ROD GRAHAM DISCUSSES HIS EXPERIENCE AS A GREEN BERET AND HIS UNIQUE JOURNEY AFTER

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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Welcome to Stories of Special Forces Operatorspodcast. Listen to some of the bravest
and toughest people on the planet sharetheir stories. Sit back and enjoy.

(00:25):
Welcome back, everybody. We haveanother great guest, Green Beret Rod Graham.
He's gonna be talking to us todayabout his journey through Special Forces.
By the way, if you wantto learn more about him and his team,
he can go over to Triple NickelTriple nik El dot com. We
interviewed a couple of weeks ago anotherGreen Beret, but Anymoy Rubin Ayala.
He's also at Triple nickel dot com. So you want to check that out.

(00:49):
You know what to do, Folks, Make sure to share, subscribe,
hit that like button. You knowwe like it. It's not wasting
any more time. Welcome to theshow, Rod Graham. Welcome Rod,
How are you pretty good? Thankyou very much, Thanks for having me.
Thank you very much, Rod,and thank you for your service.
I didn't mention that when we metbefore the show, but I truly appreciate
it. So Rod, I'm alwayscurious what motivated you to become a Green

(01:12):
Beret. You have a very fascinatingstory that we talked about after Green Berets
and so I'm really curiously whatever gotyou into the Green Berets. Yeah,
I was an infantry guy, andum, I had an awesome leader.
Um. I won't mention his namebecause I don't know what kind of a
job he's doing, but he wasa really awesome, dynamic guy. And

(01:36):
I'm pretty much anything he'd done,he was successful, and pretty much I
followed his footsteps. He went tobe a ranger and do great things.
I wanted to be a arranger.So, um, he was a really
squared away guy and you got promotedfast, and you know, he was
charged. So he really motivated me, and that's what led me to become

(02:00):
Green Barrett. Interesting. So itwasn't anything like a lifelong dream or anything
of that sort. Oh No,I'm I'm from a small small town called
Regalwood, North Carolina, population ofmaybe twelve hundred. Yeah, it's very
small, very small. I mightbe over embellishing than there, um,

(02:23):
but you know we are. Youknow, we're a small town. We
hunt fish and uh, you knowit's the skill craft that you know set
me apart, you know, justyou know, being an outdoors and you
know, growing up in the woods, so being in the infantry and being
outside and you know, growing upas a kid working in the fields.

(02:43):
You know, I'm I'm a sixtynine. You know, I'm a little
older than Ruben those guys. SoI grew up still working for my grandfather
as a young kid in the fields, and you know, during the summer
time after school, working in thefields for your money and for your school
stuff. So my value of workwas a little different. So when I
got to the army as an infantryguy, you know, it wasn't as

(03:06):
tough as it same to me.You know, it was, you know,
it was a hard work, butyou know it's like I'm getting paid.
You know, I'm getting paid,but I'm not in a field,
you know. Uh, you know, tobacco sticking to me. You know,
So it was it was a nobrainer for him. Did you say
you were sixty nine? I wasborn in sixty nine. I was gonna,

(03:29):
yeah, I was. I wasborn in sixty nine, nineteen sixty
nine, so um, we're stillYeah. I'll be fifty four this year,
so I'm a bit older than Ithink. I'm maybe ten years senior
to ten or seven years. Singingto Ruben and Chris and the guys on
the team. So um, um, the experiences are a little different,

(03:53):
you know, I guess. Iknow I've asked this before, and I
know a lot of green Berets willsay the same things. Rambo did have
an influence. But the Rambo havinginfluence, I knew since you liked the
outdoors so much in order, alot of that movie was outdoors. Yeah,
I I I seen Rambo. Um, I knew of Rambo. Um.
But I once again, Um,I was motivated by by money.

(04:16):
I was motivated by being able toothers. I was motivated by. Um.
The the young guy, you know, the the the the senior guy
who was in front of me,you know, Um, he motivated me.
Um. He was in my wedding. He was in my car cr
when I got in a car accident. You know, uh, he and

(04:39):
I was you know, we're youknow, we're pretty close at the time.
And um he was just someone whoI fed off. Um. So
for me growing up as a kid, even though I was a rural kid,
UM, I never had the exposureof patriotism. I never had the
exposure of military military background. II seen a I seen a friend of

(05:02):
my best friend, my brother's bestfriend, Uh, Fletcher Smith, and
he was an eighty second Airborne andhe had a gray on So one day
I've seen him and uh, helooked like the coolest dude I've ever seen
in my life. And he wasan airborne ranger. You know, he
was airborne. So that's what Iwanted to be, airborne infantry. And

(05:25):
um, it was no problem tobecome an airborn infantry back at that time.
You know, I'm gonna do UM. I like to get into a
little bit more of the psychology ofit. So if I get too personal,
just let me know. But whatsibling order are you? Whenever you're
the oldest, the middle of thechild, the youngest child. I'm the

(05:46):
the youngest of seven, the yngestof seven. Yeah, I have a
interesting story. You know. It'scurrently Uh like my parents, you know,
they both are still aling well andmoving pretty good. You know,
they're eighty five and eighty. Mydad's eighty five, my mom's eighty.

(06:09):
I'm pretty much I'm pretty much theuh those guys. Um. Um.
I like I said, I'm somewhatof a primary care provider for my grandkids.
Uh. Currently I do a lotwith them. I may oversee their
uh, some of the academics,you know, I make sure they're getting
swim I make sure they're getting martialarts, you know, and dance and

(06:30):
you know all those curriculum activities thatum, I had exposure to um while
I was in the Army. Andthat's what I credit UM. A lot
of older guys who um, I'veseen in the Army, I've seen in
the golf industry. You know,I've been able to be a good grandfather
by means of looking at other guys. You know. So UM, just

(06:53):
just army. The Army taught meof great values, man um um,
great things. And I really appreciateeverything that I got from the Army and
special Forces. I mean, UM, it elevated me and it makes me
responsible. You know. It hasme able to hold down a little responsibility,

(07:14):
which you know we all should beable to do. Yeah, something
in society is lacking a lot ofYes, sir, how many how many
years differences between you and your inthe sixth and the sibling Just for Brett,
you oldest one, not the oldestone, but the one writer love
you the number six. This isfunny, Carlos, are you sitting down
I'm looking at you, but I'mgonna ask you, are you sitting down?

(07:38):
My mom had seven children, andshe was pregnant for ten years in
a row, ten years in arow. Yes, I wish I knew.
I wish I knew all the years. But I know my my oldest
is sixty five. I won't sayas a girl, boy whatever because they'll

(08:00):
probably be mad. So the oldestis sixty five. Then there's the sixty
three, sixty two, fifty nine, No, sixty five, sixty four,
sixty two, fifty nine, fiftysix, yeah, and then yeah,

(08:28):
and then yeah, it's it's there. We're right behind each other.
I think I'm missing someone in thesixties, you know, but we were
right. We're like year year yearyear year, right behind each other.
I mean, sixteen months, youknow, and one is closest, you
know, twelve months. It's amazing. The reason I asked, I think
you're only the second one I've everhad that was not an only child or

(08:52):
a firstborn child. And you're definitelythe second only of the youngest. That's
interesting. Yeah, I um,my entire life was based off you know,
my brothers and siblings and I werewe were close, but not extremely
close. And uh, I'm kindof that glue to the family. UM.
And I want to say that,you know, um, and if

(09:13):
my family they would agree. UM. But I always thought that I was
the youngest of seven, the onlyone that went into military. I had
an older brother that went into military. But it's a very short lived,
very very short lived. UM thatwas patriotic went into military and uh did

(09:37):
twenty eight years, seven months andthree days. UM. So I thought
that, you know, my timein the army was you know, when
Afghanistan came along, and you knowin the Panama you know there's a storm
dead the shield, you know didall that? So who were my watch?
You know? That was gonna bethe destiny of me. I never

(10:01):
I never expected to level with theage of forty. Um. I always
thought I would bite it at war. But it didn't have So I always
carry that with me, you know. But I had faith. But you
know, I just had a feelingthat because of the youngest of seven,
you know, I thought that's outof your story, was gonna be But

(10:22):
no, it didn't. I'm gladit didn't. It's amazing. No,
I can't wait to ask you somemore questions. I know how you ended
your career and where you went fromit. It's so different from anybody I've
ever heard, but it makes sense. As I hear you're the youngest,
I'm the youngest, and we havesimilar characteristics. So it's kind of fascinating
to see it. I wonder howmuch that applies. It's not, obviously

(10:43):
not everything falls into sibling order,but it is interesting to see that.
Before we get to that, letme go back a little bit to your
Green Berete days. So do youremember your first deployment? Yeah, oh
yeah, yeah, I went downin nineteen ninety eight and Venezuela with a

(11:07):
really we're really great team started.Um uh still remember how throughout as an
issue BMR. If you know,you know, if you don't, you
know, But uh, he wasa he was a pretty squared away guy
at the time and still today,I'm sure very interesting. Um Uh.
I have a great story, astory that only UM the guys that was

(11:33):
on that team and on that deployment, UH could tell UM. And this
is one of the stories I reallypride myself with that. I was at
the inauguration of Hugo Chavez um witha suit in an MP five, you
know, so, um, itwas pretty cool to be um on the
stage. Uh maybe thirty forty footfrom these coming in incoming President Hugo Chavez

(12:00):
back in nineteen ninety eight. Yeah, that was very interesting. Um.
We was there doing FIT of course, um, and my very first deployment,
and it was interested in all thethings that happened in Venezuela that that
deployment. Um. You know,I wish I could go down in the

(12:22):
line of it. But you know, that was the most unique thing that
still sits for me today that I'vedone that. I had no ideal at
the time, you know, um, Um when I was there, all
I know is you know, Iwas in the country and you know,
we were doing FIT and we endedup being there at the time of the
U inauguration, so we was apart of it. So it must have

(12:43):
been incredible excitement. I remember,despite everything he did, he was really
popular at that time when he firstgot very popular. It was insane.
Um. Yeah, and um um, I really think it was one of
the most fascinating things I've ever seenit in my life, other than um

(13:05):
the Harna Davison bike show at ChiliCoFe, Ohio. Yeah, yeah,
let me ask that is r samething I ever say in my life.
Now I talked to Reuben. Now, Ruben, I remember correctly. Oh
shoot it's berth is Puerto Rican descent? Um? Yes, do you have

(13:28):
any Puerto Rican in you or whatifnicity or you know, because I know
we were gonna originally talk about that. Yeah, I'm after yea, do
you know what country in Africa?H No. Um, I'm not one
of those guys who go deep intomy ancestry. However I do know.

(13:50):
Um, my dad has an officialNative American card um so definitely, definitely
we shared the bloodline of Native Americans. Um um so UM my family,
UM, my great great grandma thatI know of, Babe Graham, she
was Native American solely so um.But I never run and say, hey,

(14:16):
I'm Native American. You know,I just make it easy for myself
and that my mother and my fatherboth was African American um so um.
And then at the time it waslike, you know, some folks were
you know, you utilizing their uhculture and there to try to get you
know, um advantages and whatnot.So yes, yes, yes, yes,

(14:43):
indeed, let me ask you,Let me ask you this. I
know originally you were supposed to havethree. And we're gonna talk a little
bit about diversity and special Forces.UM. Was that something you encountered during
your days as a Green Beret withthe lack of they make a difference at
all that anybody care? UM atthe time? UM Like like I tell

(15:07):
a lot of folks that um,UM that I run across UM. I
at the time, I I everythingI encountered in special opts. You know,
I thought that was a you know, that was a routine for everyone.
You know, I thought that wasjust a write of passage. UM.
Never never in a million years,you know, Uh did I expect

(15:30):
you know, guys will you know, things were racially motivated all the time.
UM. But now that I lookback, you know, and how
things were. For example, Irecall a guy who I thought was a
friend, and he probably still willcall me a friend right now, But
I I watched him march kids inUM who was going through this course because

(15:56):
I worked in AH in the WhiteHouse, meaning I worked in them a
committee where we were putting kids througha special Forces course. And he would
always bring And I was in atraining section and this guy would always bring
UM. Guys in a recycle torecycle guys, and it would always be

(16:18):
maybe nine to thirteen guys that theybring in the recycling for some reason.
It would be all minorities, allminorities, and maybe one white guy.
And I recall this, this whiteguy for you know, we were being
meetings and he'd be like, Hi, black guys, minorities, they just
can't add. So you know,at the time, this stigma, you

(16:42):
know, it didn't dawn on me, M because I was so in the
action of being you know, aGreen Beret, you know, and and
and my mindset was them, maybethey can't you know, maybe they can't
add. Maybe they can't, umyou know add you know, so uh
fast forward, you know, mywhole life change, uh post George Floyd.

(17:06):
You know, UM, I reallystarted reading, I really started looking
at the history of of things thattransformed and that's happened in the past.
Um. And it makes a differencewith me now, um then women,
I'm from Wilmington, North Carolina,and I um the Wrigglewood in North Carolina,
but the closest city to my myarea is Wilmington, North Carolina.

(17:30):
And I grew up in this area. All of my childhood, never knowing
anything about the women toon Masacre ofeighteen ninety eight, where the you know,
the city of Wilmington was you know, um a uh African American run
city pretty much uh officials, umsenators. You know, rand had a

(17:55):
newspaper and three hundred black folks wasmurdered and masked and thrown in the river,
you know, the Cape Field River. So um, when I learned
of all this, you know,it's just you know, started making me
really dig deep and and and andlook at some things and how things transpired
in my Special Forces career. Um, and right to the day. It's

(18:15):
a lot of friends that I shareda lot with, and I remember guys
doing things to me. And youknow, Ruben and I we were on
a Special Forces team together, andyou know, um, we remember guys
and you know wearing you know starsand bars, you know the stars and
bars and and and wearing those youknow out of the fence and Ruben and

(18:36):
I was in charge, and wecouldn't say anything because it was allowed.
Um. So you know, itwas you know pretty much, you know,
it was diversity. You know,you know, black guys got you
know things, you know, likeyou know, I remember in in Ranger
School. You know, hey,he comes a week swimmer, you know,

(18:57):
so that that's that's the way ofyou know, saying it as a
black guy, because most of theminorities and Ranger School were weak swimmers.
Um. So it's just all theselittle things that this that that transpired to
me, that really, um setswith me. Now. You know,
like guys who I thought were friendswith MLK Day was James Earl ray Day

(19:19):
to them, you know, soum, those things now that you know,
I have by racial grand daughters andthey set up precedents and you know,
and I have to tell them andshow them what's right. But at
the same time, in my mind, all these things transpired to me.
So it's like, you know,all these things happen to me. So

(19:41):
it's like how do I you know, um, you know, how do
I put all this together? Youknow, how do I do my daily?
You know, my daily you know, go about daily, you know,
knowing everything that I've you know thathappened, you know, um,

(20:03):
and these guys, I mean,I mean it's it's just it's a continuing
thing, you know, because nowI'm in the golf industry. So now
I'm in another job that's dominated byyou know, white men, um,
which you know is the same things, the same patterns of things I'm seeing
all over again. Um. SoUM it's it bleeds, it bleeds right

(20:30):
into from anything that's Um. Youknow, the army was dominated by white
miles. Um. The golf industryis dominated by white mills. And to
me, um, you know,UM, I don't know the the diversity,
they just don't see it is this. You know, a lot of
guys that I've worked within the pastand had you know, great relationships within

(20:56):
the past, you know they understand, you know. Um. But for
the most part, Um, youknow, guys just um, it's not
about you know, doing the rightthing. And what I mean by the
right thing is um being fair,you know. And and I know this

(21:18):
is a crazy word fair because youknow, there's nothing in the world is
fair. You know. But guys, guys in the army, guys in
high level sports, guys in UMthink Uh you know, who who put
who go out and work hard,you know, and bust their ass and
and and and and put time inyou know, is deserving of the same

(21:41):
opportunity as everyone. And UM,whether it's in the golf industry, where
it's in the army, whether it'sin transportation, whatever is happening, you
know, it's just that, Um, that's all. Uh. I guess
it's minaties, you know. That'sall folks. Any folk you know who
work hard, you know, justwant an opportunity to to prove themselves and

(22:03):
show themselves. And it seems thatyou know a lot of minorities, you
know, get get cut off beforethey can, you know, have that
opportunity. You know. Um,So if I can let me ask you
to do you how would I phrasethis? Do you see a lot of
African Americans or did you have friendsare interested in ever getting in Special Forces?

(22:27):
And would you recommend it? Um? Yes, I every every kid
that that I run through, andand and I see I see kids all
over to you know, women inNorth Carolina. Uh. Special Forces as
a as a small small um smallnumbers a small percentile. And and when

(22:56):
I see someone who said they wantto be special Ops, I give them
lowdown you know, everything from physicalfitness. You know. Hey, um,
I think it's the best thing inthe world. I really do.
I think it's you know, Um, I would do it all over again
Um, I would do the armyall over again. UM. I appreciate
the Army. I just think thatyou know, it's just folks that's in

(23:21):
positions of power, you know,and will never change, you know.
Um, we won't see it inthis generation. Uh, it'll be changed,
but not this generation, um,because you know it's it's it's what's
happening is the teachings at home.You know, people are being still taught
hatred at home now, you know, and that that that will remain for

(23:44):
this generation. You know, youand I won't see that. Carlos,
It'll always be there. Unfortunately,I get the funny feeling. Yeah,
it'll always be there. Um,let me ask you this. Uh,
I know what I talked Reuben aboutit and will he was He's Cuban descent.
That wasn't part of our thing,right. We weren't really ever thinking

(24:08):
about special forces in Ruben in PuertoRican. Same thing. It's not kind
of they're a gig a certain certaincountries or ethnicity that just don't focus on
things like that. Do you findthat to be the case. I mean,
I know you're not the whole representativeof all the African American community,
but did you see that in yourexperience where I don't think I had anybody
else in Wilmington or anywhere else inNorth Carolina that was really interested at all.

(24:33):
Yeah, well I have, um, you know in my my area
of of where I'm from Wilmington,Wilmington, North Carolina. Down here,
I know it's a couple buddies that'sfrom Special Forces seventh Group moved. Yeah.
Yeah. Other than that, Iknow of no one that's in Special

(24:56):
Forces that's from this area. Yeah, I don't have no, I don't
have anybody. If I want tohang out with Special Forces buddies, I
have to drive an hour an hourand a half to four brack um.
Yeah, yeah, it's not badat all. I knew of one other
Special Forces Uh and he was myfather's classmate. Um yeah, mister Shag

(25:22):
Graham Graham. Um um he wasa Green Beret during Vietnam Era, and
he and I were the only twoAfrican American get uh Special Forces guys that
I knew of from here to Fabville. Uh. So um yeah, he's
very special and uh he passed awaya few years ago. So um but

(25:45):
yeah, um, I don't runinto him. I don't see him.
Um. You know. Uh no, I guess we're a little different.
Well, I want to switch gears. We're gonna head over to your re
unique exit of the Green Berets,because you did have a unique exit.
By the way, folks again,check out Triple Nickel, Triple and I

(26:07):
K E. L dot com.Because most of the time I usually hear
a lot of challenges getting out.I'm trying to They haven't said this directly,
but you can kind of tell it. Trying to keep some aspect of
that life alive, whether it betraining individuals through gun training or consulting or
something. With all the skill setsthat you developed in that world. Um,

(26:32):
you you want to call it totallydifferent course unless you actually use some
of the soft skills over a golfer. Maybe you did. I don't know,
Yes, every day you do.Every day. I use skills every
day at the golf course. Iwent heard some minds there you go and
tell us that what would you said? We told me before the show was

(26:56):
really cool. Your mindset was whenyou got out of it, that's the
end of it was done. Yeah, yeah, that was my life because
um um, personally I knew Ifrom small I put it in my head.
I'm from small town Rica Wood,h North Carolina. I knew I

(27:17):
was coming back home. Um whenI retired, you know, I was
like, well, you know,I'm not going to go to um someplace
and start over and mood Florida orwhatever, because I think Willmas in North
Carolina offers the best best things inthe world for me. Um. Um,
I have property here already. Umthat made it a no brainer.

(27:42):
As well, I'm close to myparents. I knew I was going to
be the oversea of my parents.So I was like, well, I
just gotta find something, you know, to take care of me, you
know, uh, get me somenice pension, move back to North Carolina,
and and uh you know, youknow, live life. And so

(28:03):
I retired. And once I retired, I relaxed for a year and just
say, hey, I'm just gonnayou know, just fish hunt and you
know, figure it out. BecauseI wasn't no carpenter. I was a
eighteen Bravo. I was a weaponsguy, and then I became a Zulu,
you know, did the fox thingand Zulu. So I had no
interest of being a builder. Ihad no interest to being a gun guy.

(28:29):
I had no interest to doing anyof that ship. You know,
I was, I was done.You know. I was like, I
don't want to ever wake up coldagain. You know, I don't want
to ever be miserable again. Idon't want to ever be shot at again.
I don't want you know, Idon't want to ever deal with any
of this you know, high intensityagain. So um, I you know,
thought about it, and I waslike, man, what do I

(28:52):
really love? I was like,I love being outside and I love golf.
I really like golf. And Isay, well, I want to
be a superintendent at the golf course. You know, you're outside, You're
away from folks. You don't getthere, you know, you're I'm by
myself. You know, I wantto I'm you know, didn't want to
be you know, excluded. Andto me, being at the golf courses,

(29:14):
Uh, it gives you a senseof It gives me a sense of
security. Um. Not only isnot a lot of violence at the golf
course, Hey, there's none.There's there's no violence at the golf course.
A B and um there's pretty much. Um, there's calmness. There's

(29:40):
calmness at the golf course, youknow, and I feel secure there.
And the golf course I work atis a private golf course and it's gated,
you know, so that gives mean extra level of security. Um.
And I didn't know that at thetime. You know, God works
in the ways. So um.When I went and you know, said
that I wanted to become a golfsuperintendent. I went to the Golf Academy

(30:03):
of America and Murder Beach, SouthCarolina. For two years. Um,
I drove from Wilmington to Murder Beach, which was an hour drive, a
little sacrifice. I did that fortwo years. I started working at uh
Yeah, I started working at agolf course. They're in Murder Beach for
a while and UM, I justgot experience working in and outside of the

(30:25):
golf course and um um UM grabbeda couple of jobs, not one,
but two jobs here locally in uhLeland, North Carolina. And then I
narrowed it down once I become abusy grandfather that I am now. Um,
you know, my grandkids was born, and you know I was working

(30:45):
full jobs and you know, afull time. I was working, you
know, three golf courses at onetime to gather as much experience as possible,
because that's what grain barges do.Um once I gathered all the experience
and and and found out that youknow, hey, golf is great,
but it's a lot of folks that'svery intense about golf. You know,

(31:06):
they think golf is you know,and and I felt, you know,
for me to be a golf professional, to to to be in charge in
the golf world, would would sendme back into post traumatic stress disorder because
I didn't really want folks calling mein the middle of the night about golf.
I didn't want because I see guyswho are are in charge, and

(31:30):
you know, when you have youknow, three hundred two hundred people upset
that you about the grass not beinggrown right, or about you know,
about their ball was you know,and and my mentality, there's many many
more things that's so important to me. Um So, I just said to

(31:51):
myself that I didn't want to bein charge at the golf course. I
just wanted to be a worker.I just want to do some lessons,
you know, learning game and justbe a great guy in the industry.
Um So that's what I do.Now. I'm I work part time,
uh because once again I'm I'm withmy kids, my grandkids. You know,
three days a week. Um,so uh that that keeps me level.

(32:15):
And the folks that the golf course, you know, it's it's just
um, it's it's intense. It'svery intense. It's more intense than I
ever thought, you know, umyou you you wouldn't imagine in the intensity
of of of folks at a ata golf course. But it gets there,
it really does. It doesn't surpriseme anytime you have a sport.

(32:36):
Once you get to the certain level, it becomes pretty uh, as you
would say, pretty intense. Yeah, yeah, and then you got folks
who you know, when you're workingat a private golf course, everyone is
entitled, you know, you knoweveryone, it's a lot of entitlement,
a lot of entitlement man. Andyes, yes, sir, yes sir.

(32:58):
That yeah. Let me. Um, what's interesting is the direction you
took and hopefully we can bring itback to continue to explore it, because
I see a certain piece in youthat I haven't always seen. And other
individuals in the soft community some haveother challenges as well, I mean experiences
that they've encountered. Of course itwould be different than yours. But it

(33:21):
seems like you gravitated towards sports,and I haven't heard that before, which
is fascinating because it gives you alittle bit of the intensity if you want
it, you can have it,obviously, and not the superintendent type of
intensity, but the intensity of thesport itself. And at the same time,
it gives you this nice environment outin the green grass, which we
know studies have shown can help yourelax and calm down your mood. You're

(33:43):
socializing with individuals, you're connecting,which also helps you. And I know
you said it was it was somethingyou didn't even You didn't even think about
those benefits, did you. No, I didn't. I really missed a
lot of golf programs out there forguys with PTSD, and I see the

(34:04):
Oh yeah, it's it's a lotof folks, veterans golf um of a
lot of veterans golf programs out there, and and and folks you know,
they it is. It really doesa lot for guys who are who who
who? We Because I'm a PTSDguy myself, you know, it gets
you, uh, it gets youaway. It give you calmness, you

(34:27):
know, and study the um youknow, and the high intensity, the
the you know, hustle. Bustleis what I call it. You know,
it's really a common thing and you'reable to play and talk with guys
who who experienced and been through thingsthat that you've had, and it's just

(34:47):
a it's a place where you grow. You know, you learn a lot.
You know, you talk to otherguys and and you know, some
of the most, um, thebest conversations I had in my entire life
has been on the golf course,um, getting great advice, I mean,
um. And like I said,um, you know, I've seen

(35:08):
a lot of diversity in my life. And but one of the things I
can't say that I've I've learned howto be a grandfather from the golf course.
Um. The yeah, because interesting, Um, my my father,
my my grandfather, you know,and and my culture we don't grandfather very

(35:30):
well. Um, So I neverI never experienced or seeing how to grandfather.
So I got that from guys atthe golf course. Um. You
know, being around older gentleman,watch what they do, you know,
how they do you know, dealwith their grandkids, especially if they allowed
the time. So um, youknow I felt that, you know,

(35:53):
that was what grandfather is supposed todo. And you know. It's like
this past week, I took mykids and we were down at Myrtle Beach
for a whole week for a springbreak. You know. Um, those
those those are things, you know, to take my grandkids to school once
a week and you know, twicea week to make sure, you know,
I get a chance to talk withthem every week. You know.

(36:14):
Um, those are the things thatI've learned from the golf course. You
know, how to communicate with yourfamily and and things like that. So
um, and that's being around seniormen. That's being around men who respects
their family and um and just dothe right thing. And UM, I
appreciate those guys. You know.I wish I could name them all off,

(36:35):
you know, but you know Ican't, you know, so,
but they're great guys. Grandchildren arevery lucky, Rod, that's for sure.
We'll never forget these moments. Iknow they won't. Grandparents can be
very special. Yes, man,I have two u two granddaughters, and
uh, I adore them so much, you know, I think, um,

(36:55):
you know, I more than anything, I want them to be West
Point grads. I wanted to beyou know, generals an army. But
I know that's not going to happen. Um, Um, you know,
um, dreams do come true.However, Um, you know, we'll
see, we'll see every in ourwhich direction they're gonna go. One of
the reasons I highlight it is becausefor other Special Forces guys out there,

(37:21):
there's there's a lot of different waysto handle things. There's a lot of
different interventions to help with PTSD andsports exercise, things of that nature.
Again, engaging with other individuals inthat environment, I think it's a great
opportunity for other soft guys to say, you know what, I never thought
about that that might be something forme to take up. Whether it's golf,
jiu jitsu, baseball, tennis,whatever it is. If there's something

(37:45):
different about it, there's just somethingdifferent about it. And golf is uh
challenging. And to me that sayingis not as physically challenging as Special Forces
by no means, but that gumnets thing, man, this golf is
it's a beast. You know.You watch those guys, you know every

(38:07):
Saturday and Sunday, and those thoseyoung cats, man, they tee it
up and they tee it up formillions of dollars um and they do it
they do it, and they doit at a high level. Man,
But it's an intensity that um yeah, it's it's it's it's in between the
nine inches. You know, it'sin between the Yeah, I was a

(38:30):
sniper. That's one of the reasonI know it's nine inches. You know
you're here, Baby, You haveenough trouble with what do they call that
miniature golfing? Hav enough problem,so I ain't gonna bother with the real
golfing. Ryan. I can't thankyou enough for the time it took with
us today and spent with us andsharing your stories and truly appreciate it.

(38:54):
I appreciate you having me, Carlos, Thank you everyone for listening. Hey,
you know what to do, share, subscribe, hit that like.
But then if you do, anybodyin the soft community, if you're yourself
in the soft community, highly recommendcheck out some sports. If you haven't
done that, it might be agreat environment for you.