May 7, 2025 • 50 mins
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In this powerful episode of Security Halt!, host Deny Caballero is joined by Marine Corps veteran and former Navy SEAL, Tommy Richardson. From overcoming childhood bullying to serving in some of the world’s most elite combat units, Tommy shares his deeply personal story of resilience, brotherhood, and the unbreakable warrior spirit.
With raw honesty and humor, Tommy opens up about the highs and lows of military life—from life-threatening combat missions to moments of dark humor that kept his team grounded. He explores how faith and spirituality became his anchor through trauma, adversity, and transition, revealing how grace and mindset shaped his path forward.
This episode offers a rare look inside the heart of a warrior, emphasizing the importance of mental health, spiritual resilience, and community for veterans navigating life after service.
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Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Tommy Richardson's Journey
01:17 The Path to Becoming a Marine
02:47 Overcoming Adversity and Building Resilience
06:34 The Shift in Mindset During Training
09:10 The Importance of Brotherhood in Service
10:40 Understanding the Warrior's Calling
12:10 Lessons from Military Experience
14:02 The Role of Faith in Resilience
17:27 The Journey of Faith and Accountability
20:34 Experiencing Grace and Freedom Through Faith
25:13 Heroism in Combat: A Personal Account
29:20 The Role of Humor in High-Stress Situations
30:15 Faith in the Military: A Personal Journey
35:57 The Importance of Mind, Body, and Spirit
39:46 The Eternal Perspective: Life Beyond Combat
47:46 Finding Purpose After Service
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Tik Tok: @security.halt.pod
LinkedIn: Deny Caballero
Follow Tommy on LinkedIn and Divine Savagery to today!
LinkedIn: Tommy Richardson
Instagram: raise.your.horn
Website: divinesavagery.com
Produced by Security Halt Media
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Security Odd Podcast.
Let's go the only podcastthat's purpose-built from the
ground up to support you Notjust you, but the wider audience
, everybody.
Authentic, impactful andinsightful conversations that
serve a purpose to help you.
And the quality has gone up.
It's decent.
(00:21):
It's hosted by me, DennyCaballero, Tommy Richardson
welcome to Security Hall, man,how you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, I'm doing great , how you doing.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Doing well.
Brother.
Dude, it's great to seesomebody that's out there
putting good stuff out in theworld, and your career is pretty
fucking amazing.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
It's one thing to become a navy seal, but to go
after that dream after almostalready having a full career in
the marine corps yeah, thecrayons are tasty, man, and I
just didn't know what you'regonna do when you grow up and
what you're gonna do with life.
Man, you gotta change it up alittle bit dude, hell yeah, dude
.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Um, I wanted to dive into your story, man.
I think that, um, individualshave incredible service records
that have endured and have gonethrough and served, have an
amazing backstory.
It's not always just like thecombat, glitz and glamour, but
on the other side of theirservice, there's also this great
fucking set of tools andblueprints of how to move
(01:25):
forward and being authentic.
Uh, just like we're jokingabout earlier, how to make sure
that chapter two it's going tobe difficult, it's going to be
hard.
That that's life, but how tomake it authentically, uniquely
yours.
And when I look at everythingabout you from power lifting to
divine savagery, like it'severything seems to be in line
with who you are and what yourpurpose is.
So, so today, my man, we'rediving into your journey.
(01:47):
Where did Tommy get the idea tobecome a Marine?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Family man.
It was just one of those things.
A lot of my family were priorMarines and that had kind of
gotten pushed into.
That's the direction to go.
It's the whole first to fightbit, and it was always a really
patriotic family.
And we, we grew up and I grewup bit, and it was always a
really patriotic family and we,uh, we grew up, you know, I grew
up hunting with my it was mydad and my grandfather and my
(02:11):
uncles and it was just, I mean,they were, they were all Marines
and they went hey man, maybeyou ought to go try this out.
And the uh, we had one guy onmy mom's side that was, uh, kind
of seen as the captain Americaof the family.
A lot, a lot of respect.
Uh, I was, you know, I grew upin a well, we'll just call a
little bit harsh uh, environmentand um, to get.
It was one of those thingswhere it's like, hey man, if I'm
gonna get respect, that's whatI'm gonna do.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
so I cruised in the marine corps and that was it,
man yeah, for a lot of timeswhen you have that lineage there
, it seems like there's no otheroption.
Like mom, father, brother,uncle and like down the line.
If everybody does it, man, Ican't be the only one out, I
can't be the odd man out.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I don't know, man, I guess it was just about respect.
I mean, it was a weird time inthe eighties, man, um and and I
got like really horribly bulliedand uh, it was back then it
wasn't just turn off and off,but you know, it was like every
day you're facing it at schoolyou're getting beat down, thrown
(03:11):
into lockers, thrown intodumpsters, um, just it was.
It was absolutely brutal.
And just because of the waythat I looked at the time, um, I
was kind of a lightning rod forthat to happen.
So, um, it was one of thosethings where I had a decision to
make of am I going to cave andbelieve everything that
everybody's telling me that I'mnothing, or am I going to turn
it around?
And eventually it's just one ofthose things.
It's a.
You just get sick of it.
And then it's kind ofinteresting that in the Marine
(03:31):
Corps there's a saying that thebeatings will continue until
morale improves, so that thatquite literally happened to me.
So it's just a matter of memaking the choice.
And I wanted to get respectfirst in my family and I was
like, well, I'll look to the oneeverybody looks to.
And I wanted to follow hiscareer path.
I mean, he was the intel guyand then he cruised in.
He was the actual plank ownerof the hostage rescue team.
(03:53):
Oh shit, yeah, yeah, yeah,Started in 83, I believe.
And I wanted to go that route.
But, man, senior drillinstructors just going what's
your MOS going to be?
And just something hit me andwent you know what, man, I'm
going to make my own path.
I want to go infantry.
So let's rock and roll.
And this was pre-war, this was98.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Yeah, it was a whole different Marine Corps, a whole
different military back then.
That a lot of people don'trealize.
People are getting a little bitof of it right now, but it's
like sort of like the hybridspace.
But dude, the 80s and 90s wasdifferent.
Man like you weren't guaranteeda slot in the combat and it was
very much drill and ceremonyperformance based like old
(04:33):
school fucking soldiering andmarine marine time yeah, I mean
it was.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
It's one of those things too, where we were coming
out of, um, you know, desertstorm, and so we were getting a
lot of those guys as our, as ourinstructors, so and then and
then, before that, you've got,you know the, the grenada, you
know, um, yeah, and you know,and then before that, it's
vietnam era, but I mean vietnambeing the last big war that
happened, um, I say that justbecause desert storm was so much
(05:01):
of a overwhelming victory, um,not to say bad stuff that went
on because I mean, it was stillcombat, but those are the guys
that were looking at us.
It was a different time, um,and yeah, I guess we're kind of
there now, um, except you've gotnow veterans teaching, uh, you
know, veterans of the, theg-watt, you know that actually
were in a whole bunch ofsustained combat for years,
(05:22):
training guys.
So I would equate it more to avietnam era or post vietnam
right now, as far as the mindset, it's tough, man, I mean we can
get into all that.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
It's a separate conversation about the mentality
and where things are now, butit was very different back then,
for sure no, and cutting yourteeth in that type of military
certainly teaches you disciplineand how to do a lot of marching
.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yeah, it's funny how stuff kind of moves to
administration.
I think it would be tailoredmore towards you know combat,
which you know we was.
I mean you know how it isentry-level training and
follow-on training.
It's all about you know doingthe combat piece, because that's
what your MOS is.
But but yeah, there is a littlebit more focus about you know
it was back then we had toactually iron our camis, shine
(06:08):
in your boots, shine in your allyour stuff up, having the junk
on the bunk inspections and allthat stuff which I mean there's.
There's a time and a place fordiscipline.
I totally get it.
But to put to me, for me, moremore of an emphasis on the stuff
that's going on in the field,um, of course they, you know
they say those are garrisonmarine and a field marine one.
It's just a marine.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
You're either good at what you do or you're not, you
know yeah, and I have to imaginelike that, the coming from that
background of being the pickedon kid going into the marine.
When I see my own friends thathad that similar background, I'm
like man, like I'm getting shiton as a kid, fuck this, I'm
gonna go to military marinecorps.
Yeah, like, how did thatmindset shift?
(06:48):
Like once you made it intothrough basic and training, did
you see yourself kind of likelooking back, do you see
yourself like, okay, that's,that's when I shifted from being
like the kid that felt like hewas always gonna have to like
prove himself, always having tododge the bigger guys, to like
that scrappy fighter it um, youknow it was.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
It was interesting, man.
Uh, golly it.
The mindset change honestlyhappened with the guy that was
training me.
I was very fortunate beforegoing in um, like fully truly
going in um to to active duty uh, is the same dude that trained
um.
I trained with the Latrellsgrowing up and no shit.
Yeah, so Billy Shelton, the.
(07:27):
you know if you saw the yeahthat first picture page, that's,
that's me in it with them.
But yeah, so he it kind of gotbeat into us, Um, and it was,
and it was one of those thingswhere that's kind of really
where my mind shift changehappened because he was hard on
us, but he was hard on usbecause he actually cared.
And it was one of those thingswhere, you know, the twins had
(07:51):
the reputation of already beingthe tough guys and I was like
the exact opposite.
So I had it, but with that Ihad a little bit of a chip on my
shoulder, so then it justbecame one of those things where
we're just like I'm going tolet you beat me what, Like no,
one of those things where we'rejust like I'm going to let you
beat me what, and it was like no.
And then that's honestly that'skind of where the internal
hardening and the mentalfortitude not, I mean, it
(08:15):
already happened, because Ithink the fortitude actually
comes from all of the hard stuffthat happens to you right.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Absolutely.
You can't build resilience in avacuum without being tested.
No, not at all.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Not at all.
You can't do it as a bubble boyman.
So it was just, it was.
It was just everything that hetaught us in the lessons, after
the workouts and the beatingsand stuff there.
In a good way it was, it was.
But then the three of us thattaught teamwork because it was
one of those that adversity weall got really, really tight and
(08:45):
I think that was like thegrandioso plan because it was
like weed out all non-hackersand then everybody that could
hack it go.
And then when he sent all of us, I mean they went Navy.
Marcus left first, but theywent Navy and then I went
Marines and that mentality waswhat kind of pushed through
everything.
Now I have my struggles right,just like everybody did.
(09:06):
Like I was horrible at pull-upsbecause I was, you know, really
really tall, super long arms andreally bad at it.
I could do push-ups for days.
I could run For whatever reason.
I got blessed with the abilityto run, but you know I struggled
at pull-ups.
So that was my thing.
You know, entry-level trainingwas getting harassed for that,
but the cool part about it is,again, it's one of those things
that just made me stronger and Ialready had the mentality.
(09:28):
So it was one of those thingswhere, if I came up against
something tough, I would go backto those times in that front
yard, that bed and breakfast inConroe, texas, of us getting
beat on and going I'm not goingto lose for them, you know.
And it's kind of cool becausethat that's really the mentality
that goes on, because even ifyou don't understand what the
mission is overseas or thingslike that, you don't really get
(09:48):
what's going on at the politicallevels or at the strategic
levels and you're just goingwell, I'm just going to do it
for these guys.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
That's why and it breeds a selfless mentality and
it really gives and drives homethe purpose that matters yeah,
yeah, it's hard for, for peoplethat haven't served to
understand that, that sentimentof we don't understand the
political sphere, we don'tunderstand what the fuck's
happening behind the scenes.
But we're here, yeah, we're menof service, we're in combat and
(10:24):
I'm doing it for the guy to theleft and right of me, I need to
be my absolute best, and that'sa hard thing to explain to
people because they think thatwe're ignorant and you're not
informed.
How could you be fighting inthis war?
It's like, well, look, man,like warriors callings is a
timeless thing, like if itwasn't your path.
It's not your path, but that'scertainly our path, that's
certainly what we chose to do inlife and if we're going to do
(10:45):
it, we're going to do it fucking, really, really well, right
(11:09):
no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Stare at myself in the mirror every day, knowing
that I could have done somethingI could have trained a little
bit harder, something that Icould have done to save that
individual.
You know it's a survivor'sguilt, right, but, but at the
same time that you know you cancall it guilt or whatever, but
it's just like it's to me.
I think it's a God pulled onyour heartstrings.
It's like, bro, you should havedone something, and what we
should do, and what I alwaystell a lot of people, especially
(11:36):
young kids.
You know, before I was gettingout cause, my God, I became the
dinosaur, I never said I would.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Uh, uh, 24 years man, you had a long run.
Brother, 26 and change.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Oh, it's 26.
Dumb to quit, man.
Um, but yeah, it was just.
Yeah, man, it was just talkingto the folks and telling the
kids like you have to study yourhistory.
You know what I mean.
Everybody says don't look back,but at the same time, everybody
went through all that stuff toteach you to do better and be
better, and that's the only waythat you're going to elevate
(12:07):
your game.
You know, if you don't knowwhere you're going, you don't
know where you're going if youdon't know where you've been.
So learn from those mistakesbecause they're not repeated in
blood, because most likelythat's what's going to end up
happening.
And that's why I told the guyswas to read understand where
you're going, understand theculture, understand the people,
the more that you can get ahead.
If you're not the first one in,then talk to the people that
(12:27):
are already over there.
So it's almost like you'redoing your right seat, left seat
rides before going over intocombat.
It's up to you to learn as muchas you possibly can about an
area that you're going to go,because why the stakes are so
high.
I go and talk to all theseprofessional athlete teams and
things like that and I try torelate it, but you can't.
(12:47):
And one of the first things Itell the guys is that I'm like,
look, I say I'm talking to anNFL team, right, and I go I say,
hey, you guys are at thepinnacle of your sport.
What gives me the right to tellyou how to do anything?
Why?
Because I'm going to tell youright now.
Look to whoever your teammateis and I'll say, you know, break
out like, okay, who's the?
Who's the quarterback?
Right, usually the highest paidguy, leader of the team?
(13:07):
All right, where's the backupkicker?
All right, will you lay downyour life for him?
Right now, active shooter comesin.
Will you jump in front of abullet for that guy?
Nobody ever says yes, I'll dothat immediately.
That's the difference betweenme and you and that's why I have
the ability to come here,because I play at the highest
stakes and I've played at thehighest stakes.
(13:28):
So I'm helping you tounderstand your craft a little
bit better by trying to elevateyour game to be the best that
you can be.
And with a team sport, it'svery, very simple, because it's
just teaching them.
The guy on your left, the guyon your right, it matters,
because what are you going for?
You're going for the win Stakesaren't as high.
Yeah, you can start over, butif you think like they're not,
(13:51):
who knows?
And then who knows?
Man, maybe that person?
If something happens out in thereal world, you know, god
forbid, they get attacked orsomething like that that clicks
in their mind and then they canbecome that protector that they
should be.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
And that's kind of what we give back.
Yeah, we tend to forget thatthe warrior culture can inspire,
mentor and coach anybody.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yeah, it's not just relegated.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
It's not just relegated to other like.
I can get so much benefit fromtalking to you all day, but the
same can be said that we breakoff and start helping and
coaching, mentoring otherindividuals within our own space
that don't have the backgroundin military or maybe they do,
but just not the long, the longcareers to match.
Brotherhood is not justrelegated to the military.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
It can be taught and that's and I think that is a
good platform for at least forwhat I'm doing in the business
world, right In the businessworld or in sports or anywhere,
anybody that wants to hire andcome talk to me.
And that's kind of where I'mgoing to come from, because I
used to be that guy that waslike I'm only going to talk
about it around the boys, aroundthe fire, eating meat, doing
band stuff.
It's going to be great, right,and that's it.
I'm going to go internal, justlike you know, it's one of those
(15:02):
things.
I just sitting there in prayerone day and it's like look man,
and good Lord was telling melook man, I didn't put you
through all this stuff to keepit to yourself, right, and it's
one of those things.
It's like you've got to do itthe right way, no-transcript, so
(15:29):
to do that.
That's where all of your storiescame from, because you know as
well as I do, man, truth isstranger than fiction.
So it's being able to take thosetruths, bringing them out, and
that way people don't have tohave this romanticized Hollywood
view of what it is that we did,because it wasn't.
I mean, even in the beginningyou said the glitz and glam of
combat.
(15:49):
Really, how much glitz and glamis that really?
None, zero, zilch, nothing.
It's harsh, it's hard, it'stough, and we get trained by the
hardest and the best for areason, so that we can survive
and then come back and stillkind of have all of our stuff
together Not that we do in thebeginning anyways, sort of ish
right, but at least be able tocome back and share those types
(16:11):
of experiences to hopefullyuplift other people so they can
become, uh, under well, they arethe protected people but to um,
understand who it is that'sfighting for them, and then to
elevate their lives, to go youknow what.
Maybe what's going on around meisn't so bad and there is a way
out.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Yeah, absolutely we.
I don't know why, why oursociety moved away from it.
But now it's something that Ilove to talk about because we
don't, we don't embrace itenough, and that's faith.
Like the, the pillars that westand on mind, body and spirit
like those are easily eroded.
(16:48):
Body and mind quickly go withdeployments, long careers.
But I've, I've said it so manytimes, the guys that when I look
back and do like the, the, thememory pdss, if you will,
looking back at, like all thepeople that did succeed, the
guys that whose marriages stayedtogether, the guys that didn't
have, you know, maybe they didhave injuries, maybe they did
(17:10):
fall apart, the body didn't holdout Right, they bounced back a
lot faster because they had thatone pillar that was never
questionable.
That was faith.
Yeah, and that's something thatwhen I do these interviews, I'm
always like I'm'm finding morepeople that maybe they didn't
have what they serve.
Maybe they found it afterwardsand it became something that
they built slowly and made itthe strongest pillar, because
(17:33):
it's the one thing we can alwaysturn to, so one thing that when
you're, when your back sucksand you can't lift, when you're,
you're depressed because youcan't run and your mind, your
cognitive abilities are a littlebit shaken up because you've
taken one too many hits to thehead.
Sure, you got faith.
You can lean on somethingstrong.
Did you always have this pillar, as it was a part of you that
was built as a child, or was itsomething that you had to
(17:54):
develop through service andafterwards?
Speaker 2 (17:57):
I think it's a constant journey.
I think that we were given oneperfect example of how it is
that we're supposed to be, andthat's in Jesus.
And if you look at all theindividuals in the bible, every
last one of them were flawed andevery last one of them messed
up, and messed up big.
But what it was showing was isthat when you mess up, you can
repent and go back to them.
As long as you've got breath inyour uh lungs and then beat
going in your heart, you canstill turn to them, right and um
(18:20):
.
And the thing is, there's areason that it's the most uh
sought after, or like lightningrod punched in the face, and the
only thing that's acceptable.
Why?
Well, because the way, thetruth and the life, right, if
you want true joy and true peace, you're going to find it there,
uh, regardless, okay, and to meit's, it's absolutely, it's um
sanctification, right.
(18:40):
You're becoming more and morelike him as best, best you
possibly can, but through theroutes that he gave you and the
gifts that you were given, right.
So, yeah, it's absolutely grownover time.
I've absolutely backslid, I'm adadgum, chief of sinners and I
absolutely do not deserve hisgrace, right.
But the fact of the matter isis that, knowing that I could
always go back to him, no matterwhat, because it's just like
(19:03):
being a kid.
You know you're, you're goingto mess up over and over again.
But what is your?
What do you do as a father?
Do you hate them?
No, absolutely not.
You love them so much tocorrect them, punish if needed
and then course correct.
That's it, and that's where youknow accountability happens.
So no, it actually grew overtime.
I got saved in my earlytwenties when I was in the
(19:23):
Marine Corps, but yeah, man, itjust grew over time.
And that's another part of thestories that I share with people
too, about the power of prayerand what God can do and manifest
himself in the actual physical.
That it's not just somethingthat you know.
Everybody calls it the man inthe sky or whatever.
No, he's actual.
Jesus is alive, he's an actualpart of your life and you should
(19:46):
make him a lord of your life.
Why?
Because, heck, I want to seeall you guys in heaven.
Man, you know, I want to gofull on.
And you talk about thedifference of what you know,
your mind and your body fate.
Well, you're talking about theflesh versus the spirit and
that's why there's that constantbattle right between the flesh
and the spirit.
The spirit is eternal and theflesh knows it.
Because the flesh knows it'sgoing to die, so it's going to
(20:06):
scrape, beg, borrow, steal ateverything that it can for
self-seeking pleasure, immediatepleasure, right in the moment,
in order to somehow fill a holethat only God can fill Right.
That's you know.
That's that's why you see allthese really high up great,
glitzy, glammy people or havehorrible lives.
They're like well, how can they?
Well, because money and fameand power doesn't breed
(20:28):
happiness.
You think it does, but itdoesn't right.
But you learn to live in joyand that's kind of where the
cool part of the military isright.
You rejoice in the sufferingand in the tribulation because
you know that your perseveranceis being tested and then it
becomes well, where's the nextone coming?
And that's the whole part whereI said my raise your horn speech
right, and my tagline orwhatever it's from the Bible man
(20:51):
, right.
It means bring it Whateveryou've got coming today.
It's a daily fight.
Come at it and let's rock androll.
And you know what?
Let's bring some people alongand make this happen and make it
a team fight, but no man.
There's so many different timeswhere and I have multiple,
multiple, multiple differentstories to where he's manifested
(21:11):
himself in the physical savedour lives plenty of times.
Man, it's just crazy.
I mean Afghanistan, right.
So every FOB we ever went to, Ialways prayed on we get to the
spot.
First thing I do is drop all mygear If we had nothing going
and then I'd go put my hands onthe around the side of and pray
(21:32):
about safety and protection.
Right, and we had this onedeployment where, three days
after I left, you know the beehuts that we had, the little
constructed huts that we livedin it got.
It got rocketed and right whereI was staying, where my bed was
got blown to pieces, and rightwhere I was staying, where my
bed was got blown to pieces.
I would have died.
Everybody in there would havedied three days after we left,
right.
Fortunately everybody was atchow at the time and everybody
(21:55):
was OK.
But it was just.
It's just interesting and itkind of makes you think.
You know, I mean I've had.
I mean I got one of my, mytroop chief man.
We were on a helo route onBlackhawk man and looking down
and seeing a guy actuallybecause we were so low to the
ground, um, it was near, uh,pulley alarm, um in logar, and I
saw I come out with an rpglaunch it at us and I looked at
(22:18):
him and I said, hey, man, we'reabout to get hit and he goes.
What you know you can barelyhear because you know they're
just out inside of it ever.
You know the movies.
They think like we can actuallytalk to each other, but unless
we have mics you can't.
Yeah, yeah, so anyway, I lookand it shoots and and dude, it's
come.
I can see the, the, you don'tsee the vapor trail behind it.
After, after it pops and itdude it and like, right, the
(22:39):
last second it just wentunderneath us and it blew up on
the other side and he saw it andwent, whoa, and I went, yeah,
that's what I was talking about.
You know, all these littlethings, man, even in iraq, same
thing.
I had a, um, I had a guy, one,one of the cats, pied the corner
, because you know, they werediscovering that they could hide
(22:59):
within the masses and poppedthe corner, shot at rpg, and
this was back when we had, youknow, thin skinned vehicles,
right, the only thing, the onlything there was, was the glass.
That was that you say bullet,we'll say bullet resistant, um,
but but we only had the quarterinch steel, uh, doors, right,
and it was the old school doorsthat didn't even have the
windows.
So, uh, yeah, this was, thiswas, oh, four, this is fallujah
(23:22):
man.
So, um, so, so anyway, hepopped it and, uh, the guy
behind me called, teed me up onthe run of green gear and he was
like, hey, man, you okay.
I'm like, yeah, I'm fine.
Why he goes?
Well, because you just got hitby an rpg.
I was like we didn't feelanything.
He goes, yeah, it hit your doorand bounced off.
I went what?
Sure enough, man, as soon as weparked and finished our patrol,
(23:42):
I get out.
There's a little hole, right,little tip, where it hit.
It hit but didn't, but didn'texplode, right.
So it's just little things likethat and I've got that
throughout my whole career.
Happened in Haiti, happened juststories after stories after
stories of his grace and hisglory to an undeserving person,
but somebody that wouldn't comeback and tell the stories, right
, and it's just over and overagain.
(24:03):
So, yeah, it's absolutely grownit to the point to where it's
like when he say, give yourheart to him, you really got to
give it all over.
But when you do, oh, my word,bro, it's freedom, absolute
freedom.
It's freedom, it's joy, it'speace, all the fruits of the
spirit, it's a thing, it's anabsolute thing, and you start
understanding about what lovereally is.
(24:23):
It doesn't mean do whatever youwant, right?
No, absolutely not.
It means that there's sufferingand accountability that go with
it.
Why?
Because that's what love is andthat's what caring is.
It goes into that becauseyou're going to have to
sacrifice your time and it's asacrifice of self which ties
right into teams, especiallyspec ops level.
You know this better thananybody, right?
(24:43):
It's absolute selfless behavior.
You got to think that thementality of being able to do
something and there's tons ofguys that have done it, never
been in that position, but likeguys that jump on grenades, guys
that jump in front of bulletsor do something like that it's
just, it's crazy what whatthey'll do.
It was I one time, okay, onetime there I had a um, my uh.
(25:05):
One time my platoon chief wasin an LTA TV and we were in a
gunfight in Nabar and he haddriven around because on our LTA
TVs we had mounted theuniversal flower pots and put
the 240s on it right, so itlooked sick.
Man, mad Max, all this Dude.
(25:27):
We had one of our CBs put aflower pot in the center and we
actually I got pictures of wemounted a 50 cal to the front,
madus, to the front of the LCA.
It didn't work so good when thevehicle rolled, because it just
went right in the mud.
We're like, okay, we got to fixthe weight distribution here,
right, yeah, but we're figuringit out.
(25:48):
Well, yeah, you just put anextra guy in the ammo boxes back
there, it doesn't tilt so much.
Um, but, but, but anyway, itwas super cool.
Anyway, he rolled around to, uh,the right flank of where we
were getting hit and, uh, hehigh centered the vehicle and it
sunk down in like that sandymud.
You know how it is when it like, when that, yeah, that gets wet
, right.
So it sunk down and he wascalling, he started taking fire
(26:08):
and, uh, myself and my JTAC justlook at you I didn't even think
and all he did I was yellingTommy.
And then I wrote, ran out tohim and it was one of those
things where I, you know, put myweapon around me, bullets were
freaking, flying all over theplace, got to the front of the
vehicle and it was just Lordgive me strength Picked up,
deadlifted the front of thevehicle up and out of where it
(26:30):
was stuck.
He got traction, turned backaround, joined that element and
then started getting back afterit and we ended up winning the
day.
So it's just that idea of goingI'm going to do any, whatever,
it does not matter.
I'm going to give my life foryours.
I really will do that when thetime comes and people can say it
.
But it's just like your firstgunfight.
I know you remember it, right,oh?
(26:51):
yeah yeah right, everybodyremembers their first.
You never know how you're gonnareact until you're in it,
because tell me it wasn'tdifferent than what you expect.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Absolutely, absolutely.
You think that you're gonnahave some great tagline from a
movie and that you don't haveany of that.
It's.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
There's no cool guy, there's no master chief saying
like no dude, you're in it thefirst one's always the worst and
always the scariest, right,yeah, what's interesting, though
, is that as you start doing it,the jokes come, because I can
tell many a dark joke during themiddle of a gunfight.
Most of the time it happened wewere on roof and start getting
(27:29):
shot at Right, but, uh, but, but, but the jokes always came
later, and that's of course howyou you handle it, and plus,
we're just, we're hilarious.
Let's be real.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Yeah, dark humor is part of the profession.
It keeps you when youunderstand why we do it and it
keeps you in the moment.
It keeps and I've seen it withguys that are hurt, guys that
are struggling like youinterject some humor.
Interject some humor into thesituation it brings you.
Okay, we're gonna get out ofthis.
I don't know how we're gonnaget out of it yet, but we're
(28:01):
gonna get out of it.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
And those new guys are scared.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
I mean everybody you're supposed to be able to be
real.
Everybody's scared, everybody.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
What do you do with that?
Right?
So it's us being able to kindof non-verbally tell them this
is how we handle things.
Right, because it's interesting.
The first gunfight I got in theSEAL teams was much different
than the first ones I had in theMarine Corps, right when, you
know, you've got 18 year oldkids that haven't been trained
at the highest level so theykind of you know it was one of
(28:28):
those and it was a time itwasn't wartime.
You know I'm going into theCorps for something greater than
the Corps, kind of like the 4th.
Legion, you know it's like it'sjail time or the Marines, that's
what you got Right.
But but those kids would bescared, and haven't, you know,
actually listen to a kid screamfor his mom?
Um, in the middle of a gunfight, and he drops his gun and, you
(28:48):
know, puts his hands over hisears like a, like a child.
But usually all it takes backthen is just a boot to the head.
You run by him, kick him in thehead, wake up, come back to us,
we need you, and usually thatwould lock him right back in you
know, yeah, it's.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
I had one guy run into the mat, run, run right
back into the back of an m-wrapand then you know the hydraulic
doors how slow they closed.
Slow, slowly closes, as I'mrunning just the slowest like
fuck you.
Yep, thanks, still here, stillhere.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Thank you, jamie hasket, wherever you are they
make it out, it provides a funnystory, but dead gum, oh yeah
yeah, the slowest hydraulic door.
That's the type of shit thatshould be in movies, like when
people run away that's the truthbeing stranger than fiction,
man, it's just like you can'tmake this stuff up absolutely no
(29:51):
idea oh man, yeah, it's, it's.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
The other thing that is shocking to me is the the
amount of people that push backon the idea that you can be a
man of faith, a man that'sdeeply trying to live his life
right, like we're gonna faileach and every day at it.
By the way, folks like if youthink you gotta be perfectly,
let me just tell you you'llforget to pray rosary, you'll
(30:17):
mess up more often than not.
But in the military we havethis culture, this idea like oh,
you can't be a man of faith.
We even look down on our some.
Some people look down on ourchaplains like oh man, we don't
need faith in this.
God's not in this.
I'm like he very much in thisRight.
Did you in your own experience,did you find individuals that
were pushing back on your faithor pushing back on the idea of,
(30:39):
of, of a guy man.
What's up with this guy Likegoing around blessing things,
like stuff's like you know, um,honestly, for me it was the
exact opposite.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Uh, you know it was.
It was before we go out, and II'm not gonna say I was scared
to show it, cause it was just Ididn't know how to show it when
I was in the Marines, and itwasn't until the teams came
along, maybe because I can'teven say it I intensified.
It was just different, but itwas a different group of guys.
Or maybe it was just me gettingstronger in my faith, I don't
know.
But I'd go out before everypatrol and pray about the boys
(31:13):
and lay hands on the vehicles.
I'd go out early and pray forall of our protection and the
guys would come out and they'dsee me and they'd be like, hey,
man, throw one up for me, youknow.
And then that was kind of liketheir.
You know, either god's gonnasit this one out or or whatever.
Their tough guy tagline wasright, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
exactly you know I'll be allthat is is a mask man, it's a
(31:33):
map, from fear and from notunderstanding, um, the gravity
that at which this whole thingis and what it's about man.
But I keep telling people, and Itell posters too.
I always say 18 Purple Hearts.
They're like what are youtalking about?
I said, well, over my 26 yearsof being in the military, of the
units that I've directly goneout with, 18 Purple Hearts have
(31:57):
come out.
Not one death, not one.
So it's not me, it's theprotection, and if you don't
realize that, you don't believein that, I don't know what to do
.
I mean, there's so much proof.
There's been no other prooffrom any history book as far as
the number of corroborations ofeverything that has happened
than the Bible.
(32:17):
Even if you don't have faith,it's a historical text thing
that has happened than the bible.
Even if you don't have faith,it's a historical text.
But the fact of the matter is,is that I don't know of an
atheist that read through thebible and came out an atheist
anymore, right?
Speaker 1 (32:28):
or or in the middle of a heated firefight.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Yeah, it's either a prayer word or jesus that comes
out yeah, right yeah, um, and,and I, I, you know.
Just you don't know whereyou're going to breathe your
last, last breath and whereyou're going to take your first
one and the next go, but it'sgoing to be one place or the
other man, so it's like I.
All I can do is tell you and tryto show you, you know, the
(32:54):
actual joy and relief that youknow life can be crashing down
around you, but you know it's.
It's just like with Job.
I'm still going to praise him,right, because he's not doing
that.
We live in a fallen world andit's the enemy trying to get me
to lose my faith when all it isis making me stronger.
So it's one of those thingswhere you get tested.
What's cool is the part whenyou realize where you're
(33:17):
something bad or you'resuffering through something, not
because of something that youscrewed up, and it's pretty much
you're, you deserve it butyou're screwing up because of
your faith in him and yourealize that's what it is.
Then it almost honestly, kindof oddly, makes the suffering
more fun.
Because this ain't me.
Let's do this right jokes onyou I live for this shit.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
That's like, that's a perfect mentality for special
operations, though, like, andthat's why guys need to
understand that your faith, oror your you're wanting to
explore your faith, isn't goingto make you weaker.
We, we have this flawed view ofwhat faith looks like in modern
(34:03):
man, and it's it's allperpetuated.
I can't talk today.
It's all pushed by modern mediaand depictions of what true
faith looks like.
They don't show a warriorthat's bearded out, that can
squat you know a thousand poundsbarrel chest of freedom fighter
.
We're given these, these, thesedepictions of men of faith that
(34:25):
are either morally corruptedindividuals Once you push back,
and it's like oh man, no, he's a, he's a predator, or they're
very, you know, timid, shyindividuals that never arise to
the to the moment, and I'm likeno, that's not true.
Some of the strongestindividuals I've ever met in the
special operations community.
You turn you, they finally showwhat makes them strong, and
(34:48):
it's they have a the a.
A lot of them don't drink,which is like it's amazing.
Yeah, they don't drink.
They don't I stop, yeah, yep,same here but they do things
yeah, exactly, they do thingslike explore their life and
realize.
You know what this giving thisup is going to bring me closer
to god.
It's going to make me better,the father.
So I'm going to walk away fromit.
(35:09):
I think that our faith isn't aweakness right, explore it, lean
into it, be willing to askquestions like it.
I get it.
Some people grew up with thechurch and it was presented in
the wrong way, like be willingto explore for yourself.
If your parents or somebodypushed it on, you understand
that was a moment in time backin the day.
Be willing to be strong, bewilling to dive into this.
(35:30):
Because what I realized isshared earlier when I was going
through my struggles, like Itried hard to work on the mind
and the body as much as I canand just tried healing that,
tried working through that.
And modern medicine, while it'swonderful, it's great, did a lot
of great things, let me tellyou it didn't do shit for a lot
of the pain.
It didn't do anything for thepain.
So I had to come, come, come upwith something else to help me
(35:55):
understand that pain is a partof life and modern medicine
doesn't do a good job of that itsays here drink this, take this
, and we're going to get rid ofall the pain.
We're going to get rid of allthe pain and then that slowly
leads you down a really darkpath, like faith will tell you
that you were, you were built toendure this.
Life's not about lollipops,sunshines and rainbows and you
can have peace and understandingthat like, okay, this is pain,
(36:18):
this is what I'm going through,but that's okay because I'm
built for it.
I'm built different.
He's got me and before you knowit, like you, put your faith
and trust in him and you'regoing to start getting.
You're going to go from placeswhere you felt like maybe you
couldn't walk, you couldn't workout and I know it sounds hokey,
I get it.
I get the pushback.
I, I get it.
(36:41):
I get the pushback.
I can already imagine thecomment section and that's okay.
Put your faith and trust in Godand start putting things
together that really truly helpyou.
You're going to see thingschange and it's understanding
that there's three pillars andyou've got to work on it mind,
body and spirit and for a lot ofus, it's that spirit piece.
It's just so damn hard.
It really is.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
But there's a reason why it's hard.
There's a real, because it's somuch more worth it in the end.
Think about it.
Everything you ever get in yourlife, that's usually when
you've worked the hardest.
For why is it so easy to workthe mind and work the mind and
body?
Because, like I said, that'sgoing to die.
It's the flesh.
The flesh is the easy way out.
What's the hard one?
You said it right there, that'sthe eternal one.
But which one has moreimportant to it?
(37:21):
Right, and I'll tell people tooI heard this and I share this
with other people is like theonly thing that you can take
with you to heaven is yourfamily or your friends.
It's people, it's not stuff.
Now, I'm not saying that Godwants you to be poor.
He doesn't.
He told us he wanted, he wantsthe absolute best for us.
But at the same time, there waswhat Jesus was telling us about
(37:43):
it being easier for a camel topass through the eye of the
needle than for a rich man toenter into heaven.
Well, he spoke into parables,to confuse, to keep people
guessing and have them kind ofconfused mostly the nonbelievers
because it was like well,that's impossible, I'm going to
do my own thing.
But it's like well, where's thefaith in that, right?
(38:03):
What he was trying to say is isthat because it's a rich man
and Lazarus, right, becauseLazarus he raised from the dead,
but, but?
But the rich?
The problem is is the richfolks a lot of problem.
They get all this money, theall this power and they don't
need God anymore.
One point they're like why dothis on my own and that goes
back to your point right, of whyit's so hard in the military is
because you think you're incontrol and you think that.
(38:25):
I mean, yes, you're going tohave to beat on your craft and,
yes, you're going to have tohone your skills, but at the
same time, that's the physicaland mental part, that's not the
spiritual part you add thatspiritual component to it and
you say yourself right there,you become the strongest version
of yourself.
You absolutely will.
It's going to be the hardest,you're going to get hit the most
, you're going to suffer more,right.
(38:45):
But you got to think about it,right?
What is life?
Life's a proving ground foreternity.
What's more important?
80 to 100 years or forever,right?
So why not give your heart overinto something that cares
enough about you to go.
I'm going to make it right foryou forever, but you're gonna
have to go through some stuff.
(39:06):
And because we live in a fallenworld, because of the problem
of us knowing the knowledge ofgood and evil, right, it's just
going to happen.
But the fact of the matter isthat there is a distinct enemy
out there, and that enemy all itwants is for you to be separate
from God and it will doanything it can to take you from
(39:29):
him, and you have to fight back.
The strongest I've ever been,the best I've ever felt, has
been when I've been at thestrongest in my face.
Right, it's it.
Yeah, I remember that feelingwhen I graduated.
Bud's right, 10 foot tall andbulletproof.
Well, you may have been 10 foottall, but you weren't
bulletproof.
Right, you're still a man,you're still going to bleed and
(39:52):
you still can die and you stillwill die, but if you're not
working on the part that'seternal, that's the part that
needs to strengthen.
I'm not saying don't strengthenmind, mind and body, I'm saying
it all works together.
He gave you the temple.
This is the temple of the HolySpirit, right, so you have to
take care of it.
And he gave us the ability tounderstand science so we can
better understand him.
Right, he's not against science.
(40:14):
It's just don't make that yourGod.
Yeah, yeah, it's a.
It's your ability to learn andmake ourself better.
That's what where medicine goes.
It's medicine's great, it'sfantastic, it's awesome for
certain things, but at the sametime, like you said, that pain
that overcome.
I've had multiple surgeries,right that I shouldn't have come
(40:34):
back from and doctors said youcan't do it.
I had knee surgery that saidyou'll never walk again.
You know I had shoulder surgeryoh, you'll never overhead press
again.
You know I had knee surgerythat said you'll never walk
again.
You know I had shoulder surgery.
Oh, you'll never overhead pressagain.
You know I had brain surgery.
Oh, you're going to be aninvalid.
You know you're probably goingto be blind or have all these
other problems that comes withthat.
Dude, I don't care, just anotherhurdle.
It doesn't matter.
What are you going to allow?
And you know what?
(40:54):
If something bad does happen, Idon't care, because I'm going
to use whatever that is as astory for his glory.
Right, absolutely, to show youthat, no matter what, as long as
you have the right mentalityand the right mindset, that's in
congruency with a healthy bodyand spirit.
Dude, you're literallyunstoppable.
You know, I talk about the will,right, because everybody talks
(41:15):
about mindset.
Oh, mindset, mindset.
Well, me, it was more like Igrew up watching Rocky
(41:41):
no-transcript.
Be able to get throughwhatever's thrown at you,
because you can.
But if you don't believe it andif you don't have your heart in
the right place, it's not goingto happen and you're going to
wither away.
You know, it's just like, justwith the, the christ, in the
church right, the tail is goingto follow the head, but it has
(42:03):
to, but it has to follow it.
Just like with your body, right, wherever your mind and heart
go, that's where everything elseis going to follow.
So it's up to you.
Everything's a choice.
He loves us so much that he gaveus the choice to be apart from
him if we want.
But he doesn't want that.
He wants us to be all apart, orall apart together as a group.
Right, he wants us to betogether as a group.
(42:24):
So why wouldn't you?
Why wouldn't you?
You're it's, it's a you're,it's a winning.
The fight's already won.
Why would you want to be a partof the big team, the big win?
Right, it's going to take afight.
And that's the thing is thatsometimes your fight and
struggle with the spirit may bestrong, may be stronger and
harder than the fight that wehad in combat, right Cause
you're you're battling differentthings that are just in that in
(42:47):
the moment it's the mostimpossible thing ever and you
feel like you can't beat it.
You know, and it literally islike life or death, because
you're talking about eternityand it's that.
It's that choice you make, buthe gives you the choice you have
to's that choice you make, buthe gives you the choice you have
to make that choice.
But the only way that you canget stronger in the spirit is to
seek him more the less.
(43:07):
That the I noticed in my life,especially the more times that I
would start to think that I'min control and I can do all this
stuff and started leaning on myown understanding, which he
says leading out on your ownunderstanding.
Weird, it's like you know's,like you know it.
Just like that's when.
That's when the wheels startedto fall off, and I was too dumb,
too arrogant, too prideful torealize it.
(43:29):
And I can't tell you how manylessons I've learned the hard
way, right, but because I alwayswent back to him and he knew
that he had a plan for me.
He kept me alive, for whateverreason, and I know what the
reason is.
Your mission and purpose, right, it's to spread the word and to
show people what love really isright, absolutely regardless.
(43:50):
That's why you know.
It's one of those things.
But what I hear a long time agowith the social media stuff was
you know, you don't know you'reyou're succeeding unless you've
got haters.
And then don't ever read thecomments.
Dude, I love it, bring it.
It's great, because the thingis that I'm not going to fight
back, because I'm going to fightback with what God told me love
is supposed to, because chancesare.
If someone's lashing out, thething I learned a long time ago
(44:11):
when I was getting bullied isthat those people are hurting.
Oh yeah, they feel better bymaking somebody else feel weaker
, right, because that's what?
But where did that come from?
It came from someone thatdidn't train them right and
didn't really show them whatlove really was.
So, in order to do that, andnow with the background and I
(44:38):
guess the look or whatever, ithelps people go well, maybe
there is something to this,right, maybe, yeah, there's
something to this Right.
Right, I've tried my best to bethe strongest and best man that
I possibly can be for god andthe family.
So with that, I'm going to showother people.
That's what that's like,because you know how it is
everybody, um, we're very, veryvisual, uh, individuals, right,
people are in general and theysee a look and they
(44:59):
automatically think somethingabout somebody.
They have, they have apreconceived notion of what that
is.
They see this, this and theysee you and they're like hard
target, tough guy, rough andtumble, this, that and the other
.
But then you start opening yourmouth and you start displaying
kindness, gentleness, peace.
You start talking aboutself-control, you start exuding
(45:19):
the fruits of the spirit andthat breaks down everything they
ever thought of.
But you used that vessel thatyou've honed into something, a
weapon for the eternal and notjust a weapon for the physical.
Yeah, and that's what's so coolabout it to me, right to be
able to do his work that way.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
And I think that's that's something that a lot of
us need to understand and takewith us, like after we we exit
the military.
You don't have to get rid ofthe warrior, right.
He's still a vital aspect ofyourself, of who you are, and
always be there.
What you have to do is findthat new mission and be of
service to others that he ismore than capable of being there
(46:01):
with you.
You just have to understandthat, not when you speak to
everybody.
You don't have to engage withan F-bomb.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
Right, absolutely Now granted.
If you're friends, you probablywill.
Yeah, yeah, that's the mantraof the veteran.
Right Versus the civilian isthe civilian.
I see you in your face and talktrash behind your back.
A veteran would be nice to youbehind your back but talk trash
(46:30):
to your face.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
It depends on the background, right?
Heck?
Yeah, man, it is.
Speaker 2 (46:33):
It's so cool talking to vets too, especially ones you
put a smile on people's facesright.
Show them really the joy of theLord that he's blessed me with.
But to be able to talk to vetsthat are hurting man, love doing
that and because it's so easyto pull on their heartstrings.
It's so easy because it allgoes back to everything that we
all went through.
(46:54):
So and just to realize, look,guy, gal, you've got purpose and
you have to go at that purpose,for whatever it is.
You've been given gifts.
What is it you love?
What is it that you were goodat in the craft that you have?
Because you've already got thehard, hardcore mentality.
It's already there right Now.
It's okay.
Are you going to go cry anycornflakes and go internal?
(47:15):
Or are you going to startplaying team ball, thinking
about other people and using thegifts and everything that
you've learned and gotten over alifetime of suffering or four
years or whatever it is that youserved?
And it's a choice.
Are you going to cave or areyou going to help One or the
other and you can thrive and youwill thrive, but you have to
(47:36):
want to.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (47:38):
Because the thing that everybody worries about is
that, once they step off thetrain, the train keeps going,
and then they think they'realone, right?
Well, the devil wants you tothink you're alone too.
You're not.
You're never alone, becauseChrist is always walking with
you.
You don't realize that, becauseyou're looking around for other
people, people are going tofail you, no matter what.
Christ will never fail you,right?
What I'm saying, though, isthat you haven't lost your tribe
(48:01):
.
You're just looking for anotherone, and guess what?
You're not the only vet.
You're not the only vet.
Go find another one that was inyour community.
They're out there, right?
There's social media.
All you got to do is put up thebat signal, and somebody is
going to show.
Speaker 1 (48:18):
It's so true, and you know, a great place to start is
grabbing a cup of coffee andexplore faith together, man,
brotherhood, brotherhood throughChrist You'll be.
You'll be amazed the amount ofpeople that are willing to sit
down with you, break bread andhelp you get through something,
cause that's something thatevery veteran shares that that
purpose and that identity afterthey leave and head into it.
(48:39):
Go into it headfirst.
Dive that, that purpose andthat identity, after they leave
and head into it.
Go into it head first.
Dive into that, explore thatidentity, explore that purpose,
and don't wait to the lastminute, man like.
Start going into that as soonas, like you know, you're going
to be etsing and explore all theother pillars that you need to
work on.
As you know, I will tell youwhen you make that exit and
you're fully prepared, it it's,it's a lot better and it's
(49:01):
argument can be said.
You'll never be fully prepared,but you'll be, you know, a
little bit more prepared thanthe guys before you and after
you if you focus on building allthree of those pillars.
Tommy, I can't thank you enoughfor being here.
Brother, people want to checkyou out or getting ahold of you.
Old are you?
Where can they go?
Speaker 2 (49:17):
yeah, so um, you can hit me up on the website, um at
uh wwwdivinesavagerycom.
Uh, shoot, you can email me.
Tommy at divinesavagerycom.
Um, I'm on linkedin.
It's tommy richardson and uh igif you want to hit that up and
see some lifting stuff.
But uh, raise, dot your dothorn heck.
Speaker 1 (49:36):
Yeah, tommy, thank you so much for being here and
for everybody tuning in.
Thank you for coming along.
Do us a favor head on over toSpotify, apple Podcasts or
YouTube.
Give us a share, like and afollow.
I'd greatly appreciate it.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
We'll see you all next time.
Until then, take care.
Thanks for tuning in and don'tforget to like, follow, share,
subscribe and review us on yourfavorite podcast platform.
(49:59):
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
content, resources and updates.
And remember we get throughthis together.
If you're still listening, theepisode's over.
(50:23):
Yeah, there's no more Tune intomorrow or next week.
Security Odd Podcast.
Let's go the only podcastthat's purpose-built from the
ground up to support you Notjust you, but the wider audience
, everybody.
Authentic, impactful andinsightful conversations that
serve a purpose to help you.
And the quality has gone up.
It's decent.
(00:21):
It's hosted by me, DennyCaballero, Tommy Richardson
welcome to Security Hall, man,how you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, I'm doing great , how you doing.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Doing well.
Brother.
Dude, it's great to seesomebody that's out there
putting good stuff out in theworld, and your career is pretty
fucking amazing.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
It's one thing to become a navy seal, but to go
after that dream after almostalready having a full career in
the marine corps yeah, thecrayons are tasty, man, and I
just didn't know what you'regonna do when you grow up and
what you're gonna do with life.
Man, you gotta change it up alittle bit dude, hell yeah, dude
.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Um, I wanted to dive into your story, man.
I think that, um, individualshave incredible service records
that have endured and have gonethrough and served, have an
amazing backstory.
It's not always just like thecombat, glitz and glamour, but
on the other side of theirservice, there's also this great
fucking set of tools andblueprints of how to move
(01:25):
forward and being authentic.
Uh, just like we're jokingabout earlier, how to make sure
that chapter two it's going tobe difficult, it's going to be
hard.
That that's life, but how tomake it authentically, uniquely
yours.
And when I look at everythingabout you from power lifting to
divine savagery, like it'severything seems to be in line
with who you are and what yourpurpose is.
So, so today, my man, we'rediving into your journey.
(01:47):
Where did Tommy get the idea tobecome a Marine?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Family man.
It was just one of those things.
A lot of my family were priorMarines and that had kind of
gotten pushed into.
That's the direction to go.
It's the whole first to fightbit, and it was always a really
patriotic family.
And we, we grew up and I grewup bit, and it was always a
really patriotic family and we,uh, we grew up, you know, I grew
up hunting with my it was mydad and my grandfather and my
(02:11):
uncles and it was just, I mean,they were, they were all Marines
and they went hey man, maybeyou ought to go try this out.
And the uh, we had one guy onmy mom's side that was, uh, kind
of seen as the captain Americaof the family.
A lot, a lot of respect.
Uh, I was, you know, I grew upin a well, we'll just call a
little bit harsh uh, environmentand um, to get.
It was one of those thingswhere it's like, hey man, if I'm
gonna get respect, that's whatI'm gonna do.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
so I cruised in the marine corps and that was it,
man yeah, for a lot of timeswhen you have that lineage there
, it seems like there's no otheroption.
Like mom, father, brother,uncle and like down the line.
If everybody does it, man, Ican't be the only one out, I
can't be the odd man out.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I don't know, man, I guess it was just about respect.
I mean, it was a weird time inthe eighties, man, um and and I
got like really horribly bulliedand uh, it was back then it
wasn't just turn off and off,but you know, it was like every
day you're facing it at schoolyou're getting beat down, thrown
(03:11):
into lockers, thrown intodumpsters, um, just it was.
It was absolutely brutal.
And just because of the waythat I looked at the time, um, I
was kind of a lightning rod forthat to happen.
So, um, it was one of thosethings where I had a decision to
make of am I going to cave andbelieve everything that
everybody's telling me that I'mnothing, or am I going to turn
it around?
And eventually it's just one ofthose things.
It's a.
You just get sick of it.
And then it's kind ofinteresting that in the Marine
(03:31):
Corps there's a saying that thebeatings will continue until
morale improves, so that thatquite literally happened to me.
So it's just a matter of memaking the choice.
And I wanted to get respectfirst in my family and I was
like, well, I'll look to the oneeverybody looks to.
And I wanted to follow hiscareer path.
I mean, he was the intel guyand then he cruised in.
He was the actual plank ownerof the hostage rescue team.
(03:53):
Oh shit, yeah, yeah, yeah,Started in 83, I believe.
And I wanted to go that route.
But, man, senior drillinstructors just going what's
your MOS going to be?
And just something hit me andwent you know what, man, I'm
going to make my own path.
I want to go infantry.
So let's rock and roll.
And this was pre-war, this was98.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Yeah, it was a whole different Marine Corps, a whole
different military back then.
That a lot of people don'trealize.
People are getting a little bitof of it right now, but it's
like sort of like the hybridspace.
But dude, the 80s and 90s wasdifferent.
Man like you weren't guaranteeda slot in the combat and it was
very much drill and ceremonyperformance based like old
(04:33):
school fucking soldiering andmarine marine time yeah, I mean
it was.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
It's one of those things too, where we were coming
out of, um, you know, desertstorm, and so we were getting a
lot of those guys as our, as ourinstructors, so and then and
then, before that, you've got,you know the, the grenada, you
know, um, yeah, and you know,and then before that, it's
vietnam era, but I mean vietnambeing the last big war that
happened, um, I say that justbecause desert storm was so much
(05:01):
of a overwhelming victory, um,not to say bad stuff that went
on because I mean, it was stillcombat, but those are the guys
that were looking at us.
It was a different time, um,and yeah, I guess we're kind of
there now, um, except you've gotnow veterans teaching, uh, you
know, veterans of the, theg-watt, you know that actually
were in a whole bunch ofsustained combat for years,
(05:22):
training guys.
So I would equate it more to avietnam era or post vietnam
right now, as far as the mindset, it's tough, man, I mean we can
get into all that.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
It's a separate conversation about the mentality
and where things are now, butit was very different back then,
for sure no, and cutting yourteeth in that type of military
certainly teaches you disciplineand how to do a lot of marching
.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yeah, it's funny how stuff kind of moves to
administration.
I think it would be tailoredmore towards you know combat,
which you know we was.
I mean you know how it isentry-level training and
follow-on training.
It's all about you know doingthe combat piece, because that's
what your MOS is.
But but yeah, there is a littlebit more focus about you know
it was back then we had toactually iron our camis, shine
(06:08):
in your boots, shine in your allyour stuff up, having the junk
on the bunk inspections and allthat stuff which I mean there's.
There's a time and a place fordiscipline.
I totally get it.
But to put to me, for me, moremore of an emphasis on the stuff
that's going on in the field,um, of course they, you know
they say those are garrisonmarine and a field marine one.
It's just a marine.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
You're either good at what you do or you're not, you
know yeah, and I have to imaginelike that, the coming from that
background of being the pickedon kid going into the marine.
When I see my own friends thathad that similar background, I'm
like man, like I'm getting shiton as a kid, fuck this, I'm
gonna go to military marinecorps.
Yeah, like, how did thatmindset shift?
(06:48):
Like once you made it intothrough basic and training, did
you see yourself kind of likelooking back, do you see
yourself like, okay, that's,that's when I shifted from being
like the kid that felt like hewas always gonna have to like
prove himself, always having tododge the bigger guys, to like
that scrappy fighter it um, youknow it was.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
It was interesting, man.
Uh, golly it.
The mindset change honestlyhappened with the guy that was
training me.
I was very fortunate beforegoing in um, like fully truly
going in um to to active duty uh, is the same dude that trained
um.
I trained with the Latrellsgrowing up and no shit.
Yeah, so Billy Shelton, the.
(07:27):
you know if you saw the yeahthat first picture page, that's,
that's me in it with them.
But yeah, so he it kind of gotbeat into us, Um, and it was,
and it was one of those thingswhere that's kind of really
where my mind shift changehappened because he was hard on
us, but he was hard on usbecause he actually cared.
And it was one of those thingswhere, you know, the twins had
(07:51):
the reputation of already beingthe tough guys and I was like
the exact opposite.
So I had it, but with that Ihad a little bit of a chip on my
shoulder, so then it justbecame one of those things where
we're just like I'm going tolet you beat me what, Like no,
one of those things where we'rejust like I'm going to let you
beat me what, and it was like no.
And then that's honestly that'skind of where the internal
hardening and the mentalfortitude not, I mean, it
(08:15):
already happened, because Ithink the fortitude actually
comes from all of the hard stuffthat happens to you right.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Absolutely.
You can't build resilience in avacuum without being tested.
No, not at all.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Not at all.
You can't do it as a bubble boyman.
So it was just, it was.
It was just everything that hetaught us in the lessons, after
the workouts and the beatingsand stuff there.
In a good way it was, it was.
But then the three of us thattaught teamwork because it was
one of those that adversity weall got really, really tight and
(08:45):
I think that was like thegrandioso plan because it was
like weed out all non-hackersand then everybody that could
hack it go.
And then when he sent all of us, I mean they went Navy.
Marcus left first, but theywent Navy and then I went
Marines and that mentality waswhat kind of pushed through
everything.
Now I have my struggles right,just like everybody did.
(09:06):
Like I was horrible at pull-upsbecause I was, you know, really
really tall, super long arms andreally bad at it.
I could do push-ups for days.
I could run For whatever reason.
I got blessed with the abilityto run, but you know I struggled
at pull-ups.
So that was my thing.
You know, entry-level trainingwas getting harassed for that,
but the cool part about it is,again, it's one of those things
that just made me stronger and Ialready had the mentality.
(09:28):
So it was one of those thingswhere, if I came up against
something tough, I would go backto those times in that front
yard, that bed and breakfast inConroe, texas, of us getting
beat on and going I'm not goingto lose for them, you know.
And it's kind of cool becausethat that's really the mentality
that goes on, because even ifyou don't understand what the
mission is overseas or thingslike that, you don't really get
(09:48):
what's going on at the politicallevels or at the strategic
levels and you're just goingwell, I'm just going to do it
for these guys.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
That's why and it breeds a selfless mentality and
it really gives and drives homethe purpose that matters yeah,
yeah, it's hard for, for peoplethat haven't served to
understand that, that sentimentof we don't understand the
political sphere, we don'tunderstand what the fuck's
happening behind the scenes.
But we're here, yeah, we're menof service, we're in combat and
(10:24):
I'm doing it for the guy to theleft and right of me, I need to
be my absolute best, and that'sa hard thing to explain to
people because they think thatwe're ignorant and you're not
informed.
How could you be fighting inthis war?
It's like, well, look, man,like warriors callings is a
timeless thing, like if itwasn't your path.
It's not your path, but that'scertainly our path, that's
certainly what we chose to do inlife and if we're going to do
(10:45):
it, we're going to do it fucking, really, really well, right
(11:09):
no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Stare at myself in the mirror every day, knowing
that I could have done somethingI could have trained a little
bit harder, something that Icould have done to save that
individual.
You know it's a survivor'sguilt, right, but, but at the
same time that you know you cancall it guilt or whatever, but
it's just like it's to me.
I think it's a God pulled onyour heartstrings.
It's like, bro, you should havedone something, and what we
should do, and what I alwaystell a lot of people, especially
(11:36):
young kids.
You know, before I was gettingout cause, my God, I became the
dinosaur, I never said I would.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Uh, uh, 24 years man, you had a long run.
Brother, 26 and change.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Oh, it's 26.
Dumb to quit, man.
Um, but yeah, it was just.
Yeah, man, it was just talkingto the folks and telling the
kids like you have to study yourhistory.
You know what I mean.
Everybody says don't look back,but at the same time, everybody
went through all that stuff toteach you to do better and be
better, and that's the only waythat you're going to elevate
(12:07):
your game.
You know, if you don't knowwhere you're going, you don't
know where you're going if youdon't know where you've been.
So learn from those mistakesbecause they're not repeated in
blood, because most likelythat's what's going to end up
happening.
And that's why I told the guyswas to read understand where
you're going, understand theculture, understand the people,
the more that you can get ahead.
If you're not the first one in,then talk to the people that
(12:27):
are already over there.
So it's almost like you'redoing your right seat, left seat
rides before going over intocombat.
It's up to you to learn as muchas you possibly can about an
area that you're going to go,because why the stakes are so
high.
I go and talk to all theseprofessional athlete teams and
things like that and I try torelate it, but you can't.
(12:47):
And one of the first things Itell the guys is that I'm like,
look, I say I'm talking to anNFL team, right, and I go I say,
hey, you guys are at thepinnacle of your sport.
What gives me the right to tellyou how to do anything?
Why?
Because I'm going to tell youright now.
Look to whoever your teammateis and I'll say, you know, break
out like, okay, who's the?
Who's the quarterback?
Right, usually the highest paidguy, leader of the team?
(13:07):
All right, where's the backupkicker?
All right, will you lay downyour life for him?
Right now, active shooter comesin.
Will you jump in front of abullet for that guy?
Nobody ever says yes, I'll dothat immediately.
That's the difference betweenme and you and that's why I have
the ability to come here,because I play at the highest
stakes and I've played at thehighest stakes.
(13:28):
So I'm helping you tounderstand your craft a little
bit better by trying to elevateyour game to be the best that
you can be.
And with a team sport, it'svery, very simple, because it's
just teaching them.
The guy on your left, the guyon your right, it matters,
because what are you going for?
You're going for the win Stakesaren't as high.
Yeah, you can start over, butif you think like they're not,
(13:51):
who knows?
And then who knows?
Man, maybe that person?
If something happens out in thereal world, you know, god
forbid, they get attacked orsomething like that that clicks
in their mind and then they canbecome that protector that they
should be.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
And that's kind of what we give back.
Yeah, we tend to forget thatthe warrior culture can inspire,
mentor and coach anybody.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yeah, it's not just relegated.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
It's not just relegated to other like.
I can get so much benefit fromtalking to you all day, but the
same can be said that we breakoff and start helping and
coaching, mentoring otherindividuals within our own space
that don't have the backgroundin military or maybe they do,
but just not the long, the longcareers to match.
Brotherhood is not justrelegated to the military.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
It can be taught and that's and I think that is a
good platform for at least forwhat I'm doing in the business
world, right In the businessworld or in sports or anywhere,
anybody that wants to hire andcome talk to me.
And that's kind of where I'mgoing to come from, because I
used to be that guy that waslike I'm only going to talk
about it around the boys, aroundthe fire, eating meat, doing
band stuff.
It's going to be great, right,and that's it.
I'm going to go internal, justlike you know, it's one of those
(15:02):
things.
I just sitting there in prayerone day and it's like look man,
and good Lord was telling melook man, I didn't put you
through all this stuff to keepit to yourself, right, and it's
one of those things.
It's like you've got to do itthe right way, no-transcript, so
(15:29):
to do that.
That's where all of your storiescame from, because you know as
well as I do, man, truth isstranger than fiction.
So it's being able to take thosetruths, bringing them out, and
that way people don't have tohave this romanticized Hollywood
view of what it is that we did,because it wasn't.
I mean, even in the beginningyou said the glitz and glam of
combat.
(15:49):
Really, how much glitz and glamis that really?
None, zero, zilch, nothing.
It's harsh, it's hard, it'stough, and we get trained by the
hardest and the best for areason, so that we can survive
and then come back and stillkind of have all of our stuff
together Not that we do in thebeginning anyways, sort of ish
right, but at least be able tocome back and share those types
(16:11):
of experiences to hopefullyuplift other people so they can
become, uh, under well, they arethe protected people but to um,
understand who it is that'sfighting for them, and then to
elevate their lives, to go youknow what.
Maybe what's going on around meisn't so bad and there is a way
out.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Yeah, absolutely we.
I don't know why, why oursociety moved away from it.
But now it's something that Ilove to talk about because we
don't, we don't embrace itenough, and that's faith.
Like the, the pillars that westand on mind, body and spirit
like those are easily eroded.
(16:48):
Body and mind quickly go withdeployments, long careers.
But I've, I've said it so manytimes, the guys that when I look
back and do like the, the, thememory pdss, if you will,
looking back at, like all thepeople that did succeed, the
guys that whose marriages stayedtogether, the guys that didn't
have, you know, maybe they didhave injuries, maybe they did
(17:10):
fall apart, the body didn't holdout Right, they bounced back a
lot faster because they had thatone pillar that was never
questionable.
That was faith.
Yeah, and that's something thatwhen I do these interviews, I'm
always like I'm'm finding morepeople that maybe they didn't
have what they serve.
Maybe they found it afterwardsand it became something that
they built slowly and made itthe strongest pillar, because
(17:33):
it's the one thing we can alwaysturn to, so one thing that when
you're, when your back sucksand you can't lift, when you're,
you're depressed because youcan't run and your mind, your
cognitive abilities are a littlebit shaken up because you've
taken one too many hits to thehead.
Sure, you got faith.
You can lean on somethingstrong.
Did you always have this pillar, as it was a part of you that
was built as a child, or was itsomething that you had to
(17:54):
develop through service andafterwards?
Speaker 2 (17:57):
I think it's a constant journey.
I think that we were given oneperfect example of how it is
that we're supposed to be, andthat's in Jesus.
And if you look at all theindividuals in the bible, every
last one of them were flawed andevery last one of them messed
up, and messed up big.
But what it was showing was isthat when you mess up, you can
repent and go back to them.
As long as you've got breath inyour uh lungs and then beat
going in your heart, you canstill turn to them, right and um
(18:20):
.
And the thing is, there's areason that it's the most uh
sought after, or like lightningrod punched in the face, and the
only thing that's acceptable.
Why?
Well, because the way, thetruth and the life, right, if
you want true joy and true peace, you're going to find it there,
uh, regardless, okay, and to meit's, it's absolutely, it's um
sanctification, right.
(18:40):
You're becoming more and morelike him as best, best you
possibly can, but through theroutes that he gave you and the
gifts that you were given, right.
So, yeah, it's absolutely grownover time.
I've absolutely backslid, I'm adadgum, chief of sinners and I
absolutely do not deserve hisgrace, right.
But the fact of the matter isis that, knowing that I could
always go back to him, no matterwhat, because it's just like
(19:03):
being a kid.
You know you're, you're goingto mess up over and over again.
But what is your?
What do you do as a father?
Do you hate them?
No, absolutely not.
You love them so much tocorrect them, punish if needed
and then course correct.
That's it, and that's where youknow accountability happens.
So no, it actually grew overtime.
I got saved in my earlytwenties when I was in the
(19:23):
Marine Corps, but yeah, man, itjust grew over time.
And that's another part of thestories that I share with people
too, about the power of prayerand what God can do and manifest
himself in the actual physical.
That it's not just somethingthat you know.
Everybody calls it the man inthe sky or whatever.
No, he's actual.
Jesus is alive, he's an actualpart of your life and you should
(19:46):
make him a lord of your life.
Why?
Because, heck, I want to seeall you guys in heaven.
Man, you know, I want to gofull on.
And you talk about thedifference of what you know,
your mind and your body fate.
Well, you're talking about theflesh versus the spirit and
that's why there's that constantbattle right between the flesh
and the spirit.
The spirit is eternal and theflesh knows it.
Because the flesh knows it'sgoing to die, so it's going to
(20:06):
scrape, beg, borrow, steal ateverything that it can for
self-seeking pleasure, immediatepleasure, right in the moment,
in order to somehow fill a holethat only God can fill Right.
That's you know.
That's that's why you see allthese really high up great,
glitzy, glammy people or havehorrible lives.
They're like well, how can they?
Well, because money and fameand power doesn't breed
(20:28):
happiness.
You think it does, but itdoesn't right.
But you learn to live in joyand that's kind of where the
cool part of the military isright.
You rejoice in the sufferingand in the tribulation because
you know that your perseveranceis being tested and then it
becomes well, where's the nextone coming?
And that's the whole part whereI said my raise your horn speech
right, and my tagline orwhatever it's from the Bible man
(20:51):
, right.
It means bring it Whateveryou've got coming today.
It's a daily fight.
Come at it and let's rock androll.
And you know what?
Let's bring some people alongand make this happen and make it
a team fight, but no man.
There's so many different timeswhere and I have multiple,
multiple, multiple differentstories to where he's manifested
(21:11):
himself in the physical savedour lives plenty of times.
Man, it's just crazy.
I mean Afghanistan, right.
So every FOB we ever went to, Ialways prayed on we get to the
spot.
First thing I do is drop all mygear If we had nothing going
and then I'd go put my hands onthe around the side of and pray
(21:32):
about safety and protection.
Right, and we had this onedeployment where, three days
after I left, you know the beehuts that we had, the little
constructed huts that we livedin it got.
It got rocketed and right whereI was staying, where my bed was
got blown to pieces, and rightwhere I was staying, where my
bed was got blown to pieces.
I would have died.
Everybody in there would havedied three days after we left,
right.
Fortunately everybody was atchow at the time and everybody
(21:55):
was OK.
But it was just.
It's just interesting and itkind of makes you think.
You know, I mean I've had.
I mean I got one of my, mytroop chief man.
We were on a helo route onBlackhawk man and looking down
and seeing a guy actuallybecause we were so low to the
ground, um, it was near, uh,pulley alarm, um in logar, and I
saw I come out with an rpglaunch it at us and I looked at
(22:18):
him and I said, hey, man, we'reabout to get hit and he goes.
What you know you can barelyhear because you know they're
just out inside of it ever.
You know the movies.
They think like we can actuallytalk to each other, but unless
we have mics you can't.
Yeah, yeah, so anyway, I lookand it shoots and and dude, it's
come.
I can see the, the, you don'tsee the vapor trail behind it.
After, after it pops and itdude it and like, right, the
(22:39):
last second it just wentunderneath us and it blew up on
the other side and he saw it andwent, whoa, and I went, yeah,
that's what I was talking about.
You know, all these littlethings, man, even in iraq, same
thing.
I had a, um, I had a guy, one,one of the cats, pied the corner
, because you know, they werediscovering that they could hide
(22:59):
within the masses and poppedthe corner, shot at rpg, and
this was back when we had, youknow, thin skinned vehicles,
right, the only thing, the onlything there was, was the glass.
That was that you say bullet,we'll say bullet resistant, um,
but but we only had the quarterinch steel, uh, doors, right,
and it was the old school doorsthat didn't even have the
windows.
So, uh, yeah, this was, thiswas, oh, four, this is fallujah
(23:22):
man.
So, um, so, so anyway, hepopped it and, uh, the guy
behind me called, teed me up onthe run of green gear and he was
like, hey, man, you okay.
I'm like, yeah, I'm fine.
Why he goes?
Well, because you just got hitby an rpg.
I was like we didn't feelanything.
He goes, yeah, it hit your doorand bounced off.
I went what?
Sure enough, man, as soon as weparked and finished our patrol,
(23:42):
I get out.
There's a little hole, right,little tip, where it hit.
It hit but didn't, but didn'texplode, right.
So it's just little things likethat and I've got that
throughout my whole career.
Happened in Haiti, happened juststories after stories after
stories of his grace and hisglory to an undeserving person,
but somebody that wouldn't comeback and tell the stories, right
, and it's just over and overagain.
(24:03):
So, yeah, it's absolutely grownit to the point to where it's
like when he say, give yourheart to him, you really got to
give it all over.
But when you do, oh, my word,bro, it's freedom, absolute
freedom.
It's freedom, it's joy, it'speace, all the fruits of the
spirit, it's a thing, it's anabsolute thing, and you start
understanding about what lovereally is.
(24:23):
It doesn't mean do whatever youwant, right?
No, absolutely not.
It means that there's sufferingand accountability that go with
it.
Why?
Because that's what love is andthat's what caring is.
It goes into that becauseyou're going to have to
sacrifice your time and it's asacrifice of self which ties
right into teams, especiallyspec ops level.
You know this better thananybody, right?
(24:43):
It's absolute selfless behavior.
You got to think that thementality of being able to do
something and there's tons ofguys that have done it, never
been in that position, but likeguys that jump on grenades, guys
that jump in front of bulletsor do something like that it's
just, it's crazy what whatthey'll do.
It was I one time, okay, onetime there I had a um, my uh.
(25:05):
One time my platoon chief wasin an LTA TV and we were in a
gunfight in Nabar and he haddriven around because on our LTA
TVs we had mounted theuniversal flower pots and put
the 240s on it right, so itlooked sick.
Man, mad Max, all this Dude.
(25:27):
We had one of our CBs put aflower pot in the center and we
actually I got pictures of wemounted a 50 cal to the front,
madus, to the front of the LCA.
It didn't work so good when thevehicle rolled, because it just
went right in the mud.
We're like, okay, we got to fixthe weight distribution here,
right, yeah, but we're figuringit out.
(25:48):
Well, yeah, you just put anextra guy in the ammo boxes back
there, it doesn't tilt so much.
Um, but, but, but anyway, itwas super cool.
Anyway, he rolled around to, uh,the right flank of where we
were getting hit and, uh, hehigh centered the vehicle and it
sunk down in like that sandymud.
You know how it is when it like, when that, yeah, that gets wet
, right.
So it sunk down and he wascalling, he started taking fire
(26:08):
and, uh, myself and my JTAC justlook at you I didn't even think
and all he did I was yellingTommy.
And then I wrote, ran out tohim and it was one of those
things where I, you know, put myweapon around me, bullets were
freaking, flying all over theplace, got to the front of the
vehicle and it was just Lordgive me strength Picked up,
deadlifted the front of thevehicle up and out of where it
(26:30):
was stuck.
He got traction, turned backaround, joined that element and
then started getting back afterit and we ended up winning the
day.
So it's just that idea of goingI'm going to do any, whatever,
it does not matter.
I'm going to give my life foryours.
I really will do that when thetime comes and people can say it
.
But it's just like your firstgunfight.
I know you remember it, right,oh?
(26:51):
yeah yeah right, everybodyremembers their first.
You never know how you're gonnareact until you're in it,
because tell me it wasn'tdifferent than what you expect.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Absolutely, absolutely.
You think that you're gonnahave some great tagline from a
movie and that you don't haveany of that.
It's.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
There's no cool guy, there's no master chief saying
like no dude, you're in it thefirst one's always the worst and
always the scariest, right,yeah, what's interesting, though
, is that as you start doing it,the jokes come, because I can
tell many a dark joke during themiddle of a gunfight.
Most of the time it happened wewere on roof and start getting
(27:29):
shot at Right, but, uh, but, but, but the jokes always came
later, and that's of course howyou you handle it, and plus,
we're just, we're hilarious.
Let's be real.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Yeah, dark humor is part of the profession.
It keeps you when youunderstand why we do it and it
keeps you in the moment.
It keeps and I've seen it withguys that are hurt, guys that
are struggling like youinterject some humor.
Interject some humor into thesituation it brings you.
Okay, we're gonna get out ofthis.
I don't know how we're gonnaget out of it yet, but we're
(28:01):
gonna get out of it.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
And those new guys are scared.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
I mean everybody you're supposed to be able to be
real.
Everybody's scared, everybody.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
What do you do with that?
Right?
So it's us being able to kindof non-verbally tell them this
is how we handle things.
Right, because it's interesting.
The first gunfight I got in theSEAL teams was much different
than the first ones I had in theMarine Corps, right when, you
know, you've got 18 year oldkids that haven't been trained
at the highest level so theykind of you know it was one of
(28:28):
those and it was a time itwasn't wartime.
You know I'm going into theCorps for something greater than
the Corps, kind of like the 4th.
Legion, you know it's like it'sjail time or the Marines, that's
what you got Right.
But but those kids would bescared, and haven't, you know,
actually listen to a kid screamfor his mom?
Um, in the middle of a gunfight, and he drops his gun and, you
(28:48):
know, puts his hands over hisears like a, like a child.
But usually all it takes backthen is just a boot to the head.
You run by him, kick him in thehead, wake up, come back to us,
we need you, and usually thatwould lock him right back in you
know, yeah, it's.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
I had one guy run into the mat, run, run right
back into the back of an m-wrapand then you know the hydraulic
doors how slow they closed.
Slow, slowly closes, as I'mrunning just the slowest like
fuck you.
Yep, thanks, still here, stillhere.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Thank you, jamie hasket, wherever you are they
make it out, it provides a funnystory, but dead gum, oh yeah
yeah, the slowest hydraulic door.
That's the type of shit thatshould be in movies, like when
people run away that's the truthbeing stranger than fiction,
man, it's just like you can'tmake this stuff up absolutely no
(29:51):
idea oh man, yeah, it's, it's.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
The other thing that is shocking to me is the the
amount of people that push backon the idea that you can be a
man of faith, a man that'sdeeply trying to live his life
right, like we're gonna faileach and every day at it.
By the way, folks like if youthink you gotta be perfectly,
let me just tell you you'llforget to pray rosary, you'll
(30:17):
mess up more often than not.
But in the military we havethis culture, this idea like oh,
you can't be a man of faith.
We even look down on our some.
Some people look down on ourchaplains like oh man, we don't
need faith in this.
God's not in this.
I'm like he very much in thisRight.
Did you in your own experience,did you find individuals that
were pushing back on your faithor pushing back on the idea of,
(30:39):
of, of a guy man.
What's up with this guy Likegoing around blessing things,
like stuff's like you know, um,honestly, for me it was the
exact opposite.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Uh, you know it was.
It was before we go out, and II'm not gonna say I was scared
to show it, cause it was just Ididn't know how to show it when
I was in the Marines, and itwasn't until the teams came
along, maybe because I can'teven say it I intensified.
It was just different, but itwas a different group of guys.
Or maybe it was just me gettingstronger in my faith, I don't
know.
But I'd go out before everypatrol and pray about the boys
(31:13):
and lay hands on the vehicles.
I'd go out early and pray forall of our protection and the
guys would come out and they'dsee me and they'd be like, hey,
man, throw one up for me, youknow.
And then that was kind of liketheir.
You know, either god's gonnasit this one out or or whatever.
Their tough guy tagline wasright, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
exactly you know I'll be allthat is is a mask man, it's a
(31:33):
map, from fear and from notunderstanding, um, the gravity
that at which this whole thingis and what it's about man.
But I keep telling people, and Itell posters too.
I always say 18 Purple Hearts.
They're like what are youtalking about?
I said, well, over my 26 yearsof being in the military, of the
units that I've directly goneout with, 18 Purple Hearts have
(31:57):
come out.
Not one death, not one.
So it's not me, it's theprotection, and if you don't
realize that, you don't believein that, I don't know what to do
.
I mean, there's so much proof.
There's been no other prooffrom any history book as far as
the number of corroborations ofeverything that has happened
than the Bible.
(32:17):
Even if you don't have faith,it's a historical text thing
that has happened than the bible.
Even if you don't have faith,it's a historical text.
But the fact of the matter is,is that I don't know of an
atheist that read through thebible and came out an atheist
anymore, right?
Speaker 1 (32:28):
or or in the middle of a heated firefight.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Yeah, it's either a prayer word or jesus that comes
out yeah, right yeah, um, and,and I, I, you know.
Just you don't know whereyou're going to breathe your
last, last breath and whereyou're going to take your first
one and the next go, but it'sgoing to be one place or the
other man, so it's like I.
All I can do is tell you and tryto show you, you know, the
(32:54):
actual joy and relief that youknow life can be crashing down
around you, but you know it's.
It's just like with Job.
I'm still going to praise him,right, because he's not doing
that.
We live in a fallen world andit's the enemy trying to get me
to lose my faith when all it isis making me stronger.
So it's one of those thingswhere you get tested.
What's cool is the part whenyou realize where you're
(33:17):
something bad or you'resuffering through something, not
because of something that youscrewed up, and it's pretty much
you're, you deserve it butyou're screwing up because of
your faith in him and yourealize that's what it is.
Then it almost honestly, kindof oddly, makes the suffering
more fun.
Because this ain't me.
Let's do this right jokes onyou I live for this shit.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
That's like, that's a perfect mentality for special
operations, though, like, andthat's why guys need to
understand that your faith, oror your you're wanting to
explore your faith, isn't goingto make you weaker.
We, we have this flawed view ofwhat faith looks like in modern
(34:03):
man, and it's it's allperpetuated.
I can't talk today.
It's all pushed by modern mediaand depictions of what true
faith looks like.
They don't show a warriorthat's bearded out, that can
squat you know a thousand poundsbarrel chest of freedom fighter
.
We're given these, these, thesedepictions of men of faith that
(34:25):
are either morally corruptedindividuals Once you push back,
and it's like oh man, no, he's a, he's a predator, or they're
very, you know, timid, shyindividuals that never arise to
the to the moment, and I'm likeno, that's not true.
Some of the strongestindividuals I've ever met in the
special operations community.
You turn you, they finally showwhat makes them strong, and
(34:48):
it's they have a the a.
A lot of them don't drink,which is like it's amazing.
Yeah, they don't drink.
They don't I stop, yeah, yep,same here but they do things
yeah, exactly, they do thingslike explore their life and
realize.
You know what this giving thisup is going to bring me closer
to god.
It's going to make me better,the father.
So I'm going to walk away fromit.
(35:09):
I think that our faith isn't aweakness right, explore it, lean
into it, be willing to askquestions like it.
I get it.
Some people grew up with thechurch and it was presented in
the wrong way, like be willingto explore for yourself.
If your parents or somebodypushed it on, you understand
that was a moment in time backin the day.
Be willing to be strong, bewilling to dive into this.
(35:30):
Because what I realized isshared earlier when I was going
through my struggles, like Itried hard to work on the mind
and the body as much as I canand just tried healing that,
tried working through that.
And modern medicine, while it'swonderful, it's great, did a lot
of great things, let me tellyou it didn't do shit for a lot
of the pain.
It didn't do anything for thepain.
So I had to come, come, come upwith something else to help me
(35:55):
understand that pain is a partof life and modern medicine
doesn't do a good job of that itsays here drink this, take this
, and we're going to get rid ofall the pain.
We're going to get rid of allthe pain and then that slowly
leads you down a really darkpath, like faith will tell you
that you were, you were built toendure this.
Life's not about lollipops,sunshines and rainbows and you
can have peace and understandingthat like, okay, this is pain,
(36:18):
this is what I'm going through,but that's okay because I'm
built for it.
I'm built different.
He's got me and before you knowit, like you, put your faith
and trust in him and you'regoing to start getting.
You're going to go from placeswhere you felt like maybe you
couldn't walk, you couldn't workout and I know it sounds hokey,
I get it.
I get the pushback.
I, I get it.
(36:41):
I get the pushback.
I can already imagine thecomment section and that's okay.
Put your faith and trust in Godand start putting things
together that really truly helpyou.
You're going to see thingschange and it's understanding
that there's three pillars andyou've got to work on it mind,
body and spirit and for a lot ofus, it's that spirit piece.
It's just so damn hard.
It really is.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
But there's a reason why it's hard.
There's a real, because it's somuch more worth it in the end.
Think about it.
Everything you ever get in yourlife, that's usually when
you've worked the hardest.
For why is it so easy to workthe mind and work the mind and
body?
Because, like I said, that'sgoing to die.
It's the flesh.
The flesh is the easy way out.
What's the hard one?
You said it right there, that'sthe eternal one.
But which one has moreimportant to it?
(37:21):
Right, and I'll tell people tooI heard this and I share this
with other people is like theonly thing that you can take
with you to heaven is yourfamily or your friends.
It's people, it's not stuff.
Now, I'm not saying that Godwants you to be poor.
He doesn't.
He told us he wanted, he wantsthe absolute best for us.
But at the same time, there waswhat Jesus was telling us about
(37:43):
it being easier for a camel topass through the eye of the
needle than for a rich man toenter into heaven.
Well, he spoke into parables,to confuse, to keep people
guessing and have them kind ofconfused mostly the nonbelievers
because it was like well,that's impossible, I'm going to
do my own thing.
But it's like well, where's thefaith in that, right?
(38:03):
What he was trying to say is isthat because it's a rich man
and Lazarus, right, becauseLazarus he raised from the dead,
but, but?
But the rich?
The problem is is the richfolks a lot of problem.
They get all this money, theall this power and they don't
need God anymore.
One point they're like why dothis on my own and that goes
back to your point right, of whyit's so hard in the military is
because you think you're incontrol and you think that.
(38:25):
I mean, yes, you're going tohave to beat on your craft and,
yes, you're going to have tohone your skills, but at the
same time, that's the physicaland mental part, that's not the
spiritual part you add thatspiritual component to it and
you say yourself right there,you become the strongest version
of yourself.
You absolutely will.
It's going to be the hardest,you're going to get hit the most
, you're going to suffer more,right.
(38:45):
But you got to think about it,right?
What is life?
Life's a proving ground foreternity.
What's more important?
80 to 100 years or forever,right?
So why not give your heart overinto something that cares
enough about you to go.
I'm going to make it right foryou forever, but you're gonna
have to go through some stuff.
(39:06):
And because we live in a fallenworld, because of the problem
of us knowing the knowledge ofgood and evil, right, it's just
going to happen.
But the fact of the matter isthat there is a distinct enemy
out there, and that enemy all itwants is for you to be separate
from God and it will doanything it can to take you from
(39:29):
him, and you have to fight back.
The strongest I've ever been,the best I've ever felt, has
been when I've been at thestrongest in my face.
Right, it's it.
Yeah, I remember that feelingwhen I graduated.
Bud's right, 10 foot tall andbulletproof.
Well, you may have been 10 foottall, but you weren't
bulletproof.
Right, you're still a man,you're still going to bleed and
(39:52):
you still can die and you stillwill die, but if you're not
working on the part that'seternal, that's the part that
needs to strengthen.
I'm not saying don't strengthenmind, mind and body, I'm saying
it all works together.
He gave you the temple.
This is the temple of the HolySpirit, right, so you have to
take care of it.
And he gave us the ability tounderstand science so we can
better understand him.
Right, he's not against science.
(40:14):
It's just don't make that yourGod.
Yeah, yeah, it's a.
It's your ability to learn andmake ourself better.
That's what where medicine goes.
It's medicine's great, it'sfantastic, it's awesome for
certain things, but at the sametime, like you said, that pain
that overcome.
I've had multiple surgeries,right that I shouldn't have come
(40:34):
back from and doctors said youcan't do it.
I had knee surgery that saidyou'll never walk again.
You know I had shoulder surgeryoh, you'll never overhead press
again.
You know I had knee surgerythat said you'll never walk
again.
You know I had shoulder surgery.
Oh, you'll never overhead pressagain.
You know I had brain surgery.
Oh, you're going to be aninvalid.
You know you're probably goingto be blind or have all these
other problems that comes withthat.
Dude, I don't care, just anotherhurdle.
It doesn't matter.
What are you going to allow?
And you know what?
(40:54):
If something bad does happen, Idon't care, because I'm going
to use whatever that is as astory for his glory.
Right, absolutely, to show youthat, no matter what, as long as
you have the right mentalityand the right mindset, that's in
congruency with a healthy bodyand spirit.
Dude, you're literallyunstoppable.
You know, I talk about the will,right, because everybody talks
(41:15):
about mindset.
Oh, mindset, mindset.
Well, me, it was more like Igrew up watching Rocky
(41:41):
no-transcript.
Be able to get throughwhatever's thrown at you,
because you can.
But if you don't believe it andif you don't have your heart in
the right place, it's not goingto happen and you're going to
wither away.
You know, it's just like, justwith the, the christ, in the
church right, the tail is goingto follow the head, but it has
(42:03):
to, but it has to follow it.
Just like with your body, right, wherever your mind and heart
go, that's where everything elseis going to follow.
So it's up to you.
Everything's a choice.
He loves us so much that he gaveus the choice to be apart from
him if we want.
But he doesn't want that.
He wants us to be all apart, orall apart together as a group.
Right, he wants us to betogether as a group.
(42:24):
So why wouldn't you?
Why wouldn't you?
You're it's, it's a you're,it's a winning.
The fight's already won.
Why would you want to be a partof the big team, the big win?
Right, it's going to take afight.
And that's the thing is thatsometimes your fight and
struggle with the spirit may bestrong, may be stronger and
harder than the fight that wehad in combat, right Cause
you're you're battling differentthings that are just in that in
(42:47):
the moment it's the mostimpossible thing ever and you
feel like you can't beat it.
You know, and it literally islike life or death, because
you're talking about eternityand it's that.
It's that choice you make, buthe gives you the choice you have
to's that choice you make, buthe gives you the choice you have
to make that choice.
But the only way that you canget stronger in the spirit is to
seek him more the less.
(43:07):
That the I noticed in my life,especially the more times that I
would start to think that I'min control and I can do all this
stuff and started leaning on myown understanding, which he
says leading out on your ownunderstanding.
Weird, it's like you know's,like you know it.
Just like that's when.
That's when the wheels startedto fall off, and I was too dumb,
too arrogant, too prideful torealize it.
(43:29):
And I can't tell you how manylessons I've learned the hard
way, right, but because I alwayswent back to him and he knew
that he had a plan for me.
He kept me alive, for whateverreason, and I know what the
reason is.
Your mission and purpose, right, it's to spread the word and to
show people what love really isright, absolutely regardless.
(43:50):
That's why you know.
It's one of those things.
But what I hear a long time agowith the social media stuff was
you know, you don't know you'reyou're succeeding unless you've
got haters.
And then don't ever read thecomments.
Dude, I love it, bring it.
It's great, because the thingis that I'm not going to fight
back, because I'm going to fightback with what God told me love
is supposed to, because chancesare.
If someone's lashing out, thething I learned a long time ago
(44:11):
when I was getting bullied isthat those people are hurting.
Oh yeah, they feel better bymaking somebody else feel weaker
, right, because that's what?
But where did that come from?
It came from someone thatdidn't train them right and
didn't really show them whatlove really was.
So, in order to do that, andnow with the background and I
(44:38):
guess the look or whatever, ithelps people go well, maybe
there is something to this,right, maybe, yeah, there's
something to this Right.
Right, I've tried my best to bethe strongest and best man that
I possibly can be for god andthe family.
So with that, I'm going to showother people.
That's what that's like,because you know how it is
everybody, um, we're very, veryvisual, uh, individuals, right,
people are in general and theysee a look and they
(44:59):
automatically think somethingabout somebody.
They have, they have apreconceived notion of what that
is.
They see this, this and theysee you and they're like hard
target, tough guy, rough andtumble, this, that and the other
.
But then you start opening yourmouth and you start displaying
kindness, gentleness, peace.
You start talking aboutself-control, you start exuding
(45:19):
the fruits of the spirit andthat breaks down everything they
ever thought of.
But you used that vessel thatyou've honed into something, a
weapon for the eternal and notjust a weapon for the physical.
Yeah, and that's what's so coolabout it to me, right to be
able to do his work that way.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
And I think that's that's something that a lot of
us need to understand and takewith us, like after we we exit
the military.
You don't have to get rid ofthe warrior, right.
He's still a vital aspect ofyourself, of who you are, and
always be there.
What you have to do is findthat new mission and be of
service to others that he ismore than capable of being there
(46:01):
with you.
You just have to understandthat, not when you speak to
everybody.
You don't have to engage withan F-bomb.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
Right, absolutely Now granted.
If you're friends, you probablywill.
Yeah, yeah, that's the mantraof the veteran.
Right Versus the civilian isthe civilian.
I see you in your face and talktrash behind your back.
A veteran would be nice to youbehind your back but talk trash
(46:30):
to your face.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
It depends on the background, right?
Heck?
Yeah, man, it is.
Speaker 2 (46:33):
It's so cool talking to vets too, especially ones you
put a smile on people's facesright.
Show them really the joy of theLord that he's blessed me with.
But to be able to talk to vetsthat are hurting man, love doing
that and because it's so easyto pull on their heartstrings.
It's so easy because it allgoes back to everything that we
all went through.
(46:54):
So and just to realize, look,guy, gal, you've got purpose and
you have to go at that purpose,for whatever it is.
You've been given gifts.
What is it you love?
What is it that you were goodat in the craft that you have?
Because you've already got thehard, hardcore mentality.
It's already there right Now.
It's okay.
Are you going to go cry anycornflakes and go internal?
(47:15):
Or are you going to startplaying team ball, thinking
about other people and using thegifts and everything that
you've learned and gotten over alifetime of suffering or four
years or whatever it is that youserved?
And it's a choice.
Are you going to cave or areyou going to help One or the
other and you can thrive and youwill thrive, but you have to
(47:36):
want to.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (47:38):
Because the thing that everybody worries about is
that, once they step off thetrain, the train keeps going,
and then they think they'realone, right?
Well, the devil wants you tothink you're alone too.
You're not.
You're never alone, becauseChrist is always walking with
you.
You don't realize that, becauseyou're looking around for other
people, people are going tofail you, no matter what.
Christ will never fail you,right?
What I'm saying, though, isthat you haven't lost your tribe
(48:01):
.
You're just looking for anotherone, and guess what?
You're not the only vet.
You're not the only vet.
Go find another one that was inyour community.
They're out there, right?
There's social media.
All you got to do is put up thebat signal, and somebody is
going to show.
Speaker 1 (48:18):
It's so true, and you know, a great place to start is
grabbing a cup of coffee andexplore faith together, man,
brotherhood, brotherhood throughChrist You'll be.
You'll be amazed the amount ofpeople that are willing to sit
down with you, break bread andhelp you get through something,
cause that's something thatevery veteran shares that that
purpose and that identity afterthey leave and head into it.
(48:39):
Go into it headfirst.
Dive that, that purpose andthat identity, after they leave
and head into it.
Go into it head first.
Dive into that, explore thatidentity, explore that purpose,
and don't wait to the lastminute, man like.
Start going into that as soonas, like you know, you're going
to be etsing and explore all theother pillars that you need to
work on.
As you know, I will tell youwhen you make that exit and
you're fully prepared, it it's,it's a lot better and it's
(49:01):
argument can be said.
You'll never be fully prepared,but you'll be, you know, a
little bit more prepared thanthe guys before you and after
you if you focus on building allthree of those pillars.
Tommy, I can't thank you enoughfor being here.
Brother, people want to checkyou out or getting ahold of you.
Old are you?
Where can they go?
Speaker 2 (49:17):
yeah, so um, you can hit me up on the website, um at
uh wwwdivinesavagerycom.
Uh, shoot, you can email me.
Tommy at divinesavagerycom.
Um, I'm on linkedin.
It's tommy richardson and uh igif you want to hit that up and
see some lifting stuff.
But uh, raise, dot your dothorn heck.
Speaker 1 (49:36):
Yeah, tommy, thank you so much for being here and
for everybody tuning in.
Thank you for coming along.
Do us a favor head on over toSpotify, apple Podcasts or
YouTube.
Give us a share, like and afollow.
I'd greatly appreciate it.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
We'll see you all next time.
Until then, take care.
Thanks for tuning in and don'tforget to like, follow, share,
subscribe and review us on yourfavorite podcast platform.
(49:59):
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
content, resources and updates.
And remember we get throughthis together.
If you're still listening, theepisode's over.
(50:23):
Yeah, there's no more Tune intomorrow or next week.
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