October 6, 2024 • 44 mins
Join us as we welcome Jason, a Marine Corps veteran and the inspiring leader of a welding school in Orlando, who takes us on a remarkable journey from military service to a dynamic career in construction. Jason shares his compelling decision to join the Marines, driven by the desire for challenge and the life-altering impact of the September 11th attacks. Discover how he reassured his worried mother by choosing a non-combat role and nurtured his welding skills from high school through his military service, setting the stage for his current success.
Explore the vibrant offerings of Orlando's welding school, where a variety of courses cater to different passions and schedules—from hobbyists to career seekers. Hear the heartwarming tale of two brothers making their way from Connecticut, with their unforgettable dog Meatball, to pursue their welding dreams. The program’s flexibility and affordability make it accessible to many, providing a solid stepping stone for veterans transitioning to civilian life, aided by initiatives like Operation Next and SkillBridge.
The world of welding opens up thrilling adventures, from flying with the AeroShell acrobatic team to international assignments. Jason shares personal stories of seizing opportunities that showcase the trade's potential for unexpected adventures, emphasizing the financial savviness needed when working in trades. As we discuss mental health and the importance of community support, Jason highlights how welding serves as a therapeutic outlet for veterans, fostering pride and joy in creating lasting projects. Don't miss our insights into the Fabtech event and the vibrant online welding community, where creators like Jason and Stephanie offer invaluable resources for enthusiasts and novices alike.
https://www.underground-metalworks.com/
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If you're a military veteran in the construction industry, or you're in the construction industry and support our military vets, and you'd like to be a guest on the podcast you can find me at constructionvetpodcast@gmail.com , or send me a message on LinkedIn. You can find me there at Scott Friend. Let's share the stories and motivate others!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
This is the.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Construction Veteran Podcast Construction.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Veteran Podcast Connecting and celebrating
veterans in construction.
Now here's your host, scottFriend.
Hey, jason, what's going on,man?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Not much man Doing good how you been.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I'm good, very good.
I appreciate you doing this.
So Jason and I haven't had theopportunity to officially meet
yet.
Maybe, if I can get my buttdown to Fabtech or something or
uh, or get out there to Orlandoto his school, I'd love to meet
in person.
But you guys heard me interviewStephanie Hoffman.
Um, and her and Jason are goodfriends and Jason will go into
it in a little bit, but heactually runs the school that
(01:14):
she started, uh, so hopefullywe'll meet up at some point.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Man, yeah, I mean definitely.
If you come down to Orlando,let me know.
You know I'd love to have youat the school.
Or if you're coming out toFabtech, I'm going to be there
the whole time.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Awesome.
So before we get into yourservice background, so what is
Fabtech?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Fabtech is North America's largest welding, metal
forming, shaping, polishing.
The list goes on and on.
It's all about metal andeverything that surrounds it,
whether it's manufacturing,construction, it's all equipment
, tools, new technologyeverything all under one roof
for about three days.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Awesome, yeah, and so that's in October, is that
correct?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, october, I think it's 15th to the 17th.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yeah, so if you guys are available or you happen to
be in Orlando, I woulddefinitely check it out.
There's a lot of cool people Iknow that are going to that, and
then Jason will be there aswell.
So obviously it's theConstruction Veteran Podcast.
So I want to ask you what isyour service background?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
So I joined the Marine Corps in 2000.
I didn't actually go to bootcamp until November 2001.
So shortly after 9-11 incident.
Oh wow, I was actually slatedto go on.
I think my original date to togo to bootcamp was September
16th, but after September 11thhappened, they did a stop loss,
stop move.
(02:31):
I didn't end up going to ParisIsland until, yeah, november
25th.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Man, that's wild.
So I got to ask.
So you you enlisted before youleft and you said 2000.
So when all that went down, Imean what was going through your
mind?
Like you're already pretty muchlocked in and you're leaving.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yeah, because I had dipped in like December 9th 2000
.
Like, I knew I was going tojoin the Marine Corps, I wanted
to graduate, spend that summerwith my friends and you know,
hang out with my girlfriend atthe time and then I was ready to
, you know, go off to boot campand it was a time of peace.
You know, nothing was reallygoing on.
I was like, you know, I knew Iwanted to join the military
(03:12):
since like a young age and itwas just you know that time in
my life and I planned everythingout to where you know it was
going to work out for me.
And then September 11th happenedand that kind of threw a wrench
in things.
Not really, but I mean I waslike, wow, you know things, uh,
things just got real.
You know, I woke up at nineo'clock that morning and seen
you know the news footage andeverything and I was like, oh
crap, we're going to war.
Um, and I mean that's not thereason that I signed up,
(03:35):
obviously, cause I didn't knowthat was going to happen.
But um, I was like, well, I'mknow I guess it can be a little
bit different, a different tripthan I thought it was going to
be.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah, for sure.
So, out of all the branches,what is it that drew you to the
Marine Corps?
Speaker 2 (03:50):
It was the hardest one.
I don't like taking the easyroute in anything that I do and
I had a couple uncles that were,you know, former Marines and
you know I watched a lot of FullMetal Jacket and my buddies and
I we were all in ROTC, but itwas Air Force ROTC.
I kind of didn't want to gothat route.
I liked things a little bit,like I said, harder things, more
(04:13):
difficult things.
I decided to go the MarineCorps route.
A lot of the guys that I was inROTC with they were all joining
up.
I was actually slated to godown to see the Army recruiter
One of my buddies, neil Walker.
He's like hey, man, come downhere and talk to my recruiter.
You know I'm getting ready tojoin the Marines.
I was like okay, you know.
So I went down there to theMarine Corps recruiting station
and talked to them and I meanthat just made up my mind right
(04:34):
there.
That sealed the deal.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Awesome.
Yeah, it's funny.
You look back, obviously theMarine Corps is the toughest
branch at its base, right, butyou look into like special
tactics in the Air Force and yougo man, the Air Force has that
kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Oh yeah, the PJs man.
Those guys are no joke.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Oh yeah, so what did you do in the Marine Corps?
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I was a welder, conveniently enough, because I
was taking welding classes inhigh school.
And so I promised my mombecause she was like dead set
against me joining the MarineCorps she, she wasn't really too
keen on me joining the military, but she kind of made me the
promise she's like, ok, I'llsupport you joining the military
if you join any other branchother than the Marine Corps.
And when I came home and saidhey, I'm joining the Marine
Corps, you know, we kind of wehad some mixed words.
(05:18):
But yeah, it was, you know so,my recruiter.
He guaranteed me one of twojobs and he said I could be, you
know, you pick two jobs.
So I promised my mom, because Iwas her only natural born son,
that I would not pick a combatrelated MOS.
So I picked a welder or combatengineer.
I figured, combat engineer,that's kind of, you know,
(05:39):
splitting hairs at that point.
You know, yeah, I could getaway with that one.
And I ended up going throughMarine combat training and right
after that they issue your uh,your MOS and I was slated to be
a welder.
So that kind of that worked outperfect for me, cause I already
had somewhat of a backgroundrelated to welding because you
know I got certified when I wasin high school and then, um, you
know, they sent me up toAberdeen Maryland, to go through
(06:00):
additional training.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Very cool.
So you, did you happen to gothrough any training with any
Navy guys, any CBs that werewelders?
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Yes.
So, uh, up at Aberdeen,maryland, it was kind of it was
mixed.
So we had, um, we went toschool with, you know, we had
Army, Navy, air Force, marineCorps, I think even a couple of
Coasties, um right there.
So you go through like thefirst couple of months, um kind
of months, with all thedifferent branches, and then the
last five, six weeks we went towhat's called Marine Unique so
(06:32):
we learned how to weld on armorplating.
The Air Force they split off,they learned how to do titanium.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
I'm not sure what the Army and the Navy did or the
Coast Guard, but everybody thelast portion of it they went to
their own, like specialty typetraining for the branch of
service that they enlisted in.
Oh cool, yeah, we had somethingsimilar.
So the builder school.
I was trained by an army guyand a civilian, but we had
everybody in the same class.
(06:59):
We had, um, you know, army Navy.
We didn't have any Marines downthere, come to think about it.
We did have some Air Force, butwe didn't split off just
because building is building.
It's kind of carpentry is thesame, right.
So we didn't really specializeuntil you get to your battalion.
But that's neat.
So, jason man, you've got yourfingers in everything.
You got out of the Marine Corps.
(07:19):
I want to talk about that alittle bit.
You went back into welding.
But what do you do right now?
What would you say out?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
of the millions of things that you're doing, what
is considered your day job?
Oh man, it's weird because mybuddy, charlie Cross, labeled me
this one day as he wasintroducing me to somebody, and
he introduced me as anentrepreneur.
I was like, man, I'm not anentrepreneur.
And then I started thinkingabout it.
I was like, oh wait, yeah, Iguess I am.
So I set up my own weldingschool.
So we do short-term weldingtraining.
I got a school calledUnderground Metalworks.
(07:50):
My business partner and I he'sa retired Navy chief we set up a
short-term welding school for,essentially for home hobbyists,
makers, diyers and stuff likethat.
I also set up another businesscalled Weldworks Training Center
that specializes in weldprocedure development and
welding certifications.
We're also an accreditedtesting facility through the
American Welding Society.
(08:11):
And then, in addition to allthat, I run the Arc Junkies
podcast, which is, you know, anLLC.
That's also, I guess that's thethird business that I kind of
operate.
So I guess you could sayentrepreneur, but everything is
kind of centered around theworld of welding.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Yeah, I'd say a lot of people know you from arc
junkies.
Um, I'm a listener myself.
If, if you guys haven't checkedthat out, awesome show, um, I,
I really appreciate just thewide breadth of people that you
have on there.
You got, you know, metalartists.
You've got people that areengineers, inspectors, teachers,
like yourself, um, but yeah so,so, entrepreneur, I'd say
that's a fair assessment, that'sa fair label to put on you,
(08:47):
because you kind of got involvedin everything.
So where's the school at?
We discussed that a little bit.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
So we're located in Orlando Florida.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Very cool.
And so what do you guys offerdown there?
Speaker 2 (09:01):
So basically we do a one-week course.
We cover stick welding, migwelding, tig welding on steel,
stainless and aluminum.
We touch on flux core, a littlebit of spool gun for aluminum,
and then I run, uh, weekendclasses as well.
So we have a weekend mig classand a weekend tig class, and
then I have a nighttime trackthat kind of emulates the
daytime program, but they onlymeet twice a week, tuesdays and
(09:23):
thursdays, 6 pm to 9 pm, andthat class goes for six total
weeks for a total of 12 sessions.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Cool.
So would you say that you seemore of people like myself that
are mainly interested in justhey, I want to weld on the side,
or do you also get a fairamount of folks that want to do
this as a career?
Speaker 2 (09:43):
It's a good mix.
So every class is a little bitdifferent.
It's each class is kind of madeup of you know, I usually get
one home hobbyist, an artist,somebody that's recently retired
or getting ready to retire, andthen somebody that's kind of
wanting to take a weldingprogram out for a test drive.
You know, so, like, if you wantto take a welding class, that
can be a big commitment.
You know, if you don't knowthat you definitely want to get
(10:05):
into this industry, if you kindof like just want to dip your
toes in it to see, if you wantto spend, you know, 15, $20,000
on a welding education andanywhere from six months to 18
months out of your life going toschool full time.
You know, come down, take aclass for a week and see if you
actually like welding.
You know, see if you like theenvironment you're going to be
working in, the tools you'regoing to be messing around with.
(10:26):
You know, all the safetyaspects.
So it's been a good mix of, youknow, people from all different
backgrounds, that everybody'sgot a different goal when they
come in the program.
And the cool thing is, now thatI own and run the program, I
can focus in on what everybodyis there for, whereas if you go
to a traditional welding program, you know they've got a set
curriculum.
There's a guideline, a contentcalendar, whatever.
(10:47):
You've got to follow that to aT.
You know I've had students comedown they're like, hey, I want
to take the week-long class butI don't want to do this process,
or I'd really like to, you know, spend a little bit more time
in this process.
Each station is capable ofdoing everything that we teach
the program, so it's kind ofeasy to cater different
(11:11):
processes to the folks that arecoming in?
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Yeah, neat.
Well, hold me accountable, man,because I want to come down
there and take the TIG class, atleast at a minimum.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
So I would assume these are not just folks coming
from Florida.
What's the furthest you've seensomebody travel to take a class
with you?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
I had two guys come down from Connecticut.
Oh, cool, yeah, they drove downand they brought their dog
Meatball so they're brothers.
And the one guy brought his dogdown Meatball and he's an
American pocket bully, one ofthe coolest dogs I've ever seen.
Man, I'm a big fan of dogs, Ilove dogs, but this was like one
of the coolest dogs ever.
Uh, just great personality anddemeanor.
But yeah, they drove all the waydown from Connecticut to take
this program because one of themhad taken a class with
(11:51):
Stephanie.
So the program used to belocated in Fork River or
Forkwood River, new Jersey, andI bought it from Stephanie
Hoffman and moved it down toOrlando, florida, but they had
already the brother had alreadytaken that class and he's like,
well, he was telling his brotheryou know how, you know how much
of a good time that he had andall the stuff that he learned.
And then he found out that, oh,the program moved all the way
down to Orlando.
So he got his brotherinterested and they just decided
(12:13):
to, uh, to drive all the waydown and take the class for a
week.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Man, I would say the class price also is extremely
reasonable.
Um, so, if anybody's listeningand they're interested in that,
I would love it if you couldmake like a satellite program in
Texas.
That'd be a little easier on mywallet, but I would love to
come down there and you know yougot universal studios and
everything down there.
So take the whole family, makea deal out of it.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Yeah, I've had some folks come down that you know
they stayed like in the Tampaarea, uh.
But the one, the gentleman, hecame down from Pennsylvania.
He was a small business ownerand he just wanted to get more
proficient at stick welding.
So that's kind of what wefocused in on that week and then
we did some open routeapplications but he just wanted
to come down and take theprogram so he brought his entire
family down.
You know they were doing youknow fun stuff to do in Central
(12:58):
Florida in the evening and thenhe would come back in and do the
day class, you know during theday.
And then that weekend they wentout and hit up some of the
theme parks and stuff.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
If my wife listens to this episode you heard it first
Help me out, there's plenty oftime to go to the theme parks
and take a welding class.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I'll have you out the door by three, 30.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Nice.
Yeah, she doesn't even listento this, though, my wife doesn't
listen to my podcast either.
Um, so let's back up.
You go, so you welded beforeyou got into the Marine Corps
and, uh, as you're getting out,I mean, was this something on
your mind that you wanted to goback into welding, were you not
sure?
Speaker 2 (13:34):
I had.
Honestly, I had no idea, Like I, we just got back from a
deployment in Iraq and I wasright up against my EAS when I
came back uh, you know,including my terminal leave I
came back, went to SIF, turnedin all my gear, went through
steps and taps, did that wholenine yards and then I got out
and I really didn't have a plan,because my original plan was to
re-enlist.
And shortly before I left Iraq,I was like you know what?
(13:58):
I had some issues while I wasover there, Nothing too bad, but
I was like you know what?
I've completely changed mytrajectory.
I'm going to, I'm going to getout of the military, I'm going
to go back home, and so myimmediate first thought was I'm
going to get into lawenforcement.
One of the things I alwayswanted to be when I was growing
up was, you know, I knew Iwanted to go military, and the
other professions that I wasthinking about was either a
police officer or a lawyer.
(14:19):
There's a lot of readinginvolved with it and I'm not a.
I like pictures.
You know, I'm a Marine, right.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
I eat crayons and stuff, so you know pictures are
great.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
But you know I got back and I think I was getting
ready to apply for OrlandoPolice Department and the Orange
County Sheriff's Office andlike the pay was ridiculously
low and I was like man you'retelling me I got to get shot at
for $28,000 a year.
I was like that's not going towork.
Yeah, I was making more.
When I got out of the militaryI was like I got to find
something to you know,equivalent to you know what I
(14:50):
was doing in the military.
And so I just started goingthrough the classified ads
because that's kind of how youwould find a job.
You know, back around 2005, youjust open up the local paper
and there was a shop hiring.
They were looking for somebodythat could do aluminum spool gun
work.
And I was like man, I just gotdone welding howitzers, you know
, out in the middle of thefreaking desert for, you know,
months on end.
You know I'm pretty handy witha spool gun.
(15:12):
So you know I applied, wentdown there and you know they put
me to work right out of thegate.
I think having my background inthe military definitely helped.
You know you got discipline,leadership, integrity, all that
stuff.
That kind of helps out, looksgood on a resume, and I started
off with this company doinghandrails and putting in stairs
and stuff like that.
Well, it turns out they weren'ta stair and handrail company,
(15:33):
that's just one of the jobs thatthey had.
They were actually a structuralsteel ironworking company, and
so when we got done with thestairs and handrails or when we
slowed down with that, they putme out with these other crews
doing structural steel and so Ikind of I just kind of fell into
iron work that way and I I fellin love with that.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Iron workers are definitely a special breed, so
I'm sure you fit right ingetting out of the service.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
I love.
I love our iron workers.
Um, so I got a question abouttaps real quick.
It seems like everybody hastheir own kind of take on it, or
what did they talk about whenyou got out?
Did they mention this industrywhatsoever?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Not really.
I want to say like the onlything I remember from Seps and
taps was they were like okay,you got to kind of transition
from being in the military.
So you know, drop off all themilitary jargon.
You know all the acronyms andstuff that we use.
Don't use the F word like it'sa comma.
You know went through like someof that stuff.
I think they went over like howto write a resume or some of
(16:37):
the transferable skills we hadbecause we're in the military,
like very general.
And then they gave us a bunchof pamphlets and brochures.
Again, I'm not big on reading, Ilike pictures about some of the
benefits you know for throughthe VA and some of the different
programs that were out there.
But it wasn't, I don't know.
I think they could have done amuch better job.
I think Seps and Taps was intotal five days.
I think it was like two daysfor Seps and three days for Taps
or something to that effect orvice versa.
(17:00):
But the military spent, you know, four years turning me into a
Marine right and then they spentfive days trying to turn me
into a civilian.
Yeah, to try and reprogramsomebody within five days and
set them on a path to successwhen they get out.
You know, I think there shouldbe a lot more.
It should be a lot more timeand effort put into that, and I
(17:23):
think they're changing a lot ofthat now.
I know there's programs likeOperation Next and you know
they've got all these differentprograms where you can get out
and you can get into a tradeschool the last six months of
your enlistment and you can golearn a skilled trade.
I think you know that that'sdefinitely a step in the right
direction.
Or you know you can starttaking college classes prior to
your EAS.
You know, I think that'sdefinitely something that more
(17:44):
people should be takingadvantage of as they're trying
to transition out, becausethere's a lot of things that you
know they don't cover.
In steps and taps you lose yourentire network.
You know, like once you EAS,like your buddies from you know
they're not calling you, yourfire team's not calling you,
your platoon's not checking inon you.
No-transcript.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Yeah, we had.
Uh, ours was pretty quick too.
I don't I don't think it wasduring taps, but I do recall
like getting out it was well,you know, you're going to end up
digging a ditch or you're goingto end up in construction.
That wasn't what people wantedto do at the time.
So, a lot of it when I got outI got out in 2011, a lot of it
was like it and I didn't want todo that whatsoever.
And I hear you with the fivedays, like there's a lot to cram
(18:35):
into that.
And skill bridge is one of thoseprograms I think you're talking
about too, where they get theinternship.
Uh, that was not around when Iwas in.
I'm sure it wasn't around whenyou were in, no Um, but yeah,
they're, they're doing a lotbetter, and that was kind of the
impetus of why I started theshow was just to expose people
to this industry and just howbeneficial it can be.
So I want to ask how do youthink you listed some of those
(18:56):
soft skills?
But how do you think yourservice really helped you to get
to where you're at today?
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I think just the impression that people have, you
know, from military folks inthe blue collar world you know
mostly construction.
They're very patriotic people,you know.
So they really appreciate yourservice.
As soon as they find out you'rein the military, you know
they're oh, thank you for yourservice.
So when you walk in and youhave that listed on your resume,
they're like oh, I already knowright off the bat that this
(19:21):
person's going to show up,they're going to do a good job.
I'm not going to have to explainthings a hundred times or you
know why we need to do things,I'm going to be able to.
They're mission oriented, likegive me the mission, give me my
materials, or let me know whatmy materials are, the logistics,
and I'm going to go, I'm goingto handle the mission Right, um,
(19:41):
so I think a lot of people theysee that and they anticipate
that and they expect that frompeople when they, when they
bring them in from the military.
Uh, so I mean, that'sdefinitely something you want to
have listed on your resume.
I probably didn't need to listall the stuff that I did while I
was in the military Because,like I said, most of the blue
collar folks they're verypatriotic.
So as soon as they see that ona resume like they want you to
come work for them.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Yeah, I think one piece of advice I got that
really stuck out to me was atleast quantify, uh, what you did
, like how many.
You know how many linear feetof this type of well did you do?
But what I was doing was okay,we built this many square feet
of logistical housing or we didthis.
I quantified that kind of stuffso I was like you had.
I can go into every singlelittle detail, but it was at
(20:24):
least.
I wanted people to see thenumbers and that might.
You're right that it comes, uh,getting out of the service.
It comes with that, with thatautomatic level of respect,
which 98% of the people that getout of the service are probably
very good, upstanding people.
We know some knuckleheads, I'msure you do.
Oh yeah, but yeah, there's thatautomatic expectation of, okay,
(20:46):
this person is going to be ontime.
One thing I was taught as we'retalking.
This reminded me that one of mychiefs, when I was in.
He said something to the effectof hey, look like, if you screw
up, just take responsibility,Just don't have excuses.
Look, you sucked, you didsomething wrong, just own up to
it.
And that's helped me personallyin my professional career as
(21:06):
well.
As hey, I'm not going to dothat again.
I screwed up, I didn't know itwas an accident, and move on.
And I think there's a lot ofpeople that are afraid to do
that Like they're afraid of therepercussions.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
No, a hundred percent .
That's the first thing I dowhen I screw something up.
I'd go to the boss man and tellhim myself hey, I, you know I
screwed this up.
Or you know I wasn't payingattention and this happened.
And like I would go tell himmyself just because, like same
thing you were, you know youwere saying don't try to hide it
.
You know, if you screw up, youknow, just make it known it's,
you know, a lot easier.
That way you build a lot moretrust, that way.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Yeah, I mean, in our industry too.
I'd rather I own up to it thanlike an inspector find it or an
architect or engineer find it.
Hey look, man, I got to, I gotto fix this.
I know what I did, I got to fixit.
So, uh, if you, if you came outof the service again, we're
backing up, um, do you think youwould go straight into welding?
Or do you think, knowing whatyou know now, you might've taken
(22:02):
maybe a different path?
Maybe not outside of welding asa whole, but instead of going
to like ironwork and what youdid, do you think you would take
a different path?
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Knowing what I know now.
No, I probably would've jumpedin a little bit harder, uh, just
, I probably would have startedlooking for structural steel,
iron work.
Yeah, it's kind of different.
Everybody's got like adifferent path when they get out
.
But I mean I really enjoyed the, you know, getting into the
welding industry.
I mean, like I said, it'ssomething that I had before I
got in the military, never as aprofession, just more as a skill
(22:32):
set, never as a profession,just more as a skill set.
And then while I was in themilitary, I mean it was a super
valuable skill set to havebecause you got folks from all
over the base, you know, comingto get stuff repaired and fixed,
uh, so it makes you feelvaluable.
And you know like, welding'staken me so many different
places, uh, and I've done somany cool things and met so many
awesome people that I Icouldn't see myself doing
anything other than welding.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
So I'm going to call you out on the spot.
So tell me like the coolestspot you think you've been or
the coolest job that you got todo.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Well, because of welding, I got to go to the Sun
and Fun Air Show and I got toride in like an antique T6
airplane with the AeroShellacrobatic team, oh cool.
So Lincoln Electric asked me.
They were like hey, can you dosome weld demos at our tent and
everything like this, where, youknow, we've got a booth set up
for the distributors are sellingequipment and you know, oh yeah
(23:21):
, by the way, we sponsored theaeroshell acrobatic team and we
have a couple of spots.
If you want to jump in one ofthese airplanes, like you know I
can, I can probably get you aseat.
At the time I was like, yeah, no, I'm really not interested in
that.
Then I got to thinking about itand I was like, you know what,
screw it.
Yeah, let's, let's do thisthing.
So I got to go, I got to gowith them and they did like
their whole show, you know.
(23:41):
So we got to do like the barrelrolls and the loops and all
that stuff and you, you look outand the other plane industry
and met some of the connectionsthat I had.
I don't think I would have beenable to, you know, ever do that
.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Yeah, that's neat.
Yeah, I don't think a lot ofpeople realize just how many
opportunities are out there.
Like I got to go overseas for ayear on contract to Germany.
My wife and I had just gottenmarried, so we got to explore
Europe.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
What are, what are some of the cool places that
you've heard some other weldersgo and do?
I had a buddy when I was in theiron workers.
He got slated to go to Belgium,uh, brussels, to go do some
welding on uh Inconel.
So he had to do a bunch oftests prior to leaving here uh
to prove that he was proficient,you know, before they put him
on an airplane and sent him overthere.
But I want to say he was overthere for like six months and
like once a month they would flyhis wife over and you know they
could go tour around thecountry and all that stuff.
Um, I mean, that'd be a kind ofa cool trip.
(24:40):
You know that welding enabledhim to uh to have it.
You know, an experience likethat.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Yeah, Very cool.
Yeah, there's a lot out therefor folks, uh, that are in the
trades and you know, when you'vegot bigger cities like I'm I'm
just South of Dallas and Dallasis booming, so I know there are
some people.
I'd say it's a mixed bag.
There's some people that dowant to go out and see the world
, Uh, but there's also peoplethat want to stay close to home.
But I've heard you talkpreviously on your show it's.
(25:06):
You know, a lot of guys chasethe money early on and that's
fine.
I would say, if you're going tochase the money, definitely do
it while you're young.
You know you don't havecommitments, or maybe it's just
you and a spouse, but there aresome good jobs close to home too
, if you know.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
If that's, if money's not the goal, I guess yeah,
yeah, you can make a lot ofmoney going out on the road and
doing it.
But, like you said, you know,do that while you're young,
while you don't have anycommitments, while you're not
tied down before you get marriedand start a family and all that
stuff, because then it's twiceas hard, because then you're
constantly leaving your familyto go out and put food on the
table and then you you get usedto making this money and you
(25:42):
kind of start living thisspecific lifestyle.
Now you have to maintain thosefunds coming in to live that
lifestyle, but you're never home.
You're constantly working tosupport your family back at home
, you know, to pay off the house, the nice truck, all that other
stuff that goes along with it.
Um, do that stuff while you'reyoung and save it up Like
there's.
I've met so many welders outthere that they go out there and
they make ridiculous money foryears on end and they just piss
(26:06):
it all away, you know, whilethey're out there on the road.
They buy the brand new dually.
Yeah, they just they waste alltheir money and then they come
back and they got nothing toshow for it.
But if you put that money aside, you know I've had a financial
advisor come on my show a coupleof times and talk about you
know, here's how to set up awill and trust.
Here's how to set up lifeinsurance.
Here's how to save up money andpay off debt.
And you know, be smart andfinancially intelligent with
(26:26):
your money versus.
You know, just spending it onjust because you got the money
doesn't mean you need to spendit.
You know.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Yeah, now, that's wise having that out there,
cause you know, I don't know,when you were in, it's like the
financial stuff was available,but I don't know if many of us
actually took advantage of itand went and sought out a
financial advisor.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
No, I should have though.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Yeah, no, dude, amen, especially with the uh like
deployment pay you get back.
I bought like a guitar and abrand new computer.
I didn't know how to invest mymoney or save it, and you know,
speaking of the travel too, it'snot like the money's bad, close
to home it's.
It's not a bad living, andthat's, that's welding, that's
really any trade you want totalk about, like getting into
overtime pay, um, or when I saytravel, sometimes that travel,
(27:08):
uh, the companies will have that, that limit of okay, if you're
driving over 50 miles you'regoing to get some sort of per
diem.
50 miles in Dallas is like anhour drive, so it's bonkers.
I'm saying that from experience.
I'm 52 miles from the job siteright now and it's roughly an
hour to get there.
So some companies have that, wedon't, but some companies have
that per diem.
(27:29):
So, man, you could still behome every day having dinner
with your family and makingreally good pay.
So if you went back in thisjourney, so you know pre-Marine
Corps after the Marine Corps, toget where you got, do you think
there's anything maybe youwould have?
I know you said you would justlike go all out, but is there
(27:50):
anything you think you wouldhave tweaked and given some
advice to somebody younger oryour younger self that might've
taken you on that path a littlequicker.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
It's hard.
I probably would have likegetting even though I had
welding skills going into themilitary and then, you know, I
got trained as a welder in themilitary.
I think going back thatprobably would have put me on a
much faster track to successwould be to go to a trade school
as soon as you get out of themilitary, even though I had all
the you know, the skills and theknowledge and the abilities and
(28:21):
stuff going to another school.
I think that would have helpedme develop another network.
It would have given me time toperfect and hone my craft and it
would get.
It would have given me moreopportunities, because a lot of
schools they start with jobplacement.
You know.
So where I was going through ayou know a newspaper trying to
find something you know locallyin the area that I could go out
and you know, work, um, goingthrough a trade school, they,
(28:43):
they provide you with moreoptions.
You know I just there wasn'tmany options in the classified
section.
But going through a school, uh,working with a career counselor
and all that stuff, plus, youknow, stacking up industry
recognized certifications andstuff like that, learning how to
do it as a civilian versus, youknow, being in the military.
I think that would have put meon a much faster track than kind
of fumbling through it.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Yeah, that's smart and you know the programs like
they have.
Now, if I were to go back Imean if you're doing a full time
program let's say I wanted tobe a welder and I wanted to do a
skill bridge program, but I wasgoing to go school full-time
trade school full-time.
How long would it take somebodybefore they come out as a
certified welder?
Speaker 2 (29:24):
It really depends.
I taught at a college for aboutnine years well, between two
colleges for about nine yearsand when I left we had set up a
new program that was 28 weekslong.
So the students would come toclass from 7.30 to 2.30 every
day, monday through Thursday,and they could knock out the
program in 28 weeks and theycould get multiple
certifications while they werein there.
(29:46):
That's with STIC, mig, tig,fluxcore.
You know, like, all thedifferent processes, all the
different positions.
You know probably probablyabout six weeks, but I know
there's other programs thatthey're full-time for 18 months.
So it just depends on whatschool you get into.
You know what their reputationis and things of that nature,
but I would say anywhere fromsix months to a year.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Yeah, so you, you pretty much do have the
opportunity.
You could do a skill bridgeprogram or something of that
type and possibly get out.
You know, have the opportunity.
You could do a skill bridgeprogram or something of that
type and possibly get out.
You know, have enough schooland, like you said, there's
stuff as small as six weeks orshort of six weeks, Uh, so they
could in theory, do a school andget right to work within that
six month period if they reallywanted to.
Yeah, yeah, it's like a nobrainer man and there's, there's
(30:32):
plenty of programs out there.
I know our electricians herelocally specifically.
They've got where they workduring the day and then they go
to their trade school, Uh, Ithink it's like two or three
nights out of the week.
So these guys, even though theskill bridge program doesn't pay
I think it's some weirdconflict of interest or
something the DOD won't pay you,uh, or they'll pay you but the
company can't pay you at thesame time, Something weird.
(30:52):
But it's free labor, I guess,for them.
Anyway, not getting into thepolitics of that, but so yeah,
it's man, I wish I had that whenI was back in.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Yeah, and I know that there's another program.
It might be part of the SkillsBridge, but I'm not sure exactly
what it's called.
But I had a student that he hadhis GI Bill and I lined him up
with a position with the ironworkers union when he graduated
my program.
So he'd already went through 44weeks of the program that I had
been teaching.
That was the program previousto our six month track, uh.
So he went through the class 44weeks to join the iron workers
(31:24):
union.
They were going to start themoff as an apprentice.
Well, because he had the GIbill, the GI bill would pay him
the difference between, uh, hisapprenticeship pay and
journeyman scale for all thehours that he would work.
So I think he just had tosubmit his hours and stuff like
that and then the VA would.
They would pay him thedifference between
apprenticeship scale andjourneyman scale, which is like
six, seven bucks an hour.
(31:45):
You know you add that up for 40hours a week Plus.
You know, most of the time whenyou got with the iron workers
union, that's kind of where Iended up right around 2010.
You know it's probably $6, $7an hour difference.
We were working 50, 60, 70hours a week.
I mean there was times we weregoing out there working 7-12s,
so banging lots of overtime.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Well, in theory too, I guess you could use.
Man, I'm having a brain fartwith the funds tuition
assistance.
I mean because I used I got alot of my basic, like community
college classes, out of the waywith funds, uh, tuition
assistance.
I mean cause I I used I got alot of my basic like, uh,
community college classes out ofthe way, uh, with my tuition
assistance, which was free, itdidn't, it didn't pull out of
your GI bill.
So I guess there's apossibility if you find the
right school, you could startdoing night school while you're
(32:28):
in and, in theory, you could getout, as you know, a car hauling
, welder or carpenter.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Yeah, that's a good possibility, as long as they got
a school.
In your area we did have a guythat was active duty Marines and
I think he was on some programwhere he had six months because
I think he had to go back liketwo weeks before graduation, but
he had already completed all ofhis coursework.
So I mean he was pretty muchgraduated at that point.
He just wasn't going to bearound for the ceremony.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Yeah, it's wild man.
There's a ton of opportunityout there now, for sure.
Yeah, that was not there adecade plus ago.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
No, and I mean, and that's that's, that's a good
thing, because it's it's gettingbetter.
You know it's it's never goingto be perfect, but it's always,
it's continuously getting better, which is, you know, a step in
the right direction.
For years, we did a horriblejob of taking care of our
veterans and it's still notgreat, but it's definitely
getting better.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Yeah, yeah, man, and I think that's like guys in our
generation that are seeing theway that we transitioned out and
didn't have a ton of thatopportunity at least not that we
knew of but we're the onesreally pushing for that now.
So I'm definitely seeing achange.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
So I want to take a turn and talk about mental
health a little bit.
Obviously it's a.
It's a massive problem withinmilitary and it's also a huge
problem in the constructionindustry.
Um, so if we've got vets oranybody really listening, that's
just the industry.
I say it almost every episode.
It'll eat you alive if you letit.
Uh, because there's a lot oftough personalities, there's
(33:55):
long hours, there's a lot ofdifficulty, it's rough on your
body.
If you had somebody that's justkind of struggling and trudging
to get along or go day by day,what would you say to them?
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Find somebody to reach out to.
A lot of times, especially menprior service and in
construction, especially menprior service and in
construction we're the last onesto talk about our feelings.
So when you start heading downthat dark path, go find a
counselor or find a battle buddythat you can confide in.
Find somebody to talk to.
If you keep that stuff inside,you try to battle all those
(34:29):
demons yourself.
I mean, we're losing north of22 a day to suicide.
You take a transition out of themilitary.
You add construction industryon top of that, like you were
saying, with long hours, thedemanding work, the physical
task that's on your body, otherbad habits to get into, to kind
(34:56):
of cope with what they'refeeling inside or, you know,
mental thoughts or anything likethat.
Go find somebody to talk to.
The VA has a lot of greatresources.
They can link you up with amental health counselor.
It's not a sign of weakness toreach out and ask for help and I
think that's the biggest hangupis to know I'll do it myself.
Well, you have to know when toask for help and don't be
ashamed.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
That's a good point.
Yeah, our common joke at workis I'm like well, I'm a
superintendent, I don't havefeelings.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Yep, leave your feelings at the house and all
that stuff, yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
But thankfully, some of the guys I came up under
before I became a super, theguys the superintendents I
worked for were, I mean, justgood dudes and hey, how's your
home life, man?
What's going on?
And they could tell you know,you wear it on your face.
So, yeah, some of thesuperintendents that I came up
under, the guys were really cool, like, hey, if you need to take
a day off, then take a day off,man, just just chill out.
(35:48):
We can tell you're wearing iton your face.
Um, I, I, I never understood theconcept of what I got.
You know, a hundred PTO daysstored up Like that sucks, man.
I met your personal life ishorrible, dude, take care of
your personal life first.
We, especially you know now, asI got three kids, so as a dad
and as a husband, like stuffhappens man, kids get injured or
(36:09):
you got big family events.
So I think that's the one thingis we don't focus very well in
this industry on the, on the uh,the at-home life, cause we're
mostly construction folks, arevery type A and, especially
being a veteran, we want to getit done, get after it as hard as
we can, but we tend to let thefamily fall by the wayside.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
So, yeah, there's a lot of ego and pride involved in
that.
And, you know, taking time offfrom work whether it's vacation,
paid time off, sick days, likeI think I took maybe three days
since I got out of the military,I think I've had three sick
days and that's because mycompany that I was working for
they're like no, you have tostay home until you get a
doctor's note to return.
I had the flu, but other than Imean, had they not barred me
(36:51):
from coming into the facilitylike I would have been at work.
You know, sick, tired, whatever, not taking vacation time it's
a, you know, a sense of pride.
You know you've got.
You want to complete that job,you want to complete that task,
you want to be there for yourteammates.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
Yeah for sure.
Yeah, I get that.
I think what I'm getting afteris that I would much rather that
individual come back likehealthy and whole and then they
can really get after it, thanjust kind of trudging along and
then all of a sudden they snap,cause I've been there too, man,
um, and I've had colleagues ofmine that they take a sick day
because and these are fellowvets they took a sick day Cause
(37:26):
they're like look, my head's notin the right spot.
I don't want to snap on anybody.
Okay, cool man, I totallyrespect that, especially as a
fellow vet Like I.
Get that, take your time.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Yeah you got to know your limitations.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Oh, 100% yeah.
And two, I would say humbleyourself If somebody else is
calling it on you, because I'vehad that happen to me as well.
If somebody else is callingthat on you like, hey man, maybe
you should take a couple daysoff, like if they're seeing it,
it's bad, and if you're notseeing it, at that point, like
you should probably just suck itup and listen to them and don't
complain about getting a coupleof days off free, you know.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Right.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
So the big purpose behind the show is I'm trying to
encourage people, as they'regetting out of the service or
anybody out there listening toget into this industry.
What would you say, like you'refinding joy in, specifically
like actually doing the welding.
What would you say you find joyin and that you can encourage
other people to want to jointhis industry?
Speaker 2 (38:24):
I'd say just the work that I'm doing.
I mean you leave behind a senseof pride.
You're building somethingtangible.
You know you get in.
I always use the analogy of anaccountant, like nobody cares
about the spreadsheets they'reputting together.
You know you get the finalnumbers and you're done and it's
, you know, just a document thatlives on a computer somewhere.
(38:45):
But when I go out and I erect abuilding, or you know, have a
hand in putting a theme parktogether, or you know welding up
something for the neighbor downthe street, like you leave a
piece of yourself in everyproject that you're doing.
There's a sense of pride to beable to, you know, say that hey,
I worked on that or I builtthat or I did that.
Uh, I think my kids and my wifethey kind of get tired of
hearing it because we'll driveall around central Florida I say
you see that building I builtthat.
You see that handrail, daddybuilt that, you know.
(39:06):
Like we go to the theme parks,you see that that poster leaning
up on that gate, you know daddybuilt that, you know.
So I remember all the stuffthat I got to work on and you
know your, your legacy.
Essentially, I mean welds lastforever.
If they're, if they're put inright and nobody you know does a
demo on it, that stuff's goingto be there for you know, it's
going to stand the test of time.
(39:27):
So you're, you're leavingbehind a legacy, so it's
something you can put your, yourpride into.
And one thing about welding isit's very therapeutic.
So you know, no matter whatI've got going on inside my head
, as soon as I flip my hood down, everything else goes away.
I can turn everything off assoon as that little arc lights
up on the inside of the hood,like nothing else matters, it's
just me and that molten ball ofmetal.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
Yeah, I know you've talked about it in the past and
I've talked about it withbuddies on my show.
It's kind of like jujitsu, andso when you're in that position
and you're getting pummeled likethere's nothing else you can
really even think about.
If you wanted to and I wouldliken that to welding too you
drop the hood and I got toconcentrate on this.
So I can't even I don't havethe bandwidth to focus on
(40:10):
anything else about, you know,except for what I'm doing right
now.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
Yeah, especially like going to work in the shop, you
know I put my headphones in,find a specific group or you
know song that I want to listento and just kind of go to town.
I'm off in my own little world.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Yeah, I love it.
Well, I want to give you sometime, man, to give any kind of
plugs that you want to.
You're a pretty busy guy.
So we've got the podcast, yougot the school.
We talked a little bit aboutthat.
Anything that you want to sayabout?
Speaker 2 (40:37):
those.
Yeah, if you guys, uh, ifyou're interested in welding,
come check out the arc junkiespodcast.
I put out new episodes everyMonday.
Uh, I do dabble in YouTube justa little bit.
You know.
A couple of those episodes areavailable on YouTube.
If you're a visual type person,um, and then if you're
interested in taking classes atunderground metalworks, you can
go to underground hyphenmetalworkscom classes in Orlando
(40:57):
.
We have uh classes scheduledall the way out to end of 2024.
Uh, some, there's somethingthere for everybody, and I think
that's pretty much it.
And if you're, if you're comingdown to fab tech, we're doing
an arcs and ales event at thepub on the 17th, I believe, uh,
so you know, come out and have adrink, rank, uh, you know, meet
(41:21):
up.
And then we're doing awell-porned blue demon meet up
on the uh the 15th, I believe,that's that tuesday over at hard
rock live at universal citywalk cool.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Yeah, I don't have enough pto saved up.
I don't think to come down.
Fabtech man, I wish next yearmaybe yeah, next year I'll be in
chicago oh nice.
Yeah, chicago is a good one.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
I'm hoping that they keep, or in the rotation.
We'll see, though.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Yeah, I'm sure you are.
Yeah, it would be the firsttime it's ever been in Orlando.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
So, uh, I prefer the Orlando show, even though I
haven't been to it yet, overAtlanta, just cause, uh, not a
big fan of that city.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
Um, I mean it's you don't want to come to Dallas,
(42:13):
then, man, Trust me.
Yeah, Imagine out there thateven just wants to get into
welding on the side.
Check out those videos, checkout the school.
Uh, between Jason, Stephanie,there's a handful of really good
people out there putting outsome really good content and
it's it's helped a dummy like me, who's a carpenter, pick up a
mid gun and be able to at leaststick two pieces of metal
together.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
That's the goal Make every well better than your last
.
Yes, sir, you got the tattoo.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
I got the shirt Exactly Awesome, Jason.
I appreciate it.
Man, Thank you so much fortaking your time out and
chatting with me.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Oh Scott, it's been a blast man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
All right brother.
This is the.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Construction Veteran Podcast Construction.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Veteran Podcast Connecting and celebrating
veterans in construction.
Now here's your host, scottFriend.
Hey, jason, what's going on,man?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Not much man Doing good how you been.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I'm good, very good.
I appreciate you doing this.
So Jason and I haven't had theopportunity to officially meet
yet.
Maybe, if I can get my buttdown to Fabtech or something or
uh, or get out there to Orlandoto his school, I'd love to meet
in person.
But you guys heard me interviewStephanie Hoffman.
Um, and her and Jason are goodfriends and Jason will go into
it in a little bit, but heactually runs the school that
(01:14):
she started, uh, so hopefullywe'll meet up at some point.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Man, yeah, I mean definitely.
If you come down to Orlando,let me know.
You know I'd love to have youat the school.
Or if you're coming out toFabtech, I'm going to be there
the whole time.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Awesome.
So before we get into yourservice background, so what is
Fabtech?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Fabtech is North America's largest welding, metal
forming, shaping, polishing.
The list goes on and on.
It's all about metal andeverything that surrounds it,
whether it's manufacturing,construction, it's all equipment
, tools, new technologyeverything all under one roof
for about three days.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Awesome, yeah, and so that's in October, is that
correct?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, october, I think it's 15th to the 17th.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yeah, so if you guys are available or you happen to
be in Orlando, I woulddefinitely check it out.
There's a lot of cool people Iknow that are going to that, and
then Jason will be there aswell.
So obviously it's theConstruction Veteran Podcast.
So I want to ask you what isyour service background?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
So I joined the Marine Corps in 2000.
I didn't actually go to bootcamp until November 2001.
So shortly after 9-11 incident.
Oh wow, I was actually slatedto go on.
I think my original date to togo to bootcamp was September
16th, but after September 11thhappened, they did a stop loss,
stop move.
(02:31):
I didn't end up going to ParisIsland until, yeah, november
25th.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Man, that's wild.
So I got to ask.
So you you enlisted before youleft and you said 2000.
So when all that went down, Imean what was going through your
mind?
Like you're already pretty muchlocked in and you're leaving.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yeah, because I had dipped in like December 9th 2000
.
Like, I knew I was going tojoin the Marine Corps, I wanted
to graduate, spend that summerwith my friends and you know,
hang out with my girlfriend atthe time and then I was ready to
, you know, go off to boot campand it was a time of peace.
You know, nothing was reallygoing on.
I was like, you know, I knew Iwanted to join the military
(03:12):
since like a young age and itwas just you know that time in
my life and I planned everythingout to where you know it was
going to work out for me.
And then September 11th happenedand that kind of threw a wrench
in things.
Not really, but I mean I waslike, wow, you know things, uh,
things just got real.
You know, I woke up at nineo'clock that morning and seen
you know the news footage andeverything and I was like, oh
crap, we're going to war.
Um, and I mean that's not thereason that I signed up,
(03:35):
obviously, cause I didn't knowthat was going to happen.
But um, I was like, well, I'mknow I guess it can be a little
bit different, a different tripthan I thought it was going to
be.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah, for sure.
So, out of all the branches,what is it that drew you to the
Marine Corps?
Speaker 2 (03:50):
It was the hardest one.
I don't like taking the easyroute in anything that I do and
I had a couple uncles that were,you know, former Marines and
you know I watched a lot of FullMetal Jacket and my buddies and
I we were all in ROTC, but itwas Air Force ROTC.
I kind of didn't want to gothat route.
I liked things a little bit,like I said, harder things, more
(04:13):
difficult things.
I decided to go the MarineCorps route.
A lot of the guys that I was inROTC with they were all joining
up.
I was actually slated to godown to see the Army recruiter
One of my buddies, neil Walker.
He's like hey, man, come downhere and talk to my recruiter.
You know I'm getting ready tojoin the Marines.
I was like okay, you know.
So I went down there to theMarine Corps recruiting station
and talked to them and I meanthat just made up my mind right
(04:34):
there.
That sealed the deal.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Awesome.
Yeah, it's funny.
You look back, obviously theMarine Corps is the toughest
branch at its base, right, butyou look into like special
tactics in the Air Force and yougo man, the Air Force has that
kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Oh yeah, the PJs man.
Those guys are no joke.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Oh yeah, so what did you do in the Marine Corps?
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I was a welder, conveniently enough, because I
was taking welding classes inhigh school.
And so I promised my mombecause she was like dead set
against me joining the MarineCorps she, she wasn't really too
keen on me joining the military, but she kind of made me the
promise she's like, ok, I'llsupport you joining the military
if you join any other branchother than the Marine Corps.
And when I came home and saidhey, I'm joining the Marine
Corps, you know, we kind of wehad some mixed words.
(05:18):
But yeah, it was, you know so,my recruiter.
He guaranteed me one of twojobs and he said I could be, you
know, you pick two jobs.
So I promised my mom, because Iwas her only natural born son,
that I would not pick a combatrelated MOS.
So I picked a welder or combatengineer.
I figured, combat engineer,that's kind of, you know,
(05:39):
splitting hairs at that point.
You know, yeah, I could getaway with that one.
And I ended up going throughMarine combat training and right
after that they issue your uh,your MOS and I was slated to be
a welder.
So that kind of that worked outperfect for me, cause I already
had somewhat of a backgroundrelated to welding because you
know I got certified when I wasin high school and then, um, you
know, they sent me up toAberdeen Maryland, to go through
(06:00):
additional training.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Very cool.
So you, did you happen to gothrough any training with any
Navy guys, any CBs that werewelders?
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Yes.
So, uh, up at Aberdeen,maryland, it was kind of it was
mixed.
So we had, um, we went toschool with, you know, we had
Army, Navy, air Force, marineCorps, I think even a couple of
Coasties, um right there.
So you go through like thefirst couple of months, um kind
of months, with all thedifferent branches, and then the
last five, six weeks we went towhat's called Marine Unique so
(06:32):
we learned how to weld on armorplating.
The Air Force they split off,they learned how to do titanium.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
I'm not sure what the Army and the Navy did or the
Coast Guard, but everybody thelast portion of it they went to
their own, like specialty typetraining for the branch of
service that they enlisted in.
Oh cool, yeah, we had somethingsimilar.
So the builder school.
I was trained by an army guyand a civilian, but we had
everybody in the same class.
(06:59):
We had, um, you know, army Navy.
We didn't have any Marines downthere, come to think about it.
We did have some Air Force, butwe didn't split off just
because building is building.
It's kind of carpentry is thesame, right.
So we didn't really specializeuntil you get to your battalion.
But that's neat.
So, jason man, you've got yourfingers in everything.
You got out of the Marine Corps.
(07:19):
I want to talk about that alittle bit.
You went back into welding.
But what do you do right now?
What would you say out?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
of the millions of things that you're doing, what
is considered your day job?
Oh man, it's weird because mybuddy, charlie Cross, labeled me
this one day as he wasintroducing me to somebody, and
he introduced me as anentrepreneur.
I was like, man, I'm not anentrepreneur.
And then I started thinkingabout it.
I was like, oh wait, yeah, Iguess I am.
So I set up my own weldingschool.
So we do short-term weldingtraining.
I got a school calledUnderground Metalworks.
(07:50):
My business partner and I he'sa retired Navy chief we set up a
short-term welding school for,essentially for home hobbyists,
makers, diyers and stuff likethat.
I also set up another businesscalled Weldworks Training Center
that specializes in weldprocedure development and
welding certifications.
We're also an accreditedtesting facility through the
American Welding Society.
(08:11):
And then, in addition to allthat, I run the Arc Junkies
podcast, which is, you know, anLLC.
That's also, I guess that's thethird business that I kind of
operate.
So I guess you could sayentrepreneur, but everything is
kind of centered around theworld of welding.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Yeah, I'd say a lot of people know you from arc
junkies.
Um, I'm a listener myself.
If, if you guys haven't checkedthat out, awesome show, um, I,
I really appreciate just thewide breadth of people that you
have on there.
You got, you know, metalartists.
You've got people that areengineers, inspectors, teachers,
like yourself, um, but yeah so,so, entrepreneur, I'd say
that's a fair assessment, that'sa fair label to put on you,
(08:47):
because you kind of got involvedin everything.
So where's the school at?
We discussed that a little bit.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
So we're located in Orlando Florida.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Very cool.
And so what do you guys offerdown there?
Speaker 2 (09:01):
So basically we do a one-week course.
We cover stick welding, migwelding, tig welding on steel,
stainless and aluminum.
We touch on flux core, a littlebit of spool gun for aluminum,
and then I run, uh, weekendclasses as well.
So we have a weekend mig classand a weekend tig class, and
then I have a nighttime trackthat kind of emulates the
daytime program, but they onlymeet twice a week, tuesdays and
(09:23):
thursdays, 6 pm to 9 pm, andthat class goes for six total
weeks for a total of 12 sessions.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Cool.
So would you say that you seemore of people like myself that
are mainly interested in justhey, I want to weld on the side,
or do you also get a fairamount of folks that want to do
this as a career?
Speaker 2 (09:43):
It's a good mix.
So every class is a little bitdifferent.
It's each class is kind of madeup of you know, I usually get
one home hobbyist, an artist,somebody that's recently retired
or getting ready to retire, andthen somebody that's kind of
wanting to take a weldingprogram out for a test drive.
You know, so, like, if you wantto take a welding class, that
can be a big commitment.
You know, if you don't knowthat you definitely want to get
(10:05):
into this industry, if you kindof like just want to dip your
toes in it to see, if you wantto spend, you know, 15, $20,000
on a welding education andanywhere from six months to 18
months out of your life going toschool full time.
You know, come down, take aclass for a week and see if you
actually like welding.
You know, see if you like theenvironment you're going to be
working in, the tools you'regoing to be messing around with.
(10:26):
You know, all the safetyaspects.
So it's been a good mix of, youknow, people from all different
backgrounds, that everybody'sgot a different goal when they
come in the program.
And the cool thing is, now thatI own and run the program, I
can focus in on what everybodyis there for, whereas if you go
to a traditional welding program, you know they've got a set
curriculum.
There's a guideline, a contentcalendar, whatever.
(10:47):
You've got to follow that to aT.
You know I've had students comedown they're like, hey, I want
to take the week-long class butI don't want to do this process,
or I'd really like to, you know, spend a little bit more time
in this process.
Each station is capable ofdoing everything that we teach
the program, so it's kind ofeasy to cater different
(11:11):
processes to the folks that arecoming in?
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Yeah, neat.
Well, hold me accountable, man,because I want to come down
there and take the TIG class, atleast at a minimum.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
So I would assume these are not just folks coming
from Florida.
What's the furthest you've seensomebody travel to take a class
with you?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
I had two guys come down from Connecticut.
Oh, cool, yeah, they drove downand they brought their dog
Meatball so they're brothers.
And the one guy brought his dogdown Meatball and he's an
American pocket bully, one ofthe coolest dogs I've ever seen.
Man, I'm a big fan of dogs, Ilove dogs, but this was like one
of the coolest dogs ever.
Uh, just great personality anddemeanor.
But yeah, they drove all the waydown from Connecticut to take
this program because one of themhad taken a class with
(11:51):
Stephanie.
So the program used to belocated in Fork River or
Forkwood River, new Jersey, andI bought it from Stephanie
Hoffman and moved it down toOrlando, florida, but they had
already the brother had alreadytaken that class and he's like,
well, he was telling his brotheryou know how, you know how much
of a good time that he had andall the stuff that he learned.
And then he found out that, oh,the program moved all the way
down to Orlando.
So he got his brotherinterested and they just decided
(12:13):
to, uh, to drive all the waydown and take the class for a
week.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Man, I would say the class price also is extremely
reasonable.
Um, so, if anybody's listeningand they're interested in that,
I would love it if you couldmake like a satellite program in
Texas.
That'd be a little easier on mywallet, but I would love to
come down there and you know yougot universal studios and
everything down there.
So take the whole family, makea deal out of it.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Yeah, I've had some folks come down that you know
they stayed like in the Tampaarea, uh.
But the one, the gentleman, hecame down from Pennsylvania.
He was a small business ownerand he just wanted to get more
proficient at stick welding.
So that's kind of what wefocused in on that week and then
we did some open routeapplications but he just wanted
to come down and take theprogram so he brought his entire
family down.
You know they were doing youknow fun stuff to do in Central
(12:58):
Florida in the evening and thenhe would come back in and do the
day class, you know during theday.
And then that weekend they wentout and hit up some of the
theme parks and stuff.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
If my wife listens to this episode you heard it first
Help me out, there's plenty oftime to go to the theme parks
and take a welding class.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I'll have you out the door by three, 30.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Nice.
Yeah, she doesn't even listento this, though, my wife doesn't
listen to my podcast either.
Um, so let's back up.
You go, so you welded beforeyou got into the Marine Corps
and, uh, as you're getting out,I mean, was this something on
your mind that you wanted to goback into welding, were you not
sure?
Speaker 2 (13:34):
I had.
Honestly, I had no idea, Like I, we just got back from a
deployment in Iraq and I wasright up against my EAS when I
came back uh, you know,including my terminal leave I
came back, went to SIF, turnedin all my gear, went through
steps and taps, did that wholenine yards and then I got out
and I really didn't have a plan,because my original plan was to
re-enlist.
And shortly before I left Iraq,I was like you know what?
(13:58):
I had some issues while I wasover there, Nothing too bad, but
I was like you know what?
I've completely changed mytrajectory.
I'm going to, I'm going to getout of the military, I'm going
to go back home, and so myimmediate first thought was I'm
going to get into lawenforcement.
One of the things I alwayswanted to be when I was growing
up was, you know, I knew Iwanted to go military, and the
other professions that I wasthinking about was either a
police officer or a lawyer.
(14:19):
There's a lot of readinginvolved with it and I'm not a.
I like pictures.
You know, I'm a Marine, right.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
I eat crayons and stuff, so you know pictures are
great.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
But you know I got back and I think I was getting
ready to apply for OrlandoPolice Department and the Orange
County Sheriff's Office andlike the pay was ridiculously
low and I was like man you'retelling me I got to get shot at
for $28,000 a year.
I was like that's not going towork.
Yeah, I was making more.
When I got out of the militaryI was like I got to find
something to you know,equivalent to you know what I
(14:50):
was doing in the military.
And so I just started goingthrough the classified ads
because that's kind of how youwould find a job.
You know, back around 2005, youjust open up the local paper
and there was a shop hiring.
They were looking for somebodythat could do aluminum spool gun
work.
And I was like man, I just gotdone welding howitzers, you know
, out in the middle of thefreaking desert for, you know,
months on end.
You know I'm pretty handy witha spool gun.
(15:12):
So you know I applied, wentdown there and you know they put
me to work right out of thegate.
I think having my background inthe military definitely helped.
You know you got discipline,leadership, integrity, all that
stuff.
That kind of helps out, looksgood on a resume, and I started
off with this company doinghandrails and putting in stairs
and stuff like that.
Well, it turns out they weren'ta stair and handrail company,
(15:33):
that's just one of the jobs thatthey had.
They were actually a structuralsteel ironworking company, and
so when we got done with thestairs and handrails or when we
slowed down with that, they putme out with these other crews
doing structural steel and so Ikind of I just kind of fell into
iron work that way and I I fellin love with that.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Iron workers are definitely a special breed, so
I'm sure you fit right ingetting out of the service.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
I love.
I love our iron workers.
Um, so I got a question abouttaps real quick.
It seems like everybody hastheir own kind of take on it, or
what did they talk about whenyou got out?
Did they mention this industrywhatsoever?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Not really.
I want to say like the onlything I remember from Seps and
taps was they were like okay,you got to kind of transition
from being in the military.
So you know, drop off all themilitary jargon.
You know all the acronyms andstuff that we use.
Don't use the F word like it'sa comma.
You know went through like someof that stuff.
I think they went over like howto write a resume or some of
(16:37):
the transferable skills we hadbecause we're in the military,
like very general.
And then they gave us a bunchof pamphlets and brochures.
Again, I'm not big on reading, Ilike pictures about some of the
benefits you know for throughthe VA and some of the different
programs that were out there.
But it wasn't, I don't know.
I think they could have done amuch better job.
I think Seps and Taps was intotal five days.
I think it was like two daysfor Seps and three days for Taps
or something to that effect orvice versa.
(17:00):
But the military spent, you know, four years turning me into a
Marine right and then they spentfive days trying to turn me
into a civilian.
Yeah, to try and reprogramsomebody within five days and
set them on a path to successwhen they get out.
You know, I think there shouldbe a lot more.
It should be a lot more timeand effort put into that, and I
(17:23):
think they're changing a lot ofthat now.
I know there's programs likeOperation Next and you know
they've got all these differentprograms where you can get out
and you can get into a tradeschool the last six months of
your enlistment and you can golearn a skilled trade.
I think you know that that'sdefinitely a step in the right
direction.
Or you know you can starttaking college classes prior to
your EAS.
You know, I think that'sdefinitely something that more
(17:44):
people should be takingadvantage of as they're trying
to transition out, becausethere's a lot of things that you
know they don't cover.
In steps and taps you lose yourentire network.
You know, like once you EAS,like your buddies from you know
they're not calling you, yourfire team's not calling you,
your platoon's not checking inon you.
No-transcript.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Yeah, we had.
Uh, ours was pretty quick too.
I don't I don't think it wasduring taps, but I do recall
like getting out it was well,you know, you're going to end up
digging a ditch or you're goingto end up in construction.
That wasn't what people wantedto do at the time.
So, a lot of it when I got outI got out in 2011, a lot of it
was like it and I didn't want todo that whatsoever.
And I hear you with the fivedays, like there's a lot to cram
(18:35):
into that.
And skill bridge is one of thoseprograms I think you're talking
about too, where they get theinternship.
Uh, that was not around when Iwas in.
I'm sure it wasn't around whenyou were in, no Um, but yeah,
they're, they're doing a lotbetter, and that was kind of the
impetus of why I started theshow was just to expose people
to this industry and just howbeneficial it can be.
So I want to ask how do youthink you listed some of those
(18:56):
soft skills?
But how do you think yourservice really helped you to get
to where you're at today?
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I think just the impression that people have, you
know, from military folks inthe blue collar world you know
mostly construction.
They're very patriotic people,you know.
So they really appreciate yourservice.
As soon as they find out you'rein the military, you know
they're oh, thank you for yourservice.
So when you walk in and youhave that listed on your resume,
they're like oh, I already knowright off the bat that this
(19:21):
person's going to show up,they're going to do a good job.
I'm not going to have to explainthings a hundred times or you
know why we need to do things,I'm going to be able to.
They're mission oriented, likegive me the mission, give me my
materials, or let me know whatmy materials are, the logistics,
and I'm going to go, I'm goingto handle the mission Right, um,
(19:41):
so I think a lot of people theysee that and they anticipate
that and they expect that frompeople when they, when they
bring them in from the military.
Uh, so I mean, that'sdefinitely something you want to
have listed on your resume.
I probably didn't need to listall the stuff that I did while I
was in the military Because,like I said, most of the blue
collar folks they're verypatriotic.
So as soon as they see that ona resume like they want you to
come work for them.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Yeah, I think one piece of advice I got that
really stuck out to me was atleast quantify, uh, what you did
, like how many.
You know how many linear feetof this type of well did you do?
But what I was doing was okay,we built this many square feet
of logistical housing or we didthis.
I quantified that kind of stuffso I was like you had.
I can go into every singlelittle detail, but it was at
(20:24):
least.
I wanted people to see thenumbers and that might.
You're right that it comes, uh,getting out of the service.
It comes with that, with thatautomatic level of respect,
which 98% of the people that getout of the service are probably
very good, upstanding people.
We know some knuckleheads, I'msure you do.
Oh yeah, but yeah, there's thatautomatic expectation of, okay,
(20:46):
this person is going to be ontime.
One thing I was taught as we'retalking.
This reminded me that one of mychiefs, when I was in.
He said something to the effectof hey, look like, if you screw
up, just take responsibility,Just don't have excuses.
Look, you sucked, you didsomething wrong, just own up to
it.
And that's helped me personallyin my professional career as
(21:06):
well.
As hey, I'm not going to dothat again.
I screwed up, I didn't know itwas an accident, and move on.
And I think there's a lot ofpeople that are afraid to do
that Like they're afraid of therepercussions.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
No, a hundred percent .
That's the first thing I dowhen I screw something up.
I'd go to the boss man and tellhim myself hey, I, you know I
screwed this up.
Or you know I wasn't payingattention and this happened.
And like I would go tell himmyself just because, like same
thing you were, you know youwere saying don't try to hide it
.
You know, if you screw up, youknow, just make it known it's,
you know, a lot easier.
That way you build a lot moretrust, that way.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Yeah, I mean, in our industry too.
I'd rather I own up to it thanlike an inspector find it or an
architect or engineer find it.
Hey look, man, I got to, I gotto fix this.
I know what I did, I got to fixit.
So, uh, if you, if you came outof the service again, we're
backing up, um, do you think youwould go straight into welding?
Or do you think, knowing whatyou know now, you might've taken
(22:02):
maybe a different path?
Maybe not outside of welding asa whole, but instead of going
to like ironwork and what youdid, do you think you would take
a different path?
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Knowing what I know now.
No, I probably would've jumpedin a little bit harder, uh, just
, I probably would have startedlooking for structural steel,
iron work.
Yeah, it's kind of different.
Everybody's got like adifferent path when they get out
.
But I mean I really enjoyed the, you know, getting into the
welding industry.
I mean, like I said, it'ssomething that I had before I
got in the military, never as aprofession, just more as a skill
(22:32):
set, never as a profession,just more as a skill set.
And then while I was in themilitary, I mean it was a super
valuable skill set to havebecause you got folks from all
over the base, you know, comingto get stuff repaired and fixed,
uh, so it makes you feelvaluable.
And you know like, welding'staken me so many different
places, uh, and I've done somany cool things and met so many
awesome people that I Icouldn't see myself doing
anything other than welding.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
So I'm going to call you out on the spot.
So tell me like the coolestspot you think you've been or
the coolest job that you got todo.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Well, because of welding, I got to go to the Sun
and Fun Air Show and I got toride in like an antique T6
airplane with the AeroShellacrobatic team, oh cool.
So Lincoln Electric asked me.
They were like hey, can you dosome weld demos at our tent and
everything like this, where, youknow, we've got a booth set up
for the distributors are sellingequipment and you know, oh yeah
(23:21):
, by the way, we sponsored theaeroshell acrobatic team and we
have a couple of spots.
If you want to jump in one ofthese airplanes, like you know I
can, I can probably get you aseat.
At the time I was like, yeah, no, I'm really not interested in
that.
Then I got to thinking about itand I was like, you know what,
screw it.
Yeah, let's, let's do thisthing.
So I got to go, I got to gowith them and they did like
their whole show, you know.
(23:41):
So we got to do like the barrelrolls and the loops and all
that stuff and you, you look outand the other plane industry
and met some of the connectionsthat I had.
I don't think I would have beenable to, you know, ever do that
.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Yeah, that's neat.
Yeah, I don't think a lot ofpeople realize just how many
opportunities are out there.
Like I got to go overseas for ayear on contract to Germany.
My wife and I had just gottenmarried, so we got to explore
Europe.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
What are, what are some of the cool places that
you've heard some other weldersgo and do?
I had a buddy when I was in theiron workers.
He got slated to go to Belgium,uh, brussels, to go do some
welding on uh Inconel.
So he had to do a bunch oftests prior to leaving here uh
to prove that he was proficient,you know, before they put him
on an airplane and sent him overthere.
But I want to say he was overthere for like six months and
like once a month they would flyhis wife over and you know they
could go tour around thecountry and all that stuff.
Um, I mean, that'd be a kind ofa cool trip.
(24:40):
You know that welding enabledhim to uh to have it.
You know, an experience likethat.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Yeah, Very cool.
Yeah, there's a lot out therefor folks, uh, that are in the
trades and you know, when you'vegot bigger cities like I'm I'm
just South of Dallas and Dallasis booming, so I know there are
some people.
I'd say it's a mixed bag.
There's some people that dowant to go out and see the world
, Uh, but there's also peoplethat want to stay close to home.
But I've heard you talkpreviously on your show it's.
(25:06):
You know, a lot of guys chasethe money early on and that's
fine.
I would say, if you're going tochase the money, definitely do
it while you're young.
You know you don't havecommitments, or maybe it's just
you and a spouse, but there aresome good jobs close to home too
, if you know.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
If that's, if money's not the goal, I guess yeah,
yeah, you can make a lot ofmoney going out on the road and
doing it.
But, like you said, you know,do that while you're young,
while you don't have anycommitments, while you're not
tied down before you get marriedand start a family and all that
stuff, because then it's twiceas hard, because then you're
constantly leaving your familyto go out and put food on the
table and then you you get usedto making this money and you
(25:42):
kind of start living thisspecific lifestyle.
Now you have to maintain thosefunds coming in to live that
lifestyle, but you're never home.
You're constantly working tosupport your family back at home
, you know, to pay off the house, the nice truck, all that other
stuff that goes along with it.
Um, do that stuff while you'reyoung and save it up Like
there's.
I've met so many welders outthere that they go out there and
they make ridiculous money foryears on end and they just piss
(26:06):
it all away, you know, whilethey're out there on the road.
They buy the brand new dually.
Yeah, they just they waste alltheir money and then they come
back and they got nothing toshow for it.
But if you put that money aside, you know I've had a financial
advisor come on my show a coupleof times and talk about you
know, here's how to set up awill and trust.
Here's how to set up lifeinsurance.
Here's how to save up money andpay off debt.
And you know, be smart andfinancially intelligent with
(26:26):
your money versus.
You know, just spending it onjust because you got the money
doesn't mean you need to spendit.
You know.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Yeah, now, that's wise having that out there,
cause you know, I don't know,when you were in, it's like the
financial stuff was available,but I don't know if many of us
actually took advantage of itand went and sought out a
financial advisor.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
No, I should have though.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Yeah, no, dude, amen, especially with the uh like
deployment pay you get back.
I bought like a guitar and abrand new computer.
I didn't know how to invest mymoney or save it, and you know,
speaking of the travel too, it'snot like the money's bad, close
to home it's.
It's not a bad living, andthat's, that's welding, that's
really any trade you want totalk about, like getting into
overtime pay, um, or when I saytravel, sometimes that travel,
(27:08):
uh, the companies will have that, that limit of okay, if you're
driving over 50 miles you'regoing to get some sort of per
diem.
50 miles in Dallas is like anhour drive, so it's bonkers.
I'm saying that from experience.
I'm 52 miles from the job siteright now and it's roughly an
hour to get there.
So some companies have that, wedon't, but some companies have
that per diem.
(27:29):
So, man, you could still behome every day having dinner
with your family and makingreally good pay.
So if you went back in thisjourney, so you know pre-Marine
Corps after the Marine Corps, toget where you got, do you think
there's anything maybe youwould have?
I know you said you would justlike go all out, but is there
(27:50):
anything you think you wouldhave tweaked and given some
advice to somebody younger oryour younger self that might've
taken you on that path a littlequicker.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
It's hard.
I probably would have likegetting even though I had
welding skills going into themilitary and then, you know, I
got trained as a welder in themilitary.
I think going back thatprobably would have put me on a
much faster track to successwould be to go to a trade school
as soon as you get out of themilitary, even though I had all
the you know, the skills and theknowledge and the abilities and
(28:21):
stuff going to another school.
I think that would have helpedme develop another network.
It would have given me time toperfect and hone my craft and it
would get.
It would have given me moreopportunities, because a lot of
schools they start with jobplacement.
You know.
So where I was going through ayou know a newspaper trying to
find something you know locallyin the area that I could go out
and you know, work, um, goingthrough a trade school, they,
(28:43):
they provide you with moreoptions.
You know I just there wasn'tmany options in the classified
section.
But going through a school, uh,working with a career counselor
and all that stuff, plus, youknow, stacking up industry
recognized certifications andstuff like that, learning how to
do it as a civilian versus, youknow, being in the military.
I think that would have put meon a much faster track than kind
of fumbling through it.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Yeah, that's smart and you know the programs like
they have.
Now, if I were to go back Imean if you're doing a full time
program let's say I wanted tobe a welder and I wanted to do a
skill bridge program, but I wasgoing to go school full-time
trade school full-time.
How long would it take somebodybefore they come out as a
certified welder?
Speaker 2 (29:24):
It really depends.
I taught at a college for aboutnine years well, between two
colleges for about nine yearsand when I left we had set up a
new program that was 28 weekslong.
So the students would come toclass from 7.30 to 2.30 every
day, monday through Thursday,and they could knock out the
program in 28 weeks and theycould get multiple
certifications while they werein there.
(29:46):
That's with STIC, mig, tig,fluxcore.
You know, like, all thedifferent processes, all the
different positions.
You know probably probablyabout six weeks, but I know
there's other programs thatthey're full-time for 18 months.
So it just depends on whatschool you get into.
You know what their reputationis and things of that nature,
but I would say anywhere fromsix months to a year.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Yeah, so you, you pretty much do have the
opportunity.
You could do a skill bridgeprogram or something of that
type and possibly get out.
You know, have the opportunity.
You could do a skill bridgeprogram or something of that
type and possibly get out.
You know, have enough schooland, like you said, there's
stuff as small as six weeks orshort of six weeks, Uh, so they
could in theory, do a school andget right to work within that
six month period if they reallywanted to.
Yeah, yeah, it's like a nobrainer man and there's, there's
(30:32):
plenty of programs out there.
I know our electricians herelocally specifically.
They've got where they workduring the day and then they go
to their trade school, Uh, Ithink it's like two or three
nights out of the week.
So these guys, even though theskill bridge program doesn't pay
I think it's some weirdconflict of interest or
something the DOD won't pay you,uh, or they'll pay you but the
company can't pay you at thesame time, Something weird.
(30:52):
But it's free labor, I guess,for them.
Anyway, not getting into thepolitics of that, but so yeah,
it's man, I wish I had that whenI was back in.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Yeah, and I know that there's another program.
It might be part of the SkillsBridge, but I'm not sure exactly
what it's called.
But I had a student that he hadhis GI Bill and I lined him up
with a position with the ironworkers union when he graduated
my program.
So he'd already went through 44weeks of the program that I had
been teaching.
That was the program previousto our six month track, uh.
So he went through the class 44weeks to join the iron workers
(31:24):
union.
They were going to start themoff as an apprentice.
Well, because he had the GIbill, the GI bill would pay him
the difference between, uh, hisapprenticeship pay and
journeyman scale for all thehours that he would work.
So I think he just had tosubmit his hours and stuff like
that and then the VA would.
They would pay him thedifference between
apprenticeship scale andjourneyman scale, which is like
six, seven bucks an hour.
(31:45):
You know you add that up for 40hours a week Plus.
You know, most of the time whenyou got with the iron workers
union, that's kind of where Iended up right around 2010.
You know it's probably $6, $7an hour difference.
We were working 50, 60, 70hours a week.
I mean there was times we weregoing out there working 7-12s,
so banging lots of overtime.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Well, in theory too, I guess you could use.
Man, I'm having a brain fartwith the funds tuition
assistance.
I mean because I used I got alot of my basic, like community
college classes, out of the waywith funds, uh, tuition
assistance.
I mean cause I I used I got alot of my basic like, uh,
community college classes out ofthe way, uh, with my tuition
assistance, which was free, itdidn't, it didn't pull out of
your GI bill.
So I guess there's apossibility if you find the
right school, you could startdoing night school while you're
(32:28):
in and, in theory, you could getout, as you know, a car hauling
, welder or carpenter.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Yeah, that's a good possibility, as long as they got
a school.
In your area we did have a guythat was active duty Marines and
I think he was on some programwhere he had six months because
I think he had to go back liketwo weeks before graduation, but
he had already completed all ofhis coursework.
So I mean he was pretty muchgraduated at that point.
He just wasn't going to bearound for the ceremony.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Yeah, it's wild man.
There's a ton of opportunityout there now, for sure.
Yeah, that was not there adecade plus ago.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
No, and I mean, and that's that's, that's a good
thing, because it's it's gettingbetter.
You know it's it's never goingto be perfect, but it's always,
it's continuously getting better, which is, you know, a step in
the right direction.
For years, we did a horriblejob of taking care of our
veterans and it's still notgreat, but it's definitely
getting better.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Yeah, yeah, man, and I think that's like guys in our
generation that are seeing theway that we transitioned out and
didn't have a ton of thatopportunity at least not that we
knew of but we're the onesreally pushing for that now.
So I'm definitely seeing achange.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
So I want to take a turn and talk about mental
health a little bit.
Obviously it's a.
It's a massive problem withinmilitary and it's also a huge
problem in the constructionindustry.
Um, so if we've got vets oranybody really listening, that's
just the industry.
I say it almost every episode.
It'll eat you alive if you letit.
Uh, because there's a lot oftough personalities, there's
(33:55):
long hours, there's a lot ofdifficulty, it's rough on your
body.
If you had somebody that's justkind of struggling and trudging
to get along or go day by day,what would you say to them?
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Find somebody to reach out to.
A lot of times, especially menprior service and in
construction, especially menprior service and in
construction we're the last onesto talk about our feelings.
So when you start heading downthat dark path, go find a
counselor or find a battle buddythat you can confide in.
Find somebody to talk to.
If you keep that stuff inside,you try to battle all those
(34:29):
demons yourself.
I mean, we're losing north of22 a day to suicide.
You take a transition out of themilitary.
You add construction industryon top of that, like you were
saying, with long hours, thedemanding work, the physical
task that's on your body, otherbad habits to get into, to kind
(34:56):
of cope with what they'refeeling inside or, you know,
mental thoughts or anything likethat.
Go find somebody to talk to.
The VA has a lot of greatresources.
They can link you up with amental health counselor.
It's not a sign of weakness toreach out and ask for help and I
think that's the biggest hangupis to know I'll do it myself.
Well, you have to know when toask for help and don't be
ashamed.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
That's a good point.
Yeah, our common joke at workis I'm like well, I'm a
superintendent, I don't havefeelings.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Yep, leave your feelings at the house and all
that stuff, yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
But thankfully, some of the guys I came up under
before I became a super, theguys the superintendents I
worked for were, I mean, justgood dudes and hey, how's your
home life, man?
What's going on?
And they could tell you know,you wear it on your face.
So, yeah, some of thesuperintendents that I came up
under, the guys were really cool, like, hey, if you need to take
a day off, then take a day off,man, just just chill out.
(35:48):
We can tell you're wearing iton your face.
Um, I, I, I never understood theconcept of what I got.
You know, a hundred PTO daysstored up Like that sucks, man.
I met your personal life ishorrible, dude, take care of
your personal life first.
We, especially you know now, asI got three kids, so as a dad
and as a husband, like stuffhappens man, kids get injured or
(36:09):
you got big family events.
So I think that's the one thingis we don't focus very well in
this industry on the, on the uh,the at-home life, cause we're
mostly construction folks, arevery type A and, especially
being a veteran, we want to getit done, get after it as hard as
we can, but we tend to let thefamily fall by the wayside.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
So, yeah, there's a lot of ego and pride involved in
that.
And, you know, taking time offfrom work whether it's vacation,
paid time off, sick days, likeI think I took maybe three days
since I got out of the military,I think I've had three sick
days and that's because mycompany that I was working for
they're like no, you have tostay home until you get a
doctor's note to return.
I had the flu, but other than Imean, had they not barred me
(36:51):
from coming into the facilitylike I would have been at work.
You know, sick, tired, whatever, not taking vacation time it's
a, you know, a sense of pride.
You know you've got.
You want to complete that job,you want to complete that task,
you want to be there for yourteammates.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
Yeah for sure.
Yeah, I get that.
I think what I'm getting afteris that I would much rather that
individual come back likehealthy and whole and then they
can really get after it, thanjust kind of trudging along and
then all of a sudden they snap,cause I've been there too, man,
um, and I've had colleagues ofmine that they take a sick day
because and these are fellowvets they took a sick day Cause
(37:26):
they're like look, my head's notin the right spot.
I don't want to snap on anybody.
Okay, cool man, I totallyrespect that, especially as a
fellow vet Like I.
Get that, take your time.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Yeah you got to know your limitations.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Oh, 100% yeah.
And two, I would say humbleyourself If somebody else is
calling it on you, because I'vehad that happen to me as well.
If somebody else is callingthat on you like, hey man, maybe
you should take a couple daysoff, like if they're seeing it,
it's bad, and if you're notseeing it, at that point, like
you should probably just suck itup and listen to them and don't
complain about getting a coupleof days off free, you know.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Right.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
So the big purpose behind the show is I'm trying to
encourage people, as they'regetting out of the service or
anybody out there listening toget into this industry.
What would you say, like you'refinding joy in, specifically
like actually doing the welding.
What would you say you find joyin and that you can encourage
other people to want to jointhis industry?
Speaker 2 (38:24):
I'd say just the work that I'm doing.
I mean you leave behind a senseof pride.
You're building somethingtangible.
You know you get in.
I always use the analogy of anaccountant, like nobody cares
about the spreadsheets they'reputting together.
You know you get the finalnumbers and you're done and it's
, you know, just a document thatlives on a computer somewhere.
(38:45):
But when I go out and I erect abuilding, or you know, have a
hand in putting a theme parktogether, or you know welding up
something for the neighbor downthe street, like you leave a
piece of yourself in everyproject that you're doing.
There's a sense of pride to beable to, you know, say that hey,
I worked on that or I builtthat or I did that.
Uh, I think my kids and my wifethey kind of get tired of
hearing it because we'll driveall around central Florida I say
you see that building I builtthat.
You see that handrail, daddybuilt that, you know.
(39:06):
Like we go to the theme parks,you see that that poster leaning
up on that gate, you know daddybuilt that, you know.
So I remember all the stuffthat I got to work on and you
know your, your legacy.
Essentially, I mean welds lastforever.
If they're, if they're put inright and nobody you know does a
demo on it, that stuff's goingto be there for you know, it's
going to stand the test of time.
(39:27):
So you're, you're leavingbehind a legacy, so it's
something you can put your, yourpride into.
And one thing about welding isit's very therapeutic.
So you know, no matter whatI've got going on inside my head
, as soon as I flip my hood down, everything else goes away.
I can turn everything off assoon as that little arc lights
up on the inside of the hood,like nothing else matters, it's
just me and that molten ball ofmetal.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
Yeah, I know you've talked about it in the past and
I've talked about it withbuddies on my show.
It's kind of like jujitsu, andso when you're in that position
and you're getting pummeled likethere's nothing else you can
really even think about.
If you wanted to and I wouldliken that to welding too you
drop the hood and I got toconcentrate on this.
So I can't even I don't havethe bandwidth to focus on
(40:10):
anything else about, you know,except for what I'm doing right
now.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
Yeah, especially like going to work in the shop, you
know I put my headphones in,find a specific group or you
know song that I want to listento and just kind of go to town.
I'm off in my own little world.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Yeah, I love it.
Well, I want to give you sometime, man, to give any kind of
plugs that you want to.
You're a pretty busy guy.
So we've got the podcast, yougot the school.
We talked a little bit aboutthat.
Anything that you want to sayabout?
Speaker 2 (40:37):
those.
Yeah, if you guys, uh, ifyou're interested in welding,
come check out the arc junkiespodcast.
I put out new episodes everyMonday.
Uh, I do dabble in YouTube justa little bit.
You know.
A couple of those episodes areavailable on YouTube.
If you're a visual type person,um, and then if you're
interested in taking classes atunderground metalworks, you can
go to underground hyphenmetalworkscom classes in Orlando
(40:57):
.
We have uh classes scheduledall the way out to end of 2024.
Uh, some, there's somethingthere for everybody, and I think
that's pretty much it.
And if you're, if you're comingdown to fab tech, we're doing
an arcs and ales event at thepub on the 17th, I believe, uh,
so you know, come out and have adrink, rank, uh, you know, meet
(41:21):
up.
And then we're doing awell-porned blue demon meet up
on the uh the 15th, I believe,that's that tuesday over at hard
rock live at universal citywalk cool.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Yeah, I don't have enough pto saved up.
I don't think to come down.
Fabtech man, I wish next yearmaybe yeah, next year I'll be in
chicago oh nice.
Yeah, chicago is a good one.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
I'm hoping that they keep, or in the rotation.
We'll see, though.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Yeah, I'm sure you are.
Yeah, it would be the firsttime it's ever been in Orlando.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
So, uh, I prefer the Orlando show, even though I
haven't been to it yet, overAtlanta, just cause, uh, not a
big fan of that city.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
Um, I mean it's you don't want to come to Dallas,
(42:13):
then, man, Trust me.
Yeah, Imagine out there thateven just wants to get into
welding on the side.
Check out those videos, checkout the school.
Uh, between Jason, Stephanie,there's a handful of really good
people out there putting outsome really good content and
it's it's helped a dummy like me, who's a carpenter, pick up a
mid gun and be able to at leaststick two pieces of metal
together.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
That's the goal Make every well better than your last
.
Yes, sir, you got the tattoo.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
I got the shirt Exactly Awesome, Jason.
I appreciate it.
Man, Thank you so much fortaking your time out and
chatting with me.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Oh Scott, it's been a blast man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
All right brother.
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