August 14, 2025 • 48 mins
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Dreaming of a fresh start? In this powerful episode of Security Halt!, host Deny Caballero sits down with veteran John Davis to explore how moving abroad transformed his life—mentally, physically, and financially. From the crystal-clear beaches of the Dominican Republic to affordable world-class healthcare, John reveals why living abroad can be one of the smartest decisions a veteran can make. He opens up about the mental health benefits of escaping the daily grind, finding a supportive community, and embracing a slower pace of life. You’ll hear how John built financial stability while living overseas, the resources veterans can tap into when considering the move, and how giving back to the local community deepened his sense of purpose. Whether you’re a veteran looking for your next chapter or simply curious about life as an expat, this conversation delivers actionable insights and real-world experience you won’t find anywhere else.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Security Hot Podcast is proudly sponsored by Titans
Arms.
Head on to the episodedescription and check out Titans
Arms today.
You know, not every veteranexperience has to be the same.
You know, not everybody has thelong list of deployments and
sometimes we tend to think thatadventure can only happen in
this military experience.
So today, John Davis, welcomeSecurity Hot Podcast.
(00:22):
Brother, I wanna dive into whatyou're doing right now, which
is living a great adventureoutside of the confines of the
United States.
But before we dive into thatI'm stoked.
I'm fucking excited.
Every morning your stuff comeson my feed and I think it's
important to know that there'soptions.
(00:43):
So I don't want to spoil itanymore.
Take it away.
How did you begin this life?
How did it all start?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Well, kind of like what you mentioned about
adventure, I think militarypeople are well suited to be
expats, because we'readventurous type people who
don't mind being outside of ourcomfort zone and if you think
about your experience in themilitary, like that's one of the
only places in the world whereyou really integrate into a
brand new culture.
So veterans already kind ofhave that down.
Veterans are also way morelikely to be like first and
second generation Americans.
(01:11):
So, for example, I live inDominican Republic.
You can see the flag behind mehere.
This is the only country in theentire world with the Bible on
its flag.
So for a lot of veterans thingslike community, god, family are
extremely important.
And then we got out of themilitary and you find yourself
in an individualized America.
That costs way too fucking muchand you're stressed the hell
(01:33):
out.
So we started Veterans ofParadise, which is a veteran
organization here at DominicanRepublic me and another 20 year
retired veteran and what wewanted to do was show veterans
that maybe a more peaceful lifeat half the cost is available.
So that's kind of just beentaken off now, because initially
when I started, I was just likeposting pictures of myself on a
(01:55):
yacht with like pretty girlsdrinking champagne, and the
dudes I deployed with were likeSergeant Davis, what's going on?
And I was like, well, I live inDominican Republic, my rent is
like $400 a month and life isway easy here.
That's kind of how it took off.
And then now I've written abook about the experience of
moving and living abroad as anAmerican veteran.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Dude, that is awesome .
Like I said, I found you onlineand everything I saw it just
gave me that sense of awe, ofadventure.
But then you posted one videothat really caught my eye.
You posted a video of your VAexperience in the DR and, before
we go too far, I want to talkabout that man being a veteran.
(02:38):
You're out of the military,you're going to have to go
somewhere for care andimmediately when I think about
living abroad, it's like okay,where am I going to get that
care?
Where am I in that?
It looked more like a friggingspa than a hospital.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
And that is what it is.
So a lot of veterans have noidea that the foreign medical
program of the VeteransAdministration exists.
You don't think that you canget your care outside the United
States and the veteran clinicthat I go to in the Dominican
Republic provides me a hundredmillion times better care than
the VA did for me in America andI say that with all the
(03:13):
seriousness in the world towhere, when I was struggling in
the United States, when I gotout of the military and I wanted
to talk to someone about mentalhealth, I was struggling, I had
to wait three and a half weeksto get in and talk to the VA.
Here I was struggling.
I had to wait three and a halfweeks to get in and talk to the
VA.
Here wait times don't exist forveterans.
You get to heal in a tropicalenvironment.
I get to see the chiropractortoday getting healthcare for my
back and have all these amazingoptions.
(03:35):
We even have a chow hall.
So to explain the foreignmedical program in a way that
kind of makes sense is I go intoDominican Republic.
They see what I'm serviceconnected for.
So for me, my back, tbi, knees,whatever you're service
connected, then they can billthe Veterans Administration for
that treatment here.
So I pay $0 out of pocket.
(03:56):
I walk into the clinic, I getmy back therapy, the chiro,
mental health, whatever you want.
I signed some papers.
They bill the VeteransAdministration.
The Veterans Administrationpays them based on the care that
I receive.
So it's basically just likeprivatized healthcare outside
the United States at a lowercost, with nothing out of pocket
for veterans.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Wow and bro, the pictures and the videos you post
make it seem like fuckingElysium.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yeah, and we are actually in the process of
starting retreats for veteranswhere veterans can come down
here and stay at no cost.
We're going to set up rooms forthem and they can stay at no
cost.
American veterans beachside,right next to the beach, and you
can do like 10 or 15 days free,paid for by the veterans
administration based on yourservice connections.
(04:48):
So for a lot of veterans Ithink that the retreat model of
healthcare whether it comes tolike PTSD, whether it comes to
addiction the retreat model isactually the best and the most
superior, with the mosteffectiveness.
Because if you go to likemental health therapy once a
week in the United States,you're not going to get what you
(05:09):
want out of it because you haveto disconnect from your
environment and get some spaceto really reflect and heal, and
a lot of veterans never get thatspace.
So for me, when I came to theDominican Republic and I'm
swimming in the ocean every dayand I'm hating out on the beach
and I'm living a higher qualitylife at a lower cost, I'm not
stressed about money my healthlike skyrocketed, like I started
sleeping through the night.
And there's all these extrabenefits of moving and living
(05:31):
abroad, like that food here.
I mean, you know as a guythat's traveled extensively, we
don't have toxins in the foodhere, like I'm outside all the
time getting vitamin D.
And when you throw in the factthat we have these healthcare
centers here for Americanveterans, people are like what
the fuck?
And that's why we have 20,000American veterans right now that
live in Wow 20,000.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I, I knew it was probably going to be a lot, but
I didn't.
I did not think it was thatmuch.
But let's go back.
We have veteran events.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
We have veteran community.
A lot of people don't know likeyou know as a guy that's
traveled like they have VFWs inThailand, they have VFWs in the
Philippines, they have Americanlegions in Mexico and Costa Rica
and all these kind of built inveteran networks.
So what we wanted to do withthe Veterans in Paradise thing
is not really be like theAmerican Legion or like the VFW,
(06:19):
but to create just a coolcommunity of veterans that hang
out, do fun shit.
We donate to the community, wecoach basketball teams here,
work out with kids, and it'sjust such an amazing experience
to be able to give back as well,because people here are
grateful and Americans not somuch.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Yeah, no, yeah, I'll touch on that in a minute, but I
want to go back to where youknow, before you got there
during your service service,like, let's explore that.
You're a kid.
When did you think aboutjoining the military?
What led you to that life?
Speaker 2 (06:53):
I failed out of college, so it's not just what,
what you do it happens, man,that's real life especially as
like 18, 19 year old kid.
So I always tell people that Iam probably the only person to
fail out of community college,join the military and then end
up going to Harvard on the backend.
(07:15):
Because of what the militaryinstilled in me Because I
learned, one, the maturity, two,the discipline and that's
actually how I got into veteranadvocacy was working with
student veterans.
So my first book was aboutstudent veterans how to use the
military mentality in highereducation Because I kind of
realized, okay, a lot ofeducation is pretty fucking
(07:36):
simple you sit down, you payattention, you write, you take
notes, you take the test Likeit's pretty simple.
But a lot of veterans, whenthey go to school, are older,
have more responsibilities andlikely have potential health
issues and things like that, andyou're more likely to have a
kid and be married and all thosethings.
So I started out with doingthat when I got out of the
military, after medicallyretiring as a staff sergeant.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Yeah, and, and, and.
What happened to you?
What was your military servicelike?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
I was an infantry guy .
So I joined, did twodeployments to Afghanistan and
my second deployment got blownup.
I came back, I came down onrecruiting orders so I went to
New York to be a recruiter,which every infantryman just
can't wait to get recruitingorders obviously.
So at that point, it's the kissof death man.
It's the fucking kiss of deathand there's no way to get out of
(08:27):
it.
Like there's nothing you can do.
There's nothing you once tradeact like that has you.
So I'm getting ready, I thoughtto go back on my third
deployment and uh, then ofcourse uncle sam hits me and
says you're going to new york tobe a recruiter, and I grew up
in iowa so I don't know what thefuck they're doing.
So I get up to New York, Ican't take guns up there, you
can't do anything.
(08:47):
It's like a whole differentenvironment.
And then you get thrown intorecruiting, which to me was a
very challenging transition fromthe infantry, especially
because I had no desire to be arecruiter.
It was not, it was, you know.
It's just not.
No infantry guy wants to go bea recruiter.
If they do, and it's not a goodmission.
I question if they were?
Yeah, they ever deployed.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
It's a hard fucking job.
Let's just call it what it isit's a hard fucking job.
Yeah, every recruiter that Iknow has struggled with mental
health and and dabbled in maybetoo much drinking because they
shit, they shit on you.
Let's just put it out there.
If you're a recruiter andyou're listening especially if
you're a higher command inrecruiting treat your people
(09:28):
better.
The majority of people thatI've come across that are on
recruiting duties, they all saythe same thing they treat us
like shit and every day it'sjust have you met your quota?
Have you met your quota?
Have you met your quota?
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Have you made your phone calls?
Have met you Cora?
Have you made your phone calls?
Have you done this?
And I'll tell you.
When I walked into my recruitingstation for the first time, I
was a staff sergeant.
My center leader, my sergeantfirst class had never deployed,
my first sergeant had neverdeployed and my sergeant major
had never deployed, and this waslike 2014.
And I'm like there's been warsgoing on, so I had more ribbons
walking in as a staff sergeantinfantry than my center leader,
(10:05):
than my first sergeant and mycommand star major.
So I'm sitting there like thisis not going to go well.
And then, lo and behold, it didnot go fucking well.
And they're telling me you know,you get told things like okay,
you're going to make 250 phonecalls today, so you're just
sitting there just callingpeople, getting told to fuck off
, getting hung up up on.
So that can be really damaging,especially when your success or
(10:26):
failure to some extent is kindof just geared around what the
fuck these 18-year-old kids dolike, whether they join the
military or not, and so I foundthat really challenging to
transition into.
And then you're not around amilitary base, so you're more
isolated, you're doing somethingyou don't want to do and you
(10:47):
have a whole bunch of leadershipthat you don't respect and they
also don't respect you.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Yeah, yeah, that's now.
I'm starting to form a picturethat maybe that may have had
something to do with the initialthoughts of saying you and
fleeing the United States.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
That's some of it, and it's funny because some
people are like, oh, you're aveteran living abroad, you're
supposed to stay and fight forthe country, and I'm like I
don't know what that means.
I don't know what you want meto do.
I spent years of my life inAfghanistan.
I still pay taxes, I can stillvote.
But if you're telling me youcan have this higher quality
life at a lower cost I can liveby the beach, I could be around
(11:26):
pretty Dominican girls, I canhang out with my friends Then
why would I go back to Iowa?
Why I left?
Basically as a kid, you know.
So one thing that I tellveterans it's kind of easier
sometimes to transition to adifferent country than back to
your hometown.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah, it's even you know, there's a lot of us that
are first generation Americansthat you know came here that you
establish your foothold.
I'm like, yes, I'm American,which is very much my experience
you, you earn it feels like man.
I feel like I can finally say Iearned my spot here in this
great American country.
I earned my spot here in thisgreat American country.
But then when I look at what Imake and what it takes to grind
(12:08):
in the hustle to continue theAmerican dream, like I'm proud
of everything I've done, I'mproud of this country, but the
majority of the people that Irun into are very much in the
same spot where, hey, we'reworking really fucking hard,
right, yeah, in the same spotwhere, hey, we're working really
fucking hard, right, yeah, uh,why is it getting harder, more
(12:29):
difficult, to fucking live theamerican dream?
Why is it harder, you know?
Speaker 2 (12:33):
and and we are the ones that fight for the american
dream exactly less and lessveterans are actually getting it
.
So, for example, you know, likeif you're a 20 year, even say
you do 20 years in the military,you're gonna get out.
You know, maybe a hundredpercent, maybe not.
Like, if you're a 20 year, evensay you do 20 years in the
military, you're going to getout.
You know, maybe a hundredpercent, maybe not.
But then you're going to bemaking like six or seven grand a
month.
Well, that is enough to livelike a king in the majority of
(12:53):
the world or be poor in America.
The hard economic reality is ifyou make 60,000 American
dollars a year, you are a top 1%earner in the globe Not in
America, but in the world.
If you want to be a top 1% inAmerica, you got to make
$800,000 a year, and nobody getsrich working for the government
(13:14):
unless you're fucking elected.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Yeah, dan Crenshaw piece of shit, sorry.
Yeah, that's one of the hardestthings to understand and it
causes.
We have to say this and we haveto understand it.
Financial issues is one of thehardest things to understand and
it causes.
We have to say this and we haveto understand it.
Financial issues is one of theprimary things that can lead our
veterans into that downwardspiral in mental health.
When guys are going into thattransition period, the number
one thing I hear from people islike I don't know how I'm going
(13:38):
to make enough money to survive.
Even if they have their fullretirement, with 100%, that is
still the number one thing theyworry about.
They have kids to feed, afamily to take care of.
It's easy for us to fall inlove or romanticize this idea,
but how can we make it Right nowin the DR with you?
(13:58):
Are you seeing the same?
Are you seeing mostly single?
Are you seeing full familiesmaking this Full?
Speaker 2 (14:04):
families same like.
Are you seeing mostly single?
Are you seeing full familiesmaking the full families?
We have full families here,especially a lot of veterans who
, like you mentioned already,speak spanish.
If you already speak spanish,you got it made in the shade,
you don't have to worry aboutanything.
So a lot of my friends here aredominican veterans who served
in the american military.
Maybe you're born here, maybeyou're second generation
americans, and then they gettheir military benefits and they
come back here and they live avery high quality life.
(14:26):
And, like you mentioned,financial health is mental
health.
When I got my first apartmentin the Dominican Republic, it
was a beautiful place, a blockaway from the beach, and the guy
was like $4.75 a month and Isaid okay and I gave him a year
up front in cash and then Ididn't have to worry about a
single thing for the entire year, like that's paid for and done.
(14:46):
So that's what veterans do hereand that leads to dramatic
increases in mental health ifyou're not constantly stressed
about the money, and then thatlets you work on yourself, work
on your healing, pursue hobbies.
So every year for three years Igave this check or like five
thousand dollars cash, like boom, and he's dominican, so he's
(15:07):
happy as hell to get, you know,five thousand dollars.
Give it to him and then I neverhad any problems in my
apartment.
You know like I came?
I mean because they, they loveme, they're like this guy's
awesome five thousand dollars.
When veterans kind of come here,you see these crazy personal
transformations.
Like my roommate that I livewith, I live with another army
(15:28):
veteran.
He did 20 years in the military.
He came here within the firstlike three months.
He lost like 30 pounds, hestarted sleeping through the
night all those dramatic healthbenefits that you get from not
only living abroad but also justliving a less stressful life,
because stress is one of thereal killers of veterans.
So many veterans are just likedaily.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
It's a static load, man.
It affects your heart.
It's a leading cause ofcoronary disease.
It's a fact of life that wedon't pay attention to.
I need to pay attention to it.
You need to pay Everybody thathas worn the uniform and they
get out.
We continue to live this fucking, we call it hustle culture now,
(16:11):
but it's just literally themilitary mindset of go, go, go,
go, go.
I'm guilty of it, stay up waytoo damn late, but I'm
passionate about this and I saythat to joke, but to remind you
anybody listening even if youdon't decide to go to Dominican
Republic or move to Thailand ormove somewhere for for a better
quality of life, you still gotto address your stress.
You still got to focus on this.
Now, one of the things thatI've noticed, too, is we have
(16:34):
this culture of digital nomads,and veterans are part of this.
They're they're a big part ofthe digital nomad ecosystem, and
places like Mexico are startingto lash out because as soon as
a group of americans move in youknow, fucking colin green goes
they're starting to push themout.
They're starting because therent goes up, the quality of
life, everything starts toexplode.
(16:56):
Is this something that you'veseen in dr how's like, do they
just is it a bubble?
Do you think it's going tohappen more as more people hear
this great lifestyle?
Or is it just something that,um, you know think it's going to
happen more?
Is more people here, this greatlifestyle, or is it just
something that you know?
Dr isn't going to be phased byit, like it's just going to be
continued, like they're going tomaintain the same prices.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
The Dominican Republic, like pretty much the
entire country, is about tourism.
So like 30% of every dollarhere is from tourism.
So Mexico obviously has a muchbigger economy and Dominicans
are actually like very, verykind of conservative type people
.
You know, abortion is not legalhere.
They don't really do thetransgender stuff here.
(17:34):
They're very strict on borderpatrols because they on the
border, because they borderHaiti.
Yeah, so they.
You want to talk about peoplethat care about border security.
Dominicans care about bordersecurity very much because they
have a failed state next door,but in four years of being here,
I have not had one safety issue.
I have never felt like in adangerous situation.
(17:55):
Of course you have stuff likepeople trying to overtard you,
but that's just kind of part ofeveryday life.
So I don't see that happeninghere, because the people here
are so welcoming and the countryis basically supported entirely
by tourism, to where a lot ofpeople I mean, I gave my entire
military retirement here to makean Republic Like I spend that
money here, so they are happy tohave us here.
(18:16):
And then the immigration stufffor Dominican Republic is very
easy compared to other countrieslike Mexico.
They might be a little morestrict and then there's more of
a a culture problem with mexicoin the united states with the
current border.
Yes, then they're hereabsolutely so they have you know
they, I feel like it'd be moreof a welcome, more, more of a
(18:37):
welcome, and the american facedoesn't come across as being uh,
you know, a xenophobic assholecoming into your country right
and and one thing, that onething that we do is we make sure
that we give back to thecommunity, like that's a very
important part of what we do.
So like last month we gave like$500, with the backpacks, to a
sporting team, you know.
(18:57):
Then next month we're giving,like we're supplying entire
school with school supplies.
So if you do things to giveback and a little bit of money
really goes a long way and youwalk in and you give these kids
backpacks or school supplies andthey're so happy and grateful,
so I don't see that pushbackhappening here.
But on a global scale, of course, things like gentrification are
(19:20):
a concern, like things are justbecoming more expensive.
But that's one reason why I'mhere, because I couldn't afford
to live in New York City.
You know, I don't see howpeople do and people will ask me
like you live to make public,how do you afford that?
I'm like, how the fuck do youafford America?
Like what are you talking about?
I can.
I can go out drinking all nightfor very cheap, I can get food
(19:40):
very cheap, I can go to theocean for free.
So I yeah, that's pretty muchit.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Yeah, now and I have to imagine that, being on this
side of your journey, like ifyou're looking back to where you
started how fast did you makethe change from somebody that
may have been struggling towhere you're at now, obviously
providing support, being aresource for others?
Like, when did you notice that?
Like, holy shit, like I canbreathe now, for?
Speaker 2 (20:07):
me.
It was like my thing was justto let veterans know, because a
lot of veterans don't thinkabout moving abroad.
You know, we're the UnitedStates of America, we're the
country that people come to andnot the country that people move
from.
But as the cost of living hasskyrocketed in the United States
, as political division has beenextremely difficult for
veterans, and as the UnitedStates has just become this kind
(20:27):
of hyper-stressed rat raceculture where it's harder and
harder to get ahead, then ifyou're a veteran and you did
your time in the military andyou have your benefits, then why
wouldn't you want to live thehighest quality life that you
possibly could?
And a lot of veterans don't knowthat we have healthcare centers
for veterans to make in thepublic.
A lot of veterans don't knowthat you can use your GI Bill in
(20:49):
other countries.
A lot of veterans don't knowthat these resources are
available to you, that you canget your VA disability abroad,
that you can get your socialsecurity disability abroad, that
you can get your militaryretirement abroad, that you have
this worldwide community ofveterans everywhere, from the
Philippines to here in DR, toeven the American legions in
Mexico that I've gone andvisited.
(21:10):
So for me, it was like thisinformation is lifesaving,
because I've talked to veteranswho have been to the edge and
then they've come here andthey've been like wow, I like
just it all kind of comescrashing down because they can
live this mentally healthy,stress-free life that is
becoming more and more difficultto live in America.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Yeah, absolutely, man .
Are you thinking about doingthe dual citizenship, or is that
something you've already done?
Speaker 2 (21:37):
So here in Dominican Republic there's no need for
that.
In other countries there is.
Yeah, in other countries thereis.
That's one reason why so manyveterans are here, because the
paperwork aspect is basicallynothing and veterans hate
paperwork Like when I lived inThailand, for example.
That country is a little moredifficult to stay in long-term.
You might need to leave andcome back and do a border run,
(21:58):
or you need a certain amount ofmoney or you have to be a
certain retirement age.
There are some countries thatdon't have retirement ages, such
as like Panama and Costa Rica,to where if you go in and you
say I get like $1,300 a month,then you can qualify for a
retirement visa there.
Places like the Philippinesalso easy to stay in long term.
But some countries make it moredifficult and some countries
(22:20):
make it next to impossibleunless you have a lot of money
and then you're basically setwith anything.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Yeah, you're exploring this journey with you,
man like do you miss any aspectof the united states?
You find yourself like longingfor anything, or can you
envision a world where you'regoing to go back and and uh,
settle down in atlanta or iowa?
Speaker 2 (22:41):
I.
One of the problems that I haveis people ask me you know I am
a pretty strict, like no kids,no wife, no problems type of guy
, like that is kind of where I'mat.
Obviously, like a lot ofveterans, I was married and
divorced twice before I was 25.
So when you finish, when you dothat, you do a couple of
deployments, you come back andthen you come to a place like
(23:02):
this where the dating scene isabsolutely incredible for single
veterans.
If you're single American andyou want to have a good time,
especially if you're an Americanman, go to a Latin American
country.
You will, your ego will go upyou people, people smile at you.
You know, like, for example,I'm short and the last girl that
(23:23):
I approached in New York Citywas like years ago and I went up
to her and I said, hey, youknow, if you're single, I'd love
to buy you a drink.
And she's like you're too shortto even talk to me.
And you know, there's thatdating scene in the United
States.
And then, but the week, thenext week, I'm in Columbia with
a girl who's six feet tall andthe prettiest girl in the entire
(23:44):
world.
So those kind of shifts, Ithink, are a big mindset thing
and a lot of the dating culturein America for single men is
terrible, because if you're nota six-figure guy, a lot of
veterans get out.
So then that's why if you go tothe Philippines, you see every
(24:04):
Vietnam vet with a 25-year-oldFilipino wife just living their
best life and I'm like and thankyou.
Thank you, you deserve it.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Let's talk about this nonprofit man, like, I think, a
lot of guys, initially, when westruggle we have to go through
this journey, get better inourselves, with everybody,
everybody I've talked to.
When you get on the right sideof your journey, the first thing
you want to do is startfiguring out how to help people.
How did you start this journeyinto building this nonprofit?
Speaker 2 (24:34):
A guy that I deployed with was going through a
divorce and called me and he waslike hey man, I see that you're
down in the Dominican Republic,I see you're living down there
now, and I was like he was tothe point of ready to become
become one 22.
So I invited him down here, hebooked a ticket, I sent him up
with a 30 day stay at anapartment for like 500 bucks.
(24:56):
So then he gets here and thatwas four years ago and that guy
is still in this town living hisbest life.
So when stuff like that happensand he confessed to me, like I
was really close to killingmyself, like you know.
Then I came here and I get toswim in the ocean every day.
He picked up scuba diving, youknow golf year round, all those
(25:16):
types of things.
So then I realized that therewas such a gap of information
about living abroad and no otherveterans in the world were
talking about it, like no otherveterans in the world were
putting out information on howyou could take your military
benefits and live a higherquality life in another country.
I mean, it's just not somethingthat people talked about.
So after being here for a while, I researched things and I
(25:38):
found the first, the AmericanLegion of Mexico, and I flew
from here to Mexico.
I met with the American Legioncommander, I found out the
resources about that and I wrotean article on my blog about it.
Then I traveled to Costa Rica,did the same thing.
I met with the Marine CorpsLeague.
I met with the American Legion.
I met with even privateeducation, things like that to
find where it's like you know,putting out that information for
(26:01):
veterans, because a lot ofveterans just have no idea that
you can get your VA benefits inanother country.
Seeing the response to it wasvery, was very motivational for
me.
And then, personally being apart of changing veterans lives,
(26:22):
of providing this pathway, andfor me, like, I don't care if I
don't move abroad or not, I wantto provide the information so
they can make the best decisionspossible.
That's why, like, even though Ilisten, I'm selling the book.
It's on Amazon.
I have sent this to over 2000veterans in the past month
because I'm giving it for freeas well.
So if you want to copy thisbook, which has it's a 300 page
(26:43):
book with everything you need toknow about moving and living
abroad, I will send it to you.
Absolutely free for you toexplore the concept on your own.
That's going to answer prettymuch any question you could
possibly have, from healthcareto TRICARE abroad, to safety
abroad, to mental health abroad,to connecting you with veteran
resources, even in places likeColumbia.
(27:04):
Like a lot of people don't know,there's a really big group of
American veterans in Columbia sothey have like a Facebook group
.
You know American vets inColumbia.
They have Facebook groups toconnect veterans.
So a lot of what I do is justkind of like second, like
passing on information.
There's a lot of veterans likeoh, I want to move to Costa Rica
.
Okay, well, I know someone whoworks in private education there
, who was a former Marine andyou can talk to him about it.
(27:26):
So it's kind of like thehandoff.
But what we're really going tostart doing is finding like kind
of like navigating the programto have veterans come here to
check stuff out First for likeretreats.
Like if you can come here andstay for 10 days and we can put
a bunch of veterans up in ahotel at no out of pocket cost,
then that could be such a bigwinner when it comes to veterans
who are struggling with ptsdand addiction or even msd or
(27:50):
things like that.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Yeah man, you, you lay out a beautiful vision and
I'm already thinking of how manypodcasts I could produce.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Hell, I could establish a fucking proper
studio down there you, you couldcome here, we could do it on
the beach.
Man, like I said, and a lot oftimes I think, because, like I
was like, because I wasrecruiting, I used to talk to
people about that, like, so, forme I don't, I didn't have any
downsides of moving abroad.
I found a community of veterans, guys that really like to hang
(28:19):
around, we do fun things.
One thing about veterans is thecivilian world can be so
isolating for us because we'reso used to being surrounded by
like-minded people all the time.
And here I can go scuba divingwith a couple of veterans
tomorrow morning if I want, Ican, we, can we all do like a
weekly dinner.
On Saturday, july 19th, we haveabout maybe a hundred veterans
(28:41):
getting together for a veteransocial night where you can come
in and network and help eachother and all those things.
Oh, for me I didn't have anydownsides because it was like oh
, you mean, I don't have toworry about money anymore.
Oh, I can walk to the gym, Ican walk to the beach, I can
walk to the bars.
Pretty girls like me, like, whywould I?
There's no downside for me.
(29:02):
That's not to say there's notto the veterans, and they
struggle with isolation andmoving abroad.
There's not challenges to it.
But that's why I interviewed alot of veterans for my book and
had them talk about movingabroad everything from single
females to families.
Because, kind of like what youtouched on, I thought when I
started doing this it would justbe single veteran dudes, that's
kind of what I thought.
And then I had all these singlefemale veterans reaching out
and then started getting allthese families asking me
(29:24):
questions and because I hadtaught English and Thailand and
Cambodia and worked ininternational education, I was
kind of more suited to answerthose questions.
So I included the section inthe book about families moving
abroad because I'm not sure ifyou've seen the state of
American public education, but alot of international private
education is far superior forkids and provides them the same
(29:45):
pathways into, like americancolleges as american public
education yeah, and it's free ofthe indoctrination or the
inclusion of things that a lotof us necessarily don't want our
kids learning about.
Um, yeah, it's um, you do notneed to worry about a drag queen
talking to your kid and to makeour public is.
I've promised you that's you go, that you're done.
(30:06):
That's the last thing you needto worry about.
And and then you also.
You know like we can say whatwe want about America, but
school shootings don't exist inplaces like this and that could
be a concern to parents.
The indoctrination doesn'thappen here, because you have a
much more socially homogenoussociety.
In other countries, like inJapan, it's Japanese, like
that's what it is, like theystuff is clean, people are quiet
(30:28):
.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
You have those kind of cultural aspects where united
states culture has just kind oflike lost its way yeah, it's
sad and a lot of us worry aboutthat and I think a lot of us
have had that.
You know what if?
Conversation with our spouselike, hey, what if we move
somewhere?
And a lot of us aren't thinkingof the dr.
A lot of us are always thinkingof the DR.
A lot of us are always thinkingof, like you know, places in
(30:50):
Europe and the places you know.
But the reality is like, whynot DR, why not Costa Rica, why
not Panama, why not Colombia?
And you touched on somethingthat's really important, like
the community is already builtthere.
That's the important.
We have expats there you canreach out to and talk.
But for the viewer at home, theperson that's actually
listening to this, and it's likeme that's like, hey, you know
(31:11):
what?
Like my money goes a littlefurther down there, I could be
having a lot more fun.
Where's a good place to start?
What's the first thing youwould recommend people do?
Because there's so manyquestions, there's the what ifs
like you, hey, I have a, I havea small business or I'm enrolled
in school right now.
What are some of the firstthings you would tell somebody
or advise them to do before theybook that ticket?
Speaker 2 (31:33):
The most important thing that I think where people
go wrong on is they don't do anadequate trial run Before you
move abroad.
Before you like sell everythingand try it, you know, bail off
to a third world country to livelike a king, you should come
down and stay for like 30 days,whether it's Dominican Republic,
whether it's Mexico, whetherit's Brazil, whatever.
You should come and stay for atleast 30 days to get a feel for
(31:56):
what it's like living here andnot just vacationing.
Because one reason our veteranorganization here exists is
because it is very easy to fallinto unhealthy behaviors If
you're a dude with too much timeon your hands, and I was like
that in Thailand.
Like when I first got toThailand and I discovered that
(32:16):
red light districts exist, I waslike, okay, well, this is not
good for an instrument thatlikes to drink and party and has
a bunch of money on my hands.
Like I get that governmentdisability check every month and
that is going straight to thered light district in Thailand.
So you, but eventually you kindof get burnt out from that.
But we do want to save veteransfrom making mistakes.
(32:37):
You know whether it comes fromanything, um, so a lot of that
is, forming community aroundthose things, around more
positive things, around thingslike beach workouts we do like
yoga together.
I mean there's so many amazingthings.
But uh, I would say that thatwas kind of the one of those
kind of starting things was justto form that community of get
(32:59):
people to answer.
But so I think it's trial runto answer your question is most
important thing to do.
And then on my blog I have a lotof articles that kind of get
into different things about liketips for moving abroad, the
financial planning aspect of it,because we can talk about
anything, but the most importantthing in the world is money.
You need enough money to livethe life you want to live.
So it's kind of setting that upand understanding how your
(33:21):
benefits work abroad,understanding that your income
level.
You know a lot of veterans likeyou might rent your house in
the States, you might have yourmilitary retirement and you
might do something online, soyou're going to be good.
But a lot of veterans if theyjust move abroad on their 100%
and don't have any money savedup, then you can run into
problems.
But there are countries outthere where you can live very
(33:45):
well on just your 100%.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Yeah, you know, one thing that you know we got to
touch on are the opportunitiesfor jobs.
So we have to remember, likesome of us aren't ready to give
up on working and there'ssomething to be said about
having a meaningful employment,whether it's, you know, getting
involved with a nonprofit, getinvolved with the local schools,
like, what opportunities do yousee there in DR for Americans
(34:08):
coming abroad or coming from thestates to try to find
meaningful employment?
Speaker 2 (34:12):
A lot of veterans.
If you're going to come hereand you want to continue working
, I think it's about more abouthaving a purpose than
necessarily making money.
Like I have some friends whoare veterans who have like beach
restaurants and they basicallylike break even every month.
That gives us something to do.
You know they like to go eat attheir own restaurant.
I know another veteran is ascuba diving instructor, so a
lot of like those types ofthings happen.
(34:32):
But if you come to someplacelike Dominican Republic, you
need to have money to make moneyor you need to have, like,
online income.
You're not gonna be able to goto many countries and get a high
quality, good paying job that'sworth the money to do.
It's just not gonna happen.
A high quality, good paying jobthat's worth the money to do
it's just not going to happen.
So if you're not alreadyworking online like you touched
on the digital nomad thing a lotof people work online and make
(34:54):
really good money and there'sways to maximize your income you
can do your GI Bill abroad.
A lot of veterans don't know, sohow GI Bill works in different
countries is it's a flat rate,half the United States average.
Right now it's like 2,500.
So if you want to go to aschool in the Philippines which
they have in-person schools youcan go to, you'll get $2,500 a
(35:14):
month, whether you're there,whether you're in Brazil,
whether you're anywhere else.
So a lot of veterans moveabroad to go to college, which
is a good idea.
There's some really good GIBill schools around the world.
So in my book and ininformation I explain how to
find schools abroad that takethe GI Bill.
So things like that are veryimportant.
But if you're a veteranexpecting to move abroad and get
(35:36):
a really good job, I would notcount on that.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Yeah, it seems like the best idea is to be able to
self-sustain on something youcreated being able to do your
remote job, being able to host apodcast or studio or just live
off your retirement, I mean, orjust live off your retirement,
because those American dollarsgo far.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
I always tell people like this an American dollar
bill, this is worth 6,000Dominican pesos.
So the best financial strategyyou can possibly have is make
dollars and spend pesos and thatis it.
And that is how you thriveabroad as a veteran.
If you come here and you wantto find a job or you're not
financially set, that is amistake.
You do not want to be broke inanother country and I've seen
(36:18):
that happen to veterans.
I've seen people not haveenough money to go back home.
I've seen people who don't settheir medical care up right.
Things like that happen.
I mean mean veterans areamazing at fucking their lives
up and like there's never beenanyone better at fucking their
lives up than american veterans.
You bring up a valid.
(36:38):
You bring up a valid point.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
You have to understand what you have and be
able to be responsible yeah, youknow we're some of.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
It's like a moving abroad timeline.
You want to get a timeline formoving abroad where you work
into, like your trial run andthings like that.
Um, which I get into in thebook, which I'll you know, I'll
say again, if you're a veteranand you want this book, I will
send you the digital copy forfree.
Just hit me up on social mediaor email me.
It's no problem for me toforward it to you.
Um, obviously I'd prefer if youbought it, but yeah, let's do
(37:07):
this, let's do this get theinformation out there yeah, you
pause, pause, right now.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
There's here's the link right here.
Go to amazon, spend the money,or how about this?
Use the text feature on thisepisode and five of you will get
the book for free.
I'll cover the fee, but youhave to hit the text message.
You have to send a message tome and I'll get you the book we
got to support our veterans.
This man is doing a greatservice by breaking this down on
(37:34):
the episode.
Don't make them send the bookfor free, damn it.
Go through the app, send a textmessage.
The first five people to textus we'll buy the book.
We'll get it to you.
It's important, man.
I think that we're living in avery different time right now.
There's always been a lot ofdistrust in the government and
in the last few weeks, in thelast few months, a lot of people
(37:57):
are starting to wonder if whatthey fought for, if what they
served for, was worth it in theend.
That's for everybody to make itup on their own.
I fought tooth and nail to bean American.
I live here, I've established afamily.
The only way I would move is ifmy wife was fully on board.
And you're making DR soundreally amazing, but the truth is
(38:19):
, in reality, I probably won'tbe moving anytime soon, but for
a lot of our veterans, they willbe making that move.
They will be leaving the UnitedStates, focus on their mental
health, on their well-being andhaving the life that they
dreamed up, that they deserve.
After serving 20 plus years,yeah, you kind of fucking
deserve to live your best life,and if that means sucking down
(38:41):
my ties on a beautiful DominicanRepublic beach with a bunch of
single ladies next to you, godbless you.
I wish you the best, but beforeyou do that, I want you to let
me let me hype you up, because Idon't think you give yourself
enough credit to the way thatyou're documenting your journey
(39:06):
abroad.
It's certainly caught myattention.
For all the right things,you're just showing people that
there's a different way to live,that there's a third option.
You don't have to live the samelife, and if life here in the
United States is, it's costingyour mental health, it's costing
you to worry.
You can't break even, you can'tsurvive, and you've always
dreamt of doing somethingadventurous.
(39:28):
Maybe this is an option for you.
Maybe Be willing to explore it,but from an educated point of
view, like be willing to talk toJohn.
I would imagine people reachout to you all the time through
social media, so is that thebest way to get a hold of you?
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Yeah, social media is great If you want to talk about
moving and living abroad, and Ialways tell people, if you, if
you go through and you actuallybuy my book on Amazon, I will
give you as much time as youneed to sit down and talk to you
over zoom to go over some ofyour concerns.
Uh, if you read the book andeverything, some people would
hit you up and they're just likeasking a bunch of questions
like that's why I wrote thefucking book, so you can read it
, that's why I have the articles, that's why I have all that.
(40:05):
Oh, do that first.
And, like I said, I reallydon't mind sending the book for
free.
Uh, just because I think thatit's valuable.
It's so valuable informationbecause it is a.
It's the only book of this kindin the entire world.
There's no other veterans guideto moving abroad that covers how
your military benefits work inother countries that go over
(40:25):
everything you need to know as aveteran.
There is I mean, you knowbecause you're obviously an SF
guy, but there's enough fuckingbooks on leadership that I
didn't need to write anything onthat.
There's enough guys that dothat type of thing.
So I'm not even touching that,not getting into it.
What I know is I've livedabroad for five years.
I've lived in Thailand and theDominican Republic, so I
(40:47):
understand it in a way thatsomeone who's lived abroad for a
long period of time canunderstand.
And I'm a younger, single dude.
I enjoy that life.
It is for me and if you wantthat life, it is far superior in
the Dominican Republic thanlike in Boston.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
Yeah, absolutely.
And you said you wrote this ona blog.
Where's your?
Where can we find your blog?
Speaker 2 (41:08):
JohnHDavisWritercom is my website and on that
website not only do I havearticles written by myself, but
I also have articles written byother veterans who live abroad.
So, for example, if, like, Ihave an article about being a
black veteran in the DominicanRepublic, I have an article
about being a female veteran inMexico, obviously not written by
me.
I have a guy who lives in Peruwho wrote an article about his
(41:30):
experiences living in Peru.
I have an article in Germany,because a lot of veterans love
Germany, because so many of themstation there, fall in love
with the culture.
So I have an article on livingin Germany as a veteran.
And then I have articles I'vewritten of places I've traveled
to and been to, like theDominican Republic, like Costa
Rica.
So if you're a veteran andyou're interested in writing
(41:51):
about your story living abroad,in a different country, you can
put it up on the website youknow, to get the information out
there, because a lot ofveterans might not know what
it's like to move to Brazil,might not know what it's like to
live in Argentina or Africa oranything like that.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
Yeah, absolutely, man .
It's important to get thoseperspectives out there for
people, and I don't think we'regoing to.
I think we're going to see anexodus, unfortunately, unless we
figure our shit out.
Because, like we both touchedon man, like after serving in
the military and doingeverything you could for your
country, you want to make surethat you live your best quality
(42:28):
of life, and I would argue thatfor a lot of us, a lot of our
veterans, the American dream isgetting harder and harder to
find and live.
And, um, when we continue tovote and put idiots in charge
and those idiots continue todick us down for lack of a
better word it makes it reallyeasy to fucking leave.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
I think for veterans, like it is tough to give
everything and then feel likethe real battlefield is at home,
that to live in a country thatfeels like it's a war with
itself and for me the politicaldivision was was honestly kind
of like stressful, especiallywhen you get into things like
the race aspect of it because,like for a lot of veterans,
that's like that doesn't matter,like we're all americans, we're
(43:14):
all red, white and blue.
So then you come back to acountry everybody's just
screaming at each other all thetime and you're like, okay, well
, I'm out.
And that's kind of what I said,even though I love america
intensely, patriotic america'sgreatest country in the world,
but to me it's not the greatestplace to live, at least in a lot
of cities yep, there you go,man, that's uh, that's the
absolute truth.
Speaker 1 (43:34):
It can be absolutely.
I mean, I I think there'spockets, but, um, the stupidity,
the craz, craziness, likethere's common sense, things
that we grew up, truths that allof us grew up knowing, are now
being questioned, and I thinkit's ridiculous.
There's no place for it in theclassroom, there's no place for
it among decent society.
(43:54):
It, if you talk about it,you're labeled a heretic, you're
labeled a hate monger, and Idon't want to deal with it
anymore.
I really don't.
I'd rather not give it anyspace.
And yeah, you make it seem verymagical to live in DR, right?
Speaker 2 (44:12):
now, yeah, and maybe I shouldn't lay it like it's
just.
I'm just saying for me, like,listen, I own ATV, I ride it
around town, I go to the beach,I like scuba diving.
For me it's been a very goodlife.
That's not to say it's foreveryone, and that's one of the
reasons why I wanted to writethe book to address the pros and
the cons.
But, like you mentioned earlier,before we started going like
from, it sounds like your bestmilitary experience was in other
(44:34):
countries.
You know, I mean, that's someof, and as veterans I think we
look back at that time as kindof nostalgic.
And then when we get back toAmerica, the country that we did
everything for, you can'tafford rent.
So you're like, okay, well, whywouldn't?
Why wouldn't I go live in aplace like Peru where I can live
in nature, where I can have ahigher quality life?
So for me it's just been kindof fun to get the information
(44:57):
out there and I'm going tocontinue doing social media
videos.
I'm going with a group ofveterans to columbia in two
weeks because they're opening upnew veteran clinics in columbia
where veterans can get healthcare through the foreign medical
program.
Uh, so if you're a veteraninterested in there.
I'm going to be writing anotherarticle and showing videos of
the veteran center and medellinthat they just opened up this
(45:19):
month.
Speaker 1 (45:20):
Bro, tag me or send me those reels.
Let's collab so we can sharethis and get it out there, man,
because I know a lot of GreenBerets too that decided to move
to places outside of the United.
Speaker 2 (45:30):
States and you speak other languages.
Speaker 1 (45:32):
Yeah, you're already an expert in the culture.
You already at least have a 1-1rating or can stubble your way,
or at least marry somebody thatcan talk for you.
Speaker 2 (45:42):
Sometimes that rating or can stumble your way or at
least marry somebody that cantalk for you.
Sometimes that's the key, butthat's why sometimes that's a
good idea too.
But hey, I don't know why youdon't just hop on a plane.
Speaker 1 (45:47):
We'll do a podcast here bro, with the intense bro,
last night I went to bed at 2 30and then had to get up to do
all of my other stuff, mypre-production stuff, get my kid
and yeah, the the amount and mywife's still in.
So I mean maybe, maybe in thefuture we can retire somewhere.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
But uh, dude, I am dual military couple retires.
I mean you are rich as hellanywhere in the world.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
You know that's, that's not a we're actually
gonna have a talk about that atdinner tonight.
We're gonna.
Speaker 2 (46:16):
We're gonna talk about this because if you're
gonna buy the, you can give hera copy.
Speaker 1 (46:23):
I mean it the first five people.
If you go on Spotify, use thetext feature, send me a message.
In fact, tomorrow morning I'mrecording an episode that's just
nothing but the text messages,the questions that we get.
So, yeah, I take thosequestions to heart.
I take all your feedback.
I'm even going to highlight thecrazy shit that some of you
(46:48):
motherfuckers send, completelyjust out of left field some of
the shit you guys are sending me, but please continue.
It's entertaining to read inthe morning when I wake up to do
my workout.
John, I can't thank you enoughfor being here.
Man, again, if you're a veteranand you want to live abroad at
John's book, or just text and mename your address the first
five to do that, when thisepisode airs, I will purchase
the book and I will send it toyou.
(47:09):
Because we got to support John,we got to support our veteran
authors, because it's not aboutjust telling the stories.
It's about the people who areon the other side the advocacy
space that want to shareinsightful truths that will help
our veteran community.
I'm sure there's people outthere that wrote five or six,
maybe 10 different books aboutveterans living abroad, and they
(47:30):
may not be veterans themselves.
But I want you to hear thetruth from John, because he's
one of us, he's just like youand if he's doing it and he's
thriving, that lets you knowthat you can do the same, john.
Thank you so much for beinghere, brother.
Thank you for being in thefight, and I cannot wait to have
you back on the show and tohear your stories about Columbia
(47:50):
.
If you see ahalf-Columbian-Panamanian kid
about you not my kid I swearit's not my kid.
Thank you all for tuning in.
I'm Denny Caballero.
Oh, one more thing.
Please do me a favor.
Head on over to the episodedescription, click all those
links, give us a like, give us ashare, give us subscribe and
leave us a comment.
Leave us a little.
(48:11):
You know, hey love the show.
Thank you for what you're doing.
You care.
We'll see you all next time.
Until then, be good.
Securepodcast is proudlysponsored by Titan's Arms.
Head over to the episodedescription and check out
Titan's Arms today.
Security Hot Podcast is proudly sponsored by Titans
Arms.
Head on to the episodedescription and check out Titans
Arms today.
You know, not every veteranexperience has to be the same.
You know, not everybody has thelong list of deployments and
sometimes we tend to think thatadventure can only happen in
this military experience.
So today, John Davis, welcomeSecurity Hot Podcast.
(00:22):
Brother, I wanna dive into whatyou're doing right now, which
is living a great adventureoutside of the confines of the
United States.
But before we dive into thatI'm stoked.
I'm fucking excited.
Every morning your stuff comeson my feed and I think it's
important to know that there'soptions.
(00:43):
So I don't want to spoil itanymore.
Take it away.
How did you begin this life?
How did it all start?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Well, kind of like what you mentioned about
adventure, I think militarypeople are well suited to be
expats, because we'readventurous type people who
don't mind being outside of ourcomfort zone and if you think
about your experience in themilitary, like that's one of the
only places in the world whereyou really integrate into a
brand new culture.
So veterans already kind ofhave that down.
Veterans are also way morelikely to be like first and
second generation Americans.
(01:11):
So, for example, I live inDominican Republic.
You can see the flag behind mehere.
This is the only country in theentire world with the Bible on
its flag.
So for a lot of veterans thingslike community, god, family are
extremely important.
And then we got out of themilitary and you find yourself
in an individualized America.
That costs way too fucking muchand you're stressed the hell
(01:33):
out.
So we started Veterans ofParadise, which is a veteran
organization here at DominicanRepublic me and another 20 year
retired veteran and what wewanted to do was show veterans
that maybe a more peaceful lifeat half the cost is available.
So that's kind of just beentaken off now, because initially
when I started, I was just likeposting pictures of myself on a
(01:55):
yacht with like pretty girlsdrinking champagne, and the
dudes I deployed with were likeSergeant Davis, what's going on?
And I was like, well, I live inDominican Republic, my rent is
like $400 a month and life isway easy here.
That's kind of how it took off.
And then now I've written abook about the experience of
moving and living abroad as anAmerican veteran.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Dude, that is awesome .
Like I said, I found you onlineand everything I saw it just
gave me that sense of awe, ofadventure.
But then you posted one videothat really caught my eye.
You posted a video of your VAexperience in the DR and, before
we go too far, I want to talkabout that man being a veteran.
(02:38):
You're out of the military,you're going to have to go
somewhere for care andimmediately when I think about
living abroad, it's like okay,where am I going to get that
care?
Where am I in that?
It looked more like a friggingspa than a hospital.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
And that is what it is.
So a lot of veterans have noidea that the foreign medical
program of the VeteransAdministration exists.
You don't think that you canget your care outside the United
States and the veteran clinicthat I go to in the Dominican
Republic provides me a hundredmillion times better care than
the VA did for me in America andI say that with all the
(03:13):
seriousness in the world towhere, when I was struggling in
the United States, when I gotout of the military and I wanted
to talk to someone about mentalhealth, I was struggling, I had
to wait three and a half weeksto get in and talk to the VA.
Here I was struggling.
I had to wait three and a halfweeks to get in and talk to the
VA.
Here wait times don't exist forveterans.
You get to heal in a tropicalenvironment.
I get to see the chiropractortoday getting healthcare for my
back and have all these amazingoptions.
(03:35):
We even have a chow hall.
So to explain the foreignmedical program in a way that
kind of makes sense is I go intoDominican Republic.
They see what I'm serviceconnected for.
So for me, my back, tbi, knees,whatever you're service
connected, then they can billthe Veterans Administration for
that treatment here.
So I pay $0 out of pocket.
(03:56):
I walk into the clinic, I getmy back therapy, the chiro,
mental health, whatever you want.
I signed some papers.
They bill the VeteransAdministration.
The Veterans Administrationpays them based on the care that
I receive.
So it's basically just likeprivatized healthcare outside
the United States at a lowercost, with nothing out of pocket
for veterans.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Wow and bro, the pictures and the videos you post
make it seem like fuckingElysium.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yeah, and we are actually in the process of
starting retreats for veteranswhere veterans can come down
here and stay at no cost.
We're going to set up rooms forthem and they can stay at no
cost.
American veterans beachside,right next to the beach, and you
can do like 10 or 15 days free,paid for by the veterans
administration based on yourservice connections.
(04:48):
So for a lot of veterans Ithink that the retreat model of
healthcare whether it comes tolike PTSD, whether it comes to
addiction the retreat model isactually the best and the most
superior, with the mosteffectiveness.
Because if you go to likemental health therapy once a
week in the United States,you're not going to get what you
(05:09):
want out of it because you haveto disconnect from your
environment and get some spaceto really reflect and heal, and
a lot of veterans never get thatspace.
So for me, when I came to theDominican Republic and I'm
swimming in the ocean every dayand I'm hating out on the beach
and I'm living a higher qualitylife at a lower cost, I'm not
stressed about money my healthlike skyrocketed, like I started
sleeping through the night.
And there's all these extrabenefits of moving and living
(05:31):
abroad, like that food here.
I mean, you know as a guythat's traveled extensively, we
don't have toxins in the foodhere, like I'm outside all the
time getting vitamin D.
And when you throw in the factthat we have these healthcare
centers here for Americanveterans, people are like what
the fuck?
And that's why we have 20,000American veterans right now that
live in Wow 20,000.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I, I knew it was probably going to be a lot, but
I didn't.
I did not think it was thatmuch.
But let's go back.
We have veteran events.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
We have veteran community.
A lot of people don't know likeyou know as a guy that's
traveled like they have VFWs inThailand, they have VFWs in the
Philippines, they have Americanlegions in Mexico and Costa Rica
and all these kind of built inveteran networks.
So what we wanted to do withthe Veterans in Paradise thing
is not really be like theAmerican Legion or like the VFW,
(06:19):
but to create just a coolcommunity of veterans that hang
out, do fun shit.
We donate to the community, wecoach basketball teams here,
work out with kids, and it'sjust such an amazing experience
to be able to give back as well,because people here are
grateful and Americans not somuch.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Yeah, no, yeah, I'll touch on that in a minute, but I
want to go back to where youknow, before you got there
during your service service,like, let's explore that.
You're a kid.
When did you think aboutjoining the military?
What led you to that life?
Speaker 2 (06:53):
I failed out of college, so it's not just what,
what you do it happens, man,that's real life especially as
like 18, 19 year old kid.
So I always tell people that Iam probably the only person to
fail out of community college,join the military and then end
up going to Harvard on the backend.
(07:15):
Because of what the militaryinstilled in me Because I
learned, one, the maturity, two,the discipline and that's
actually how I got into veteranadvocacy was working with
student veterans.
So my first book was aboutstudent veterans how to use the
military mentality in highereducation Because I kind of
realized, okay, a lot ofeducation is pretty fucking
(07:36):
simple you sit down, you payattention, you write, you take
notes, you take the test Likeit's pretty simple.
But a lot of veterans, whenthey go to school, are older,
have more responsibilities andlikely have potential health
issues and things like that, andyou're more likely to have a
kid and be married and all thosethings.
So I started out with doingthat when I got out of the
military, after medicallyretiring as a staff sergeant.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Yeah, and, and, and.
What happened to you?
What was your military servicelike?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
I was an infantry guy .
So I joined, did twodeployments to Afghanistan and
my second deployment got blownup.
I came back, I came down onrecruiting orders so I went to
New York to be a recruiter,which every infantryman just
can't wait to get recruitingorders obviously.
So at that point, it's the kissof death man.
It's the fucking kiss of deathand there's no way to get out of
(08:27):
it.
Like there's nothing you can do.
There's nothing you once tradeact like that has you.
So I'm getting ready, I thoughtto go back on my third
deployment and uh, then ofcourse uncle sam hits me and
says you're going to new york tobe a recruiter, and I grew up
in iowa so I don't know what thefuck they're doing.
So I get up to New York, Ican't take guns up there, you
can't do anything.
(08:47):
It's like a whole differentenvironment.
And then you get thrown intorecruiting, which to me was a
very challenging transition fromthe infantry, especially
because I had no desire to be arecruiter.
It was not, it was, you know.
It's just not.
No infantry guy wants to go bea recruiter.
If they do, and it's not a goodmission.
I question if they were?
Yeah, they ever deployed.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
It's a hard fucking job.
Let's just call it what it isit's a hard fucking job.
Yeah, every recruiter that Iknow has struggled with mental
health and and dabbled in maybetoo much drinking because they
shit, they shit on you.
Let's just put it out there.
If you're a recruiter andyou're listening especially if
you're a higher command inrecruiting treat your people
(09:28):
better.
The majority of people thatI've come across that are on
recruiting duties, they all saythe same thing they treat us
like shit and every day it'sjust have you met your quota?
Have you met your quota?
Have you met your quota?
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Have you made your phone calls?
Have met you Cora?
Have you made your phone calls?
Have you done this?
And I'll tell you.
When I walked into my recruitingstation for the first time, I
was a staff sergeant.
My center leader, my sergeantfirst class had never deployed,
my first sergeant had neverdeployed and my sergeant major
had never deployed, and this waslike 2014.
And I'm like there's been warsgoing on, so I had more ribbons
walking in as a staff sergeantinfantry than my center leader,
(10:05):
than my first sergeant and mycommand star major.
So I'm sitting there like thisis not going to go well.
And then, lo and behold, it didnot go fucking well.
And they're telling me you know,you get told things like okay,
you're going to make 250 phonecalls today, so you're just
sitting there just callingpeople, getting told to fuck off
, getting hung up up on.
So that can be really damaging,especially when your success or
(10:26):
failure to some extent is kindof just geared around what the
fuck these 18-year-old kids dolike, whether they join the
military or not, and so I foundthat really challenging to
transition into.
And then you're not around amilitary base, so you're more
isolated, you're doing somethingyou don't want to do and you
(10:47):
have a whole bunch of leadershipthat you don't respect and they
also don't respect you.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Yeah, yeah, that's now.
I'm starting to form a picturethat maybe that may have had
something to do with the initialthoughts of saying you and
fleeing the United States.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
That's some of it, and it's funny because some
people are like, oh, you're aveteran living abroad, you're
supposed to stay and fight forthe country, and I'm like I
don't know what that means.
I don't know what you want meto do.
I spent years of my life inAfghanistan.
I still pay taxes, I can stillvote.
But if you're telling me youcan have this higher quality
life at a lower cost I can liveby the beach, I could be around
(11:26):
pretty Dominican girls, I canhang out with my friends Then
why would I go back to Iowa?
Why I left?
Basically as a kid, you know.
So one thing that I tellveterans it's kind of easier
sometimes to transition to adifferent country than back to
your hometown.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah, it's even you know, there's a lot of us that
are first generation Americansthat you know came here that you
establish your foothold.
I'm like, yes, I'm American,which is very much my experience
you, you earn it feels like man.
I feel like I can finally say Iearned my spot here in this
great American country.
I earned my spot here in thisgreat American country.
But then when I look at what Imake and what it takes to grind
(12:08):
in the hustle to continue theAmerican dream, like I'm proud
of everything I've done, I'mproud of this country, but the
majority of the people that Irun into are very much in the
same spot where, hey, we'reworking really fucking hard,
right, yeah, in the same spotwhere, hey, we're working really
fucking hard, right, yeah, uh,why is it getting harder, more
(12:29):
difficult, to fucking live theamerican dream?
Why is it harder, you know?
Speaker 2 (12:33):
and and we are the ones that fight for the american
dream exactly less and lessveterans are actually getting it
.
So, for example, you know, likeif you're a 20 year, even say
you do 20 years in the military,you're gonna get out.
You know, maybe a hundredpercent, maybe not.
Like, if you're a 20 year, evensay you do 20 years in the
military, you're going to getout.
You know, maybe a hundredpercent, maybe not.
But then you're going to bemaking like six or seven grand a
month.
Well, that is enough to livelike a king in the majority of
(12:53):
the world or be poor in America.
The hard economic reality is ifyou make 60,000 American
dollars a year, you are a top 1%earner in the globe Not in
America, but in the world.
If you want to be a top 1% inAmerica, you got to make
$800,000 a year, and nobody getsrich working for the government
(13:14):
unless you're fucking elected.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Yeah, dan Crenshaw piece of shit, sorry.
Yeah, that's one of the hardestthings to understand and it
causes.
We have to say this and we haveto understand it.
Financial issues is one of thehardest things to understand and
it causes.
We have to say this and we haveto understand it.
Financial issues is one of theprimary things that can lead our
veterans into that downwardspiral in mental health.
When guys are going into thattransition period, the number
one thing I hear from people islike I don't know how I'm going
(13:38):
to make enough money to survive.
Even if they have their fullretirement, with 100%, that is
still the number one thing theyworry about.
They have kids to feed, afamily to take care of.
It's easy for us to fall inlove or romanticize this idea,
but how can we make it Right nowin the DR with you?
(13:58):
Are you seeing the same?
Are you seeing mostly single?
Are you seeing full familiesmaking this Full?
Speaker 2 (14:04):
families same like.
Are you seeing mostly single?
Are you seeing full familiesmaking the full families?
We have full families here,especially a lot of veterans who
, like you mentioned already,speak spanish.
If you already speak spanish,you got it made in the shade,
you don't have to worry aboutanything.
So a lot of my friends here aredominican veterans who served
in the american military.
Maybe you're born here, maybeyou're second generation
americans, and then they gettheir military benefits and they
come back here and they live avery high quality life.
(14:26):
And, like you mentioned,financial health is mental
health.
When I got my first apartmentin the Dominican Republic, it
was a beautiful place, a blockaway from the beach, and the guy
was like $4.75 a month and Isaid okay and I gave him a year
up front in cash and then Ididn't have to worry about a
single thing for the entire year, like that's paid for and done.
(14:46):
So that's what veterans do hereand that leads to dramatic
increases in mental health ifyou're not constantly stressed
about the money, and then thatlets you work on yourself, work
on your healing, pursue hobbies.
So every year for three years Igave this check or like five
thousand dollars cash, like boom, and he's dominican, so he's
(15:07):
happy as hell to get, you know,five thousand dollars.
Give it to him and then I neverhad any problems in my
apartment.
You know like I came?
I mean because they, they loveme, they're like this guy's
awesome five thousand dollars.
When veterans kind of come here,you see these crazy personal
transformations.
Like my roommate that I livewith, I live with another army
(15:28):
veteran.
He did 20 years in the military.
He came here within the firstlike three months.
He lost like 30 pounds, hestarted sleeping through the
night all those dramatic healthbenefits that you get from not
only living abroad but also justliving a less stressful life,
because stress is one of thereal killers of veterans.
So many veterans are just likedaily.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
It's a static load, man.
It affects your heart.
It's a leading cause ofcoronary disease.
It's a fact of life that wedon't pay attention to.
I need to pay attention to it.
You need to pay Everybody thathas worn the uniform and they
get out.
We continue to live this fucking, we call it hustle culture now,
(16:11):
but it's just literally themilitary mindset of go, go, go,
go, go.
I'm guilty of it, stay up waytoo damn late, but I'm
passionate about this and I saythat to joke, but to remind you
anybody listening even if youdon't decide to go to Dominican
Republic or move to Thailand ormove somewhere for for a better
quality of life, you still gotto address your stress.
You still got to focus on this.
Now, one of the things thatI've noticed, too, is we have
(16:34):
this culture of digital nomads,and veterans are part of this.
They're they're a big part ofthe digital nomad ecosystem, and
places like Mexico are startingto lash out because as soon as
a group of americans move in youknow, fucking colin green goes
they're starting to push themout.
They're starting because therent goes up, the quality of
life, everything starts toexplode.
(16:56):
Is this something that you'veseen in dr how's like, do they
just is it a bubble?
Do you think it's going tohappen more as more people hear
this great lifestyle?
Or is it just something that,um, you know think it's going to
happen more?
Is more people here, this greatlifestyle, or is it just
something that you know?
Dr isn't going to be phased byit, like it's just going to be
continued, like they're going tomaintain the same prices.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
The Dominican Republic, like pretty much the
entire country, is about tourism.
So like 30% of every dollarhere is from tourism.
So Mexico obviously has a muchbigger economy and Dominicans
are actually like very, verykind of conservative type people
.
You know, abortion is not legalhere.
They don't really do thetransgender stuff here.
(17:34):
They're very strict on borderpatrols because they on the
border, because they borderHaiti.
Yeah, so they.
You want to talk about peoplethat care about border security.
Dominicans care about bordersecurity very much because they
have a failed state next door,but in four years of being here,
I have not had one safety issue.
I have never felt like in adangerous situation.
(17:55):
Of course you have stuff likepeople trying to overtard you,
but that's just kind of part ofeveryday life.
So I don't see that happeninghere, because the people here
are so welcoming and the countryis basically supported entirely
by tourism, to where a lot ofpeople I mean, I gave my entire
military retirement here to makean Republic Like I spend that
money here, so they are happy tohave us here.
(18:16):
And then the immigration stufffor Dominican Republic is very
easy compared to other countrieslike Mexico.
They might be a little morestrict and then there's more of
a a culture problem with mexicoin the united states with the
current border.
Yes, then they're hereabsolutely so they have you know
they, I feel like it'd be moreof a welcome, more, more of a
(18:37):
welcome, and the american facedoesn't come across as being uh,
you know, a xenophobic assholecoming into your country right
and and one thing, that onething that we do is we make sure
that we give back to thecommunity, like that's a very
important part of what we do.
So like last month we gave like$500, with the backpacks, to a
sporting team, you know.
(18:57):
Then next month we're giving,like we're supplying entire
school with school supplies.
So if you do things to giveback and a little bit of money
really goes a long way and youwalk in and you give these kids
backpacks or school supplies andthey're so happy and grateful,
so I don't see that pushbackhappening here.
But on a global scale, of course, things like gentrification are
(19:20):
a concern, like things are justbecoming more expensive.
But that's one reason why I'mhere, because I couldn't afford
to live in New York City.
You know, I don't see howpeople do and people will ask me
like you live to make public,how do you afford that?
I'm like, how the fuck do youafford America?
Like what are you talking about?
I can.
I can go out drinking all nightfor very cheap, I can get food
(19:40):
very cheap, I can go to theocean for free.
So I yeah, that's pretty muchit.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Yeah, now and I have to imagine that, being on this
side of your journey, like ifyou're looking back to where you
started how fast did you makethe change from somebody that
may have been struggling towhere you're at now, obviously
providing support, being aresource for others?
Like, when did you notice that?
Like, holy shit, like I canbreathe now, for?
Speaker 2 (20:07):
me.
It was like my thing was justto let veterans know, because a
lot of veterans don't thinkabout moving abroad.
You know, we're the UnitedStates of America, we're the
country that people come to andnot the country that people move
from.
But as the cost of living hasskyrocketed in the United States
, as political division has beenextremely difficult for
veterans, and as the UnitedStates has just become this kind
(20:27):
of hyper-stressed rat raceculture where it's harder and
harder to get ahead, then ifyou're a veteran and you did
your time in the military andyou have your benefits, then why
wouldn't you want to live thehighest quality life that you
possibly could?
And a lot of veterans don't knowthat we have healthcare centers
for veterans to make in thepublic.
A lot of veterans don't knowthat you can use your GI Bill in
(20:49):
other countries.
A lot of veterans don't knowthat these resources are
available to you, that you canget your VA disability abroad,
that you can get your socialsecurity disability abroad, that
you can get your militaryretirement abroad, that you have
this worldwide community ofveterans everywhere, from the
Philippines to here in DR, toeven the American legions in
Mexico that I've gone andvisited.
(21:10):
So for me, it was like thisinformation is lifesaving,
because I've talked to veteranswho have been to the edge and
then they've come here andthey've been like wow, I like
just it all kind of comescrashing down because they can
live this mentally healthy,stress-free life that is
becoming more and more difficultto live in America.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Yeah, absolutely, man .
Are you thinking about doingthe dual citizenship, or is that
something you've already done?
Speaker 2 (21:37):
So here in Dominican Republic there's no need for
that.
In other countries there is.
Yeah, in other countries thereis.
That's one reason why so manyveterans are here, because the
paperwork aspect is basicallynothing and veterans hate
paperwork Like when I lived inThailand, for example.
That country is a little moredifficult to stay in long-term.
You might need to leave andcome back and do a border run,
(21:58):
or you need a certain amount ofmoney or you have to be a
certain retirement age.
There are some countries thatdon't have retirement ages, such
as like Panama and Costa Rica,to where if you go in and you
say I get like $1,300 a month,then you can qualify for a
retirement visa there.
Places like the Philippinesalso easy to stay in long term.
But some countries make it moredifficult and some countries
(22:20):
make it next to impossibleunless you have a lot of money
and then you're basically setwith anything.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Yeah, you're exploring this journey with you,
man like do you miss any aspectof the united states?
You find yourself like longingfor anything, or can you
envision a world where you'regoing to go back and and uh,
settle down in atlanta or iowa?
Speaker 2 (22:41):
I.
One of the problems that I haveis people ask me you know I am
a pretty strict, like no kids,no wife, no problems type of guy
, like that is kind of where I'mat.
Obviously, like a lot ofveterans, I was married and
divorced twice before I was 25.
So when you finish, when you dothat, you do a couple of
deployments, you come back andthen you come to a place like
(23:02):
this where the dating scene isabsolutely incredible for single
veterans.
If you're single American andyou want to have a good time,
especially if you're an Americanman, go to a Latin American
country.
You will, your ego will go upyou people, people smile at you.
You know, like, for example,I'm short and the last girl that
(23:23):
I approached in New York Citywas like years ago and I went up
to her and I said, hey, youknow, if you're single, I'd love
to buy you a drink.
And she's like you're too shortto even talk to me.
And you know, there's thatdating scene in the United
States.
And then, but the week, thenext week, I'm in Columbia with
a girl who's six feet tall andthe prettiest girl in the entire
(23:44):
world.
So those kind of shifts, Ithink, are a big mindset thing
and a lot of the dating culturein America for single men is
terrible, because if you're nota six-figure guy, a lot of
veterans get out.
So then that's why if you go tothe Philippines, you see every
(24:04):
Vietnam vet with a 25-year-oldFilipino wife just living their
best life and I'm like and thankyou.
Thank you, you deserve it.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Let's talk about this nonprofit man, like, I think, a
lot of guys, initially, when westruggle we have to go through
this journey, get better inourselves, with everybody,
everybody I've talked to.
When you get on the right sideof your journey, the first thing
you want to do is startfiguring out how to help people.
How did you start this journeyinto building this nonprofit?
Speaker 2 (24:34):
A guy that I deployed with was going through a
divorce and called me and he waslike hey man, I see that you're
down in the Dominican Republic,I see you're living down there
now, and I was like he was tothe point of ready to become
become one 22.
So I invited him down here, hebooked a ticket, I sent him up
with a 30 day stay at anapartment for like 500 bucks.
(24:56):
So then he gets here and thatwas four years ago and that guy
is still in this town living hisbest life.
So when stuff like that happensand he confessed to me, like I
was really close to killingmyself, like you know.
Then I came here and I get toswim in the ocean every day.
He picked up scuba diving, youknow golf year round, all those
(25:16):
types of things.
So then I realized that therewas such a gap of information
about living abroad and no otherveterans in the world were
talking about it, like no otherveterans in the world were
putting out information on howyou could take your military
benefits and live a higherquality life in another country.
I mean, it's just not somethingthat people talked about.
So after being here for a while, I researched things and I
(25:38):
found the first, the AmericanLegion of Mexico, and I flew
from here to Mexico.
I met with the American Legioncommander, I found out the
resources about that and I wrotean article on my blog about it.
Then I traveled to Costa Rica,did the same thing.
I met with the Marine CorpsLeague.
I met with the American Legion.
I met with even privateeducation, things like that to
find where it's like you know,putting out that information for
(26:01):
veterans, because a lot ofveterans just have no idea that
you can get your VA benefits inanother country.
Seeing the response to it wasvery, was very motivational for
me.
And then, personally being apart of changing veterans lives,
(26:22):
of providing this pathway, andfor me, like, I don't care if I
don't move abroad or not, I wantto provide the information so
they can make the best decisionspossible.
That's why, like, even though Ilisten, I'm selling the book.
It's on Amazon.
I have sent this to over 2000veterans in the past month
because I'm giving it for freeas well.
So if you want to copy thisbook, which has it's a 300 page
(26:43):
book with everything you need toknow about moving and living
abroad, I will send it to you.
Absolutely free for you toexplore the concept on your own.
That's going to answer prettymuch any question you could
possibly have, from healthcareto TRICARE abroad, to safety
abroad, to mental health abroad,to connecting you with veteran
resources, even in places likeColumbia.
(27:04):
Like a lot of people don't know,there's a really big group of
American veterans in Columbia sothey have like a Facebook group
.
You know American vets inColumbia.
They have Facebook groups toconnect veterans.
So a lot of what I do is justkind of like second, like
passing on information.
There's a lot of veterans likeoh, I want to move to Costa Rica
.
Okay, well, I know someone whoworks in private education there
, who was a former Marine andyou can talk to him about it.
(27:26):
So it's kind of like thehandoff.
But what we're really going tostart doing is finding like kind
of like navigating the programto have veterans come here to
check stuff out First for likeretreats.
Like if you can come here andstay for 10 days and we can put
a bunch of veterans up in ahotel at no out of pocket cost,
then that could be such a bigwinner when it comes to veterans
who are struggling with ptsdand addiction or even msd or
(27:50):
things like that.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Yeah man, you, you lay out a beautiful vision and
I'm already thinking of how manypodcasts I could produce.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Hell, I could establish a fucking proper
studio down there you, you couldcome here, we could do it on
the beach.
Man, like I said, and a lot oftimes I think, because, like I
was like, because I wasrecruiting, I used to talk to
people about that, like, so, forme I don't, I didn't have any
downsides of moving abroad.
I found a community of veterans, guys that really like to hang
(28:19):
around, we do fun things.
One thing about veterans is thecivilian world can be so
isolating for us because we'reso used to being surrounded by
like-minded people all the time.
And here I can go scuba divingwith a couple of veterans
tomorrow morning if I want, Ican, we, can we all do like a
weekly dinner.
On Saturday, july 19th, we haveabout maybe a hundred veterans
(28:41):
getting together for a veteransocial night where you can come
in and network and help eachother and all those things.
Oh, for me I didn't have anydownsides because it was like oh
, you mean, I don't have toworry about money anymore.
Oh, I can walk to the gym, Ican walk to the beach, I can
walk to the bars.
Pretty girls like me, like, whywould I?
There's no downside for me.
(29:02):
That's not to say there's notto the veterans, and they
struggle with isolation andmoving abroad.
There's not challenges to it.
But that's why I interviewed alot of veterans for my book and
had them talk about movingabroad everything from single
females to families.
Because, kind of like what youtouched on, I thought when I
started doing this it would justbe single veteran dudes, that's
kind of what I thought.
And then I had all these singlefemale veterans reaching out
and then started getting allthese families asking me
(29:24):
questions and because I hadtaught English and Thailand and
Cambodia and worked ininternational education, I was
kind of more suited to answerthose questions.
So I included the section inthe book about families moving
abroad because I'm not sure ifyou've seen the state of
American public education, but alot of international private
education is far superior forkids and provides them the same
(29:45):
pathways into, like americancolleges as american public
education yeah, and it's free ofthe indoctrination or the
inclusion of things that a lotof us necessarily don't want our
kids learning about.
Um, yeah, it's um, you do notneed to worry about a drag queen
talking to your kid and to makeour public is.
I've promised you that's you go, that you're done.
(30:06):
That's the last thing you needto worry about.
And and then you also.
You know like we can say whatwe want about America, but
school shootings don't exist inplaces like this and that could
be a concern to parents.
The indoctrination doesn'thappen here, because you have a
much more socially homogenoussociety.
In other countries, like inJapan, it's Japanese, like
that's what it is, like theystuff is clean, people are quiet
(30:28):
.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
You have those kind of cultural aspects where united
states culture has just kind oflike lost its way yeah, it's
sad and a lot of us worry aboutthat and I think a lot of us
have had that.
You know what if?
Conversation with our spouselike, hey, what if we move
somewhere?
And a lot of us aren't thinkingof the dr.
A lot of us are always thinkingof the DR.
A lot of us are always thinkingof, like you know, places in
(30:50):
Europe and the places you know.
But the reality is like, whynot DR, why not Costa Rica, why
not Panama, why not Colombia?
And you touched on somethingthat's really important, like
the community is already builtthere.
That's the important.
We have expats there you canreach out to and talk.
But for the viewer at home, theperson that's actually
listening to this, and it's likeme that's like, hey, you know
(31:11):
what?
Like my money goes a littlefurther down there, I could be
having a lot more fun.
Where's a good place to start?
What's the first thing youwould recommend people do?
Because there's so manyquestions, there's the what ifs
like you, hey, I have a, I havea small business or I'm enrolled
in school right now.
What are some of the firstthings you would tell somebody
or advise them to do before theybook that ticket?
Speaker 2 (31:33):
The most important thing that I think where people
go wrong on is they don't do anadequate trial run Before you
move abroad.
Before you like sell everythingand try it, you know, bail off
to a third world country to livelike a king, you should come
down and stay for like 30 days,whether it's Dominican Republic,
whether it's Mexico, whetherit's Brazil, whatever.
You should come and stay for atleast 30 days to get a feel for
(31:56):
what it's like living here andnot just vacationing.
Because one reason our veteranorganization here exists is
because it is very easy to fallinto unhealthy behaviors If
you're a dude with too much timeon your hands, and I was like
that in Thailand.
Like when I first got toThailand and I discovered that
(32:16):
red light districts exist, I waslike, okay, well, this is not
good for an instrument thatlikes to drink and party and has
a bunch of money on my hands.
Like I get that governmentdisability check every month and
that is going straight to thered light district in Thailand.
So you, but eventually you kindof get burnt out from that.
But we do want to save veteransfrom making mistakes.
(32:37):
You know whether it comes fromanything, um, so a lot of that
is, forming community aroundthose things, around more
positive things, around thingslike beach workouts we do like
yoga together.
I mean there's so many amazingthings.
But uh, I would say that thatwas kind of the one of those
kind of starting things was justto form that community of get
(32:59):
people to answer.
But so I think it's trial runto answer your question is most
important thing to do.
And then on my blog I have a lotof articles that kind of get
into different things about liketips for moving abroad, the
financial planning aspect of it,because we can talk about
anything, but the most importantthing in the world is money.
You need enough money to livethe life you want to live.
So it's kind of setting that upand understanding how your
(33:21):
benefits work abroad,understanding that your income
level.
You know a lot of veterans likeyou might rent your house in
the States, you might have yourmilitary retirement and you
might do something online, soyou're going to be good.
But a lot of veterans if theyjust move abroad on their 100%
and don't have any money savedup, then you can run into
problems.
But there are countries outthere where you can live very
(33:45):
well on just your 100%.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Yeah, you know, one thing that you know we got to
touch on are the opportunitiesfor jobs.
So we have to remember, likesome of us aren't ready to give
up on working and there'ssomething to be said about
having a meaningful employment,whether it's, you know, getting
involved with a nonprofit, getinvolved with the local schools,
like, what opportunities do yousee there in DR for Americans
(34:08):
coming abroad or coming from thestates to try to find
meaningful employment?
Speaker 2 (34:12):
A lot of veterans.
If you're going to come hereand you want to continue working
, I think it's about more abouthaving a purpose than
necessarily making money.
Like I have some friends whoare veterans who have like beach
restaurants and they basicallylike break even every month.
That gives us something to do.
You know they like to go eat attheir own restaurant.
I know another veteran is ascuba diving instructor, so a
lot of like those types ofthings happen.
(34:32):
But if you come to someplacelike Dominican Republic, you
need to have money to make moneyor you need to have, like,
online income.
You're not gonna be able to goto many countries and get a high
quality, good paying job that'sworth the money to do.
It's just not gonna happen.
A high quality, good paying jobthat's worth the money to do
it's just not going to happen.
So if you're not alreadyworking online like you touched
on the digital nomad thing a lotof people work online and make
(34:54):
really good money and there'sways to maximize your income you
can do your GI Bill abroad.
A lot of veterans don't know, sohow GI Bill works in different
countries is it's a flat rate,half the United States average.
Right now it's like 2,500.
So if you want to go to aschool in the Philippines which
they have in-person schools youcan go to, you'll get $2,500 a
(35:14):
month, whether you're there,whether you're in Brazil,
whether you're anywhere else.
So a lot of veterans moveabroad to go to college, which
is a good idea.
There's some really good GIBill schools around the world.
So in my book and ininformation I explain how to
find schools abroad that takethe GI Bill.
So things like that are veryimportant.
But if you're a veteranexpecting to move abroad and get
(35:36):
a really good job, I would notcount on that.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Yeah, it seems like the best idea is to be able to
self-sustain on something youcreated being able to do your
remote job, being able to host apodcast or studio or just live
off your retirement, I mean, orjust live off your retirement,
because those American dollarsgo far.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
I always tell people like this an American dollar
bill, this is worth 6,000Dominican pesos.
So the best financial strategyyou can possibly have is make
dollars and spend pesos and thatis it.
And that is how you thriveabroad as a veteran.
If you come here and you wantto find a job or you're not
financially set, that is amistake.
You do not want to be broke inanother country and I've seen
(36:18):
that happen to veterans.
I've seen people not haveenough money to go back home.
I've seen people who don't settheir medical care up right.
Things like that happen.
I mean mean veterans areamazing at fucking their lives
up and like there's never beenanyone better at fucking their
lives up than american veterans.
You bring up a valid.
(36:38):
You bring up a valid point.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
You have to understand what you have and be
able to be responsible yeah, youknow we're some of.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
It's like a moving abroad timeline.
You want to get a timeline formoving abroad where you work
into, like your trial run andthings like that.
Um, which I get into in thebook, which I'll you know, I'll
say again, if you're a veteranand you want this book, I will
send you the digital copy forfree.
Just hit me up on social mediaor email me.
It's no problem for me toforward it to you.
Um, obviously I'd prefer if youbought it, but yeah, let's do
(37:07):
this, let's do this get theinformation out there yeah, you
pause, pause, right now.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
There's here's the link right here.
Go to amazon, spend the money,or how about this?
Use the text feature on thisepisode and five of you will get
the book for free.
I'll cover the fee, but youhave to hit the text message.
You have to send a message tome and I'll get you the book we
got to support our veterans.
This man is doing a greatservice by breaking this down on
(37:34):
the episode.
Don't make them send the bookfor free, damn it.
Go through the app, send a textmessage.
The first five people to textus we'll buy the book.
We'll get it to you.
It's important, man.
I think that we're living in avery different time right now.
There's always been a lot ofdistrust in the government and
in the last few weeks, in thelast few months, a lot of people
(37:57):
are starting to wonder if whatthey fought for, if what they
served for, was worth it in theend.
That's for everybody to make itup on their own.
I fought tooth and nail to bean American.
I live here, I've established afamily.
The only way I would move is ifmy wife was fully on board.
And you're making DR soundreally amazing, but the truth is
(38:19):
, in reality, I probably won'tbe moving anytime soon, but for
a lot of our veterans, they willbe making that move.
They will be leaving the UnitedStates, focus on their mental
health, on their well-being andhaving the life that they
dreamed up, that they deserve.
After serving 20 plus years,yeah, you kind of fucking
deserve to live your best life,and if that means sucking down
(38:41):
my ties on a beautiful DominicanRepublic beach with a bunch of
single ladies next to you, godbless you.
I wish you the best, but beforeyou do that, I want you to let
me let me hype you up, because Idon't think you give yourself
enough credit to the way thatyou're documenting your journey
(39:06):
abroad.
It's certainly caught myattention.
For all the right things,you're just showing people that
there's a different way to live,that there's a third option.
You don't have to live the samelife, and if life here in the
United States is, it's costingyour mental health, it's costing
you to worry.
You can't break even, you can'tsurvive, and you've always
dreamt of doing somethingadventurous.
(39:28):
Maybe this is an option for you.
Maybe Be willing to explore it,but from an educated point of
view, like be willing to talk toJohn.
I would imagine people reachout to you all the time through
social media, so is that thebest way to get a hold of you?
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Yeah, social media is great If you want to talk about
moving and living abroad, and Ialways tell people, if you, if
you go through and you actuallybuy my book on Amazon, I will
give you as much time as youneed to sit down and talk to you
over zoom to go over some ofyour concerns.
Uh, if you read the book andeverything, some people would
hit you up and they're just likeasking a bunch of questions
like that's why I wrote thefucking book, so you can read it
, that's why I have the articles, that's why I have all that.
(40:05):
Oh, do that first.
And, like I said, I reallydon't mind sending the book for
free.
Uh, just because I think thatit's valuable.
It's so valuable informationbecause it is a.
It's the only book of this kindin the entire world.
There's no other veterans guideto moving abroad that covers how
your military benefits work inother countries that go over
(40:25):
everything you need to know as aveteran.
There is I mean, you knowbecause you're obviously an SF
guy, but there's enough fuckingbooks on leadership that I
didn't need to write anything onthat.
There's enough guys that dothat type of thing.
So I'm not even touching that,not getting into it.
What I know is I've livedabroad for five years.
I've lived in Thailand and theDominican Republic, so I
(40:47):
understand it in a way thatsomeone who's lived abroad for a
long period of time canunderstand.
And I'm a younger, single dude.
I enjoy that life.
It is for me and if you wantthat life, it is far superior in
the Dominican Republic thanlike in Boston.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
Yeah, absolutely.
And you said you wrote this ona blog.
Where's your?
Where can we find your blog?
Speaker 2 (41:08):
JohnHDavisWritercom is my website and on that
website not only do I havearticles written by myself, but
I also have articles written byother veterans who live abroad.
So, for example, if, like, Ihave an article about being a
black veteran in the DominicanRepublic, I have an article
about being a female veteran inMexico, obviously not written by
me.
I have a guy who lives in Peruwho wrote an article about his
(41:30):
experiences living in Peru.
I have an article in Germany,because a lot of veterans love
Germany, because so many of themstation there, fall in love
with the culture.
So I have an article on livingin Germany as a veteran.
And then I have articles I'vewritten of places I've traveled
to and been to, like theDominican Republic, like Costa
Rica.
So if you're a veteran andyou're interested in writing
(41:51):
about your story living abroad,in a different country, you can
put it up on the website youknow, to get the information out
there, because a lot ofveterans might not know what
it's like to move to Brazil,might not know what it's like to
live in Argentina or Africa oranything like that.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
Yeah, absolutely, man .
It's important to get thoseperspectives out there for
people, and I don't think we'regoing to.
I think we're going to see anexodus, unfortunately, unless we
figure our shit out.
Because, like we both touchedon man, like after serving in
the military and doingeverything you could for your
country, you want to make surethat you live your best quality
(42:28):
of life, and I would argue thatfor a lot of us, a lot of our
veterans, the American dream isgetting harder and harder to
find and live.
And, um, when we continue tovote and put idiots in charge
and those idiots continue todick us down for lack of a
better word it makes it reallyeasy to fucking leave.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
I think for veterans, like it is tough to give
everything and then feel likethe real battlefield is at home,
that to live in a country thatfeels like it's a war with
itself and for me the politicaldivision was was honestly kind
of like stressful, especiallywhen you get into things like
the race aspect of it because,like for a lot of veterans,
that's like that doesn't matter,like we're all americans, we're
(43:14):
all red, white and blue.
So then you come back to acountry everybody's just
screaming at each other all thetime and you're like, okay, well
, I'm out.
And that's kind of what I said,even though I love america
intensely, patriotic america'sgreatest country in the world,
but to me it's not the greatestplace to live, at least in a lot
of cities yep, there you go,man, that's uh, that's the
absolute truth.
Speaker 1 (43:34):
It can be absolutely.
I mean, I I think there'spockets, but, um, the stupidity,
the craz, craziness, likethere's common sense, things
that we grew up, truths that allof us grew up knowing, are now
being questioned, and I thinkit's ridiculous.
There's no place for it in theclassroom, there's no place for
it among decent society.
(43:54):
It, if you talk about it,you're labeled a heretic, you're
labeled a hate monger, and Idon't want to deal with it
anymore.
I really don't.
I'd rather not give it anyspace.
And yeah, you make it seem verymagical to live in DR, right?
Speaker 2 (44:12):
now, yeah, and maybe I shouldn't lay it like it's
just.
I'm just saying for me, like,listen, I own ATV, I ride it
around town, I go to the beach,I like scuba diving.
For me it's been a very goodlife.
That's not to say it's foreveryone, and that's one of the
reasons why I wanted to writethe book to address the pros and
the cons.
But, like you mentioned earlier,before we started going like
from, it sounds like your bestmilitary experience was in other
(44:34):
countries.
You know, I mean, that's someof, and as veterans I think we
look back at that time as kindof nostalgic.
And then when we get back toAmerica, the country that we did
everything for, you can'tafford rent.
So you're like, okay, well, whywouldn't?
Why wouldn't I go live in aplace like Peru where I can live
in nature, where I can have ahigher quality life?
So for me it's just been kindof fun to get the information
(44:57):
out there and I'm going tocontinue doing social media
videos.
I'm going with a group ofveterans to columbia in two
weeks because they're opening upnew veteran clinics in columbia
where veterans can get healthcare through the foreign medical
program.
Uh, so if you're a veteraninterested in there.
I'm going to be writing anotherarticle and showing videos of
the veteran center and medellinthat they just opened up this
(45:19):
month.
Speaker 1 (45:20):
Bro, tag me or send me those reels.
Let's collab so we can sharethis and get it out there, man,
because I know a lot of GreenBerets too that decided to move
to places outside of the United.
Speaker 2 (45:30):
States and you speak other languages.
Speaker 1 (45:32):
Yeah, you're already an expert in the culture.
You already at least have a 1-1rating or can stubble your way,
or at least marry somebody thatcan talk for you.
Speaker 2 (45:42):
Sometimes that rating or can stumble your way or at
least marry somebody that cantalk for you.
Sometimes that's the key, butthat's why sometimes that's a
good idea too.
But hey, I don't know why youdon't just hop on a plane.
Speaker 1 (45:47):
We'll do a podcast here bro, with the intense bro,
last night I went to bed at 2 30and then had to get up to do
all of my other stuff, mypre-production stuff, get my kid
and yeah, the the amount and mywife's still in.
So I mean maybe, maybe in thefuture we can retire somewhere.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
But uh, dude, I am dual military couple retires.
I mean you are rich as hellanywhere in the world.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
You know that's, that's not a we're actually
gonna have a talk about that atdinner tonight.
We're gonna.
Speaker 2 (46:16):
We're gonna talk about this because if you're
gonna buy the, you can give hera copy.
Speaker 1 (46:23):
I mean it the first five people.
If you go on Spotify, use thetext feature, send me a message.
In fact, tomorrow morning I'mrecording an episode that's just
nothing but the text messages,the questions that we get.
So, yeah, I take thosequestions to heart.
I take all your feedback.
I'm even going to highlight thecrazy shit that some of you
(46:48):
motherfuckers send, completelyjust out of left field some of
the shit you guys are sending me, but please continue.
It's entertaining to read inthe morning when I wake up to do
my workout.
John, I can't thank you enoughfor being here.
Man, again, if you're a veteranand you want to live abroad at
John's book, or just text and mename your address the first
five to do that, when thisepisode airs, I will purchase
the book and I will send it toyou.
(47:09):
Because we got to support John,we got to support our veteran
authors, because it's not aboutjust telling the stories.
It's about the people who areon the other side the advocacy
space that want to shareinsightful truths that will help
our veteran community.
I'm sure there's people outthere that wrote five or six,
maybe 10 different books aboutveterans living abroad, and they
(47:30):
may not be veterans themselves.
But I want you to hear thetruth from John, because he's
one of us, he's just like youand if he's doing it and he's
thriving, that lets you knowthat you can do the same, john.
Thank you so much for beinghere, brother.
Thank you for being in thefight, and I cannot wait to have
you back on the show and tohear your stories about Columbia
(47:50):
.
If you see ahalf-Columbian-Panamanian kid
about you not my kid I swearit's not my kid.
Thank you all for tuning in.
I'm Denny Caballero.
Oh, one more thing.
Please do me a favor.
Head on over to the episodedescription, click all those
links, give us a like, give us ashare, give us subscribe and
leave us a comment.
Leave us a little.
(48:11):
You know, hey love the show.
Thank you for what you're doing.
You care.
We'll see you all next time.
Until then, be good.
Securepodcast is proudlysponsored by Titan's Arms.
Head over to the episodedescription and check out
Titan's Arms today.
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