looked at everyone else.
I'm like well, you guys justdon't get it.
You're the problem.
And if any of this is going toget better, it's going to be
because I'm willing to acceptresponsibility for how I've been
behaving and the things thatI've been doing.
I like to say that there's noexcuse for bad behavior.
We might have reasons, you know, and a lot of veterans have
(19:35):
reasons, and then they use thatas the excuse.
There may be reasons, butthere's no excuse.
All of us know you're not outof control until you're out of
control.
There are moments before youlose control that you can stop
that thing from rolling downhill, and yet we use these
circumstances or situations orour trauma or hurt to justify
(19:56):
our bad behavior.
And I had to be responsible forthat.
So really it was me acceptingresponsibility personally and
then apologizing to the peoplethat I'd hurt.
Really it was me acceptingresponsibility personally and
then apologizing to the peoplethat I'd hurt.
You know, basically, my wife,you know people I work with, my
family, the people who are closeto me, and letting them know
I'm acknowledging this, I'maccepting responsibility for it
and then walking it out.
(20:17):
I could have took me.
You know my wife would say Ialways say took me about a year.
My wife would say, and does sayit takes me about 10 years to
really get all that back.
And someone asked me about thatnot too long ago and they said
well, when you came to thatrealization, did you go to
counseling?
I should have, is the answer,and if I had sought out a
(20:39):
counselor and I had been honestabout a lot of the stuff that
was going on in my heart, itwouldn't have taken 10 years.
But I didn't until much later.
And so I worked through thatkind of on my own by standing up
and trying to make it look likeI had it figured out, I had
(20:59):
accepted responsibility for me.
I started reading books andlistening to things and talking
to people and trying tointernalize that, but doing it
on my own.
And it wasn't until much, muchlater that I brought other
people into that conversationand that's when I was able to
really start experiencing truehealing, if you will, or really
(21:21):
getting to a place where I wasmoving forward in a real way
other than just kind of fightingthrough it.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Right now.
You know it's crazy Cause I'venoticed that about a lot of us
it's when it, when it comes to.
You know we like to keep ourown personal battles to
ourselves, but you know we wepreach to others.
Hey, tell us what.
What's going on, tell us.
You know exactly.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah, we say battle buddy, wesay all this stuff and like you
need to be honest andtransparent and whatever, but
we're not any of those thingsRight.
Yeah, we're really good atpreaching but really bad at
receiving.
And yeah, I mean, that was,that was definitely me and, and
you know, I can see this inhindsight.
But if, a year into that thing,I said look, I've got a problem
(22:08):
, I'm accepting responsibilityand I need to sit down and
actually get help from someoneand bring some other people into
my life, but it did take longerbecause I just it was, it was
more than 10 years before I waswilling to sit down and actually
tell someone like I'm reallyhurting and I'm having problems
and I know it and I don't knowhow to get forward or move
(22:29):
forward from here.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
No that that it all makes sense, it sounds.
It sounds like something youknow, it sounds familiar, it's.
It's something that we've.
I've done myself, so I knowwhat you mean by that.
So with the Mighty OatsFoundation, okay.
(22:52):
So y'all have locations allover the United States.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
We do so again, we've been blessed with some great
partners and so we don'tcurrently own we own property
for our offices and that kind ofthing, but we don't own a
facility that we do our programon.
We have five differentlocations across the country
California, texas, ohio andVirginia.
Two of those are in Texas andthere are folks who have either
(23:20):
like retreat centers, you knowthose kind of it's a great
setting, kind of like a ranchsetting, think of that in each
one of those locations and theygive us exclusive use to it.
So we've got some greatpartners come along, folks who
love veterans and want to serve,and so we run our programs it's
a week long in one of thoselocations across the country and
we bring folks to us.
(23:41):
So it's it's pretty neat.
Yeah, it's pretty neat.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
And there's so many different communities and state
out, there's, you know,different States that care about
our veterans and our firstresponders, and maybe I'm, you
know, I'm partial because Texasis my home state, but I honestly
want to say that Texas is oneof the best state.
But I honestly want to say thatTexas is one of the best.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
If Texas had California weather and geography
, it'd be a great state.
Hey, you're right, I'm not goingto lie on that, but when it
comes to treating our veterans,yeah, texas is great about
treating veterans right and Imean that's why we made the
decision to settle here.
So we had our headquarters inCalifornia and it was great.
(24:24):
California, you know, has a lotof problems, I'm not going to
argue that, but more veterans inCalifornia than anywhere else
in the country and you know,california is, particularly
where we were near CampPendleton, generally pretty,
pretty supportive veterans, butas a, as a state for sure, texas
is definitely pro-military andpro-veteran, which is great.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
So what is your current position at the
foundation currently?
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Yeah, I'm the CEO, so oversee the kind of the
operations of what we do.
We've got an incredible team,we've got a great programs team
that runs all those programs,and then you know our admin
teams and we've got someincredible employees that make
it happen.
So my job is to pretend likeI'm in charge of everything, to
(25:10):
take credit, you know, but alsoto know that all the work is
done by people who are much morecapable than me.
So we again, we've been blessedman.
So we again, we've been blessedman.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
We've grown from just two guys trying to make it
happen to a nationalorganization that has, you know,
thousands of folks every year.
Man, congratulations on that.
It looks like y'all are doingan amazing thing, and I'm sure
you are doing amazing things.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
I didn't mean to say it looks like you.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Yeah, I know what you mean, so are you also an author
.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Yeah, I've written a number of books.
We have produced some resourcesfor kind of the work that we do
.
You know a lot of folks that wetalk to, so a book on
post-traumatic stress disorder,a book on resiliency and a book
recently that just came out onsuicide, and you know what we
can do about that.
We try to write all of thosebooks from the perspective not
(26:13):
of there is a problem, becausewe know there's a problem, but
how do we address the problem,and so that's what those
resources are for.
On our website they're freedownloads, so we just want
people to have those.
And then I've written a coupleof other books.
I wrote a book about my time inIraq called March or Die, and
stories from when I was in Iraqand then making application to
life.
You know your voice is only sobig and can only get to so many
(26:34):
people, and so you try toproduce resources that will
allow people to get the helpthat they need.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
No, that makes sense.
What, what, what was yourinitial push to do your first
book?
Speaker 3 (26:55):
So the first one was that book March or Die, and I
had, um, I want to say it was onthe 10th anniversary of going
into Iraq that I just started towrite some things down and I
look at most events in life andtry to go okay, what are the
(27:16):
lessons that can be distilled?
Right, I'm a big like what arethe 10 things?
Kind of person.
Right, I'm a big like what arethe 10 things?
Kind of kind of person, and soI started to think about some of
the times that we had and someof the things that we did and
some of the specific events thattook place when we were in iraq
, and then started to ask whatare the lessons that I can learn
from that?
So this is for me personally.
And then again, I think it wason the 10th anniversary I did a
blog post.
(27:37):
I had a personal blog, did ablog post about some of those
things and just posted it, and alot of the guys that I had
served with got ahold of it andstarted sending it around and
and it was received really well.
And then someone said you know,you should put this in a book,
and so I did and it and mostlyit was for me and just you know,
(27:58):
anyone that would benefit fromit, which I thought would be the
guys I served with and me, andthat was it.
So telling a story of somethingthat happened in Iraq.
And then you know, the secondpart of that is and here's the
lesson and lining that out.
So there's 12 lessons in thebook and and it man, it did, it
did really well and it resonatedwith a lot of people.
(28:19):
So that was the first one isvery personal.
And then the second one was aleadership book.
I, I learned leadership in theMarine Corps, then I learned
leadership like in the ministry,and they didn't really connect.
And so I had to ask myself anapproach, right, yeah, different
approaches.
So what, what is leadership?
Fundamentally?
(28:39):
Right, like, not how do you doit, but what is it?
It's not this and it's not that, but there has to be something
that is leadership, what is it?
And so, um, again, as a projectto help me understand it, I
wrote that book and um, uh, tryto come to some definitions and
some ideas about what realleadership looks like in any
environment.
And that was a help to me andand, uh, some other folks who
(29:00):
found it helpful, helpful aswell.
So environment, and that was ahelp to me, and some other folks
have found it helpful as well.
So, yeah, I write.
You know, when I've writtenit's all been pretty personal.
I don't I've been taught somany things by so many people.
You know, I've been in ministrya long time, but I never went
to college for ministry, so whatI've learned has been people
(29:21):
sharing their stories with meand reading books and trying to
learn from the experiences ofothers, and so when I write, it
really is just about I'velearned this and I want to share
it with you, and so that seemsto be the best way to
communicate with other people.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
What was your original degree in Criminal
justice?
Wow, you got to get everywherewith that right.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Yeah, I figured, if the Marine Corps doesn't work
out, then I'll go into lawenforcement like that was my
whole thought.
My parents said you have to goto college.
And uh, I didn't want to.
I didn't do great in highschool.
I knew I wasn't going to dogreat in college, right, um?
And so I'm like well, if I haveto be there, I wouldn't mind
studying criminal justice forfour years and maybe I'll become
a police officer someday.
Um so yeah, that's what I did.
(30:05):
And then over the years I'veI've started uh college again
several times.
I just haven't finished Cause Ifeel like I'm always involved
in the work and I don't havetime to get the degree.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
So um, I think I'm on six.
I think I'm on six.
Start overs right now.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
I don't think I have six, but I'm pretty close.
I'm like one class into a lotof programs.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Oh, yeah, life, life happens, man, it gets, it gets,
it gets crazy.
So so you're also, you do a lotof motivational speaking,
correct.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
Yeah, again, that's born out of our experience here
at Mighty Oaks and talking topeople about resiliency and
about moving forward and hopeand all those topics,
approaching those from a faithperspective, and then just kind
of my own journey and some ofthe things that I've learned
personally and trying tocommunicate that with other
people.
Yeah, it kind of the wholeprinciple that what we do is
(31:04):
built on is and this is why itworks, I think, for veterans.
It's not a professional talkingdown to other people, it's us
going.
Hey, I know where you've beenbecause I've been there.
I've experienced what you'veexperienced or something similar
.
I don't have it all figured out,but I have learned a few things
.
I'm a few steps further downthe road than you and I want to
(31:25):
take you with me and so, whetherit's writing or speaking or
teaching or whatever that's it,man it's I've learned some
things.
I want to share it with you andyou can move forward, and I
know that because I've been ableto move forward and I want to
help you do the same and it's awhole different approach when
it's different when you'rereceiving advice from someone
who's been there and done that.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
You know I could if I gave you advice, and everything
I learned was in a textbook istotally different than what I've
experienced.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Yeah, and that's that's one of the reasons that
what we do at Mighty Oaks works,because when someone comes to
one of our our our programsright, it's five days long and
veterans are super cynical anddon't want to listen to anyone,
right.
But when they come to ourprogram, they're sitting in a
room full of other veterans oractive duty service members and
the person standing in front ofthem everyone who works for us
(32:14):
came through our program as astudent and then we brought them
through this year-longleadership training program, and
so everyone in the room has ashared background it's probably
not exactly the same, butsimilar background.
And so there's no walls, right,Kick the walls down.
Nobody cares.
Nobody here is going to thankyou for your service, right?
Nobody cares, we're all exactlythe same.
(32:35):
So let's just get busy.
And we just want to help youmove forward, because we had
some people help us move forward, and we just want to help you
move forward because we had somepeople help us move forward,
and we just want to help you dothe same.
And, yeah, the approach is sodifferent but so effective.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
Right, yeah, that that's a I I understand.
Hey, with with everything thatyou have going on in your life
uh, mighty oats, uh, speakingengagements, book writing.
How do you got time for jujitsu?
Man Mighty Oats speakingengagements book writing.
How do you got time for jujitsu?
Speaker 3 (33:07):
man.
Well, if anything goes, it'sthe jujitsu.
You know what's funny?
So my son, he's a policeofficer now, my oldest son.
When he was like 11 years old,he said he wanted to be a police
officer and he was like a fatlittle 11-year-old kid, right.
He loved video games andstaying inside.
That was his whole thing.
And I'm like, look man, you'renever going to be a professional
(33:28):
athlete.
So I want you to learnsomething and I want you to get
involved in something physicalthat that will be a skill you
can take with you and you wantto be in law enforcement someday
.
He's a little kid, you want tobe in law enforcement someday.
You need to learn.
(33:48):
You know these types of skills.
And so we got him into ajiu-jitsu gym and he loved it.
I mean just took to it and hewould stay.
And we dropped him off somedays and he'd stay there for
four hours worth of class and hewould just love it.
Well, you know, 11, 12, 13 yearsold, he's getting bigger and
jiu-jitsu is a thing that if youlearn the technique you can
deal with somebody bigger thanyou.
So it got to the point whereI'm like we're wrestling around
in the house and one day we'rewrestling around the house, he's
(34:09):
like 13, maybe, and he took myback.
I didn't know jujitsu, I justkind of wrestled a little bit.
He took my back and I thoughthe was going to put me out.
And I think the next day I wentand signed up for a class
because I'm like this kid manhe's not going to take me out.
So I started jiu-jitsu becausethat's where he was.
And then eventually all my kidsare trained and and uh most of
them still do, and so you knowthey're there all the time and I
(34:32):
wanted to be with them and so Istarted training with them and,
um, yeah, so it's it's kind ofa family thing.
It is harder.
It's harder when you're on theroad, but I get in there when I
can now that's got to be amazing.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Uh, uh, bonding, you know event for the family.
I mean that you know.
Hey, you made, you made yourbrother mad.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
Now go go check him out yeah, yeah, my wife hates it
because, uh, my boys think it'sfun to, you know, grapple with
her when she doesn't want to begrappled with.
Oh yeah, they're pummeling, uhunderhooks in the kitchen.
But, um, it has been great andit has given us a common ground.
You know, I could talk aboutjiu-jitsu for a while, but I
(35:13):
think jiu-jitsu is a veryimportant skill for kids.
I think it teaches them a lotof really important lessons,
just that they can apply totheir lives.
But but as a family, it's beengreat because we're we're there
together, we're doing the thingtogether, you're learning
together.
It's been, it's been great forus and me and my boy.
I have two girls and two boysand my girls have both trained,
(35:34):
my boys still both trained, andit's been the best bonding thing
I could have with my, with myson.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Did any of your kids ever express interest about
joining the service?
Speaker 3 (35:47):
My, my son, who is a police officer at one time and
talked about the Marine Corps,maybe a reservist or something.
So he talked about it but thenkind of, the steps to becoming a
police officer startedunfolding and so he just pursued
that.
My 14 year old he's my youngestwants to be a paramedic and he
(36:07):
is very focused on.
I want to be a paramediceventually, but I'd like to go
into the military to get mymedical training.
So he wants to be a corpsman.
Now again, he's 14.
We'll see how that all shakesout right, but yeah, man, he's
as focused as a 14 year old canbe on going into the navy and
becoming corpsman.
So so we'll see what happensthere that's incredible, man.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
You're raising a bunch of superheroes, for sure.
I don't know about that.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
I need to tone down the military rhetoric apparently
.
Why do you want to go in themilitary?
He's like, because you talkabout it every day.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
I'm like, oh, okay, yeah yeah, well, nah, I mean,
and girls, what are they doing?
Yeah, I didn't mean to get toopersonal, I was just no that's
all right.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
No, so on the other end of the spectrum, my oldest
she's 24, is an accountant.
So I have an accountant and apolice officer.
And then I have a 16 year olddaughter.
She's in high school, she wantsto be a nurse, and then my 14
year old wants to be a paramedic.
So, yeah, they're kind of allover the place.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
You're just missing a lawyer in there.
You got yeah.
We got yeah, that's awesome,man, that's that's amazing.
What.
What do you have?
What do you have on yourschedule the next few months?
Any events you got coming up,what do you?
Speaker 3 (37:22):
have on your schedule the next few months?
Any events you got coming up.
We've got a few speaking events, man off the top of my head, I
know they're coming up, butthose are all on our website and
the Mighty Oak social mediakeeps that updated too, so if
someone is in an area, they canfind us, and we're always
involved in something.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
So I was going to ask you so, out of everybody in
your life that you've met, whohas been your biggest influence
on your life?
Um, your father, correct?
Is that what?
I think you had said it earlieryeah, my dad definitely.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
if there's one person , there have been a lot of great
influences on my life.
If there's one person, it wouldbe my dad.
You know, from the time I wasvery young until I mean last
last night, I've been goingthrough a few things recently
and and still my dad, you know,is the one I call and talk to
and and walks me through thatand and has always been that
(38:17):
person.
I've been.
I've been really blessed tohave just some incredible people
in my life.
So I mean my dad, obviously,huge kind of oversized influence
in my life.
But military leaders I meansome of the folks that I worked
for when I was in the MarineCorps over 20 years ago still
(38:38):
keep in touch with me and still,I would say, influence me and
some of that's influence thatthey had when I was at that Kind
of moldable stage of life andand some of it has been just
over the years they felt to me.
Friends and other people havecome into my life.
I've been very blessed out ofthe right people in my life and
I don't know where I learned itor where I was taught it, but
(39:00):
the one thing that I have alwaysrespected I guess I haven't
always sought it out, but I'vealways respected is when people
speak into your life, you needto listen, right.
And so, again, I I mentionedthis earlier I did a terrible
job seeking that out, but whenthose people have come into my
life, um, I've thankfullylistened and learned an awful
(39:21):
lot, so a lot of good people.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
That's, that's awesome.
Give us a.
What is something that you youwish you would have known 10
years ago?
Oh, 10 years ago.
Speaker 3 (39:33):
There's so many things I wish I would have known
10 years ago.
I think one thing that I wish Iwould have known 10 years ago,
and I continue to learn now, iswhat I just talked about.
You need to surround yourselfwith the right people not just
people, but the right people.
You need to have people in yourlife that you can influence.
You need to have people in yourlife.
(39:55):
You know that you're working toinfluence, and then you need to
have people in your life thatcan speak into your life, that
are influencing you.
One of the conversations that Iseem to have often is this idea
of we call it mentorship.
It's called different things,but there need to be some people
in your life that care aboutyou but are not emotionally
(40:16):
invested in the decisions thatyou make.
This is something that I've beenreally growing into, so people
that care about you, but if youshipwreck your life, it's not
going to shipwreck their life,right?
So my wife cares about me, mykids care about me, my family
cares about me, but if I blow up, they blow up too, right, right
(40:38):
, right, and so they have anemotional, very vested interest
in the stuff I do, which meansit's hard for them to look at it
from kind of the outsider'sperspective.
I need somebody that can lookat my life and speak the truth,
because whatever I do will haveno impact.
I mean, they care about you butit's not going to change their
life, and so finding thosepeople it can be tough, but you
(41:01):
need that person.
I care about you, I want you todo the right thing, but I don't
have a vested you knowemotional interest in whether or
not you do the right thing, andso I can give you an objective
outsider's view.
That has become more and moreimportant to me over the years.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
That makes a lot of sense.
I wanted to speak into yourlife.
I like that.
Yeah, that's amazing.
So just a couple more questions, man, I'm going to get out of
your life.
I like that.
Yeah, that's amazing.
So just a couple more questions, man, I'm going to get out of
your hair.
Hey, do you have a?
Speaker 3 (41:30):
bucket list.
A bucket list, you know, I have.
I've never had a bucket list,but I started a few years ago
running ultra marathons and andwhat's an ultra marathon?
So, an ultra marathon, it canbe a lot of different things,
but it's a it's.
It's a race longer than amarathon.
(41:51):
A marathon is 26.2 miles, soit's anything longer than that
would be considered ultra, right, it's beyond the 26.2.
So, um, one of the things thatI'd always wanted to do.
I've been a runner since I was alittle kid and I've never liked
it, I've never enjoyed it, butit's I'm, I'm built like a
runner and I it's.
It's something that's alwaysbeen a part of my health regimen
(42:12):
, right?
So so I started hearing aboutpeople who did these ultra
marathons, and so one thing Ialways wanted to do is kind of
run a long race like that, andso I think four years ago now, I
signed up for, uh, 50k, whichis 32 miles, 31 and a half miles
, and that was kind of the thingI was going to do and I did
(42:34):
that and then, like a lot ofthings, man it, it got out of
control.
So I did that, I did a bunch ofthose, I did 100k, I did 100
miler last year, so, um, I'vegot a few races on my bucket
list, I guess that I'd like todo before I die, but it just
gives me something to pursue andto stay healthy for, but
(42:55):
nothing.
I'm really thankful for thelife I've been able to live and
I want to keep adding meaningand value to people's lives, but
I don't have any big thingsother than you know, stuff like
that, I guess.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Hey, would yourself, at 12 years old, think that you
were cool right now?
Speaker 3 (43:14):
Well, I have two teenage kids and they don't
think I'm cool at all.
So, no, I don't think so.
I don't think so.
Man, it's hard when you're thatage to think someone like me is
cool.
I have a complex, actually,because my teenagers are
relentless.
But uh, yeah, no, I don't thinkthey think I was cool.
I hope they'd be.
I hope a 12 year old me wouldbe proud of me right now.
Yeah, um, but no, I think theythink I have some real problems
(43:37):
with you know, dressing and theway I talk and the time I go to
bed and things like that.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
My girls they let me have it.
It's abusive, it is, it is.
We'll be at church and I grab asecond donut.
My little one will look at meand go.
You think you need that, yeah.
Speaker 3 (43:57):
Get out of here, leave me alone.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
Yeah, that's funny.
What is the worst advice youever received in your life?
The worst advice, the worstadvice.
Speaker 3 (44:11):
I think the worst advice that I ever received,
that anyone can receive, isfollow your heart.
Do what makes you happy.
I believe in being happy, Ibelieve in experiencing joy and
doing those things, but if weset as the objective of our life
pursuing our heart, which isentirely selfish and entirely
(44:34):
self-serving and entirely aboutus, then we're going to hurt a
lot of people and eventually wewon't be happy, even though
we're following our heart.
Do whatever you have to to behappy.
Again, that's so self-centeredand self-focused, and I think a
life well lived is a life that'slived for others.
And I think, when you get tothe end of your life, what will
(44:55):
bring you peace and happinessand contentment is knowing that
you didn't get it right all thetime, but that you did what you
could with the resources thatyou had to be a blessing to
other people, to encourage otherpeople to help other people.
And so this silly notion thatyou need to be a blessing to
other people, to encourage otherpeople to help other people,
and so this silly notion thatyou need to follow your heart or
whatever it's just to say weneed to follow what makes us
(45:15):
emotionally satisfied, is justterrible advice and a lot of
people pursue that and end up insome very dark places or very
alone.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
I've never heard it said that way and that was
absolutely amazing.
Jesus, you just got me thinkingabout some some approach, Just
trying to make you think.
Definitely did.
Okay, On the other side, whatis the?
What is the best advice youever received?
Speaker 3 (45:49):
I mean, I think the best advice I've ever received
is, you know, is live for otherpeople.
I, again, I don't remember aperson giving me that advice,
but the people that I've alwayslooked up to in my life, and the
leaders that I respect are, arepeople who lived for the
benefit of other people, arepeople who lived for the benefit
of other people, and that's, Imean, I think that's the best
(46:11):
advice any of us could give.
I believe that God equips usall differently.
He gives us all differentresources and opportunities and
all of those things, but I thinkwe are given the opportunities,
the resources, the skills, thetalents, all that stuff.
I think we're given all of thatnot for our own benefit but to
(46:32):
be a benefit to other people.
And so the best advice I wouldgive, could give is use what
God's given you to bless otherpeople, to other people.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
Wow Dang, that was perfectly answered.
You left me at a speechlessmoment and that doesn't happen
very often.
Well, I'm glad I could help.
Hey, did you have any closing?
Speaker 3 (47:06):
comments anything you'd like to say.
Man, the only thing I'd like tosay other than thank you, and
I'm really appreciative of theopportunity is, you know, for
anyone interested in what we do,just visit our website and know
this there's no cost to theprograms that we offer, and even
the cost of travel we coverthat so we can help you get to
(47:26):
where you need to be, to getthat, get that help, so it's
free to you.
That's not free.
We work hard to raise thatmoney, but we want to make it
possible for anyone who needshelp to get it.
So go to our website,mightyoaksprogramsorg and to
fill out the application andwe'll take care of the rest.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
Jeremy, it's been a pleasure.
Man, Thank you for jumping onthe show and chatting with me a
little bit.
I'm going to share yourinformation so people can reach
out, Not your information, buthow to reach you.
Yeah, perfect.
Again, thank you for joining meon the show, man.
Thank you, man, it's awesome.
Thank you, We'll talk to youlater.
Thank you for tuning in.
Guys know that we love you andwe're always here if you need
(48:08):
anything.
If you or a friend are incrisis, please dial 988, or you
can actually text 988.
If you're a military veteran,press 1.
As always, you guys, thank youfor tuning in to the show and
Charlie Mike.
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