From Military to Meme Lord: Spencer Payne's Path to Impactful Nonprofit Work

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Security Odd Podcast.
Let's go.
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to support you Not just you,but the wider audience,
everybody.
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serve a purpose to help you.
And the quality has gone up.
It's decent, it's hosted by me,Danny Caballero.

(00:24):
I find myself dreaming of thosedays.
Not either here nor thereSpencer from Welcome Security
Out podcast.
How's it going, brother?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Good man, how are you ?

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Doing well.
It's an honor to have you here,good sir.
A fellow individual who foundthemselves doing something
completely out of the ordinaryon their second chapter in life
after the military man.
Yep individual who foundthemselves doing something
completely out of the ordinaryon their, you know, second
chapter in life after themilitary man.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
So you know you're an accomplished meme lord or part
of an accomplished set of memelords.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
That's the second time I've been referred to as a
meme lord in a week.
That's new for me.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
It's the internet, the interwebs, people, that's.
Uh, that's our title, ourrespected, and we're now you're
in the business of making peoplelaugh.
Yeah, you're a meme.
Lord doesn't come with a fancytitle or cloak.
I wish it did, though, I know.
So tell us, man, how do youfind yourself, uh, getting into?
And now you're launching anon-profit too, and I want to

(01:25):
dive into that as well yeah,absolutely how does that happen
in today's world?

Speaker 2 (01:30):
um, I mean, I guess I can start from the beginning.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
Oh yeah, take it all the way back.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah, yeah.
So, uh, I grew up in oxford,tennessee, and, you know, never
necessarily had any plans to gointo the military.
Saw Top Gun at a young age.
Resonated with me a lot, as did, you know, probably the Navy's
best recruiting tool ever, butnever really thought that that

(01:56):
was like a viable path.
And I played soccer, wassomewhat decent and got
recruited at Navy and theMerchant Marine Academy and I
was like oh hey, maybe I could.
Actually I didn't know anythingabout like ROTC or warrant
officer or any of this stuff.
Man, it's like the only thing Iknew was like I thought you had
to go to like a service academyand then you went and flew

(02:18):
stuff you know, uneducated anduneducated, ignorant or whatever
and uneducated but ignorant orwhatever.
So fast forward, ended up goingto king's point and
commissioned out of the army.
There I went down to rucker umand did about seven or eight
years active duty in a coupleyears in the tennessee guard.
And uh, kind of early on and inmy career, at our first duty

(02:39):
station out of jblm, my buddiesbrett and kyle and I were all in
the same battalion and justsort of gravitated towards each
other.
We loved, you know, just flyingand working out and having a
good time on the weekend, andsomebody in the battalion
leadership nicknamed us thebro-tallion, so that's where the
name came from.
We would always show up tomeetings together and it was

(03:02):
just like a little high schoolclick I don't know what else to
describe it, as you know.
And uh, we had a group chat Imean the group chat still exists
today and just starteddocumenting flying helicopters
and stuff and the, the guys andgals that flew and fixed them
and everything.
You know, we were young in ourcareers and this is early days

(03:22):
of social media too, before itwas.
So you know, everybody's avideographer and everything's
curated and perfectly, it waslike, hey, you know, I that's
friday I cooked a steak anddrank a beer and like my 13
friends liked it.
You know, there was like alevel of authenticity and I say
that because like there wasn't abunch of other aviation content
out there, I think specificallymilitary.
So, um, unknowingly, sort oflike first movers in that space,

(03:47):
if you will, and uh, just keptdoing it throughout our career
and, um, sort of, as weprogressed, recognize that army
aviation struggled from aculture and representation
standpoint when compared to, say, like the Navy and the air
force and these cool traditionsthat they have, like flight suit
friday and call sign partiesand squadron bars and stuff, and

(04:10):
the army is like, hey, youcan't even wear a flight suit
anymore, you're gonna havesomething that looks just like
everybody else.
You know that kind of stuff.
And so it was like, hey, maybewe can kind of combat that
through apparel and some otherthings.
Um, and you know's the, thedime a dozen cliche of the
military t-shirt company, butour niche was sort of serving
aviation, because we felt it wasunderrepresented and, um, yeah,

(04:34):
just kind of.
It was always just sort of aside hustle, to be quite honest
with you.
Um, something that we did forfun.
And then when I got out and uhwent back to school, I had more
time to work on it, and so didBrett, as he was transitioning
and it was starting to grow.
I mean, as you know, the moretime you put into something, the
the faster it grows, and I justkind of became passionate about

(04:55):
it.
And, um, I read a book shoe dogas well in school, which is, if
you haven't heard of it, Ihighly recommend it.
It phil knight's memoir on likestarting nike.
And uh, I mean, he did, he didthe same shit everybody.
He didn't know what he wasdoing, making up a company on
the fly, like he had to go backand get another job five years
in to pay the bills and stuff.
And so I was like you see, nikeis what it is today.

(05:17):
And then you see how it startedand it's like, you know, it was
just a regular dude like anybodyelse trying to grind it out and
that kind of resonated so,figured, fuck it.
Uh, let's not do thisconsulting thing and let's see
if we can grow this instead, andif it doesn't work out, you can
always go back and get a realjob, so to speak.
So, um, that was sort of thethe pathway into that.

(05:38):
Uh, I always say, like Iaccidentally started, we, we
accidentally started bro time.
It was never like this is thisbusiness plan and we're going to
go out and like capture allthis.
It was just, uh, an opportunitythat presented itself and it's
been a real blessing to to workwith Brett on it, and for me too
, like he still flies in theguard.
I'm removed from the communitynow, so it's a fun way to stay

(06:00):
tied to something that was, know, an integral part of my life
and professional career.
Um, so, yeah, I mean, I'm happyto like yeah, dude give more
detail.
I don't want to like, sit hereand just ramble at you.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
So I mean, that's ramble away, ramble ramble away
you're touching on a lot ofthings that so many of us don't.
We don't have time.
We don't have time to thinkabout that.
Chapter two, what we're stillin, few of us do um, if you're
an aviator, your hours areinsane.
Man, I've got a shout out to myterminal cwo counterpart.

(06:33):
Uh, you know, just if you havefriends in that profession,
you're constantly understandingjust how fucking insane
timelines are.
The the amount of work thatgoes into that's not even
talking about, like the supportpeople, your crew chiefs and
everybody involved in theaircraft.
It's.
You have a lot and you don't.

(06:55):
You rarely get the opportunityto stop taking me.
Figure out what you're going todo, and that's what I love
about these little communities.
What you created gives everybodysomething that they can look on
and feel proud about what theydo.
Everybody can look on a videogame or a movie tv show that you
know glorifies a soft operatorand be like yeah, fuck, yeah,

(07:15):
dude, that's me.
I'm the character in thatfucking video game.
But what about the guy thatspends all day on the flight
line getting that fucking crashhawk ready to go?
What about the fucking dudethat spends all day on the
flight line getting that fuckingcrash hawk ready to go?
What about the fucking dudethat spends all day working on
fucking the apache that's brokendown for the umpteenth
millionth time?
You know they deserve theability to look and see them

(07:37):
being represented, because youknow it's not just about the
pilot, it's everybody's involved.
Like it gives them a sense ofcommunity, sense of pride, of
like I make that fucking thingfly like I get in there and I
get it, and what you guys createI mean you're 111 000 followers
and the fan base is growing.
It's everywhere, dude.
You guys created something thatis iconic.

(08:00):
Now we see it and it's givenother people in the same space
the ability to like, realizethat their dreams of like.
I want to go intocinematography.
If you look at some of thevideos are being produced right
now on short form for aircraft.
That's crazy, insane, insane.
And if you pull, if you lookand you pull the layers down and

(08:21):
you do the connection, it canbe directly attributed to
individuals such as yourselfthat were the first ones to go
out there in this space and say,hey, this is what we are, we're
going to be proud of it Becauseyou're right.
If you look at the Air Force,you go to any base and the
squadrons have their own littlethings.
Like I was in Osan because mywife's Air Force, I got the

(08:43):
chance.
Never thought in a millionyears 7th Special Forces Group
would send a Spanish speaker toKorea, but it happened.
I went to Korea because wethought we were going to war and
they needed a soft liaison.
But even for the short amountof time I did in Korea, I was
able to witness these squadronshad these insane niche

(09:04):
connections and they had their,their little gang, scooter gangs
and oh yeah bike gangs andscooter gangs and the number one
thing that came to mind is likeour aviators don't do that shit
, like why don't our pilots dothat?
and it's because, like it's notsomething that it's it's not
looked upon highly as important.
I mean, fuck, dude, like you goto seventh group.
Seventh group dudes aredifferent than third group.

(09:25):
Everybody has their ability towrap their set and be different,
and I feel like we need thatman, and you've certainly been
able to do that through theshirts, dude.
That's something that'sattributed to you guys as well.
I want to kind of dive intothat man.
Like did you guys ever findyourself like in hot water for
the culture that you werecreating?

Speaker 2 (09:45):
I'm not in the army anymore, so I don't give a shit.
You can send me nasty grams allday long.
No, I mean like anything else.
Well, first of all, I'd love togo back regarding the growth of
the page and that's all.
My business partner, brett Imean he slaves on.
It's a full-time job and you'rein the media space, so he's
constantly on there creatingcontent, partnering with people,

(10:08):
answering DMs, all that kind ofstuff on top of the other
marketing mechanisms and stuff,and I'm not involved in it
anymore.
We used to sort of pass thetorch back and forth in the
early days, and I don't rememberat what point.
I think it was like 2019,2020-ish.
I think it was when I had justgotten down to Dustin and he was
like you know what?
I'm going to just takeownership of this thing, and you

(10:29):
know he's done a miraculous jobever since that, so shout out
to him for for doing all thatstuff.
Um, now, I forgot what yourquestion was.

Speaker 1 (10:40):
You see, tbi impacts aviators too, the amount of
strain in your head when you'repulling g's.
Yep, oh, oh bad, no, the, the,the shifting culture, oh, yes
when you start these, these umlittle meme groups uh being able
to influence, and positively.

(11:02):
You know, we're not trying tofucking destroy people's careers
.
We're not trying to fuckingdestroy people's careers.
We're not trying to, you know,fucking tell people to rage
against the machine.
We're just trying to inspire,like, some motivation and
passion for your work and itcomes through on, you know,
posts and t-shirts.
But sometimes that can alsocome with some backlash from
commanders that arequote-unquote as the kids that

(11:22):
you say the old heads.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
Yeah, um, there's been a couple of times maybe, or
someone's been displeased, butquite honestly, I mean, I I not
a lot.
Yeah, not, it would.
It's surprising that it's notmore, I guess, because a lot of
our stuff is is a little tonguein cheek.

(11:45):
I mean, we have some thingswhere, like I mean, there are
there are times where I will gothrough and maneuver some things
around on the on the website,depending on, like, what other
types of relationships we mightbe working with, cause you know,
the custom apparel stuff is abig part of what we do and most
of the clientele is is aviationunits, um, but we've started to

(12:07):
branch out of that and it's thesame process and things for, you
know, other businesses andstuff like that.
We just did something withuniversity of tennessee which
was cool for me oh, no shitcoming from there.
and so, like you know, thosetypes of organizations certainly
don't understand nor shouldthey sort of like the type of
humor and the things that get usgoing and get us out of bed and
get us through the day, and sosometimes I'll find myself

(12:30):
strategically like moving somethings around, just to make sure
it's not like top of mind, topcenter, in case they happen to
pop on here and see what elseyou know, shuffle this design.

Speaker 1 (12:39):
It's the last page.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah, I would be lying if I said I hadn't done
that a few times.
But yeah, man, I mean,ultimately, no matter what you
do, there's always going to bepeople that are talking shit or
frustrated or whatever else.
Um, and I'd like to think thatI mean we get a lot of positive
feedback and stuff.
There's nothing better thanlike going through and screening

(13:00):
through um reviews and stuffand just seeing somebody be like
man, I freaking love this, lovethis.
You know, I used to flywhatever.
They're not even in anymore.
It like reminded them of thegood old days and that kind of
like.
That stuff inspires us tocontinue to grind it out and do
this.
So more positives thannegatives, at least from my

(13:20):
perspective.
But I'm not on the the.
I'm not on the Instagram or theFacebook, so Brett might have
more insight to nasty DMs fromsomebody that's pissed off about
something.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
Army aviation sucks.
Okay.
Yeah, dude, when it came timeto leave, what was the initial
idea of going like you know wetalked about, you know,
understanding that maybe youcan't sacrifice and make it your
full time job.
Did you focus on this as yourprimary mission or were you very

(13:56):
much in the mindset of like hey, for right now this is going to
be like my, my side chick.
I got to find a main job and gointo that first.
I chick.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
I got to find a main job and go into that first when
I left the army, so there's acouple of really good uh
platforms out there.
Veteran professional, or betterat, veterans.
In my professional I think he'sprimarily podcast now and reps
a steer co.
Another meme, lord.
Um yeah, love that dude.
And they, they did a yeah, kyle, I believe they've.

(14:24):
They've done a great job sortof educating folks on
opportunities post, uh, militaryand, like you know, not the way
but a way to transition.
Um, and that had come out likeright as I'd already sort of
made my mind up that I was goingto get out.
I just sort of stumbled acrossthis MBA program that Tennessee

(14:47):
had.
I knew that I had the GI Bill Umand I thought that it might be
a tool that I could use to helpsort of pivot into the corporate
world.
And that was the intent ofgoing there and that was what I
was uh interviewing for and myplans afterwards and the pro
Italian thing, just like I wassaying earlier, I just had more
time to work on it and I didlike some pitch competitions and
stuff in school and just gotexposed more to that side of
things and I had fun with it.
It was, it was fun Um.

(15:09):
I didn't hear anybody talkabout consulting being fun.
You know um and the book andeverything.
So my intent was to go to gradschool, pivot into the corporate
world and, like rotina would bea side hustle thing, and I left
and graduated with that beingmy primary focus, um so, and I

(15:30):
was still flying in the guardtoo, so I had some other means
of income to help augment thatand stuff, um, and then I just I
haven't really looked backsince and that was, uh, 2021, I
think, something that.
So the last few years, this hasbeen my primary focus for work,
so to speak.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
Dude, that's amazing.
I think that's everybody'sdream of being able to go into
something with that much passion.
But it's important tounderstand too.
You've got to go into it.
Understanding what's youroverhead?
Do you have, have four kids anda wife depend on you Do you
have to land that job first.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
Yeah, that's a really great call out, because my wife
and I don't have kids and she'svery much like um, down for any
type of adventure or whatever,likes to move a lot and stuff,
and so when I sort of pitchedthis like, hey, I'm, you know,
yeah, let's do it, let's youknow, if it doesn't work we'll
just do something else and youknow, get a normal job or

(16:31):
whatever.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
So we were in here, oh man Um so that we were in a
unique position.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
Yeah, To be able to do something like that, which is
like your to your point.
And then you got kids and otherstuff going on and you don't
necessarily have the ability totake a massive pay cut and try
and make something like thiswork.
So, um, I'd say that, plus, youknow, the opportunity to be in
the guard for a couple of yearstoo, was was helpful, for that.
Shout out to to the guard.
I mean, I didn't know thisagain, I'm just, my whole life

(17:02):
is a story of not knowing things, um, until I'm, like, thrust
into them.
You know the, the, the guardaviation situation is awesome.
They have the same flying hourrequirement, minimum hour
requirements as active duty guys.
Um, in my experience myexperience and again, opinions
will vary people will probablypush back on this in some

(17:23):
circumstances, but a lot moreopportunities to fly, uh,
opportunities for schools andtracks, especially for
commissioned guys, which isn'ttypically, uh, a normal scenario
.
Active duty it's very much likea warrant officer thing to go
to mtpc or ipc another renameand some of the stuff too.
So I might be butchering that,but, um, yeah, the guard is

(17:43):
awesome.
So it's not just your typical.
You know, one weekend a month,two weeks a year, like you have
what's called AFTPs and pilotsand crew are coming in and
flying.
I think it's like 96 AFTPs,additional flight training
periods, because you can't beproficient in a career that will
kill you a couple of days amonth, like that's just not
going to cut it.

(18:03):
So it's a super cool.
I say that because you know itwas a little bit more of an
income that I could get.
Still like flying part timewhile doing this until we really
get some legs on it.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
So and what was the main drive for leaving active
duty?
Was it just burnout frustration?

Speaker 2 (18:23):
yeah, I mean, um, I knew I was gonna get out when I
was in that I went.
I deployed afghanistan in 2017and the first half of my
rotation I was up north in mezand it was me and I was managing
two crews in 260s, um, and wewere co-located with an aob and

(18:44):
it was awesome.
And then I woke up to go to thebathroom one night and had a
signal message or whatsapp,whatever platform we were using
and it was like, hey, pack upyour shit.
You're coming to bagram to bethe brigade s1 tomorrow, um.
And so I just remember sittingin there and that's the army,
like you get, especially as acommission guy.
Like I knew that time was comingup and I was like, oh, I was

(19:07):
actually getting sick of.
We flew missions every day.
It was awesome, but at the sametime, I was like man, I'm
getting tired of this.
Like you know, flying every day, it's like you gotta soak this
up because it's coming to an endsoon.
I think I had like a year and ahalf platoon leader time, which
is on the long side.
I know some guys that didn'teven get a year, um, and so was
kind of in bath doing that gigand I was like I think this is

(19:29):
the beginning of the end for me.
Like you know, chances are I'mprobably not going to be back in
the cockpit.
You know, maybe as a companycommander, if you're lucky
enough to get a flight companyand, um, I don't know, I just
kind of frustrated a lot withit's so difficult to implement
change or like do something new,um, because it's always been

(19:50):
done this way or whatever otherreason.
And I really have started tostruggle with that as I've
gotten older.
It was just kind of like for somany years it was always yeah,
whatever you tell me to do.
From being a child to that, Iwas just kind of like for so
many years it was always yeah,whatever you tell me to do.
From being a child to that, Iwas like I don't think I can.
I just can't do it anymore.
And I think that's anotherreason too.
Like I have to make this shitwork, like I can't go work for
somebody else and like just Ijust can't put up with stuff

(20:11):
anymore.
I think, as far as you know,once the walls break the dam is
just destroyed.
So I, I kind of knew I think itwas like, yeah, this has been a
wonderful chapter and I got todo a bunch of cool shit and meet
great people, but I think I'mgonna try my hand at something
else.
And the guard was a great way toto wean myself off of that too,

(20:31):
because, like, you're stillgetting the adrenaline rush of
flying, you still have thecamaraderie of the boys, um, you
know the the team slash lockerroom type environment that you
love, and that's the things thatI miss the most too.
But it was a good way to sortof like, not just go cold turkey
but for a couple of years, sortof phase out of that chapter of
life.
Yeah, ultimately, especially asI was finishing up in the guard

(20:55):
, I found myself starting to getmore frustrated with stuff, and
I don't I did the last thing Iwould do is be like that
negative guy in the unit thatlike drags, because that shit's
so fucking toxic.
Um, and so it was like, yeah,like this is the universe
telling me it's time to close achapter and, and you know, do
something else.
So I just I just sort of knewhonestly, I don't know how else

(21:17):
to describe it no, no, it'soften that I share openly.

Speaker 1 (21:21):
Man, you got to figure out what you want in life
and often enough, the firststeps is understanding when
you're being a detriment to thepeople around you.
Nobody wants to be around thatand you're dragging everybody
else down.
We've all been there, we've allserved that individual that
should have retired, that shouldhave ets'd four years ago, and

(21:43):
all he does or she could be bothjust bitch moan, complain and
it makes everything worse.
Yep, like, get out, be happysomewhere.
Like some people are addictedto being miserable I think so I
honestly dude.

Speaker 2 (21:57):
I believe that those people will go do something else
and do the same shit.
It's a mindset, but I just Iwasn't gonna like turn into that
person.
It's like no, well, that wasthe other thing.
It was like I, I have a anissue with like god, this sucks,
and I'm then then get out andgo do like if you don't enjoy

(22:19):
this and it's making you thatmiserable, like if your contract
is up or your ad, so whatever,then like why not go do
something else?
Otherwise shut the fuck up,because I don't want to listen
to you complain about it.
You don't get to complain andthen not take action about it.
It drives me insane.
Like I get it everybody's do agood bitch session and stuff,
but like after a while it's likehey, if this is the same thing,
like make a change man, wellit's, you're in charge, like

(22:43):
you're, ultimately in charge ofyour own life.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
Like at any moment you can say I'm done, I'm, I'm,
I'm out of here.
See you guys, I don't want tofucking deal with this shit, I'm
out, it's just.
It's a weird thing, man, it'sweird mindset that I've seen and
uh, it's, it's, I don't know.
I wonder if that.
When did that start in ourchain of evolution?
Like just, I can't, I can'timagine like two fucking core

(23:05):
magnets just bitching andcomplaining.
At what point did this begin?
Oh yeah, man, like life's somuch better.
Like, especially when you'redoing something like this, the
entrepreneur route, when you're,you're on your own, or maybe
with a core group of people,like that's, that's ultimately
the dream, because you're notalone, you're on your own, or
maybe with a core group ofpeople.
Like that's ultimately thedream, because you're not alone,
you're in the trenches withsomebody else.
Yeah, and you don't have to sitthere and just think like, is

(23:26):
this a really bad idea?
I don't have anybody else tobounce off of, except for you.
Chatgtp, thank you.

Speaker 2 (23:32):
Yes, you're a godsend , the world's best intern.
I turn it's yeah.
I find myself saying thank youa lot.
Yeah, that's good if you have arapport and established
documentation of being good.
When the ai overlords take overone day down the future,
they'll be like hey, you knowwhat he was polite?
Well, we'll give him a nicerprison cell, you know 90, why I?

Speaker 1 (23:54):
say thank you and please, dear chat g, please
develop my content creationcalendar for this week.
Give me some ideas for memes,but, dude, you guys are moving
into the nonprofit space.
Now, how did that come about?
Like, what was the drivingforce behind that?

Speaker 2 (24:15):
I'm glad you asked about that because that is my
passion.
I honestly believe that I madeit safely out about that because
that is, uh, my passion.
Um, I honestly believe that Imade it safely out of that
career for this reason.
Um, I like I was messaging youbeforehand when I saw the 850
numbers.
The last duty station for mewas with seventh group and I
went and did a liaison gig downthere.
Um, and destin and I was infirst battalion and we lost a

(24:39):
couple of guys in August of 2019and that was my last trip.

Speaker 1 (24:45):
yeah, jose, yeah, st Louis yeah.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
So I had never experienced casualty from the
aviation side, so that was a newexperience for me working in
the op cell, and one of thefirst things that happened was
the op.
So I had one of the captainsget on the phone with the green
break foundation.
Um, I can't remember if it wasLou or the other.
One of them had more of acomplex family situation and you

(25:10):
know only certain people.
The army is going to send itover for the transfer, and so it
was like, hey, gbf, we'll takecare of that and make sure that
whoever needs to be there willbe there.
So that was.
I was like, okay, cool, I'dnever heard of the Green and
Gray Foundation.
So, like you know, getting onthere looking at their stuff, I
was like, man, this is awesome,like they're doing incredible

(25:31):
things for their community andits families and all that stuff.
So that was sort of like thefirst light bulb that went off,
so to speak, and all that stuff.
So that was sort of like thefirst light bulb that went off,
so to speak.
Um, and then the other thingwas I can't remember his name,
but the red 70s guy.
He was the first bad dude, I'mpretty sure.
Did, you know, a lot of thecustom swag for all the group
guys, similar stuff as brotalion, but for the gb community

(25:53):
.
Then he did a memorial shirt.
Friend ran it was like alimited item for a month and
then gave all the profits to thespouses to help with.
You know, food and all theother stuff that stacks up.
And I was like, well, that'sfucking cool, like he's using
this company to do good stufffor his community.
Um, and about a month later,september 26 2019, a 60 went

(26:14):
down at fort polk and majortrevor joseph was, uh, the pilot
command and did not come backfrom that flight.
And so I hit up Brett and Kyleand was like, hey, what do you
think about doing a memorialt-shirt for him and basically
just duplicating what that sevenhad done?
And it's like and then we can,you know, maybe we can raise a

(26:35):
couple thousand dollars orsomething for his wife, aaron,
and I don't know, but let's seeif we can turn some of this
traction that we have intosomething good.
And so everybody was on boardand we tried it and it was more
like 13 grand that we were ableto raise for her, and so it was
like holy shit, like proof ofconcept is here community
willing to support?

(26:55):
And then kind of started doingsome more research and there was
no 501c3 organization.
That was like taking care ofthe army aviation community and
his gold star families, 160thhas nice doctor's associations
and things like that, but greenarmy aviation did not exist.
Um, and so my neighbor at thetime was actually a cobraobra

(27:18):
guy in the Marines and he usedto fly with this guy, jack
Rivera, who started the WingmanFoundation and they have the
same mission set, but for navalaviation.
So Navy Coast Guard, marineCorps incidents go down, they
step in and do the Lord's workfor them.
And he was like, talk to thisguy, maybe he can educate you or
point you in the rightdirection or whatever.

(27:39):
And he was the one person thatsaid we needed to do it.
Everybody else said no, it'slike nobody needs this, it's
another veteran nonprofit, it'sa saturated space.
And he's the only other personthat got it Cause he was like
dude, your community needs this.
If nobody's doing it, then youknow, then you need to step up
and do it.
So he's been, he's proven to bea great mentor and everything.

(28:02):
So, long story short, wesupported through rotalion for
those first three mishaps thatyear and basically was just
using our company and then justlike give these funds to these
families and then, uh, in 2020,finally got through the
incorporation process and thecharity determination, all that
stuff for the irs and like setup the separate entity which is
the foundation, and so that'sbeen running since, I think,

(28:25):
june of 2020.
So we started serving themission set in 2019, got
everything officially stood upand separated in 2020 and then
was able to remove Brotalia assort of the primary funding
source in the beginning of 23,because that was it couldn't
stand on its own, we didn't haveenough revenue and that kind of

(28:47):
stuff.
And so yeah it's.
You know it's been aninteresting journey.
It's challenging because it'spretty much all volunteer, so
it's tough to get people todedicate time and I'm still
running it as a business thathas to be run and it's no
different than anything.
It's a fucking tax code.
People don't understand that.
It's like you know it means youdon't make money.

(29:07):
It was like, no, it just meansyou're not taxed on it and when
people give it to you, like theycan deduct it from their
expenses.
Like it operates the exact sameway, like we need money to
cover bills and everything elseand the shit that it takes to
run it, so that we can then goout and serve these programs and
stuff.
And so, um, it's beenchallenging to.
You know, we've got a great,great team on board, um Brittany

(29:30):
, uh Mulher helps out with allthe social content and general
jack of all trades, and it'sjust tough.
You know, people have full-timecareers and lives and trying to
dedicate more time that theycan.
So, with all that said, my momhas worked in the business
development and nonprofit spacefor quite some time and she just
retired last year, oh shit.

(29:51):
So I was like, hey, do you wantto un-retire and come work for
me for basically nothing I canjust imagine that pitch we're
glad you're done it, we're justgonna go get some something to
eat real quick yeah yeah,interesting proposal mom no
money listenI need to get to hang out with
me, yeah I was like I needsomebody to help me with donor

(30:13):
relations and like she you knowshe's, that's her bread and
butter, is what she does.
Um, I am not Mr Network guy,I'm not going to sit down and
like strike up conversationswith people and stuff something
I've got to work on but she isthe exact opposite of that.
And so we've actually got ourfirst big annual event of this
scale this Saturday that she'sbeen planning for the past six

(30:38):
or seven months, which is goingto be awesome, um, going to have
like a hundred people there.
It's at a horse farm inLouisville doing some whiskey
tasting, with some distilleriesthat are coming on, some live
music.
Uh, a couple of helicoptersflying in.
I had a 60 static displayplanned, uh, but it got denied
at the.
At the general level, uh andthe guard, I'll.
At the general level, uh andthe guard, I'll leave the state

(31:03):
out of it.
Uh, they obviously were pumpedto support down at the company
level but there's always adisconnect somewhere.
Um, so I tried, I like wrote aletter and was like contacting
people.
I was like come on, man,because it will do so much for
the people that come there.
Like for us we get it we'veeither flown them or been on the
back of them and stuff.
But for somebody that is youknow all, but maybe read a book
or seen blackhawk down, to likesit in one of those or to have a

(31:26):
conversation with you know thecrew chief or the pilot and like
understand the people that aredoing this mission, set every
day like it, it can really helpbridge that gap between them and
the lay person.
Understanding like this is likewhat this organization is
trying to support and the peopleand their families that get
left behind when these things godown.
And so that was like the lensthat I was trying to get it

(31:46):
through but ended up not workingout Should happen for a reason.
Either way, it's going to be akick-ass event and she's done a
miraculous job putting it alltogether, so I'm excited about
that, yeah.

Speaker 1 (31:56):
It's hard working in a non-profit space man yeah I
thought it was going to besunshine, lollipops and rainbows
and come to find out it's a dogeat dog world and uh, galas,
golf tournaments, dude, it's.
It's a lot of work to set thesethings up and it's not.
You have to remember.
It's not for the end, it's notfor the guy it's going to be
receiving or the families aregoing to be receiving.

(32:17):
It's for for the.
You know the people with moneythey's going to be receiving, or
the families are going to bereceiving.
It's for for the.
You know the people with moneythey're going to be donating.

Speaker 2 (32:21):
So it's going to be appealing to them.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
Yeah, yeah, it's one of those things where it's like
man, like it's a lot of work, alot of workers, and you're right
, a lot of people tend to thinkthat we don't need another one.
Tons of support in a non-profitspace for the soft, the special

(32:44):
operations, world 100.
The problem is that there are alot of people that still need
help that aren't part of thatworld and they're getting left
behind.
They're not.
It doesn't look sexy to a lotof um people that want to donate
.
Yeah, like, oh, 88 mike, whatthe fuck is that?
So, you know, light wheelmechanic, fuck no, I want to

(33:07):
help the guy that was on thefront lines, like that's why I
want to help.
It's like fuck, dude.
Like these individuals needhelp too.
Like I talk about paratroopersall the time and there's,
there's a segment of individualsthat are also doing and also
did a lot of great shit for ournation and got blown up and got
fucked up, have a lot of issuesand they need support too.
But there isn't, you know, wedon't have those big name

(33:30):
nonprofits for those guys.
I think it needs to change andthere's a few that you know.
I'm not going to name names,because they do have money for
for lawyers and I don't want toget involved in libel suits, so
we'll just say there's some thataren't as reputable.
We need good individuals.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
But yeah, it's a lot of work, man yeah, the the
non-reputable stuff isfrustrating because it gives
it's just another obstacle forpeople that are trying to do
good shit to have to to have toget over it, and it took us a
couple years to each mishap.
Is is very different, um,active duty guard.
You know, we we're at the pointnow where we have enough

(34:06):
awareness of the mission set,where a lot of times people will
reach out to us, and that's theideal situation because things
move much faster.
But in the early days you knowsomething like who the fuck are
you like and what do you try?
Who are you trying to takeadvantage of?
Basically, and I get it like youhave to think that way because
there's people unfortunately outthere that are about that Um,

(34:27):
and it's, it's unfortunate, butyeah, it's uh, it it just.
You know, I feel like it notset you back.
But it's just one more thingthat makes it a little bit more
difficult in the early stages,until you've been able to show
to enough people that you know,hey, this is what you're doing
is like legit, we're not here tofreaking.

Speaker 1 (34:43):
Yeah, try to just scam people enough people that
you know hey, this is whatyou're doing is like legit.
We're not here to freaking yeah, somebody or whatever, yeah
exactly yeah, so tell us what'syour mission statement, what are
some of the programs you run,and uh how many people have been
able to help?

Speaker 2 (34:54):
um man, I should have all that memorized, huh, I
think, fuck, I did.
I put you on the spot, so no, no, since since 2019 it's been
like I'm going to pull it upjust to double check, there's
somebody running in thebackground 44, 44.
Yeah, so, since 2019, since, uh, that Trevor Joseph mishap,
we've lost 44 crew members andarmy aviation mishaps.

(35:15):
Um, so we've been able tosupport 41 gold star families,
um, which I think is pretty,pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty
great.
Um, the mission itself is youknow, we're a veteran founded
501c3.
That's dedicated providingpost-mishap support to the army
asian community and its goldstar families.
Um, and we've edited some stuffin the bylaws to expand that a

(35:40):
little bit.
And talking about advocacy andother things, because I would
love to eventually get to thepoint of a Green Beret or Navy
SEAL foundation where it's notprimarily just the unit and the
gold star families, but aspeople are transitioning out and
other things like that, um,that's, you know, grand
aspirations and we're nowherenear that today, but changing
that up to enable us to be ableto move into those directions

(36:01):
one day, should we be, you know,in the position to do so.
Programming right now we havethree programs.
So there's our Gold StarFinancial Assistance Program,
and the way that that works isthere's a class, a fatal mishap.
At this point, myself and otherpeople are just getting blown
up on text messages as soon assomething happens, and so we'll

(36:23):
monitor that and wait foreverything to kind of to come
through the official channelsand all of that.
And once that's happened, wewill work with the unit and get
their approval, as well as thefamily members approvals, to
initiate support.
The command approval is reallymore of a nicety.
I only care about the familiessaying yes or no, because

(36:45):
ultimately I you know, mostleadership is usually very good,
but there are other leadersthat stand in the way of
providing somebody's support andultimately it's not their
fucking say.
So I've only run into that onceand I had a junior leader step
up and make a decision to changethat, which was pretty cool to
see.
But with that said, we gothrough a process of do you want

(37:07):
support?
And if a family says yes, it'san immediate $2,500 ACH just to
take care of immediate aftermathstuff the next 96 hours, travel
, lodging, food, child care, petcare, whatever all that kind of
stuff that starts stacking upas they're going in and out and
friends and family are coming inand all that kind of stuff.
And then we kick off about amonth long online fundraising

(37:30):
campaign for them.
I say about a month, sometimesa little bit longer.
If we still have like tractioneverything coming in, we'll keep
it open as long as we need to,but usually after a month that
kind of stuff starts to die downand a big component of that is
what ties into sort of.
The next program, too, is thelegacy preservation.
So one of my designers, ryanSantana for Rotallion, does pro

(37:53):
bono work and so we'll connecthim with a unit member.
He'll work side by side withthem to come up with the unique
memorial design specifically forthe mishap, and then we'll have
that available as a fundraisingmechanism as well, and it
always does wonderful becausepeople love to have something
tangible to remember these folksby, and those are available for
forever and those profits aregranted to the families, just

(38:17):
like the other stuff that weraise online and all that good
stuff.
The other component of thelegacy preservation is we work
now with steel hearts foundation, uh, to do memorial bracelets.
So we'll do a specific memorialbracelet only for the unit, uh,
same kind of concept, workdirectly with the, with the poc
from the unit, and then thesewill be something that's not

(38:39):
available for the public andthen we'll ship those out.
You know, however many folks Ithink there was like 60 for pat,
25 we'll ask those over to themso that they have, um, the
memorial bands, and so that'show it operates today.
Future state I'd love to beable to work to have, you know,
some type of monument or capitalto support something like that,

(39:00):
in particular for the guardguys who are like a true, like
parts of their community andhave been there for forever.
You know, whether that's aplaque at a park or something
like that.
I'd love to be able to sort ofdo something at a larger scale
from some of those individuals.
And then the third program isthe education assistance program
.
That's the newest one that we'vegot stood up, got the board to
sign off on an endowment fundand basically it's just to pay

(39:24):
for the gold star children'scontinuing education.
So you graduate high school, andwhether you want to go to
college or a trade school, anelectrician, welder, whatever,
like, as long as it is, you know, post-secondary education, the
concept is that I can take achunk out of that and hand it to
you and be like hey, here yougo, go enjoy learning about

(39:46):
whatever it is that you need todo, uh, and without having to
worry about the crazy financialrepercussions, because college
is like insane these days, um,and that's a big lift because
we've got to get that principalup to like half a million
dollars for it to be in aposition where we can take, you
know, 20, 30, 40 grand out of it, hand somebody and still have
the fund be able to continue togrow and everything.

(40:06):
So that's technically.
That program is like, uh, likea program, but it's not
functional yet Cause we don'thave the.
That makes sense, um, so I'mnot going to make a lot of
promises to kids.

Speaker 1 (40:19):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (40:21):
So, exactly so, like that's's.
Uh, that's our big focus.
You know, all the fundraisingefforts and stuff that we're
doing right now is to is tobuild that up as quickly as
possible.
And same thing with this eventthat we're doing, um, this
saturday it's with the focus onfundraising for those kids.
So it's good we've got, you know, usually we've systematized so
much stuff and it's just like wewere talking about earlier,

(40:41):
like when we first started doingthis, it was like let's just
figure out how we can help andyou learn stuff along the way.
And so now we've got a greatsort of let me get as much
information from you as possible, and so we can kind of rack and
sack the kids on who's going tobe the oldest and who would be
next up in the pipeline in termsof like, okay, denny and
Spencer are coming up this year,they're going to need, you know
, 50 grand for whatever, um, soit's cool.

(41:03):
That's like that's the endstate for that.
We're nowhere near it, but dayby day, you know, buy the time
for the elephant to get thatgoing.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
So, hell yeah, dude, do you guys give yourself enough
time to, like, come togetherand reflect and see where it all
started to where it is now?
Because, no, dude, this isfucking remarkable Like this is
not an easy feat to look and seewhere you came from, see where
you're going and just the amountof impact, the positive impact

(41:30):
you've had on your community.
And I honestly like withindividuals that are truly
committed to the community,truly committed to being of
service to others, there's noreason why you can't be as big
or bigger than the Green BeretFoundation.
I certainly think that we needas many nonprofits as possible,
because what we're facing now isrepercussions of GWAT.

(41:52):
You know, our nation, our menand women and certainly our
aviators, bear the strain andthe marks of constantly having
to be at the ready.
Uh, a static load is somethingthat affects not just soft guys,
our evaders as well, and thatbreakdown is not a matter of of
if it's a matter of uh, when.

(42:14):
Uh.
So we need to be able to grow,you guys to support you so you
can get bigger, so that, whenguys and gals are finally
getting to that point, like youknow it, you, you felt that pain
when they get to that point oftransition where they're going
to the unknown, don't know whattheir passion is, don't know
what their their next few yearsgonna look like.
That makes it so much easier tohave those moments of crisis.

(42:34):
Yeah, so we need to be able tohave specific non-profits that
can address, and who better tohelp your aviators or your crew
chiefs than an organizationthat's built by them?
And that's why it's vital wecan't just rely on what's
already been, because I know fora fact from my own experience
you're not going to becomfortable reaching out to an

(42:55):
organization that doesn'trepresent you.
Wounded Warrior, great millions, billions of dollars they don't
represent me.
They don't represent peoplelike me.
Dollars they don't represent me.
They don't represent peoplelike me.
I don't feel comfortablereaching out.
That's the story that I've heardfrom so many different people.
Interesting, but when thenon-profit looks and has the
feel of something that's likeyou, that represents who you are
, it's like okay, I'll reach outto that.

(43:16):
That's why the green beretfoundation has been so
successful, because guys arewilling to go towards that name,
that brand that represents them.
Um, and I think that'ssomething that we need across
the board.
We need more help, moreresources and it's a hard fight.
Man, I'm like kudos to you forbeing on the ground floor
starting it up with your friendsand, uh, like I said, if you

(43:38):
haven't taken the time to pauseand reflect, dude, you guys
deserve a moment of fucking.
You know, take a weekend off,reconnect and be able to look
back.
It's like oh shit, dude, likethis all started with fucking
jokes.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
Yeah it's a great call out man.
I, I appreciate that it's.
It's.
It's nice to hear you know,somebody recognize that and, as
you know, it's just you getcaught up and oh yeah, we got
shit to do.
Man, I don't have time to sitaround like look at what we've
done, like look at what wehaven't done and that we need to
.

Speaker 1 (44:08):
You know, take a break those are conversations
for when you're like 60 orsomething and I'm like wish I
had something to do, organizethat fucking that facetime, and
just say hey guys, uh, we builtthis off of uh fucking memes and
we're here.

Speaker 2 (44:23):
That's a.
That's another thing to theFaceTime thing.
Like uh, this and you I thinkyou alluded to it earlier in our
conversation to talking aboutyou know being by yourself, so
very lonely path to be on, uh,entrepreneurship, you know it's
one of those.
It's one of those things that'slike it's made all sexy with
like linkedin and social mediaand you know it's all a ruse and

(44:44):
I'm guilty of it too, like I'mnot sharing my bad days on there
.
You know, like we'rehighlighting the wins.
Baby, nobody wants that today.

Speaker 1 (44:51):
Nobody wants an entire two weeks of no, no
fucking production done, becauseI'm going to support somebody
else's dreams and somebodyelse's missions and I am.
I am deadly afraid that I'm notgoing to sleep for another 48
to try to make it happen.

Speaker 2 (45:06):
Yeah, it's tough dude , and nobody wants to hear that.
They want to hear about theovernight success stuff.
And then there's also like acertain niche you know call it
tech or software or whateverthat really then kind of
encapsulates that and we sort offorget about all these other
businesses that like run oureconomy, that are not just
software I'm not knockingsoftware, it's just like that's

(45:28):
the big sexy thing.
It's like there's so much othershit that people are employed
by and that are, you know,making a difference and, you
know, providing people value indifferent ways.
That is not sexy and it's not.
You know that guy doesn't havetime to be on LinkedIn because
he's freaking working 12 hours aday, you know whatever.
So I think that's theloneliness thing, like it's.

(45:49):
That's the one of the biggestchallenges for me and, honestly,
one of the reasons that we justmoved to is like it's tough
when you don't have the the Idon't know, I said the privilege
or whatever the ability to havelike even just an office space
with other people to like walkinto together and to share it,
even if you're not freakingworking, if it's lunchtime or

(46:09):
whatever.
Like being around people as yousuffer collectively is something
that the military is great atright, like trauma bonding
everybody, like there's value inthat and so it's.
It's, I feel like, makes thingsjust a little bit tougher when
it's like, yeah, we have theability to do this and we can
look at each other and converseand it it checks a block.
But it's not the same thing asif we were sitting in the same
room drinking a beer having thisconversation.

(46:30):
It's the same thing with theteam and so, like having remote
teams across these organizations, it's great that we can have
people all over the statessupporting and working together,
but at the same time, like itjust makes it that much lonelier
than it already is, you knowabsolutely it's.

Speaker 1 (46:46):
You know, I I get in the fits of hallucination and I
daydream that there's somebodysitting across from me and that
that takes away a little bit theloneliness.
Uh, just you know, just inducesome hallucination.
However, you can.
Four days without sleep does itfor you.
These bags in our minds arereal motherfuckers.
Yeah, just, you know.
Just daydream that you havethat support.
You ever seen the moviesidekick?

(47:07):
Just have that.
Just imagine that.
The old 1990s movie.
Or chuck norris?
I haven't seen that.
I don't think.
Damn it.
Wish you would.
Just I'm gonna have to erasethis entire thing.
I can't do the sidekick fuckingsegue that I was planning.
Son of a bitch, oh man I'll addthat to the list sidekick chuck
norris and the kid from seaquest.
Forget his name.

(47:27):
Sweet, fucking, amazing movie.

Speaker 2 (47:29):
Okay, I got a flight tomorrow, so maybe I'll download
it and uh and watch it on theway out oh yeah, it's, it's,
it's worth.

Speaker 1 (47:37):
Uh yeah, it's money well spent in this economy.
I will tell you that much.
Well, dude, uh, it's been apleasure having you on the show
man, but before I let you go,give us a again.
Promote the nonprofit.
Where can we find it?
How can we support it?

Speaker 2 (47:50):
Yes, thank you for giving me the opportunity to do
that.
So we're on social media.
I believe the Instagram is blueunderscore skies underscore
foundation.
But, honestly, if you just goto fly bbsforg, everything is on
there Hyperlinks to the socialmedia you can learn more about
the programs in depth.

(48:10):
Look at financials,transparency, all that kind of
stuff, um, and there's contactinformation on there too.
So if you want to get ahold ofmyself or somebody else, um,
likely I'll be the one thatresponds, if you feel something
out and we can jump on a phonecall or whatever.
If people have ideas that theywant to support or just want to
get involved, wwwflybbsforg andeverything is everything that

(48:35):
you need is there.

Speaker 1 (48:36):
Hell yeah.
And if you pause right now, goto episode description whether
you're on Spotify, apple podcast, fucking, whatever, get your
your video or audio podcast.
Just pause, good episodedescription, click the links and
then you know, look here,there's, here's the logo.
That's what it'll look like.
Go support them.
Um, you know, we, we are notliving in a world that's, uh,

(48:57):
you know, remiss.
There's a lot of horrible shithappening.
Uh, I wish there wasn't, butthat's true.
It's the nature of the world welive in.
There's going to becatastrophes and we need to be
able to support our air crew,our pilots and army aviation
team.
So please go to their website,donate whatever you got five, 10
, $15.
I don't care, small amount.
Help them grow, help themestablish themselves so that

(49:19):
they can be the next greatnonprofit out there, changing
lives, helping change the waythat our service members get
supported, because we need it.
We need the representation outthere.
Again, spence, thank you somuch for being here.
Well, y'all tuning in.
Thank you for tuning in.
Thank you for checking us out.
We'll see y'all next time.
So then, take care.
Thanks, brother, thanks fortuning in, and don't forget to
like, follow, share, subscribeand review us on your favorite

(49:42):
podcast platform.
If you want to support us, headon over to buymeacoffeecom,
forward slash setcoffpodcast andbuy us a coffee.
Connect with us on Instagram, xor TikTok and share your
thoughts or questions abouttoday's episode.
You can also visitsecurityhallcom for exclusive
content, resources and updates.
And remember we get throughthis together.

(50:03):
And remember we get throughthis together.
If you're still listening theepisode's over, yeah, there's no
more Tune in tomorrow or nextweek.
Thank you,

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On Purpose with Jay Shetty

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}From Military to Meme Lord: Spencer Payne's Path to Impactful Nonprofit Work

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.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

Dateline NBC

All Episodes

From Military to Meme Lord: Spencer Payne's Path to Impactful Nonprofit Work

Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club