#104 - Don Tresohlavy - Iraq War Veteran - The Chris & Mike Show

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Yes, we are live on YouTube, ladies and gentlemen.
We are live on YouTube. I warned him we were in a
rock'n'roll theme. Yeah.

(00:31):
I'm old enough to remember watching people having fun doing
that. It doesn't look as much fun
today. Yeah, that was actually.
Right. That was a probably.
Yeah, No, right there. That song, that was us.
That was, that was Freeman from Nemesis.
Oh, welcome to the show, Donald.How are you today?

(00:51):
Oh, doing great, guys, doing good.
And if you're just joining us for the first time, this is the
Chris and Mike show. We are actually now streaming
live on YouTube every time we record our episodes.
If you happen to be on Twitch and want to watch this on
YouTube and all the kind of fun stuff, hey, join along because
there we are. Absolutely, absolutely.

(01:13):
So Donald's kind of a cool dude,man.
He he's a, he's a military veteran.
Thank you for your service. Yes, thank you for your service.
My military family, my son's a Marine active duty right now I'm
hanging out in California. So you were let tell us a little
bit about your military background if you would.
Donald, do you prefer Donald or?Don, Don, Don.

(01:35):
OK, Cool, Don. So give us an idea of your
military background, Don. Sure.
Yep. Well, I did three years active
duty. I was a combat engineer
stationed in Vilsack, Germany. Shout out to 84th engineers.
I love you guys still today. Oh yeah.
All righty. OK, so I spent 15 months in Iraq

(02:00):
way. The way I very much remember it
is I went into the combat zone on my 23rd birthday.
I was still in that combat zone.What year was this so?
What year was he? What year was that?
This was 2007 to 2008. OK.

(02:26):
OK. And then I got out in 2009 and,
well, you know, on paper, OK, Yeah, it looked like things went
really well as I got out. I we used my GI Bill and I, you
know, got my college degree. Sure.

(02:46):
And within six months found thisgreat job working for the
railroad. All right, on.
And this is this is like 2009 to2012, like end of 2009 to 2012.
So if y'all might remember, thiswasn't a fun time to look for a
job. Not at all.
Yeah. So I felt very lucky in that

(03:06):
case, yeah. For sure.
But I also wasn't really having all that great of a time
readjusting to civilian life andall of that.
So I, you know, I went back and I went back into the reserves
for a little bit, but I, I didn't spend much time there.

(03:27):
But in the meantime, well, the reserves end up they pick up on
some things from my deployment and I end up getting ordered,
basically ordered to seek help. OK.
OK. And I did begin working with the
VA, and I am not one of those people who is going to complain

(03:49):
to you about how bad the VA is. I'll tell you they were great to
know. Yeah, because I've heard, I've
heard both. I mean, it depends on, you know,
the person itself. But yeah, some people just slam
the VA and like you, some people, you champion it because
they did what they needed to do so.
It was kind of, it was a long process.
I mean, I they started working my PTSD claim and we had to go

(04:14):
through the process. They started me with 40% and
then I had to repeal and and we got it up to 60 and then 70 and
after 11 years. OK.
All right, so I come home from work one morning, 7:00 AM, OK.
And now you know. I'm about £350 at this point.

(04:37):
And how tall are you? How tall?
How tall are you? About 6 foot.
OK, so I just want to put in perspective because you know
when you're sitting down, peopledon't know how tire.
So 6 feet tall, £350. Wow.
That's a bad boy. Not in good shape.
At this point, OK, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, and like I pretty much did, every time I got home from a job

(04:59):
on the railroad, I grabbed a beer, started drinking, Yeah.
And then just opened up my bank account to do some usual stuff,
pay some bills, Sure. That an extra $20,000 in there.
All from the VA. Yeah, right on.
That's that's how I found out. I was 100% at that point.

(05:23):
Right on. And yeah, hey, I I mean, hey,
guys, celebrate that by getting hammered, of course.
Absolutely. But why not?
You know, you remember I had to,like, call out sick from work
that night. Like we don't do anything.
OK. Gotcha.
Yeah I remember going like wow, I go back on call in like 2

(05:44):
hours and I'm hammered. She'd probably.
Call out. Sick out no prior prior to to
that moment in time were you because we talked a little bit
alcoholism, things like that. So when you when did you drink
and start, you know, take us back to when that did it start
during the military or did it start coming out of the military

(06:06):
to kind of bury those demons andkeep the keep the demons quiet
or explain that a little bit? Well.
The drinking was the drinking was a thing in the military.
Sure. Like at the very early onset of
it, OK, I think a lot of the drinking came from the fact that
I couldn't smoke pot. Oh, OK.

(06:27):
That's really where I think a lot of it really just started
because I mean like. I completely understand that
for. Sure, yeah.
I've been in that situation too,like.
I'm going to. That Ave. is taken away from you
and that's what you gravitate towards is the next thing,
right? Exactly.
And even like and, and the railroad, you couldn't smoke pot

(06:48):
either, so. And that was my situation.
I was told I couldn't for a large portion, you know, 10
years. So I get it, man.
And that's kind of the avenue that I was headed down because
that's you have you find a replacement for something,
right? Exactly.
And unfortunately 1 is a negative and the other is a

(07:11):
positive and they take the positive away from you and they
leave you with the negative. Isn't that, isn't that weird how
the world did that right? You take something that's not
habit forming, that has so many benefits from the health and
psychological aspect, but instead oh you can just go drink
alcohol which is has the the even if you're not an alcoholic,

(07:32):
drinking alcohol on a daily basis has a negative impact on
your body. In Access for sure, yeah.
Yes. So continue your story, Don.
OK. All right.
So now unfortunately, something the military instills in you

(07:53):
that's probably not great to apply to everything is never
quit anything. Right.
Of course, instead of quitting my job like I probably should
have. Right.
I decided to just start smoking weed and let fate decide.
OK. But I mean, at this point,
unfortunately, it didn't go quite the way I was really

(08:15):
hoping it would, where I would just start smoking weed and not
quit and not drink anymore. Oh, that, that did not happen.
I just added weed to it. I did drink.
Less OK now were you just drinking beer or was it was it
liquor and a hard alcohol beer? OK, it it was beer that was that
was what the weight was coming on.

(08:36):
Definitely, Yeah. OK.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I, I, I passed 20 years sober
back in, in February. So I get, I get that for sure
because you know the beer, you know it, it definitely packs on
the weight. Well, we'll, we'll, we'll talk
about that. Definitely.
That's definitely alright. So basically it takes about a

(09:00):
year but I do finally get hit with a drug test.
Yeah. Yep, and you know, I leave the
railroad and just that. Oh my God, we could do a whole
podcast on that fucking story. So let me ask you this, let me
ask you this question. So you test positive for part of
the drug test and there's no there's no type of assistants
like, hey, you know, maybe Don has a problem.

(09:21):
Let's get him into this little. It depends on your union
contract. Oh, OK.
Well, everybody has different rules in their contracts.
And I was offered treatment but I'm not going to go to rehab for
fucking weed, especially when I.Right, we we have the same
option. You go for 30 days, but then

(09:41):
you're subject to random tests at any time for any reason.
And he would be under the same like they could the very next
day after he goes back to work, they could pop him again and
then he's done. And that's what they're going to
do. Gotcha.
So they, so they want they offeryou that out of a union level of
of. It's part of the contract.

(10:02):
Right, but then. But then if it's a random thing
your second time, you'll see youlater.
Bye. Yeah.
And they're going to wait maybe a month or two, and then they'll
say, Don, we're going to need tosee you down at medical.
And, you know, he's still been smoking weed.
And now Don's done. So he just chose to walk away.
OK, gotcha. So most unions know nowadays
because this is back in 2009, but most more 2910, right Don?

(10:28):
Well, the R12 2012 was when I was hired out on the railroad.
I left in 2021. So nowadays, Chris, yeah, most
of them have come to their senses weren't included and they
just threw that out. They don't test for that at all,
right? They test for everything else on
your hard drugs. Right, You got test for the

(10:49):
cocaine, the cocaine and the heroin and the Columbia.
Yeah, yeah, The Columbia. Columbia.
Bam, bam. OK, I got it.
So. So summarizing Don's story so
far. So you're in the military, Iraq
war veteran, you finally get 100% disability.
You wake up one day, 20 grand inmy bank account.
So it's time to, you know, get your party on.
You kind of threw caution in thewind, started smoking pot again

(11:12):
while working for the railroad. Fast forward several years, you
get tested, you get popped. You opt to just do your thing as
opposed to the rehab because you're not going to go to rehab
for just pot. Why not?
So here we are so now we're we're here we're you you you
lost your job on the railroad. Now let's, you know, pick up the

(11:32):
story from that point all. Right.
Yeah. So now, like basically OK now
realize between the railroad andthe military, college was my
only real break in life. Like I, these are two careers
that are life consuming. You know, yeah, yeah.
So now I actually have free timefor the first time ever really.

(11:56):
Which is a bad thing for an addict, right?
Well, probably, yes. In general, I'm not going to
disagree with you. Oh yeah.
Also, I have a tendency to buck the norm.
OK, OK, really at this point, like, 'cause the first thing I
said with this is if I'm going to not work, I am not going to

(12:18):
just wake up and drink all day and yeah, like, I'm going to do
stuff, yeah. You got to have some purpose in
life regardless. Yeah, I'm like I'm only 36 at
the time. OK, OK.
But so I, I mean, that actually really did help.
So I kind of went from like maybe drinking a case of beer

(12:39):
every single chance I got, whichwas on the railroad schedule
close to every day. OK.
To like probably 15 every other day.
So I did reduce and also like the other weird thing that just
sort of like straight healthier was I suddenly had a sleep

(13:01):
schedule again. Oh.
First thing I did like 'cause I was a conductor so I was totally
on call 24/7. Oh wow, oh wow.
Yeah. Wow.
So like the first thing I did was I was like, all right, 10:00
PM, that is bedtime. Yeah, 6:00 AM that is wake up
time. Gotcha.
OK, Yeah. OK.

(13:24):
So like that, that part went great, but the problem is like
15 beers every other day is still quite a lot.
That is, That is quite a lot, absolutely.
I'll attest to that as well. You know, I mean, I'd maybe,
maybe, maybe maybe I dropped about 15 lbs.
That's about it driving that much.

(13:45):
But you know, Fast forward now we get to the winter time.
Winter sucks in upstate New York.
There's nothing to you don't want to go outside.
I don't know. Outside in the winter.
Time because it's cold, right? Yeah, exactly.
That's when I finally at least get bored enough that I'm like,
all right, I got to go find a part time job or something.
Yeah, you know, and all in the same month I find this part time

(14:09):
job, I'll just say a department store.
I don't want to say where, but and and the same month a friend
of mine like tells me about mushrooms, right, psilocybin.
I said magic mushrooms in the text because I never spell
psilocybin. I've no idea how.

(14:29):
To spell, OK, that's good. MMM has Mike has experience with
mushrooms, which is why this will be a good conversation.
Because he's been there and donethat.
You've been there, done that. So I've never done it.
I've never done any psychedelic even though I've written songs
about it just from outside looking in.
Changed my life too, Don. So, yeah, yeah.
I want to ask you one question real quick, not to interrupt
your story, but did we gloss over the fact that you were

(14:53):
medically discharged from the military?
I was medically discharged from the reserves.
OK it. Was an honorable discharge from
active duty. OK, I I don't want to that
that's a very important point inthis story because otherwise
there's dumb people listening, not dumb, maybe not informed

(15:16):
that are going to think this guy's just a lazy piece of shit
and got lucky. And I just want to reinforce the
fact that you are honorably medically discharged from the
military and you had a hard timereintegrating into society,
which is a very common story with veterans, right?
That that, yes. Yes, OK, so continue on with

(15:37):
your story, but I think that's avery important point in your
life's, what do you call it, Chris?
Your life's resume your. Life's resume?
Yep. Yeah, exactly.
Continue on. So now you're, you're starting
to experiment with psychedelics,which I have been there, done
that many times all. Right.
So I I got the first one there, the guy it tells me about the

(15:59):
heroic doses like the 4G or more.
Heroic doses, that's what I callthem too, yes.
Yeah. OK.
So, so for people, so, so remember for people that don't
understand because not everybody's understands this
topic. So what's a dose?
So real quick, yeah, people haveprobably heard of micro dosing
and they've heard of what they consider people saying tripping,

(16:20):
right? Correct.
Yep. You are not tripping when you're
in micro dosing. You are kind of altering your
reality so slightly that it's only only really noticeable if
you pay attention, right? You'll notice just simple things
like I don't feel as agitated or, you know, areas where I
would have had road rage or something like that.

(16:40):
All of a sudden I'm calm. OK?
A heroic dose is we're going to let the walls melt in front of
us and we're going to a different dimension in our mind
or in reality, nobody knows because it's so realistic to
you, it doesn't matter, right? OK.
And in that dimension there's love and there it's just

(17:02):
overwhelming, like the universe is hugging you all at the same
time. I'm getting goosebumps as I'm
describing it, right? Because if you've been there,
you long for that just peace. It's just complete peace.
And knowing that there's something on the other side,
that whether it's in your mind or whether it's reality, it

(17:25):
doesn't matter because when you come back from that, you're a
changed person. And Don can tell you what that
meant to him, but to me, it meant I went from being a
complete control freak and asshole over everything in my
life and a negative person to a complete positive person and

(17:46):
understanding that everyone elseis a human being, right?
With their life's resume and their reason for living, that's
cool. So.
So for an ignorant person like me, that would be the equivalent
of just taking one hit off a joint as opposed to smoking 10
joints in an hour. Yes, OK.
Yes, OK. I just because I you know that
put that's a. Great way to put it.

(18:07):
OK, because I I. I really want people to
understand and listen to us because if they haven't done it
like myself, I want to get it understanding because you and I
have talked about it, Mike, before.
Yeah, so I get it. But that helps me understand the
difference between micro dosing and a heroic dose.
So a heroic dose is kind of likeI'm going to the desert with Jim
Morris and drinking some peyote.I'm going to see God.
That would be like. Putting enough to fill the palm

(18:29):
of your hand with mushrooms and you alone take that.
That's your heroic dose. OK.
That's about 7 to 10 grams, right, Don?
Yeah. Make sure you don't have
anything to do for the next 12 hours or so.
Oh yeah, we. We can get.
To that part, yeah, but OK, yeah, so, so.
Continue your story. This is very interesting, but I
wanted to kind of break it down just in layman's terms for, you

(18:50):
know, the people that don't understand what we're talking
about. So continue, please.
Very fascinating. All right.
So my buddy, he gives me 6G and he tells me, all right, first
night, do just 2G and see how itaffects you.
OK, Well, John. All right.
Yeah, sounds great. So.
Well I invite my buddy over, he brings over his VCR and we watch

(19:16):
man. Yep, like watch.
Friggin Star Wars before it was ruined with all that CGI
bullshit. All right, all right, the 2G
haven't just an absolute blast. I am like, OK, I didn't really
know what to expect, but right, you know, and who and who would.

(19:39):
You're really, really. Good.
Yeah. You enjoyed watching this movie,
All right. And the next morning I'm like, I
still notice. I'm like just kind of bouncy
today. Something really energetic.
All right Hon. Going.
On. Here.

(20:01):
So that's a great way. To describe it too.
Something's different, right? Yeah.
Like I, I just couldn't put it on it.
So, well, Like every morning I skipped on down to the gas
station, bought a case of beer, took it back to the house, threw
it in the refrigerator, Right. And, but, well, as far as I was

(20:25):
concerned, I didn't think about that beer for about two more
weeks. Really.
Isn't that awesome? That's.
Crazy that's how it works. So just.
So if you're just joining us, sothis is Don and he's talking
about his journey from alcoholism and, and when he got
introduced to, to mushrooms and he was drinking 15 to 15 beers
to a case of beer every other day or so.

(20:47):
And then you, you have this, this 2 milligram dose of, of
magic mushrooms as you call them.
You bought beer and you didn't even think about it for two
weeks. Like it changed you 4G dose?
In between that. OK, but that's just.
Yeah, but that's. Amazing that that completely
shifted your mind to to where you because I'm like I said, I'm

(21:09):
20 year alcoholic. So when I stopped drinking, I
just stopped drinking on a dime because that's kind of my
personality. But I struggled more so after my
first year with temptations thathe did the first year 'cause I
was so hyper focused on getting to the first year.
Here's another thing. To not gloss over OK.
All right, he did. 2. Doses.

(21:30):
Right, He didn't sit there and just pop mushrooms for 12 hours
straight for seven months in a row.
He did 2 doses what, a few days apart, right?
That's usually how everyone doesit.
Because one thing that I've madevery clear down and I want you
to reinforce this is psychedelics are not something

(21:51):
that you long to do right away again, right?
It's that intense. You don't, you don't wake up the
next morning and go, let's see, I'm getting goosebumps again,
because this is important for people to understand that these
are not, this is not crack cocaine.
This is not crystal meth. This is not something that
people want to do right away. Again, it's life changing in a

(22:14):
positive way in all but a few circumstances where people have
underlying health conditions where they shouldn't have done
it in the first place, like schizophrenia or something like
that, Right? Yes.
And another thing that is very important to note, with magic
mushrooms, psilocybin, nobody has ever died from an overdose.
Thank you like that. That is very important.

(22:39):
Now, yes, psychotic breaks and things like that are possible.
I have to give it a pause. That is good.
I had to applaud. That because it's, I mean,
because Mike and I have talked about that too with marijuana,
like, you know, name what you find one scenario where

(23:01):
somebody's overdosed on marijuana or killed someone on
marijuana, it just, it doesn't happen.
So that's I, I appreciate you guys bringing that up because
that's a really valid point thatagain, people that, that think
this is taboo, who don't really understand it, This Is Us trying
to impart this wisdom on you andyou choose to do what you want.
We're not advocating anything. We're just sharing down the
story. But that's, that to me is

(23:22):
amazing. So to two doses a few days apart
and then the desire for alcohol just was wiped away.
Now for about two weeks though, OK, OK, but.
Still, I mean, still it was pushed at bed.
That's impressive. Yeah, Yeah.
OK, so I. Mean.
After the two weeks or so I do finally, I'm like, you know, I'm
sick of looking at this. Drink it.

(23:48):
And I mean. I'm like, I am pretty like.
The thing is though, I'm not getting drunk, OK?
So you're just drinking to have a drink as opposed to drinking a
good hammer. OK, Which is the way I.
Do it now. Yes, yes, because I was going
to, I was going to make sure to emphasize this like I right now
I call myself, I'm a liquor on vacation drinker, OK, You know,

(24:12):
I like my last, my last drink was, well, it was a Easter of
last, of last Easter because I was in Myrtle Beach.
OK, you know, but like I did like, like I said, I I started
dropping down at that point. I was really I would struggle to

(24:33):
get up to 10 beers, OK. Which Which again, which again,
that's one point in time here. Before magic mushrooms, you were
15 to 24 beers every day or every other day.
So and now you. As someone who hasn't been there
can see, yeah, how his brain is starting to rewire it.
So yeah, that's impressive. Man, exactly and.
It's even at some points and times it even felt more like wow

(24:54):
I think I'm more doing this out of ritual than anything else.
Like I'm almost kind of forcing myself to drink another beer
because, yeah, well, I normally would do that now.
Yeah, I could. See that?
I could see that and it, yeah, no, I mean, here's the thing.
And in the meantime, I'm also trying to lose weight and I'm

(25:16):
going through a lot of, I mean, I'm starting to exercise and
doing yoga and all that and eating healthy again.
I've tried a whole bunch of different diets.
Right now I'm just sort of I I inadvertently do the carnivore
diet. I bought a.
Pellet. Smoker and discovered bulk meat
prices and then here I am. I love it.

(25:39):
Yeah, but so, well, it's kind offunny because I, I, I'd say this
also, I tried everything to loseweight except for just
completely quitting beer. And I literally had the beer
down. I noticed this about 2-3 months
ago. OK, all right.

(26:01):
And you know, mind you, I've taken mushrooms probably maybe
once every once every couple of months since then before we get
too. Far away from that.
When did you do the next dose after you did those two?
Because you said that curbed you're drinking for about two
weeks, Yeah. When did you?
Do the next dose after that it was.
Probably. It was probably about a week

(26:24):
after after I started drinking again.
OK, Yeah. And then you kind of continued
to do that all along or did you take breaks from it or because I
went like a year after my secondtime.
I took a couple of breaks drinking.
I know there was one point. I know I will.

(26:45):
OK, I know there was one point. I remember I learned the hard
way that you can't not eat beef because I literally, I remember
this like, I was on chicken and vegetables all month long and
nothing but. And I remember texting a buddy
of mine who's a big diet freak and he says like, and I'm like,

(27:08):
why am I wiped out after every meal or after every, like, work
day? And the first thing he asks,
he's like, yeah, when was the last time you had beef?
Huh. I'm like because you had no.
Iron in your diet is that I. I'm guessing that was probably
it you're getting more into. Chris's wheelhouse now.

(27:29):
He understands Christian a lot better than I do.
Yeah, yeah, I, I. Don't understand it.
Great myself, I just know, like after he said that, I went to
Burger King, ate a burger and I immediately felt better.
Yeah. That's crazy, right?
That, that you just put some, some, some dead cow in your body
and all of a sudden BAM, your energy level goes through the

(27:51):
roof. It's it's a trip, man.
It's absolutely a trip. No, it's interesting, but no, I
actually got my beard all the way down to no more than two at
a time, no more than four days aweek.
Right now, that one was. About about three months ago.
So that's kind of where. I'm at if we're putting this

(28:13):
into perspective, I went 10 years without drinking at all,
9/9 and 1/2. So we'll just round it up to 10.
But. Then I decided because I had
rewired the way I think, I don't, and I've told Chris this,
I just don't like feeling fuckedup anymore.
And a couple times a year that Iaccidentally go over the edge.

(28:34):
I'm so disappointed in myself just because that feeling is not
something that I aspire to anymore.
When we were all addicts, that'sthe feeling that you aspire.
That's what you would chase. You would.
Chase, you would chase to be comfortably numb and then once
you hit comfortably numb, at least for me, then it was like,
OK, try to maintain that long enough so then I can fall
asleep. So now to.

(28:56):
Yeah, go ahead. Now to put this into perspective
for people. Yeah.
Instead. Of aspiring to feel that way to,
you know, use it to fall asleep as a crutch.
Kind of like Chris is describingnow.
It's disappointment. You know?
I'm like, Oh my God, now I got to ride this stupid fucking
feeling out for the next 6-8 hours.

(29:17):
Then tomorrow morning I'm going to feel like shit.
I'm all dehydrated. Fuck this.
I'm not doing this again becauseI think a lot.
I give a bad impression because I usually drink we're in the
morning, ladies and gentlemen. So I have coffee right now.
But right, a lot of times peopledo see me drinking a beer on
this show. That's like the one or two beers
that I'll have for that whole day.

(29:37):
Well, and then and you. Have to understand two people
that are just joining us and Mike referencing that.
And Mike's not an alcoholic, no.Mike was never an alcoholic, no.
So the fact that he can have a beer, it has no impact on him.
Me on the other hand, if I have a beer, I'm down that rabbit
hole again. Life, my, my fucking life is
just so that's going. To rewire your brain right back
to the where the hole you were in exactly which.

(29:59):
Is why it took me so long to embrace non alcoholic beer
because when that first time I did it the brain was like holy
shit this is beer. The the tongue was like, oh, oh
the nectar from gods. And then it just didn't know how
to process because I love the taste of beer, which is why I
won't touch the non alcoholic whiskey they've made.
Because I know being who I am, if I had a shot of that fake
whiskey, it's fucking all over because that was going right for

(30:22):
the. Jack Daniels?
Exactly. So you have to know your
balance. Worry about.
For, for Speaking of Jack Daniels there, I think maybe a
year ago or so. I also haven't drank soda in
like a long time now. That's kind of for.
Your weight too, man. Yeah.
Soda like I'm I'm glad to say that soda tastes like shit to me

(30:44):
now and this is how I found out I was out at the casino one
night and I ordered a Jack and coke OK, not even thinking about
it 'cause I mean, I first went to Diet Coke and then put.
Soda, right, 'cause that Coke's so much better.
Yeah, but. Just saying this is a full on
sugary soda with the Jack in it,right?

(31:06):
And and I just down it and I'm like.
What the frig? Is this doing to my stomach like
the sugar and the soda is screwing me up way worse than
the Jag is right. But Nah, I was going to say if
you if you look on my channel, the daily dose of Dawn, yeah,
people, we are going to you see like from a few from about maybe

(31:30):
two months ago. I did this show there.
It's called the Hunt for Hulk Hogan.
OK, right. Early.
Hulk Hogan was doing a a tour around upstate New York, OK,
with his new real American beer.Yeah, yeah.
Oh my God, talk. About fucking American this
water, I mean. I told you I was.

(31:51):
I was stationed in Germany. Man, I know good beer.
Yeah, yeah. No, no.
No, in Germany, because you bring that up in Germany, they
drink their beer warm, right? It's not cold.
It's it's room temperature, right?
Right, Yeah, which would be weird to me, like because it
would be weird. But it tastes good the way.
OK, OK. Well.

(32:11):
I can't taste it, you know, unfortunately, but you know,
I'll take your word for it. If I make it there, I'll.
Let you know. Yeah, Mike and Mike can.
Taste it for me. But no, I, I, I buy a 12 pack of
of his beer. Yeah, And I get home and it's
kind of the same thing again. I'm like, there's about six of
them left in the fridge and I'm tired of looking at them, so I

(32:35):
friggin choked down all six of them one night.
And I'm just, man, this is like the drunkest I have been in a
long time. Like I end up like going
downstairs and going to the bathroom and throwing up.
I'm like oh God, wow. I haven't done.
This in a decade and a half? Sure.

(32:59):
Yeah. So I guess.
So. God give a good shout out and
thank you to Hulk Hogan. That's one thing.
I'm glad you brought that up, Don, because I probably should
put out a public service announcement.
I just kind of had the same conversation only about cannabis

(33:19):
with another friend of mine who recently discovered it again and
had a very bad experience because.
Modern day. Cannabis is a lot more powerful
than what we smoked when we werein our 20s, which was basically
whatever came across from Mexico.
So. Be careful.
If you've been away from it for a long time and you're thinking

(33:41):
about going and dabbling in it again, absolutely go do it.
It's not going to hurt you, but do it very minuscule.
You know, if you used to do a lot, do a very tiny amount
because I blacked out the first time I did the pens.
You know that stuff that's like 97%.
Yeah, my blood pressure. Dropped down to nothing and that

(34:06):
was the end of me so. Definitely be.
Careful and with edibles becauseedibles are processed by your
liver and they're four to five times more psychoactive than
THC, so be careful with edibles as well so.
Edibles can be more potent than magic mushrooms, no so.

(34:29):
They can. They can mimic the same kind of
effects if you do too much because THC is injected straight
into your bloodstream because you're smoking it, right?
It's an instantaneous effect. You feel high right away.
You know exactly what you just did.
Edibles. If you read the package it says

(34:50):
allow 40 minutes to an hour for activation time right?
If you also read the package, which a lot of people don't do,
it will show you the dose for the amount that's in each gummy
or cookie or whatever you boughtright?
Sometimes the package says 200. And 50 milligrams and there's 25

(35:11):
gummies in there is basically 10milligrams each, correct, so. 10
milligrams to a novice is a lot that might pin you to the couch
for 8 hours. Like you can't move anything but
your eyes. Yeah, or you're.
Or you're working out with Donuts and bags of chips because
you're feeding. That could happen as.
Well. So.

(35:33):
Edibles are processed by your liver and it turns the THC into
another chemical called 11 hydroxy metabolite, which is 4
to five times more psychoactive than THC.
Seriously. Yes.
So. So with does the magic mushrooms
is that does that pull that out too or no?

(35:53):
No mushrooms are going to be more psychoactive than THC.
OK, but 11 hydroxy metabolite, which is the chemical that THC
has turned into by your liver cause four to five times more
psychoactive than the feeling you would have if you smoked
marijuana is what I'm saying. That's that's.
Crazy. That's how I know.

(36:14):
That edibles don't affect me theway they affect everybody else.
Because I can take a 200 milligram gummy and drive to
McDonald's and get lunch and come back, Dude, I would I.
Would I'd be I'd be on the floorfor days, man.
They took 200. Milligrams.
And I was like, man, I'm glad I'm familiar with this feeling
'cause I just suddenly went, I'mabout to start tripping the

(36:37):
first. Time I did it Don, I had to re
evaluate my life for like 5 minutes.
I went whoa, Nelly, you know, and then I went, I came back to
baseline real quick. I'm like son of a bitch, you
know, it's like. It's not as much fun.
As the way other people describeit, but I wanted to be very
clear to the listening audience at home that when I talk about

(36:58):
that, I do not recommend people do that on any level, right?
And I don't think you would either, no. 200 milligrams.
Is a lot I mean. Well, like I, I personally, I
don't really do, I've, I've doneedibles before, but I don't
really do them because I they'retoo much of A commitment for me.
I just use them. To sleep so I don't really abuse

(37:20):
them once. In a while I like to.
Have a good time on a Saturday afternoon, lay down, watch a
baseball game and relax. You know, maybe after I mowed
the yard, I'll do a what you andI are now called calling a
heroic dose. Yeah.
But for the most. Part I'll take like 20 to 40
milligrams before I go to bed and it just kind of helps you
ease into sleep. You know, I I have anxiety real

(37:42):
bad and I've always been a person who could never shut my
brain down at night. So it just kind of helps me ease
into sleep is the way I use it for, yeah.
I mean, what I love about smoking it, I can smoke it and
then I can lay off for 1/2 an hour and then go drive.

(38:05):
I can't really do that with edibles, things like that.
Yeah, definitely. I would not recommend someone
took edibles and went and drove a car.
No, don't. Do that.
Don't do that. That's surprising.
It has such a different effect from a different type of things

(38:25):
you ingest. The things you learn listening
to podcasts, my friend. Right, this is the Chris and.
Mike Show Find us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
Great plug. So how long?
How long, how long did it take you to really not because
obviously you're not an alcoholic at all on any level

(38:45):
now. Because like we talked about
before coming on the show, you use magic mushrooms to kind of,
you know, get yourself out of that.
So how much beer do you drink now?
I have not drank beer in about two months now.
OK, so just. Notice any other?
And how many doses have you done?

(39:06):
Oh. Mushrooms.
Yeah, quite a lot. Quite a lot.
Too many count, OK. But still, it's kept you from
drinking, which is amazing. Yeah, and not, I mean it's I've
been doing them for about 3 1/2 years now, so.
Yeah, OK. And what kind of, what kind of,

(39:26):
again, this isn't a how to do magic mushrooms, boys and girls.
This is just me asking questionsfor real.
Like just kind of ignorance. How often do you dose like like
like you know, people that smokepot and smoke pot everyday
people that can drink and not have issues with it can drink
everyday. How how often do you do the mic
the the mushrooms and and do youdo heroic or micro?

(39:48):
I have I have not done any in about 2-3 months right now
because of well, I currently my my supply is out basically
indefinitely. OK.
Unfortunately. But I mean, other, but First off
#1 like, it's not like there is any addiction going on here.

(40:10):
Well, yeah, I think you. Haven't done it for that long.
Yeah, there's no. Addictive properties to that
whatsoever. That's why I made it very clear
that that wasn't something that people aspire to do right away
again and I have never heard anybody say that about
psychedelics. OK, and to kind of not take the
opposite of what you just said, but I'm glad that you found Don,

(40:32):
because you know how important it is to me that people
understand that this is saving veterans lives.
This saved him from being an alcoholic, right?
It it 100% saved his life. The man was £350 at 60.
He was drinking a case of beer every day to every other day,
Right? He was headed for death.
There's just no other way to putit.

(40:53):
This saved his life. Yeah.
He's sitting here talking to us,having a good time.
He's laughing, he's telling his story.
It it could have been just the opposite.
He could have been another veteran.
It could have been a number. Right, exactly right.
Right. Exactly.
And that's a bad thing. We'd rather have Don here to
talk to him. Yes, it's a great conversation.

(41:13):
So. So from a personal aspect of
Don, do you have family, brothers, sisters, ever been
married, kids, all that kind of jazz?
Never married, no kids. OK, that you know.
Of yeah. We don't need to know them.
Don't sip me out. So Brothers, sisters, brother

(41:36):
and sister, a couple of nephews,you know, Yeah.
OK, OK, cool. So.
What? When you went, When you went?
Can we talk a little bit about your time in the Iraq war?
Sure, a little bit, OK, because.I don't, I don't want to open.
You know, you can stop me whenever.
I told him he's welcome. To talk about or not talk about
what kind of rapped about that before the show a little bit,

(41:57):
OK. Cool.
But yeah, I would like to. Hear whatever you want to talk
about too. Yeah.
What? What branch were you in the
military? I was.
I was an. Army OK.
And you're an. Engineer.
So explain to those that don't understand what an army engineer
does. Combat, combat, combat.
Engineer. Yes, my bad.
Well, let me put it to you this way.

(42:18):
My recruiter told me you'd be setting the explosives.
OK, Then I got over to Iraq and found out.
Now we actually look for them. Oh, no.
Oh. So so wow.
So you're scouring the desert for IE D's basically then?
Basically yes. There's route clearance was our

(42:39):
main job. How stressful.
Was that man? So you're on the front.
Line of the front line right. Yes, basically we've the swaps
they put in front of the infantry here.
Go drive down that road and look.
Fuck. That.
So now I say thank. You again, sorry to interrupt
you, but holy shit dude. Thank you for your service

(42:59):
brother. So I wouldn't say once it's one,
once you've done it every day for a month or so, it does
become normal and your Connor. Your life's still in danger
every time we do that. No.
Wow, that's insane. So how many did you find a day

(43:20):
just. Jesus Christ.
We quite frequently we wouldn't find any in a day, OK, But you
know, I mean, usually if we found one, it would take so long
to dispose of it that Oh yeah, that was our day, OK, You know,
so. I don't know if this relates or
not, but have you ever seen the movie The Hurt Locker?

(43:41):
Yes, yes, I have. OK, OK.
So I kind of get to the side right there and I'm not trying
to. I'm just, again, this is
painting a picture for people that don't understand.
If so, is the Hurt Locker any inany way relevant to what you
did? Yes, yes, EOD, OK.
EOD is like the next step up from combat engine OK.

(44:02):
EOD is what every. Combat Engineer is supposed to
be striving to be caught, OK. OK, Yeah.
OK. I mean, there's.
A line in that movie where the guy tells him, like, you know,
let's pull out and let the engineers handle it.
That's who he's talking about. OK, OK.
Gotcha, so is is that where the bulk of your your PTSD stems
from? Just just looking for IE D's

(44:24):
that are going to potentially kill you and or your people
behind you. Just the, just the.
Sheer stress of that. I wouldn't put it all on that.
Like I said once after, after about after, after about a
month, your real problem becomescomplacency where you stop
stressing about it. OK.

(44:46):
I've heard that so many times, Don.
Yeah, I. Mean, that's why I don't really
want to blame it on that. Sure.
Well, yeah. You know, don't.
Want to get some angry messages from my brother and should they
see this either no. No, but this is your experience.
That's what everybody needs to understand is this is the way
the world seemed to you through that portion of your life,

(45:10):
Right, Right. Right.
Oh yes. Yeah.
Fuck what, everybody? Else thinks at that point, this
is how your eyes saw the world, going through that time in your
life. That's what we're asking is,
yeah, you know, what did you see?
What did you experience? Yeah.
Yeah. It's Don's point.
Of view because your point of view is different than my from
what even Mike's point of view. I have a buddy I went to high
school with. He got out of high school.

(45:31):
He was the polar opposite personyou think would ever join the
Marines, let alone be a sniper, end up killing nine people over
in, in Desert Storm like you just, and then when he came
back, he had just all kinds of chaos.
He just, I mean, he ended up having a drinking issue big
time. He ended up getting in a car
accident and going to prison forsome time.
So everybody's, everybody's opinion and viewpoint of their

(45:53):
time in the military is different.
So there's no judgement here. There's, I mean, we just want to
hear your story and share it with other ones, other people
that listen because you may helpsomebody not go down that dark
path like you've gone to by justa simple fact of, hey, magic
mushrooms got me to stop drinking, you know, and so
you're, and So what caused your PTSD is completely different

(46:13):
than what caused my buddy's PTSD, right?
Because he's over there killing people and then he gets out and
all of a sudden you can't kill anybody.
It's illegal. Yeah, you know.
So, yeah, and, you know, and I come from a military family.
I mean, my my son has not seen combat at all because we're not
in that, in that kind of time frame right now.

(46:33):
But, you know, I know enough people that have been there,
done that, that, that nobody comes back the same person.
It just, you know, it doesn't happen.
Definitely. Not no.
So let's talk a little bit aboutbecause what intrigued me was
your, your mansplaining, your mansplaining The Handmaid's
Tale. OK, so MM, have you watched The

(46:54):
Handmaid's Tale yet? I have.
OK, yeah, I thought. So so my wife and I watched the
whole series as well. So and I kind of shared with her
this morning. She's like, let's come on the
show today. So I told her this guy down and
you know, I read your little biothat you sent me and she's like,
oh man, swinging the Handmaid's Tale.
That sounds interesting. So I agree.
So if you don't. Know a Handmaid's Tale?

(47:15):
I haven't got as many. Angry reacts to that as I
thought I would, but it's but. Yeah, well, you know, I mean lay
out the handmaid's. Tale for people that don't
understand that are listening right now.
Otherwise, they're going to be. Lost.
Yeah, OK. So the.
Handmaid's Tale is on on Hulu, and it's a series wrapped around
the fact that the entire world shuts down because it's a
dystopian. Future.

(47:35):
Dystopian future. Where you can't have babies
anymore and the entire United States gets taken over by Gilead
except for Texas, right? Is it Texas and and Alaska?
Hawaii. And Alaska, Hawaii and Alaska.
Are the continental US? Yeah, right.
And the entire. Continental United States only
Hawaii and Alaska are left untouched by Gilead and Gilead,
like Mike said is dystopian world and it's controlled and

(47:59):
the Handmaid's tale, the handmaids are are are stolen
from their families because they're fertile and just to
paint the really bizarre picturefor you.
The Handmaid. Is laying on the bed, legs
spread, women have become. Sterile women have become.
Sterile, so the the husband of the wife.
The wife is holding the handmaid's shoulders, so she's

(48:21):
engaged by visual participation.So she's behind the handmaid.
The handmaid's on the bed and the husband is having sex with
the handmaid while looking at the face of the wife who's
holding the handmaid down in order to impregnate the
handmaid. And then that handmaid becomes a
vessel to carry said baby. And then that baby gets turned

(48:42):
over to the husband and wife. I forget what the husband's
called. The commander gets turned.
Over to the commander. And and the commander's wife and
then that handmaid typically is enforced to be the nanny of said
baby or she's removed from the the house entirely.
And then they end up going working as prostitutes in the
brothel, which is very dark and violent.

(49:06):
And just like it's not the. Yeah, it's not the.
Bunny Ranch brothel in Reno, NV,man, it's, it's a brothel.
Like you're basically getting raped on every single occasion,
but you're forced to do that because that's your end game and
that's what you know, you're forced to do.
So Don here has a YouTube channel where he's mansplaining

(49:28):
The Handmaid's Tale. So they tell.
So there's the background of theshow.
Don mansplain it to us, please. Letter read My reactions to this
have just been like what the hell I First off, I got to say
this the pacing on the show is amazing.

(49:49):
Yes it is. It keeps you in case for sure
Marvel would Marvel and Star Wars need to take notes from
that because couldn't agree withhim.
All the same. Stupid loopholes and dumb shit
going on. Yep.
Their pacing is so great it camouflages it.
Yeah, so I'm gonna give them that.
And all right now I am currently, I've done my episodes

(50:12):
through season 2 right now. OK, cool.
What's available? Right now I'm going to
subscribe. To your channel right now, Yeah,
yeah. Started to I've started to watch
season 3, Season 2. I am just blown away by this
plot line. OK, yeah, the guy, Nick the
driver. Yep, Yep.
OK, He's he's that for the people that don't know, he's the

(50:36):
commanders driver, right? Hand man for sure, right hand
man. Yep, basically.
And the commander wants to promote him.
Yeah. So in order to get promoted, you
got to get married. Yeah.
And they make him get married toa 15 year old little fucking
religious robot. And.

(50:58):
And on top of that, he's got to fuck her or else she's going to
turn him in, right? Being a being a gender traitor,
right? Yeah, Yeah.
And I'm just sitting there like,who the fuck is raping who here?
Thank you. Yeah.
That's the. Brilliance of that writing, Don.

(51:18):
Yeah. Do you?
Know Do you know how? Many people that went right over
their head, yeah. Oh, I'm sure I will bet.
And I'm, I'm in, I'm I just got introduced to Lawrence, whom I
absolutely love. OK, OK, I mean no spoilers, but
I'm about I've watched the second episode of season 3 right

(51:41):
now. If people haven't seen.
Seasons 1-2 and three they've been living under a rock, so I'm
not worried about too many spoilers with The Handmaid's
Tale unless it's the final season because that just came
out. Yeah, that's and that's where
we're. At right now we're in the final
season as it just ticks down, but I can already.
Tell this Lawrence guy he's the he's got to be the Saul Goodman
of this series. He's already stolen the show for

(52:03):
me. I don't care about anybody else.
I'm like, what is his deal? Because up until he showed up,
my main thing about this was like, who's having a good time
here? Yeah.
Right, because nobody is I'm. Waiting for everybody to just
stop and go Hey I got an idea dude.

(52:23):
God isn't real and we're wastingour fucking time.
Yep, and just waiting. For everyone to realize this,
yeah. And it's.
And, and, and so those that haven't watched it, really you
should, one of the opening scenes of the entire show is, is
basically the folks from Gilead stealing women from on under.
You know, I forget where they'regoing because it's been so long,

(52:44):
but they were stealing the women, chasing them down and
taking the kids. So if the women had kids, they
steal the kids too and place those kids with other commanders
and their wives and God forbid they're females because then if
they're females, what's the pathwhen they reach the edge?
Cause again, if you think the, the, the FLDS stuff, the, I
forget what it is, but you know,the wacky side of the Mormon,

(53:07):
Mormonism, fundamentalist, fundamentalist, all the wives,
all the kids. It's kind of that I've I kind of
equated it to that concept that it's it's that kind of forced
upon with a 15 year old that Nick was forced to marriage
that's forced upon. You have to do this or else and
the OR else is you're going to be hanging from a bridge dead.
Yes, that's. The other thing is they went

(53:28):
back to the Roman times and theyleft them hanging there from
that. That was a Roman trick back in
the day, yeah. Just to leave.
You there all over the place. Yeah, actually it probably.
Started with like Genghis Khan. Probably.
Probably because he wasn't a very good human.
No, you know. What was?

(53:49):
It less than 1% of the less than1% of the women could have
babies. Is that what it got down to in
Gilly in the? In Handmaid's Tale, yeah, I
think so. I think that's a kind of.
I haven't really. I think they're still piercing
together the the beginning for me on this because I gotcha like

(54:11):
I, I mean my, my other main thing is I'm like, all right, I
could see where we could get here in a couple of generations.
I don't see how we're getting. I'm glad you took us there
because that's where I wanted you to go that this could if you
watch this series. That.
Could happen so easy. Look how easy we gave up our
rights after 911, right The Patriot Act.

(54:32):
Yeah, look how easily they will give up the rights when COVID
hit. Well, that.
Yes, I've always another great point though.
The Republicans will give up their rights of a terrorist
attack and the Democrats will give up their rights in a
pandemic. Well, we're fucked if the
terrorists ever get a biologicalweapon, right?
Which they did. With which I think COVID, I

(54:53):
mean, not to go down a conspiracy trail, but I think
that was biological on some level because now look at all
the stuff that's coming out about that, you know, some
health insurance providers won'tcover anything.
Now that's COVID related from the vaccinations.
What does that tell you? You know, you know, and it's
fine. And whatever that was, I mean,
I, I like, I never snored beforeCOVID.

(55:14):
Now I snored and I had COVID twice.
It's like, what the fuck? You know, So there's that, you
know, and in the military, like you were out of the military,
but my son Don, you had no choice.
Like right. As a as a Marine, anybody in the
military, you're a Guinea pig for everything when it comes to
vaccinations. Oh, absolutely right, because

(55:35):
you're. Property of the government?
Exactly. So right, but that was his
thing, like he had no choice, even if and he wouldn't have not
said no anyway. But even if those that said no,
you were, you were still you. You take the shot or you're
you're dismissed and you're not,you're not dismissed with, I
forget what it's called now. Hell brain fart.

(55:55):
Oh, with prejudice. Yeah.
Yeah, like dishonorably discharged because you're not
taking the shot. Correct.
Right. And so, I mean, that's that's
crazy shit, man. And you know, and when Jay
Jacob, he he had like fucking raging nightmares the first
night. He he when it was in the system,
like just did you get vaccinated?
I did. I got the Johnson and Johnson
vax, the baby one. I did not.

(56:16):
I had to because. We were.
We were runners and we were going on a vacation race and we
couldn't we couldn't get on the plane.
We couldn't get to the event without a vaccination.
Card. Yep.
Nikki had to because she's a teacher.
She had no choice. It's like you get, you take this
or you're tired. Think about that.
For a second, a vaccination card.
So for a very short time, this country got everybody to have to
have a piece of paper to travel,right?

(56:39):
Yep. Tell me that wasn't.
Some kind of weird site Geist fucking high level experiment to
see how far we can control the population for how long.
Absolutely, man. I think all of that, at the end
of the day, it was, it was a smoke and mirror at the time,

(57:00):
because everything's smoke and mirrors, right?
Like you have all the stuff Trump's doing now.
But if you look at the last pageof the newspaper, you see what's
really going on in the world. And all the ditty stuff is
drawing attention from other things.
Corey Haim and all those and andChester Bennett.
Right. And Chris?
Cornell they were all tied to the fact that there was such an
underlying human trafficking pedophilia ring in the Hollywood

(57:22):
scene and and all the different parts of the world.
Nobody believed Corey Haim or Corey Feldman, right.
They just shut him down, shut him down, shut him down.
And I look at him, it's like fucking told you.
I told you right now what he's. Saying seems mild compared to
what people have heard, right? Because that's the thing, it's
like, let's desensitize the world, right?
Which is why I don't think aliens were announced truly

(57:44):
until this last couple years. Because the Internet has so
undated everybody with everything.
You're not going to have the reaction to aliens that you
would have had 20 years ago, 20 years ago, the world's in a mass
panic. Holy shit, aliens.
Now it's like, oh, yeah, there'san alien, there's, there's UFO.
Let's see, let me get my phone out, you know, but.
Here's here's I think the rabbithole goes even that much deeper

(58:05):
because they told you about aliens, right?
So if they told you about it, then it actually is deeper than
that. So then I think it goes to you
and I have talked about 100 times maybe we're living in a
situation where timeline shift and they know it, right?
And there's nothing they can do about it there.
There's a huge conspiracy that when they started that CERN up,

(58:27):
that that's when the timeline started shifting.
Yeah. Yep.
So let's just. Tell them yeah, aliens are real.
That's my point. Yep, no I.
I was reading something yesterday about time mirrors.
Have you heard of Have You heardabout Time Mirrors?
No, now you're going to teach mesomething.
It's all theoretical. Because when I read the article
at the end of the articles, and this is all speculative, I'm
like well that sucks. So time mirrors.

(58:48):
I love shit. Like that I know so time.
Mirrors are basically it the wayit looked, it was, was, you know
how you got the ring there? The the light ringed on It was
like that size of mirrors facingeach other and it could increase
communications from, you know, better than they are now.
It could go through different levels of I sent it to Nikki
'cause it was such a fascinatingarticle.

(59:10):
Let me see how I can find it. Yeah, there it is.
Oh, come on, stupid thing. That's why is it not doing it.
It's not playing fair anyway. It's just a it's a unique thing.
I will it's a unique thing that that is is is is it's up.

(59:31):
It's up in the game as far as technology is concerned because
you could take you can take these time errors and you can it
it's supposedly cause again, it's all in theory can can store
data you know at a more efficient rate that it can it
can. Communications.
At a more efficient rate, which I don't know how more efficient
communication would be. I'm in.
I'm in Arizona, Mike's in Illinois.

(59:51):
And where are you at, Don? I'm in upstate New.
York, right? Oh shit.
So, I mean, you know, we're covering the, the West Coast,
the Midwest and the East Coast on the show.
So how, how much more communicating can you get?
Right? But it, it was fascinating from
that fact. And I'll send it to you, Mike,
'cause it, it literally was justlike, wow, that's, that's a,

(01:00:11):
that's a legit type thing. And then I realized, Oh, it's
not real. It's it's all speculation, but
that's how everything. Started right at at one time we
thought there were only two dimensions and people thought
the world was flat. And if we thought anything
different, they would hang you into town square.
Yeah. Right.
Yep. Are you on?
Are you on Facebook as Donald? Dawn.

(01:00:35):
Yeah, that's my personal profile, but I also have the
Facebook page, the Daily dose ofDawn.
Right? I want to send you this.
Thing that's why I was asking. I want to sign up for.
That too. Yeah.
I'm a Dawn fan now. Daily.
Daily. Dose of Dawn.
Hopefully after this appearance I'll get a whole bunch more too.
We hope you do. Man, that's the whole point,
man. We want to help people like you

(01:00:57):
help people like us. And it's, you know, it's, it's
it goes all around. Yeah, I meant what I said.
Man, it's awesome to know that you went through the same kind
of deal that I did. Only, you know, your situation
was so much worse because your physical health, I mean, at one
time, I guess my physical healthwas at risk too.
But it, it, it warms my heart every time I hear a success

(01:01:19):
story from someone with psychedelics because they've
been demonized as the horrible drugs, just like meth and
cocaine. And you know what I'm saying?
When it's the exact opposite. All I've ever heard is beautiful
stories from people. Yeah.
Well, Nixon Reading, needed a reason to lock up the hippies.

(01:01:41):
That's it, people. Don't realize that that's the
only reason it's illegal. He was scared of the hippies.
That's a true story. Yeah, he was on.
Tape, that's part of the Watergate, when that became,
when that became public knowledge to the Freedom of
Information Act, We found out that Nixon was afraid of the
hippies. They were gaining too much power

(01:02:02):
and they were changing people's minds.
You know, when who was it that said drop out or TuneIn?
Drop out? Yeah.
Yeah. Who was that?
I don't remember. It wasn't.
It wasn't. It wasn't linen.
No, it was a famous psychedelic guy back in the day, but he had
such a movement that people. Was it Timothy?

(01:02:24):
Was it Timothy Leary? That's it.
Thank. You.
You're welcome. Jesus, well, because I was
thinking about Timothy real early in the in the effects
because they did all the even inthe military, right.
They were experimenting LSD withour troops.
They were giving. Them heroic doses times 1000
right because they wanted. To see what what impact would
have on them in those poor. Guys, now they went through hell

(01:02:46):
because they didn't know what toexpect, right?
That was a horrible thing to do to somebody.
So imagine this, Don, you and I are talking about what a heroic
dose is. Imagine doing 1000 times that.
Of LSD. Of LSD.
There's a movie on Netflix. I I told Chris about it.

(01:03:07):
I'll, I, it'll probably come to me while we're talking about it,
but that's the whole premise of the documentary is here's what
happened to our troops and because they were government
property. I think they were.
Volunteers at 1st and then they were.
Forced. And then they were.
Forced. But they were giving.
Them 1000 times what we would do.

(01:03:29):
What do you even do then? You just, like, lie on the couch
and fall through space. So you have.
You have. One, you have a miniseries
called Warm Wood WORM Wood, which is about mind control and
the LSD effects, and you have How to change your mind, which

(01:03:49):
is another thing on on on Netflix and then have a good
trip, which is another thing on Netflix.
I was trying to find the relation to the more aspect of
it, but it's not. This one's on Max.
OK on Max Max movie power of Google boys and girls power
gurgle. So, Doctor.
Delirium. That's it, Doctor.

(01:04:11):
Delirium and the Edgewood experiments.
That's it. It's on on Max Doctor Delim and
and here's the here's the here'sthe summary of OK, the wow.
OK, the image is the gas mask that you have to go like Jake
had to do the gas mask thing. So it's basically the true story
of human experiments conducted by the US Army from 55 to 7520

(01:04:32):
years, 20 years. The Army used its own soldiers
as human Guinea pigs and research involving powerful mind
altering drugs. Told through exclusive footage
and first hand accounts, this isa true story of one of the
darkest chapters in U.S. history.
The footage is. Hard to watch.
It really is. Yeah, and it.
Was released in 2022 and and I'll put it on our Facebook page

(01:04:53):
because the the image they have for this is is creepy.
That's what made me. Watch it, you know damn well
that's why I tuned it super. Creepy image, man.
Yeah, super creepy image. So that would be.
The for the people listening, the they're going to be like,
man, he's a, he's definitely a flip flopper.
I am not. That's the dark side of

(01:05:13):
psychedelics, right? I would never recommend somebody
sit there and do 1000 times a 10milligram dose.
Well one thing I would also stress is like I I don't believe
like psychedelics should be legal in the same way they
cannabis is, no. I think it should be controlled.
Yes. Yes.
Like distributing? Yes.

(01:05:34):
Thank you. I agree with you 1,000,000%
because not everybody is you andI, and not everybody is Chris,
and not everybody's going to useit responsibly.
So yeah, I agree. That's a good point.
I think that it should be legal,but I think it should be legal
through some kind of prescription plan where, you
know, you don't get 1000 milligrams at a time or

(01:05:58):
whatever, where you could put yourself in a psychotic trip.
So what's your weight down to now, if you don't mind saying?
Right? Now it's about 260.
That's that's. Awesome, and you were plus 350
and you were at your worst. Well, very nice.

(01:06:20):
That's insane man, but good for you.
I mean with the. With the two months of no beer
that that is starting to shrink down again.
So and and no soda. Yeah, that too as well.
Like I was honestly, that's kindof what it came down to.
Also, like I said, I was down tolike 2 at a time three times a

(01:06:40):
week and I wasn't gaining weight, but I wasn't losing any.
Yeah, you're, you're. Flatlining just.
Staying the same. So because we do this a lot, we
squirreled all the way from his time in Iraq.
How long were you in Iraq 3? Years 15.
Months, 15 months, OK. Yep.

(01:07:02):
And then hung the. Whole and the whole time you
were, you were doing, you were looking for bombs.
Well, the first about six monthsof our deployment, my platoon
got separated from our company and turned into a makeshift
company with a couple of other platoons and we went and played
infantry. What part of Iraq?

(01:07:24):
Right on this. This was in Baghdad.
OK. We did that for six months and
then we moved up to the Northernregion War Horse, OK, and that's
where we did real clearance for the following eight months and
so. When you would find when you
would find an IED, you talked before how it would take the
entire day that the fine one blow me out of your days just

(01:07:46):
consumed with this IED, How would you dispose of it once you
got it safely removed from the area or did you dispose of it
there? Well, we would try to dispose of
it. There would be the best way to
do it, Yeah. We wouldn't really try to move
it. Circumstances.
Now our skill level as as combatengineers and was not very high.

(01:08:10):
Well. You're 23 years old, man.
It's not like 10. Years of.
Experience of how to disarm a bomb.
Yeah, there, there. Were a couple of NC OS that had
gone through special schools andand the special school everybody
wants is Sapper. That's the one.
If you have that little tab thatsays Sapper, OK, you can do
pretty much anything. Oh but yeah.

(01:08:32):
But were these? Were these like?
Russian made IEDs. I, I, I believe at the time, if
I recall correctly, they were, they believed they were tracing
them back from Turkey. Turkey, OK.
So when you blow 1, so you come across one because this
fascinates me. So you come across one.

(01:08:52):
IEDs are just crazy, right? Sharp, no loaded, going to
destroy everything within a large radius.
So. Do you do you cover it with
something in order to dispose ofit safely so all the shrapnel
stuff's not flying and, and inadvertently, you know, taking
somebody's arm off? Well, you don't get out of the
vehicle unless you absolutely have to, OK?

(01:09:15):
So you find these things while you're in the vehicle.
You're not like walking with it.So I had in my head, I
envisioned you walking with a metal detector.
I did too, you know. We thank God we only did that
once, OK, We only. Did that once, yeah.
So how do you find, how do you find it in the vehicle like
that, that that to me would be hard ground penetrating?

(01:09:36):
Radar. We had the special vehicles, but
First off, we're like God, like probably 30 feet in the air.
Oh no shit. Wow.
So there's. That and some of them had
infrared cameras in various different ways.
They put the ID there during theday, it cooks and then we go out
at night and they show right up on the screen like a.

(01:10:00):
Signature, yeah. There, there are various ways
like that. Well, I mean, this is how we did
it 10 years ago. They probably got or well, 15
now. Jesus.
So you had a special, you had a special made vehicle just for
that, right? Yes, there were a couple of them
that we would either there be the RGS and the Buffalo because

(01:10:24):
that's lifted. On a whole nother level, 30 feet
in the air. Yes.
And it's up in the air and the bottom of it comes down in AV
shape, OK. So that.
Way when the IED goes off underneath it yeah, it's.
Pressure. It's.
Slit. So it goes on the outside of the
vehicle, Yeah, so. Half it's either either side is

(01:10:47):
absorbing half of the blast. That's cool.
I mean, you know, yeah. So when when the.
Buffalo has a big. Arm on it.
Have you ever seen Transformers too, I believe?
There's one. Where the one of them, he's got
a big arm on a big ass truck. That's a Buffalo.
OK, that's one. Of the trucks.
We had now I totally. Know what it looks like?

(01:11:09):
So when you when you say you're driving and then all of a sudden
everything alerts Woo, there's abomb.
There's a bomb, so you're parkedon top of this thing with your V
and how does it? How do you ignite it?
Then how do you set it off? Oh, well, you no, no, no.
That is just there in case you run over it accidentally.
Oh, OK. OK, OK.
Well, that's why I clarified, because I didn't.
I didn't know. Yeah, No, if you find it, I mean

(01:11:32):
you, you, you perimeter it off and you try to blow it in place.
OK, so. What's the perimeter you guys
would do all right? Oh God, trying to remember it
can ballpark it. It's been a while.
I don't even really want like, Idon't know, 300 meters.
OK, OK, that just gives people an.

(01:11:52):
Idea that like Chris said you know I was under the same
illusion that you guys were likeright over the top of it when
you were blowing it up yeah the.Vehicle.
Was just designed in case it blew up that that was a safety
device that was engineered into the vehicle, right?
Yeah, so 300 meters. Is that's a pretty good range to
be away from it. I got, personally, I got hit

(01:12:17):
while I was in the Buffalo ones and I always made the joke.
You see, they gave me an award for it and I was like, doesn't
shouldn't the Haji get this? I mean it kind of.
Seems like he did the he he he won, right?
Yeah, Yeah. No, you won because you're

(01:12:37):
sitting here talking to us. Yeah.
So where do you where did it hit?
You when it hit you. It hit on the on the driver's
side front, like right, pretty much right underneath where I
was. I was.
And then you watch the wheel go flying.
Wow. And OK, OK, so these things, you

(01:12:57):
know, I, I never thought these things were something you'd mess
with, but that's, that gives a little bit more perspective on
because you hear every now and then that somebody, somebody
gets killed from IED when they, you know, driving their vehicle
and stuff. So I mean, these things got to
be just insanely powerful to penetrate vehicles and blow them
up and shit. Well.
It'll your your regular cars, they'll shred them right to

(01:13:18):
shreds. Yeah.
What about a Hummer? Oh, yeah, yeah, the, the
Humvees. Yeah.
You don't want to get hit in those.
We had strikers that I definitely did not want to get
hit in one of those. None of them.
What's a striker? A striker is basically a tank
with eight wheels. OK, OK.

(01:13:41):
I got it. That that'd be the best way.
OK now since. You said tank.
What would happen if a tank hitsone of those IEDs?
Well, they're usually kind of screwed because of the tread.
Oh. So you're not going to get.
Hurt, maybe, but your vehicle's going to be incapacitated.
Yeah, disabled pretty easily, but you would be.

(01:14:02):
Safe inside the tank I. Think it would depends.
Likely. I mean, they do have like what
They do have what they're calledanti tank mines there.
Yeah, will literally go underneath the hole, blow like a
hole through the bottom of it and out the top and the 4th of

(01:14:23):
it will RIP everybody inside apart.
Wow. Jesus now?
Now in your in your time, you don't have to answer this.
You don't want to. But in your time in the military
doing what you did, did you everdid you ever come across the the
after effects of one of those going off and and like coming up
and seeing a vehicle that was destroyed because of it, that
you were just too late to get there type thing?

(01:14:45):
No, I never saw a vehicle that was destroyed.
And thank God, I never like had anything like.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, never any mass
casualty situations or anything like that.
That's good. Yeah, that's good.
Right on. I think in that.
Respect. It was probably a blessing that

(01:15:06):
you were the frontline of the frontline, right?
So if that was going to. Happen it.
Unfortunately, it would have happened to your buddies or you,
but you never had to experience that.
Well, yes, and I mean we our my old company can proudly say we
had no deaths. Oh, right on that.
Is that's that's huge. Especially, yeah, I mean, we had

(01:15:31):
a few evacs that sure happened, but we had no deaths.
That's outstanding. And how many?
How many was in your unit? How many troops in your unit?
Well, our company, that'd be, I want to say 150.
Nice. Wow, that's impressive.
That's a good leadership. Well, that and.
Yeah. Now, were you ever actively
engaged in combat? As far as you know, just you,

(01:15:53):
you roll up over a hill and all of a sudden there's all the bad
guys. No, I mostly just, I mostly
dealt with the IEDs and they don't really come out to play
during that. Oh, OK.
I mean. That's kind of one of those
things, you bury it and you hopefor the best.
Got you set. It.
Forget it. Yeah, yeah.

(01:16:14):
Any idea how many IEDs you discovered in your time?
I no, I really want to know. I don't know, maybe like 4050,
OK, that's still that's. Still cool though.
That's 40-50 people that you are, you know, vehicles that you
saved. Absolutely.
That's impressive, man. That's very impressive.

(01:16:37):
So this is the Chris and Mike show.
This is Dawn. You can find him on Facebook at
the Daily Dose of Dawn, right? Yep, and then same thing on.
YouTube Daily dose of Dawn. That's correct.
Yep. OK.
And he's. Currently a mansplaining,
Handmaid's Tale. And then what else have you done
on your YouTube channel? Because we're going to go
subscribe, obviously, but let, you know, pitch yourself a
little bit. What other stuff do you have on

(01:16:58):
there? Oh.
You see, if there's a if there'sa theme to this thing, it's
living with adult ADHD, OK, Right.
Man, I play Fortnite, I climb mountains.
I go on and down all go again, man, I'm all over the place.
Right on. That's cool.
That's cool. Anything else you want to talk
about? I don't know, what do you think?

(01:17:27):
Mike, anything else you want to ask Don while he's here?
Anything else you want to converse about?
No, I'm just glad that you made it through the other side, man,
and that, you know, you battled your demon.
A lot of people don't understandthat saying that you're sober
doesn't mean that you don't still have some kind of what
they would consider vice, right?So people are going to be

(01:17:49):
saying, well, that poor feller, you know, he used to be an
alcoholic, but now he smokes potall the time.
Good on you. Because those people have those
people that say that. I always make the joke, I know
that you've never smoked pot because you don't understand
what it is, right? Alcohol takes you away from your
reality. Cannabis brings you so far into

(01:18:11):
reality that you are closer to it than anybody who has never
done it has ever been. That's the difference.
Alcohol sucks you away from society.
Cannabis brings you right back into it at a level that most
people have never understood. Yeah, let's, let's.
Touch real briefly on on the impact that smoking marijuana

(01:18:32):
has for you, like you know it can be used for antidepressants,
anti anxiety. What is it for you that it helps
you deal with? If that makes any sense.
It makes perfect. Sense great question.
I mean the first, the first thing it helped me with,
especially with the health wise was regulating my appetite OK?
Very much. Because I was definitely one of

(01:18:54):
those people that, like, didn't eat until the end of the day and
then ate one stupid big meal. Yeah, I would be that.
Person without it a lot of times.
Yeah, yeah. And and I mean, that was like
the first big, big helpful thingwas like, you know, I could take
a little hit in the morning. Yeah.
You know, for again, I'll actually eat breakfast now.
Yeah. Well, that's good.

(01:19:16):
Well, because, you know, not eating is not healthy.
Right now. Anything, anything else to add
to that? Either one of you I.
Would say that it definitely makes people who are introverted
more extroverted. That would be another.

(01:19:36):
Misconception. You know, a lot of times I would
just disappear from society if Ididn't have a way to calm my
anxiety, right? Because I have like social
anxiety where big groups of people just I don't like being
around him, right? He likes being.
In front of them on a stage instead, yes, I like.

(01:19:59):
Him at Bay? Yeah, yeah.
And then I don't have to talk tohim.
Do you? Were you?
Already an already social personwhere you like talking to
people? Or did that help you kind of
bring you out of your shell? I've never really been a
sociable person. That did bring me out of my
shell in high school. Definitely.

(01:20:21):
Yeah. I mean, even nowadays, even
after the mushrooms, you know, I'm like, I socialize with like
3 people. Yeah, well.
I would. Say that you and I have that in
common in our personality trait.Chris doesn't know a stranger,
right? He's going to talk to anybody
for any reason that seems like they want to have a conversation
about whatever subject. That's just, that's part of his

(01:20:43):
genetic makeup, right? You and I are more if we know
you, we'll talk to you for hours.
If we don't know you, it's hit or miss whether we're going to
have a conversation or not. Probably not.
Now you. Have.
Here's one thing I. Forgot to ask you you, you had
referenced military, GI Bill, whatnot.
So did you actually? You went to college.
What did you what did you get a degree in or did you?

(01:21:06):
Criminal justice. All right on.
So am I going to have an affinity for serial killers?
Yes. Fascinating.
So, but you never did anything with the criminal with the
criminal justice degree job in that in that world.
No, by that time, and honestly I'm glad I didn't.

(01:21:27):
Yeah, I like there is a lot of correctional officers around
here. Yeah, me too.
There's. A lot.
There's a lot less. Thank you very much, Governor
Hochel, but you have no idea. How bad I wanted the next words
out of your mouth to be. Yeah, I became a serial killer.

(01:21:47):
No. Well, I always actually, I don't
know if it'd be a serial killer,but I always said if I became a
corrections officer, it would just be this vicious cycle where
I'm there guarding some asshole and throws a bucket of shit on
me. So at this point, I got no
choice. I got to kill him.
Yeah, so right to death. Now I'm in prison myself.

(01:22:11):
And then? I'm going to get pissed off at
some guard, throw a bucket of shit on, yeah.
So here's the way. Here's the.
Way that I have heard it put best because we're a present
town too. So I'm, I know a lot of guys who
have worked there. They basically say we're
glorified babysitters and our only responsibility is keeping

(01:22:33):
people from keeping these guys from killing themselves.
And what are they in there for? Killing people, right, right.
So that's a very stressful job, keeping people who are in there
for mostly killing other people from killing themselves.
Yeah, that, that really. Put it into perspective for me.
I don't know if it does for anybody else, but I never

(01:22:54):
thought of it. That way, but that's
interesting. That's a really interesting
approach. Yeah, yeah.
Hi there. Boys and girls are going to wrap
this up. This has been the Christmas mic
show. You can find us on Instagram,
Facebook and YouTube. You can find Don on YouTube and
Facebook with the Daily Dose of Don.
That's a Don. He's a very interesting human
military veteran, had some active duty.

(01:23:15):
So definitely subscribe to his channel, follow his journey and
his path. Great guy for what we know in
this short amount of time. Don, thank you very much for
coming on the show. Absolutely.
Thanks for doing this man. Great time guys.
No problem, Yeah, and and we. Always wrap up the show with
this. Don't let the bad days win.
If you're feeling depressed, you're feeling anxious, reach
out to somebody. Somebody Loves You.

(01:23:35):
Somebody will miss you if you don't wake up tomorrow.
So don't be that person. Don't leave that hole in
somebody's heart. We're all here to help and
support you. If you need any help, you can
reach out to Mike and I personally, or you can just
Google help and you're going to find all kinds of avenues to get
some support to help you deal with whatever kind of a
situation you're dealing with today.
So just remember that Somebody Loves You.
Somebody will miss you. Or, if you're so inclined.

(01:23:56):
Come on the show and talk like Don to the show.
Have a great. Time.
Just tell your story. Sometimes it helps just to talk
to people. It does.
Right. And it may, I know Mike and I,
we look forward to this. So it makes our day that much
better having these conversations with people like
Don because you learn something new every day.
I had no idea that that you had vehicles that actually could
search for IEDs. Mike and I both thought it was

(01:24:19):
you get your get your, you know,what do you call those things
again? I forgot now the metal
detectors. Metal.
Detectors. Walking down the streets and
just going back and forth, sweeping for a bomb, sweeping
for a bomb, I was right there with.
You, brother. So I learned the same thing
today. This has been fascinating.
Thanks again for doing this. It's very nice meeting you, Don.
Thank you for your service. Yeah, have a very.

(01:24:39):
Welcome, you guys have a wonderful.
Day Don, we appreciate you man. Have a great day bro.
Nothing but love. Thank.
You again for your service, bud.Hey, Dave.
Peace, Peace. This is the place where you will

(01:25:13):
go. Be on the trail behind your
eyes. Feel yourself and need yourself.
Take a moment, Look until you see him fight the battle.
That's you. Both will fight the battle, but
you both will. Who is his baby?

(01:26:55):
The. Oh, when it.
Goes around. Here everywhere you ain't no.
Creature. We're playing smile and you
should give grace on the almighty day.

(01:27:18):
You gotta dream who in your lifeto keep a soul in every man.
Take the trail behind your eyes.Feel the soul evolution now.

(01:27:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Take a moment. Look at you, see him fight your
bail and see you mostly. You gotta, you gotta.

(01:28:18):
You gotta, you gotta, you gotta.

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#104 - Don Tresohlavy - Iraq War Veteran

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}#104 - Don Tresohlavy - Iraq War Veteran