Unfiltered: A Navy SEAL's Journey

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From the tough streets of East St. Louis to the elite ranks of Navy SEALs and onto entrepreneurial success, Ty Smith's life journey embodies resilience in its truest form. Growing up without a father but with a police officer mother who kept him accountable, Ty found his calling at just 12 years old after watching "Navy SEALs" starring Charlie Sheen. That moment planted a seed that would guide him through life's challenges.

Ty's path wasn't without setbacks. His first attempt at the infamously brutal SEAL training ended when he quit during Hell Week. But this failure became a pivotal moment that ultimately strengthened his resolve. After serving as a military police officer in Sardinia, Italy, the events of 9/11 – which Ty experienced while flying into New York – reignited his determination. He returned to SEAL training with newfound maturity and purpose, successfully completing the program and embarking on multiple combat deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.

What makes Ty's story particularly compelling is his candid reflection on war's human dimension. He shares a profound moment when, during a raid, he nearly collided with two young Afghan girls fleeing a building he was about to clear. This split-second encounter forced him to confront war's impact on innocents and triggered deep questions about purpose and faith. Throughout intense firefights and dangerous missions, including a harrowing ambush by Taliban fighters, Ty's training prepared his actions while his humanity processed the experience.

After 20 years of military service, Ty successfully transitioned to entrepreneurship, founding ComSafe AI – a company using artificial intelligence to detect workplace issues in communication channels before they escalate. This "left of boom" approach mirrors his military mindset of preventing problems rather than managing their aftermath. Through it all, Ty's journey demonstrates how resilience, adaptability, and maintaining core values create success across vastly different worlds.

Ready to hear more stories of extraordinary resilience and transformation? Subscribe now and join us as we continue to explore the journeys of remarkable individuals who've beaten the odds and created extraordinary lives.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hector Bravo.
Unhinged Chaos is now insession.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Welcome back to our channel Warriors.
We are still growing.
Today another banger of aninterview.
We have a former Navy SEALturned entrepreneur and
businessman that goes by thename of Ty Ty.
What up, dude?

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Thanks for having me, brother.
I'm happy to be here.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Thanks for being here , man.
So where are you fromoriginally?

Speaker 1 (00:28):
I grew up in East St Louis, illinois, just east of
the Mississippi River,separating Missouri and Illinois
, but I grew up on the Illinoisside.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
I kind of had a feeling you weren't from
California just a hunch.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, what brought you overhere?
Was it the service?

Speaker 1 (00:43):
It was the Navy Joined the Navy when I was 18,
right after I graduated highschool, didn't really have
anything else going on otherthan a dream in my back pocket
of being a Navy SEAL.
I knew I wasn't going to sitaround and do nothing.
I was the son of a lady cop,you know, and so I decided to
chase my dream into the UnitedStates Navy.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Being the son of a lady cop, were you under a
strict household.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Oh my goodness, yeah, I couldn't get away with
nothing bro.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Nothing, nothing.
Did you attempt to get awaywith things?

Speaker 1 (01:13):
I mean, I was just like any other kid, but I was a
good kid.
I wasn't out chasing trouble, Iwas an athlete.
I was a football player in highschool.
I wasn't that good at it, butit was my passion.
I was also a wrestler.
That's what I was really goodat.
So I wanted to stay on thestraight and narrow so I could
be eligible to play sports.
But I was just like any otherkid where I could find mischief

(01:34):
from time to time.
But fortunately, because I wasbeing raised in a household I
was being raised in, you know, Iat least had common sense and
for the most part I stayed awayfrom trouble.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
Was there trouble around?
Were you observing other kids?
Partake in trouble.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Oh, constantly.
You know East St Louis Illinoisis not an easy place to grow up
Right, and so there was plentythat I could have gotten into,
but fortunately I had a reallygood family, bro, and they kept
me out of the streets for themost part and I had good people.
They kept me out of the streetsfor the most part and I had
good people to look up to in myfamily and really teach me the
difference between right andwrong.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
A pattern I'm starting to see is usually not
always, but if they got a strongfamily foundation, then you're
usually on the straight andnarrow for the most part.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
I think so.
So I didn't grow up with afather, unfortunately.
So I didn't grow up with afather, unfortunately, and so it
could have been really easy forme to find my way into the
streets looking for that malementorship.
But fortunately my family is sogood and I had solid uncles
that I just I never found my waydeep into those streets.
And again, my mom was a cop andso it'd be very difficult for

(02:46):
me to do that, because I hadfriends she was keeping out of
trouble and so my mom's notstupid.
She knows that.
You know, if I even came closeto mischief, she knew what was
going on and fortunately I justnever went far down that you're
the average of the five peopleyou hang around with dude.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, that's cool because you answered the
question before I even asked it.
It's like, hey, how did youmanage to maintain that strict
regiment without the fatherfigure in the household?
But you said your unclesstepped up.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
Yeah, my uncles were amazing.
Unfortunately, only one isstill alive and he's my uncle by
marriage.
But he's been my uncle bymarriage for gosh 40, 50 years
and he was in the Army and hewas the first man I'd ever seen
in a uniform like I can rememberthe day he came to my

(03:28):
grandmother's house for thefirst time, I believe, to ask my
grandfather for my aunt's hand,and he was in his starched army
fatigues, shiny boots.
I'd never seen a man look likethat and it certainly imprinted
on me facts so what was at thatage time frame?

Speaker 2 (03:44):
what was your goal, man?
With it to become a policeofficer, place professional
sports, or and or join the navyso at that time I was only about
six or seven years old.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
I didn't know what the hell I wanted to do.
But by the time I turned 12, Isaw the movie navy seals with
charlie sheen.
And that was what did it, bro,that that dream went right into
my back pocket and I never letit go.
Yeah, and that was what did it,bro, that that dream went right
into my back pocket and I neverlet it go.
Yeah, damn dude, that was whatguy.
I was bitten by that bug.
You know the thing, hector, isgrowing up.
I got bullied a lot andespecially when my mom became a

(04:19):
cop, I got bullied even more.
And I think that because Ididn't have a dad at home even
more.
And I think that because Ididn't have a dad at home, maybe
there was something or someoneinside of me that was always
looking for a way out, or somekind of hero to come along and
save me.
And when I saw that movie, Imean those men look like the
closest things to heroes I'dever seen.
And I went.
That's what I want to do when Igrow up.

(04:40):
So yeah it worked.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
Clearly it worked, man, and as I'm getting to know
you and I'm asking thesequestions, things are starting
to make sense now, man, cause I,like you, don't strike me as
the type to be a Navy SEAL man.
Do you get that often?

Speaker 1 (04:55):
I do Uh, especially because of the color of my skin.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah, I didn't want to fucking call out the elephant
in the room.
Man, let's be honest, you knowwe are less than 1%.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
I think African American men are less than 1% of
the SEAL teams.
I think Latinos are less than1%.
I think the smallest communityin the SEAL teams are Asians.
I didn't know that.
Not only that, but I was comingout of East St Louis, illinois.
Like you know, all the highschools we don't have swim teams
.
You know what I mean, true, sowe don't have, you know, people

(05:26):
that are putting us in the waterand making sure that we
understand how to save ourselvesor we're comfortable in the
water.
Fortunately for me, I was kindof a water baby, because my mom
would just throw me in water.
We would go to a friend's placeand they would have a pool at
their apartment complex and mymom would just be like, get in,
you know.
Or we'd go to the lake to gohang out or go fishing, and my

(05:49):
mom would be like why not get in, you know?
And so, fortunately again, thatstayed with me and I always
loved water, and so it was kindof a no brainer to join the Navy
.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
You loved water, but how was your stance on guns or
firearms?

Speaker 1 (06:07):
You know I've always been a gun guy.
I've always been fascinated byfirearms and the military and
law enforcement, and I think Iget that from my mom dude, bro,
you're like the I mean, it'slike the picture perfect
candidate to like.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
You pave the way, dude.
It's all starting to make sensenow, man.
So how does a Navy work whenyou enlist and can you pick an
MOS?
Is SEALs an option right offthe top?

Speaker 1 (06:31):
So when I joined the Navy in 1996, it was not an
option right off the top Atleast I was told by my recruiter
.
It wasn't an option right offthe top.
But you know, everythinghappens for a reason, hector.
Even if I had gotten thereright away, it wasn't my time.
So when I came into the Navy at18, that was my dream.

(06:53):
But my recruiter set me up withanti-submarine well, I'm sorry
aircraft air crewman candidateschool, followed by search and
rescue swimmer school, followedby anti-submarine warfare school
.
So he set me up with an aircrew pipeline, even though that
wasn't what I wanted to do.
But he told me that, hey, Idon't know if you're all that

(07:14):
good a swimmer, so I'm going tohave you go through search and
rescue swimmer school first andwe see how you do.
And so that's what I ended updoing Graduated top of my search
and rescue swimmer class, wentto AW anti-submarine warfare
school and just hated it andmade a big deal out of me not
wanting to be there, and Iwanted to be in SEAL training

(07:35):
instead.
And so eventually they let mego.
I got to BUDGE training for thefirst time.
I think I was maybe still 18,maybe 19 at that point made it
like a day in the hell week andwas like I'm not ready for this,
I'm out of here and I quit.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
Hold on, Hold on a second man.
I could only imagine that theswimming portion for the search
and rescue was no walk in thepark.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
It was not, and when I got there, they could tell
that I had to heart to getthrough, but I didn't have the
technique.
And so, fortunately, every oneof my instructors in Search and
Rescue Swimmer School they werereally good people and really
fair people and they're like,hey, man, you got it, we're
going to work with you.
And that's what they did, and Iwent from being the slowest

(08:21):
swimmer in the class to thefastest swimmer in the class.
I just needed someone to teachme a technique.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
Real quick off topic and on topic at the same time.
That was in the 90s, late 90s.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
You said yeah, it was 96.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
Do you think leadership has changed since
that time frame?

Speaker 1 (08:37):
Man, that is a phenomenal question.
No one has ever asked me thatbefore, brother.
I do think that leadership haschanged, especially in the
military, because we ended upgoing into the global war on
terror and that changedeverything from the way we

(08:58):
fought to the way we led on andoff the battlefield.
We just learned a lot oflessons.
A lot of them were learned inblood, and so absolutely that
affected leadership Facts.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
Yeah, that was 20 years man, that was prolonged.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:14):
You know.
So you went, you showed up,somehow you made it to buds, and
what was it that you quit?
Did you ring a bell?

Speaker 1 (09:24):
yeah, yeah.
So the first time it threwthrough I rung the bell about
five and a half weeks into the26 week basic underwater
demolition school.
And here's the thing, man.
I can remember that night likeit was yesterday.
I wasn't too cold, I wasn't tootired, I was just scared.
I was young, was immature, Ihad a chip on my shoulder and I

(09:52):
was just like again.
I was kind of like dude.
I've never even seen men likethis, let alone spend time
around them.
I kind of got lost in my ownhead.
And if you do that in budgetraining you are done-ski.
Let alone if you're in hellweek, you're done.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
Well, if you get in your head anywhere, you're done
man, you're done.
Well, if you get in your headanywhere, you're done man.
I coached my daughtersix-year-old, and when I see her
up to bat, I see her getting inher own head and I'm like hey,
stop that.

Speaker 1 (10:18):
Right now You're defeating yourself.
Yeah, and so I ended up goingto 95-45 school military police
school for the Navy and I tookorders over to Sardinia, italy,
and went over there and wassupposed to only stay for two
years and I was going to comeback to budge training and the
instructors that because theyliked me, they were like dude,
like you're a black dude that'sstrong in the water, like by
that time I was a fish.
They were like you got it, man,I was just mature and come back

(10:38):
.
And they meant it that theyended up letting me back.
I ended up staying in Sardiniafor almost five years just
because I loved it so much whatis that Italy In Italy?
yeah, I loved it so much.
Did you travel A little bit?
I spent time in the UK.
I traveled all over Italy.
You go to Rome.
I ended up.
Yeah, I love Rome, that'sawesome dude Ended up going to

(10:59):
Spain for a little bit, but myheart was in Sardinia, italy.
I just fell in love with thatplace.
Man, and, fortunately for me,one of my best friends to this
day he's an Italian dude namedNino Spinelli.
He was really good friends witha couple of Italian SEALs guys
from the Incursore Italiano andthose guys kind of took me under

(11:20):
my wing and they were tellingme the same thing like man, we
see you training, you got it.
You just need to keep training,keep your head clear and go
back and you're going to make itthrough that training.
And that's what I ended updoing right after 9-11.

Speaker 2 (11:33):
Now, during this period, man, were you like?
I mean, I can only imagine youwere in top physical condition
Were you like performing higherthan your peers in your regular
unit?

Speaker 1 (11:43):
Oh, 100%, like way above them.
But I had a much larger goal.
A lot of those people when theygot to that command, that was
like their twilight tour.

Speaker 2 (11:54):
They were gonna get out.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (11:55):
But it wasn't even that.
They were like, hey, I'mgetting out after this.
A lot of them, a lot of thosemen, were budge drops like
myself at the time, and theywere like, hey, I gave it a shot
, that was my dream, Didn't work, so now I'm going to get out of
the Navy, whereas for me I waslike, no, this is a stepping
stone, I'm not going out likethat, I'm going back to SEAL
training and I'm going to makeit through.

(12:15):
I just had no idea that one ofthe biggest motivating factors
in my decision to go back toSEAL training was about to
happen, which was 9-11.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
Before we get to 9-11 , what stuff were you doing on
your own to set the bar higher?

Speaker 1 (12:37):
Because you know.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
PT will only give you in the morning Sure.
What were you doing?

Speaker 1 (12:42):
So the Italians called me the crazy American,
because every morning they wouldsee me coming out of the surf
zone like the actual ocean, youknow, at the the butt crack of
dawn, finishing up like a twomile ocean swim by myself, and I
would have tennis shoes stagedon the beach and shorts and I
would come out of my wetsuit,I'd put on shorts and I just

(13:03):
have my fins and I just leave itand I go on like a 10 mile run
and that's before work.
No way, dude, that's how I wouldstart my day and at the end of
the day it was very likely thatthat same day I'd do another
four or five miles.
I would race the sun, see if Icould get home before the sunset
, and the typical stuff I wasdoing push-ups and pull-ups and

(13:25):
dips and core work like it wasnobody's business.
And at that point I had gottenin my own head in a good way, in
that hey, I'm not going to letany of these people see me fail.
And I know a lot of these guysare betting against me because
I'm hearing it through thegrapevine and at this point it
is me versus me and I'm going todo whatever I have to do in

(13:47):
order to make it through.
And so I pushed myself harderthan any SEAL training
instructor ever could havepushed me.
I just did it to myself,getting ready.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
Where did that mindset begin with you?
That's a mindset, dude.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
I agree I would have to go way back to my childhood
man and say that it was thatlittle kid.
So by that time, you know, I'mgetting ready to go back to SEAL
training.
I've got some maturity under mybelt.
I'm 21, 22 years old.
You're in your prime dude.
I'm in my prime.
I didn't have any injuriesAgain.
I was in the best shape of mylife by that point.

(14:22):
But I was still a very immature, very insecure young dude.
And so I have to go back tothat little kid that's inside of
me to this day, AbsolutelyRight.
But I just wasn't acknowledginghim at that age.
But I have to go back to thatlittle kid that was growing up,
being bullied, being told thathe wasn't shit, he was never
going to amount to anything, hewas dumb, he would never go to

(14:44):
college.
There was a, there was a, astorm inside.
So, you use that as fuel?
Absolutely there.
There was a fire inside of methat was just raging in my gut
and I I just had this chip on myshoulder, like I'm going to
show all of you, and that's whatI did.

Speaker 2 (15:03):
Oh boy, did you?
You?
So, when 9-11 happened, wereyou in Italy?

Speaker 1 (15:08):
So when 9-11 happened , I was in an airplane flying
into New York City.
Brother, what the hell.
I was stationed in Italy and mymom had gotten sick and she was
in a hospital, and so I got oneof those you know, remember,
the Red Cross messages wouldcome across and then you would
have to go on emergency leave.
Yeah, and so I was on emergencyleave, flying from Sardinia to

(15:28):
Rome and then from Rome into NewYork City, and I was going to
go from New York City to StLouis because my mom was in the
hospital, and so I was in anaisle seat on the left side of
the plane for you sailors andMarines out there.
I was on the port side of theplane, and on the right side, or
the starboard side, in theaisle seat was this older black

(15:51):
lady that was like a coupleshades darker than me, and,
remember, this is 2001.
So this is when they still hadthose corded phones in the back
of the headrest in front of you,where you could take it out,
swipe your credit card and makea call.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
Oh, you're right.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
And so the pilot comes over the loudspeaker and
he's like ladies and gentlemen,we're really sorry, but we have
to land the aircraft immediately.
All airspace is being closed.
We don't know what's going on,but something's happening in
America.
And at that time, that's whenthe second plane hit the second
tower.
And so the lady next to me, shepulls that phone, swipes her

(16:26):
credit card, calls her husbandin New York City to find out
what happened.
And, brother, in my whole life,I had never seen anything like
this happen.
In my life.
To this day I haven't seen it.
I'm looking at the lady who iscloser to me than you are right
now, because you know how smallthe aisle is, going down the
center of an aircraft, and Iwatched the blood leave this

(16:47):
lady's face from the top of herhead down to her chin.
She went from being twocomplexions darker than me to
lighter than you, shocked inshock.
She hangs up the phone andshe's just kind of looking at
her lap and everybody's likewhat you know?
And she whispers terrorists areflying airplanes into buildings
in new york city right now and,dude, you could hear a mouse

(17:11):
pissing on cotton in thatairplane.
Damn, dude, and that's where Iwas on 9-11 shit man.

Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yeah, so how long after did you go back to uh?

Speaker 1 (17:22):
about four months four months, yeah, so the
airspace was closed for like twoto three weeks.
If you remember, I was uh inengland because we were over a
small town in england when theaircraft was down.
So I got on train, went down tothe embassy in london, checked
in, call my command, let themknow I was okay and I was kind
of hanging out in London untilthey reopened the airspace.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
So you actually enlisted pre-war time,
pre-combat, pre-war.
Looking back in hindsight, howwas that pre-war?
Was it hoping for war?
Was it happens to happens?
What was your thought process?

Speaker 1 (17:58):
That's a great question.
No, I was never hopeful of war,I just wanted to be a Navy SEAL
.
I had assumed at that pointthat if you were a Navy SEAL,
whether there was war going on,you're going to get after it,
right?
Because these guys are behindenemy lines.
They're going and doing stuffin the shadows, right.
So I had no idea.
So, no, I was never hopeful ofwar.

(18:19):
It just turned out that war wascoming, and so I ended up going
back to budge training.
I checked in in February of2002.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
February 2002, man, I graduated high school in 02.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
Oh, did you?
Yeah, I graduated in 96.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
Okay, was it?
Well?
I was about to ask you a dumbquestion, man.
Was it cold in February?
San Diego was the water.

Speaker 1 (18:44):
Yes, because I had a winter hell week and it was cold
.
How was that?
And you know that the water inthe wintertime is cold.

Speaker 2 (18:51):
But you're from St Louis.
I can only imagine it gets coldin St Louis.

Speaker 1 (18:54):
Oh, it gets really cold there.
But here's the thing, bro, atleast me, I don't get used to
cold.

Speaker 2 (18:59):
Nobody does so.

Speaker 1 (19:00):
I wasn't acclimated Right, I wasn't acclimated, and
when I hit the surf in Coronadoin February for the first time,
it literally took the air out ofme.
I've never been so cold in mywhole life.
It's like a kick in the nuts ohmy gosh, like it literally took
the air out of me and I rememberstanding up and like not really

(19:23):
being able to breathe and Iwent, holy shit, what did I just
get myself back into?
But like that I was just like,nah, I'm going, you know, and I
just kept going.
I never looked back.
Were other people quitting atthis time?
Oh, 100%, you know the deal.
Dudes are quitting day one allthe way through.
Guys are quitting and in.

(19:45):
In fact, there are a couple ofguys that quit when I was in
second phase.
Man like you're, you're incombat swimmer now, so you're
past hell week and now you'rereally focusing on learning the,
the, the skill craft.
Now you still have to gothrough pool comp, so you're not
totally out of water.
Pool comp gets a bunch of dudesout of seal training before

(20:06):
they make it to third phase butis that when you're expected to
finish?

Speaker 2 (20:10):
is that when they tie the hands behind their back?

Speaker 1 (20:11):
no, that's, that's in first phase.
That's uh, that's drownproofing in first phase yeah,
that's, yeah, that's in firstphase.
That's, you start training fordrown proofing before you even
go through hell week and then,when you come out of hell week
and you heal up, is when youhave drown proofing testing I
watch youtube channels of drownproofing and that shit gives me
anxiety.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
Just watching it, man .
Would you describe it as veryum?

Speaker 1 (20:36):
it's psychologically stressful, but it's supposed to
be what about physicallystressful?
Not really, because once theyteach you the technique, once,
once you got it, you got it.
Okay, but it's in your headthat, dude, my hands are tied up
behind my back, my ankles aretied together and I'm in water.
That's like 15 feet deep.
Oh hell no man.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
So it's totally a mental.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
Thing.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
Did people get dropped during that portion of
the course?

Speaker 1 (21:01):
Yeah, I mean, you have people that just can't pass
it, you know, and so they getmultiple tries and they can't
pass it, and so they end upgetting dropped for performance.
But you also have dudes thatjust freak out and they're like
I am out of here and they quit.

Speaker 2 (21:17):
How were you handling the lack of sleep portion of
this whole ordeal?

Speaker 1 (21:21):
Dude, I was young, that didn't bother me at all you
know how it is absolutely younglike you could go out and party
all night and get two hours ofsleep and you're ready for
muster and bright eye run 12miles drunk.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah, you don't care right.
What about, like food?
Were you guys being fedsufficiently?
Oh dude when you're.

Speaker 1 (21:39):
It's not like ranger school, bro, like they feed you.
I didn't know that tremendouslywell.
Okay, and they are sticklersfor hydration.
So, yeah, you have greatnutrition the whole time.
Going through.
You might not get a lot ofsleep right, but you are getting
fed and hydrated properly atwhat point do you guys start
messing with weaponsqualifications?
That's third phase, that'sthird that is yes.

(22:01):
So you've got two months offirst phase where they are
really trying to break youphysically and mentally.
That's third phase, which iswhere you start to really feel

(22:29):
special.
Um you, you start getting theweapons training.
You start learning land warfaretraining.
You start learning urbanassault, uh, close quarters
combat.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
You start really getting into the fun stuff which
one did you find most fun thatthat phase?

Speaker 1 (22:44):
definitely yeah, because, again, like I've always
been a gun guy, right, I'vealways been a dreamer as far as
you know, special operations isconcerned.

Speaker 2 (22:53):
I was like man, I'm really learning this stuff now
so afghanistan kicked off and Ibelieve, oh one shortly after
9-11 were your guys'sinstructors talking about hey,
you guys are going to be fuckingdeploying.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
Absolutely, man.
And here's what's crazy Most ofthose guys had never seen
combat Most of the instructorsbecause they were between wars,
right, you had the Gulf War andif they came in after that and
very few guys actually got in onthe Gulf War because it was so
short, right and so most ofthose dudes didn't have any

(23:24):
combat experience, and so theyknew themselves like oh shit,
I'm about to go into combat forthe first time.
And I ended up going intocombat for the first time with
guys that had never been tocombat.
And you know, you fast forward.
Throughout my career I actuallyended up working downrange in
combat with dudes that were myinstructors, putting me through

(23:47):
budge training years before Idid.

Speaker 2 (23:49):
Now, fuck, I don't want to jump too far ahead, but
at that point were they superhigh up the chain of command.

Speaker 1 (23:56):
Some of them yes, some of them were the same rank
as me because, remember, Ididn't make it through budge the
first time, so I ended up goingout to the fleet as a military
police officer, and so when Icame back through seal training
I was in e4, and then when Igraduated seal training, they
made me an e5, okay, and so Iwas catching up and so a couple

(24:19):
of those dudes, you know, Iended up making e6.
They were still e6s, that makessense, you know.
And so we were they just.
They just did a different pathinitially and you were going
this way yeah, and then you guysmet up downrange.
Yeah, that's a trip, dude it'sfunny because I surpassed some
of those dudes.
Uh, a couple of those dudesended up, you know, kind of
staying floating at that e6level, whereas I kept going and

(24:42):
eventually made E7 or they gotout and I ended up retiring as a
senior chief, whereas some ofthose guys they got out, you
know, after their first coupleof actual combat tours, you know
, and they moved on to otherthings, but I just kept going.

Speaker 2 (24:57):
Now here's a psychological question for you.
You said a lot of yourinstructor.
Well, the majority ofinstructors had not seen combat.
One of the questions awarfighter asks themselves
before seeing combat for thefirst time is fuck, I wonder how
I'm going to perform.
Right, you have that experience.

(25:17):
The before and the after, italmost seems like, hey, your
training kicks in.
It almost like seems likeyou're gonna be all right.
Right, as opposed to.
I think most people performaccordingly than not.
Would you agree?

Speaker 1 (25:32):
I think so, but that's where the training comes
in, right.
That's why seal training is asbrutal and repetitive as it is,
because they're hammering itinto your head that, hey, we
already know that once bulletsstart flying, the human instinct
is to freeze, right?
And so we're going to hammer itinto your head that you're

(25:52):
never going to freeze, you'rejust going to respond based on
your training.
And that's what you would do.
It's effective, right, it is100% effective, absolutely.
Field training is the mostrealistic training in the United
States military.
I think it is brutal.
It is very realistic becausethey are training you to stop

(26:15):
thinking at the surface layerRight.
Once bullets start flying, youfall back onto your training and
when you really need to think,we want you to zoom out.
We want you to see thebattlefield from 30,000 feet.
We don't want you to get stuckin a problem, so we're going to
teach you how to be a tacticalthinker and a strategic thinker
all at the same time whileyou're being shot at, so while

(26:38):
you're under duress, absolutely,which is why the training is so
difficult.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
Yeah.
And then you want to think likepsychology, psychologically,
what happens to the brain?
You're right, fight or flight.
Um, uh, narrowed vision, youknow.
Auditory exclusion, yep, all ofthis fucking happens.
So you have to fight through itand train through it to fight
your body's response absolutely,and that's what they teach you

(27:02):
to do, and it's very effective.
Extremely effective dude.
Which unit did you go to afteryou graduated?
I went to SEAL Team 8.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
Which is where Little Creek, virginia, virginia,
norfolk, virginia Beach area.

Speaker 2 (27:17):
Because there's East Coast and West Coast, correct,
mm-hmm, did you get a pick so?

Speaker 1 (27:25):
I did, but it was almost like a joke, because most
guys they get their choice.
I wanted to stay in San Diegobecause it reminded me so much
of being on the Mediterranean,like I had been for four and a
half five years previously inSardinia, italy.
So on my dream sheet, which iswhat they call it like hey, fill
out your dream sheet.
I put all West Coast SEAL teamsand of course they sent me to

(27:47):
an East Coast SEAL team man.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
Maybe they needed you on the East Coast, dude.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
I think it was because of my language
capability, because I had comeout of Italy as a nearly fluent
Italian speaker.
In fact, the Navy was paying meto be an Italian speaker.
I was the translator betweenthe Italian Carabinieri, their
military police and the Americanmilitary police in Sardinia,
Italy, and it was pre-911, so itwas before that reorg.

(28:15):
Back then, certain teams hadcertain areas of operation where
they were likely to deploy to,and a lot of the east coast
teams were slotted for europeand south america and so they
want america yeah, so theywanted the, the spanish speakers
on the east coast.
They wanted some of the guysthat were speaking.
That makes sense.

(28:35):
You know european languages onthe east coast, so I think that
that's why I ended up gettingsent out there what kind of
training and locations were.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
Did you ever go out to like Sealy or Nyland?
If you could do the landwarfare.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
Yeah, so when I ended up coming back to the West
coast seal team.
So I came back to the Westcoast in 2007 as a buds
instructor for about two and ahalf years and then I went to
seal team one around 2009.
And when I got to SEAL Team 1,yeah, we did our land warfare
training out in Nile.
We did a lot of stuff out in LaPosta.

(29:10):
We would go up to Bridgeport todo cold weather training at the
Marine Corps cold weathertraining facility up there.
We do diving trips down inFlorida.
Really, yeah, we would be allover the place.
We were gone most of the timeand then you would deploy and be
gone more.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
How much of a threat are sharks?
It's an honest question, bro.

Speaker 1 (29:35):
You know what it is such an honest question, and I
think that that's locationdependent.
I think that diving out here onthe West Coast it's much more
likely.
But you want to hear a funnystory?
When I was at SEAL Team 8, wedid a diving trip down in Cocoa
Beach, florida, and at thecenter where we were training

(30:00):
out of, when you were gettingready to start a dive, in order
to get to the open water, youwould turtle back through a
channel.
And so what I mean by turtlebacking is, like you know, we
dive the Draeger system, and soit's not tanks on your back,
it's a system that's actuallysitting on your chest, and you
don't have these big Twin 80oxygen tanks on your back.

(30:23):
You have a small tank that'sabout yay big, because this is a
rebreather system andeverything sits on your chest.
And so in order to get to theopen water, we would have to
walk down these stairs about 15feet into this canal, and so all
the guys would go get in thecanal and you've got walls on
either side of you that are like15 feet Damn.

(30:44):
And so for turtle backing,you're literally laying on your
back looking up at the sky.
Now you've got the rig on yourchest and you're kicking out
through the canal in order toget to open water, where we
would then go on back, put onyour breather, flip over to your
stomach Everybody would descendunderwater and then you would
start your journey.
But before we got to open water, we're channel backing through

(31:07):
this channel and every and dudesare just kind of coking and
joking and talking shit andeverybody's kind of kicking it
out.
And all of a sudden I look tomy right and I see all of the
instructors up on the wall andthey're all like they're
pointing, they're looking, dudesare taking pictures and we're
like what's going on?
And they go.
Nobody panic and I went.
What does that mean?

(31:27):
So I look over to my left.

Speaker 2 (31:32):
And you just see all of these beady eyes.
No way, dude, just watching usgo by.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
It was like a pack of alligators, oh they were
alligators.
Yes, Just watching us kick by,and I was just like you.

Speaker 2 (31:47):
you gotta be shitting me all right, nobody panicked,
and so we end up making it out.

Speaker 1 (31:49):
Of course, were you like in a channel like like like
it was a channel, bro, therewas nowhere to go.
No, there was no escaping, andthe instructors all told us at
the end they were like I thinkthe only thing that saved you
guys is that there were more ofy'all than that were of.
Them were more of y'all thanthat were of them and so they
didn't.
Horrifying dude, it wasterrifying, damn.
Yeah.
And I mean I like I've seensome sway lay stuff underwater

(32:12):
that, you know, kind of makesyou go like what do we do now?
like I'm pretty sure that thatwas a shark.
You know what I mean.
But you have no choice, youjust got to keep going.

Speaker 2 (32:24):
That's so weird dude.
That's so weird because to meit's an extra element that you
got to worry about, as opposedto the fucking enemy shooting at
you or trying to kill you,right?

Speaker 1 (32:32):
But here's the thing you can't allow yourself to
worry about it.

Speaker 2 (32:35):
That's so damn crazy dude, you just have to keep
going.

Speaker 1 (32:39):
Damn late 2003 or 2004,.
I deployed to KandaharAfghanistan, for the first time
as an operator.
So when I got to SEAL Team 8, Istill had to go through.

(33:01):
I had to jump into a SEALplatoon and go through an entire
workup with that platoon whichconsisted of about a year and a
half of additional training.
Because you go through you gothrough unit level training, you
go through squadron integrationtraining, you go through
professional development, whichis where they're deciding like,

(33:21):
hey, we're going to send thisperson to sniper school or to
breacher school, halo, you canget Halo training during that
time.
I ended up getting it a littlebit later, but I went through
about another year and a half oftraining with a SEAL team and
with a SEAL platoon before Ideployed for the first time.
So I had a tremendous amount oftraining before I got downrange

(33:43):
.
Yeah, extra training, yeah, oh,I was ready.
I was more than ready.

Speaker 2 (33:49):
Tell me about what your thought process was.
Man um, getting heading toafghanistan with that training,
with your maturity level.
Now, with your success ofgetting to where you wanted to
be, what was your thought?

Speaker 1 (34:03):
process.
Dude, I was excited.
I was chomping at the bit.
I wanted to get overseas andstart running operations and
start shooting bad people in theface and I was pissed off.
I was ready to go down rangeand make the Taliban pay for
what they had done to ourcountry Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
I was just excited and ready togo do the job.

(34:24):
I don't think I was scared atthat time because I still didn't
fully understand what I wasgetting into, so I was still
sort of ignorant, but I was justexcited.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
Did it ever cross your mind that you could become
a casualty of the war?

Speaker 1 (34:40):
Of course, I was just more concerned with one of my
friends becoming a casualty ofwar.
Right, that is something thatSEAL training does a very good
job of of humbling you andmaking you understand that, dude
, it's not about you, correct,it's not.
It is about the men to yourleft and your right, and if you

(35:00):
won't embrace that, we're goingto get you out of here.
You don't belong here.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
And I think maybe that's why the United States
military in general is such agreat fighting force because it
isn't about you, it's about theperson next to you.

Speaker 1 (35:11):
Yeah, they teach you to be selfless.
Yeah, like I, I have verylittle concern for me, correct,
and like you can talk all thisshit to me.
You want like I don't care,like what am I going to do?
Get up and kick your ass.
But you say something to mybrother I don't like, right,

(35:36):
there's a very high likelihoodI'm smash your face in, I feel
right, and they, they beat thatinto us.
I feel you know.
It's not about you.
It is about the people to yourleft and your right, even after
the mission.
It's not about you.
It's not about you now squaringaway your gear.
No, that's last.
It's team gear, your buddy'sgear second, and then your gear
last.

Speaker 2 (35:54):
Nice dude.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
How long are deployments?
Usually four to 11 months.
God damn dude, it depends onwhere you are in the cycle.
It depends on what's going on.
Typically they're six months,but I've been on deployments
that were four and a half monthsand the longest deployment that
I did, I think, was just ataround seven months.

Speaker 2 (36:14):
That was the longest you did.
Yeah, so as you go intoAfghanistan, were you guys
relieving another unit that wasleaving?

Speaker 1 (36:20):
Yeah, we were.
So we were on rotation justlike everyone else, and I think
that we were relieving a platoonfrom SEAL Team 4, if I remember
correctly.

Speaker 2 (36:31):
At that time frame, how would you describe the enemy
?

Speaker 1 (36:36):
Very capable, not scared at all.
So there's a difference betweenwar fighting in Afghanistan and
war fighting in Iraq.
In Afghanistan, I don't recallever even hearing about a
Taliban fighter.
That was a coward.

(36:56):
In Iraq, they want to blow youup.
They don't really want to fight.
You heads up the Taliban.
It's like a rite of passage forthem.
No, they want to fight, theywant to throw down and they are
not afraid.
And so you have to be on yourP's and Q's because if you're
not, they will get you out ofthere into the next life fast.

Speaker 2 (37:15):
Absolutely dude.
Were there any lessons that youlearned initially, where you
were like fuck, my trainingdidn't prepare me for this or
this was a shocker?

Speaker 1 (37:25):
That's a great question, oh my gosh, that's a
great question.
And the answer is yes, but itdidn't have anything to do with
my combat proficiency, Hector.
There was nothing or no onethat could have prepared me for
the human feelings that I wouldexperience being a special

(37:47):
operations commando at war forthe first time in my young, 22,
23-year-old life, and I rememberon, if I remember correctly, it
was the very first operationthat we did.
We hit a target, we wereclearing a compound, A bunch of
guys went right.

(38:08):
I was some of the guys thatwent left and I remember I was
about to make entrance into thisopening, this small room, and I
was the number one man goinginto that room.
And as I was about to go intothat room, these two beautiful

(38:28):
little girls they couldn't havebeen any more than three years
old, they were twin Afghanigirls they came screaming out of
that door as I was makingentrance into the door and in
that split second I could seehow scared they were, how
vulnerable they were, and italso forced me to acknowledge

(38:50):
that I was about to tramplethese two little girls and I
couldn't allow myself to getcaught up in that.
It was that split-second momentof, okay, maneuver around and
get in that room, and I gotdudes coming in hot right behind
me.
Do not get clogged up in thefatal funnel in that doorway.

(39:13):
That's where good people die.
But for that split second Iacknowledged that like dude you
almost hurt those two littlekids and you're really worried
about whether your brothersbehind you are going to hurt
them accidentally too.
And no one could have preparedme for the human feelings that I
experienced later that nightsitting on my cot just kind of

(39:37):
going what the hell am I doing?
What are we doing?
I thought I was here to findbad people and hurt bad people.
Immediately I was put into asituation where I could have
hurt not just good people butlittle kids, and nothing could
have prepared me for what washappening in my brain and my
heart that night.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
I think that is profound, bro, and I'm really
glad you say said that foranybody future combat, uh,
future military veteran soldiersthat go overseas man, because
we had to learn that the hardway, the fucking hard way, it's
hard.
Um, I know exactly what youmean when you say that.
It's like fuck.

Speaker 1 (40:16):
I didn't anticipate that I still think about those
little girls to this day.
Absolutely, I think about themall the time.
I wonder how they're doing.
I wonder if they're alive.
I wonder if they're okay.
I wonder if they remember thatsituation.
More than likely not, they were, they were young.
I wonder what do they thinkabout me?
How do they feel aboutamericans?
Like I think about them all thetime the good news is you're

(40:38):
human.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
The good news is you're not a psychopath.

Speaker 1 (40:42):
I am not a psycho.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (40:44):
That's good that's the good news.
Yep, glory be to god.
Correct, because you felt thatyou know what I mean and that
shit's real as fuck.
Yeah, it is um.
You, right now, you said gloryto be to god, correct, because
you felt that you know what Imean and that shit's real as
fuck.
Yeah, it is um.
And right now you said glory tobe to god.
During that time, did you havea spiritual belief or foundation
?

Speaker 1 (40:59):
I did.
I had a spiritual.
I had a religious foundation, Ishould say, because I grew up
in the church.
Um, my grandmothers would dragus to church just like everybody
else.
I had a tight relationship withGod.
But I got to be honest with you, brother, during that
deployment I am responsible forsort of distancing myself from

(41:25):
God.
I really started to questionreligion, to question religion
during that first tour and ittook me a long time to repair
the relationship from my side,because God is always there.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
Absolutely God, never leaves you.

Speaker 1 (41:44):
Even if you turn your back, even if you go over here
for a little while, god's stillstanding there waiting for you,
like are you ready to come back?

Speaker 2 (41:51):
Yeah, I wouldn't say it's turning your back, but,
like you said, more of losingyour way.
Sure, and you're right, god isjust like hey, he's watching,
he's watching you justAbsolutely.

Speaker 1 (42:02):
I was starting to question, but I eventually found
my way back.
Yeah, he was right there,waiting with open arms, just
like always.
Is that's good?

Speaker 2 (42:11):
that's good man after , did you do a couple trips to
afghanistan in a row, or wereyou like bouncing back and forth
between iraq and afghanistan?

Speaker 1 (42:18):
I was bouncing back and forth.
So my first deployment wasafghanistan.
My second deployment was iraq.

Speaker 2 (42:25):
My third deployment was iraq were you in iraq in
0405?

Speaker 1 (42:30):
I was in Afghanistan in 04, like 0405, something like
that.
Then I was in Iraq in 06.
The surge what were you at?
In Iraq?
It was right after the surge.
And so that first Iraqdeployment I was with a SEAL
teammate platoon and I was theunlucky platoon that was picked

(42:56):
to bodyguard Nouri al-Maliki,the newly installed Iraqi prime
minister.
And it was a no-fail missionbecause they knew that they were
going to try to kill himbecause America had installed
him and we were trying to bringdemocracy over there.
Right and so right, you know,the president of the United

(43:18):
States was like hey man, like wecan't let this dude get killed,
we need an a team on him.
So they were like put a sealteam on that dude.
And so it was my platoon thatthey picked, and for the first
three and a half months of thatdeployment I was basically an
executive protection agent.
I was in civilian clothes everyday, armed to the teeth, and I

(43:41):
was bodyguarding the primeminister of Iraq, me and my team
.

Speaker 2 (43:46):
At that time, for fuck, blackwater was around.
At that time Was Blackwaterpresent.

Speaker 1 (43:51):
Yeah, and we worked with those guys a bunch, yeah,
yeah.
And so we did that for aboutthree and a half months and
finally were relieved and pulledoff of him and thrown back into
what it is we do best, which isdirect action raids.
And so that was in Baghdad, andwhen we were relieved from that

(44:12):
duty and we were ready to goand get cleared hot and start
running raids, we shifted overto Fallujah.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
God damn dude.
Direct action raids.
What did those look like foryou guys?
Was it like 2 am raids withahelicopter?

Speaker 1 (44:26):
insert Dude it was all night raids.

Speaker 2 (44:28):
All night raids.

Speaker 1 (44:29):
Some of it was helo bound, I think.
If I remember correctly, mostof it we were operating from
vehicles and back then it wasthe wild, wild West right.
So you didn't necessarily haveto submit a formal con op, a
concept of operations, where yougot to drop a bunch of slides
and go brief.
Know the the special operationstask force.

(44:51):
It was like no, we hit thistarget.
It's a dry hole.
But we got intel from thistarget that the place we're
looking for is actually isactually up the street and
around the corner right.
So everybody bring it in likethis is what we're gonna do.
We're kind of like drawn in thein the dirt like this is the
new con up.
We're gonna go hit this target.
Everybody got it.
Yeah, all right, load up, let'sgo.

(45:13):
And you'd be hitting two, three, four, five, six targets a
night.
You'd be out operating allnight long.
You guys have suppressors onyour weapons at the time, of
course, and night vision andlasers.
Right, yeah, we own the night.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
What were you, did you have, what did you have?
An M4?

Speaker 1 (45:30):
I had an M4.
Back then we were rolling withthe pec twos for lasers,
absolutely.
Yeah, and the PVS 14s for nightvision, yup.

Speaker 2 (45:45):
Yup, how effective or appropriate did you think those
weapon systems and thatequipment was for that timeframe
?

Speaker 1 (45:50):
I thought it was very appropriate, right, because it
still comes down to theindividual operator being a
point shooter.

Speaker 2 (45:57):
Yeah, you can give me fucking iron sights.

Speaker 1 (46:00):
It doesn't matter.
I am trained and I'm ready togo.
They're going to miss.
I will not.
Exactly yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:06):
Was combat what you had expected?
Was it fulfilling or satisfyingto you?
Fulfilling and satisfying Inthe sense of an adrenaline rush.
Were you getting high off ofthe adrenaline?

Speaker 1 (46:19):
Honestly, I don't ever remember getting an
adrenaline rush or getting highoff of the adrenaline.
I'm sure I did experienceadrenaline rushes because I've
been in some really nastygunfights, like gunfights where
I knew in my heart I was goingto die that day.

Speaker 2 (46:36):
Could you talk about one of them, Sure Um?

Speaker 1 (46:41):
so I was in a gunfight in Afghanistan in uh
2011.
In 2011, I was assigned to SEALTeam 1, but I was farmed out to
development group as anaugmentee, and so I went over
and joined Gold Squadron inorder to be the partner force

(47:04):
team leader.
So a lot of times they don'tlet us operate unilaterally.
You got to take some of theAfghani commandos with you, or
you're in Iraq.
You got to take some of theIraqi commandos with you, and so
I had a small team of I thinkit was eight Afghani special
operations commandos working attheir tier one level that were
assigned to the troop I wasassigned to at Gold Squadron,

(47:29):
and so, as a senior E6, I wasresponsible for those dudes on
the battlefield and off thebattlefield.
I ran their training, Imustered them everything.
I made sure they understoodwhat we were doing once we got
on target.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
Were they squared away.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
For the most part, these dudes were really squared
away.
Man, and I've seen a lot ofthem that were not squared away,
but these dudes were pipehitters.
I was really, really impressedwith them, and so I was also
responsible for, uh, the afghanitranslators, um, and there were
two or three of those guys, andeven those dudes were actually
surprisingly squared away andthey were not punks, they were

(48:08):
there to throw down.
They were really good, and wehit a target one night that
turned out to be this two-storyhigh school, and we got ambushed

(48:30):
going into that target, and tothis day, I do not understand
outside of it was the glory ofGod how none of us got injured,
let alone killed, because whenwe were ambushed, we were
actually getting ready toassault this school.
We had snuck our way into thecompound, or so we thought we
were sneaking.
Snuck our way into the compound, or so we thought we were

(48:54):
sneaking.
It took us longer to come overthe mountain than we thought,
because the terrain ended upbeing much more gnarly than we
thought, and so it took us atleast another hour or two to get
over the mountain and down intothe valley where this compound
was, and so by the time we werecoming down into the compound,
we didn't realize that the sunwas coming up a little bit

(49:14):
behind us, just enough tosilhouette oh hell, no man the
taliban watched us come down themountain into the compound.
They just let us come right inbecause they were going to
ambush us where did they ambushyou guys from the compound?

Speaker 2 (49:28):
the?

Speaker 1 (49:28):
school.
They were all dug in in theschool.
We knew there were a bunch ofbad guys in there, but by this
time we were like fuck it, we'regoing, heads up, we are coming
in, get ready.
What do you?
What do you think tipped themoff?
I mean, they could see us, theycould see us, uh, coming over,
and so I think one of the otherthings that may have tipped them
off I don't think so, but it'spossible Within this compound

(49:52):
there were only two structures.
There was this big-asstwo-story high school and there
was this smaller shed that wasnear the entrance and there was
a dude on top of that shed thatwas on watch and one of the boys
zipped him up, but it was stillpretty quiet.
Maybe they heard, maybe theydidn't.
We didn't think they did, butit's possible that they did

(50:13):
right.
But without a doubt, they couldsee us, because we were still
on night vision and we had thesun just starting to crack, yeah
, right behind us, and that wasenough to silhouette us to where
they.

Speaker 2 (50:23):
They watched us come in at what distance you,
approximately what distance youthink they opened up on you?

Speaker 1 (50:27):
they opened up on us at no more than 30, 40 yards.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
No fucking no more than 30, 40 yards, hector.

Speaker 1 (50:35):
We were getting ready to to go in and enter the
school and we were pretty muchonline.
This is why I'm like, lordjesus, like how did none of us
get hit?
And every window of this schoolopened up?
There were at least 15 to 20bad guys in there.
Every window lit up at the sametime so what becomes priority

(50:57):
then?
Fucking hitting the, hittingthe objective still no, because
you still got to be tacticallysmart right, you don't want to
rush to your death, correct?
you no longer have the tacticaladvantage.
There you go at all uh the.
The mission at that pointbecomes get all the boys out of
here without anyone dying.
Okay, get some standoff, see ifwe can regain the tactical

(51:20):
advantage.
And that's when you know we'vegot air coming in, we've got
attack helicopters, fighter jetscoming in.
So at that point the objectivewas get some distance between us
and all of this gunfire.

Speaker 2 (51:33):
What do you think that was like a training
compound or for them?
What were they utilizing thoseschools for?

Speaker 1 (51:38):
They had kicked the kids out and they were utilizing
it as basically a home, like anapartment for all the bad guys.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
Jesus Christ, dude, did you guys ever go in there
and wipe that fucking place out?

Speaker 1 (51:49):
Oh, that place was no longer there by the time we
finished with it.
Yeah, that was also the firsttime I had ever, like me
personally, encountered abarricaded shooter and what it
feels like to go, you know,heads up with a barricaded
shooter and it is terrifying.

Speaker 2 (52:09):
Yeah, it sounds horrible.

Speaker 1 (52:10):
It's terrifying.
And we came sounds horrible,it's terrifying.
And we came heads up with abarricaded shooter three times
in that op, not once, but threetimes, and fortunately it wasn't
me going through the door andit's like, oh shit, there's a
dude barricaded Fuck dude.
Remember I was in charge of theAfghanis and so we would always
have them up front leading theassault of the Afghanis, and so

(52:34):
we would always have them upfront leading the assault, and
so I had about four or five ofthose dudes in front of me as we
were going in to try to.
Now, you know, we've hit itwith a bunch of rockets,
missiles, a bunch of 30millimeter explosive tips, so
we've softened the target.
And so now we're like all right,well, let's, let's try to go in
.
Right, there's still some dudesin there, let's, let's go get
them.
And so the Afghanis are alwaysup front, but I'm right behind

(52:58):
them, and so I'm, you know, wego back in and there's some
dudes crawling around, and sowe're zipping those dudes up and
I'm peeking over shoulders andwatching as the Afghanis are are
are very deliberately tryingbecause the gig's up.
We know there's bad dudes inthere, so we're going really
slow.
No need to rush into a room,into your death, right, and

(53:20):
there is nothing like the soundof an RPK or a PKM coming out of
a room.
You know, and you hear thatbelt fed go off and the Afghanis
are kind of screaming.
You know, and you hear thatbelt fed go off and the Afghanis
are kind of screaming and likeyou know what they're saying,
and you got to get on the radioand go like hey, boss,
barricaded shooter, pulling thedudes out of here.
Right now we need to softenthis target more.

(53:42):
Bring the planes back in, bringthe helicopters back in.
And we ended up having to dothat three times before.
Ultimately, it wasn't us thatmade the call, it was the
Afghani commander on scene thatmade the call pulled me aside.
After the third time we triedto go in and he said Ty, if we
keep doing this, somebody'sgoing to get killed.

(54:02):
We know that this is a highschool and you guys don't want
it.
Because we didn't want to levelit.
We have rules of engagement andif we could get dudes out of
there, we didn't want to destroya school that kids go to.
But he made the call and saidhey, we need to drop this entire
place or one of our guys isgoing to get killed.
At that point I got on the radioto my senior enlisted and my

(54:23):
ground force commander and saidhey, sir, this call is coming
from the Afghani commander.
He thinks that we should levelit.
At that point and we had beenon target for a while, we had
been playing that back and forthtennis match with him for a
while he said okay, let's, let'sdrop it.
And so we ended up levelingthat place.
Um, and believe it or not,funniest thing after the place

(54:44):
got hit with a couple of 500pound bombs, um, at the end of
it, there was still one fighterthat came out with his hands up
and a dog next to him.
The dude was literally unscathed, wow not a scratch on him like
his internals must have been alljacked up, but he was like nope
, that's it, I quit, I give upand cruised fucking blood coming

(55:06):
out of his ears.

Speaker 2 (55:07):
Man dude.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
The dude was literally unscathed.
But that was a fight where Icouldn't believe it.
I knew that I witnessed amiracle of God, that not a
single one of us was killed, nota single one of us was wounded.

Speaker 2 (55:19):
How was the threat of mines and or IEDs at that point
?

Speaker 1 (55:23):
It was very real.
It was real, it was very, veryreal.

Speaker 2 (55:26):
Absolutely, hey guys, consider becoming a patron,
where you will get firstexclusive dibs on the video
before it airs to the public andyou'll get to ask the guest
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So that's also another way tosupport the channel.
Thank you, guys, appreciate allof you keep pushing forward.
Make sure you hit that link indescription below never
encounter them or find thembefore they blew up um of dude.

Speaker 1 (55:51):
That's one of the reasons I'm just.
I'm so grateful to God and Iwake up every morning and before
I get out of bed, before I evenlet the bottom of my feet hit
the floor, I thank God that Istill have feet and legs to get
out of bed and stand up on myown, because there were so many
times throughout my career wherewe did encounter IEDs and our

(56:12):
EOD guys.
Those dudes are some of thebaddest dudes on the fucking
planet.
You'd be in a gunfight whilethose dudes are working on a
bomb with bullets flying allover the place.
Fortunately, I was never blownup and, glory be to God, none of
the friends that were with mewere ever blown up.
So throughout my whole career,throughout so many crappy

(56:33):
situations, it is not lost on methat God not only protected me,
but he always protectedeveryone with me.
That's good dude.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
Yeah, it's a blessing , bro, it is a real blessing,
that is good dude.
How many years did you do inthe service?

Speaker 1 (56:48):
20, 20 to the day, and about 14, 15 of those were
in special operations.

Speaker 2 (56:53):
Damn Towards the end.
Were you ready to get out, orwere you hoping to stay in?
Or what was your thoughtprocess?

Speaker 1 (56:59):
No, I was ready, because my last deployment I was
a platoon chief.
It was an Afghanistandeployment.
It was a summertime deployment,so it was fighting season
deployment.
It was a summertime deployment,so it was fighting season.
I took my boys back to theTanguy Valley where I just was a
couple of years before thatwith gold, where that fight that
I just told you about tookplace.

(57:20):
During that time we had lostextortion one, seven, you know,
greatest loss in NSW.

Speaker 2 (57:26):
Was it in that area?

Speaker 1 (57:27):
It was in the same area and I was taking my boys
back to the same area, and so Iknew that we were going to get
into a tremendous amount offights.
And we did.
And so by that time I felt likeI had checked every box.
And again, I was blessed Istill had 10 fingers, 10 toes,
and I was ready to move on.

(57:48):
I was really starting to diveinto education.
I was finishing my bachelor'sdegree.
I was ready to turn the pageand go do something else, and so
I was talking to friends thatwere lawyers, friends that were
businessmen and women trying tofigure out hey, do I want to go
to law school?
Do I want to go to businessschool?
I ended up choosing businessschool, but I was ready to move

(58:10):
on and go do something else,primarily because I felt like I
checked every box.
I wanted to check as a commando.

Speaker 2 (58:17):
You mentioned that particular area of Afghanistan,
Extortion 17, and those Taliban.
How did that work when it cameto the Taliban man?
Is it like because I neverdeployed to Afghanistan, but is
it like, hey, if you're aTaliban from this area, this is
your area of operation?
Or do these Taliban travelthroughout the country of

(58:37):
Afghanistan?

Speaker 1 (58:38):
That's a great question.
No, those dudes travel all overthe place In that particular
area.
The reason why it was so hotwas because it's a valley.
It's the Tangi Valley thatleads right up into the
mountains of Pakistan.
So that's the route intofighting season and the route
out of fighting season, and so,as we were getting there into

(59:01):
spring, early summer, right atthe beginning of summer that's
when all of the fighters arecoming out of hibernation, out
of the mountains of pakistan,are coming down through the
tangy valley in order to spreadout through afghanistan, to take
the fight to the americans andall of the the western forces
that were there, and so we were,like their greeting party,

(59:22):
right there at the mouth of thevalley oh, fuck you guys, would
greet them there pretty muchbecause they were coming down
from the mountains into thevalley.
Yeah, and we're, we were likesurprise, it's Sets and the Guns
to meet you.
Yeah, that was a hell of awelcoming man, yeah, man.
So that was definitely thecraziest deployment of my career

(59:44):
and I was just blessed that Ihappened to be the platoon chief
.
That's awesome, leading thecharge with an incredibly badass
ground force commander and mybuddy scott so a couple years
back, there was a withdrawal ofafghanistan that we all watched
publicly.

Speaker 2 (01:00:02):
What were your thoughts and emotions?

Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
oh, dude, I I was.
I was very much so in myfeelings for a couple of weeks
around that I was heartbroken, Iwas confused, I was angry at
the administration for pullingus out of there the way that we
did it.
I thought it was completelyunbecoming of America.
I thought it was unprofessional.

(01:00:25):
More than anything, I thoughtit was unbecoming of america
because throughout my entiremilitary career, we were taught
that you never leave anyonebehind on the battlefield not
ever right and I felt likethat's what we were doing right,
it was not a goodrepresentation of our country.

Speaker 2 (01:00:45):
I agree, right, and that was all, for I am not a
politically I not a white, I'mnot a extremist, by any means
man.
But I have come to anunderstanding.
There's a difference betweencountry and government.

Speaker 1 (01:00:59):
I agree, yeah, and I just I didn't agree with it.
I was confused because I hadlost so many friends to the
global war on terror inAfghanistan.
I was at a point where I wasasking myself what the hell was
all that for.

Speaker 2 (01:01:17):
Now do you see the bigger picture of how a
government operates and politics?

Speaker 1 (01:01:23):
I do, and, honestly, it makes me feel ashamed.
Yeah, man, it makes me feelashamed.
Like what the hell are we doing?
This country is $34 trillion indebt now as a result of all of
that madness.
And what did we get out of it?

(01:01:43):
What did we change in thoseplaces?

Speaker 2 (01:01:47):
Well, I mean companies benefited from the war
.
They profited big time, Atremendous amount.

Speaker 1 (01:01:53):
And guess what?
It wasn't our families, correct, we were the ones over there
fighting, but it wasn't ourfamilies benefiting from it,
right?
You know what I mean?
Yeah, you've got these big asscompanies where you know, and
all these politicians that aresupposedly only on paper, making
80, 90 000 a year, but they'refucking multi-millionaires.
Now, excuse my french the crime, dude.

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
It's a fucking crime.
It's corrupt, crazy.
It is literally unethical.

Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
It's evil bro, it's fucking literally evil and
criminal in my opinion, and notall of them, of course there are
no.

Speaker 2 (01:02:22):
I hear what you're saying politics too, right, uh.

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
But make no mistake, it's not lost on me that it was
very unethical the way all ofthat went down, absolutely, man.
Yeah, I agree, dude.
Think about how beautiful andbadass the united states of
america would be if we infusedit with 34 trillion dollars
right now and we pull all thatmoney back.

Speaker 2 (01:02:46):
I was probably that fucking speeding trains from the
fucking west coast to the eastcoast man goodness dude just
like europe?

Speaker 1 (01:02:52):
it would be amazing.
I don't think anybody in thiscountry should be poor, right?

Speaker 2 (01:02:57):
you know what I'm saying at least I mean downtown
san diego, looks like shit mancome on.

Speaker 1 (01:03:00):
This is san diego, california.
It's one of the most beautifulplaces in the world to live and
we got people outside of thisbuilding sleeping on the streets
, struggling with drug addiction, struggling with mental health
afflictions, but we're sendingbillions of dollars overseas to
Ukraine and everything else.

(01:03:21):
To Israel.
We're posturing for some kindof conflict with China and
Taiwan.
Possibly we're posturing forsome kind of conflict with China
and Taiwan.
Possibly maybe it's like whatthe hell are y'all doing?
Like can we focus on our owncountry for a while?

Speaker 2 (01:03:35):
Well, americans, now more than ever, see it for what
it is now.

Speaker 1 (01:03:40):
Thanks to people like you.

Speaker 2 (01:03:41):
And like you man.

Speaker 1 (01:03:44):
Yeah, and like you, but no, well, thank you.
But people like you areoutspreading the word now Like.
This is the real news.
Right, correct?
Because I don't trust CNN.
I don't trust Fox.

Speaker 2 (01:03:54):
Nobody does.
I don't trust.

Speaker 1 (01:03:54):
MSNBC.
I don't trust any of them,Right?
This is where Americans andpeople all over the world are
getting the actual hey, what thefuck happened?

Speaker 2 (01:04:04):
Facts dude.
You know what I mean.
Facts dude.
You know what I mean.
Facts man Wow, I didn'tanticipate that part of the
interview, but I'm glad wefreaking took it there, dude.

Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
Very important.
Yeah, man, I appreciate you.
I appreciate people like you.

Speaker 2 (01:04:14):
Likewise, dude Likewise.
So you went through business,you went through college.
How was that experience for you, man?

Speaker 1 (01:04:32):
So I did my undergraduate studies online
with Ashford University thatlater became the University of
Arizona Global Campus, and whenI started my undergraduate
degree it was right at aroundthe 15-year mark, and I'm
grateful because I had mentorsin the Navy men and women, seals
and people that were not SEALs,that loved me and cared about
me and they were like hey, bro,you're about five years from

(01:04:53):
retirement, are you coming?
Are you going?
What are you doing to preparefor life after the military?
Are you going to college?

Speaker 2 (01:04:58):
Oh, you're so lucky dude.

Speaker 1 (01:05:00):
I am so blessed and highly favored by God, but these
people loved me enough to careabout what my future would look
like when I no longer belong tothem Right, and so I ended up
getting enrolled at AshfordUniversity and found that I was
actually very talented atacademics Like none of it was

(01:05:21):
that hard to me, at least in myundergraduate studies.
Now, when I got to grad schoolat USC, that was another thing.
Because I did not enjoy financeand accounting and statistics.
I was definitely challenged atthat stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:05:33):
What about?
It was challenging to you.

Speaker 1 (01:05:35):
I had never been good at math.
I had never believed that I wasgood at math.
In fact, I was always tellingmyself I hate math, I suck at
math.

Speaker 2 (01:05:44):
right, and maybe that's true, but it certainly
didn't help that I was tellingmyself that well, I mean, I suck
at math, right, but I don'teven think if I told myself I'm
great at math, I would excel.
You know what I mean?
I'm pretty sure I would stillsuck at math, man.
So was there a change?
Did you actually excel in math?

Speaker 1 (01:06:03):
no, it wasn't that I excelled in it.
It's that I realized wait aminute, like I, I can do this
okay I might not like it, butlike yeah I can do it if I
buckle down and and study andand like did you have to learn
it?
Yeah, like I had to try yeah itcame everything else.
I didn't really have to try, Idid it anyway, but just because
that was my mindset at the point, like, wait a minute, this is

(01:06:25):
the assignment read all 28 ofthese pages.
Okay, that's the, that is themission.
I'm reading every word on all28 pages, right?
But it wasn't like oh man, Igotta really fight to retain the
information and understand it,whereas in math it was like no,
I like everybody, turn off allwhite noise.

Speaker 2 (01:06:43):
I gotta buckle down and really were you like doing a
little study?

Speaker 1 (01:06:46):
cheat sheets and guys dude I, I was tricks everything
that I do, it's like I'moverdoing it, so like, yeah, I
like every trick in the book.
I was focused on making sure Iwas learning and I was gonna
pass going to war with that mathabsolutely you know like I have
photos of that, like my ex-wifetook of me, and it'd be like

(01:07:06):
one o'clock in the morning andI'm sitting at the dining room
table and I got a Jack and Cokeright here.
I'm in a tank top, you know,and I'm just surrounded by books
with my computer in front of me.
I took it very seriously.

Speaker 2 (01:07:18):
You know, it doesn't matter if you're shooting a gun
at a range and working on yourskillset or sitting at a table
with a book.
It's all the same concept ofputting in the effort to become
proficient in a skill set.
You'll get out of it what youput into it, exactly.
I have a six-year-old daughter,so that's what I try to teach
her.
She's only six man, so I'm arealist.

Speaker 1 (01:07:39):
No, I get it.
My youngest will be six nextmonth, Nice dude, so you
graduate.

Speaker 2 (01:07:47):
When did you start your business?

Speaker 1 (01:07:49):
So you graduate.
When did you start yourbusiness?
So I launched my first businessVigilance Risk Solutions about
six months before I retired fromthe Navy.
So while I was on terminalleave, I was wrapping up
graduate school and launching myfirst business, and that was in
2016.
Wow dude, can you tell us aboutit?
Yeah, so Vigilance RiskSolutions ended up becoming

(01:08:09):
ComSafe AI as a result of thepandemic, but we started out as
a technology-enabled securityconsultancy called Vigilance
Risk Solutions and we wereworking for some small
businesses, but primarily middlemarket-sized businesses and
large enterprises, andultimately we became a shop of

(01:08:29):
threatened vulnerabilityassessment, risk assessment,
emergency planning.
We would build bespokeweb-based training for some of
these larger companies, likeactive shooter awareness,
workplace violence prevention,corporate travel safety.
We would handle their casemanagement.
So we had a case managementplatform where they could track

(01:08:50):
breadcrumbs of all of theseincidents that happened so that
they could start planning tostay ahead of them.
And then the pandemic hit aboutfour and a half years into that
business.
We were doing really well.
We were already generatingseven figures in revenue.
The pandemic hit and I went ohshit, it's about to destroy that
business model.
Yeah, because even though wehad tech enabled the company,

(01:09:13):
about 80 85 percent of therevenue was still coming from
consulting how important is it?

Speaker 2 (01:09:20):
because there's there's businesses right like,
like corporations, and maybethey want to be cheap and not be
proactive in taking securitymeans.
How much more expensive wouldthey actually be paying once a
fucking catastrophe happens?
Maybe they want to be cheap andnot be proactive in taking
security means.
How much more expensive wouldthey actually be paying once a
fucking catastrophe happens?

Speaker 1 (01:09:34):
A lot more Fantastic question Could you elaborate on
that.
Because we were always trying tokeep them to the left of boom
Correct, because we would tellthem hey, listen, by the time
you come to us, you've alreadylost the time, you've already
lost the resources.
You've lost money becauseyou're a publicly traded company
and this shit's out in the newsnow, and so your stock ticker
is just going down.

(01:09:55):
You're already lost the talent.
Those employees quit or you hadto fire those people and the
lawsuits are already rolling inbecause that woman was sexually
harassed.
And so now you've lost her as atalent.
And what were you paying her?
Half million dollars a year.
Well, that money's gone andit's going to take you another
half million to replace her,especially if you're using a

(01:10:16):
recruiting firm, because theseare very high level people that
make a lot of money and she'ssuing you.
You know what I mean, and theaverage sexual harassment
lawsuit settlement was aroundlike a couple million dollars at
that point in time yeah so,yeah, it's like, hey, you could
have brought us in and we stoodup these, these processes and
these procedures, or you fastforward to where we are now

(01:10:39):
running com safe ai, because wedesigned this technology to
catch it at its inception in theemail channels or in the chat
channels like slack, or teamslike you could have been paying
like what been on besides yourcompany a quarter million
dollars a year for thistechnology or for this process
to know like, if not in realtime, nearly in real time, when

(01:11:00):
it's starting pretty much versusnow.
You got to settle for two, threemillion dollars and that's just
one case, right?

Speaker 2 (01:11:07):
No, I see it, man.
I see it.
You mentioned you have anothercompany.

Speaker 1 (01:11:12):
Yeah, so we became ComSafe AI as a result of the
pandemic.
We came up with the idea, youknow, based on all of our
learnings, that hey, we canactually capture some of these
incidents at their inception.
We don't have to wait for it todevelop.
We don't have to wait for it todevelop.
We don't have to wait for thatperson to actually be
discriminated against oractually be assaulted.

(01:11:35):
We don't have to wait for theperson that's being bullied to
get tired of it and show up tothe campus with a gun ready to
solve the problem on their own.
A lot of these incidents arestarting in email, with people
talking out the side of theirneck, you know, being keyboard
warriors, or in their chatchannels like Slack and
Microsoft Teams.

Speaker 2 (01:11:54):
So what do those things do?
They trigger certain triggerwords.

Speaker 1 (01:11:57):
Great question.
So what CompSafe AI does is asentiment analysis and anomaly
detection platform, so it iswell beyond keyword and key
phrase searching.
It can do that too.
It's just the simplest thingthat the platform can do.
The platform understandssemantics.
It understands sarcasm.

Speaker 2 (01:12:17):
Wow, it's AI.

Speaker 1 (01:12:19):
Yeah, because it's AI .
It understands when someone isjoking versus no, this person is
serious, and the next messageis probably going to be a
physical threat, right, and sothe technology will send
real-time alerts to stakeholdersas that conversation is
happening, in email or chat,depending on the risk that that

(01:12:42):
enterprise wants to look for.
So the enterprise that's.
What's beautiful about ourplatform is that the enterprise
gets to define their risk.
So maybe they don't want tolook for harassment and
discrimination, maybe they onlywant to look for revenue churn.
Well, what is your definitionof revenue churn?
And then the platform will lookfor it.

Speaker 2 (01:13:01):
So, since it's internal and the company,
they're not violating anyprivacy because it's a company,
the company owns all the data.

Speaker 1 (01:13:08):
They're not violating any privacy because it's a
company.
The company owns all the data.
Right Own the email traffic,they own the chat traffic and
the company has a fiduciaryresponsibility, not just to
their stakeholders but to theiremployees in order to make sure
that they're not just protectingemployees, but they're
protecting their revenue, sothey continue to pay their
employees and employees cancontinue to feed their families

(01:13:31):
man, I was just thinking aboutsending an email.

Speaker 2 (01:13:34):
I said I can't wait to beat your guts, and you know
ai may not.
What do you mean by beat yourguts?

Speaker 1 (01:13:45):
well, and what's beautiful about our platform is
that, again, it's it's wellbeyond key phrase and keyword
searching.
This platform understands yourenvironment.
So, after a six to eight weekperiod of time that has been
implemented in that environment,it has a very good
understanding of how peoplecommunicate with one another.

(01:14:08):
Of what you should and shouldnot be talking about Not just
what you should and should notbe communicating about, but it
understands whether, again no,that person is serious versus no
.
That's just how Bill and Tedtalk to one another.
Wow, dude, like they're notactually going to get in a fight
, they're just friends, right?
And if it's unsure, it willlook at the last three to five
communications between thosepeople to gather context that is

(01:14:30):
so wild In order to understandwhether, like no, that's just
Bill and Ted joking with oneanother versus no, they're going
to.
This is going to be a problem.

Speaker 2 (01:14:39):
What is your take on AI in general, what are your
thoughts on it and where do youpredict it to go in the future?

Speaker 1 (01:14:44):
I think that it's very exciting.
I'm really excited to see whatthe world will look like 10
years from now, now that AI hasgone mainstream.
I think that AI is going tomake some of your neighbors
right up the street richer thanyou ever imagined or they ever
imagined they could be.

(01:15:04):
Ai is going to make peoplewealthier than they could ever
dream, and it's going to bepeople you would never guess
would become wealthy.
So I think that AI is going toshorten the wealth gap that we
see all over the world andespecially here in the United
States of America.
I think that AI is going to beresponsible for saving lives.

(01:15:26):
I think that we're going to curediseases as a result of the
invention of this technology.
I'm not afraid of AI like somepeople are afraid of it.
I don't think that we're likeSkynet's going to come down from
the sky and the Terminator'sgoing to show up and kill
everybody and the people thatare left.
They're going to be slaves andnot going to have jobs anymore.
I just I no.

(01:15:46):
I don't think that that's whatGod has in store for us.
And I don't think that that'swhat the good people walking
around in this earth have instore for us.
I think, it's really exciting.

Speaker 2 (01:15:56):
That's awesome, dude.
I feel the same way.
Where can people find youonline or your business?
You have a website you want toshout out yeah, thanks for
asking.

Speaker 1 (01:16:04):
So you can check out CommSafe AI at wwwcomsafeai.
Also, you can check out whatI'm doing as an individual,
paying it forward as anexecutive coach, a mindset coach
, with Hero Consulting.
You can check me out atwwwwearehero and that's hero
with an I.

(01:16:24):
So how do you spell that?
So we W-E-R-A-R-E heroH-I-R-Ocom.
And then also you can follow meon Instagram at Coach Ty Smith.

Speaker 2 (01:16:36):
Nice dude.
Well, bro, it was definitely anhonor having you here, dude.

Speaker 1 (01:16:40):
It was very educational man and I enjoyed
the conversation dude, I reallyenjoyed it too.
Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 2 (01:16:46):
Thank you, dude.
There you guys have it folks.
Another banger for you guys,man.
Very interesting, veryeducational.
I loved it.
If you guys loved it too, makesure you hit that subscribe
button.
Keep pushing forward Unhingedline.

Speaker 1 (01:17:07):
Hector's legend engraved Living life raw, never
been tamed From the hood to thepen.
Truth entails pen.
Hector Bravo, unhinged storynever ends you, Thank you.