February 16, 2024 • 26 mins
Welcome to another inspiring episode of "Wake Up With Patti Katter," where we dive deep into the stories of those who have turned their challenges into opportunities for growth and success. Today, we're honored to have Steve Stratton join us—a man whose life reads like an adventure novel, yet it's all true. From his early days at the White House Communications Agency, supporting some of the most significant political figures in recent history, to earning the prestigious Green Beret and embarking on critical missions across the globe, Steve's journey is nothing short of extraordinary. But his story doesn't end there. Transitioning into the civilian sector, Steve has become a sought-after advisor in cybersecurity, all while carving out a new path as an acclaimed author. His debut novel, "Shadow Tier," not only showcases his literary talent but also earned him a 2023 Bronze Medal from the Military Writers Society of America. In this episode, Steve shares with us the trials he's faced, the lessons learned, and how he continues to overcome challenges with resilience and triumph. Join us as we explore the remarkable life of Steve Stratton, a true testament to the spirit of perseverance and the power of storytelling.
Steve's official bio:
Steve Stratton started his military career at the White House Communications Agency supporting the needs of President’s Ford and Carter, Vice President’s Rockefeller and Mondale and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. His work took him around the world introducing him to new cultures, ways of thinking, and the various agencies tasked with projecting and protecting American interests abroad. The jump to the US Secret Service was an easy transition but after several years and an election campaign, Steve left for the commercial sector.
Steve was awarded his Green Beret in 1986. From the 80’s through 2000 he deployed with 20th Special Forces on counter-drug and training missions in the SOUTHCOM region. His civilian contractor time includes support for USCENTCOM, USSOCOM, and several intelligence agencies. Today he is retired but advising cyber security companies that support the warfighter and intelligence community. When he is not writing, you can find him mountain biking, trout fishing, or hunting in Colorado.
His first novel, Shadow Tier, was named a 2023 Bronze Medal winner by the Military Writers Society of America.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Hello, everybody. You're listening to and watching
Wake Up with Patty Katter. And of course, I'm Patty Katter.
Today I have Steve Stratton on the show with me.
Steve, welcome. Welcome everybody.
I'm really glad to be here. Thank you.
I would love it if you would please tell my listeners a
little bit about yourself, whereyou came from.
(00:23):
Let's start there first. Sure.
I'm Northern California, run around in the redwoods thinking
I'm, you know, somebody from a really nice movie like The Last
of the Mohicans running around, kind of kid in the woods.
And yeah, from there it was actually the military that took
me through the middle of the states, over to the East Coast
(00:45):
and up to DC. And so my first, you know, from
being in the Northwest my whole life to all of a sudden working
at the White House as a 19 year old and just trying to keep my
mouth shut so I don't look so much like a knucklehead and
trying to do my job. It was a it was an amazing thing
(01:07):
and it was all because I volunteered, heard some
interesting words and sort of put it together and started
volunteering, so. All right.
So we have to go back here and rewind just a minute because I'm
so intrigued. So you're you're running around
in the woods, Cowboys, Indians kind of thing.
I don't know if that's appropriate or not appropriate
these days. This day, I don't even know.
(01:28):
I used to play it when I was a kid.
So. So you're running around having
a great time and then all of a sudden you didn't just land in
the White House. So tell us what made you decide
to join the military? I I'm curious about that.
Yeah, that's a that's a neat little story.
I grew up not only running around in the woods and and
(01:49):
harassing each other, you know, but my aunt and uncle had a a
subscription to National Geographic.
And so, you know, without the Internet back then.
Way back then, yeah, but black and white TVSI really got to see
the world through National Geographic.
So after high school, college was like, yeah, I need to get to
(02:09):
that, but I really wanted to go see the world.
And my whole family was Navy andMerchant Marine.
They all thought that was a great way to see the world.
And you know, if I'm in something bigger in a canoe, I'm
probably green around the gills.So I joined the Army and they
just, these guys showed up. They took us to the theater, all
us buzz cut, you know, recruits,they took us to the theater and
(02:33):
these guys showed up with longerhair and suits.
I thought this this interesting part of the army.
And that's where I started that volunteering.
And it my whole life got changedup from going farther up north,
like towards Seattle with the Army, to being at the White
House and doing communications. That's so neat.
(02:54):
You brought back some really great memories too.
I was thinking, wow, a real magazine.
I haven't even had my hands on one in too long.
So when you were growing up and you decide to join the army and
then you move, I'm assuming thatwas a pretty big move for you
because it sounds like you just stayed in one location growing
up a lot, right? You didn't move around a lot.
(03:16):
No we yeah I the the town of Eureka up in Humboldt County
which was known for some well itwas known for marijuana back in
those days and the Bay Area so live between there and the Bay
Area but had relatives all the way down into LA, San Diego and
all the way up into Seattle Olympia.
(03:36):
So that was sort of my realm wasjust running up and down the
coast, seeing relatives and or you know, hunting and running
around the woods and things. So it was my first station was
Oklahoma, which was barren, flatand full of rattlesnakes.
And the next one was Georgia, and it got better.
It was Augusta, GA and The Allman Brothers had a bar
(03:59):
downtown. So, you know, I quickly got
myself a little beater car so wecould go downtown and see The
Allman Brothers. And then after that, it was
Washington, DC, and the the flood of people and the politics
and nice scenery. Oh my gosh, DC It's one of those
places. You know, for me, I I love it.
(04:21):
I go there a couple weeks a month and thrive there, but then
I can pop back down to Florida and thrive here.
But DC is never boring at all. What would you say some of your
more interesting adventures were?
One of the fun stories I like totell is that when?
(04:43):
So I got there right before Nixon, like a week before he
resigned and walked out, you know, took the helicopter flight
out. And two funny stories.
One, my sponsor as I was drivingin town, said, you know what
that is? And I said, is that the
Watergate? And he's like, yeah, don't go
there, 'cause Watergate had literally just happened, right?
And then, well, I went to Vail, Co, out near where I live now
(05:10):
with President Ford. And the Colonel came by one day
and said, you know, you need to go take a skiing lesson because
tomorrow you're skiing behind the president with a radio like
the backup to the backup. And I'm like, that's dangerous.
He's like, yeah, but just go take a lesson and don't run over
the president. So I worked really hard to do
(05:31):
that, and I came close. One time, the president of Ford
sort of slid out. He didn't fall down already.
He just sort of slid out. All the agents are, are you OK?
And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, you know, just scooting off into
the trees, 'cause I can't control what I'm really doing.
So, you know, I got a little bitof a nickname, You know,
Stratton spear Spearman is goingto, you know, try and spear the
(05:52):
president with the ski. So.
Oh my gosh. So I think it was maybe my last
guest that aired. He was talking about how he was
on Air Force One with President Bush.
I think it was George W Bush, though, if I'm not mistaken.
But Oh my gosh, I love these stories.
When you're talking about presidents because you know a
(06:12):
lot of people, they'll hear stories of somebody else's
experiences like my listeners are doing now.
But you actually were experiencing these things first
hand. Did you have any idea on the
significance of that? Not everybody gets to be that
close to a president. Early on it was just shock and
awe. My part is, you know, just
(06:33):
trying to maintain. And then as I got more
comfortable, I flew. I actually flew one of the last
flights on the on the Air Force One, the original Air Force One
jet that that brought President Kennedy's body back from Dallas.
And I spent a lot of time, not alot of time time on Air Force
(06:54):
One. And then there's always an Air
Force 2A backup plane that fliesaround.
So I did some of that, but most of my time was in advance of the
president showing up. So we would go out two to three
weeks in advance, work with the Secret Service, you know, and in
my case, early on it was about communications.
Later when I joined the Secret Service, it was all about
(07:16):
protection of the president. And my job was to make sure the
site was clear. I wasn't.
I was a technical specialist, soI made sure the site he was
going to talk at or stay at whatever, was free from anything
that might harm the president. So.
Which Secret Service is so important?
(07:37):
People don't understand either the dynamics of Secret Service.
Can you kind of tell some of my listeners, I know a lot of the
military, you're already going to know what this is.
But the civilian listeners tell them what Secret Secret Service
usually does, really. Because in the movies, it's it's
just not like the movies. No, no, it's not.
(07:58):
Well, certainly when I started, the number one thing Secret
Service was focused on was currency.
Like fake money, right? Fake dollar bills, $100 bills,
20s, things like that. So fake money.
So did a little bit of that work.
And now the Secret Service, of course, is all involved in
cybercrime, credit cards, all that.
Right. Before joining DHS, it was a
(08:19):
Department of the Treasury. Yeah, you know, it was a
Department of the Treasury Agency.
So there is a whole lot of Secret Service work that goes on
that is not protection related but is related to cybercrime.
Now you know credit card fraud, different kinds of things like
that And they work cross cross agency.
(08:40):
You know they're often working in in in details with the FBI or
Treasury agents because it's like Medicare fraud, things like
that. Postal agents, all kinds of
folks, the protective details they get the you know the
highlight, you know you're out there with your ray ban
sunglasses on in the rain, you know looking cool and protecting
(09:01):
the president. But that work is a grind if
you're on one of those presidential details and the
president like, likes coming up.I experienced two different
election campaign cycles and those I was gone over 300 days,
the last one. And the government couldn't pay
me any more money. They could pay my salary, but
(09:22):
they couldn't pay me any overtime because they ran out of
the money. So it can be a real grind.
And they actually bring in lots of other agents from Treasury.
Of course, when you go to a townlike Atlanta or Tampa or Miami,
you're using the PD, the Sheriff's Department, I would
bring in military bomb dogs, work with the police bomb dogs
(09:46):
and explosive teams and do my thing.
So it's a it's a lot that goes on.
That's usually why it's sometimes a month, but usually
three weeks, about 3 weeks we would go in advance of the
president showing up somewhere, possibly for just 15 minutes.
So pretty exciting, but hard work at at the end of the day.
(10:10):
And Speaking of elections, I almost hate to bring it up on my
show. It's not a political show, but I
do like to know a little bit what I mean.
Going up until elections right now, Secret Service is probably
really, really, really slammed, I'm assuming.
And besides that, the climate ofthe world right now, what is
(10:31):
your opinion on maybe how secret, I don't even know if you
have one, on Secret Service today versus what it was like 10
years ago. Yeah, it's really interesting
that 10 or even back in my time 10 years ago, the tools that we
have to create the bubble of protection are much more
(10:53):
advanced. We now you're right now.
Now they're I'm sure there are people going on the advanced
team that are cyber specialists they're looking we used to go
knock on doors police chiefs would have little rolodexes of
sort of the crazy people and we kept one too per city.
You know or people that had madesome comment about the
president. You go check in on how they
(11:14):
doing are they stable things like that And so now you've got
to also do that and and look at the the cyber you know the the
Internet and other things socialmedia and some of that can go on
remote. They don't have to be on site
but you've got that cyber bubble.
You've got the protection. So there's a whole lot more
people now you know making sure the Secret Service is very good
(11:38):
at learning a lesson. So all the things that happened
in Dallas were taken away immediately.
You don't see presidents and open air cars anymore.
We there are as many counter snipers as there might be bad
people out there. You know if there's a route, all
the buildings around the route are checked.
(12:00):
All the underground in the middle of the road is checked.
I've, I've sat there and watchedpeople you know well down
manhole covers like when the Pope came in just into DC,
right, and did miles of that, things like that.
So it is a there's a much biggerand more not complex but
(12:21):
comprehensive bubble around the president all the way from where
they land the Air Force One and whether it's helicopter or
motorcade, those routes, as you can imagine, it can be very
involved if it's like the president's going to two or
three campaign stops in a city or or some place as big as
Dallas, Fort Worth and all that,you know, space they've got so.
(12:45):
Oh my gosh. You know, it just kind of hit me
that while our technology is amazing at helping prevent a lot
of things that we may not have had ten years ago access to at
the same time, on the flip side of things, technology has
probably made it a lot more complicated as well because the
bad guys can connect easier on the Internet.
But the great thing is we can counteract that, right?
(13:08):
Yeah, yeah, it. But it takes some, it takes some
expertise because it's not thereare people who are just sort of
maybe not all, all in one piece that that will make statements
out on the open Internet. And then there are cyber
criminals that use the the intercommunications of games and
different things, very covert kind of communication, so.
(13:32):
Oh, true. Wow.
Oh, my gosh. Wow.
Well, there's job security rightthere.
Yeah, if you can manage the grind, there's there's it's a
good job. Can you tell us about a trial
that you've had in your life andhow did you overcome that trial
with Triumph? Yeah, so a year ago, January
(13:57):
9th, my son, who was 50, passed away at work.
And out of the blue, Danny was bigger, brighter, You know,
everybody's friend, you know, how you doing?
Kind of guy would welcome people.
(14:18):
He would have parties, people would show up that he didn't
know he'd welcome a man, you know, feed him some food.
He was just a great guy and he just wasn't there all of a
sudden. And after getting over the shock
of that, I I think I had an unfortunate leg up in the
(14:43):
process compared to some of the rest of, you know, my family
members. Because being in the military
and having lost friends in the military, I'd experienced death.
And of course my wife and I, we've had uncles and other
things like that, but there's nothing like having a child
pass, right? And we really started right off
(15:08):
rounding everybody up, eating, talking, and we still talk about
Danny in the first person. We still talk, tell jokes.
We believe as a family that Danny will only be gone if we
stop talking about him. So we keep him in our hearts and
(15:28):
our memories. And it's amazing.
Even our seven-year old grandsonhas really handled it well.
I keep looking for something to break out for him to experience
but he really I think has he He like wears a a little Locket and
(15:49):
the Locket hit him in the head and he was telling our
daughter-in-law that daddy smacked him in the head you know
And so it's just beautiful things like that that you know
we're we're functionally dysfunctional family you know
we're. But that bring coming together
(16:11):
really helped in a lot of different ways.
And specifically that idea of keeping Danny close and talking
about him in the first person has really brought it brought
this all together even more. And you know, now we celebrate
(16:33):
and just actually this morning my wife said that she feels love
and warmth back in her heart again.
It's not emptiness. So I'm very lucky like that.
It is really hard to lose a loved one and I talk about this
pretty often on the show. I love the idea of talking about
(16:58):
the person that we've lost and 1st like first person, like
they're right here. Or like, you know what I mean?
It's so important. And that's a that's a really
great thing that you just brought to the table because
I've had a bad habit of either talking about my parents, like
remember when this or that, but not actually like they're still
(17:19):
here, but they've they really are in a way, so.
Absolutely. You have them.
That's, that's memory, Yeah. I like that a lot.
Thank you for sharing that. So Steve, is there anything in
particular that you would like my audience to know that we
haven't talked about yet? Well, you know, it's funny, I'm,
(17:45):
I, I really started in my 40s upto through my 40s.
I was climbing the ladder, doingall that stuff, trying to, you
know, be a good person, climb the ladder.
And and really in the last, I'llsay 20 years I'm about to turn
70, really focused on living a life with intentionality and
(18:06):
then letting go right One of thethe other day I was working on a
book. I'm a a thriller writer and I
was doing some editing and I sort of stepped back and
realized other than getting up and stretching and other things,
I'd gone like when I got back onlike X or social media,
(18:28):
everybody's that that I'd seen before, it was like 11 hours ago
and I'm like, wow, I I pushed those distractions away, let him
go for a while and I was able tobe creative, enjoy myself and it
went so fast, I didn't even realize it.
And so in today's world, you know, you can get chirped,
beeped and bopped from your phone so much, right?
(18:50):
There's so much distraction. There's so much bad news of
different types and different formats and so letting all that
go and gives you space, it's like letting go of resentment,
right? They say, you know, let go of
the resentment so you're not theone drinking the poison, right?
And so letting go of not only resentments but also these
(19:12):
distractions, you know, things that might be funny and and
entertaining, but getting those out of your way opens has opened
me up to be more creative, have more energy, you know, And it's
just really worked for me lately.
And so I'm able to. I'm not like I was in the
(19:32):
military where everything's a task and I've got to get it
done. But I'll set up a list in my
mind. Sometimes I jot things down.
Now that I'm getting older, maybe there's a supplement for
that. But, you know, and then I can go
about my day and I don't get to.I don't get angry if I get off
track, I just come back. You know, I don't hit myself in
(19:56):
the head. And why'd you do that?
Or berate myself? I just come back and get back on
the beam, so to speak. And so living with
intentionality and letting go, two things that really worked
for me. Oh my gosh, I love it.
So there is something that's been driving me crazy since the
beginning of the show. And you just mentioned that
you're almost 70 years old and Ijust have to say you do not look
(20:18):
like it. And when you started talking
about President Nixon, I'm like,Oh my gosh, how old is this guy?
He doesn't look that old. He doesn't look old enough.
So that's pretty incredible. I just had to throw that out
there because I am positive someof my other listeners and and
viewers are going to say there'sno way like we're going to have
to see this guy's proof his DD214 or his driver's license or
(20:40):
something. Well, thank.
Thank you very much. I tell everybody I've got a
great paint job. Some of the parts need
replacement. Oh my gosh, you look amazing.
So the other thing I really loveis that you shared about living
with intention that is so important, so, so important.
(21:00):
And I'm I'm learning that myselfas I as I take every single day
to still try to learn and grow. The other thing you mentioned
was your thriller books. Tell us a little bit more about
that. How did you decide to start
writing thrillers? Yeah, it Back in 1993 there was
(21:22):
an incident and actually my parents were coming back from
Baja, Mexico, and there was an accident.
My mom died in Mexico. Oh my gosh, it was drug runners.
And at the same time, I'm in Colombia chasing training,
training in Colombian military, do their thing against the drug
(21:43):
cartels and other things like that.
And I had sort of written pieces.
I had done PowerPoints, you know, being in being being a
work guy, I'd done PowerPoints, I'd done Gantt charts.
I'd done all this thing about like sort of outlining the
story. I'm very visual person, so I
even use storyboards like I was doing a movie kind of script and
(22:07):
but I never, I never wrote, I wrote technical documents, I
wrote proposals I never wrote. So my wife in 2019 said why
don't you just start writing, see if you like it.
And as it turns out right. Less than an hour from where I
live is Jerry Jenkins who was a 23 times best seller guy who
also wrote the Left Behind series with Pastor Lahaye and
(22:29):
all those Christian books. And I got a mentorship with him,
and I was so happy when he only,like, edited out 20% of my
words. But that's what got me excited.
And then I just picked up the challenge like another sport,
like, you know, I might pick anything else up, but it just
actually became fun. And yeah, I was, I was doing
(22:51):
some editing on a whole different series before we came
online. So yeah, it's it's so much fun
writing and telling stories, whether they get published or
not. It's, you know, it's sort of
irrelevant. I I really enjoy it.
It's. Awesome.
Where can people find your books?
On Amazon, you can look for Steve Stratton First book's
(23:13):
called Shadow Tier, second one'sShadow Sanction.
I'm working on 1/3 book, so my protagonist is Crow native Crow
Indian because I wanted a fresh take and a different take on the
situation. And so yeah, it's it's just so
much fun. Thank you for asking.
Yeah, I'm going to go check themout.
(23:33):
Actually, as soon as I'm done, I'm going to go buy them for my
Kindle. So awesome.
Very cool. Steve, do you have a website?
Yes, it's Steven Stratton Stratton usa.com and I'm a
Steven with AV. Oh my gosh.
(23:54):
Make me aph guy, but I'm AV. And I'll be sure to link that
for these for you all listening here.
Make sure that you go to the link and head over to Steven's
website. Steven, would you like to add
anything else to the show today?Just my heartfelt thanks for
having me on. I appreciate the questions you
ask and what we got to talk about really gives me a good
(24:17):
feeling today. Thank you.
I love that. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing. I really appreciate you opening
your heart and sharing especially, you know, the loss
of a loved one is always very difficult to talk about and I
can't imagine as a child. But for you to share the fact
that you can still talk about him as if he's alive, I think
(24:39):
that's going to really help a lot of my listeners.
I have a lot of military listeners who've lost a lot of
friends and loved ones, unfortunately.
But one of the things that we try to work through on a lot of
my shows is, you know, how do you get past it?
Actually a guy I interviewed right before you was talking
about some PTSD. And So what you offered today
(25:02):
was actually really great followup on the show that I had just
before you because often, you know, we do think about like the
the harder aspects of losing somebody.
I know when I lost my parents, Ilost both of them in 2015.
I just kind of made it so I feltlike they weren't there anymore.
(25:23):
And I don't know why. And it wasn't until today I had
this aha moment because of you, just to think like they're,
they're still here. So thank you.
I can't tell you how much that means to me.
So thank you. Oh, thank you.
I appreciate that. Thanks.
Thank you. And everybody thank you so much
for listening. Be sure to go to Steve's
(25:45):
website. I will have the links there and
everybody just enjoy your day and until next time, head over
to the archives and take a listen.
If you missed some of the shows,it's time to catch up.
And Steven, I want to keep in contact with you and have you on
again and you can tell us about your books a little bit more in
the near future hopefully. That'd be awesome.
(26:07):
Thank you so much. Thank you.
Thanks everybody.
Hello, everybody. You're listening to and watching
Wake Up with Patty Katter. And of course, I'm Patty Katter.
Today I have Steve Stratton on the show with me.
Steve, welcome. Welcome everybody.
I'm really glad to be here. Thank you.
I would love it if you would please tell my listeners a
little bit about yourself, whereyou came from.
(00:23):
Let's start there first. Sure.
I'm Northern California, run around in the redwoods thinking
I'm, you know, somebody from a really nice movie like The Last
of the Mohicans running around, kind of kid in the woods.
And yeah, from there it was actually the military that took
me through the middle of the states, over to the East Coast
(00:45):
and up to DC. And so my first, you know, from
being in the Northwest my whole life to all of a sudden working
at the White House as a 19 year old and just trying to keep my
mouth shut so I don't look so much like a knucklehead and
trying to do my job. It was a it was an amazing thing
(01:07):
and it was all because I volunteered, heard some
interesting words and sort of put it together and started
volunteering, so. All right.
So we have to go back here and rewind just a minute because I'm
so intrigued. So you're you're running around
in the woods, Cowboys, Indians kind of thing.
I don't know if that's appropriate or not appropriate
these days. This day, I don't even know.
(01:28):
I used to play it when I was a kid.
So. So you're running around having
a great time and then all of a sudden you didn't just land in
the White House. So tell us what made you decide
to join the military? I I'm curious about that.
Yeah, that's a that's a neat little story.
I grew up not only running around in the woods and and
(01:49):
harassing each other, you know, but my aunt and uncle had a a
subscription to National Geographic.
And so, you know, without the Internet back then.
Way back then, yeah, but black and white TVSI really got to see
the world through National Geographic.
So after high school, college was like, yeah, I need to get to
(02:09):
that, but I really wanted to go see the world.
And my whole family was Navy andMerchant Marine.
They all thought that was a great way to see the world.
And you know, if I'm in something bigger in a canoe, I'm
probably green around the gills.So I joined the Army and they
just, these guys showed up. They took us to the theater, all
us buzz cut, you know, recruits,they took us to the theater and
(02:33):
these guys showed up with longerhair and suits.
I thought this this interesting part of the army.
And that's where I started that volunteering.
And it my whole life got changedup from going farther up north,
like towards Seattle with the Army, to being at the White
House and doing communications. That's so neat.
(02:54):
You brought back some really great memories too.
I was thinking, wow, a real magazine.
I haven't even had my hands on one in too long.
So when you were growing up and you decide to join the army and
then you move, I'm assuming thatwas a pretty big move for you
because it sounds like you just stayed in one location growing
up a lot, right? You didn't move around a lot.
(03:16):
No we yeah I the the town of Eureka up in Humboldt County
which was known for some well itwas known for marijuana back in
those days and the Bay Area so live between there and the Bay
Area but had relatives all the way down into LA, San Diego and
all the way up into Seattle Olympia.
(03:36):
So that was sort of my realm wasjust running up and down the
coast, seeing relatives and or you know, hunting and running
around the woods and things. So it was my first station was
Oklahoma, which was barren, flatand full of rattlesnakes.
And the next one was Georgia, and it got better.
It was Augusta, GA and The Allman Brothers had a bar
(03:59):
downtown. So, you know, I quickly got
myself a little beater car so wecould go downtown and see The
Allman Brothers. And then after that, it was
Washington, DC, and the the flood of people and the politics
and nice scenery. Oh my gosh, DC It's one of those
places. You know, for me, I I love it.
(04:21):
I go there a couple weeks a month and thrive there, but then
I can pop back down to Florida and thrive here.
But DC is never boring at all. What would you say some of your
more interesting adventures were?
One of the fun stories I like totell is that when?
(04:43):
So I got there right before Nixon, like a week before he
resigned and walked out, you know, took the helicopter flight
out. And two funny stories.
One, my sponsor as I was drivingin town, said, you know what
that is? And I said, is that the
Watergate? And he's like, yeah, don't go
there, 'cause Watergate had literally just happened, right?
And then, well, I went to Vail, Co, out near where I live now
(05:10):
with President Ford. And the Colonel came by one day
and said, you know, you need to go take a skiing lesson because
tomorrow you're skiing behind the president with a radio like
the backup to the backup. And I'm like, that's dangerous.
He's like, yeah, but just go take a lesson and don't run over
the president. So I worked really hard to do
(05:31):
that, and I came close. One time, the president of Ford
sort of slid out. He didn't fall down already.
He just sort of slid out. All the agents are, are you OK?
And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, you know, just scooting off into
the trees, 'cause I can't control what I'm really doing.
So, you know, I got a little bitof a nickname, You know,
Stratton spear Spearman is goingto, you know, try and spear the
(05:52):
president with the ski. So.
Oh my gosh. So I think it was maybe my last
guest that aired. He was talking about how he was
on Air Force One with President Bush.
I think it was George W Bush, though, if I'm not mistaken.
But Oh my gosh, I love these stories.
When you're talking about presidents because you know a
(06:12):
lot of people, they'll hear stories of somebody else's
experiences like my listeners are doing now.
But you actually were experiencing these things first
hand. Did you have any idea on the
significance of that? Not everybody gets to be that
close to a president. Early on it was just shock and
awe. My part is, you know, just
(06:33):
trying to maintain. And then as I got more
comfortable, I flew. I actually flew one of the last
flights on the on the Air Force One, the original Air Force One
jet that that brought President Kennedy's body back from Dallas.
And I spent a lot of time, not alot of time time on Air Force
(06:54):
One. And then there's always an Air
Force 2A backup plane that fliesaround.
So I did some of that, but most of my time was in advance of the
president showing up. So we would go out two to three
weeks in advance, work with the Secret Service, you know, and in
my case, early on it was about communications.
Later when I joined the Secret Service, it was all about
(07:16):
protection of the president. And my job was to make sure the
site was clear. I wasn't.
I was a technical specialist, soI made sure the site he was
going to talk at or stay at whatever, was free from anything
that might harm the president. So.
Which Secret Service is so important?
(07:37):
People don't understand either the dynamics of Secret Service.
Can you kind of tell some of my listeners, I know a lot of the
military, you're already going to know what this is.
But the civilian listeners tell them what Secret Secret Service
usually does, really. Because in the movies, it's it's
just not like the movies. No, no, it's not.
(07:58):
Well, certainly when I started, the number one thing Secret
Service was focused on was currency.
Like fake money, right? Fake dollar bills, $100 bills,
20s, things like that. So fake money.
So did a little bit of that work.
And now the Secret Service, of course, is all involved in
cybercrime, credit cards, all that.
Right. Before joining DHS, it was a
(08:19):
Department of the Treasury. Yeah, you know, it was a
Department of the Treasury Agency.
So there is a whole lot of Secret Service work that goes on
that is not protection related but is related to cybercrime.
Now you know credit card fraud, different kinds of things like
that And they work cross cross agency.
(08:40):
You know they're often working in in in details with the FBI or
Treasury agents because it's like Medicare fraud, things like
that. Postal agents, all kinds of
folks, the protective details they get the you know the
highlight, you know you're out there with your ray ban
sunglasses on in the rain, you know looking cool and protecting
(09:01):
the president. But that work is a grind if
you're on one of those presidential details and the
president like, likes coming up.I experienced two different
election campaign cycles and those I was gone over 300 days,
the last one. And the government couldn't pay
me any more money. They could pay my salary, but
(09:22):
they couldn't pay me any overtime because they ran out of
the money. So it can be a real grind.
And they actually bring in lots of other agents from Treasury.
Of course, when you go to a townlike Atlanta or Tampa or Miami,
you're using the PD, the Sheriff's Department, I would
bring in military bomb dogs, work with the police bomb dogs
(09:46):
and explosive teams and do my thing.
So it's a it's a lot that goes on.
That's usually why it's sometimes a month, but usually
three weeks, about 3 weeks we would go in advance of the
president showing up somewhere, possibly for just 15 minutes.
So pretty exciting, but hard work at at the end of the day.
(10:10):
And Speaking of elections, I almost hate to bring it up on my
show. It's not a political show, but I
do like to know a little bit what I mean.
Going up until elections right now, Secret Service is probably
really, really, really slammed, I'm assuming.
And besides that, the climate ofthe world right now, what is
(10:31):
your opinion on maybe how secret, I don't even know if you
have one, on Secret Service today versus what it was like 10
years ago. Yeah, it's really interesting
that 10 or even back in my time 10 years ago, the tools that we
have to create the bubble of protection are much more
(10:53):
advanced. We now you're right now.
Now they're I'm sure there are people going on the advanced
team that are cyber specialists they're looking we used to go
knock on doors police chiefs would have little rolodexes of
sort of the crazy people and we kept one too per city.
You know or people that had madesome comment about the
president. You go check in on how they
(11:14):
doing are they stable things like that And so now you've got
to also do that and and look at the the cyber you know the the
Internet and other things socialmedia and some of that can go on
remote. They don't have to be on site
but you've got that cyber bubble.
You've got the protection. So there's a whole lot more
people now you know making sure the Secret Service is very good
(11:38):
at learning a lesson. So all the things that happened
in Dallas were taken away immediately.
You don't see presidents and open air cars anymore.
We there are as many counter snipers as there might be bad
people out there. You know if there's a route, all
the buildings around the route are checked.
(12:00):
All the underground in the middle of the road is checked.
I've, I've sat there and watchedpeople you know well down
manhole covers like when the Pope came in just into DC,
right, and did miles of that, things like that.
So it is a there's a much biggerand more not complex but
(12:21):
comprehensive bubble around the president all the way from where
they land the Air Force One and whether it's helicopter or
motorcade, those routes, as you can imagine, it can be very
involved if it's like the president's going to two or
three campaign stops in a city or or some place as big as
Dallas, Fort Worth and all that,you know, space they've got so.
(12:45):
Oh my gosh. You know, it just kind of hit me
that while our technology is amazing at helping prevent a lot
of things that we may not have had ten years ago access to at
the same time, on the flip side of things, technology has
probably made it a lot more complicated as well because the
bad guys can connect easier on the Internet.
But the great thing is we can counteract that, right?
(13:08):
Yeah, yeah, it. But it takes some, it takes some
expertise because it's not thereare people who are just sort of
maybe not all, all in one piece that that will make statements
out on the open Internet. And then there are cyber
criminals that use the the intercommunications of games and
different things, very covert kind of communication, so.
(13:32):
Oh, true. Wow.
Oh, my gosh. Wow.
Well, there's job security rightthere.
Yeah, if you can manage the grind, there's there's it's a
good job. Can you tell us about a trial
that you've had in your life andhow did you overcome that trial
with Triumph? Yeah, so a year ago, January
(13:57):
9th, my son, who was 50, passed away at work.
And out of the blue, Danny was bigger, brighter, You know,
everybody's friend, you know, how you doing?
Kind of guy would welcome people.
(14:18):
He would have parties, people would show up that he didn't
know he'd welcome a man, you know, feed him some food.
He was just a great guy and he just wasn't there all of a
sudden. And after getting over the shock
of that, I I think I had an unfortunate leg up in the
(14:43):
process compared to some of the rest of, you know, my family
members. Because being in the military
and having lost friends in the military, I'd experienced death.
And of course my wife and I, we've had uncles and other
things like that, but there's nothing like having a child
pass, right? And we really started right off
(15:08):
rounding everybody up, eating, talking, and we still talk about
Danny in the first person. We still talk, tell jokes.
We believe as a family that Danny will only be gone if we
stop talking about him. So we keep him in our hearts and
(15:28):
our memories. And it's amazing.
Even our seven-year old grandsonhas really handled it well.
I keep looking for something to break out for him to experience
but he really I think has he He like wears a a little Locket and
(15:49):
the Locket hit him in the head and he was telling our
daughter-in-law that daddy smacked him in the head you know
And so it's just beautiful things like that that you know
we're we're functionally dysfunctional family you know
we're. But that bring coming together
(16:11):
really helped in a lot of different ways.
And specifically that idea of keeping Danny close and talking
about him in the first person has really brought it brought
this all together even more. And you know, now we celebrate
(16:33):
and just actually this morning my wife said that she feels love
and warmth back in her heart again.
It's not emptiness. So I'm very lucky like that.
It is really hard to lose a loved one and I talk about this
pretty often on the show. I love the idea of talking about
(16:58):
the person that we've lost and 1st like first person, like
they're right here. Or like, you know what I mean?
It's so important. And that's a that's a really
great thing that you just brought to the table because
I've had a bad habit of either talking about my parents, like
remember when this or that, but not actually like they're still
(17:19):
here, but they've they really are in a way, so.
Absolutely. You have them.
That's, that's memory, Yeah. I like that a lot.
Thank you for sharing that. So Steve, is there anything in
particular that you would like my audience to know that we
haven't talked about yet? Well, you know, it's funny, I'm,
(17:45):
I, I really started in my 40s upto through my 40s.
I was climbing the ladder, doingall that stuff, trying to, you
know, be a good person, climb the ladder.
And and really in the last, I'llsay 20 years I'm about to turn
70, really focused on living a life with intentionality and
(18:06):
then letting go right One of thethe other day I was working on a
book. I'm a a thriller writer and I
was doing some editing and I sort of stepped back and
realized other than getting up and stretching and other things,
I'd gone like when I got back onlike X or social media,
(18:28):
everybody's that that I'd seen before, it was like 11 hours ago
and I'm like, wow, I I pushed those distractions away, let him
go for a while and I was able tobe creative, enjoy myself and it
went so fast, I didn't even realize it.
And so in today's world, you know, you can get chirped,
beeped and bopped from your phone so much, right?
(18:50):
There's so much distraction. There's so much bad news of
different types and different formats and so letting all that
go and gives you space, it's like letting go of resentment,
right? They say, you know, let go of
the resentment so you're not theone drinking the poison, right?
And so letting go of not only resentments but also these
(19:12):
distractions, you know, things that might be funny and and
entertaining, but getting those out of your way opens has opened
me up to be more creative, have more energy, you know, And it's
just really worked for me lately.
And so I'm able to. I'm not like I was in the
(19:32):
military where everything's a task and I've got to get it
done. But I'll set up a list in my
mind. Sometimes I jot things down.
Now that I'm getting older, maybe there's a supplement for
that. But, you know, and then I can go
about my day and I don't get to.I don't get angry if I get off
track, I just come back. You know, I don't hit myself in
(19:56):
the head. And why'd you do that?
Or berate myself? I just come back and get back on
the beam, so to speak. And so living with
intentionality and letting go, two things that really worked
for me. Oh my gosh, I love it.
So there is something that's been driving me crazy since the
beginning of the show. And you just mentioned that
you're almost 70 years old and Ijust have to say you do not look
(20:18):
like it. And when you started talking
about President Nixon, I'm like,Oh my gosh, how old is this guy?
He doesn't look that old. He doesn't look old enough.
So that's pretty incredible. I just had to throw that out
there because I am positive someof my other listeners and and
viewers are going to say there'sno way like we're going to have
to see this guy's proof his DD214 or his driver's license or
(20:40):
something. Well, thank.
Thank you very much. I tell everybody I've got a
great paint job. Some of the parts need
replacement. Oh my gosh, you look amazing.
So the other thing I really loveis that you shared about living
with intention that is so important, so, so important.
(21:00):
And I'm I'm learning that myselfas I as I take every single day
to still try to learn and grow. The other thing you mentioned
was your thriller books. Tell us a little bit more about
that. How did you decide to start
writing thrillers? Yeah, it Back in 1993 there was
(21:22):
an incident and actually my parents were coming back from
Baja, Mexico, and there was an accident.
My mom died in Mexico. Oh my gosh, it was drug runners.
And at the same time, I'm in Colombia chasing training,
training in Colombian military, do their thing against the drug
(21:43):
cartels and other things like that.
And I had sort of written pieces.
I had done PowerPoints, you know, being in being being a
work guy, I'd done PowerPoints, I'd done Gantt charts.
I'd done all this thing about like sort of outlining the
story. I'm very visual person, so I
even use storyboards like I was doing a movie kind of script and
(22:07):
but I never, I never wrote, I wrote technical documents, I
wrote proposals I never wrote. So my wife in 2019 said why
don't you just start writing, see if you like it.
And as it turns out right. Less than an hour from where I
live is Jerry Jenkins who was a 23 times best seller guy who
also wrote the Left Behind series with Pastor Lahaye and
(22:29):
all those Christian books. And I got a mentorship with him,
and I was so happy when he only,like, edited out 20% of my
words. But that's what got me excited.
And then I just picked up the challenge like another sport,
like, you know, I might pick anything else up, but it just
actually became fun. And yeah, I was, I was doing
(22:51):
some editing on a whole different series before we came
online. So yeah, it's it's so much fun
writing and telling stories, whether they get published or
not. It's, you know, it's sort of
irrelevant. I I really enjoy it.
It's. Awesome.
Where can people find your books?
On Amazon, you can look for Steve Stratton First book's
(23:13):
called Shadow Tier, second one'sShadow Sanction.
I'm working on 1/3 book, so my protagonist is Crow native Crow
Indian because I wanted a fresh take and a different take on the
situation. And so yeah, it's it's just so
much fun. Thank you for asking.
Yeah, I'm going to go check themout.
(23:33):
Actually, as soon as I'm done, I'm going to go buy them for my
Kindle. So awesome.
Very cool. Steve, do you have a website?
Yes, it's Steven Stratton Stratton usa.com and I'm a
Steven with AV. Oh my gosh.
(23:54):
Make me aph guy, but I'm AV. And I'll be sure to link that
for these for you all listening here.
Make sure that you go to the link and head over to Steven's
website. Steven, would you like to add
anything else to the show today?Just my heartfelt thanks for
having me on. I appreciate the questions you
ask and what we got to talk about really gives me a good
(24:17):
feeling today. Thank you.
I love that. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing. I really appreciate you opening
your heart and sharing especially, you know, the loss
of a loved one is always very difficult to talk about and I
can't imagine as a child. But for you to share the fact
that you can still talk about him as if he's alive, I think
(24:39):
that's going to really help a lot of my listeners.
I have a lot of military listeners who've lost a lot of
friends and loved ones, unfortunately.
But one of the things that we try to work through on a lot of
my shows is, you know, how do you get past it?
Actually a guy I interviewed right before you was talking
about some PTSD. And So what you offered today
(25:02):
was actually really great followup on the show that I had just
before you because often, you know, we do think about like the
the harder aspects of losing somebody.
I know when I lost my parents, Ilost both of them in 2015.
I just kind of made it so I feltlike they weren't there anymore.
(25:23):
And I don't know why. And it wasn't until today I had
this aha moment because of you, just to think like they're,
they're still here. So thank you.
I can't tell you how much that means to me.
So thank you. Oh, thank you.
I appreciate that. Thanks.
Thank you. And everybody thank you so much
for listening. Be sure to go to Steve's
(25:45):
website. I will have the links there and
everybody just enjoy your day and until next time, head over
to the archives and take a listen.
If you missed some of the shows,it's time to catch up.
And Steven, I want to keep in contact with you and have you on
again and you can tell us about your books a little bit more in
the near future hopefully. That'd be awesome.
(26:07):
Thank you so much. Thank you.
Thanks everybody.
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