October 29, 2024 • 26 mins
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Magic Barclay interviews Lieutenant Colonel Jason Pike, a decorated combat veteran with 31 years of service in the United States Army. Jason shares his challenging journey of multiple overseas deployments, surviving intense military training, and facing numerous investigations and arrests. He talks about his memoir, 'A Soldier Against All Odds,' which captures his unique and inspiring life story from age 17 to 48. Jason also discusses how he maintains physical, emotional, and spiritual health, and offers tips on achieving personal and financial wealth. Tune in to hear about his resilience, coping strategies, and the lessons he learned from his dark and transformative experiences.
Get your copy of "A Soldier Against All Odds" on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Soldier-Against-All-Odds-Memoir
Learn more about Jason and his other books at https://www.jasonpike.org/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Magic Barclay (00:43):
Welcome back to A Magical Life.
I'm your host Magic Barclay andtoday Jason Pike joins us.
A decorated combat veteran withmultiple deployments, Lieutenant
Colonel Jason Pike served 31years in the United States Army
as both an enlisted and officer.
Including nine years overseas infive countries.
(01:05):
Jason earned over 30 serviceawards and badges and survived a
wicked amount of militarytraining.
Thrown under the bus andgaslighted by his own superiors,
arrests and investigations arebig stories here.
His book, A Soldier Against AllOdds, compiles all his life
(01:27):
events in an inspiringstorytelling format with the ups
and downs of a life in uniform.
His diversity of army jobs,assignments and schools from age
17 to 48 sets this militarymemoir up differently than most.
Jason's brutal honesty on how hedid it While disclosing many
(01:49):
sacred secrets, but how hesurvived is unique.
With a straightforward accountof one man's journey, he
inspires audiences nationwide atspeaking events and shows how to
be resilient and resilient.
And to persevere no matter whatdisadvantages and life struggles
may happen.
Welcome Jason.
Jason Pike (02:10):
Hey, I'm very honored, Magic, to be on your
show.
I'm very honored about that.
And, uh, so yeah, I'm ready.
I'm ready to go for it.
And I can answer about anyquestion you got me.
You want, you want to answerreally.
Magic Barclay (02:24):
Great.
Well, I will fire them off, butpeople are probably listening to
that bio going, I need a copy ofthis book.
So it is on amazon.
com.
If people look up SoldierAgainst All Odds Memoir, they
should find it there.
Jason Pike (02:39):
Yes, yesterday and today it hit number one.
I think technically right nowit's number two.
This is according to US ArmyBiographies Memoirs.
So, uh, But of course, maybeyes.
So that's what it is today.
It ranges between number two tonumber 40, 50, but, uh, I'm
(03:01):
happy with all the reviews and Ilove reviews and, uh, yes, it's
all good.
It's all good.
Yeah.
Magic Barclay (03:08):
Terrific.
So Jason, I ask all of my gueststhe same three questions to
start our podcast, and everyonegives me different answers, but
I've never had a man of serviceanswer them.
So here comes your first one,and that is, what can your
expertise do to acceleratehealth?
Not just physical, but alsoemotional and spiritual health.
Jason Pike (03:30):
Yes.
Oh, every day, I have to go toa, oh, I don't have to, but it
makes me so refreshed.
Overseas, I lived nine yearsoverseas, and when you go to a
sauna, and you sweat out toxins,I guess, or you sweat anywhere,
and, uh, and then you go to acold shower, and then you go
(03:53):
back into a sauna.
Do it two or three times.
Drink lots of water, drink, butnot just water, but also drink
some, uh, you know, some,whatever your favorite, uh,
drink is to replenish theelectrolytes.
Do that as well.
I exercise out daily.
It doesn't matter what it is.
Right now I'm in mostly cardio,but, uh, I'm 57 years old, but I
(04:16):
can probably do better than most57 year olds just because I've
had a lifetime of fitness.
I really have.
And it's, uh, it served me well,but I had to do fitness in the
military over 31 years.
So, but that became a part of myfitness and, uh, but sauna and
then a cold bath.
Sometimes in, uh, in, uh, inGermany and Korea and all these
(04:39):
other countries that have coalbaths, go from switches out,
switch out, you know.
I love that stuff.
I did it today.
I do, I try to do it every day.
Magic Barclay (04:48):
I love that and, uh, it's certainly something
very healthful and healthbuilding.
Are there other things that youlearned in the army on how you
could keep your mental healthaligned?
Jason Pike (05:02):
Well, one, in my, in the beginning of my life,
failure and pain just became apart of it.
I think kids are resilient.
Yeah, and I think.
It just became a part of mylife, that I failed, I had a
learning problem, and that Iwasn't smart as other folks, and
that was a label I put onmyself.
Uh, reading and writing, uh, hasbeen a difficult chore for me,
(05:25):
and it, following instructions,uh, yeah, I, I understand you're
thinking, well, you're a highranking officer in the military,
how can, and I'm an author of abook, but I just worked through
these things, I compensatedaround them, Mental health, for
me, really, is just getting outinto nature, and, uh, you could
have dogs, or you can animals,or you can go for a walk out in
(05:48):
the park, or whatever you haveto do, and, um, and getting
alone a little bit, not always,not isolating yourself, but, uh,
you know, hearing the birds andthe things, the chirping, and
then maybe doing exercise outthere with them, and, uh,
There's just something to that,it's hard to explain, but I
think, I think that's a reallygood part of mental health.
Magic Barclay (06:11):
Great.
We talk about wealth here aswell, Jason, and many people
think that's just financial.
it can also be Personal andemotional wealth.
So what are your top three tipsto creating wealth?
Jason Pike (06:25):
Yes.
Financial wealth.
I've done pretty well in thatbecause I've always, you know,
financial wealth, I've alwaysdone my dollar cost averaging,
the traditional, you know, gointo a stock mutual fund.
I've done like that.
Personal wealth, Oh, each, youknow.
You want to find the rightpartner that you want to be with
and avoid all the drama ofwhat's associated with it.
(06:49):
And I don't know, I don't knowthe technique of finding that
person to help you along.
Everybody needs somebody.
Um, that's a good song, I guess.
But, uh, you, you have to findsomebody help to help you out.
to partnering with you and, uh,to keep on going, to keep on
(07:10):
going and, you know, wealth,yes, you got financial wealth
and you said personal andemotional wealth, but, um, for
me, I have to get up and foremotional wealth, I have to get
up and hear the birds and thebees and hear the dog or hear
something.
And, uh, I get contacted withnature.
That's just me though.
That might not be you, butthat's just me.
(07:31):
And that's kind of what I do.
And, uh, I was born out in thecountry and live out in the
country.
And that's just, I can, I canhear things and I can see
things.
I can feel things from just thebirds and the bees.
So that's kind of what my answeris for that one.
Magic Barclay (07:48):
Great.
And our final standard questionis around weight.
Many people battle their weight.
So have you battled yours?
If so, how did you win that war?
And what can you offer thelisteners who might be on this
journey?
Jason Pike (08:02):
Oh my gosh.
So, um, stay, just stay active.
Just move.
And don't sit down.
Don't, don't sit down so longfor hours.
Um, I think, and if you have to,have a, you know, a lot of
people now are online and at acomputer.
I'm sitting down right now, butI normally stand up at a desk.
(08:27):
So I usually stand up if I'mhaving to do all this online
activity and have it, you know,uh, in the United States, there
was a guy who's a secretary ofdefense and he was in his
seventies and he, he worked atthe Pentagon in DC.
He had a standing deck.
He, he didn't sit.
He, she stood in other words,he, at his computer or his
(08:48):
office, he didn't sit.
He stood.
And they, I heard, I don't knowthat, uh, sitting is the new
cancer, but you got to get upand move.
And, uh, so that's, that's whatI do.
And I think that's a really,really good, important lesson to
learn.
Uh, even if you get a little bitolder and you can't go out and
run five miles, you can stand upand you can walk around.
(09:10):
So, uh,
Magic Barclay (09:11):
Okay.
So we've already covered a fairbit, Jason.
Now I want to open the floor toyou.
Why the military?
What got you into that role?
And tell us about.
Some of these events that were alittle bit life shaking.
Jason Pike (09:28):
Well, I was identified, uh, three different
times throughout my adult life.
And my young life is a learningchallenge person.
In other words, I just don't getit.
So if you were my.
spouse or wife and you ask me tochange a light bulb, I just
don't understand things.
You'll, you'll, sometimes you'llbe talking to a rock.
(09:52):
And, uh, I know that soundscrazy because I've been 31 years
in the military, but it took mea long time to compensate around
those things.
And it, I, I was identifiedearly and that was, I thought
military, college was not anoption.
And so, military, I felt, was anoption, because you can just do
what they say, not have tothink, and then just do, uh,
(10:16):
whatever they want you to do,and even then that was, that was
a challenge, and, uh, so I chosethe military.
But of course, as you can see inmy biography, I had, I went
through the ranks and I got mycollege degrees and there is an
ironic memoir here where aperson who was serious, have
(10:37):
some serious issues withlearning, but went to a higher
rank.
And, uh, I think that's thedifference, uh, of this memoir
compared to other memoirs is howthe hell, and that's what they
said, how the hell did you doit?
And that was the question.
So that's why I wrote thememoir, as everyone asked me.
How the hell did you do allthis?
(10:58):
So,
Magic Barclay (10:59):
Okay.
Now in your bio, you mentionedarrests and, you know, being
finger pointed at.
Tell us about some of that.
What are we going to see in thememoir?
Jason Pike (11:12):
You're going to see multiple arrests that I've had
with law enforcement in theUnited States.
Oh, and this is a very, uh, Ihad to vomit this out.
It's very difficult to get out.
You're going to seeinvestigations of the federal
government with me being thrown,I like what you said in the very
beginning, thrown under the busand ghostlighted, and that's
(11:33):
where the meat of it goes.
towards the end of the memoirand I come out of that.
I had a lot of issues.
Uh, I was both.
Everything started from thebottom.
So private education wise, I hadto go to community college, but
like you said, um,investigations and arrests.
I've got multiple arrests, but Iworked through them.
(11:54):
most people would give up, but Ididn't.
I just kept on going and I gotthrough them.
Now, I like the, what you saidabout ghost lighting and
throwing under the bus.
That was a federal investigationof the United States government
involving criminal investigationand the military intelligence,
uh, to sort of throw me underthe bus.
(12:16):
Now, in this memoir, The reasonI'm so brutally honest is
because when I go to these dark,deep chapters, I want to be also
honest with people.
I accuse of my perpetrators.
So, uh, I had to change names.
So I tell you what's my fault.
You know, in multiple eventsthat I had in my life, which we
(12:38):
all have our failures, but whatpisses me off a lot is what I
was not at fault at.
And that's what pisses me offat.
And I was not at fault, and Iwas charged with subversion and
espionage against the US.
government, which means I was,they thought I was selling
secrets, selling information,giving information for my
(13:00):
benefit.
And that pissed me off a lot.
In that chapter that I have,there's also multiple charges of
different things, pedophilia andthings of that nature.
And I, I almost lost my frickingmind.
I really did because I, I knewthat that was false and you
start charging me withespionage.
(13:22):
We'll see what they do sometimesin organizations.
They, it could be a church, itcould be a school, it could be
anything.
They might want to create rumorsto get you out.
They might want to give youfalse information to get you
out.
This was over 10 years ago.
So I'm speaking to you fromsome, uh, so, and I had changed,
(13:44):
but I'm speaking to you from,but I'm trying to learn, I want
to teach a lesson in falseallegations that can screw not
only you up, but your family upand, and, and really hurt you.
And so, uh, I went through allthat.
I went through all these falseallegations.
And it was really a, it wasreally a lot of people say, what
(14:04):
the hell happened?
And, you know, I just pissedsome people off because I was,
you know, I was not agreeing tothe professional job, the job
that I thought that I should do.
When I was in South Korea, thiswas in South Korea.
Uh, soldiers are stationed inSouth Korea, and I was, that was
(14:24):
just one of my assignments ofmany assignments overseas, and I
just happened to not get alongwith some particular people that
had a power, and I was a seniorguy at the time, believe it or
not.
I was, I was, I had to rose upto a lieutenant colonel rank,
and I pissed some people off.
Um, I, I'm sorry for that.
I really am.
(14:45):
I know they threw shit, theythrew everything they could at
me to get me out of themilitary, but that's just, I
mean, there was justdisagreements, and it wasn't,
but I went under the bus, I wentunder the bus, I went, go
sliding, I love that term whenyou say go sliding and under the
bus, but that was the way itwas, and I never have
(15:05):
experienced that.
And it still sometimes haunts metoday, even though it's been
many years, probably 13 years, Iguess, like in so 14 years.
So I, I wanted to speak aboutthat.
That's where the dark deepspark, the part goes to.
And, um, I think that I can helpother people out and how To get
(15:28):
around this, or how to just showwhat I went through that maybe
you might be going through.
And I did this as a seniorperson, so, no, I've had my
challenges.
And what I'm saying is, like, Iwant to be honest with this
whole memoir, and give youeverything I've got.
And, ah, that's, that's kind ofThat's kind of where it went to,
and uh, I went on to a federalinvestigation, and uh, but, you
(15:51):
know, when I look back at it,uh, what pisses me off also is
no one said they were sorry, andno one said there was nothing
there, and no one told me thatit was all bullshit.
And I just, it just went away.
And that's what I don't like.
I don't like them saying that'sokay.
You're going to charge me withsomething.
(16:12):
You're going to say you didthis, you did that, or maybe you
need to get a defense attorney.
But, but nobody said all thispeople following me around with
boom cameras, people trying tocall me and check me out and my
family out.
I thought that was a bunch of,and you know, what I'm saying
is, okay, maybe you think that,but.
And that pissed me off, but thenlike, why don't you come back
(16:35):
and say, this was all bullshit.
And that's what I don't like.
That's what pisses me off a lot.
So if it's okay, I mean, whatI'm saying is it's not okay if
I, if I didn't, but they didn'tsay it was okay.
And what I'm saying, that's whatI got pissed off about.
Yeah.
So yeah, I'm over with it.
You can ask more questions aboutthat if you need to.
Magic Barclay (16:55):
I think that's quite reflective of society.
You know, it's a lot of fingerpointing, a lot of the blame
game But no one ever reallycomes and says, sorry, we were
wrong.
We had it wrong, or we made anassumption.
And I think that is quitereflective of what a lot of
people are going through.
(17:16):
So that was the dark times.
How did you reach the light?
How did you crawl out of this?
And what can the listeners learnfrom the positive steps that you
took to get out of this placethat was quite intrusive to you?
Jason Pike (17:33):
You gotta, you gotta hold on to your family and your
friends, whoever that might be,and you gotta talk to them.
You gotta talk to them.
You got to hold on to them.
Whoever has faith in you to getthis through.
The damn attorneys, they're justgoing to be bullshitters.
But, you know, I mean, he wasjust, and so, you know, You just
got to hold on to the trustedpeople.
(17:55):
And then I went into anotherdark time directly after this.
It was sort of a one, two, threepunch.
So that was a dark time.
That was probably my darkesttime.
I feel that my post traumaticstress occurred during that
time.
Now, right after that time, Icome from South Korea, back to
America to go to anotherstation.
(18:16):
We move around in the military.
My dad dies, my dad dies.
That's a really big, big deal.
And then at the same time, mydad's dying, they saying, Oh, by
the way, You're going to go toAfghanistan and go to war.
Magic Barclay (18:31):
Now,
Jason Pike (18:32):
I was trained for war.
I've been prepared for war.
I know how to deal with that,but it was, was one, two, three
punch.
It was like the investigation.
My dad died.
Come back.
Dad's dying.
I'm talking to him.
And then while he's dying,you're going to have to go away.
and go to war.
So, um, that was word one, two,three punches.
(18:54):
Now how I dealt with it, prettymuch like, like I, I exercised,
uh, I'll, um, and I talked tofamily members and I went to
counseling.
And um, I don't like themedications.
I don't care what themedications.
That's just me though.
Maybe other people like it, butthat's not me.
I went into depression.
I could, I could have gotten outbecause of mental health from
(19:18):
Afghanistan if I wanted to.
That's how bad I was at thattime.
But I started talking to anuncle who said, what would your
dad think?
Choke me up here.
What would your dad think if yougot out of it?
Afghanistan because of yourmental health.
And I said, well, he wouldn'tlike it.
And so, uh, that's what sort of,that's what kind of, uh, told me
(19:41):
to keep on going, which was hardto do.
So I went into a war zone, whichI was completely, uh, trained to
do with the mental, with themental health really going
downhill because of all thisother stuff that I was dealing
with, with my father's death andthe investigation.
Now, how did I get through that?
Yeah.
(20:02):
What I did was I had visions ofall my mother's, my father,
well, every all my life.
And I just developed thesephotographs in my mind.
And I went on to an ellipticaland I did this processing where
I cried and then I laughed.
And then I just, whatever myemotion was, I don't care who
was around me.
They probably thought I waspsychotic at the time, but I
(20:25):
just I don't care.
I'm just going to cry on thismachine.
I'm going to laugh and I'm goingto whatever it might be on the
machine.
And I just allow this stuff toprocess out of me, sweat and
memories and crying andeverything at the same time,
whether it be in a gym or aroundpeople or anything else.
I did that over and over.
Of course, I did see somecounselors and, uh, did that and
(20:47):
then, uh, that's how I made itthrough Afghanistan.
Afghanistan, I was with mysoldiers.
Um, I didn't have my wife and,of course, my daughter in the
war, but I had some soldiersthat took care of me that they
knew that my father died.
I never told them about beingthrown under the bus because
that was sort of a.
a big, big secret that was sortof an investigation.
(21:10):
And I just, I didn't know how toeven explain it to anybody at
that time, even to myself.
I didn't know how to explain it.
So I just said, my dad died andthey said, okay, we understand.
And, uh, they took care of meand, uh, I took care of them
and, uh, we made it out verysuccessfully from Afghanistan
and the war zone.
(21:31):
And, uh, that was, uh, that wasa pretty dark time.
It was like a one, two, threepunch.
Magic Barclay (21:38):
So.
You rose to quite a high rank,um.
I'm not a hundred percentfamiliar with the ranking
structure, but being of highrank and then coming back,
retiring, you know, moving intocivilian life, what did that
feel like?
Jason Pike (21:57):
The transition is always difficult for a lot of
soldiers because.
with soldiers were kind oflooked at as a team.
Um, we have a rank.
I never held rank on myshoulder.
In other words, I don't reallycare if you call me a lieutenant
colonel.
So a lieutenant colonel isconsidered a senior executive
person in the United Statesmilitary.
(22:19):
And, um, but to me, I, I, Ididn't hold my rank.
But we all, if you've done 30something years or whatever,
like me, you all have like, thisis your, this is what you have.
And now you're going somewhereelse.
So it was a transitionalexperience.
I didn't really know what to doexcept get health.
(22:40):
I really wanted to get my mentalhealth together before I did
anything else.
Cause my mental health waspretty bad.
Bad, really bad.
And so, um, so I just wentthrough various counselors and
various techniques.
I don't like the medicines.
It's just me, but I had triedthe medicines.
I don't like the medicines and Ihad to go through post traumatic
(23:00):
stress counseling and varioustechniques with that.
And I, I learned a whole lotabout how to manage it.
It's always going to be there.
But you can manage it.
And, um, I don't, I'm not anexpert.
I'm not certified, but I kind ofunderstand post traumatic stress
syndrome pretty well.
And I've learned to manage it inmy own way.
(23:21):
Yeah.
Magic Barclay (23:22):
Right.
Before we wrap up thisinterview, is there something
that we haven't discussed thatyou feel the listeners need to
hear?
Jason Pike (23:31):
Well, this whole memoir, my book, uh, jasonpike.
org, the memoir is really, uh,it's, it's a down to earth
heart, heart to heartconversation, uh, with my 31
years in uniform.
I'm not going to bullshit youabout anything.
I'm not lying.
I'm not going to tell you Iconquered half of Afghanistan.
(23:52):
What I'm doing is I'm trying totell you about my failures and
the fiascos of my life.
Even though I was successful, Iwant to try to impart some sort
of inspiration and, uh, youknow, hope.
And success, and future success,as long as you just don't give
up.
I know, you just don't give up,and I know that might be hard
(24:15):
for people to do.
Uh, and, but, I really come froma background that, uh, might
help inspire people.
That's what I'm wanting to putout.
jasonpike.
org, it's on Amazon, Jason Pikeon Amazon.
It's on, I'm on Facebook andeverywhere else, so, uh, Uh, I'm
on audio.
jasonpike.
org I've done the audio.
(24:35):
A year ago today, I would not beexpressing myself like I am to
you today.
There's no, I did, I could notexpress myself on a camera, on
an audio like I'm doing rightnow.
I've worked on this for about ayear or so.
Uh, and so everything I did isstruggle and everything I do is
from the bottom and you may be,you can learn something or have
(25:00):
inspiration for myself.
Yeah.
Magic Barclay (25:03):
Great.
Thank you so much for your time,Jason.
I've loved having a chat withyou and I know the listeners
will have enjoyed this episodeas well.
Jason Pike (25:13):
Thank you very much, Magic.
I appreciate it.
I'm honored to be on this show.
Magic Barclay (25:17):
Thank you.
And listeners, I'm honored tohave you listening.
Please like, subscribe, review,and share this podcast with
everyone that you care about.
And for now, go forth and createyour magical life.
Welcome back to A Magical Life.
I'm your host Magic Barclay andtoday Jason Pike joins us.
A decorated combat veteran withmultiple deployments, Lieutenant
Colonel Jason Pike served 31years in the United States Army
as both an enlisted and officer.
Including nine years overseas infive countries.
(01:05):
Jason earned over 30 serviceawards and badges and survived a
wicked amount of militarytraining.
Thrown under the bus andgaslighted by his own superiors,
arrests and investigations arebig stories here.
His book, A Soldier Against AllOdds, compiles all his life
(01:27):
events in an inspiringstorytelling format with the ups
and downs of a life in uniform.
His diversity of army jobs,assignments and schools from age
17 to 48 sets this militarymemoir up differently than most.
Jason's brutal honesty on how hedid it While disclosing many
(01:49):
sacred secrets, but how hesurvived is unique.
With a straightforward accountof one man's journey, he
inspires audiences nationwide atspeaking events and shows how to
be resilient and resilient.
And to persevere no matter whatdisadvantages and life struggles
may happen.
Welcome Jason.
Jason Pike (02:10):
Hey, I'm very honored, Magic, to be on your
show.
I'm very honored about that.
And, uh, so yeah, I'm ready.
I'm ready to go for it.
And I can answer about anyquestion you got me.
You want, you want to answerreally.
Magic Barclay (02:24):
Great.
Well, I will fire them off, butpeople are probably listening to
that bio going, I need a copy ofthis book.
So it is on amazon.
com.
If people look up SoldierAgainst All Odds Memoir, they
should find it there.
Jason Pike (02:39):
Yes, yesterday and today it hit number one.
I think technically right nowit's number two.
This is according to US ArmyBiographies Memoirs.
So, uh, But of course, maybeyes.
So that's what it is today.
It ranges between number two tonumber 40, 50, but, uh, I'm
(03:01):
happy with all the reviews and Ilove reviews and, uh, yes, it's
all good.
It's all good.
Yeah.
Magic Barclay (03:08):
Terrific.
So Jason, I ask all of my gueststhe same three questions to
start our podcast, and everyonegives me different answers, but
I've never had a man of serviceanswer them.
So here comes your first one,and that is, what can your
expertise do to acceleratehealth?
Not just physical, but alsoemotional and spiritual health.
Jason Pike (03:30):
Yes.
Oh, every day, I have to go toa, oh, I don't have to, but it
makes me so refreshed.
Overseas, I lived nine yearsoverseas, and when you go to a
sauna, and you sweat out toxins,I guess, or you sweat anywhere,
and, uh, and then you go to acold shower, and then you go
(03:53):
back into a sauna.
Do it two or three times.
Drink lots of water, drink, butnot just water, but also drink
some, uh, you know, some,whatever your favorite, uh,
drink is to replenish theelectrolytes.
Do that as well.
I exercise out daily.
It doesn't matter what it is.
Right now I'm in mostly cardio,but, uh, I'm 57 years old, but I
(04:16):
can probably do better than most57 year olds just because I've
had a lifetime of fitness.
I really have.
And it's, uh, it served me well,but I had to do fitness in the
military over 31 years.
So, but that became a part of myfitness and, uh, but sauna and
then a cold bath.
Sometimes in, uh, in, uh, inGermany and Korea and all these
(04:39):
other countries that have coalbaths, go from switches out,
switch out, you know.
I love that stuff.
I did it today.
I do, I try to do it every day.
Magic Barclay (04:48):
I love that and, uh, it's certainly something
very healthful and healthbuilding.
Are there other things that youlearned in the army on how you
could keep your mental healthaligned?
Jason Pike (05:02):
Well, one, in my, in the beginning of my life,
failure and pain just became apart of it.
I think kids are resilient.
Yeah, and I think.
It just became a part of mylife, that I failed, I had a
learning problem, and that Iwasn't smart as other folks, and
that was a label I put onmyself.
Uh, reading and writing, uh, hasbeen a difficult chore for me,
(05:25):
and it, following instructions,uh, yeah, I, I understand you're
thinking, well, you're a highranking officer in the military,
how can, and I'm an author of abook, but I just worked through
these things, I compensatedaround them, Mental health, for
me, really, is just getting outinto nature, and, uh, you could
have dogs, or you can animals,or you can go for a walk out in
(05:48):
the park, or whatever you haveto do, and, um, and getting
alone a little bit, not always,not isolating yourself, but, uh,
you know, hearing the birds andthe things, the chirping, and
then maybe doing exercise outthere with them, and, uh,
There's just something to that,it's hard to explain, but I
think, I think that's a reallygood part of mental health.
Magic Barclay (06:11):
Great.
We talk about wealth here aswell, Jason, and many people
think that's just financial.
it can also be Personal andemotional wealth.
So what are your top three tipsto creating wealth?
Jason Pike (06:25):
Yes.
Financial wealth.
I've done pretty well in thatbecause I've always, you know,
financial wealth, I've alwaysdone my dollar cost averaging,
the traditional, you know, gointo a stock mutual fund.
I've done like that.
Personal wealth, Oh, each, youknow.
You want to find the rightpartner that you want to be with
and avoid all the drama ofwhat's associated with it.
(06:49):
And I don't know, I don't knowthe technique of finding that
person to help you along.
Everybody needs somebody.
Um, that's a good song, I guess.
But, uh, you, you have to findsomebody help to help you out.
to partnering with you and, uh,to keep on going, to keep on
(07:10):
going and, you know, wealth,yes, you got financial wealth
and you said personal andemotional wealth, but, um, for
me, I have to get up and foremotional wealth, I have to get
up and hear the birds and thebees and hear the dog or hear
something.
And, uh, I get contacted withnature.
That's just me though.
That might not be you, butthat's just me.
(07:31):
And that's kind of what I do.
And, uh, I was born out in thecountry and live out in the
country.
And that's just, I can, I canhear things and I can see
things.
I can feel things from just thebirds and the bees.
So that's kind of what my answeris for that one.
Magic Barclay (07:48):
Great.
And our final standard questionis around weight.
Many people battle their weight.
So have you battled yours?
If so, how did you win that war?
And what can you offer thelisteners who might be on this
journey?
Jason Pike (08:02):
Oh my gosh.
So, um, stay, just stay active.
Just move.
And don't sit down.
Don't, don't sit down so longfor hours.
Um, I think, and if you have to,have a, you know, a lot of
people now are online and at acomputer.
I'm sitting down right now, butI normally stand up at a desk.
(08:27):
So I usually stand up if I'mhaving to do all this online
activity and have it, you know,uh, in the United States, there
was a guy who's a secretary ofdefense and he was in his
seventies and he, he worked atthe Pentagon in DC.
He had a standing deck.
He, he didn't sit.
He, she stood in other words,he, at his computer or his
(08:48):
office, he didn't sit.
He stood.
And they, I heard, I don't knowthat, uh, sitting is the new
cancer, but you got to get upand move.
And, uh, so that's, that's whatI do.
And I think that's a really,really good, important lesson to
learn.
Uh, even if you get a little bitolder and you can't go out and
run five miles, you can stand upand you can walk around.
(09:10):
So, uh,
Magic Barclay (09:11):
Okay.
So we've already covered a fairbit, Jason.
Now I want to open the floor toyou.
Why the military?
What got you into that role?
And tell us about.
Some of these events that were alittle bit life shaking.
Jason Pike (09:28):
Well, I was identified, uh, three different
times throughout my adult life.
And my young life is a learningchallenge person.
In other words, I just don't getit.
So if you were my.
spouse or wife and you ask me tochange a light bulb, I just
don't understand things.
You'll, you'll, sometimes you'llbe talking to a rock.
(09:52):
And, uh, I know that soundscrazy because I've been 31 years
in the military, but it took mea long time to compensate around
those things.
And it, I, I was identifiedearly and that was, I thought
military, college was not anoption.
And so, military, I felt, was anoption, because you can just do
what they say, not have tothink, and then just do, uh,
(10:16):
whatever they want you to do,and even then that was, that was
a challenge, and, uh, so I chosethe military.
But of course, as you can see inmy biography, I had, I went
through the ranks and I got mycollege degrees and there is an
ironic memoir here where aperson who was serious, have
(10:37):
some serious issues withlearning, but went to a higher
rank.
And, uh, I think that's thedifference, uh, of this memoir
compared to other memoirs is howthe hell, and that's what they
said, how the hell did you doit?
And that was the question.
So that's why I wrote thememoir, as everyone asked me.
How the hell did you do allthis?
(10:58):
So,
Magic Barclay (10:59):
Okay.
Now in your bio, you mentionedarrests and, you know, being
finger pointed at.
Tell us about some of that.
What are we going to see in thememoir?
Jason Pike (11:12):
You're going to see multiple arrests that I've had
with law enforcement in theUnited States.
Oh, and this is a very, uh, Ihad to vomit this out.
It's very difficult to get out.
You're going to seeinvestigations of the federal
government with me being thrown,I like what you said in the very
beginning, thrown under the busand ghostlighted, and that's
(11:33):
where the meat of it goes.
towards the end of the memoirand I come out of that.
I had a lot of issues.
Uh, I was both.
Everything started from thebottom.
So private education wise, I hadto go to community college, but
like you said, um,investigations and arrests.
I've got multiple arrests, but Iworked through them.
(11:54):
most people would give up, but Ididn't.
I just kept on going and I gotthrough them.
Now, I like the, what you saidabout ghost lighting and
throwing under the bus.
That was a federal investigationof the United States government
involving criminal investigationand the military intelligence,
uh, to sort of throw me underthe bus.
(12:16):
Now, in this memoir, The reasonI'm so brutally honest is
because when I go to these dark,deep chapters, I want to be also
honest with people.
I accuse of my perpetrators.
So, uh, I had to change names.
So I tell you what's my fault.
You know, in multiple eventsthat I had in my life, which we
(12:38):
all have our failures, but whatpisses me off a lot is what I
was not at fault at.
And that's what pisses me offat.
And I was not at fault, and Iwas charged with subversion and
espionage against the US.
government, which means I was,they thought I was selling
secrets, selling information,giving information for my
(13:00):
benefit.
And that pissed me off a lot.
In that chapter that I have,there's also multiple charges of
different things, pedophilia andthings of that nature.
And I, I almost lost my frickingmind.
I really did because I, I knewthat that was false and you
start charging me withespionage.
(13:22):
We'll see what they do sometimesin organizations.
They, it could be a church, itcould be a school, it could be
anything.
They might want to create rumorsto get you out.
They might want to give youfalse information to get you
out.
This was over 10 years ago.
So I'm speaking to you fromsome, uh, so, and I had changed,
(13:44):
but I'm speaking to you from,but I'm trying to learn, I want
to teach a lesson in falseallegations that can screw not
only you up, but your family upand, and, and really hurt you.
And so, uh, I went through allthat.
I went through all these falseallegations.
And it was really a, it wasreally a lot of people say, what
(14:04):
the hell happened?
And, you know, I just pissedsome people off because I was,
you know, I was not agreeing tothe professional job, the job
that I thought that I should do.
When I was in South Korea, thiswas in South Korea.
Uh, soldiers are stationed inSouth Korea, and I was, that was
(14:24):
just one of my assignments ofmany assignments overseas, and I
just happened to not get alongwith some particular people that
had a power, and I was a seniorguy at the time, believe it or
not.
I was, I was, I had to rose upto a lieutenant colonel rank,
and I pissed some people off.
Um, I, I'm sorry for that.
I really am.
(14:45):
I know they threw shit, theythrew everything they could at
me to get me out of themilitary, but that's just, I
mean, there was justdisagreements, and it wasn't,
but I went under the bus, I wentunder the bus, I went, go
sliding, I love that term whenyou say go sliding and under the
bus, but that was the way itwas, and I never have
(15:05):
experienced that.
And it still sometimes haunts metoday, even though it's been
many years, probably 13 years, Iguess, like in so 14 years.
So I, I wanted to speak aboutthat.
That's where the dark deepspark, the part goes to.
And, um, I think that I can helpother people out and how To get
(15:28):
around this, or how to just showwhat I went through that maybe
you might be going through.
And I did this as a seniorperson, so, no, I've had my
challenges.
And what I'm saying is, like, Iwant to be honest with this
whole memoir, and give youeverything I've got.
And, ah, that's, that's kind ofThat's kind of where it went to,
and uh, I went on to a federalinvestigation, and uh, but, you
(15:51):
know, when I look back at it,uh, what pisses me off also is
no one said they were sorry, andno one said there was nothing
there, and no one told me thatit was all bullshit.
And I just, it just went away.
And that's what I don't like.
I don't like them saying that'sokay.
You're going to charge me withsomething.
(16:12):
You're going to say you didthis, you did that, or maybe you
need to get a defense attorney.
But, but nobody said all thispeople following me around with
boom cameras, people trying tocall me and check me out and my
family out.
I thought that was a bunch of,and you know, what I'm saying
is, okay, maybe you think that,but.
And that pissed me off, but thenlike, why don't you come back
(16:35):
and say, this was all bullshit.
And that's what I don't like.
That's what pisses me off a lot.
So if it's okay, I mean, whatI'm saying is it's not okay if
I, if I didn't, but they didn'tsay it was okay.
And what I'm saying, that's whatI got pissed off about.
Yeah.
So yeah, I'm over with it.
You can ask more questions aboutthat if you need to.
Magic Barclay (16:55):
I think that's quite reflective of society.
You know, it's a lot of fingerpointing, a lot of the blame
game But no one ever reallycomes and says, sorry, we were
wrong.
We had it wrong, or we made anassumption.
And I think that is quitereflective of what a lot of
people are going through.
(17:16):
So that was the dark times.
How did you reach the light?
How did you crawl out of this?
And what can the listeners learnfrom the positive steps that you
took to get out of this placethat was quite intrusive to you?
Jason Pike (17:33):
You gotta, you gotta hold on to your family and your
friends, whoever that might be,and you gotta talk to them.
You gotta talk to them.
You got to hold on to them.
Whoever has faith in you to getthis through.
The damn attorneys, they're justgoing to be bullshitters.
But, you know, I mean, he wasjust, and so, you know, You just
got to hold on to the trustedpeople.
(17:55):
And then I went into anotherdark time directly after this.
It was sort of a one, two, threepunch.
So that was a dark time.
That was probably my darkesttime.
I feel that my post traumaticstress occurred during that
time.
Now, right after that time, Icome from South Korea, back to
America to go to anotherstation.
(18:16):
We move around in the military.
My dad dies, my dad dies.
That's a really big, big deal.
And then at the same time, mydad's dying, they saying, Oh, by
the way, You're going to go toAfghanistan and go to war.
Magic Barclay (18:31):
Now,
Jason Pike (18:32):
I was trained for war.
I've been prepared for war.
I know how to deal with that,but it was, was one, two, three
punch.
It was like the investigation.
My dad died.
Come back.
Dad's dying.
I'm talking to him.
And then while he's dying,you're going to have to go away.
and go to war.
So, um, that was word one, two,three punches.
(18:54):
Now how I dealt with it, prettymuch like, like I, I exercised,
uh, I'll, um, and I talked tofamily members and I went to
counseling.
And um, I don't like themedications.
I don't care what themedications.
That's just me though.
Maybe other people like it, butthat's not me.
I went into depression.
I could, I could have gotten outbecause of mental health from
(19:18):
Afghanistan if I wanted to.
That's how bad I was at thattime.
But I started talking to anuncle who said, what would your
dad think?
Choke me up here.
What would your dad think if yougot out of it?
Afghanistan because of yourmental health.
And I said, well, he wouldn'tlike it.
And so, uh, that's what sort of,that's what kind of, uh, told me
(19:41):
to keep on going, which was hardto do.
So I went into a war zone, whichI was completely, uh, trained to
do with the mental, with themental health really going
downhill because of all thisother stuff that I was dealing
with, with my father's death andthe investigation.
Now, how did I get through that?
Yeah.
(20:02):
What I did was I had visions ofall my mother's, my father,
well, every all my life.
And I just developed thesephotographs in my mind.
And I went on to an ellipticaland I did this processing where
I cried and then I laughed.
And then I just, whatever myemotion was, I don't care who
was around me.
They probably thought I waspsychotic at the time, but I
(20:25):
just I don't care.
I'm just going to cry on thismachine.
I'm going to laugh and I'm goingto whatever it might be on the
machine.
And I just allow this stuff toprocess out of me, sweat and
memories and crying andeverything at the same time,
whether it be in a gym or aroundpeople or anything else.
I did that over and over.
Of course, I did see somecounselors and, uh, did that and
(20:47):
then, uh, that's how I made itthrough Afghanistan.
Afghanistan, I was with mysoldiers.
Um, I didn't have my wife and,of course, my daughter in the
war, but I had some soldiersthat took care of me that they
knew that my father died.
I never told them about beingthrown under the bus because
that was sort of a.
a big, big secret that was sortof an investigation.
(21:10):
And I just, I didn't know how toeven explain it to anybody at
that time, even to myself.
I didn't know how to explain it.
So I just said, my dad died andthey said, okay, we understand.
And, uh, they took care of meand, uh, I took care of them
and, uh, we made it out verysuccessfully from Afghanistan
and the war zone.
(21:31):
And, uh, that was, uh, that wasa pretty dark time.
It was like a one, two, threepunch.
Magic Barclay (21:38):
So.
You rose to quite a high rank,um.
I'm not a hundred percentfamiliar with the ranking
structure, but being of highrank and then coming back,
retiring, you know, moving intocivilian life, what did that
feel like?
Jason Pike (21:57):
The transition is always difficult for a lot of
soldiers because.
with soldiers were kind oflooked at as a team.
Um, we have a rank.
I never held rank on myshoulder.
In other words, I don't reallycare if you call me a lieutenant
colonel.
So a lieutenant colonel isconsidered a senior executive
person in the United Statesmilitary.
(22:19):
And, um, but to me, I, I, Ididn't hold my rank.
But we all, if you've done 30something years or whatever,
like me, you all have like, thisis your, this is what you have.
And now you're going somewhereelse.
So it was a transitionalexperience.
I didn't really know what to doexcept get health.
(22:40):
I really wanted to get my mentalhealth together before I did
anything else.
Cause my mental health waspretty bad.
Bad, really bad.
And so, um, so I just wentthrough various counselors and
various techniques.
I don't like the medicines.
It's just me, but I had triedthe medicines.
I don't like the medicines and Ihad to go through post traumatic
(23:00):
stress counseling and varioustechniques with that.
And I, I learned a whole lotabout how to manage it.
It's always going to be there.
But you can manage it.
And, um, I don't, I'm not anexpert.
I'm not certified, but I kind ofunderstand post traumatic stress
syndrome pretty well.
And I've learned to manage it inmy own way.
(23:21):
Yeah.
Magic Barclay (23:22):
Right.
Before we wrap up thisinterview, is there something
that we haven't discussed thatyou feel the listeners need to
hear?
Jason Pike (23:31):
Well, this whole memoir, my book, uh, jasonpike.
org, the memoir is really, uh,it's, it's a down to earth
heart, heart to heartconversation, uh, with my 31
years in uniform.
I'm not going to bullshit youabout anything.
I'm not lying.
I'm not going to tell you Iconquered half of Afghanistan.
(23:52):
What I'm doing is I'm trying totell you about my failures and
the fiascos of my life.
Even though I was successful, Iwant to try to impart some sort
of inspiration and, uh, youknow, hope.
And success, and future success,as long as you just don't give
up.
I know, you just don't give up,and I know that might be hard
(24:15):
for people to do.
Uh, and, but, I really come froma background that, uh, might
help inspire people.
That's what I'm wanting to putout.
jasonpike.
org, it's on Amazon, Jason Pikeon Amazon.
It's on, I'm on Facebook andeverywhere else, so, uh, Uh, I'm
on audio.
jasonpike.
org I've done the audio.
(24:35):
A year ago today, I would not beexpressing myself like I am to
you today.
There's no, I did, I could notexpress myself on a camera, on
an audio like I'm doing rightnow.
I've worked on this for about ayear or so.
Uh, and so everything I did isstruggle and everything I do is
from the bottom and you may be,you can learn something or have
(25:00):
inspiration for myself.
Yeah.
Magic Barclay (25:03):
Great.
Thank you so much for your time,Jason.
I've loved having a chat withyou and I know the listeners
will have enjoyed this episodeas well.
Jason Pike (25:13):
Thank you very much, Magic.
I appreciate it.
I'm honored to be on this show.
Magic Barclay (25:17):
Thank you.
And listeners, I'm honored tohave you listening.
Please like, subscribe, review,and share this podcast with
everyone that you care about.
And for now, go forth and createyour magical life.
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