From Green Beret to Civilian Leader: JP Cervantes on Mindset, Mentorship & Mission Beyond Service

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Security Out Podcast.
Let's go.
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everybody.
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serve a purpose to help you.
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(00:21):
It's hosted by me, dannyCaballero.
Jp.
Welcome to Security Out Podcast.
How's it going, brother?
It's going good man.
How are you doing?
Doing good man.
I love reaching out to ourlegacy Green Berets.
Man, you've been out here, outin the wild, making things
happen, and one of the things Ilove to highlight is how to

(00:42):
succeed in transition, becauseevery Green Beret has.
Highlight is how to succeed intransition, because every Green
Beret has everything they needto succeed.
They just need to get over thatfear, and what better way of
overcoming that than through aPDSS?
Every time we deployed, we dida PDSS, got our hands-on
knowledge from that other teamof how to succeed in the fight.
And transition is no different.

(01:03):
When we see guys out theresucceeding, doing great things,
leading nonprofits, startingbusinesses, all we have to do is
reach out to them, connect andask them hey brother, what was
it like getting out, how'd youget from point A to point B and
do that transition PDSS.
So today, man, I not only wantto dive into your history, the
background, how you became aGreen Beret, but everything on

(01:24):
the backside, how you got towhere you're at right now.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Oh well, let me start by saying you're right, PDSS is
important, right.
And I think that the biggestthing for a lot of us is that
once we get out, we're stillstuck in who we I don't want to
say who we used to be, becausewe're still that person but what
we used to do Right.
So we get stuck in that and wego like man, I'm an operator,

(01:50):
I'm kicking down doors, and thatare like, yeah, guess what?
But downtown freaking Miami,you ain't going to be doing that
, so, so find somethingdifferent.
Uh, of course, a lot of peoplego the route of, you know,
shooting training.
That's what I used to do andthat's fine if that's what you
like.
But to me it's like, yeah, I dotraining right, because I run a
company that do that.
But the thing is I don't wantto be in the range every single

(02:13):
day.
I already did that, you got toevolve.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
Yeah, I got an.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
A plus on that one, you know.
But you know we get stuck inthe past and I think that's one
of our biggest fears is lettinggo of that adrenaline that we
used to get all the time,letting go of the brotherhood,
which you don't have to let goof the brotherhood, it's just
it's different now and you gotto start adjusting to that.

(02:42):
That's, I think that's thebiggest fear for a lot of people
.
Like I just talked to someonerecently who said I'm scared, I
got no idea what I'm going to do.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
Dude, that's all of us, Every last one of us.
Yeah, man, but it's like divinginto the world.
I always tell guys the teamroom is bigger.
On the outside it doesn't seemthat way at first, but when you
open up the aperture, when youdive into the ecosystems of

(03:11):
LinkedIn, when you get on theFacebook threads, the gray beard
Facebook group, and you realizeall these guys maybe they were
scary when they were your starmajor, but on the outside they
might bust your balls a littlebit, but they're going to give
you insight.
If they can't give you directguidance into what to do because
that's a deep personal journeythey can at least give you a
piece of their journey, a pieceof their background, how they

(03:31):
got their feet on the solidground rather than sitting there
treading water forever.
And that's what I love aboutbeing able to reach out to guys
like yourself, being able togive people like, hey, look,
it's always going to be scary.
Being able to give people likehey, look, it's always going to
be scary.
But once you find one thingthat you enjoy and you want to
try to get into, just keeppulling that thread.
But before we dive into yourtransition story, how did you

(03:53):
find your way into the military.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Oh, man, To be honest , since I was a little kid, my
mother had me like in firstgrade, First and second grade, I
was in a military academy inPuerto Rico.
Oh, wow, I kind of loved it,except for the fact that I talk
a lot.
So I always found myself information with soap in my mouth,
a bar of soap in my mouth.

(04:15):
So I wouldn't talk in formation.
But other than that it wasgreat, it was fun.
I just couldn't keep my mouthshut Right, so I always had to
make a comment.
I was something, so anyway.
So I started with that and thenI always wasn't inclined
towards the military and then,when I was 11 years old, I

(04:36):
discovered the Civil Air Patroland I joined the Civil Air
Patrol and that just took overmy life.
That's everything I did, wasall about the civil patrol Now
in the States, and I've been ina lot of squadrons in the States
and I went through a lot ofcompetitions and I met a lot of
people from the States.
So here in the States, a littlebit different, you know, civil
patrol they they show up maybetwo hours once a week and that's

(05:00):
what they get.
In Puerto Rico is different,different.
The meetings in Puerto Rico areon Saturdays and you start at 8
am and sometimes at 6, you'restill in the squadron.
So it is an entire day thatyou're getting leadership,
training, drill and ceremonies,PT, I mean, you name it, you're
getting all of that.

(05:20):
So when you spend an entire dayover there, that becomes your
family.
And then on Sundays we go likewell, let's practice for the
drill team competition on Sunday.
So now you're taking these kidswhich a lot of them were
trouble kids and you take themout of the streets an entire
weekend and to me that wasawesome.
I saw a lot of people that werein trouble all the time

(05:43):
transitioning to beinglieutenant colonels in the
military now, Wow, Because ofthe structure that the Civil
Patrol gave them.
So to me that gave me thebeginning of what I wanted to do
.
Now I knew I wanted to join themilitary.
I like the leadership, I loveall that.
Of course, initially I wasgoing to go to the Air Force
because it was yeah, it makessense it makes sense, right, and

(06:05):
I always wanted to be a pilot.
So I go like, yeah, I'm going tofly F-16s, I'm going to drop
bombs, I'm going to be cool.
I was wearing the.
I was 16, wearing the coolfreaking aviator glasses, right,
looking cool.

Speaker 1 (06:18):
Watched Top Gun every weekend, didn't you?

Speaker 2 (06:21):
Well, I don't think Top Gun was a thing back then.
This is like 87, 88, you know.
But yeah, no, but I was wearingthe aviator glasses, you know,
looking cool wearing my pilotjacket, even though that I don't
even know what an airplanelooks like in the inside.
But I thought it was cool,right.
But so that really started it.

(06:44):
And then when I went to college,I was still in the civil patrol
.
Uh, then I went to college andI joined the air force rotc.
Uh, so the first two years Idid air force rotc.
Then I decided to transition toarmy rotc, which I never did.
Uh, because when I was sittingover there with the army uhOTC
guys and they were talking aboutall this training and ranger

(07:07):
school and black hats and allthis, I'm like man, I want to be
an instructor, that's what I do, right, I like to teach, I like
to be part of it.
So if I'm an officer, I ain'tgoing to do that.
So literally I left that day.
I left the ROTC complex, I wentstraight to Rio Piedras
Recruiting Station and I walk inthere I say like, hey, I'm

(07:28):
joining the Army.
They're like well, let me talkto you.
No, I already know what I wantJust give me the damn test, I'm
joining.
And they're like man, you're aneasy recruiter.
I'm like, yeah, I already knowwhat I want.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Just went in.
Yeah, I'm in, you know youdon't have to convince me.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
Actually, if you talk too much I might leave because
I get bored.
So, uh, anyway.
So I went over there.
I, I took my test.
Uh, of course in puerto ricoyou have to take a a quick 30,
30 or 40 question english testto make sure you know enough
english.
I don't know how I passed thatone, but I did, and uh, and uh,

(08:04):
and then they take you to takethe asmab.
So I did that, you know, wentto MEPS.
I told them exactly what Iwanted.
Of course they tried tobullshit me at first, like they
always do, but I knew what Iwanted.
I've been around the militarylong enough.
You know people in the CivilAir Patrol, senior members who
were in the military before, andthey told me to do some dots.
So I got what I wanted.

(08:24):
I got airborne school infantry,11 Bravo, and I went straight
to the 82nd, which is exactlywhat I wanted.
So I'm like, all right.
Then after that it's up to meof what I accomplished.
Right, they got me started.
Now it's up to you.

Speaker 1 (08:36):
Yeah, where in the 82nd did you land?
I was in the second of the 325.
Oh man, I was going to say Iwas hoping you'd say 2504.

Speaker 2 (08:44):
Oh, the world's older Dude so many great individuals
come from the 82nd man.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
I think it's like the undergraduate's degree for
being a professional soldier.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
Let me tell you when I was in group.
So when I was in the 82nd, Iwas in Alpha Company first, but
then I went to the Scout Platoonwhen I was in group.
So when I was in the 82nd, Iwas in Alpha Company first, but
then I went to the Scout Platoon.
So I was in the Recon Platoon.
Yeah, and I want to say almosteveryone, but maybe three that
were in my platoon ended up ingroup.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
Yeah, yeah, tony Pastor, captain AIDS, I mean
Mike Vitra, I mean most of theguys that were with me in that
platoon ended up going to eitherthird group or seventh group.
It was amazing, because when Istart running into it, I'm like
what are you doing?
They're like well, we decidedwith this skinny ass, mofo can

(09:38):
do it, we can do it too all ittakes that one guy.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
We had the same thing .
All it takes that first guy.
For us it was pete.
As soon as pete made it, itgave everybody else that
strength of like, and not from aplace of like, oh, if he can
make it, no, we're like fuck,yeah, we can do this if pete can
make it.
I know I can do it, we can alldo it.
And I mean by the time we gotdone with our second, uh, like
you know that that originalfamily that you know en enlisted

(10:03):
and was in the same deploymentcycle as I was, as soon as the
first couple of guys went toselection, it was like three or
four or five, six, seven andlike it's like my PL went,
platoon sergeant went.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
Yeah, and it's funny because I went to selection, I
was already out of the 82nd.
I went to Panama for the lastyear before Panama shut down.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
Oh, no shit.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
And I saw grown ass men crying when the flag was
coming down and they're like Idon't want to live one of them
was sire major reyes.
I don't know if you remembersire major reyes, but yeah, he
cried like a baby.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
Uh, I remember and I'm gonna keep telling him that
I think it's one of the biggestblunders we ever had.
As a military, coming from aPanamanian myself, it would have
been cool to have beenstationed in Panama.
I think it was such a strategicvalue to have that.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
You know what it was different?
It gave you a lot of freedom,right, a lot of freedom to get
in trouble too, right, but Ithink it gave you a lot of
freedom, especially for, like, Ihad a lot of soldiers and I was
an NCO at the time, so I had alot of guys in my squad who that
was the first time, the firstduty station they're 19 years

(11:13):
old the first time they've beenout of their homes, and now
they're thrown into Panama in aforeign language, right, and
they're over there, coming,going, like she loves me.
I'm like she don't even knowhow to say I love you in English
.
What are you talking about?
Right?
But it's just that experiencealone is something that a lot of
people don't get, and that waswhat I was trying to explain

(11:35):
that it might be hard, butyou're going to appreciate this
experience later, becausethere's a lot of people in the
military that wish they left theStates, and they did 30 years
and never left the States.

Speaker 1 (11:45):
That's crazy, too to think about that.
That's something I mean.
It's like a unicorn.
When you meet somebody that'sbeen in through the entirety of
GWAT and they never leftanywhere, it's like where have
you been?

Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah, I know, I know it's like, yeah, so I went and
put a tent in JRTC and that waspretty cool.
And I know it's like, yeah, soI went and put a tent in JRTC
and that was pretty cool.
And don't get me wrong, it'snot their fault.
They just because there's afriend of mine, javi, and his
son.
He was, I think he was in the10th mountain first and then, as
he was leaving, his unit gottasked to deploy, and he's like

(12:21):
son of a, and then he goes toAlaska.
He's in Alaska, nothinghappened.
The two deployments that we'resupposed to do for training to
Europe got kank as soon as heleaves, unit deploys and he's
like what is going on?
And then he gets to the 82ndand then he gets orders to go to
Italy a few years later, andthen his unit- deploys.

(12:44):
Sometimes the universe isworking against you.
Well, at least you got to go toitaly.
You know it's like all right,it's not a deployment, it's a
pcs, but hey, you got somethingoh my gosh no but so that that's
how my, uh, my thing started.
And then when I was in panamathat's when I went to selection
um, there was a few of us thatwent together.
I think I'm not pretty sure Ithink I was the only one that

(13:05):
made it from that little group,but it was like three of us.
But that inspired a lot ofother guys to go and do it after
that, which is great.
Um, and everybody asked me sowhat did you do for training?
I was like I did it.
I really didn't.
I was already in the infantry,so I was rocking all the time, I
was running all the time.
The only thing I really did andI think I did it twice is I

(13:28):
practiced the water jug carrots,right, yeah, because my
forearms are not that freakinggreat, right?
I mean, I was 130 pounds, 125,130 pounds, right.
So that's the only thing Itried.
A few times I'm like, okay,this is going to suck, there's
nothing I can do to train for me, this is just going to suck, uh
.
So I just went out there anddidn't quit, yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:50):
You know that's the same thing.
I came back from a deploymentand went straight into selection
and nowadays there's so manyfitness programs and so many
like coaches and andsubscription based models where
you can get a play-by-playtraining guideline to go to
selection.
I'm like you just don't quit,you just don't quit.

(14:10):
I think it's more of a mindgame and if you have more ahead
of you that you're hoping for,they have this positive focus
and almost like a hyper-focus,almost just addictive behavior
of like I need to get here, Ineed to make it out of here.
That's going to be morebeneficial than any program.
I think guys get too wrappedaround the perfect meal plan,

(14:32):
the perfect workouts, dudepull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, run
and rock and mindset.
The mindset will do more foryou than paying $29.99 a month
for a plan.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
A lot of people don't believe me when I tell them
most of the big guys that showedup with big muscles and
selections they were the firstones to quit.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
They were the first ones to quit.
And there I am.
They call me the skinny toughguy.
That's how they call me, andyeah, the skinny tough guy.
I'm like dude because I'm nottough.
I'm hurting, just like you.
Yeah, I'm just not bitchingabout it because it's going to
hurt anyway, right.
So so I think that selectionyet and don't get me wrong If

(15:11):
you're, if you are out there andyou're enrolling to one of
these programs, you know, takeadvantage of that.
That's something that we didn'thave before.
But at the end of the day isare you going there for the
right reasons?
Yeah, are you going there justbecause everybody's doing it?
Are you going there because youwant to be cool?
Or are you going to selectionbecause you really, really want

(15:34):
to do that job?
This is the lifestyle I'mlooking for.
That's going to make thedifference.
When you go there and yourmindset, right, it's like this
is not about just passing, thisis about the rest of my life.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
And that's the way I looked at it when I won.
Two reasons One, this is what Iwant to do.
This is what I want to do,period.
And two, I'm not going back toPanama and face my squad and
tell them I quit, right, becauseI was their NCO.
Now I'll tell them I didn't getselected, okay, that's fine,
but I will not tell him I quit.
That will not happen.
Uh, so as long as as you'rethere for the right reasons, uh,

(16:09):
I think that you won't quit.
That like quitting is not achoice.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
Yeah, that's a.
That's the one thing thatpeople don't talk about much is,
uh, like that mentality of I'llquit tomorrow or I'll quit in
another hour.
You just tell yourself, likeall right, give yourself an hour
.
Like all right, tomorrow I'llquit.
Like just those mind games thatyou play with yourself to keep
yourself focused, I can.
One thing that we always said,uh and it translated all the way

(16:36):
through to selection was like Ican do anything for five
minutes.
If I can do anything for fiveminutes, I can do anything for
10 minutes.
It's like I can do anything for10 minutes.
It's like I just got to figureout like that increment of
suffering and just reset theclock right Five more minutes, I
can suffer for another fiveminutes.
And if you need a smallerincrement basically like what
I'm trying to define for you isthat mentality of understanding

(16:57):
that your mind will get youthrough so much if you train it,
because your body's not goingto be the thing that gives up
unless you have a horrible,catastrophic injury.
It's going to be your mind.
Your mind's going to be playingtricks on you.
I can't do this and you have totemper that.
You have to constantly pushthat.
Whether it's through.
Find your week, that's the onething I will say.

(17:18):
Find your weakest event andtrain the fuck out of it if it
it's running.
Hey, I hate running.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
Guess what that is part of my plan.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
That is part of my workout weekly plan.
I run and I tell myself I cando anything for five more
minutes.
When that virtual coach for myrunning plan is telling me to
keep going, I know that I cansay I can keep going, I can keep
the speed up, I can keep itgoing you know, don't yeah, I'm
sorry, no, when I was in the82nd, we had a platoon sergeant

(17:50):
when I was in the scout platoon.

Speaker 2 (17:51):
Uh, uh, big daddy epps, that's how we call him.
Big daddy epps, sergeant epps,pure urban steel, that's how we
call himself.
Uh, and he, hey, he was amachine, I'll tell, tell you
that.
But he took us every Monday onwhat he called a quick
three-mile run.
I know it.
It always ended up being fiveto eight miles.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:15):
And he loved just running the fuck out of us,
right, and he's like, oh, thatbeer from the weekend, we're
going to get rid of it today.
And I remember because thefirst three miles he always us
like just dashed, like keep upwith me, and he was a good
runner.
And after he smoked you in thefirst three miles and you feel

(18:35):
like you can go no more, healways turned back around and he
goes like you guys are prettymuch done and I was like, yeah,
he's like, well, guess what?
That's your mind telling youthat your body can go another
five miles.
Let's go, boys.
But he was right.
I mean, he was trying to teachyou something.
It's like you're quitting uphere but your body can still do

(18:57):
so much more, probably two orthree times what you think you
can do.

Speaker 1 (19:01):
Yeah, we had the same thing.
Our platoon sergeant was thesame way.
Shout out to you, sergeant Mack.
And it was just understanding.
I think that's what ultimatelyhelps a lot of us that started
out in the regular Army.
We have the NCOs that can buildthat endurance and build that
no-quit mentality and you can doit on your own that's.

(19:23):
I mean, 18 X3s have beensucceeding for eons now.
But it definitely helps havingthat senior guy in the platoon
that will run the absolute dogshit out of you and show you
that you can keep going Likeit's going to suck, but you get
done.
And what happens as soon asyou're back in the company area,
everybody's back to normal,nobody's hobbling company area,

(19:46):
everybody's back to normal,nobody's hobbling.
Nobody's like oh shit, like wecould, we can do this.
We just did it and he'll thatlike.

Speaker 2 (19:49):
More likely that guy will walk away, go to the smoke
pit and smoke fucking marble redit's funny because when I, when
I first got to the scoutplatoon, I mean I was a good
rocker, but running not my bestone, right, and he, he used to
get on me.
Uh, sergeant Epps goes likelisten, big guy, is like you
either keep up with me in theruns or you're going to have to

(20:10):
go back to the line.
And I go like I'm like oh snap.
And so my, my, my, uh, a squadleader told me uh, he's giving
you two months and you betterkeep up with the runs and you
better max your run too, becauseit was not just keeping up with
the runs in the pt test, youhave to max the run if you want
to stay in the scout platoon.
Yeah, like holy snaps, max therun.

(20:33):
I gotta shave like 40 seconds.
That's a lot, right, I'm likewhoa, so I'm like okay.
So you know what.
It was the actual platoon guysthat took turns and they go like
every afternoon a different guyfrom the platoon took me out on
a run.
No shit, and they're like wedon't going to run fast, we're
just going to build, build your,your cardio.
And they took me out everysingle afternoon.

(20:54):
They took their own time to dothat.
And next thing, you know, we doa PT test.
I maxed the run for the firsttime in my career, and not only
that when I came back into youknow, we got done with the PT
test and all that.
And then we go to the CP andtalk about what we're going to
do throughout the day.

(21:15):
The first thing that SergeantEpps did he stood up, woke up to
me, shook my hand, gave me ahug.
He said I knew you could do it,big guy.
And I was like, oh see, he wasmessing with me this whole time.
Uh, you know, kick me out ofthe scout platoon and all that.
But he knew I could do betterand he wanted to push me to do
better.
And and that's the differencebetween that mentality and the

(21:36):
mentality of these days is like,oh, they're messing with me.
Oh, my God, I'm crying, I'm likeyou know they're trying to
build character man.

Speaker 1 (21:43):
It works.
Yeah, and that's arguably thathelps you find that confidence
too that go to selection, getselected, and we don't talk
about it enough.
Mentorship doesn't just happenin the regular army, it happens
in special operations.
You're still an NCO when youmade it to group go through the
Q course.

(22:03):
What was it like getting thereand what was mentorship like in
the ODA for you?

Speaker 2 (22:11):
Well, so it was surreal, to be honest.
I got there and I walk into theteam room and I see all these
guys that know each other.
I'm just a new guy, right,because when I got to my team,
all the guys that graduated theQ course with me were still in
language school, so I didn'thave to go to language school,
so so so I went to my team roomso I was alone and so I walked

(22:36):
in there and I and I met.
I met amazing guys, right, and,to be honest, mentorship
started right away.
Uh, so, of course, you know youalways got the one guy that
want to mess with you becauseyou're the new guy and all that.
Great, I had that, I had that.
But I walked in and the firstthing it was Chuck Jackson was a

(22:56):
senior A-team, bravo in theteam.
So I walked in and, you know, Iintroduced myself to Team
Sargent to start and talk to me.
He goes like, hey, that's chuckjackson, that's the 18th, bravo
, he's gonna, you know, he'sgonna talk you through
everything you need.
So I walk over there and like,hey, chuck, yeah, I'm your
junior, bravo.
He's like no, you're the senior, bravo, I'm.
Like no, I'm your junior, bravo.
He's like no, I am gonna showyou everything you need to know,

(23:19):
because I'm out of here oh shitI was like what?
So, you know, he's like, yeah,I'm going to battalion, sorry.
And so he literally gave melike a whole spiel for like two
days and showed me all theinventories.
I took over everything and hewas gone, man, and I was like,

(23:39):
okay, this sucks, yeah, you know.
So one of the best things.
Well, you know, he stayed inthe team for a little bit
because he ended up being theFox, but I was a senior Bravo,
so of course I could use him formentorship and things like that
.
But then one of the things I didand I went to an ex-ODA next
door and I go like, hey, guys, Ineed help, how you doing, I

(24:03):
want requests.
And so the Bravo's thereimmediately goes like, hey, hold
on, didn't you get back herefrom the Q course?
I'm like, yeah, and didn't youdo two months as an assistant
instructor over there at theBravo course?
I'm like I did right before Icame here.
He's like, great, we're goingto teach you everything you need
to know about ammo, forecast,ammo, this, and that we got
mortar training coming up.

(24:24):
Can you give us the training,because we haven't done it in a
while?
Like perfect.
So it ended up being great,right, and the mentorship didn't
come just from my team, it camefrom other detachments as well.
So I do have to appreciate that.
You know other A-Team Bravojust helping me out because they
don't want you to fail.

Speaker 1 (24:43):
Yes, absolutely to fail.

Speaker 2 (24:44):
yes, you know of course you know, in the teams
you got the team rivalries andthat that's always going to
happen because everybody want toget that colombia deployment
everybody want to get.
So you got to fight for it,right, yeah, but at the end of
the day, when we went to combat,we all went together right.
So at that point, if you didn'tmentor your people right, those
are the people that either yourQRF, those are the people that

(25:05):
are either kicking the door inwith you.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
So if you didn't do your job right, that's on you,
yeah, and you were in beforeeverything kicked off with 9-11,
with the deployments.
What was that like?
Navigating that from adetachment perspective?
Like you have the experiencethat you were deployed, you were
in panama.

(25:28):
What was it like?
Shifting the mindset of like,oh fuck, we're going to combat
now that's something that wedon't really talk about.
Like the early years of greenberets there's so much knowledge
and so much culture thatshifted overnight with our green
berets no, you're, you're right, you know.

Speaker 2 (25:44):
So everybody's talking about J-sets and
Colombia and Peru and this, andthat Everybody's having a great
time.
Everybody mad because Venezuelagot canceled because of Chavez.
You know, that's still the talk, even though it happened here.
All right, so so it's funnybecause immediately after 9-11
happened, we knew, we knew itwas going to happen, like, we

(26:06):
knew we were going to combat and, uh, and the shift, honestly,
was kind of seamless Uh, becausethe team sergeant turned around
and he literally told us.
He said, guys, everything thatwe've been doing until now is
training for this.
We're we're not doing anythingdifferent.

(26:27):
The skills that we've beendoing until now is training for
this.
We're not doing anythingdifferent.
The skills that we've beentraining on, the skills that we
continue to sharpen, is exactlywhat we're going to need to go
there.
The difference is culture.
So we need to startunderstanding the culture and
the environment that we're goingto be going into.
But, other than that, youalready have everything you need

(26:49):
to succeed in combat.
You just got to trust yourskills and trust your teammates.
And uh, and when, when the teamsign said that, I was like, oh
snap, okay, it kind of like gaveyou a boost of confidence,
right.
And then of course, we wethere's still guys around that
we're doing this a storm, andeven I mean we even had guys
from el salvador no shit yeah,and they're like, and they're

(27:12):
like okay, this, this what youcan expect.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
It's like and they're gonna tell you it's like el
salvador was different inafghanistan, but I can tell you
what to expect when bullets comeyour way something people don't
even talk about anymore is it'slike we had combat, we had guys
in combat, we lost guys in ElSalvador and people like, just
like, it just has been lost tohistory.
They don't understand thatbefore we were, we were getting

(27:35):
ready to go to Afghanistan andIraq.
Seventh group still hadrelative combat experience from
what the guys had been doing onthe ground in El Salvador, which
is crazy.

Speaker 2 (27:44):
But if you think about it, how many ODAs have
been in Colombia doing a Jason?
And they get shot at by thefart.

Speaker 1 (27:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
I know I did Right, right, and how many other teams
that happened maybe not in anintense firefight or anything
like that, but hey, they'regetting shot at.
It's not like they're overthere in a five-star hotel Well,
not all the time in a five-starhotel, not all the time, not
all the time in a five-starhotel.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
You.

Speaker 2 (28:06):
Bogota boys yeah, but if you're in Tolomita, if
you're in La Randia, right, yes,you are in the middle of
nowhere and you're surrounded byfarts.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
So everywhere you go you got the chance of getting
shot at because people don'tlike you over there.
So so yeah, it's, it's one ofthose that, because right before
we went to Afghanistan we werein Columbia and we got shot up
by the fire right during one ofour training, training sessions
outside.
Of course they kind of messedup because they didn't realize
we're practicing ambush and itwas a live fire ambush.
And then of course all ourColombians go like, like

(28:44):
everybody lie, go get him oh itwas fun times, it was a great
experience for me, right, uh.
But uh, we're like at one pointwe had to hold them back, go
like stop guys, stops guys,because the guy kept running and
we're like they're trying tolure you into an ambush.
Yeah, exactly what you'repracticing over there they're
trying to do to you over there.

(29:04):
So slow down, you know that'sfart land over there.
So a lot of people don'trealize that.
They don't realize that specialoperations are in a constant
hostile environment.
They don't need to be inAfghanistan.
They don't need to be in.
Iraq to be in harm's way.

Speaker 1 (29:21):
Absolutely.
I mean, look at our guys inNiger, like it's all.
Wherever you, wherever GreenBerets are in the world, there
is a real threat.

Speaker 2 (29:31):
And it's a reason we're there.

Speaker 1 (29:32):
Yeah, but it's a, it's a great lesson for guys
listening.
If you're still in and you havethis idea that like oh man, you
missed out on Afghanistan.
Like no, no, you're trainingand you're working towards your
next big Friday night footballgame, you don't know when it's
coming and I hope that when thetime comes you have a team

(29:53):
sergeant that's willing to sayexactly what yours did to you,
said, hey, we're ready for this,we've trained for this.
It's just a different AOR.
It might be a very differentAOR.
We don't know where it's coming.
Maybe Taiwan, who knows?

Speaker 2 (30:06):
Maybe it's like a football team.
Every year they're training forthe Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (30:13):
And it's no different .
They don't always go there.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
But when they do what now?
Oh snap, I made it.
What now?
Well, you train for this forthe last 15 years.
It's time to step up.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
Absolutely.
You know, in that environment,in that time period of the early
GWAT deployments, did you stillalways know like, okay, I'm
doing this, I'm doing this, I'mgoing to be career?
And then how did you plan andnavigate your career from that
perspective of like, okay, howdo I stay on the team a little
longer, what do I need to do?

Speaker 2 (30:47):
So I knew this is what I wanted to do.
I mean, uh, especially aftergoing to afghanistan with my uh
first detachment, oda 741, uh, Iknew that's that's what I
wanted the getting to know theguys, the brotherhood you know,
and all that is like this, is it?
This is what I need to do, uh,and not only that.

(31:07):
I started thinking I need to bebetter at what I do, because
lives are at stake and ifsomething happens to one of my
teammates, I don't want it to bemy fault.
I want, if something happens Imean, you're a war right, like,
and I know, a lot of times weget mad at the bad guys because
they kill our friend, but we'retrying to kill their friends too

(31:30):
, right.

Speaker 1 (31:31):
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (31:32):
So the thing is to me , as long as it was not a blank
error on our part, that it justhappened to be that straight
bullet or whatever, I'm notsaying that's something that you
can live with, be happy about,but that's something that you're
conscious no, you dideverything possible.
It just didn't work out Right.
Uh, and, and then your friendswill know, you did everything

(31:54):
possible.
So that's what I wanted to do.
I wanted to be better, I wantedto get better.
And then, uh, there was, therewas our first casualty in
Afghanistan Orlando Morales.
When that happened, that gaveme a lot of rage.
We were good friends, but atthe same time it kind of like

(32:16):
shifted my mindset.
I started looking at everythingthat happened and all the flaws
and all the flaws, and then Irealized at that point, as we
were returning back home, Istarted realizing and I said,
okay, there was a lot of flaws,there was a lot of leadership

(32:37):
failure that happened in hisdetachment we're in the same
base but there were twodifferent detachments A lot of
leadership failures thathappened, but there's nothing I
could have done.
Right, I couldn't affect that.
Uh, the calls that theleadership made, I couldn't do
that.
Uh, even you know, I always tellpeople as an E6, uh, or even as
an E7, you can come up withthis great idea and you said,

(32:58):
man, I think we should do this.
And people the team sergeant,the warrant, the captain, they
might be like, oh man, that's agreat idea.
You come back as a W1, you said, hey, listen, I think we should
do this, chief, that's afreaking great idea.
I'm like, dude, it's the sameguy just two minutes later with
a different rank and the sameidea.
Right, it's like.
But a lot of times, I think alot of times, leadership don't

(33:20):
appreciate what the youngest guyin the team got to bring to the
table.
Sometimes not all the time Idon't want to say that happens
all the time, but sometimes so,and I think that was the case.
In that point, there was a lotof great advice from the younger
guys that they didn't follow.
And so when I'm coming home, Idecided how do I change that?

(33:42):
I'm just an E6.
I can't change that.
Right, I can't influence that.
And I talked to a great friendstill great friend, angel
Gonzalez, chief Angel Gonzalez,and he told me well if you want
to influence the decision makingprocess, you got to become a
leader and like you are alreadya leader.

(34:13):
But the thing is you need torank and I go like that makes no
sense to me.
He goes like I know it doesn'tmake sense, but it's the way it
works, whether you like it ornot.
And I go like okay.
So I came back and that's whatI decided to drop a warm packet
Now.
So, and before people starttalking, I did make the E7 list,
all right.
Right, I was not one of those Icouldn't make.

(34:37):
I was not one of those thatcouldn't make E7.
I made seven, all right, but Istill decided to keep my packet.
A lot of people thought I wasgoing to pull it out.
I kept my packet in there.
It's like this is what I wantto do, and let me tell you my
very first deployment as awarrant, I didn't even complete
the entire basic course becauseduring the ASOC portion they

(34:58):
pulled me out straight to go tomy team, to Iraq, to the first
SIFLI with 741.
So I left, left early, got mycertificate, oh, I'm gone.
I left early and and at thatpoint I realized that I made the
right choice uh, we have acaptain that was an nco combat
experience.
Uh, captain thompson, uh, mikethompson el gato.

(35:21):
If you guys don't know him, Ithink he's running out of lives.
He got like 9, 15 lives.
Now, I don't know him, I thinkhe's running out of lives.
He got like 9, 15 lives now, Idon't know.
But a lot of experience, right.
But, believe it or not, he didlisten.
You know he's angry all thetime, but once in a while when I
sat down and I'm like, hey, sir, I totally agree with what you
want to do.
However, I just want to throwthis out there, and if you still

(35:45):
want to do that, I support you.
But I just want you to look atthis real quick.
A lot of times it goes like allright, I hate to say, I hate to
say with this brown new dot,mosquito dot, you know it's
right, but you're right, but youknow.
And then I started realizingholy snap Angel was right.
Right, because that would havebeen the same thing I would say

(36:08):
less than a year ago.

Speaker 1 (36:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
Right and at that point I realized that was the
right decision.
That was the right decision Igo like now.
I got to make sure that all thestuff that I complain about
that was wrong with leadership.
I don't make the same mistakes.

Speaker 1 (36:24):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
And that's exactly what I did, and I pissed off a
lot of people.
I did because I was politicallyincorrect.
I'm like, oh, that's bullshit,I don't want to do that.
My team is not going to do that.
You want to fire me?
Go ahead.
Yeah, but it's not going tohappen.
Especially when I became adetachment commander for almost
three years, I was like, no,it's not going to happen.
And people didn't like it.

(36:45):
It's like, oh, he's aleadership challenge.
No, I just don't run aroundfreaking, just saying yes, sir,
like you captains do, I was the.
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
That's the.
That's a dream for a warrantofficer.
Having that, having no captain,being the detachment commander
for your ODA.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
Let me tell you it was hard.
It was hard.
I'd rather be an assistantdetachment commander.
To be honest with you andthat's an advice I give a lot of
people, because I have known alot of guys that they get to the
team and immediately they wantto be a detachment commander.
I'm like, bro, that's not whatyou sign up for.
If you wanted to be adetachment commander, you should
go to OCS.

(37:28):
You're an assistant detachmentcommander.
You are the continuity in theteam.
There's a reason you're there.
The captain is going to comeand go, the team is going to
come and go.
You're still going to be inthat team.

Speaker 1 (37:39):
It's literally, you're doing two jobs.

Speaker 2 (37:42):
So I need you to concentrate in one mentoring
that captain right, not makinghim look bad.
You need to make him look good.
And also, believe it or not,you have to mentor team
sergeants because, listen, let'sbe honest, team sergeants don't
know it all.
Even that in their minds theydo, right, they don't know it

(38:05):
all all.
There's a lot of team sergeantsthat were what in in group for
like four years and now they'rea team sergeant because they
came in late.
They were senior e7s and nowthey're a team sergeant.
I know more about the team thatyou do.
You just happen to have therank uh, so you know what I'm
saying.
It's like.
So now, luckily for me, I havevery seasoned team sergeants
when I came through, so I didn'thave that problem and they

(38:32):
still thought they kneweverything.
But you have to mentor bothways.
Just like the team sergeant hasto mentor not one the captain,
just like that captain has tomentor that, because it goes all
around right, everybody getssomething to bring to the table.
So that's the first thing Itell them.
I'm like now, if it justhappened that by chance you end
up taking command of a team,that's great, get that
experience.

(38:53):
But don't sit there trying tohold that position forever.
That's not your job.
To me, what happened was that Iwas in C-37.
I was in the assault force.
I was an assistant detachmentcommander, my job and I had a
Humvee rollover accident.
So at that point I couldn't bean assaulter anymore.

(39:14):
And luckily, because I was inC-37, they had the RSTs, which
later became the AFO detachment.
So they had the RSTs and theRSTs are a specialized team that
have no captain.
He's run by a warrant officer.
So the warrant there wasleaving and they go like well,
jp can't be an assaulter anymore.

(39:35):
While he recovers, let's puthim in a team.
So that's how I took command ofthat team.
It just happened to be theright place at the right time
with the wrong injuries.
But that's how it took commandof the team and, yeah, it was a
blessing.
I learned a lot, but I willtell everyone that is not my

(39:56):
primary job.

Speaker 1 (39:57):
It's a lot.
It's a lot to fucking take on.
Be happy with being a warrantofficer and being able to do
your job and have you know nothave anybody come in your lane,
Because if you take over theownership of the detachment
commander, that's another duty,that's another responsibility.

Speaker 2 (40:16):
Don't get me wrong.
I learned so much, but at thesame time I was trying to do
that and I was trying to do whata warrant would do because we
didn't have one.
So, luckily for me, we hadgreat, great ncos in that team.
You know, the team sergeant, uh, all the other ncos, and, uh,
one of them ended up becoming awarrant, juan martillo uh, one
more, yeah yeah, juanito,juanito, I ended up tasking him

(40:40):
basically with the warrant stuff.
Yeah and he's like oh snap, thisis the one stuff, yeah.
And he's like, oh snap, this isthe Warren stuff.
I can do this, let me become aWarren.

Speaker 1 (40:48):
Yeah, that's the best way to mentor and continue
breathing life into the Warrencohort is by identifying the
guys that you know there aregreat NCOs but in the reality
it's like man, like you'd bemuch better off and much more
and you would really love yourjob if you'd be a warrant
officer, if you just believed init.

(41:09):
And I think we finally, for thelast few years, I would say for
the last seven to eight years,guys, I finally understand it
and we've killed that idea oflike the lazy fat warrant, like
it is hard charging, go gettersall throughout group.
The guys that I went throughthe warrant course were insane,

(41:29):
insanely brilliant.
Uh, isaiah, that's one of thesmartest people I ever met and
one of the fittest dudes like.
And you're starting to breedout that idea, the idea of the
culture of like just being theslob, the fat guy on the team,
the guy that disappears.
It's still funny to make fun of,but that's not the reality.
I mean looking at guys that arein the position right now like

(41:50):
they're just as capable, they'rejust as deadly, they are
phenomenal.
Athletes Like.
That's the.
Everybody should be the sameacross the board when it comes
to leadership, even more so.
It's incredibly harder theolder you get too.

Speaker 2 (42:09):
I'm glad that you said that is because when I see
those memes, a lot of people askme about them.
It's like you get offended bythose memes and I go like no.
And I'm going to tell you why.
Those memes are basically basedon regular Army warrant
officers.

Speaker 1 (42:21):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (42:22):
Right, a lot of people don't understand there's
a big difference.
Huge warrant officer yes, right, a lot of people don't
understand there's a bigdifference.
Huge I remember you could neverfind the maintenance warrant
when I was in the 82nd when yousaw chief in the motor pool.
You never did Never.
Or the supply chief yeah, younever saw him, right, but that's
based on regular army warrants.
And I tell people what youdon't understand about a special
operations or an SF warrantthey got to work twice as hard

(42:45):
One.
They can't let the team beatthem because then they make fun
of them all the time.
Right, if you go to the rangeand the team beats you, they're
going to talk shit all day.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
All day, every day.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
So, but then a lot of people don't realize I was in
the team room sometimes at 5 am.
The team didn't even get inuntil about 7.30 because we had
late PT.
That way we beat the traffic Atabout 7.30 to do PT because I'm
working on a mic on, I'mworking on a training plan, I'm
working on this D-180 for ournext deployment, I'm working on

(43:18):
all that stuff.
And then the team gets there.
I go do PT with the team.
We come back while they go eatbreakfast, I'm still working in
the computer eating my snacks.
And then they're like hey,chief, we're about to leave,
everything is in the truck.
And then I jump in the truck,we'll go, we do hits, we come
back, everybody leaves and I'mstill working there.

(43:39):
A lot of people don't realizethat it's like oh, chief, now of
course it happens to everyone.
Sometimes there's this bigcommand meeting that everybody
must attend and, yes, thecaptain, the team sergeant, the
warrant got to keep out ontraining.
That happens everywhere.
There's nothing you can doabout that, right, and sometimes
we actually took turns.
We're like, hey, you want to goand take that meeting while I

(44:00):
stay here with the team.

Speaker 1 (44:02):
He's like yeah sure you know.

Speaker 2 (44:03):
But the thing is we work a lot.
A lot of people don't realizethat.
I remember when I was in myteam I said for one wire, but he
was already on the way out,right.
So I never saw him Like, if youwanted to and now he was very
smart you wanted to knowanything, you call him and he'll
tell you, but he was at homefixing his.
But other than that, all theones that I had, they worked so

(44:24):
hard.
Those guys were in the teamroom all the time.
I don't remember them justbeing lazy or being out.
They were always, alwaysworking on either getting
paperwork done so that the teamcan stay on track, or trying to
find us our next mission Right.
Because a lot of people don'trealize that's one of the
primary jobs of the warrantgoing over there to battalion
with the other battalion warrant, like what's up, what's coming

(44:50):
up, what you got my team isbetter, you know it's like
that's what you do, right.
So there's a lot of workinvolved and and I think it's
it's based on conventional oneand it's based based on old
school sf1 officer mentality too, because I remember before I
became a warrant there was thisbig.
You know there's a lot ofpeople becoming SF1s because
they couldn't make it seven,remember.
That's why.

Speaker 1 (45:10):
I made sure I made it seven.

Speaker 2 (45:13):
They couldn't make it seven.
And yes, there's a lot of truthto that.
And there was a lot of peoplethat became warrants because no
team wanted them.
And they still became warrants.
And now, guess what, somebodygot to take them.
So I still remember when jw uhcame to the company after uh,

(45:33):
myself, camilo carrio, we putall the one packets together
because camilo was in my team aswell and sent for one.
We put all our warrants packetstogether and, uh, I remember
when jw came over over Waddelland he said hey, commander, yeah
, I see this one package overthere, I'm about to approve it.
But I want to ask you aquestion.
And he goes like yeah, and itwas Major Worrell at that time,

(45:57):
he was the company commander.
He goes like so what you'retelling me is that these guys,
because you endorse them,they're great.
And he goes like yes, andyou're telling me is that these
guys, because you endorse them,they're great?
And he goes like yes, and you'rewilling to work with them, you
want them as your warrants.
And he goes like yeah, he'slike good, because I'm changing
the policy.
If you sign a warrant package,you're getting them back.

(46:18):
And we're all just like well,perfect, because I want these
guys back.
I would love to have, and noshit.
We came back to the samecompany, by the way, and I came
back to the same team.
No shit.
A lot of other companiesstarted pulling Warren Packers
back.

Speaker 1 (46:33):
They're like oh, hold on, hold on, wait, wait, wait,
wait.
You're going to tell me I keepthis.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
No, I got to keep it, get rid of it and started
pulling back, but that was agreat policy that only lasted
for a little bit.
Right, it lasted for a littlebit, but it changed the
mentality on when you signwarrant packs and I think once
again that's the old mentalityof the warrants are lazy, this
and that.
That's not the case, man.
I actually went to theInstitute not too long ago to
see their training Holy snap.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
Yeah.
The training that they gothrough now is 10 times harder
of what I went through.
It was not an easy.
It's not a gentleman's courseby any means.
You have to study your ass off.
And uh, griffa, I know he's nolonger an instructor, but, man,
I was so happy that somebody Iforget who it was, I think it

(47:22):
was chief bull uh, shout out toyou Labak, who gave me the
advice of ensuring that I tookmy college English class
seriously for writing, becausethe only G2 he gave me was like
make sure you can writeproficiently and read the ugly
American front to back.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
Oh my God, I still got that paper.

Speaker 1 (47:46):
I still got the paper I wrote for the ugly American,
yeah, and I remember like I Ineed to connect with Griff.
I want him on the show.
People need that man deserveshis victory lap and some claps
because I did understandsomething, uh intimately by the
time I left that course.
People will judge you by theway you express yourself in your

(48:07):
writing, in your memos and, atthe end of the day, like you
have to take pride in being ableto communicate to other
entities, and how do we do it?
Through emails and officialmemorandums, and that's always
been lost to the younger guys.
But when you went to the Warrencourse, when you graduated,
there are two things that youare going to be really fucking

(48:29):
good at Understanding how towrite effectively and
understanding how to sell yourdetachment to make sure you get
that mission.

Speaker 2 (48:37):
Exactly A hundred percent, and Griffo made sure
you knew that.
Let me tell you every time Iwrote a paper for Griffo, he
came back and he was like oh man, great, great paper.
And then he gives it to me andit's full of red stuff, I like.
But you said it's great paper.
He was like no, the content isgreat, your grammar horrible, I
like.
I've got to think in spanishand then translate.

(48:59):
And it's hilarious because buthe taught me a lot.
He goes like listen, this, this, why you don't write it this
way, this.
And then, when it came towriting awards, that man was an
expert.
Let me tell you when he told uswhen you write awards,
especially when when the awardsare going through CJ Sotiff's
staff he's like use the selfimperatives in almost every line

(49:21):
that you can.
He's like use theself-imperatives in almost every
line that you can.
He goes like, because a lot ofthese old people don't know the
new missions, they don't knowwhat you're doing down there.
But one thing I do remember isthe self-imperatives.
If they read it in a linethey'll be like, oh my God, it
took me back Right.
So no shit, we wrote awards inIraq.
It was one.

(49:42):
I wrote all the awards and Iused self-imperatism.

Speaker 1 (49:45):
Those awards, they were all approved damn, yeah,
awards are are a big, huge painin the ass and the verbiage, the
way I mean fuck, that's onething I am.
I would never wish upon my mygreatest enemy, I mean to sit
down and write awards for anattachment, uh, and it's such a
shitty.

(50:05):
People under don't understandthe process.
I mean, you can have staffsergeants that go above and
beyond their duties and justbecause they're a staff sergeant
like now, they don't rate that.
It's like, are you fuckingkidding me?
This guy is leading 30 fuckingcommandos by himself, yeah,
fucking, taking the fight to theenemy, and you're telling me he
doesn't deserve this award.

Speaker 2 (50:26):
No, no, no, no, no, that that that happened to us in
Iraq and I fought for it andthey got what they deserved.
I think there was like two orthree that got, uh, downgraded
from a BSMV to an ARCOM V, uh,but but still, you know, uh, we
fought for it because we toldthem it's like, listen, there's
only so much I can put in thatpage, all right.

(50:49):
But if you're telling me thatthis guy don't deserve this,
that what you're telling me isthat me as the assistant
detachment commander the captainis the commander, that we're
lying in the paper and we don'tknow what we're talking about.
We were down here, we did thejob.
You're sitting in an officedrinking coffee all day, it's
like.
So if you think you deserve ahigher award than him, go ahead,
give it to yourself.

(51:09):
Of course they will, yeah, yeah, don't challenge them with that
.
Of course they will.
But I'm saying it's like I wentover there and I just went off
and there was this one, onemaster sergeant that was part of
the reviewing process.
It was like an acting sergeant,major, and I go like, listen,
you might be part of thereviewing process, but I don't
give a shit, you're not anywherein the approving authority.

Speaker 1 (51:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (51:30):
And he's like but I can recommend, you can recommend
all you freaking want.
He's like I'm going to stillfight it all the way to the top
because your opinion doesn'tmatter to me.
I told him just like that Isaid you sort of, your opinion
doesn't matter to me, youropinion doesn't matter to me.
It's like, oh, the Octus Army.
I'm like well, great, freaking,what?
Staying in attentionmotherfucker, sorry, not sorry.

(51:51):
I got to fight for my guys.
That's the whole reason Ibecame a warrant.

Speaker 1 (51:54):
That's it.
That is exactly it that beingof service to your detachment,
understanding that you have agreater like.
If you enjoy being an 18charlie and 18 bravo, 18 delta,
18 echo, that's great.
If you love the mission, that'sawesome.
But if you have that idea oflike, how can I be better
service to these guys?
How can I have a greater like?

(52:16):
How can it be of greaterservice, be more effective in
helping and ensuring that theseguys get not only the equipment
and the missions they deserve,but the fucking protection, like
, go be a warrant officer.
And if you want extra time on ateam.
But that's also a double-edgedsword, because I found out, like

(52:37):
, the idea, the idea of havingunlimited time, it feels like
unlimited time.
The rest of your team stillmoves on.
You're still going to see thelife cycle of the team and I
mean it happens after deployment, within months.
It's a cycle new echo, newbravo.
When did you finally come to arealization of like, oh shit.

(53:00):
Like, at some point I have toget off this ride.
Like, at some point I have towalk away from this and move
forward with my career.

Speaker 2 (53:09):
Well, I, honestly I was.
There was other ones in mycompany that were very career
focused.
Uh, they were like they justtook over this job and they're
they already know the next jobthey want and the one after that
.
I mean, uh, I don't want tomention names, but there's one
specific and he knows who he is.

(53:29):
I love him to death.
He's tall in puerto rican andI'm gonna say his name, but, uh,
but, but, anyway, like but.
But you know what good, he knewexactly what he wanted and he
don't care what you're trying tooffer me.
I'm gonna tell you what I wantyeah, uh for me.
I enjoy what I was doing, right,but the reality came not
because of I was growing out ofbeing in a team, it became

(53:52):
because of my injuries.
So when I left the AFOdetachment I went back to the
Soulforce and at first I wasdoing great and then slowly my
body started saying, dude, youdidn't recover you, moron.
And my body started saying,dude, you didn't recover you,
moron.
And uh.
And my body started feeling it.
I started forgetting stuff.
And it was one of the 18 deltasago.
Like, hey, chief, did you dothis?

(54:13):
I'm like, uh, I think so.
I think so.
It's like, chief, you never,you never fail.
You always got shit done, evenbefore the time frame.
It's like, and you'reforgetting a lot.
After the accident, did you gettested for TBI?
I'm like what's that?
And he goes like you need to goto Womack.
So I went to Womack, got tested.
No shit, tbi.

(54:36):
And of course the team tried toand I hate to say this word, but
it's truly what they were doing.
They were trying to carry mealong and they're like don't
worry, we'll help you.
Don't worry, we'll help youwith PT.
Don't worry, we'll help youwith that.
And I felt like shit, right,because I go like, no, the
moment that I'm a burden to theteam, the moment that I cannot

(54:58):
carry my own weight or having tocarry one of these guys on my
shoulder, that's the moment Ineed to leave the detachment
Right.
And it was a hard call for meto make.
Let me tell you, I think Icried that day when I realized
that, and so at that point Icalled the group one.
I go like, hey, do you gotanything in battalion?

(55:19):
It's like, as a matter of fact,the ASO manager is leaving.
We need you to take over for afew months.
I'm like I'll take it.

Speaker 1 (55:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (55:31):
Let me tell you it was a hard call.
I talked to the team.
They understood it.
They didn't want me to leave.
They're like you don't need toleave.
We got you.
I'm like no man, but that's notthe right call.
I know you guys got me, butit's not the right call.
I know you guys got me, butit's not the right answer.
You guys need a warrant thatcan you know that don't have
back injuries and going to 10appointments a week or anything

(55:51):
like that.
That that's what you deserve.
So, yeah, it was a hard call.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:56):
Yeah, that's a.
That is a hundred percent thecall that everybody has to make
for their wellbeing.
It feels like you're doing itfor somebody else but you got to
make it for yourself, likethere's more to life than being
on a detachment.
There's more to life than beingSF.
You got to look out for yourfamily, you got to look out for
your kids and you got to lookout for.
You got to value yourself.

(56:17):
Oftentimes we need to frame itas the mission's more important,
but the reality is, afteryou're done with your team time,
after you're done with themilitary, you still got to have
a life and that's like the mostimportant thing.
Guys need to understand Like,hey, everybody wants that 15
years on a detachment, but ifyou can't, if you can't do that,
go still, be of service and ofvalue to the team.

(56:40):
Or put your physical fitnessand your mental wellbeing,
your-being, first and get help.
Take that knee, you can stillhave a great career, you can
still do great things.
You just have to, andoftentimes we think we're
healing when we're trying to doboth.
Oh, I can just make thisappointment, I can do this.
It's like no dude, take a knee,go to the battalion, be of

(57:01):
service there.
You can go to Thor 3, go toExos, go to all those places
that can make you better, andthen figure out like all right,
I'm finally back to 100%, wehave an opening anywhere, I'm
ready to take it.

Speaker 2 (57:14):
And the thing is, I took that job for a few months
and then I went to SWEC Not bychoice, by the way, apparently,
I don't want to say his name, uh, the the group warren, was mad
because he offered me to takesafari committee.
Oh and uh.
And I said well, that defeatsthe purpose of why I came here.
I need to heal in the summer.

(57:35):
Oh, no, you're just gonna bemanaging.
I'm like no, there's no way I'mgonna be in the safari
committee and not go out therewith the guys and train.
It's not gonna happen, I'mgonna hurt myself more, you know
.
So, like, well, then, if youdon't take that, I'm going to
have to send you to SWEC,because it's either that or I go
, like you know what send me toSWEC.
I don't give a shit at thispoint, right.
So I went to SWEC and ended upbeing great.

(57:56):
I went to d for about a year orless than that, and then I went
to proponency with TD Doyle.
Working with TD Doyle, that wasamazing time, and he was the
one that convinced me to retireNice.
And he told me the same thing.
He's like JP, you're going toleave group 10 years from now.

(58:17):
Nobody's going to remember yourname.

Speaker 1 (58:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (58:19):
He's like you know who will your son he's like your
son will remember your name,your brother, your sister.
So you can kill yourself rightnow and continue to sit here in
a desk and hurt your back andwake up in the morning dizzy and
still drive to work, which youshouldn't.
But you have to vestibularissues JP.

Speaker 1 (58:41):
What are you doing?

Speaker 2 (58:43):
yeah, and he goes like or you can be home and heal
yep and uh.
So he actually started giving metime off.
He's like don't, don't come in.
I got two other ones runningpaperwork here and I'm like, no,
I'm gonna come in.
He's like, yeah, but if youfeel bad that morning, I don't
want you to come in.
Of course I was gonna come, butbut he was the one that
convinced me.
And then the way he did it, hesaid I told him it's like a like

(59:04):
ATD.
Yeah, you had cancer, you haveall kinds of stuff.
You were brought back fromretirement after 9-11 and all
that.
You're still here.
And he said you're right, ifyou retire, I will, I will, and
he did.

Speaker 1 (59:20):
Nice.
Sometimes we need that brotherto help us come to that decision
, man.
I mean, we spent our entiremilitary career understanding
that one is none, two is one,leaning on each other for
support and oftentimes, when weare at that edge, we just need
somebody to be there with us andgo into the unknown together,

(59:40):
man, so being able to do thattogether.
Somebody to be there with usand go go into the unknown
together, man, so being able todo that together, that that
that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
That is fucking awesome.
Let me tell you I'm glad Iretired because it took me about
a year to, uh, you know, wakeup in the morning busy with a
headache.
But I didn't have to go to work, so I could just lay in bed,
relax, and the next day I wasfine, which didn't happen before
because I kept pushing it.
So that headache just lingeredthe next day and the next day
and the next day.
Then I started realizing, if Itake a whole day to rest, I'm

(01:00:08):
good for a few days, and thenget the headaches again.
Rest for a few for a day, I'mgood again, so slowly started
taking care of myself.
Oh my God, that's what I needed.
I was so much better after that, so it was the right call.
I was so much better after that, so it was the right call.

Speaker 1 (01:00:22):
Thank you, td.
And when you started planningfor your transition, for that
retirement, what did youinitially go into and how did
you figure out like, hey, I'minterested in doing this.

Speaker 2 (01:00:34):
So, to be honest, I was lost at first.
So when I started thatretirement process, we used to
do I don't know, you know, tomMeade, jesse Browington, ed
Petkovich we used to do what iscalled the Takeover the World
Team Cider Meetings, even thoughthat was a warrant, right, and
we used to sit down for lunchand just talk about, hey, what
do you want to do, what are youworking on?
And we did that once a monthTakeover the World Team Cider

(01:00:57):
Meetings.
Well, I'm proud to announcethat Ed Peckovich now owns a
multimillion dollar company.
Right, and I was like, yes, oneof us made it.

(01:01:18):
Right.
But you know, to me, a friend'ssuccess is my success, right,
it's like you gotta be happy forthat.
Like a leader shooting trainingin Puerto Rico for law
enforcement ended up turninginto a company, right, cause
they wanted more training but Icouldn't do it.
Also, I just sent guys to do itUh, benny Rios and you know and
stuff like that.
I just go over there and do thetraining and it ended up
turning into that.
Then I started doing contractas a G chief for Marsock.

Speaker 1 (01:01:40):
Oh, wow.

Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
Yeah, I did that for five years.
I was a G chief out there justtelling the Americans that they
are horrible Americans.
You think we're not smart likeyou American.
But so I did that for a fewyears and shortly after I
stopped doing that I startedfocusing a lot and now I still

(01:02:04):
run the company.
Right, uh, new defion group, Ido that.
Uh, contract base I don't.
I don't like to get intogovernment contracts.

Speaker 1 (01:02:12):
You know it's like that it's too long I like my
vacation time, but uh.

Speaker 2 (01:02:18):
But then I started focusing at that point on
suicide prevention and westarted losing so many friends
to suicide and and of course Iknew I couldn't stop suicide
myself but I wanted tounderstand it better.
So I just went out and startedtalking to people what do you
think?
Have you ever thought suicide,suicide?
And slowly started talkingabout that.
And at one point I just did itjust to talk to people and help

(01:02:42):
them out.
And that's it one on one, andit kind of like slowed down a
lot because you know it's justpeople feel uncomfortable
talking about it.
So I felt like I was making themfeel uncomfortable so I stopped
doing it.
Then I got through the company.
We got involved into humantrafficking, recovery and
operations that filled my heartas soon as we rescued the first

(01:03:03):
little girl overseas.
That to me, that was my calling.
I need to do this.
So far right now, we got what83 rescue so far in a few years.
So that is dear to my heart.
It's very expensive.
So if you're out there and youwant me to rescue people, let me

(01:03:23):
tell you it's expensive.
Now, as a company we don't makea profit.
Uh, these are people who gotmoney and hire us directly, like
I want you to find my daughterwe think she's here or I want
you to find so-and-so.
We only have one occasion when,when this family goes, like I

(01:03:44):
don't have anybody kidnapped,but here is this amount of money
, find someone, rescue them, andwe're like, okay, well, we're
going to charge you only forexpenses, that's it, and that's
what we do, because it'sexpensive to run an operation
like that.
It can last a day, it can lastweeks, it can last months, but
anyway.
So got into that and shortlyafter that I started focusing
back into the mental health area, and that's when I decided to

(01:04:07):
start a nonprofit.
It's called let's Walk it Out,222 Mile Rock March, and
initially what I wanted to dowas like, okay, I got to go 22
miles a day, you know, hence the22,.
Of course, now we know that'snot a true number anymore.
It's more like 43.
Yeah, 44.

Speaker 1 (01:04:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
So I go like I'm going to do 22 months a day camp
on the side of the road, go thenext day, do it again.
And then I started gettingpeople going like, hey, I'll do
it with you, hold on, let mecall my buddy.
Hey, you want to do this?
No, but I can sponsor it.
So next thing you know, itturned into an event.
So next thing you know, itturned into an event.

(01:04:45):
Uh, so we did the first year.
I couldn't do it.
I ended up in the hospitalright prior to that.
A lot of people say I did thaton purpose.
I didn't, and I got about 18holes on me to to prove it, not
not 18 like nine bad surgery atwalmart, don't go to walmart,
but anyway.
So.
But then after that, when thatevent got done, a lot of people

(01:05:07):
came to me and they said, jp,you know what the expectation
now is.
I'm like, no, you got to dothis every year, nonprofit,
because the first year we weresponsored under the special
forces foundation.
Uh, so we started our ownnonprofit.
We started that and we turnedit into a program because let me
tell you when when it workedfor me and it worked for a lot

(01:05:31):
of people who has been in in ourprogram.
When you're out there on theroad for eight, nine hours a day
, hot raining, you're rocking uh, it's therapy yeah you got a
lot of time to think.
And not only that, you got otherpeople to your next and you
like it's showing you.
You got people that you canlean on, all the other guys

(01:05:53):
telling you oh man, you're goodman, we got our next rest.
Stop coming up in half mile,man, we're good, we're good man.
You know it starts showing youa lot.
A lot of people forget youdon't lost your resiliency.
You just need to find that it'sthere.
And if I can push you to findthat resiliency, I'm going to
push you to that now.
Of course, the goal foreverybody participating in this

(01:06:15):
is they want to do the 200.
Honestly, it's actually 22, 224miles, 224 miles by the time
you get done.
But everybody want to completethe whole thing.
But I always tell them it's notabout finishing the whole thing
, it's about, when you came here, how much you thought you could
do and if you can live heredoing more miles than that, you

(01:06:40):
already proved to yourself thatyou can take more pain.
Right, that you thought youcould.
That pain might not end rightnow.
Right, for us it's going to endat the end of the day when we
take the rest and we start thenext day again.
But mentally it's not going toend what you want, it's going to
end when it needs to end.
You just got to keep pushingthrough, taking the next step
taking the next step.

Speaker 1 (01:06:59):
It's like what we talked about earlier the mindset
Just kind of forge that mind tojust keep pushing.
Five more minutes, Five moreminutes.

Speaker 2 (01:07:06):
So that's one of my main things right now either
human trafficking, veteranadvocacy, of course, and helping
with mental health, Because Ithink a lot of people are
confusing.
A lot of people say that theUnited States got a mental
health problem.
I disagree with that and I'mgonna tell you why.

(01:07:26):
I don't think we have a mentalhealth problem.
I think we got an entitlementproblem I think we have a
problem that when I don't getwhat I want, I scream and kick
and start pulling my hair untilsomebody gives me what I want.
You know why?
Because it works.

Speaker 1 (01:07:43):
Yeah, I think that's definitely a true statement.
For our younger generation,we're not, and the studies are
out there the generation of kidsthat are growing up with the
iPads, with the iPhones, instantgratification of everything
they want with the screen.
That's an absolute truth.
Speaking to those individualswhere it's always been given,

(01:08:06):
you've always had everythinggiven, given, given, and the
moment you go to crisis, themoment you have a hardship fuck.
I don't want to deal with this.
It's one of the things thatI've struggled to explain to
people that have had that ideaof like the world's completely
unfair.
I'm like look, the world isgoing to fuck you over.
More often than not, you got tobe able to pick it back up and

(01:08:29):
say, fuck it, I got to drive onit's like I tell people all the
time.

Speaker 2 (01:08:35):
Life is great, humans are not.
So don't blame life, blame thehumans around you.
Obviously, you're surrounded bythe wrong humans, so you need
to find a different circle.
Yeah, blame the humans aroundyou.
Obviously, you're surrounded bythe wrong humans, so you need
to find a different circle.

Speaker 1 (01:08:46):
Yeah, a circle that lifts you up Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (01:08:48):
Yes, yeah, right, yeah, and that's what I do.
I'm surrounded by you know,when I get surrounded by people
with negativity, I walk awayfrom them in a heartbeat.

Speaker 1 (01:09:08):
In a heartbeat.
I tell them hey, yeah, when youstart changing your mindset,
you give me a call.
Yeah, uh, because I ain't gottime for your stuff.
It's the truth, it's theabsolute truth.
And even and you don't have toI tell guys like, look, you can
love somebody and they can besort of a toxic person.
You don't have to fucking cutthem off, but set boundaries.
If you know, every time you getaround your one friend, it
instantly turns into a pityparty.
Let them know, the moment theyget into that mindset they start
talking about that shit.

Speaker 2 (01:09:27):
Just change the subject there was a guy that
used to go to Charlie Mike's allthe time.
Love the guy, but every time hewalked in you're asking how are
you doing?
The very first thing that cameout of his mind my ex-wife and
this.
And I'm getting serious.
And suddenly one day I told him.
I was like how are you doing?
And you start with your ex-wife, I'm going to walk away.

(01:09:48):
And he just looked at me and hesaid why?
And I'm like, because you keepcomplaining about it.
But what are you doing about it?
Yeah, and he's like exactlywhen you start doing something
about it, then you can complainthat it's not working.
But right now you're justsitting here just taking it and
bitching about it.
I don't want to hear it.
I don't want to hear it.

(01:10:08):
You want to have a beer with me?
Have a beer with me.
Let's talk about football, dogs, cats.
I don't want to hear about yourex-wife anymore.

Speaker 1 (01:10:15):
Anything.
We can talk about literallyanything, but just have a
positive, have a positive.
That that's you know.
We we don't.
I think we forget all the timeswe were actually focused on
gratitude in a team room, butit's, you know the connotation,
that gratitude and and writingout your, your positives and
your wins for the day.
It has this new age, you know,perspective on and people kind

(01:10:38):
of shy away from it, like no,this is, this is green beret
shit.
You always got done with themission.
You were in the ready roomgetting your shit ready.
You weren't moping, you weren'tsad, no, you were excited, like
man.
We had a pretty good mission.
Even if it was a horrible dogshit, fucking mission, even if
it was a fucking grueling 20, 40days, you still found something

(01:11:00):
to be grateful for.
But hey, man, let's grab somechow, let's fucking get on our
necks, let's have a great night.
We're going to have a greatreset, man, like we're.
It's going to be good.
We made it back from midnightchow.
You always found somethinghappy, something to be positive
about man, not always, but forthe most part.
If we want to really talk aboutthings that work for mental

(01:11:21):
health, there are tons ofresources out there.
But if you don't have resourcesor you're not willing to look
at the resources yet, just startlooking at the good that's in
your life.
I don't care if you're in atrailer, living in fucking
backwoods, fort Bragg, northCarolina there is something good
in your life today.

Speaker 2 (01:11:46):
Focus on it.
The way I look at it is and alot of people hate me because
they said I'm always too happyand I'm always too positive.
A lot of people think it's fake, it's not Right, because I tell
people they're like how are youdoing?
I'm like I opened my eyes thismorning.
I'm freaking doing great Right,because I like to say this all
the time.

Speaker 1 (01:12:05):
I died a few times, so I know it sucks.
I didn't really die, but Ialmost did right, so I know it
sucks, so I died a few times.

Speaker 2 (01:12:09):
So if I open my eyes this morning, it's freaking
great, because everything elseafter that you can work on, you
can find solutions and you canfight through it.
But you can't fight throughthat Once you're dead.
That's it, it's over, it's over.
So if you open your eyes thismorning, you're blessed.
If you have a roof over yourhead, even if it's a tarp,

(01:12:30):
you're blessed.
If you got to eat somethingtoday, you're blessed.
There was a time that I had toeat ramen for months and months
and months because I was goingthrough a divorce and a hardship
.
And guess what?
I had ramen.
I was blessed.
That's better than nothing.

Speaker 1 (01:12:44):
For you it was ramen, for me it was $5 footlong.
Month, the subway on 7th Groupsaved my ass during my divorce,
that's.
You know, I tell people, man, Iwas living in the back of my
F-150.
I was too proud to ask for help.
From the very beginning, I hadan iPad and I had $5 footlongs.
One half of that footlong waslunch, the other half was dinner

(01:13:08):
.
And, boy, when things finallyturned around for me, it was the
mindset being able to say youknow what?
And laugh, laugh about thesituation.
I'm in the back of my truckright now and all I have is this
iPad and my subway.
But at some point things aregoing to look up.
For me, things are going tolook better.
And before you know it, I was afree fall school getting ready

(01:13:28):
to go through that.
And then, on the backside ofthat, I was going on a J set to
Peru.
And let me tell you thegreatest adventure of my fucking
life, and all I had to do wasshift the perspective of like
hey might be going through adivorce right now, but pretty
soon I'll be in free fall school.
And then, just like that, whenyou started looking at positives

(01:13:48):
.

Speaker 2 (01:13:50):
And then I hopped pervian to eat a steak.

Speaker 1 (01:13:54):
In the best Peruvian steakhouse man, yes.

Speaker 2 (01:13:58):
You got to look at the positive bro.
You know what.
You got to look at the positivebro.
You know what For me I found?
I didn't even know what it was,but when I was going through
the hardship I found what thedollar tree was.
Yeah, and I made a $30 groceryshopping.
A dollar per item ham, cheese,eggs, freaking ramen, you name

(01:14:19):
it and that lasts me a month.

Speaker 1 (01:14:22):
Living like kings.
I tell you.

Speaker 2 (01:14:26):
JP.

Speaker 1 (01:14:27):
I can't thank you enough for being here today, man
, Before I let you go, if youcould give any of our brothers,
whether a Green Beret,infantryman, just any veteran
out there struggling, what aresome like?
What is your like?
One or even three top tips thatyou would give somebody as
they're going through theirtransition?

Speaker 2 (01:14:45):
I would say if you're transitioning, I don't want you
to focus on what you used to doright, focus on what you're
going to do next.
You still got so much to give.
Right your service doesn't stopwhen you ETS or retire right
your service is for life.
You got to continue to serve.
Find a different way of servingnow, right, whether it's
helping a nonprofit, helping afriend, helping a family

(01:15:07):
business, it doesn't matter.
Find that you know to give back.
Well, let me tell you if youjust joined the army, uh, and
went through basic training, aitand all that, the army the army
spent about $800,000 intraining for you.

(01:15:29):
If you went through specialoperations, there's millions of
dollars invested in you.
What are you doing with thatinvestment?
Use that investment.
You got plenty of skills thatpeople have to pay for.
You got it for free.
People, companies got to paythousands of dollars to go to a

(01:15:50):
leadership school.
You got that for free, yeah,and you got the best leadership
training that you could ever getin the military, right, so put
it to work.
Don't just sit and think whatI'm going to do next.
Go and find what you're goingto do next, right, and you know
what it's trial by error.
Go out there, find something.

(01:16:14):
You don't like.
It Guess what, now that you'reretired or ETS, you actually can
say I don't need that, Let metry something else, right, go
and try different things.
Eventually, you're going tofind what really fills your
heart.
I tell people and they laughwhen I tell them.
I know a lot of green birdsthat went contracting in Iraq,
contracting in Afghanistan.
They did shooting training andthen they found their love

(01:16:37):
making soap.

Speaker 1 (01:16:40):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:16:41):
Some of them are making knitting hats, and that's
how they find their zen, right.
They're like I'm in my, I'mhere, it's just me and this
needle.
That's it, and I find peace andI got a business with it too,
right, I found that going to, uh, greg's pottery here downtown
and just picking up a piece ofpottery and just sit over there

(01:17:02):
with my headphones and startpainting, right, I paint it, I
paint and it's just me, and Itotally forget my surrounding.
I don't even know who comes inand out, it's just me
concentrating on do I put astripe on this or I don't, right
?
And then I finish it and a lotof times I tell her hey, put it
in the oven.
And they just give it to a kidthat likes it.
I don't even want it.

(01:17:22):
I just came here for therapyit's true, man.

Speaker 1 (01:17:26):
Yeah, find, find what brings your joy and be willing
to explore it.

Speaker 2 (01:17:29):
Man and always remember this.
We can't leave this out.
Don't be selfish, thinking justabout you.
Think about your family andyour friends and if you're
struggling, take care ofyourself first, because if you
don't take care of yourself, youwon't be able to take care of

(01:17:50):
your family.

Speaker 1 (01:17:52):
Seek for help.

Speaker 2 (01:17:53):
All right, it's not weakness.
It takes a lot of strength toseek for help.
So go and seek for help.

Speaker 1 (01:17:59):
Absolutely.
And if you're listening rightnow and you're a Green Beret
either a legacy Green Beret oran active Green Beret and you
need resources, head on over tothe Special Forces Foundation
the link's in the bio or you cango right here Proudly sponsored
by Special Forces Foundation.
I am glad and proud to bepartnering up with them to help
stop the suicide epidemic withinnot only our greater veteran

(01:18:22):
community but our special forcesoperators as well, because
we're not, all you know,contrary to popular belief,
we're not invincible.
We are human beings and webreak, and we all need resources
and we all need somebody tofight with us.
So I'm telling you right now ifyou're struggling, reach out
today, get plugged in withSpecial Forces Foundation.
Tons of programs, tons ofavenues that we can take to the

(01:18:43):
fight and get you better.
So please reach out today ifyou need help.
Jp, it's been a pleasure havingyou in today, brother.
It is absolutely awesome to seeyou out there in a just cause,
not only helping end and stemthis fight of human trafficking,
but getting your hands dirtyand helping stop this veteran
suicide epidemic.
Man, we need more of our guysand gals out there doing the

(01:19:04):
same thing and I can't thank youenough, man.
It's been an absolute blastOnce again.
Where can people go if theywant to check out your nonprofit
or see what JP's up to?

Speaker 2 (01:19:14):
You can go to letswalkitoutorg and if you want
to check out what JP is doing,follow me on social media JP
Cervantes, 180a, 180, alpha, soyou can find me there on social
media.
You see my shenanigans all thetime.
I try to keep it fun.
So, by the way, have fun at theretirement ceremony.

(01:19:37):
I know who you're going to goand see and I was trying to go.
I just can't go.
So, tell him from me I'm sorry Ican't be there giving a hug.
I'm giving a kiss.
He hates giving a kiss for me.
Tell him, JP.

Speaker 1 (01:19:51):
Oh hell, yeah, Well, I'll get this process.
A big shout out to JoffreySaleri.
Uh, an amazing NCO, amazingleader.
Yep, when I I I almost didn'tsubmit my packet to become a
warrant because some earlyshenanigans and I was just like
you know what I'm done with thiscareer, I'm just going to go be

(01:20:11):
a dog handler and I'll just bedone with it.
And that man looked at me.
He's like no, don't come withme to Columbia, submit that
warrant packet.
You need to do this.
And I stuck with him.
We went, did a J set together,went to Columbia, I submitted my
packet and you know whatJoffrey did for me Joffrey, this

(01:20:31):
is how smart that man is.
He brought everybody from ourchain of command down for a
command visit and then it waslike oh man, you know we should
stay a little longer for acouple of nights.
And since you're already here,here's my senior Bravo.
He wants to go be a warrantofficer.
You can knock out yourinterview right here.
There's been a lot of thingsthat great leaders have done for

(01:20:52):
me in my entire military career, but nobody has fought harder
for their NCOs than JoffreySoleri.
I've witnessed it time and timeagain in my own lived
experience.
I've seen that dude clear outthe entire AOB and then get on
the phone with command and justfucking have it for like not 20
minutes, not 30 minutes, over anhour to back up his Green

(01:21:13):
Berets and his guys and to seehis career unfold.
For the little bit of time thatI've been able to know him,
been able to witness what agreat leader he has been to so
many, it's remarkable.
I mean, he got to be the topguy at third group.
He led them for a long time andnow he's finally taking his
walk and he's transitioning.
So damn right, I'm going todrive down there and be there.

Speaker 2 (01:21:35):
I tell you, I know for a fact because I'm the
president of SFA chapter 100,which supports third group.
So I had to work with, you know, with Sorelli and different
things in third group, and I seehow much they respect him, how
much they appreciate him, andthat's a lot, because respect is

(01:21:57):
not about the rank, it's aboutthe person, and they just don't
love Sajumajor, they loveSorelli Absolutely and nobody
has better hair.
They love Sorelle.

Speaker 1 (01:22:02):
Absolutely.
And nobody has better hair.
Nobody has better, damn hair.
He gave me the confidence togrow mine out, cause man, that
dude who always there's, youknow there's that one thing, the
primary, the rule number one ofbeing a green beret is always
look cool and damn it.
That man has always, alwaysabided by that number one rule.

Speaker 2 (01:22:23):
I met with him.
The last time I saw him, I'mlike what hair growing product
are you using?

Speaker 1 (01:22:29):
Because there's no way you're not going bold yet,
JP.
It's been a pleasure Everybodylistening.
Thank you for tuning in.
We'll see you all next time.
Till then, take care.

Speaker 2 (01:22:37):
All right, brother.
Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (01:22:41):
Thanks for tuning in and don't forget to like, follow
, share, subscribe and review uson your favorite podcast
platform.
If you want to support us, headon over to buymeacoffeecom
forward slash SecHawk podcastand buy us a coffee.
Connect with us on Instagram, xor TikTok and share your
thoughts or questions abouttoday's episode.
You can also visitsecurityhawkcom for exclusive

(01:23:02):
content, resources and updates.
And remember we get throughthis together.
If you're still listening theepisode's over.
Yeah, there's no more Tune intomorrow or next week.
Thank you.

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