Marine Takes Combat Experiences to the Professional Executive Protection Realm with Byron Rodgers

Episode Transcript
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KP (00:03):
In the military, you're given a uniform and instructed
on how to do things and when todo them. But what happens when
the cadence fades and you're nolonger wearing that uniform? I'm
Kp and I started this podcast tofill that silence with direction
and to provide overall supportfor my beloved military family.

(00:25):
Welcome to the Morningformation. This episode is
powered by act now education, goto www.actnoweducation.com For
free, comprehensive educationalresources and opportunities for
active duty, veterans, militaryspouses and children.

Byron Rodgers (00:47):
While I do executive protection, it's not
that I just protect executives,I protect celebrities, I protect
High Net Worth families, Iproject sometimes, valuables you
know, and sometimes you know,I've flown around the country in
a private jet protecting Botoxand the scientists you know.

KP (01:13):
Warriors fall in, it's time for formation. Today I'm joined
with a Marine Corps combatveteran who transitioned into
being a private securityprofessional after his service
in the military. Hisprofessional accolades don't
stop there. He's also the hostof the best private security
podcast available on thedownloadable market. And it's
called executive protectionlifestyle.

(01:35):
He is certainly a must follow onall of his social media
accounts, because his content isnot only entertaining, but the
captions themselves explain thesafety and security lessons to
be learned from that content.
Since his transition out of theMarines, he's worked in over 60
countries all across the world,and has worked with countless
different various types ofdemographics out there.

(02:01):
The person that I have today,the professional that I have
today is also the owner of hisown security business called
Bravo research group. So today,I am absolutely honored to be
joined with Mr. Byron Rogers.
Welcome to the Morningformation, sir, bro, what's

up, brother? Hey, man, it's an honor. And that
intro was super dope to bescientific about it. As real
clean, man. Thank you. Thanksfor having me, man.

KP (02:25):
You know, it's easy to have that type of intro when you're
interviewing a professional hasbeen has done so much over the
over the entirety of his career.
I mean, honestly, you've beeninto the military, you own your
own business, you're an author,you're on podcast, you're on
every social media platform outthere putting out some great
content.

(02:46):
So a guy's like you make it easyfor me to give that type of
intro. So thank you for givingme your time today. And just to
start things off, Biron lookingback at your time, specifically
in combat. Looking back now,what are your thoughts on the
leadership lessons that yougained during your deployments?

(03:07):
And how does it all complementand fit in with what you're
doing today?

Man, that's awesome. I was actually speaking
with another Marine who's in aleadership position today in a
major company, private securityfirm out there in the game. And,
you know, one of the things Iknow I took with me from the
Marine Corps is true welfareman.
True welfare. You're only asgood as the guys you serve with

(03:35):
and that you have, that you'reon the ground with, as a
manager, and as a leader, weretasked with driving results
through other human beings. Andmy, the metric that really
denotes how effective I am, haseverything to do with the
quality of the work product, Ican drive through other human

(03:56):
beings who are not with me mostof the time.
And so understanding how to getthese guys to not just perform
but want to perform at a highlevel is really where everything
is where we win and where welose in this battle. And that
comes primarily from two thingsone, troop welfare, you guys

(04:16):
knowing that you reallylegitimately care about it. When
I get a guy in my company, Bravoresearch group, I'm like, Look,
dude, I'm here.
For better or for worse to helpyou with your future. I'm gonna
serve you as best I can. As aleader, I'm going to try and
create. I'm gonna try and createas much opportunity as I can
here. But ultimately, my goal isto develop you to become a

(04:37):
decision maker, a juggernaut, aleader here and you will
organically if I can't provideopportunities for elevation, you
organically move on to somethingthat's even better than what I
can offer. And that's gonna be agood day for me. And that's what
I'm all about. And while I havethose guys, because I don't want
to have a bunch of followers, Iwant to have a wolf pack full of
alphas.
I want to have a pride full ofalphas. So these guys have have

(05:00):
to be just as good as me whenI'm not there. I gotta sit, sit
in front of my client, look himin the eyes and say, Hey, I'm
gonna leave you with this guytonight. I'm gonna leave this
guy outside your house tonightinstead of me. And it's got to
be okay. Right. So that's thefirst thing. And then the second
thing is servant leadership man,like, I make sure everyone on my
team knows that everyone is aleader, everyone is a follower.

(05:20):
And you need to take pride inbeing able to wear either hat at
any given time, I serve my tribeby getting up being up overhead,
like the Air Force, makingdecisions, meeting with clients,
fighting for increases raises,improving the quality of the
program, improving the qualityof the training budget that we
have. And they cover me byrendering a high quality work

(05:41):
product every single day.
So my clients, principals,stakeholders, and customers have
nothing but confidence in whatit is we're doing, how we're
performing and executing. Sothey know their investment,
they're making a wiseinvestment, especially because
security doesn't make themmoney. Right? It's an insurance
policy, you know, so I have toshow them and I have to have

(06:02):
agents that are demonstratingvalue and selling security 24/7.
And I do that through focusingon true welfare, which is always
kind of weird.
A lot of guys that weren't inthe military, I was kind of
shocked by that. And thensecondly, I do it by servant
leadership, I serve you bymaking this a better environment
for you coming up with SOPs,fighting battles, in the in the

(06:24):
offices and with corporate thatyou guys don't have to fight
like, you know, having to carrybags and deal with, you know,
deal with the client's dogs andstuff.
You know, like, the stuff thatthey try to get us to do that
we're not supposed to do thetakeaway from the mission. I'm
fighting those battles,optimizing you guys serving you
this way. And I need you toserve me from the front by
executing on objectives, lettingme know what's going on out

(06:44):
there on the frontlines when wecan make decisions as a team and
meet the need and hopefully,avoid or meet the enemy. If and
when the time comes.

KP (06:55):
It's great answer man, you know, troop welfare and being a
servant leader actually had somecontent that I put out this week
on Instagram talking about beinga servant leader. And that's a
great exchange, though, youknow, honestly, just simply
caring about the individual andunderstanding that they're not
robots and they really, youknow, as long as they have as
long as they know that someone'sin their corner like vouching

(07:17):
for them and pushing for them tohave the best environment
possible, man, it's like you canask for a great leader.
So yeah, really appreciatereally appreciate what you
underline with air and

Thanks, bro.

KP (07:25):
You know, you know, Byron, man, I know for myself, you
know, I think back to my entirelife, professional life
experiences and even as a childgrowing up and, and, you know,
those teenage years, man, I, Ithink of a lot of those mile
markers, those lessons that I'velearned that contributed to who
I am today. So can you tell me atime that that you think about

(07:48):
often, or even today thatresonates with you, as far as a
lesson learned that might havecontributed to your
survivability, yourprofessionalism, or even though
your resiliency that you havetoday?

It's interesting, man, I wish I had a cooler one
come to mind. But um,realistically, man, what comes
to mind honestly, is the factthat you know, I love my
parents, they did a great job.
They did best they could I'm notmad at him or anything, but the
fact is, you don't have to spenda lot of time alone as a kid. So
my dad I was born in theBahamas, my dad was a prominent

(08:24):
businessman in the Bahamas, he'sin you know, some magazine is
one of more successfulbusinessman or whatever.
And, you know, my mom's singlemother, you know, middle class,
lower middle class. And so asthe man of the house back here
in the US, and in the US, youknow, like, I was often the only
so you know, Washington state,federal way, Des Moines,

(08:47):
and then eventually Gig Harboras a lot of Samoans a lot of
Tongans and I was often likekind of the only little black
chubby little black kid and thenwhen I go to the Bahamas, I was
you know, the only American andit was like a fat boy, you know,
the American Yeah, look at theAmerican, he's soft, you know,
so I had to fight like, all thelittle Bahamian kids in the
summer when I go live with mydad, I go fight all that Tongans

(09:09):
and stuff when I go back toWashington state, then I moved
to kind of a more preppier yourenvironment and I was like the
only white black dude and hasall white kids and they're all
extra nice. Honestly, it wasgreat. But you know, and then
when I go to the Bahamas, I'd bealone all the time.
And because my dad was always atwork, and you know, I go out and
spear fish by myself and I goout and like, you know, my dad

(09:29):
was a really strictdisciplinarian martial arts guy
started one of the first TACteams, tactical teams in the
Bahamas. Big private secure oneof the biggest private security
companies in the island. But youknow, I spent a lot of time
alone and it was just me and mygod and like, I don't know what
they were thinking like he gaveme a little boat and I'd be
like, I'm I'm like, eight, nineout in the ocean.

(09:53):
By myself spear fishing, though.
I'm fishing in my little dinghyout dude out there, bro. You
know My little electric engine,do it die on me. And I'd have to
swim it back, you know, like,getting thrown around by waves
and like, I spent so much timealone, but I realized really
quick, because all the likethings that kids usually have to
prop themselves up on are gone.

(10:15):
And so I just realized realearly in life, like, it's just
me and my God and mycapabilities and His grace, and
I need to be formidable, and Ineed to be resilient.
And eighth note, no one caresabout your feelings, all that
matters, in the end is what youcan achieve. And so i The young
age started to really be kindalike, You got to perform, you've

(10:38):
got to be able to do, you've gotto, you got to, if you want
something to get done, you gotto get in there, and you got to
you got to give God something towork with, which is your action,
you know. And so I, as a youngman, I just started to build in
that whole, like, hey, no one'scoming.
When God wants to get some doneon this planet, he sends a man
he sends a woman, and guesswhat, you're here, and he's
watching you, you know, to seewhat you're going to do with

(10:59):
these 50 trillion cells thatwork or the work, that we're
wearing this technology on thiscrazy ride called life that no
one has any idea what's evengoing on. All I know, is what I
can get done by the grace of Godwith this hard work in this
body.
And so I started to, you know,kind of live my life in that
way. And then it carried overinto, you know, when we're in

(11:20):
the military, you know, andeveryone's looking for a hero
looking for a champion, youknow, like, rounds are cracking
off and was like, looking like,what are we going to do, who's
going to do something, and Iwas, like, you know, what I
never wanted to be the one to, Inever wanted to be the one that
I found myself in a lot ofsituations happening to be
because if we stay, if we stopmoving, then stillness is death.
And so, you know, I had to, Ihad to get out in front of my

(11:42):
squad and make and get them inmotion by, you know, being the
guy who was going to kick in thedoor.
First, I had to, you know, I hadto really lean into that
throughout my life. And thenwhen I got out of the military,
I was like, Hey, so, you know,either you figure out this
equation, you find your newfight, you find your new
mission, or you just die tired,bro, and you were just a kind of

(12:04):
cool, kind of kinda cool, kindof funny dude, who just got out
and didn't freaking matter.
And you just do you startdrinking and whatever, and you
fade into darkness and nobodycares, man. So you want them to
care? You better win. Okay, andhow are you going to win hard
mother stinking work and so thatthat was really kind of that's
always been my ethos, man, otherpeople pray about it. Other

(12:25):
people, you know, ever youeither have results, or you have
good reasons. And I just turnedinto the type of person who was
like, I never been the biggestand never been the baddest never
been the smartest. No, I neveram. I'm 510 about 240. You know,
I'm not like that impressive.
But you know what, I'm gonnawork hard. And when I got blown
up in Iraq, and I had out ofbody experience, and I remember

(12:48):
praying and asking God for asecond chance at life when I was
like, like, in anotherdimension. And I just remember
saying, like, you know, what, Imay never be everything you
wanted me to be. But if you sentme back, I'm gonna go. And I
said this, I was like, I will goso hard in the paint. Like, I
will, I will go at this lifewith ever, I will never waste

(13:09):
this opportunity again. And sothat was kind of my phoenix
moment.
That really amplified it. And Iwhen I wake up in the morning at
4am, after going to bed at 11 Ithurts every single time, but it
hurts good because I am awarrior and I'm going to war
against weaker versions ofmyself. I'm going toward I'm
going to war with this life, youknow, to super impose my will in

(13:31):
alignment with the mission. Ibelieve I was sent here to
achieve

KP (13:37):
motivating, very motivating and I thank you, I love how
everything everything startedfor you. You know as a child
growing up and it's very similarto me as well, like my old man
was drafted in 71 for Vietnamwas a 20 year Army veteran
Ranger. Hardcore guy heavyhanded very strict, very

(13:58):
disciplined, and and I learnedlike at the end of the day,
nothing beats hard work. And Iwas zoned I wasn't the biggest
either man I football wrestledran track. I actually moved from
Hawaii to the state of Ohio whenI was 13. Yeah, and if you know
anything about the Midwest man,they love their sports wrestling
football you know, then it washighly highly highly competitive

(14:22):
out there but a lot of greatpeople out there as well.
So I know what it feels like tobe sort of the minority growing
up out there the cornfields outthere and being originally from
from the islands you know, youand I kind of share that same
thing but you mentioned your IDexperience man like so. This
right here is history here's areminder that's part of the det

(14:42):
cord that was used when my mytire ran over ran it over out in
your telephone or in Iraq and itit detonated the the mortar
rounds that were buried on theside of the road. I was
fortunate that they werepositioned in the wrong sort of
in the wrong form agree or thewrong?
Yeah. So the The the Humvee inthe in the road took the
majority but that this righthere is a reminder for me that

(15:07):
when things happen, they happenwhen you least expect them. It's
not like you're, you know, it'snot like training where, you
know, okay guys go on our geareveryday here we go, right? No,
it's when you're looking at thelittle bird or the little
butterfly you're staring at thestars. That's when you get
sucker punched and that's whatthat this right here is remind
wrap for me.

That's beautiful.
i That's funny Spoken like areal man that's been blown up
before and spoken as anyonewho's been blown up for a while.
And it's refreshing because youhave no idea one of them. So I
got five IEDs, right? One ofthem. I, I had a hint. And I
remember we were going aroundthe corner. And it was like a

(15:47):
perfect corner where we had tomake like a three point turn to
get around it.
And I remember, you know, welean into the turn, we hit it,
we hit the first angle, and thenwe're reversing. And I'm like,
Man, this is a perfect place toput an IED we don't be here for
a minute. And then I was likelooking over the edge and I see
a motorcycle and I'm like,looking at his motorcycle and

(16:08):
I'm like, who just leaves amotorcycle? Yeah. In the side of
the street. I'm having thislittle dialogue with myself.
Like don't people steal thingsaround here? I mean, that's a
perfectly good motorcycle thenI'm like, Why is there a pile of
dirt underneath?
That just get rocked man andblown across the seventh time? I
was dang near fortunately, notleaning out over the body armor,

(16:31):
the armor the truck, but I waslike, staring at it. Like that's
stupid. Yeah. And sure enough,man, it was. It was an IED
buried under there. But now theone that rocked me, I had no
choice. No, I was singing asong. And I was making up as we
were rolling down the street,you know, and my doc just told
me to sit back because weprobably get blown up. And I was
just like, if anything happens,I'm gonna you know, handle it.

(16:54):
And yeah, man. I know that theychanged my entire life.

KP (17:00):
Yeah, yeah. You don't. And it doesn't happen like in
textbooks, it doesn't happenlike the battle drills it it,
things go chaotic. And you goback to your training. And it's
sort of like an orchestra thatwhere the the automatically like
this starts happening and thatsort of and people need to start

(17:21):
moving in a position. Going backto the training because that
stress and anxiety that happens,man, so I feel you on that man.
Like that's, like I said,there's lessons learned man, and
you've certainly been blown upfive times you you've probably
dealt with every type of ideaout there. And there's some
there was some scary shit outthere, man when I rack and

yeah, I was there for 13 of them that I saw. But
yeah, by five, I didn't get togo on my last mission because
they were like, there are threeof us that have been blown up
more than we should have. Andthey're like, we're gonna fly
you out. And I was like, thatwas like one big huge lament
that I had, was just not beingable to ride with my guys on
that final movement out of reo.
But they're like, do we mightget hit and if we get hit you we

(18:04):
can't afford to let you get hitagain. So they flew me out. But

KP (18:10):
what year were you there and where were you at?

I was there.

KP (18:16):
Oh, are you probably did multiple deployments, right?

Yeah, I went so I went on to combat I got in an 04
combat deployment. I think itwas like, 04-05and then I got
out in 2008. So I came back 07for my second deployment, which
was a new and yeah, the DISA youknow, bawana us and Jack all
that the ball sack as they callit? Yeah, man.

Unknown (18:40):
Yeah. I was there in.
04-05 and mozal. We

were there the same time and we're running
around in the sand probablyaround the same time then.

KP (18:49):
Yeah, yeah. A man you think it's crazy. Listen, I did a
because I was a transportationofficer at the time. I was a
second. When I deployed. I was asecond lieutenant. I was really
I did four years. Yeah, I did. Idid four years enlisted in
National Guard. And then I went,got my commissioning.

Unknown (19:04):
And then I went active duty and station with 25th in
Hawaii. And so when they sent medownrange, I was a second
lieutenant fresh out of myofficers course didn't know my
ass from a hole in the ground,really, I mean, I had that
little bit of enlisted timeunderneath me, but as far as
being a platoon leader, I didn'tknow what it took, man. And so I
had to learn on the ground hadlearned from my NCOs learn from

(19:27):
my squad leaders.

KP (19:29):
You know, it was a very, very, I guess, Paramount
important part of myprofessional growth. You think
it's crazy man, like I was outnear the Syrian border, dropping
some stuff off at a specialforces compound out there. And I
ran into one of my old drillsergeants. Ah, and he Yeah, he

(19:50):
didn't remember me. But I justtold him I was like, Hey, I was
with alpha alpha 210 gators inFort Leonard Wood and he's like,
Oh, really? And he startednaming off names was wild man,
but, dude, it'll be

had an experience like that too man. And the one,
the one one thing I want tomention. So I told my story on
another podcast, it's prettyamazing. And I just it just
kills me because I got this likemilitary guy in the comments.
And he's like, it's so obviouswhen you guys are telling lies
about what happens in ourtalking about how you got blowed

(20:20):
up. And I'm like, route.
What I went through was nothing.
I got a guy, my platoon gotblown up 10 times his name was
Foster, you got blown up with mea couple of them. And I was
like, this isn't crazy. This islike what happened to Marines
there all the time, like mystory and even crazy crazy like
to me, you know, I'm justblessed to have on my part, but
my digits, but, ya know, thatwas I was just like, you just

(20:44):
don't, I mean, you're actinglike you've been around the
block, but you would know, thisis like, this was the marine
experience.
My story is not anything wild,you know, I and then the other
thing is, yeah, there. So I getrecruited. You know, of course,
when you're not in the military,you think you recruiters like,
like God of War, you know, like,I thought my recruiter is the

(21:04):
hardest marine ever, right? SoI'm sitting here, and his name
was Hopkins and I'm sitting hereI got out of MIT deployments,
you know, got my T shirt, andI'm bouncing at the local pub
that I got pulled out of tobecome an executive protection
agent. And he comes in with allthese Marines, and he's like,
getting drunk and just crazy.
And I'm looking at him and I'm,you know, I'm just watching him

(21:26):
because I'm Boutsen. And youwalk up and he remembers Me, and
he's like, Rogers.
He's like, you know, and he'slike, Roger, Sega. I finally got
put back into into infantryunit. Rogers. I'm going to war.
I'm like, sitting here, like,you said many to

(21:47):
war, and you ain't. It just Ijust remember like, laughing and
being annoyed, but laughing andthen he goes, and of course, you
know what he did next? He pullsme closer. He's like, Rogers.
What's combat? Like, I'm likeyou, but he was drunk at him.
Probably know, you remember? Hewas drunk. And he was like, you

(22:09):
know the question all humansthat go to war wondering all
boots, though. EspeciallyRogers. What's combat like, and
I was like,This is too crazy for me. I told
him the same thing. My squadleader told me man, it's a mind
job.
It's a mind job, man. You know,I can tell you what it be like,
but it's like giving birthhomie, you know, until it

(22:30):
happens to you? Yeah, it ain'tgonna help you. You just need to
go ahead and get some man.
Hopefully you live brah

KP (22:37):
it changes it changes you like I tell you by the time my
deployment was over with and wewere doing left seat right seat.
A lot of the NCOs and theplatoon leader and everyone's
like when we I could see myselflike I remember like I remember
when I was like that I rememberfrequency scared of right like
they were just very like whenyou're outside the wire you get
used to it.

(22:57):
Yes, it smells the sights thesounds like you know when it's
coming you know when it's notcome in like you didn't get it
just becomes part of you, man.
And I remember we took the newunit out, and they were like
fucking on like level 10 Right.
And they're all worried Oh mygod. And I'm like, relax, relax,
like keep your posture staybehind your cruiser weapons.
Like we're gonna roll we'regood. Yeah, and yeah, man. It's

(23:21):
it's I love talking to peoplelike you, man. I could go down
this rabbit hole.

Man, this is good. Yeah, I know the beds are
soaking it up though. Man. It'sgood for the soul.

KP (23:31):
It is it is and you know what I think is strange. Now
when I talk to Mike modern dayservice members or folks that
are just now getting out and andthey don't have any combat
combat experience. That's weirdfor me, because I'm used to
walking. Like, I'm used towalking around Schofield
Barracks, and everyone has acombat patch. You know, it's

(23:52):
like,

it's rare, bro. I had a number of guys like
starting a year a few years ago,getting into private security.
And I remember interviewing himand I and they're like infantry.
And I'm like looking at him.
Because there's a differencebetween infantry guys that have
gone to combat that haven't it'sjust a different is a different
frequency. Right. There'sdifferent kind of look in their
eyes that combat marine right. Iremember our first one of our

(24:14):
gummies came in from thedrillfield He was like, and all
this combat marine stuff. Thereis no difference between them.
Marine and a combat Marine.
And then we went to combat andwe came back and he was like, I
stand corrected. He's like,there is a difference. Because
there really is somethinghappens to you as a human being.

(24:35):
And, man, I just remember athing. What was I gonna say,
man? I think I think I lost itbut it'll come back to me what's
my brain relaxes but ya know, Iwas there it is. So I'm
recruiting for EPV tails andinfantry guys are coming to me.
And they're like, they're aninfantry and they have no combat

(24:57):
deployments. And I'm like, Iremember calling them up. Boise
we're still in, I'm like, Yo, Igot this marine here says he's
11. And he ain't got nodeployments.
And my boys like, calm down,calm down. He's like, that
happens now. It's like a reallykind of comment. And I'm like,
I'm like, if you say so.
Because I was literally likeStolen Valor, I'm going to find

(25:19):
your stuff. We're going to talkfor real, you know, but, uh,
yeah, man, that's a thing. It's,it's, you know, we

KP (25:27):
we just come from a different time, man. Like, when
when we were going through it,you had Iraq, you had
Afghanistan and everybody wasdeploying every year, every
year, you know, everybody'sgetting signed. So yeah, man, I
definitely came back a total,totally different person.
But I don't want to continuedown that rabbit hole. Now, I
want to get on talking aboutwhat you're doing right now with

(25:49):
executive security protection,you know, and for folks out
there that might be interestedin executive security, executive
protection. Can you explain thedifferences between the levels
of security? Like, I know,there's armed and unarmed but
can you talk about the levels ofbasic security versus executive
security, the expectations andthe responsibilities?

Yeah, man. 100%.
So like, so there's, there's,there's the thing that kills me
about the industry is if you sayprivate security, like a lot of
people are thinking like PaulBlart Mall Cop, you know, like
they're not really realizingthat there's a whole like
underworld like of really highend security services out there
that are running around in plainclothes you know, doing all

(26:34):
kinds of really cool thingsgarden NASA us spaceships right
now.
So, like, private securityreaches into almost every, you
know, protection centric kind ofjob field. Now, you know, yeah,
you have your square badge guysat the mall and, and housing
communities and your patrollawn, guys, you see, but, you

(26:57):
know, that's kind of everybody,right? executive protection is
like 1% of the private securityindustry. It's like the NFL,
it's like the big leagues, youknow, it's like, So, and we need
all the, we need everyone in theindustry, I'm not talking down
to anybody, but so you have yourguards, then you have kind of
like your bouncers, obviously,that you guys see, I love taking

(27:19):
bouncers into executiveprotection, because they have so
much experience with socialdynamics and being hands on and
being able to use restraint andbeing able to actually get
physical if necessary.
So sometimes I get guys that arethat have lived, you know, like,
they just, it's almost likecollege boys or guys that aren't

(27:39):
putting in the work to be actualprotectors that are kind of, you
know, an executive protection isvery clean, so you won't get
challenged very often. And ifyou do probably did something
wrong, really. But I love takingbouncers because they already
have all the like hard skills todeal with someone if they need
you. They're not afraid towrite.
But anyways, and that's I lovebringing events. So anyway, so

(28:00):
you have your guards, you havethose services, then you have
your bouncers, it's a little bitmore, one level up from guards.
And then you have likebodyguards, which is really it's
the most commonly known term foran executive protection agent.
But really a bodyguard is justyour clothes protection guy.
So within like a group, youknow, you have your detail

(28:24):
leader who's running the detail,your clothes protection guy
would really be mostappropriately called The
Bodyguard, even though it's aslang term for a lot of what we
do for the termite eaters,civilians, they know what I'm
talking about.
But executive protection, thisis where and it's kind of a
misnomer, because, you know,while I do executive protection,
it's not that I just protectexecutives, I protect

(28:44):
celebrities, I protect High NetWorth families, I protect
sometimes, valuables, you know,and sometimes you know, I've
flown around the country in aprivate jet protecting Botox and
the scientists, you know, so wedo a lot of really high end,
security operations, kind ofunder the banner of executive
protection, but executiveprotection is where you're

(29:06):
coordinating everything from theconcierge aspect of it, the
movement, you're interfacingwith local law enforcement.
And you're, you know, planningthe trip, you're interfacing
with the travel agencies, makingsure everything and all the
residents are logged on, you'redoing a lot of actual
administrative support, andadvanced work and risk

(29:27):
assessments. You're going intocountries, days prior to your
client to assess risk, and tomake sure all your poi is
important.
All your points of contact aresolid, and then everything would
that trip is gonna go good, thenthe climate is right for your
client to actually come through.
So it's a lot more schoolboystuff. A lot more complicated
than just hey, I'm landing withmy client and riding with them

(29:49):
where they go and making surethey don't get mauled by
paparazzi will avoid paparazzialtogether, you know, so, yeah,
man, there's definitely levelsAnd, you know, one of my
passions is taking peopleregardless of background and
making them into good executiveprotection agents and get them
into the industry.

KP (30:09):
Yeah, do you find that soft skills are kind of hard to
teach?

Yeah man i a soft skills we have a saying at my
school, the league soft skillsare what keep you in this game
and get you paid. Hard skills,save lives, but soft skills get
you in this game and keep youpaid and keep you getting paid.
And there's kind of pitfallsthat military and law
enforcement folks deal with. Andcivilians, like all of us have

(30:35):
our strengths and weaknesses interms of generalizations.
You know, like, the military guylike even me, fortunately, I've
always had great socialdynamics, but, you know, coming
from, you know, Iraq and IEDs,and snipers and all that trash
into, you know, private jets.
And like, you know, remember,you know, the aristocratic being
in palaces and around, you know,the who's who's ease and all

(30:58):
this stuff, right? In the royalcourt at the Kings table.
It was tough man, you know,military guys shaving off the
rough edges and learning how tovalue your clients. Culture is
tough, because we come from suchhonorable, hardcore cultures
that we had to train and earnour place in, and we want people

(31:19):
to honor those cultures. Buthey, guess what, in this new
game, you're in their ecosystem,and you can be and you might get
hired, because you're a NavySEAL? Yeah, they might think
that's cool.
And they think that might be theshiny thing that gets you hired.
But our clients and customersget tired of Lamborghinis,
homey. So guess what, you're theflavor of the month. And if you
don't get the right socialdynamics, and learn how to
present yourself and speak,interface with all the different

(31:41):
spheres of influence from thepublic, from the Royal core, the
entourage, the friends, thefamilies, all the relationships
around your customer, yourcustomer, the team you just got
integrated with. If you can'tget your social dynamics, right,
you will not last in this game.
I don't care how cool you are,how Minji your background is you
will not get you won't makemoney very long.

(32:03):
And that's the number one thingcops they have. They have to
learn how to get everything donewithout a badge that you have to
learn how to get things done,you ain't got no superpowers nor
I'm saying. So you got to nowyou got to learn how to use your
social dynamics to get people towant to do things for you, and
want to be on your team to makesure your client has the best
experience civilians.

Unknown (32:23):
You know, God bless the civilians, sometimes they have
an edge because they're, theycan be like, like me, like, I
went to work just like this, myclients want me to look more
like a dude, they're just like,if you ever wear a suit, we're
gonna fire you. We justbasically want you to be another
dude walking around. Ifsomething gets weird, you can
move into the space and thepersonal know to go away.

And that's it, you know, and so, you know, it's
not like people think it is veryoften civilians, they can have a
tendency to just be too relaxedbecause they haven't learned
that military discipline and howto sit on post and watch and,
and take everything seriously.

Unknown (33:00):
And but they have an advantage a lot of civilian
clientele feel more comfortablewith a civilian hanging out with
them than they do with someonewho's got like a high end tight
horse, you may have a dip in andit's ready to like smoke anybody
who's keeping 360 degreessecurity around them at all
times. They might want to smokeanybody walks up clothesline and
little old ladies as they walkup to clients. True story. True

(33:21):
story. Radio, dude, no, no, no,no, come back. Let her go. When
you work with your marinebuddies, good times.

KP (33:34):
I know, right? I know. Hey, listen, man. I've worked a lot
of Marines. Lot of my friendswere Marines and a lot of
Marines have a heart of goldman. fight to the death
attitude. Yeah, man, it's justgot it.
At the end of the day. I thinksome people fit the
characteristics of theirbranches. And some people don't
ever just a lot of smart Marinesto like, guys that I thought

(33:56):
were the Air Force or something.
But no, they were reallyMarines. And I, I'm very
fortunate to be connected withthose types of folks.
And I love what you said aboutposture. Like you have to know
how, like some civilians may notknow how to posture when
necessary, or how to send amessage like, hey, like, back
off, you know, basically, yougot to be able to pull in like

(34:16):
that right to be able to, to letfolks know that you mean
business, and that you're beingserious about him

and do so that the person walks away and
doesn't cause an issue. Youknow, like, I can do it with a
smile. And that's been one ofthe most effective things I've
I've that was with anotherMarine who was from the hood,
who rolled up on a little Jewishdigger in Israel rolled up on a
Jewish dude was like, hey, youknow, like, you ain't gonna go
pass here.

(34:41):
You know starting to flex up onthis little Jewish dude you a
little Jewish dude ain't takingno crap from nobody. He's like,
Oh, thank you. And then gettinginto it. I had a roll up be like
Sir, you have a live recordgoing on over here. Can you
write Can you please just giveus a few moments, you know, and
the dudes like because you wererespectful. Yeah, no, I will

(35:03):
give you a few moments, but youneed to talk to your boys. Do
just just let it slide. We'reworking right now, you know,
we're working. But yeah, man

KP (35:13):
yourself and do a lot of paperwork to right.

100%. And then we're just getting fired on the
spot, because yourclient doesn't feel like you're
representing their brandcorrectly. Because you Yeah, you
represent every move you makeyou represent them, but I love
working with Marines, man, theyfollow orders, they don't
complain. I can depend on thatdiscipline. And I love being
able to depend on thatdiscipline. It's a huge value
add?

(35:36):
Yeah, yeah, no doubt, man,that's fascinating to hear you
talk about the hard skills andthe soft skills when it comes to
the actual to the businessitself. Now, when it comes to
the different levels oftraining, security and executive
protection? Is it guided by apreferred Industry Training

(35:58):
front runner? Like, is there aspecific like, this is the top
tier type of training that youcan go through? And how can a
professional maybe getting outthe military or veteran, put him
or herself ahead of the packwhen joining the security
protection industry?
Wow, you know,this is I hate this question.

(36:19):
Because, you know, I, I'mpartial, you know, I'm partial,
no, there are no, there are,there are, you know, there are
three kinds of ivy leagueschools that are well known. I
essentially joined forces withone of them. Based on my
industry experience, and havingtrained with many of them, we

(36:40):
created, you know, at theleague, we created what I
believe is the best package toget someone into the industry.
You know, I looked around at thespace, and I was kind of like,
well, this is good, but a lot ofit was very soft, skill centric,
and a lot of it was, you know, Iwent through one of the courses,
we didn't fire a single round,and we did zero combatives. And

(37:02):
it was just like, really PC andI was like, okay, so we know,
these dudes know how to doadmin, and like, they know which
fork to use at a dinner party,but like, can they protect
anyone?
You know, so I entered theindustry focusing on the hard
skills and making sure guys havesolid driving, we offer the

(37:22):
highest level of driving,contact driving pit maneuver,
counterpick, you know, rams,barricades, all that stuff. You
know, actually car fighting, youknow, pistol work, full pistol,
full firearms, baggage, youknow, low light, no light
attack, on principle,everything, you know, medical,
like the three primary hardskills, but I coupled it with
the thing that I have not seenanywhere else in the industry,

(37:45):
which is online training. So youhave access to the training your
entire life. And also on goingmentorship.

Unknown (37:53):
So you have someone me or one of my instructors meeting
with you every two weeks overzoom to make sure you actually
get in the industry. And youactually are able to have a
successful career, whether it'show can I find my next job, or I
have a I have to go to a countryand do an advance for a client.
Well, hey, go back to thatmodule online. And let's link up

(38:15):
on the next call. And I'll walkyou through what I what I would
you here are my connections.

And then I joined that with a network. So all of
our students, we have a privategroup, we have a network, we
share field craft, we shareopportunities, jobs, everything.
So the thing I thought what Isaw was missing was most
schools, you'd go there, you gettrained.
And then you go out into theindustry and good luck, like
Okay, I hope that brand reallyhelps you get a job. Your

(38:42):
clients probably not even goingto look at your training jacket,
maybe a training director is andthey're not going to care what
stupid EP school you went do,because they don't even know
what know what they're lookingat.
You know, I'm saying all it'sgonna matter if we can do and so
I joined that solid. So the besttraining that you can find with
ongoing mentorship, and assetsto make sure your career is

(39:04):
actually going to be be besuccessful. I'm there with you
when you fail.
I'm there with you. And what Itaught you didn't work. I'm
there with you, and it doeswork. So there are like top
three, you know, epi ESI Bobomen. Pacific West is another
big one. But I will tell youthat. You know, the legal

(39:25):
executive protection specialistsis the only one offering you
that much support with yourtuition.

KP (39:32):
Yeah. So you basically basically took a comment. Sounds
like he took a combination ofall your training and you
combine it into sort of a hybridof systems that would be
necessary and it's sort of theright balance of what you would
actually experience to includethe follow up mentorship to make
sure that you're gliding andthat you're making it and I I

(39:54):
think that's great, man. That'sit. That sounds like a great
system to have. And you know,thankful that we have folks like
you're not just not just runningthe system, but improving the
system, right? Yeah. So

what was your network is your net worth man
without having high qualityrelationships, opportunities are
not going to find you. And so,like solving that problem was
absolutely huge.
And then the fact that you cando the first level of training
training day online, again, youdon't have to stop working and
lose money, you can actuallystart your training, you can
start getting it out of yourresume and LinkedIn and

(40:26):
everything, and everything Iknow about EP, and you can start
getting into the game, like,through the computer.
And I was the first to do it inour industry. And everyone told
me it couldn't be done and notto do it. And now everyone's
starting to try to do theironline thing. And I'm like,
sitting here like, you guys alltold me not to do it. And it was

(40:47):
impossible. But here we arechanged the game. So I'm the
from among the people. I'm anagent, you know, so I know what
I know it with the guys outthere need to details today. And
I'm like, Yeah,

KP (41:02):
I'm actually on the website.
Right. Now let's take a look atthe training itself. And this
looks, this looks awesome. And Ilove how you have the different
modules. And then you have thedifferent levels on here.
And you actually have folks onhere as well, that look like
sort of masterclass guestspeakers, I'll make sure I
include us all this in the shownotes for anyone out there that
might be interested. So whilewe're here, man, let's, let's

(41:24):
bust down some of the mythsabout executive protection, that
that you've heard over theyears, and that maybe we can
either debunk, or maybe we cancertify, what are some of the
ones that are out there that youhear most often?

Well, I think a lot of and I actually have a
module on this in the onlinecourse, because the things to
watch out for man is thecognitive dissonance that can
resolve the spin. And ithappened to me, coming from like
a high speed background intoexecutive protection and
thinking that you're going to belike this person that your

(42:01):
clients gonna listen to, or likethat your client cares about
your tactical background, orthat you're gonna be running and
gunning, and doing anythingtactical and cool at work.
And the reality is, it's justnot like that man, you're
serving high net worthindividuals and corporations and
corporate environments. Oryou're serving, you know, acting

(42:23):
and seeing talent that may verywell be an ultra woke
environment. So you're kind oflike a black sheep, like, they
wish they didn't have you, butyou're there.
And so they have to do somethingwith you, you know, you're,
you're so you're like combativebackground, and all these
different things matter way lessthan you think like that they
you have to be like John Wick,but like, you know, in many

(42:47):
cases to yourself, you know, Igot lucky and I had some pretty
cool clients that are, you know,pro gun pro America, pro God and
country, which is pretty cool.
And they get behind us, we getawesome training, you know, and
things like that. And they dovalue our tactical capability.
So that's nice, but nine timesout of 10. Man, military dudes
fall out because they get intothe industry. And they're like,

(43:09):
dude, like, I don't want to putthe car seat in the car, like, I
don't want to go get a coffeefor this person. It's not what
I'm here for. You know, like, Iheld life and death in my hands.
Like, just a month ago, I was incharge of millions of dollars,
literally theRAMBo speech, I was in charge of
millions of dollars worth ofequipment. I was somebody who
literally bro.

(43:30):
and then you know, so So youhave to be able to make that
leap and realize you're you'rein a service oriented industry.
And you're here to render highquality service. And the way I
did it was I told myself, Hey,this is an honorable service
that warriors have been selectedand set apart to do since the
beginning of pimpin has beenpimping, the Praetorian Guard,
the samurais, like, protectingthe nobility, and the time is

(43:53):
something that that you need tobe it's the next thing for a
warrior to do.
You know, so I really was ableto find a lot of honor in it,
you know, and I still tell myclients, it's an honor, you
know, and having that servant'sheart with regards to what we
do, and looking at it as youknow, an honorable service and
realizing it's what you do whenyou're not at work that makes

(44:13):
you capable of performing atwork. Because you know me, I
always say, it's more than justa job, you're a protector, it's
more than just a job as alifestyle.
Like being all in like that isreally what makes it an
honorable service, knowing thatyou got to outperform another
human being in a dynamic andviolent situation, you know,
preparing for that moment. Thatis what keeps me alive is what

(44:35):
keeps the warrior alive. Thatmeans, you know, stops him from
killing me, like what happens tomany warriors when they get out
and they never find a mission.
So the first one I wouldprobably lean into is just like,
you know, there's a high speedand tactical like you might want
to think it is you know, it'svery service oriented, and your
high speed and your tactics.
It's like a story that you keepshift. And your honor has so

(44:55):
much more to do with How longyou can keep it sheathed and
never having to draw thanactually having to do violence?
You know?

KP (45:10):
I didn't want to say anything while you're saying
that, because that's a verywell, that's a very well said
remark about, you know, keepingyour sword sheath as long as
possible because it's more aboutit's more about your actions
prior to any type of actionableevent like it's how you deal
with people how you talk topeople in the presence that you

(45:31):
have about you can really deteryou from escalating things as
well.
Wow. It's fascinating to talk tosomeone like you because I
completely know where you'recoming from with that. And I
want to give you a chance man totalk about the Bravo research
group mind telling us aboutabout its mission and values
that the business seeks whenlooking for possibly new

(45:54):
security detail members to jointhe ranks.

Yeah, man now so my security company man has
become one of my you know, Ilove executive protection. But
leading teams has become one ofthe like, honors of my life man
like I had today, you know, Ihad a guy on a detail, we went
through a training we did CQ Bat an airsoft driven like CQ B

(46:21):
house out here in Anaheim. Andwe're working on client recovery
and moving with our customersmoving with our clients and
force on force and all thatstuff.
And we get back and dudes puttogether a whole bunch of
information. He's created likemodules on what we've learned.
This is like stuff for all theguys that weren't able to make
it because they were workinglike dudes put together videos

(46:42):
and stuff to make sure thatwe're all on the same page with
SOPs that we tightened up overthere. And so when I'm looking
for our mission, man is reallyjust simply seamless security.
We want to integrate with ourclients lives in a way that
keeps them really safe,productive and happy, like a
company called AI solutionstalks about we don't want to be

(47:02):
the reason my emblem is aninteger or the Periodic Chart is
because we are one element, weare the element of security. Now
that client's life has afinancial element, a
professional element, you know,all these different missions and
we're just the one element ofsecurity on that board that
helps optimize and help them dowhat they are there to do this

(47:24):
support their mission. And soreally when I look for new
agents, man, I love a militarybackground. I love a law
enforcement background. I love acivilian background.
Civilians often come to me youknow military guys, law
enforcement guys sometimes cometo me thinking they know what to
do and I run an end doc for alot of our details. You know,
and they gotta pass Basic LawEnforcement qualified calls FBI

(47:46):
qual military, just pistolQualls, Qualls nonperformance
drills, right not performanceassessments, qualls, right
baseline stuff. And a lot of mylaw enforcement guys and
military guys struggle, youknow, and I constantly hear
like, oh, well, we never usepistols in the military.
I'm like, Yeah, but you gottause a pistol for work now. Like,
yeah, well, what have you beendoing this entire time? You've

(48:08):
been working carrying a pistolon you're gonna tell me this.
Tell me this way your interview?
Like you should work this out.
Yeah, I can get jiggy with thesemen. So, you know, I, the
civilians. On the other hand,they're the guys that are kind
of shy and kind of humble.
And they're kind of like, well,you know, like, I don't have the
cool background. But I, youknow, I just I hit jujitsu a

(48:30):
couple times a week, like threetimes a week. And I've been
trained, and I go to the ranch,you know, a couple of times a
week. And they're currentlyworking on themselves, too.
They don't have the cool guybackground. And they tend to be
the most dangerous people outthere with me, actually, my
mentors is a brilliant blackbelt, the DOJ jujitsu Master,
master class competitiveshooting dangerous, you may just
killed a huge book, like 10minutes ago, just texted me

(48:52):
about it. But anyways, thevalues I'm looking for in
individuals is servant, aservant Vardhman, they have to
be able to find the honor, inbeing able to serve, I want guys
that are contribution centric,you don't have to be the biggest
you don't have to be the baddestto be the best but your gift,
your service will make real foryou before kings.
And that's how I built my entiremy every brand that I've built,

(49:15):
and I built you know a couple ofthem, right? So you give quality
you give constantly to yourdetail to your organization to
your clients and to your team'sexcellence guys that have that I
don't want a guy that wants todo a good job because he's
working with Byron Rogers orbecause he's working with BRG,
or because he's working withcool celebrity or CEO client I

(49:38):
wanted the guy that's gonna do agood job because his last names
attached to it.
And he's like, I'm gonna do agood job because you know what,
Byron Rogers did it and thiswork is going to represent the
pride ahead of myself, you know,and humility, man, you know, I
want guys that are professionalstudents. I want guys that fear,
arrogance and So those are kindof the values that I'm always

(50:02):
looking for when I interact withdudes who are looking to come on
our teams man doesn't have anempty cup and a good engine, you
know, because we all gotta bejuggernauts. That's the other
thing. I want guys, all decisionmakers, all generals, every
single one of them.

KP (50:17):
Yeah, they have to be a, they have to be a person that
you can actually mold andsomeone that has a good
baseline, and it all starts withthe, with the employment side of
things, you know, and bringingin the right people. And that's
where it all starts as far asgetting people that can
represent you as well. Andthat's kind

of what I tell them. That's, that is exactly
what I tell guys, I'm like, Hey,you gotta read, you gotta
realize that you represent a fewbrands. Man, when you're on this
detail, you represent your, ourcustomers brand, every single
thing you do represents them. Soyou got to know that you got to
look like that. You got to carryyourself like that you got to
keep yourself physically fitlike that.
When people look at you, yourepresent this individual was

(50:54):
paying you. Also you gotta knowthat you represent BRG, you
represent my brand. And, youknow, we got high standards. So
you've got to look like that,carry yourself like that. And
then finally, and mostimportantly, in many cases, you
got to realize you representyour brand. So I come in here
and I see that you didn't dochange over properly, or that
you didn't make your rounds, orthat you're not being proactive

(51:16):
with your advanced work. This isthe quality of work that I can
expect from you.
And then I have to, and then Ihave to make an assessment,
whether that quality work issomething that I'm going to
accept my clients and customerseither putting up with or
benefiting from, right. And sothat's kind of the conversation.
And then if you've been to myschool, I tell all the patrons
of the course and now yourepresent the gold standard in

(51:37):
the private security industry,you represent the league, so you
know where that batter withpride and pride in the right
things. And that's the trick.

KP (51:46):
I love the name of it, man.
I love the name of it. And themodules and everything you have
set up I was just cruisingthrough over here on my other
screen, like all the differentthings that's offered through
your training for the leagueand, and it's you cover
everything, you literally covereverything from medical to live
fire, to just driveprofessionalism, threat
assessment, the whole nineyards, it's all covered in here,

(52:08):
we have one more fascinatingman,

we have one more new course are rolling out,
which is the immersion course,which is essentially the
antithesis of most of what yousee in the industry. And you go
we spent a few hours gettingback on the beat, you get your
modules online, we you show upon the first day, we go over a
few things you're supposed toknow from online. And then we
just start doing EP details. Wehire actors. And it is just

(52:33):
nothing but on the job trainingfor six days straight real
world. I'm out when I'm out inthe field with you. We're out in
the field guiding you, doing anassessment is like the most real
world training that our industryhas been nonstop real world
training man. So that's comingin in January, the immersion
course. Wow.

KP (52:53):
And is that going to be done here in California?

Yeah, man. You'll be all over LA doing security
details. totally realistic withus, man. So it's an honor. It's
a good time.

KP (53:05):
Yeah, sounds exciting, man.
So before we wrap up the podcasttoday, Byron, I just wanted to
ask you, do you have any finalpieces of advice for anyone out
there that might be looking atgetting into the industry, or
just any pieces of advice ingeneral for listeners, based off
of anything that you've learnedover the entirety of your life
or your career that I didn'tcover today?

Wow, well, how much time you got buddy now? If
I was gonna say, I was gonna saysomething about advice. If I was
going to give someone advice,you know, I would really want to
say something like, you never,ever really, really know what

(53:51):
you can do until you try and,and try a lot.
And try hard. You know, I neverI always wanted to be something.
I always wanted to makecontributions. I was so blessed.
I didn't like do anything reallycool. I mean, I was an infantry
but I wasn't like a Navy Seal orlike Delta Force, you know,

(54:11):
like, I think maybe it wouldhave made me rest on my laurels
a little bit.
But I've been able by the graceof God to do a lot you know,
like when you're introducing meand every time I hear it, it's
like man, golly man, you putsome miles behind me you put
some trash down and you put somemiles and man you know like
between publishing a book andgetting my master's degree I was

(54:33):
afraid to school that's why Iwent to the half the reason I
was in the Marine Corps, I waslike, I ain't going to college.
I'm going to war right then.
Yeah, that was half of it, youknow and then coming back and
facing those fears and beingable to you know, really bless
people's lives and having dudesthat I respect look me in my
eyes and say, Dude, I got a jobbecause you feed my family. I'm

(54:53):
making six figures because of,you know, the free content you
put out and, and or because ofwhat we did at the school.
I'm like, you know And turningout to be kind of a pretty
capable kind of cool dude, youknow, like, and being able to be
proud of yourself and being ableto have self respect and being
able to look at the work of yourhands and be like, Man, you know

(55:13):
what, like, respecting yourselfand knowing that you've been a
good steward with you with whatyou got, the thing is on that
journey, you don't start outspecial, you know, I mean, like,
you're not special because youare special, because you're here
like, Yeah, over a milliondifferent outcomes gonna happen
while you're a sperm dude like,you, you you have over like,
it's like, it's like some stupidnumber of hundreds of
grandparents that had to get itright with the combination and

(55:36):
all the stuff that got you heresupporting this little thing
we're doing.
And like you're special on like,baseline special, but like,
don't start it start out asanybody worth knowing, you know,
valuable to people. And I justwant people to know that no
matter where you're startingfrom, if you put in the stinking
work, man, I've been mediocre atso many things my entire life, I

(55:58):
still don't even read fastenough to catch the captions the
bottom of movies half the time.
If you follow me on Instagram,you're gonna see that I misspell
stuff sometimes. But I don'twait for it to be perfect in
order to pull the trigger. Youknow, I'm saying I am willing to
go and I'm willing to fight.
And I'm willing to sacrificeweaker versions of myself on the
altar of progress every singlestinking day. Have you ever look

(56:19):
at anything I've done and thinkit's cool. I just want everyone
to know what one imperfectperson can do if they are
dedicated to becoming better.
And they're dedicated tosacrificing weaker versions of
themselves on the altar ofprogress by the grace of God
over the course of a lifetime.
So that it's one of the mostpowerful things i You don't know

(56:42):
how much weight you can lose.
And you can really becomededicated to doing it and say,
You know what, I've had enoughstinking hamburgers, ice cream,
you know what I'm going to dothis next year, forget about 90
days, 21 days, I'm going hard inthe paint at getting my six
pack, I'm gonna die over it. Anddude, there is nothing that can
stop you. But you and that'skind of what I really want to,

(57:04):
want people to know, man, that'salmost always my messages like,
You are the only thing everyproblem you're facing.
There's been here humans who'vedone 100 times more with way
less than anybody watching thispodcast has got.. And so you've
got to get real with yourself,you got to love yourself enough
to be hard on yourself, by thegrace of God, to bring the best

(57:24):
out of yourself. And that's whatI think this game is about your
contribution you make from thatand the power you gained from
that lifestyle. That's the fightyou got to if you were a
warrior, especially that's afight worth living and dying
for. And that's a live everysingle day.

KP (57:40):
I agree with you 100%. Man, I deal with it all the time.
Like even believe it or not myeight year old she's trying to
do YouTube and I set her up in aroom and, and she's she's afraid
to go in there and sucking inbeing horrible at YouTube. And I
told her tonight I said, Look,go in there and be horrible, be
horrible, 10,15, 20,50 timeswhatever.

(58:02):
Every single time it getsbetter. It gets better each and
every time. And it's the samething with me man ever since my
first interview, to where I amnow. I mean, I'm sitting in
front of I'm sitting in front ofan industry Titan right now I
started out interviewing my dadin three episodes. And here I
am, Byron Rogers on my podcast,man.
So it's an honor to have youhere and and it's an honor to

(58:22):
have to hear your you know, yourvalues and your accountability
and where you stand andeverything that your business is
about. So I really appreciateappreciate that. And for anyone
out there that's looking to getinto the industry, I would say
that a great place to startwould be to scroll down to the
to the show notes or thedescription and to click on his

(58:42):
EP specialist.com website whereit's going to show you what the
league is all about the trainingitself. Do you have any other
recommendations for folks thatare interested in joining the
security protection industry?

Nah, man, that is that is honestly it. I created
this. I created that school froma place of being out there in
the industry by myself andhaving to figure it out by
myself. And I wasn't SecretService or any of these other
things, you know that peoplehave built schools on.
I was a dude that got out of theMarine Corps they got thrust
into a giant into one of themost active private security

(59:18):
details at age 21 It's the onlyjob I've ever had and I you
know, hit 60 countries in thefirst year. I built my career
from the door bouncing as abouncer in California and then I
did it again in Florida I wentright back to the door in
Florida bouncing and built itall over again.
So I I know it works. I'vehelped hundreds of agents get
into this industry. I've helpeda bunch of do transition from

(59:39):
the military. I've helped abunch of dudes from being
baristas at Starbucks and belike, You know what I think I
want to try to I have aprotector in me and I hate my
day job. So I want to try and bea professional projector.
You know, and I've helpedhundreds of law enforcement guys
get into the one of the fastestgrowing industries and one of
the most well compensatedindustries next to like the
medical industry right now. Inthe world. All men is so cool

(01:00:01):
because you don't have to gointo like college debt to do it,
which is like a thing. You're aveteran, not so much. But you
know what I mean. So that's theway man and I will be with you
every step of the way in yourcareer, and you'll have a whole
tribe of people doing yourcareer with you, you'll never be
alone again.

KP (01:00:18):
And for anyone out there who is meeting Byron, for the first
time, you're not following themon any of his social media
accounts, follow this man.
You'll find his contentextremely interesting. The
captions will explain thelessons learned. And that's what
I find most fascinating abouthim and I had to get him on the
morning formation podcast once Ifound out that he's a combat
Marine. Again, sort of under theshownotes you'll find is tick
tock, you'll find his LinkedIn.

(01:00:40):
You'll find his Instagram downthere as well. Are you on
Facebook?

Byron Rodgers (01:00:44):
I'm on YouTube, YouTube's The other big one
because then you can watcheverything and then Facebook.
Yes, I am on Facebook. Well,that's like second and third
line effects. You know, I mean,I have my fanpage there. That's
probably where you get the mostout of it. Yeah,

KP (01:00:57):
I'm not a real fan of Facebook. I think it's kind of
the only thing Yeah, man. I'mnot a big fan talk.

It's all about the gram and YouTube for me and
tick bag. I don't know if I'mgonna survive on tick tock. I do
too much gun stuff, bro. They'reangling on me. They're hunting.
You YouTube and iG I got astronghold.

KP (01:01:17):
It was odd man. Last weekend, right after
Thanksgiving, I got banned on onInstagram for no reason, like,
literally lost my account forthree days. Had to appeal it.
And I don't even put anything onthere.
That was the weird thing. But Ihad heard that there's, I had
heard I had heard that there's agroup out there that that's
doing that. That's somehowreporting, I guess profiles and

(01:01:41):
accounts and things like that.
So I had it back in three days.
So I was like, what and boysbecause that's I put a lot of
effort and a lot of time andenergy into my Instagram. So
yeah, 100% That's

Unknown (01:01:51):
why I got like five platforms on there. I'm like a
chimera. Dude, I'll pop up inthe next profile in 10 minutes.
Yeah.

KP (01:01:59):
I need the coffee. You're drinking man. I love your energy
man. And I love like the placesthat you've been, you and I have
a lot in common actually, justover the years professionally,
and looking forward to doingmore work with you and
connecting with you even more.
So just want to thank you, manfor giving me this opportunity
tonight to interview you getinto a little bit of know a
little bit about your business.
I'll make sure I put the linkfor your book down there as well

(01:02:21):
as all your different websitesthat you because you're so
involved in so many damn things.
It's

thanks, man. It's an honor. And then yes, real
quick. Since this is a veteranpodcast, the book is finding
meaning after the military. Andit's really the tools I used
during my transition going from,you know, the Marine Corps into
the, into the first civiliandivision.
And so if you're struggling withfinding meaning, this book is

(01:02:50):
really the tool that helped savemy life one because I started
that's a whole nother podcast.
Because I was I was you know, Ithere's a little story there
that I'm glad I survived. And orif you know a veteran who's
struggling man that needs tofind meaning because we it's all
about finding that new fight.
And then leveraging everythingthat we took from the military,
into, you know, what can be veryglorious, as in the civilian

(01:03:14):
sector, the civilian life.

KP (01:03:17):
Yeah, yeah, most definitely.
Man, we've all had our darkdays. And at the end of the day,
we have to be self aware enoughto pull ourselves out of those
dark days and find that lightagain. So I mean, we've all been
there, I've been there. And, youknow, check, check out the book,
because if you know someonethat's there, maybe you can help
them out and help them pull themthrough. So, Byron, thank you so
much for your time this evening.

(01:03:39):
I really appreciate it man.
You're a busy man. Thank you forall the value they provide for
the podcast. I'm looking forwardto connect with you even
further. But for everyone elseout there, all the listeners,
thank you for listening. And asalways, I want you to stay
tuned, stay focused, and staymotivated.

(01:05:06):
Warriors fall out.

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