From Soldier to CEO: Michael R. Rodríguez on Legacy, Leadership & the GWOT Memorial

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In this powerful episode of Security Halt!, we sit down with Michael R. Rodríguez, President and CEO of the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation. Michael shares his inspiring journey from military service and recovery to leading the effort to build a memorial that honors every service member who fought in the Global War on Terrorism.

This conversation goes beyond the battlefield—exploring the challenges veterans face in transition, the role of leadership and community support, and how resilience and purpose fuel personal growth after service. Michael’s story highlights why remembering, honoring, and supporting our military community is essential for healing and moving forward.

 

👉 Don’t miss this episode filled with lessons on service, sacrifice, and legacy.
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-rodr%C3%ADguez-367b7b58/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monsterzdad/

Website: https://www.gwotmemorialfoundation.org/

Newsletter: https://www.gwotmemorialfoundation.org/

 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Securepodcast is proudly sponsored by Titan's
Arms.
Head over to the episodedescription and check out
Titan's Arms today.
Michael Rodriguez, how's itgoing, brother?

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good, romano, great to have the opportunity to chat
with you today, bro.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Dude, it's an absolute pleasure and honor to
have you here.
I always like to say that wedon't progress in our journey
after service unless we sit downand talk with guys and get that
good like pre-deployment sitesurvey on how to attack the next
objective and seeing where ourguys are at.
Seeing individuals such asyourself.
You know we've got our veterancommunity is rich with people

(00:34):
that are out there doing amazingthings, whether it's writing a
book, starting a podcast, doinga movie and being part of you
know great organizations likethe Museum of Global War and
Terrorism.
It's inspiring.
So we got to collect thesestories and figure out, like,
what's the best approach tohaving that purposeful,
impactful life after service.
So today, my man, we're goingto dive into your service.

(00:55):
Then we're going to also diveinto what you did after, because
I think that's the part that'sgoing to help the most of us.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
So today, man, please let us know how you began this
journey in the military.
Yeah, absolutely Well, beforewe begin, I want to thank you
for your continued leadership,which you just referenced, right
there is.
You know the Army definesleadership as purpose, direction
and motivation.
Right, and you know you talkingabout what veterans are doing
and highlighting their stories.
You know and you're continuingto do that.
So I want to thank you for forover the number of years you've
been doing this to provide thatopportunity, that platform, that
love to give them the voice.

(01:29):
Uh, because more often than not, you know we're such a small
community that you knowsometimes some we need, we need
that.
You know those to our left andright that we fought for Um it,
um, it's, it's, it's important,man.
So I want to thank you for whatit is that you do, you know
during this conversation.
I'm going to be throwing some ofthe questions back at you, my
friend, so think about it, man,let's do it.

(01:51):
Right.
So what?
What inspired me to serve wasI'm from southern New Mexico.
I grew up right there, on theborder with New Mexico and
Mexico, so my family's from forgenerations.
You know we lived in a part ofour nation that was once New
Mexico or Mexico's territory.
But when you know, when it wasannexed, thankfully my family
was on this side of the border.

(02:11):
Down there is Palomas, mexico,and then Columbus, new Mexico,
somewhat synonymous.
When Pancho Villa would launchhis raiding parties into the
United States through New Mexico, that was the port of entry.
So you know we used to have afamily home until, you know, the
people coming across the borderpretty much set on fire and
destroyed it, but it was afamily.
The family home in Columbus wasa historic site because it had

(02:34):
bullet fragments from whenPancho Villa's raiding parties.
You know he never ventured in,but his raiding parties did and
attacked the people like myfamilia, so all the men in my
family I have to enunciate thisand people like oh, why would
you?
You know, people don't knowtheir history.
Well, I said so.
My great grandfather was, likeall men in that town, deputized
and fought against Pancho Villa,because when someone comes into

(02:54):
your town and shooting up andstealing and robbing and doing
whatever it is that they did.
You know you got to protectyour own.
So that's where I'm from, alittle bit of history of me.
So, growing up there, my firstheroes were, you know, I didn't
really have comic books, not awhole lot of.
You know we're.
I'm glad I grew up the way Idid, with wealthy, in love, I'll
say it that way, right, yeah,wealthy with familia, a large

(03:17):
one.
So my father served in Vietnamduring the Tet Offensive.
Both my grandfathers servedduring World War II.
My great uncles, mygrandmother's brothers, all were
involved in the D-Day invasion.
Believe it or not, I mean, it'spretty storied service.
So those are my heroes, right?
And my abuelitas had picturesof them when they were kids,
when they joined, those typicalpictures of someone in basic

(03:38):
training, and I would always askquestions like what was it like
?
And you know this, right, I'mpreaching to the choir here.
You know those of us that stepinto that ring and that arena
and experience the things weexperience or do the things we
do.
I'm not glamorizing nothing, Idon't.

(03:58):
That's not it, right.
War is war and we'll leave itthere.
So I'm not dude, that's none ofyour business, man.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
Let's talk about something else.
So I'm so glad you said thatman, and I have to pause and
reaffirm.
I was just on a podcast and thegentleman a shout out to you,
benny, right off the start.
You know, like it's not forglamorization.
Like the greatest heroes that Iserved with, the greatest men

(04:27):
that I learned from and I lookedup to, like some of them aren't
here anymore and that's thereality.
Like that's like you want totalk about valor and honor and
greatness and courage and allthat that's great.
Some of the greatest people onearth aren't here and they took
it to the, they took it all theway to the very end.
Like that, yeah, that's areality of it, and to glamorize
it and to constantly talk aboutit doesn't do anything, doesn't

(04:47):
serve.
Like you, the civilian at homethat support the veteran
community, that love consuming,that just understand that it's
not a movie, it's not hollywood.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
You'll never understand it yeah, and it
diminishes the realities ofthose of us that have done that
right, right, and you get I'mrising.
It.
Then it's spun, then it'spainted in a rosy light and it's
like wait a minute, wait aminute, let's pause for a minute
.
So as a young little travel,right, I didn't know that I was
like you know, I had like my, mylittle green army men.

(05:19):
I play with my thing.
I always love, you know that,so I would ask questions.
They never talked about it.
You know those are the, myfather and all the men, um, my
male role models in my life.
But was, as I got older, whatthey ended up finally talking
about was, you know, because Iwas pestering a, I'm the oldest
grandchild on my father's side,so, uh, what they started

(05:41):
telling me was they never talkedabout the war or events.
What they started telling meand sharing with me are those
that they served with.
You know, the men in my familyare incredibly stoic, like just
traditional, very quiet, veryfamily oriented.
You know, we're just stoic.
But when they started talkingabout those they served with,

(06:03):
they spoke differently, withreverence.
I could hear the love in theirvoice and very solemn, very
purposeful speech that theywould talk about, talk to me,
spoke about them with love, andthen it touched me deeply.
I was like, wow, who are thesedeals that I've never met?
You know, I remember theirnames, but they spoke and that

(06:24):
right there, kind of like, okay,that's, I mean you know, wow,
who are these deals that I'venever met?
You know, I remember theirnames, but they spoke in that
that right there, kind of like,okay, that's, I mean, you know
this, the greatest thing you cando is grow and support your
familia.
Right, that was what I wasinstilled with as a child, like
support your familia, take careof them, do whatever it is, grow
the familia and then contribute, contribute right To society
and as a whole.
So all the men in my familyserved.
So then that's when I inspiredme to join a little bit.

(06:46):
My upbringing and such.
So you know, I joined it at 17years old and I had to get my
parents to sign and my fatherwas not really supportive of it.
You know, my father'sexperience of Vietnam wasn't the
best.
He lost his best friend overthere, which was his cousin that
he grew up with.
It's Andres, actually.
This is him right here.
So behind me is my ofrenda thatstays up year round, nice.
But you know he just that.

(07:07):
You know he didn't.
He didn't want that for his sonand I told my dad, I this is
something I want to do.
Then my you know my fatheralways support me.
He guided me.
So then he imparted a piece ofwisdom onto me that I just
recently started telling peopleabout.
I mean, my sons have heard it,but, um, that I didn't know what
the hell it meant when I was 17years old.
But he told me this.
He said, miko, look, people aregoing to ask you to do things

(07:32):
they don't think you can do,things that you may not be able
to do.
You're going to see things, dothings, experience things that
you just can't imagine right now.
Whatever's asked of you, justdo more, miko, just do more and
do more.
And I was like, okay, dad, Ididn't know what that meant,
right, so then, fast forward.
You know I joined the army at 17night, by blessings of, of my

(07:57):
career path.
You know I deployed to somaliain 93 with the 10th mountain
division and experienced whatyou know, the, the, that, the,
that that side of the, you knowuh, of things are on the world.
You know people start shootingand it's a little bit different.
So, that being said, you know Igot to do that.
And then I had anotherdeployment, to Haiti.
For those that remember, therewas a military coup that

(08:19):
occurred in 94.
I was part of the responseforce for that to have found a
vision and I'd always seen likeSF guys at both of those, both
of those deployments, you know,and this was inspired me to go
into SF later on.
And you know I remember Somalia.
There was a SF team that wewould in Somalia, we would pick
up the food convoys andMogadishu and then take them to

(08:39):
the food distribution sites.
That was our job.
They get shot out, running out,getting out, yeah, bogadishu
kismayu, all the dog all the wayinto my door.
Anyway, I would see him.
And I remember an sf team there.
They had a pet monkey and I waslike dang, as a young 18 year
old kid, I'm like dude, I wouldlove to have a pet monkey right
and they didn't wear all thecrap that we were wearing,
sweating like pendejos out there.
So anyway, I saw them duringthe first two deployments and I

(09:03):
was like I want to try.
So then, then I figured out,then I put myself in a position
where I understood what my dadmeant by do more.
I was in selection and youremember selections like I'm
sure it was.
It was a, it was during aindividual is individual time,
before team week, right beforeteam week.
You know there's, you know,kicking your teeth in at that

(09:25):
point and it was one of those.
All right, be at this time withthis uniform, this amount of
weight, all this other.
Okay, follow the cones.
You don't know how far you'regoing.
Is it a six-mile ruck?
Is it a 12-mile?
Is this, what are we doing?
So I was giving it my all andthere was a point where I was
like, oh my gosh, you get thosemoments and anyone who's ever
been to Selection Day, you havethose moments, I'll be honest

(09:47):
about it.
Like, dude, am I doing them?
Those moments of clarity whereyou're like what the heck this
is?
I chose to be here, so I washaving one of those and I was
like God, man, maybe I need toslow down, Maybe I, maybe I
don't know.
I started doing that self-doubtbecause I'm constantly
evaluating myself Constantly.
That was just.
I'm always doing that and maybethis isn't you know that

(10:08):
negative, negative.
You know thoughts going inthere.
But then I heard my dad just domore, take one more step, do
more, Just do more.
And it was in that moment Istarted reflecting on my
childhood and I started doingmore on the rock.
Then I remembered my fathergrowing up never you know in
sports, and everything he neversaid do your best.

(10:28):
He always said hey, mijo, domore, do more next time, por si
me hace algo.
You know, just do more, do more, do more.
And then I realized, like, whenyou just do more and you know
this, you put yourself to thisposition you don't know your
limitations.
None of us ever do you just domore.
But it was very simple, very,very humble Just do more.
And that's what I saw.
That, because when we say, doyour best, that's just who knows

(10:50):
your best?
Well, do I know my best?
Well, when you tell someone, doyour best, you're giving them
the opportunity to punch out.
Right, don't say that, so Idon't do it either.
We just do more.
So that's when things changedand I understood what my father
meant and that that really kindof I mean that was my upbringing
, growing up really strong, workethic, just keep going.
Like you know, we didn't nobreaks, just work, get the work

(11:13):
done and then you'll figure outwhat's next.
And that right there kind ofset the tone for pretty much the
rest of my career.
You know I ended up in seventhgroup and, you know, started
deploying, like all of us did.
You know, until until you knowall my bumps, bruises, cuts,
explosions, all the exposuresthat got me to where they are
ended up, any my career.

(11:34):
So I was able to squeeze out 21years before I was medically
retired.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
Yeah, that is a lifetime, man, that is a
lifetime, but it goes by so fast, man.
Man, that's the thing thatnobody realizes, and I'm sure
that, long before you reachedthose 21 years, there are
probably some telltale signs oflike oh shit, I am, I am going

(11:58):
through some shit.
Did you ever find yourselfgoing through that point of like
all right, I just gotta keep ittogether just a little little
bit longer?
And like what were you?
What did you rely on?
Was it just sure?
Just pure grit anddetermination?

Speaker 2 (12:13):
to get you through it , I'll tell you.
I'll tell you a point, and thisis a is, is, is, uh.
So it was my.
It was deployment, one of mydeployments, my last deployment.
I've got a son.
I was with the oda.
I was one of the senior guys onthe team.
Um, you know me and and paulshu, while I were, they had been
on that team for seven years atthat point, right, uh, and
third battalion.
You know guys had come and gone, but we've been there forever.

(12:34):
You know there's team sergeantsand and team leaders are coming
, but then you have those guysthat have been on that team
forever.
That that's that kind of drivethat keep that culture alive.
And it was all.
And then we were.
We were mean like to each other, to everybody, but in a tough
love way.
But people didn't like walkingpast our team room door because
some of the guys on the teamwere so good with just attacking

(12:55):
people and making fun of themand blasting them like they
didn't like walking past ourdoor flashbacks right now like
where'd you get them shoes?
whatever I mean, bro, it was.
I was at points.
I was like man, I'm glad I'm onthis team, they're so anyway.
That being said that, just totry to I say that you know to
relate you, you know exactlywhat I'm talking about.
But I'm also to tell you likethe responsibility I felt I owe

(13:16):
to that team and I did, we alldo so during that appointment it
was.
I had some pretty significantinjuries, one of which was
exposure to I.
I was a senior Delta on theteam at that point.
I don't remember a lot of theevents.
Some of the events wererecounted to me.
An IED went lower to debt.
I was on an ATV.
I was the one that caught themost of it.
The blast wave threw me.

(13:37):
Not a lot of people saw this,but I pushed the ATV back over.
The Afghans saw it it and theycame over and then the team
started dead and hey, you allgood and I just, and they're
like, and I just tell them I'm Fand five.
I don't remember any of this.
By the way, I lost, I had lostvision in my left eye.
My eye wasn't like ripped openor anything, it was just the
brain, just like I don't knowwhat happened.

(13:57):
I just could not see and I'mfine, I'm fine, I'm fine, we
continue the mission.
Somehow I just kept going andthen I got back and just kind of
tried to cover it up and hideit.
But you know, I'll be honest.
I said this on a recent podcast.
You know I made the wrongdecision because if anyone else
would have come to me as asenior Delta hey, what's going
on?
I'd have got them out so theycould get help.

(14:18):
But in my arrogant view, thatteam needed me.
I wasn't at a hundred percentbut they assumed I was a hundred
percent.
Spence I turned into aliability.
They had no idea.
I would not have wanted someonelike me on my team going on
combat ops like we wouldcontinue to do in the state that
I was in.
But in my mind that was theright thing to do.

(14:39):
And it was not the right thingto do.
It was not good.
So that was a moment where Ijust need to get through this
deployment and that was a baddecision.
That was a very bad decision.
So after that deployment I knewI was going to SWCC.
I was going to go work out atRange 37 and at the sniper
committee.
And I just got to get throughthis.
I got to get through this and Iget to the committee.

(15:00):
And for those that ever, for thecommunity, have been through
you know any of the coursesSvartic or SOTIC and then SFSC,
man, it's like a deployment,like it is, it is, it is nonstop
.
And for the cadre, we're there,it's like the never ending J
set that is, you know, pedal tothe metal, right Like everything
, every.
It's just.
You know everything from you'restill doing explosive breaching

(15:22):
, you're still under so it.
From you're still doingexplosive breaching, you're
still under.
So it wasn't an environmentthat was good for someone trying
to get better from tbi to be in.
No, you're still going down tothe dojo on the range and beat
the hell out of each other inthe mornings.
I mean, it's just, but it'simmediate.
I loved it.
I loved it.
That's where I thrived.
So I stayed there and I keptthinking I'm gonna get better
and get better.
And then you know the long storyshort, that's when, um, some of
this stuff that I was dealingwith, some of the, I was having

(15:44):
a deterioration of some of mycapabilities vision, balance,
you know cognitive stuff andthen you know that come to the
Lord moment where I needed toget help, and that's when you
know I got sent to the NationalTrepidation of Excellence and
they were like, yeah, man,you're done.

(16:07):
Son, like this is you, you haveso much that had to tow thing.
But that was the moment in mylife or military career where I
thought I lost who I was Right,my identity was, I thought, was
stripped of me.
When they said you can nolonger perform your duties as a
special forces operator, we areinitiating medical retirement
proceedings.
And I was just like, like theyjust cut my head off, not happy,

(16:28):
wasn't wasn't expecting that.
I thought they were going totell me hey, this is how you get
better, so you get back in thefight.
That's not what occurred andthat pretty much ended my career
.
So that that's what took me tothe, where I got that and I
realized that I was holding outand it was not, it was not the
best thing to do.
I, I, you know I think back tothe failures that, um, you know

(16:52):
I, I could have been a better,uh, teammate when I, when I got
wounded, and been honest withmyself and honest with the team.
I could have been, even when Iwas at a uh, an instructor range
37, 37.
My pass rate was great but Ithink it could have been better
if I was better.
So I failed.
I admit it.
I failed the community intrying to cover things up and

(17:15):
not being honest with myself andwith everybody else, and that's
a very arrogant andself-centered way to approach
things and I learned a lot fromthat.
I swear I will never do thatagain.
A learned a lot from that.
I swore I would never do thatagain.

Speaker 1 (17:26):
A lot of us do that.
I, I, I did it.
And the reality is peoplelistening and guys are still in
that don't believe operation.
That don't believe because theexposure right, it's not about
it's not always the same, it'snot you don't have to get blown
up.
It's not about it's not alwaysthe same, it's not, you don't
have to get blown up.
It's all the reps and training,all the reps.

(17:47):
Throughout your entire militarycareer you started out in, you
know, airborne.
If you started out as an 11Charlie, we started out as a
field artilleryman.
That's when you're, that's whenyour exposure to blast and
that's when you have tounderstand.
Like, if you don't stop tounderstand what you're going
through and really just take aknee, we call things like a

(18:12):
migraine a headache, a simpleheadache, the symptomology.
We just eat pain all throughoutour career.
So we're not really present.
We're not cognitively there,prepared to understand the
things that we're going through.
You've had a concussion on ajump and ache and you're not
cognitively there, prepared tounderstand the things that we're
going through.
You've had a concussion on ajump and you're like, oh, it's
fine, I just got dazed for alittle bit, but then you have
light sensitivity for three,four days.

(18:33):
You can't remember whathappened during that J-Fix
because you were out of it andit's all of us, all of us.
I did it as a warrant officer.
I fucking tanked an entire prepfor a J-set and I thought I was
doing my job.
I thought I was doing great,and the reality is we were built
to take this pain, to take thisand eat it and continue pushing

(18:57):
forward.
But now, on the backside, we canadvocate for our guys.
And the thing that's reallyimportant is we're looking at
our GWAT veterans, the olderguys on the team, and the
reality is, the older you get,the more stubborn you are.
So it's no longer the new,younger guys, it's the SAR major
, it's that team sergeant on theteam who's been dealing with

(19:19):
these symptoms.
It's that CW3, cw4 that's beendealing with this since 2015,
2014, and has been sayingnothing.
So being able to have thesediscussions, being able to talk
about it, not only helps oursoft brothers, but our
conventional military guys,because now in this fight, now
that I'm educated and I'munderstanding of the

(19:42):
symptomology, I understand theproblem set, a lot of guys don't
speak up because they say tothemselves oh well, I'm just a
mortar man, I'm just anartillery man.
I haven't been blown up.
It's like, yeah, but you'vebeen on the gun line for five,
six, seven years and he roundsdown range.
It's important to be able toshare these stories and be able
to share the impact.

(20:03):
And you're right to share thesestories and be able to share,
like the impact.
And you're right.
Going to range 37, thoseinstructors mean like when I
went through sniper school, Iwas blown away by how much
information, how theprofessionalism, the dedication
they're there, ready to go allday, every day, and if you're
having trouble these guys willstay there.
And then on the Sephardic side,you just hear these guys like

(20:24):
having friends have been thereeating those charges, like it
takes a lot, it takes a lot outof you and you pour into the
community, pour into thesestudents.
And when you were going throughyour recovery, like even though
, like there was a lot ofheartache and a lot of
bitterness, did you findyourself seeing some positivity
and it seemed like, okay, I needto get better, like I need to

(20:46):
be able to have some sort oflife after this.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
Yeah.
So I'm going to touch back onlike what you were just talking
there and then it'll answer whatyou just asked me.
So I, when we have theseconversations about like hey,
being honest, but I can't dothat, I'm hurt, whatever.
That that's not a weakness.
Yes, that drive, that that thatthose of us that choose these
types of professions do, I wantto be sure that when we do talk

(21:11):
about these things is we're not,you know, with that's that is,
I don't want to diminish that.
That is special.
That ability to put yourselfaside, what you're dealing with,
everything for the mission, forthose who are left and right,
is incredibly special.
You know, those are very, very,very special people that will
choose to do that.
But it takes that same amountof courage that will run to the

(21:35):
sound of gunfire or fight to benumber one man.

Speaker 1 (21:37):
You know that we all like ah, let me go.

Speaker 2 (21:39):
I know I want to be on my turn, you know, running
for that open door, looking forwork in the house, right, yeah,
yeah, we will the, the, uh.
The way we need, I think,community is support that, yes,
that's awesome.
Let's continue to build thatmindset.
But then realize and educatethem like you can stay doing
that as long as you are honestand upfront with what is going

(22:01):
on with you, right, so I couldhave stayed in a lot longer,
like I wanted to.
Um, you know if, if I had beenhonest.
So there's, there's that Ithink we need to like talk about
those, cause sometimes I willtalk about this and they're like
well, so you don't think yourdrive was beneficial?
I'm like, no, no, it was.
So I think that that rightthere.
So now I'm going to answer whatyou asked me in that question

(22:24):
with.
That was with setting this up.
So when, after I got Ny nicothere, I got sent to you know it
was it was you know I leftthere with uh 17 different
diagnoses, seven of which ontheir own were duty limiting.
There's a whole I won't go intoit is a lot of things that what
they think is is uh, what Ihave is we can't diagnose yet is
something called chronictraumatic encephalopathy,

(22:45):
because growing up I used to, uh, growing up, sports, yeah, I
was a boxer, but then, even as a, as a child, I suffered a
subarachnoid bleed, meaning Ihad fell and shit.
I have I still.
I mean, if you do look at my,my brain, you can see the blood
scar tissue and all that otherstuff.
In addition to that I have likea, a very large mass in my
brain.
So all of that said like I'm the, I'm the, I'm the guy that

(23:07):
should never have done what Idid, so don't do what I do.
So you know, I left, you know,with all this.
So then they sent me to beforeI could address any of that
they're like look, they sent meto a dual diagnosis program for
post-traumatic stress andchemical dependency.
I was, I was drinking every day, right to do what I could.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
I was just gonna ask about that.
I was like I'm honest I notembarrassed about it.

Speaker 2 (23:29):
That's what I did.
I mean, it's just very, verycommon, right?
The beer light's on.
Okay, cool, I can startdrinking.
Right, it's the culture.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
It's the culture, it's what we, and it's not just
specific to the special forces,no, no, it's an old American
cultural thing.
Men get together and we drinkand we have beers and Jack
Daniels come out, and it's aform of brotherhood, it's a form

(23:56):
of camaraderie, it's the beerlights that we got.

Speaker 2 (23:57):
It's, it's I think it's even greater it's.
It's.
It's a warrior culture practiceafter things are done, what.
What did they do?
After they came together on thecampfire, whatever it was they
were partaking of, that's whatthey did.
I don't want people to say, oh,we, whatever it was they were
partaking of, that's what theydid.
I don't want people to say, oh,we're just no, look, that's,
that's part of the warriorculture that's in this, into the

(24:18):
genetics and innate abilitiesand desires of some of us.
Right, it's primal.
So I was.
So I got sent to the.
I took it to the extreme, likeI always do with everything.
So I was drinking a lot.
So I went to this four weekinpatient treatment facility.
Um, I stayed for eight weeks.
So I needed the extra training.
They kept me longer, but it wasthere that I was reminded of
pretty much everything that gotme to that point, not what
occurred to me, but what allowedme to have a successful career

(24:41):
in the military and specialforces, and everything that I
did, even at Range 37.
You can ask anybody that Iserved with.
I think I was pretty decent towork with.
I'm not going to say I was thebest, no, but I was able to at
least work alongside the best,and that to me means the world.
I just wanted to be able tocontribute, so it was.

(25:01):
While I was in there, I wasreminded that, hey look, this is
who you are, remember that, andit was my doctor.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
I was having a session that day, and when I say
impatient, I mean, it was, youknow, pajamas, slippers, no, no,
shoe strings, none of thatstuff.

Speaker 2 (25:17):
And I'm not embarrassed of that.
I'm not embarrassed of that.
I was on a lot of medications.
You know what?
I needed them.
I'm not embarrassed of that.
I successfully don't need themanymore, but I needed it.
At that time my doctor asked mehe goes, rod, are you suffering
?
And this was the first time inmy life I had missed
Thanksgiving and Christmas withmy familia because I was in a
hospital.
It was in Texas, right, andthis is before-, no, no, no,

(25:39):
this is before then, man, thisis before any of that stuff
opened up.
This was a psychiatric facility, which is a great place.
I don't want to throw shade atthem.
It was University of BehavioralHealth in Denton, texas.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
And they were awesome .

Speaker 2 (25:55):
So it was all military in that wing.
And then the wing that weshared was all the.
Those were there for criminalreasons.
He asked me that question areyou suffering?
And I was like, like I said,you know, I was missing
Christmas and New Year's andThanksgiving with my sons.
And I looked at him I go, drLateef, his name's Umar Lateef,

(26:15):
a very close personal friend ofmine.
Now I said, dr Lateef, yeah,yeah, I'm suffering.
He goes.
You're choosing to suffer.
I was like what he goes?
Look, rod, my life'schallenging Life is hard.
Everybody's facing pain,everybody's dealing with
something.
If you're suffering, that meanswhatever it is you're facing has
taken control.
You know, suffering is a choice.
You choose to not realize howstrong you really are.

(26:38):
He says just fight it, takeownership of it.
I can't.
And he told me he was, he wasamazing guy man.
He was like look, I would loveto fight this for you, but I
can't.
I'm here to help you fight this.
I'm here to give you the tools.
I'm here to give you what it is.
But if you're suffering, it'sbecause you're not taking what's
presented in front of you andrealize that nothing can stop
you.
And it's a reframe toeverything.
And again it reminded me that,like, look, if I I never stepped

(27:00):
into the cage or a ring with ablindfold on you and I never
went outside the wire with zeroG2 or Intel or some type of plan
, even if it's a quick twominute brief, why do we choose
to do that?
When it comes to our emotionalhealth, our mental health or
even physical health?
Why do we do that?
We're like oh no, I just don'tsee it.
Nope, I'm good, but we do that.
And then we don't really facewhat it is, we don't take

(27:24):
ownership of it.
And that's when I was like youknow what, I'm not going to
suffer anymore.
And I don't suffer.
I'm not saying I don't faceobstacles or have different
things and challenges throughoutlife Everybody does but I'm not
special.
I have the things that I haveto fight, that only I can fight,
so I don't suffer.

Speaker 1 (27:39):
Yep, absolutely, it's important.
I want to pause and reflect onwhat your doctor told you.
That's something that I wasgiven, as well as understanding
a common humanity and I talkabout it a lot If you get stuck
in your own suffering and youdon't open up that aperture, you
don't come up off glass andlook at the entire range and see
that around you other peopleare suffering too.

(28:01):
You're not alone in thisexperience.
This is not unique to you.
So what the fuck are you goingto do?
Get over it.
Move forward and do somethingof purpose with that suffering.
Do something for somebody else.
Don't just get stuck andfeeling like, oh, it's all
hopeless.
No, get up.
Move forward.
One small step forward.

(28:22):
Day by day, it gets better.
We have more autonomy of oursuffering than we truly realize
that.
And once I understood thatfucking game changing Okay, so
shit's not right in my head, allright, I'm in a treatment
center to get help for that Slow, I'll get better.
But sitting here being sad andbeing dismissive of the rest of

(28:44):
my life just because I can'twear this green beret forever?
Hey guy, at some point it endsfor everybody, it just it's
ending for you right now.
Move forward.
That's something that nobodyelse can tell you except you,
and you have to embrace it.
You have to be willing to say,hey, all right, I got to do
something that very fewindividuals get to do Wasn't

(29:04):
forever, it wasn't for as longas I wanted to do it, but hey, I
got to fucking do it.
What's going to be my nextchapter?
That's right, anothermid-episode ad break.
This episode is brought to youby Titan's Arms.
Head on over to titansarmscomto check out some awesome
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(29:25):
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That's Titan underscoreperformance underscore LLC.
All right, back to the episode.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
Yeah, and it's a matter of learning from
circumstances, and go say, likewhat my dad had told me, like,
just do more.
These things are going tohappen.
I can't change anything in thepast.
I can look at it, I can reflecton it and learn from it, and I
don't ruminate if you ruminateon it.
So so you can make a choice Ican reflect or I can ruminate,
I'll reflect on it.

(30:07):
I'm not that Um, whatever it is, but I'm not going to ruminate
on it.
I'm not going to jump in thatpool again, cause I can't change
that.
I have right now, I have today,by the good, good, shared
blessings of the Lord, maybe Ihave tomorrow.
You know this, like when weface our mortalities, like when
I got blown up one of the times,I'm like, oh, this is it.
Of times I'm like, oh, this isit.

(30:31):
And then I'm like, oh well, Iguess not right.
I mean, there's so many times.
And you're like you face thethe how fragile, uh, you know,
life really is your mortality.
You're like, okay, it's ablessing, I need to live with a
little bit more grace, seizethis moment.
Okay, this is what I have rightnow.
I'm going to reflect on whatI've learned I'm going to
reflect on events beyond mycontrol, events I can't change.
Events that created whatever itis I'm carrying, or physical,

(30:53):
emotional, whatever it is.
I'm going to learn from it andI'm going to try and be better.
And that's every next day.
You know, it's like I'll try tobe better tomorrow, I'll do
more tomorrow, and that's how Iwake up every day.
It's like all right, what can Ido today?
How can I be better fromyesterday?
And you know, like I mentionedearlier, I'm almost doing like,

(31:14):
okay, the self-evaluation, right, because selection is never
ending, right?
Like wait, what can I do?
What am I bringing to the tabletoday?
How am I going to do it?
And some days I'll be betterthan others, and admitting that.
But if you continue on that asmyth, it's just like I'm just
keep trying more, I'm just keeptrying's in our that's, you'll
be better, you'll be happier,you'll, you'll thrive, whether
you've got a lot of stuff or not, and you will thrive as long as

(31:37):
you're, you know, endeavoringto do more.
I think.

Speaker 1 (31:40):
Absolutely Fucking Lutely, brother, like it's it's.
It's so motivating to see guyswhen they get on that side of
their journey, when they theyheal up and they're doing better
and they start crushing lifeand they start.
You know, first all it takes isbeing able to get, start
crawling, and then you'rewalking and then you're frigging
running, being able to see,like my buddy, marty Acosta,

(32:03):
like a phenomenal Green Beretwho went through hell and back
and watching him where he's atnow speaking events motivating
others, bringing other brothersto their healing journey.
It is inspiring to see somebodyfind their purpose and their
passion on the backside of theirjourney.

(32:23):
You already accomplished somuch to green beret, but then to
be of service again for yourcommunity, for the greater
veteran community, that'sempowering and I want to dive
into that part of your journey.
You go through, you recover.
What was your next mission andhow did you find it?

Speaker 2 (32:41):
So what got me through it, you know, providing
me that purpose, direction,motivation, right was my sons,
because sometimes, you know, forthose that are struggling,
sometimes they can't dosomething for themselves.
You don't, very rarely will youfind someone that's doing
something for themselves.
I'm not saying they're notthere.
You know people.
There's people that do, they'reinto their self-organizement
and self-advancement and allthat, but most of us aren't so.

(33:02):
But you need something.
You need that North Star, thatguiding light that, like the
Southern Cross, however you wantto look at it, and it was my
sons.
My sons needed me because Ireflected on the impact that my
father and my grandfathers andtheos had on me.
So I was like.
You know, my sons need me toshow strength, to be honest, to
be vulnerable and be forthcomingwith the stuff and share that

(33:25):
journey with them and continuethat pursuit of excellence that
I tried to do my entire militarycareer.
So, you know, to college, Inever had any, never went to
college or did anything untilthen.
So, you know, I I did amaster's or a best, I did a
bachelor's and master's and thenI started trying to, uh, give
back to the community,volunteering various veteran
service organizations and then,um, in 2016, I joined the, the

(33:49):
foundation.
Um, you know that I'm I'mleading today, um, and just been
really focusing on that for uh,a little bit, a little over
nine years at this point, um,and that's just what, what I've
been doing.

Speaker 1 (34:01):
Oh, tell us, give us a little bit about what you're
doing now.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
Sure.
So, uh, I am the president andCEO of the global war on
Terrorism Memorial Foundation.
What is that?
It's a big mouthful, right,it's a 501c3.
I lead the congressionallydesignated 501c3 tasked with
building a national GWATmemorial in Washington DC.
So everyone that's been to DCis familiar with the Vietnam War

(34:26):
, world War II Memorial, worldWar I Memorial.
So in 2015, the foundation wascreated by veterans and family
members.
I'm not one of the founders.
They realize like there, well,there's nowhere.
There's like, where do we go?
We don't have the space in ournation's capital, because the
reality is, I didn't write thepolicy that sent me to war, the
mother of my children to warsent my son to war, sent you to

(34:47):
war.
I wasn't, wasn't the one thatnone of us were making those
those strategic decisions inthat city to send us.
So it's like there's, there hasto be that reminder, right?
So they recognize that weneeded a place to gather.
You know, you just see what ourfuture, or our previous
veterans, how much healing andand they get right my father's

(35:07):
Vietnam veteran.
Look at the Vietnam veterans,look at the world war ii.
People love to talk about theveteran, uh, or the honor
flights that occur.
You know last year's 80thanniversary, d-day.
Look at all that.
That's amazing.
We don't have anything in thisincredibly complex, difficult to
define, multi-generational war.
And I'm going to pause there fora minute and talk about the g1.
It wasn't two wars people likewhich war are you talking about,

(35:29):
afghanistan or Iraq?
And then I'm like well, let meask you this question Do you
consider Operation Overlord,which is the named operation of
the D-Day invasion, its ownseparate war?
They're like no, that'sridiculous.
Why would you do that?
I go, yeah, well then, why areyou considering Operation
Enduring Freedom, iraqi Freedom,new Dawn and Haram Resolve, et
cetera, et cetera, et cetera, etcetera named operations that

(35:52):
have been fought under theauspices of the GWAT by under
the AUMF right Signed in 2001,.
That has allowed our nation tofight terrorism globally.
And here's something else peopledon't realize the GWAT Service
Medal and Expeditionary Medal,right, that kind of defines this
war.
If you served in this war, youget one of those.
The standards have changed overthe years, but that's fine,
that's normal.
But the GWAT has been awardedin the Caribbean, south America,
pacific Africa and, of course,where people would think about

(36:15):
it.
So when I say that to ourcommunity, they're like I go
look, this is it.
This is what it is.
That's the global war onterrorism, yeah, and there's a
tremendous amount of ignorancesurrounding that in our
community and those that didn'tserve.
So because of all of that.
And then you throw in the factthat very few have actually

(36:37):
stepped into that, right, soit's this very small percent of
our population that people talkabout sometimes, but in the city
of DC, there's not really thatbig of a voice, and you know I
think everyone who's listeningand you understand this too you
know what it's like to not havea voice.
So I was like well, okay, I'mgoing to, I want to be involved
in this.
So they I was speaking at anevent in 2016.

(36:57):
They were there, the boardmembers, and they're like Rod,
can you help us?
And they explained it to me andI was like absolutely.
So I joined the board in in 2017, we introduced our first piece
of the legislation to get in.
Uh, they had to go through thehouse and senate pass a bill to
get an exemption from a war, alaw that says a war has to be
over a period of 10 years beforea national war memorial can be

(37:19):
built.
They wrote that law in 86.
There's no way they forecast itwould be where we are today.
We introduced that um in earlypart of 2017.
It swept through the house andsenate and in august of 2017.
It swept through the House andSenate and in August of 2017,
president Trump signed that billinto law.
That's when the small fledgling501c3, with no money, they
handed us the staff.

(37:39):
They're like all right, figureit out.
How do you build a national warmemorial?
How much do you know about theCommandments of Works Act of 86?
How much does anyone know aboutthe memorials and museums?
Unless you do that, unless youbuilt one or you're involved in
that space, you don't know howto do it.
After that happened, the boardturned to me.

(37:59):
They're like Rod, can you do it?
And by sheer dumb force,gumping my way through life, I
had met some pretty incrediblepeople and I was like um, I'll
try.
I stepped in a leadershipposition shortly after that and
built the foundation of what itis today.
But then I'll add to that the,the, the.
All memorials have been builtoutside of the national mall in
2003.
They closed the mall.

(38:19):
They said no mass right.
There's been some stuff thatwere grandfathered in only
because they had their sitegiven prior to 2003.
They were going to push thismemorial in the fabric of the
city, like the EisenhowerMemorial behind the Aerospace
Museum, perhaps one of thegreatest military mines our
nation has ever created.
His memorial is kind of off thebeaten path and very little
traffic.
World War I Memorial amazing, Isaid God.

(38:41):
It's such an amazing memorialin DC.
It's in Pershing Park perhapsappropriately, but it's off by
the White House and people justwalk by it.
I don't think people reallyunderstand what that is.
The mall is where people go on,that space by the Lincoln, that
thematic nexus, that area iswhat it is.
So I was like well, I think itbelongs there.
They're like Rod, you can'tbuild it there.
I said, well, I passed anotherbill.
If I go back to the House andSenate, we can do it.

(39:02):
And they're like, rod, youcan't.
No one's been able to do it.
It's not going to happen.
People with a lot more moneyand a lot more influence have
failed.
You're not going to besuccessful.
And then these are the peoplethat control the space and it's
not Capitol Hill, let me makethat clear Various bureaucratic
agencies.
And I'm like but I can try, andif you want to get me to do
something, tell me I can't do it.
So we just 2019.

(39:23):
And you know, a few years afterthat, president Biden signed my
bill into law grantingexemption to build a memorial on
the National Mall in WashingtonDC the only time it's happened
since 2003.
So we're adjacent to theLincoln, like right next to the
Vietnam Memorial across thatstreet, and so that's where the
location is going to be built.
So that's that's kind of what Ido on a day-to-day basis.

(39:44):
If you can imagine trying tobuild a giant war memorial to an
incredibly complex, difficultto find, multi-generational war
that very few people talk aboutor know about, on land you can't
buy, with 20 layers ofbureaucracy and politics, that's
what I do.

Speaker 1 (40:00):
But, Rod, I mean it had to be you.
And I want to go back to thevery beginning as to why it had
to be you and why it was youthat was able to make it happen.
Because all those years ago,that young boy that heard from
his father do more, do more, itwas always going to be you.
Because for anybody else, allthose reasons, any other person

(40:24):
that wasn't a green braid, itdidn't have the experience, that
didn't grow up hearing thatmessage of do more, they would
have quit.
They would have quit.
It was always meant to be you,brother.

Speaker 2 (40:36):
Well, thank you, I do appreciate that.
But I think my career as aspecial forces guy, whether I
was speaking Spanish orbutchering Portuguese or trying
to communicate to Pashto andDari, you know, and completely
embarrassing myself, in Arabic,but I say that like we were
trained to, you know, buythrough with understand the
local environment, understandthe operational environment,

(40:58):
right, you remember that.
Try and go in there with okay,this is the mission.
They think completely differentfrom me.
They grew up on another side ofthe, the world, completely
different set of values, maybesomewhat similar, but still
different.
How do we come together toaccomplish this mission together
?
Right, and you know, um, Ithink that doing that, as long

(41:18):
as I did do it, prepared me forto do that, because when you go
and speak to these people, um,in dc that control the space,
you know it, you justcommunicate to them.
I don't sell snake oil, I justpresent information and provide
opportunities.
And being able to do that andaligning everyone on a on a
mission, even people that do notlike each other do that.
Sf guys do that all the time.

(41:40):
I remember a mission in Bolivia.
We were doing a J set.
This was shortly after therewas a military coup, but then it
got squashed by the police.
So then, right after that,we're there, half our class of
military guys, half our class ofpolice guys that were trying to
kill each other Not that longago and we're trying to get them
together to understand how todo.
You know, operations goingafter the cocos out there, right

(42:02):
, yeah, just trying to do moreplanning.
It was the craziest thing, butthat happens quite often.
Experiences like that as an SFguy doing my best along the way,
not being perfect, just doingmore, I think helped set me up
for that, because I didn't takeany emotions.

(42:22):
People get pissed off at me orwhatever.
I'm like, okay, they have thatright.
I didn't get like, oh, you wantto fight, okay, let's get into
it.
No, I didn't do that.
I approached it, you know, justproviding opportunities for
them to do that, and it's Inever engage One thing that I've
done.
So right after I stepped intothe leadership position, I wrote
the four tenets that guide thefoundation Honor, honor all

(42:44):
those that serve, heal thefoundation.
Honor, honor all those thatserve, heal, whether that's
provided people to healindividually, relationships as a
nation, as a community.
Honor, heal, empower, tell thestories.
And the fourth one unite,remind everybody that we're
still one nation.
And I don't care where you growup, you still think like an
American we all take the samesimilarity.
So, understanding that andgoing there and just bringing

(43:07):
people together I talk aboutpeople.
I don't engage in policy andpolitics.
I get pulled in that directionall the time.
Man, hey, what do you thinkLike?
Look, man, I didn't write thepolicy.
I'm not an elected official.
I'm not the government, that'sfor sure.
People think I am.
We're not.
This is all privately funded.
We're not receiving anytaxpayer dollars.

(43:27):
So I'm not taking money fromhelping the VA.
I'm not taking money that inprograms that should help
veterans, suicide or employmentor any of that.
No, this is what we do.
And when I started working onthis project, something that hit
me square in the face was thefact when I would talk about it
with the community, they're likeRod, we don't need that.
Why are you doing that?
That's silly.
It was our own community, right, it was veterans and their

(43:50):
families.
And then I realized I'm likewait a minute.
Okay, I think I know why theythink this way.
So I would ask them thequestion.
I said look, why don't youthink?
Let me ask you this question Isthere someone you know that
didn't come home?
Does their family deserve it?
Is there someone you know thatcame home and is struggling and
is because of what occurred orwhat they're facing or what
they're dealing with?
Do they deserve it?
Is there someone that came homethat lost the war at home,

(44:13):
either at their own hands orsome strange, mysterious illness
they should never have receivedor got?
Do they deserve it?
Every single one of them arelike hell, yeah, shit, yeah.
They deserve it.
I say, good, stop there.
If you think about them, I'llthink about you, because now I
want to talk about the veteransand their families and those
that choose to serve.
That speaks to the nature ofthose amazing people who raise
the right hand we all say thesame words and serve a nation

(44:35):
that will never know their name,following policies they never
wrote, placing their lives onthe line and running to the
sound of that gunfire.
People like that don't everthink that what they do is
really worth a shit, like, well,I'm just an opportunity, I'm
giving back, I'm doing, I'mdoing my part, but they're not
doing it for money.
You know that.
No suffering.
Like I said, no one knows whothe hell they are.

(44:56):
So they diminish their serviceconstantly.
It's a shame you you referencedit a second ago.
You'll talk to people oh, itwas just this, I was just an
artillery man, I was just no.
Stop diminishing your service.
Recognize howize, how special,how much this nation needs you.
Make them realize that you knowthis is our nation's greatest
asset are those that stepforward to serve, fight and some
of them die for us and theirfamilies that are supporting

(45:17):
them.

Speaker 1 (45:18):
That's our greatest asset.

Speaker 2 (45:19):
So the mission, my goal for this is to make this
nation take a knee in reverenceand sanctity, to honor that, to
share that with them, because Ireally do believe, and I feel
very, very strongly about thisthat once our community, all
those that have served in thisincredibly complex, these two
generations of warfighters rightnow, and their families, see
that our nation is doing this,we will impart value onto them.

(45:40):
And you know what someone withvalue won't do Is they won't
kill themselves, they won'tengage in destructive behaviors.
You know I have value, I havesomething to give, I'm still
worth it.
That's been, you know, kind ofthe driving force behind this.
You know I'm fortunate over thepast couple of years with some
significant donors that I now Ihave people, I have a staff.
Now I have people.

Speaker 1 (45:58):
That it's not just me .

Speaker 2 (45:59):
It's not me juggling cats and chainsaws anymore.

Speaker 1 (46:01):
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Speaker 2 (46:22):
But it's, it's, that's, that's what we do.
You know, I'm really excited toshare that.
We're going to show what thedesign is going to look like
here pretty soon Nice, yeah,here towards over by the end of
this year.
And it's one thing I failed tosay is when I honor it, when I
say honor all those that serve,I mean our sacred stakeholders
are those in every came home,but it's not just the uniformed

(46:46):
service members.
The very first KIA was JohnnyMichael Spann.
Mike was working for the CIASpecial Activity Division, part
of Team Alpha.
You know, I'm sure, like withyou, I'd run on target with guys
dressed like me, looking likeme, carrying the same crap.
I mean, we're in the militarywhether one of the agencies,
three letters or some of theother supporting elements.
Why don't we talk about them?

(47:06):
It wasn't until 2019, departmentof Labor, because if you lose
your life working for Americancompany or supporting American
initiatives, that data and thattracking of that falls under the
Department of Labor.
It wasn't until 2019.
Department of Labor said heylook, we need to figure out how
many people have been lostserving theater operations or in
theater.
Let's figure that out.
Right, they didn't do this till2019, as a matter of fact, no

(47:30):
one even started tracking thedata on a ratio of uniformed
service members to non-uniformedservice members, whether they
work for the federal governmentor a government or a business or
an agency.
Well, they started early.
Second final was was desertstorm and that time, that point,
it was like a 50 or 100 uniformto one non-uniform.
Today that's one to one, one totwo.

(47:51):
It has been for the past 10 to12 years.
So that report, that Departmentof Labor, to the best of their
knowledge.
You know some stuff is stillsecret.
They don't know.
Not everybody reportseverything right.
Everybody knows we're over7,000 uniformed service members.
We've lost our lives.
I guarantee I would be shockedif anybody that's watching this
or knows that there are over3,400 non-uniformed service

(48:13):
members.
Think about those families.
Think about them for a second.
No one even acknowledges that.
There's a reason only 1% of ournation can defend the 99,
because we have men and womenwho are not in uniform
performing a wartime missionthat was once performed by one
of us.
So we streamlined and adaptedand become far more effective
and lethal by how we engage inthis war Again.

(48:33):
I'm not here to speak about thepolicy behind it or why we did
it.
I'm talking about those thatdid it as a matter of fact.
So, when it comes to design,which I referenced earlier, I
created a design advisorycouncil and we have Goldar
family members.
We have a chaplain, becausespirituality is still part of
this.
We have an army chaplain.
We have Golsar mothers, fathers, daughters, sons.

(48:54):
We have active duty servicemembers.
We also have non-uniformveterans One of the FBI guys
that was attached to my ODA.
He's part of this designadvisory council, as is Shannon
Spann, the very first family tolose a loved one at the hands of
the enemy.
Shannon, she's on my designadvisory council, as is Alex
Hernandez that was team Alpha'steam leader, and that's a guy

(49:14):
like us at one point that wentover to do all the cool stuff
that he did Working through ourdesign team are the ones that
have been engaging and workingon the design that we'll be
sharing later, because I alwayswondered how many Vietnam
veterans did Maya Lin, thedesigner of the Vietnam War, how
many Vietnam veterans did shetalk to Every other memorial,
every other effort, every othermuseum?

(49:35):
How those are designed is.
They'll do a design competitionand then a board will make a
decision based off an individualor design team's interpretation
of what this memorial museumshould look like.
As an artist myself, if Icouldn't do it, people say you
should have been a veteran.
I said, no, I'm an expert in myfamily service.

(49:55):
I know what it's like for me.
I don't know what it's like foranybody else.
If I was approached by a groupof mothers and they said, rod,
could you forge us something insteel on what it's like to give
birth, I'd have a lot ofquestions.
I've developed.
I've delivered 20 babies rightIn third world countries and
rotations here in the UnitedStates.
I love to say that, but I stillhave a lot of questions that
vessel their voice.
So that's what we've beenworking on for the past year and

(50:19):
a half, almost two years toensure that the voice remember I
said this earlier bringing thevoice to this nation.
That's what we've been workingon and that's what we've been
working on, and we'll be showingthat again by the end of this
year, being able to show whatyou have.
But in addition to that, I'lladd one more thing.
As far as the voice, I startedcollecting data qualitative,
quantitative data on what thismemorial should look like, what
people should feel in 2018.
With limited resources, it wasyou know me, like a pendejo,

(50:43):
running around the clipboardtalking with veterans and family
members and gold stars.
A couple of years ago, when wefinally started having some
funding, I was like, hey, let'stake this digital.
It was a five to seven minutesurvey.
We just took that data, put itdigitally and let's push it out,
let's see if we can get.
My goal was to get all 50 states, every demographic of
warfighters from World War II totoday and every service.

(51:06):
That was the goal.
And five to seven minutesattention from anyone digitally
is asking a lot right.
It's usually 30 to 60 secondsis the average person's
attention span.
I am incredibly proud to saythat we did succeed in getting
all 50 states, people,respondents from all 50 states.
We had every warfightergeneration from World War II to

(51:30):
today participate in that survey.
Every service participated inthat survey and we had 20,000
people fill that out.
So I added that to theaggregate data I have and that
was given to the design team sothat voice is taken forward as
well.
So this is truly the America'sMemorial, the strength of
America's Memorial, and how wetruly do respect and honor and
love those, our greatest assetthat we talked about a second

(51:52):
ago.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
Yeah, you're crushing it, brother.
I can't thank you enough forwhat you guys are doing and I
know this is going to be anattraction that so many of us
are going to be proud to takeour families to go there to
remember our brothers or sistersand every service member that
has, you know, given their lifefor our nation in a war that has

(52:15):
taken a lot more from us andsadly continues to take some of
the lives with suicide.
But having that representationat our nation's capital, at one
of the greatest sites, that's alot of work and I cannot wait to
see that in person.
Man, if people want to connectand hear more about what's going
on and stay up to date, wherecan they go?

Speaker 2 (52:36):
Yeah, so they can go to our website GWOTMF, global
Warranty of the MemorialFoundationorg and then they can
also find us on social mediasInstagram, facebook and LinkedIn
.
We're pretty easy to find and X, of course.
So just go in there.
Ask people when they go to thewebsite to sign up for our
newsletter.
I promise I'm not going to sendyou an email every week

(52:56):
regurgitating the sameinformation.
I promise I won't do that.
But we will keep you updated onthe progress and give you a
peek behind the curtain of likewhat's going on and how things
are and how things areprogressing, cause you know
we're not keeping anythingsecret.
It's just a matter of liketrying to get, and a lot of
people are like right, how comeI haven't heard about it?
I said, well, let me ask youthis Like, with limited
resources, I could do one of twothings.

(53:17):
I could have spent money ontelling everybody hey, look what
I'm doing, look what I'm doingor on the mission, and that's
all I've been doing is focusingon the mission.
The awareness piece will happenorganically.
It's already starting to occur.
A lot more people are findingout about it, but I'm further
down the road because I want tostart saving these lives sooner
than later.

Speaker 1 (53:40):
Absolutely, man.
If you guys listening right nowor watching on YouTube, do me a
favor, go ahead and pause theepisode.
Go to the episode description,click on those links, sign up
for the newsletter and do me afavor.
Head on over to social media,subscribe and follow this
amazing organization, andMichael as well, on LinkedIn.
I'm telling you he will replyback as soon as possible.
That man connected like thatfor me.
Again, brother, I can't thankyou enough for being here, for

(54:02):
being on the mission you are andfor being vulnerable enough to
share your journey so that ourbrothers and sisters can benefit
from it, because our sufferingisn't unique and if we can, just
for a brief moment, connect tothat common humanity and let
other people know that we're outthere and you can recover and
survive and thrive, we caninspire others to do the same.

(54:23):
To all y'all listening, thankyou so much for being here and
for helping us get to wherewe're at right now.
We are fucking growing a humbleand just a moment of gratitude
to everybody who's downloading,coming out and checking out the
podcast.
I didn't think that I would getto the point where I'm at right
now, but, holy shit, you guysrallied around this show and
it's continuing to grow.

(54:43):
That's huge for me and I againthank you all there listening.
Michael, thank you for beinghere, and to everybody else,
please like, share, subscribeand we'll see you all next time.
Till then, take care.
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