WE CHAT WITH ROYAL MARINE TIP CULLEN

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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.

(00:26):
Welcome back everybody with today we haveanother great guest, Royal Marine turned actor,
Tip Cullin. That's Tip. Thelast name is Cullin cub Led.
You can find them also on Instagram. Tip Cullin get a long, extensive
career as a Royal Marine for themost part, employed as a mountain leader
on operations, in forward reconnaissance andin training as a mountain and cold weather

(00:47):
warfare instructor. He served nearly thirtyyears when transferred to the Royal Marines Reserve,
which a lot of him to trainas an actor with the Actor's Wheel
Company at Plymouth Marsham University. Sothis is fascinating. This is another Special
Forces, another military individual. Whatgoes in from there over to acting.
We had several of these. It'skind of fascinating. Before we get started.

(01:08):
You know what to do, folks, share, subscribe hit that I
like, but you know we likeit. It's not waste any more.
Time we walk over the show,Tip call and welcome sir, well,
thank you very much. Called usfor having me on board tonight, this
evening or today or whenever it comesout. Thank you very much for doing
that. Yeah, actually we're beinghere, you know what. It will
come out a few weeks and yeah, probably, I think we're usually releasing

(01:29):
I don't even know if the folksknow. It's usually it's Mondays every day
at three am Pacific time, sothe Eastern coast people can have something to
listen to when they drives to work. Very important, very important thing.
That's try. I think most podcastsare listening that way. You know.
It's funny Tips I met I heardyou the first time on our Friends of
Ours podcast The Collective, So thatwas with Sean Taylor and Chance Burls.

(01:53):
Master Corporal was like that, Na, Yeah, a great great team,
Maxie, great team to collective.You know a lot of the Canadian base,
but I've met some incredible people doingthose doing the Collective and also the
topics and the subject matter we're covering, like a lot of it. We
step into mental health, but alsothe you know, the physical backgrounds help

(02:14):
so much with mental health, andI think the Collective spots that spectrum fully
eye but draws on the experiences ofveterans and you know, and specialists as
well, like special people that areespecially trained and have been at the forefront
of a lot of the operations,which is you know, I think the
experiences getting them out there is invaluablefor everybody, every human being. The

(02:35):
thing absolutely if you want to catchthat, folks, the collectives on YouTube
live every day eleven am Pacific.I'm not kodn't you every day a Pacific.
I get nothing from it, folks. I just really enjoy the show
and what they do. So youknow me, I have no sparts,
all right, So let's start offwith this. I always am always curious
find out what motivated something to getinto this kind of field. So what

(02:57):
motivated you to become at a RoyalMarine. Well, for me, I'm
really not the arch type, reallytype of person to become a Rome Marines
Commander beauty because of circumstances in thetime. And so I grew up in
Belfast in Ireland, and you know, I was born three months before the
start of the Troubles, so mywhole life was grown up in Belfast,

(03:22):
you know, with the troubles,you know, you know, and that
was that was what I thought,you know, normal in real life.
Was when I was extremely young,I had this you know, I've seen
something and it was about you know, raw marines, which who were marines
and there were commanders as well,and I thought, yeah, that's really
good. Like but obviously my family, I'm a Catholic from a you know,
Catholic, probably slightly you know,definitely nationalist, but you know,

(03:45):
a very you know, Irish family, and there my father was like you
know, my father was I alwayssaid docker, and when I first came
to England, my accent was somuch stronger. Everyone was going, a
doctor, your father's no, no, a doctor works on boats, you
know, works bombers ships. Somy dad was a doctor and he's still
with me and his incredible mom.But he said, don't worry about that.

(04:06):
You'll grow out of it. You'llgrow out of it. But when
I went to school, went throughyou know, I grew up in that
environment, I still had this itchthat had to be scratched. And for
me to be the best or tohave the adventure, I had to you
know, and I was support alot in a lot ways from a family.
They probably didn't think I was goingto go follow the path I did,
but They supported me and said,look, if you want to do

(04:27):
something, you do it. Youfocus and you give one hundred percent.
And I wanted to be become aRoom Marines commando. So I had to
discreetly without really passing well, notonly my immediate family knew that I was.
I was intentions were to join theirRome Marines. And I think that
the motivation, the final motivation toactually do it was before I, before

(04:49):
I when I left school, inbetween when I tried to join it,
when I joined the Role Marines.As such, it takes a while for
obviously the process to go. SoI I worked for the Law Society and
Northern Ireland in Belfast, and itwas an office job, but you know,
it get I was paid and reallyit was only a stop gap before
I, you know, I wasdiscreetly going to go away and join become

(05:11):
our own marine. And during thatperiod, just before I joined the there
was a bomb scare. Everyone gotout of the offices and it got blown
up, and then two weeks laterit got blown up again. And this
is like, you know, I'msixteen year old and gone, yeah,
all right, and we just havebomb scare. Well, everyone goes just
a matter of factly I were better. God earn the pubs, run the
pub. Bomb goes off, Isaid, so we're just walking past the

(05:33):
bomb. Good iron, good tothe pub, bomb goes off, go
back, and then we're in cleaningthe files, getting the class side of
it, working on with it.And then next you know, fewtrell But
two weeks later, bomb in thesame place, bomb blows up. We're
beside the courts and that was it. So that was like going, well,
that's what I'm going to do.I've got to get it, you
know, I've I've got to dosomething that will make a difference in the

(05:55):
world. Even though perception at thetime I went, would you joining the
British all this sort of stuff,But it wasn't for me. It was
I was doing my I wanted theadventure. I want to be a home
Marines commando. I wanted to bethat skiboard soldier with skis or and big
rock sacks in the mountains, doingyou know, stuff that you know as
a young man you know you're afterto do. And I did it all

(06:15):
I did. I followed the dreamthat I wanted to do. It's not
an easy dream. There a pathto follow. I think for any young
person that wants to become a HomeMarines commando. But I the first day
when I arrived at the Commando TrainingCenter at Limpston, I was just alive
and that never stopped for the thirtyyears, you know, So for thirty
years to join up as a marine, get through I get your greenberry,

(06:39):
become a Home Marines commando, andthen do all the stuff I'd done,
the specialist stuff I've done and theoperations had done, and managed to get
through it at the end, youknow, And I had say in one
piece when so many of my friendswere not as lucky, and that is
you know, I am a luckyperson. But I look back fondly and

(07:01):
I try and do not even asan actor, I try and just pull
on those memories, but always bringthe fact. There's any reason I am
an actor and possibly hopefully a credibleactor, is that I got opportunities like
this to talk about the people thatdidn't make it through that adventure. And
we're all young people and we allhad the same aspirations, the same dreams,

(07:23):
and unfortunately, operations and war takesthat away from so many people.
And that's not only our own side. That's everyone, you mean, So
it's a you know, extremely traumatic, you know experiences, But for me,
it's opportunities like this to make surethat everyone knows that I'm an actor,
so that I can and I need, I need the support of my
dead comrades to be able to putmy fingers into the emotional aspects of my

(07:48):
trade as an actor, because thatwas one of the first shocks I got
when I when I did start actortraining was you know, I think that
my experiences in the Marines had builtup a wall of resistance. Well,
I think we need to have whenwe go on operations, you know those
you know, the traumatic experiences,what you see, you know, the

(08:09):
hardship. You also have a massiveunderstanding about how important life is. But
also like how you know, somepeople in the world really, really really
do have extremely hard, hard livesand you completely empathize and sympathize with them
and trying support them as best youcan. And that's why I find and
all my operational experience rather than moreso I think than the kinetic battle are

(08:31):
being involved or you know, closingand killing with the enemy, and that
I think, you know, theexperiences are the moral understanding that you were
trying to help people. Was alwaysthere. That's interesting you mentioned because I
interviewed Green Beret. I think itwas last year. I can't remember now.
There so many of your bols,but I remember he started actually a
theater program and not to get peopleinto Holly once they wanted to have a

(08:54):
separate, separate situation. But hefound out the same thing you're just mentioning.
Found it was very therapeutic for theseindividuals too. A lot of them
would do plays recreating whatever happened intheir missions and it was a I teach
a trauma class, and that traumaclass one of the things we One of
the debates that goes on in theworld of psychologies, it's kind of run

(09:16):
a couple of seconds here, butis the how to approach somebody with trauma
is different than talk therapies with abig debates. Some people say, oh,
you can't do talk there because you'rere traumatized, and the other side
says you have to do it indirectly, so emdr which you probably heard of,
the tapping sounds, whatever you're gonnause, And the other one is
body language. What would your footsay if you were talking about this moment?

(09:37):
What is your if you started talkingthinking about it in your hands move
what did your fingers tell me?Is going on? Another way is drawing?
Now there's psychedelics, which kind ofagain, this decouples you from the
emotional response of that memory physiologically,so it's kind of interesting. But when
I looked at when I was talkingto him, I saw it was similar.
It was like, Oh, hereyou go again. We're going to

(09:58):
decouple this emotional memory and play itout as if you were watching it on
a screen, but you're acting itout. So it's really fascinating. When
you brought that up, I'm thinking, Wow, this is something that I
wish more people would do with that. I completely agree, and I in
a way I fully understand it now. And the benefits you get in the
arts, whatever the arts are,you know, the welfare and the you

(10:22):
know, the mental health you know, uh, we say, positivity from
doing them is incredible. And Istumbled into one of the you know,
one of the modules we've done atuniversity when I was actor training was the
community centered Actor. So this waslike, you know, a the student
can go and pick on his community, you know, and work on it,
building it involve yourself with it andsee whether it's so me coming from

(10:46):
you know, an Enforces background andan Irish background. I thought, well,
for me, I'll try and workwith the you know, the veterans
are in our rehabilitation centers and justsay look, can I come round do
act and workshop? And I woulddo two acting workshops. The first one
was based on what we call swordsoperas and in the Marines, so when

(11:07):
we called swords operas, so whatit was usually that the pneumonic stance for
ship's operatic and dramatic society. Sowent on board ship marines and sailors.
I think you know in the USis very similar. But they get time,
they get some dying time, they'llgo, right, we'll have a
swords opera. And what happens isit goes to all the guys, all
the people, and they you know, they make a stage, they get

(11:28):
dressed up, they make a littlesort of like sketches. Normally normally neo
take making fun of the officers andthe whole like you know, management saying,
but it's it's incredible. And I'veseen so many talented individuals doing this
wherever we're deployed in their role Marines. So the first sort of like workshop,
I was working with the veterans inthe in the rehabilitation center, was
working on swords operas. And whenI got to the rehabilitation center, I

(11:52):
mean including I mean added by twelvepeople in each of the workshops. But
the first one, two or threeof the guy were Marines that I'd worked
with and had been in my sectionon my company, and I think they're
going, what are you doing here? I'm going, you know, I'm
an actor and I I'm on theworkshop, and you know, I mean
it was just like whoa. Andthen but these guys had transformed both through

(12:18):
you know, their experiences and atthat stage some of them I hadn't seen
for maybe like five to ten years. But in that time they've done like
three tours of Afghanistan, right,you know in Teeth Bottle continually months and
months on end, which so manypeople have been been involved in, and
a few of them are just youknow, the bubble had burst that you

(12:39):
know, the whole their lives hadfallen apart. You know, there was
a lot of addiction. There wasthe lost family that lost everything, and
the physicality had just completely transformed,and you know, and I initially,
and then a few of them havedeveloped different other psychiatric you know, issues
like tourettes and things that they're comeout. But when you and I I

(13:01):
could I've seen this first person whenthey became somebody else or became a different
character. It was like they gotout of their sale for a while and
left it and became this different personand then got back into it. And
I was watching, I was justyou know, I was obviously running a
workshop, but I was blown away, completely blown away. And when when

(13:22):
we back again for the next one, we based the workshop on the play
called The Two Worlds of Charlie fwhich was done by Bravo two two here
in the UK, and it's donea you know, a tour European tour
as well, but it was withveterans are literally still some of them still
in real rehabilitation and for them becomeone of them. Actually Cassidy, little
Canadian guy who's former role Marines Commando, I worked. I've done a play

(13:48):
with him in Toronto as well,and our beauty been blown up. And
you know, you could see theway that the guys in this you know,
the real basic Taian center. We'reable to want to could connect with
the characters in the play, butalso they got there mimicking. People have
done stories that were very similar tothose, but they were in different you
know, a different person. Andthe benefit I seen was was it was

(14:13):
in a way I was doing itfor a self, which way it was
my community. So I felt athome in that environment. But I was
trying to I was doing a module, so I was going to I'm doing
a study on it. But Icame away with it completely changed my perception
of the benefits from the arts topeople that have, you know, mental
health issues. And it's not onlylike service people, it's blue light people,

(14:33):
it's people work in the health servicesand also people in normal life,
you know they have to deal withlike traumatic circumstances. Interesting, that's fascinating,
it really is. We're going toexplore this the whole hour. They
remember, we'll have to come backand have you come back and talk to
it would be good he's actually totalk about it. Might be interesting to
see if if Bosley's willing to comeback again too. Yeah, I don't

(14:56):
know if you know, Jeff,I thought, yeah, he's a green
Berets and actor too. Um,yeah, maybe I should reach out to
some of these special Forces guys thatare actors and you guys can talk about
we can look at the psychology becauseI think it would be fascinating to explore
that we have exported through jiu jitsuand dealing with trauma. Yeah. I

(15:16):
mean I've got a lot of friendsthat involved a lot, and we've taken
the role marines in the UK takingquite a big sort of like uh,
the sort of forerunners and the youknow, the Brasilian jiu jitsu and the
benefits of veterans on veterans like withwith that are suffering from like you know,
effects of operations or PTSD. Butit's it's very effective. We've we've
got a re org as the nameof the organization and they've got a lot

(15:39):
of connections with the veterans doing Brazilianjiu jitsu and stateside and count it as
well. So it's it's quite abig and growing community as well. Yeah,
definitely, I mean jiu jets it'scrazy right now and it's just exploding.
Ah Yeah, it's amazing. Thewhole martial art world is, which
is good. I think martial artshas a huge but I think it's One

(16:00):
of the things I like to believeis and I know is that there's a
lot of different ways to get tothe top of the mountain, and if
you're top of the mountain, isobviously better mental health because there's no perfect
mental health, so it's always nowbetter mental health. I think people have
to remember that for almost anything inlife. When I teach criminal psych and
people sometimes as well, murders arestill you know, murders are still that.

(16:22):
Well, yeah, murders will alwaysstill have just the way life is.
If we can reduce them, it'snice. Obviously, the same thing
here with mental health. But yeah, I think that's that's interesting, as
you can use all kinds of thingsmartial arts, acting, psychedelics, therapy,
sometimes medications depending, there's so manyversions art. Trying to think.

(16:48):
So dance is another really popular wayof fitness exercise, but that's it's not
physicality because because buddy feeds and thesechemicals and it gets generated from doing physical
things, and obviously keeping your mindfocused been away maybe from I mean,
for me, I'm a human beinglike everybody else's and the experiences we've had,
and I see it as your timelineof life. You follow it through

(17:11):
and we hit these points where youknow you've had life or death experiences where
you've got through them, but it'syour ability to keep moving on that timeline
and keep moving forward. And whatI always feel is that my friends and
I've got a lot of friends,which are I think a lot of raal
marines and a lot of service peoplein the UK are and the States,
and you know in our Allied nationsof a lot of people have taken their

(17:34):
own lives since, you know,coming back from operations and sometimes you know,
you and I've you know, yeah, it's statistically, it's it's outragious.
So many friends I know personally thathave taken their own lives, but
it's like they've they've they've sort ofgot stuck in that timeline and they can't
move on from it, just keepsgetting pulled back into that point in time.

(17:56):
But I'm working with a lot ofmen, well, a few mental
health charities. One's an extremely goodone and it's benefited so many of our
friends called Rock to Recovery, andit's here in the UK and it's it's
sort of national and they sort oflike purely money, raise money and the
money then goes into professional psychological supportto veterans. But they open the door

(18:18):
themselves. So it's all about themunderstand that. And as soon as they
do that, the path where andwhere they were able to you know,
the support them and the people Ihave seen transform from having you know,
good you know psychological support is.I know it works. I know that
therapy works, you know, andI think it's it's important if the sport
organizations like that making sure that youknow, you get the names out there,

(18:42):
but also they get their financial supportand the charitable support to keep you
know, delivering to people that needit. If I may add one thing
too, is I think sometimes peoplesometimes they're good or a therapist and then
they'll say, no, you knowwhat, they don't understand. Yeah,
you know what, you don't yougo to another one. It's as simple

(19:03):
as that. If you don't likeyour jiu jitsu instructor, you go to
another one. You're paying the money, you're dedicating your time. Everybody has
a little amount of time these days. You find another one, so you
get the right one. If therapyis going to be the route for you,
it is. But also think thatfor those guys, it's just that
you know, they it's that simple, that step where they make them move
forward, that is that they've alreadyready to taken out. And that's for

(19:26):
me. It's always been my friendsthat have obviously taken their own lives.
I never you know that they weren't. There was no say, combat indicators
to go ah, you know,the vulnerable top of them possibly you know,
but there weren't that obvious. Whereasyou, I mean, know the
people that you want to reach outto and just get them so you can

(19:47):
you can have that and this willtalk to give them maybe a signpost or
something towards support. And I thinkthat's important because I mean, these these
the people I know, I mean, these were they you know, they
were the can we say the goldof our youth? You know they were
they were like you know, theywere strong fit morally, you know,

(20:08):
well driven, you know young menand the people I've worked with, and
I'm thinking, you know, ifif you can get some you know that
all the energy and those interest andfocus they have, but just get it
back with them and keep that camaraderieof them, I think that helps,
you know, and get the armoron them. I think it helps so

(20:29):
much for them as well absolutely.You hit another point there. I want
to switch gears in a minute,but you hit another point there too,
which is a socializing aspect. Ithink it's I think it's one of the
most crucial keys is actually that socialconnection. I've seen a lot of studies
of show that were trauma. Youcan really help relax or turn down that
sympathetic nervousness, and activities like thisor fight or flight, you can really

(20:52):
calm that down by having communication withother people and connecting with them. It's
really powerful stuff. And I thinkit's what you guys had and special forces
too, you connected while you're operatingor not. But that's that's the importance
of it is. And I whenor I know when when I meet like
minded people both Canadian and US veteransthat I've operated with and you know,

(21:14):
in spatial forces as well, andthey you know when you look at them,
even though you maybe haven't seen themfor maybe a couple of years,
but you've been sharing the same sortof shit. But you when you look
at them, you just have thatit just in the eyes. You just
got to understand and an empathy andrealization when you look at each other.
You know what I mean is thatis that it's a bond where you,

(21:36):
you know, you completely understand it, and the other people you want to
speak too roll than you know ifyou go outside of it and people can't.
I think, no matter how muchyou read or watch videos or watch
live news feeds off of being inthat environment, it's it's not it is
not it never you will never beyou know, evil, I think fully

(21:59):
comprehend that person unless you've been satbeside them or in a very similar situation.
I think it's it's important just tohave that imput of people that have
shared the same sort of like youknow, trauma you have. That's why
I always tell therapists don't try todon't try to act that you understand,
because we'll never understand where you guyshave gone through. We just don't.

(22:19):
I don't never know how it feelsto be being shot at in the middle
of nowhere land where there's nobody aroundthe help. You can't just call the
cops, Hey, somebody shooting that. Yeah, you can't do anything,
and h hopefully I never do.You know, I've never been in that,
But we can still work with you, still empathize on a lot of
different angles. The ways. Ohno, that's it. That's a bit

(22:41):
because we're that's another thing that wehave to and veterans droll and being exclusive.
We're part of it. We're partof society. We're part of you
know, our culture or nations andeverything else. I think that's the important
thing is just the is that fusionis getting you back into that. You
understand that you're always been part ofit and the reason that you went do
what you did was because you werepart of that. And I think that's

(23:02):
an important thing. You've got tojust get that fusion bike in and get
that, you know, that transitionback into before you were, you know,
you were the rock star away doingwhat you did your business. Again,
folks were talking to Tip, callingand find them over on Instagram,
t I p CU double L andgive them a follow over there on Instagram.
Hey, even time you heard itfrom the show, So Tip,

(23:26):
this is interesting. I know thedirection of our show has changed a little
bit lately. We keep going backand forth depending on who the guests are,
but I like this direction today talkingabout mental health. I know there's
a lot of special forces in militaryto listen to the show. There's even
law enforcement look, there's a hugefascination with the soft community. It's just

(23:47):
the way it is. It's avery small group, just like elite athletes.
Actually, the similarities between you eliteathletes and homicide detectives and SWAT is
really phenomenal and finding the mindsets arevery similar. When I was talking to
a sports psychologist yesterday, he's workedwith a lot of Olympic athletes as well
as professional athletes NBA, and oneof the things we talked about was when

(24:10):
a soft guy has a community,has a mission, he's in the middle
of it, something has to getdone. Things go wrong. It isn't
odd, damn it and walk away. It's okay, how do I get
it done? I got to figureout another way to get this done.
I gotta figure out another way.Hope this doesn't work either, I got
to figure out another way. Butthey keep pressing till they get to the
goal. And that's the same thingI found when I've interviewed Hilary Holmes,

(24:33):
the champion boxer, when I've interviewedgymnastic champions, Olympic athletes, the same
thing. Yes, I felt,how do I get back up and to
get to that goal? And Iguess that brings me to the point of
this question. Was there a momentor two in your employments, in your
career and soft that you said,wow, I gotta get my priority straight
or it changed the way you lookedat the world since since we chided about

(24:59):
it. Yeah, they there's there'sone one incident happened on operations where it
changed the whole dynamics of you know, the organization was with but also me
as a person as well. Andthere's a couple of incidents after that that
fell out of that. Really thatwhich highlighted you know, the you know,

(25:19):
it changed my understanding of my lifeat the time. But basically when
you know, very unpopular war.But when we when we went into Iraq
um with the Commander Brigide, wewere the sort of lead element of the
not the lead element because obviously itwas a seal team and fully commando that

(25:41):
landed to secure the southern sort ofmanifolds and in a site of Basra in
Al four and the Alfaur peninsula.So we had to fly forward in small
teams to set up a screen opscreen forward of obviously behind enemy lines to
counteract any Iraqi reinforcements or counter attackfrom from up north and Basra, and

(26:07):
we were getting flown in. We'regetting deployed by a US Marine Corps H
forty six and the old workhorse theyused to have and on our insertion and
the first night one of them christunderneath my helicopter. And but at the
time I was officially still on thathelicopter, and obviously it exploded with flann

(26:32):
a hundred feet just into the upWe've done a circuit into Iraq, but
we went back into Queer because theactual LPs hadn't been sanitized by cobra attack
helicopters, so we can back across. And when we can back across,
the helicopter next to me christ belowme and exploded, like you say,

(26:56):
from an hundred feet we were Ithought at the time we were caught in
the blast, but then realization thatwhat could see the rubble, you know,
from as we were planning the flightpath, pitch black, massive blast,
We're caught actually in the actual blast, And then realized that it was
a helicopter. Still hadn't twigged eventhough I'm on the telgate by the door

(27:17):
on our looking directly at what werethe helicopter was and the helicopter crished,
and obviously on that was eight ofour guys and four US Marines, and
unfortunately they lost lights instantaneously blew usand when we got mission aboard, so
we had to go back obviously completelyre rolled. But the team that we

(27:40):
lost there on that helicopter was ouralpha headquarters team. I was the bravel
headquarters with a forward our control teamto call in fire and strikes as we
needed to, so if anything hadto happened to them on the ground,
then I would be the call signedto coordinate the teams back into an RV
location and then moved back through ourlines. But with him all dead,

(28:02):
then I had to sort of stepup with one of one of the officers
as well, and then I becamelike the squadron Sergeer Majors, Stroke,
Quartermaster, Stroke two Iceet two Troopcommander, and we carried on tasks,
but it was you know, youyou've just experienced and you've been part of
a blast where you know that allof your friends have died. And unfortunately

(28:26):
that was my helicopter during the rehearsalsand our white cards hadn't changed, so
at that point in time, peoplethought that I had been killed in the
helicopter and then sudden to get alight and realized that that's then, well
who's there then, so we hadto confirm it was it was all our
I lost all my friends that wereour alpha headquarters and a few of our
our support teams, and so fromthat we just had that that was it.

(28:49):
We had to just nothing change.We had to just carry on with
our mission. So wrapped up newaircraft from the Royal Air Force and the
Royal Navy and we landed on butwe landed in broad daylight. We had
we had the yump of a fullkit body armor, helmets, guns,
we have the aman issues through themiddle of the battle because we landed south
of were forty commander, we're stillfighting with the Iraqis in our full village.

(29:14):
Yumped through the battle, got ourselvesat in the oppositions and then carried
on a task and we we donethat. When we did finish our first
fees of the operation, then wecame back into co look hit with the
command of brigade and we were thenup Condo forty commando and we sort of
led took a lead of the brigademoving up through the Al four to Basra

(29:34):
and we led into Basra as well, and we took Basra. So it
was you know, it was ait was a real experience because you do
that, you've you know guys thatused to like shook hands with and hugged
and you know all of them,and ten minutes later they blow up underneath

(29:55):
you and there that's it gone foreverand you've got to refocus. And we
had to carry on task and dowhat we had to and that was the
first thing and that it took mea while I think too understand the reality
of what just happened when it didhappen, and just because we're trained in
a way, you just completely refocusand carry on. And during as we

(30:15):
did go forward, we had oneof the evolutions we had to do and
had to go and just before gettinginto Basra, we've done a raid on
a village called Abu Kasib where weknew and this was the early years of
good strong, you know, towe say declared eye star where we knew
that what they were seeing was correctand we knew that there was a build

(30:37):
up of any forces and fed In in the round location in Albuaca Sib
so we had to go in anddo a raid. See what effect was
basically was just to give them awarning, look just give up. You
know, when we come back nexttime, we're gonna have a full commando
units and we're gonna be taking thevillage. So we went in and done
a raid one night, drove rightin the minute middle of the enemy position

(31:00):
in small you know, just lightjeeps we call him, like land rovers
with machine gun mines, hammered theenemy quite you know, it was quite
full on with people like shooting Alisonabout thirty feet away, and you know,
luckily they were shooting high, whichwas good. And then we broke

(31:21):
contact, got ourselves back into ourlines and when we got back in it
was the first time I'd ever onebeing shot at. And in a way
it's quite surreal because you've got somebodyabout thirty feet away shooting at you with
a you know, on automatic witha clash the cough and you're going and
it was like and there was alot of noise because like with one on

(31:41):
one tracer and all our our gunsor seventy six two plus we had ninety
four rocket launchers launch you know,extended and then we engaged the enemy positions
with ninety four's as well, andI just don't know him a driver,
and just said, is he shootingat me? And he went, oh,
oh oh yeah, that was it, and he was still focused on
turning the vehicle line and getting afifty one wad right and putting smoke and

(32:06):
to stop, you know, anyany reinforcements come. So it was just
it had all just slowed down.It seemed quiet for that as I'm tatted
to him, and then it wasback in full on again. Then we
broke contact with all the all thegang, the troop that we've done it
with, got ourselves back into ourlines and like you know, just you
know, smolder and just took ourhelmets off, said I'm one cars and
lads are going thousands a bit sharpenedfrom vehicle. Lads were all right,

(32:30):
we're all good, and you know, we we carried on from there and
that was it. But you know, and the good thing is I think
what we've done. We had aboutmaybe thirty forty Iraqis come towards our lines
the next day and obviously surrendered andwe passed them through the system, so
it was benefit. And then wegot a go ahead to carry another read

(32:52):
and another house that following night.But we just as we were prepping and
we're armoring up, we're literally onthe front line anyway. We h we
got told down as Stacy if we'regoing to take it, So that night
then we were the lead element tofix the foothold and then forty commander,
we're going to fight through us andtake Abouaca Seed with tank support as well.

(33:14):
And so we went in secured itand we did have a bit quite
a feisty little fire fight in ourhands when we did arrive there, and
one of the locations we killed aboutfour or five enemy but they were still
in contact from the other side ofthis bridge, and the guys had a
few casualties, and I went inwith the medic and the salt major.

(33:36):
We also put the press for them, thinking that was going to be the
more benign part of the operation,but they were full on and the two
press guys were wanted wet himself.He was behind the vehicle and the other
guy was just like you know,they were hiding hand the vehicle in contact.
There was enemy dead and obviously wasenemy injured. So the guys were
they dragged the enemy injured and weregiving them first aid. But again this

(34:00):
is another moment on the same asthe helicopter. But that moment I remember
even telling the lads, he saidthat, you know, when it does
come to it, guys trying notto look in their ey in their eye
and the enemy's eyes when you're doingit, because it'll it'll mess your head
and stray away. When and thenthis guy back of his head was missing
and he was dying, but therewas so much it was fed aye end,

(34:22):
So it was an ideological war forhim. And it was just that
that hate and fear in his eyesas he stirred at me, and I
knew he was dying, like,you know, in his seconds, and
we you know, and there wasno malice I hit from this end.
That was the thing. You know, these were young, you know,
should we say poor, uneducated,but they're being sort of like you know,

(34:44):
brainwashed with so much ideology that thatthat was it, you know,
And I was and I'm not judgingon that, but I was just like,
I just felt so sorry for him, and we dragged, you know,
we dragged on the side we hadstarted doing trying to revive him.
But you know, by the timeI got the press away come packing game,
he was dead. But his eyeslooking at me or just there are

(35:04):
the things that stay with me andwe'll do for the rest of the days.
And but the people I work wereso buying on and so professional.
You know, there was a hardwee fight there and they they done their
business, and that that was anothermoment were a changement. Those eyes.
Even I had gone a play andI I read a bit about it,

(35:25):
or I spoke with the screen orthe scriptwriter and we spoke about it,
and it really hit me, mostlywhen I had done the monologue and I
was mentioned it is his eyes,you know, they were looking at me
from the audience, and it wasimportant bank to respect him that I did
tell a story, you know,to say that you know, there was
no malice from my end, butyou know, and we went through the
night before and done our red saidyou know you had the chance, why

(35:49):
didn't you just give up? Butthat maybe it was never an option for
him. And then when when wedid sort of finally roll up what you
know, we were at that stagewe were liberally as well, where we
you know, we've done our job. We moved back towards secure location,
and then we were about to goget ourselves back home. And then there
was a choice because I'd obviously steppedup nine. I've got a squadron of

(36:10):
maybe like eighty ninety guys from alldifferent cap badges, very well trained,
and we worked extremely hard and doneprovided an extremely good job despite losing you
know, our headquarters in the inthe initial part of the fight. But
when I was coming back, itwas just a moment where when you're responsible

(36:31):
for people's lives in that way,and then you go back to you know,
back to your home and I wasa father to four, four young
children then and then all of asudden, you're back to be irresponsible and
you're in charge. You know,you're you are you and your partner you're
a responsible for for these young people. So you're you're back in responsibility.

(36:54):
And I spoke to my wife andI said, look, there don't a
chance like I just jump on amotorbike and just just go on at tent
and just worry about me by myself, you know, for for a day
or so with a bottle of whiskeyand just that, you know, just
just just somewhere the only person Ihad to carry about was me and and
she probably gonna be the best guyingsZebra. She said, no, you

(37:16):
can't. You've got to come backto us, because if you don't,
that's what it will start. Andthat was probably the wisest and you know,
most wonderful and I didn't realize atthe time. I think it's maybe
a week or sol leader and goingthat was that was because because that could
have been, that could have beenthe slippery slope. And there's a few
characters I've played, like a fewfilms all mentioned that they were doing there

(37:37):
were the character I worked on,especially Sunray, one of the films that
were into it with distributors now thatwe want to get out there with Sunray,
he as a background very much likemine. But he would have went
and had that, you know whatI mean, And that would have been
that slippery slope where that was hisescape. Escape was the goal by himself

(37:59):
and drink was canna think that ashuman and I'm possibly some of my and
I don't, I don't know it, but I think that was that was
a decision point. You needed thatsupporting love from people that loved you,
and I at the time I didn'trealize it because of you thought you were
burdened and you do want to beresponsible, but that responsibility for that people
you love is is so important tothink, well, you get a lot

(38:23):
of points now for this brief showand that was only that was only one
operational was on. Yeah, she'smy condolences for your loss and your rates.
Um. That's one of the toughthings because I know the homicide detectives.
That's also a big issue with themis the where do I tell my
family and friends. I don't wantto expose them to this stuff. Yeah,

(38:45):
and they're dealing with the day andday I M. Yeah, And
this is where I think the therapistdoes come in handy because that's what the
therapist job is. And of coursethere's not going to be therapists who are
ready, and that's a different story. That's why I always say you try
another one, especially one if you'regoing to look for therapist, folks and

(39:07):
you have a severe trauma such amilitary, police or anything of that nature,
to go to someone who's got experiencedin the trauma world, who handles
that population. Because I know whenwe train young therapist, I will always
warned them the last thing you wantto do is pop out your eyes like
you're shocked. So all of asudden that other person thinks, oh crap,

(39:28):
I'm burdening them, I'm damaging them. I don't want to say anymore
because they're not gonna be able tohandle it. And they may be right,
they may not. So that's whyyou have to find somebody who's got
experience, who does know how todeal with this because it is different.
So that changed a lot of howyou viewed life. That it changes how
you came back here. What wassome of the things that you transferred from

(39:51):
that experience to civilian life in thelast few years. Have you incorporated it
at all? As I said,this is more important for me and I
need to connect you to the pI need to share stories. What is
it that change you? Um,I don't. I don't think. I
don't think I changed. I don'tthink it was I evolved. I think
I evolved, But the evolution ofme came. You know, the experiences

(40:15):
I had have really fed who Iam, I mean and made me the
person and hopefully the storyteller I amas an actor because I want, I
want, I love human stories.You know from from wherever, not necessarily
it doesn't have to be veteran ormilitary. But realize this, human beings
are still wonderful peace And I thinkmy experiences make you appreciate people as being

(40:39):
as human beings. And that's youknow, especially the operations I've done all
around the world. You realize thathuman beings are all exactly the same,
same once, same wishes, sameeverything you spread in the ideology and everything
else that transforms people. But fundamentallythey still want to feed a family.
They still want to do that,you know, there's still this. They
want education, they want this,you know, and that's that's what you

(41:02):
realize that human beings are human beingsand you appreciate life, other people and
what they are. But it makesit does make you wonder sometimes that you
know, the evil side of lifeor what we consider to be the evil
side of life. It does makeyou wonder. And we know as well.
You said, like you're working withhomicide detectives and everything. A lot

(41:23):
of the people the purpose, notthe other perpetrators. Such a lot of
them come from broken lives, brokenhomes, broken backgrounds. They haven't had
that conditioning or education or camaraderie thatprobably you would have got maybe in a
service life or an environment where there'sthere's people that respect them and value them
behind. Yeah, that that getsmore complicated. That's the whole other topics

(41:45):
when it comes to criminal minds,and you have to start separating the person
who killed somebody by accident of theperson who's killed the first time in regrets.
So then you got the psychopath whodoesn't really give a rats or about
you or anybody else. Yeah.Yeah, yeah, every time I get
asked the criminal lets that you did. But every time people ask about the
criminal mindus, it comes. Sowhat you want to talk about? You

(42:06):
want to talk about serial killer,serial rapists? They're all different. Yeah,
so yeah, it's interesting. I'mwant to switch gears for a second.
Um, any moments in soft imsure there are any moments in your
soft experiences that said or not thateven made you set, but you're really
appreciated because it made you happier,made you more confident, to increase your

(42:29):
self esteem, like damn I coulddo this, or maybe a mission that
you got out of, anything likethat. Now that the whole experience of
being a Roll Marines command or doesthat not since day once obviously when you
finished Romrines command of training, youknow you you're a command or you at
a command or unit. You knowyou're not considered special forces such. But
within that you've got like certain elementswhere you'll specialize. And then you advanced

(42:52):
and you become any more discreet andwhat operations not. But you when you
when you pass out a tree andyou've honestly, the confidence you get as
a young person young man is it'smassive. You understand even at an early
age because you no matter how youknow, even you know, let's say
professional athletes, they understand the levelsthey push that. But when you think

(43:15):
about it, when you're training tobe a command or, you push further
than your boundaries. You know whatI mean, because athletes is very systematic.
They're always pushing, they're always pushing, but it's it's it's it's control
push. Whereas in commander training they'llpush you, they'll push you, but
they always push you just that slightlybit beyond your comfort zone completely. And
then when you do that, youknow, and you evolve and condition yourself

(43:36):
and become that and then you specializeand you specialize in in even harder things
and do even harder stuff and thenI mean, I I you know,
the wonderful memories. Now though youknow, for me as a human,
I want I know how robust ashuman is. I know when you get
you know, when you do thesearduous exercises, you get to the end
of them and then you get putin the bag or captured and go through

(43:59):
and tear irrigation. You know howstrong or strength you can get from a
human spirit and the physical body.You know, the body is a very
very robust bit of equipment, youknow what I mean. And that all
that that condition over so many years. When you sort of do that transition
back into you know, normalady assuch, you've got a massive big chunk

(44:22):
of oomph should we say, confidenceand ability and nothing I mean especially but
picture of the scene I start myactor trauning, I'm forty seven years old.
So when I start my actor tuning, so I saw my actution.
Everyone in the actor trauning with betweenthe ages of eighteen and the eldest one
was a mature student was twenty fourat the time. So that's it.

(44:44):
So they are what they consider tobe traumatic. When you're that age group,
it is, it is, it'straumatic, you know, but break
up with the boyfriend or the girlfriendthat you know, moving away from home,
all these other things, and thenI'm there and in amongst them with
you know, a completely different perceptionof what trauma and what you know,

(45:05):
what is a life or death experienceof the day. And I think that's
what you could bring to every stageof other parts of life. You understand,
you know that you can confidently passon how they can push themselves in
a companyeah, And this isn't pushingthemselves to the limit you have both physically
and mentally, but you know they'vegot the you know, you try and

(45:25):
sort of nurture them, you know, push their boundaries of what they can
achieve and build that confidence. Ithink when you're in a for me,
it's in a kind of safe spacewhere I know I know what for you
know, I know what you cando. I know you've got all this
new boundaries of like you know,potential. But it's just you'd like to
sort of like give it to themnicely and just go just do it,

(45:47):
Just do it. So everybody ownstheir own adventure, but they push it,
they keep pushing their limits of whatthey feel for themselves physically, mentally,
educationally, you know, anything,any challenges that they feel are all
beyond them. Just feed them,you know, and gently nurture them to
get themselves. It's yours. Everythingis yours because again is that that big

(46:08):
world there, We're all just humanbeings. It's yours. But you've got
to let you know, you've gotto work at it. You've got to
focus, you've got to do this, you know, and and give them
it, and just give people thatopportunity and not as you get older,
you really want to see it inyoung people, you know them, Just
go and just just grab life,just have it, pull chunks out of
it, love everything, all allthe wonders of it. You just need

(46:29):
to just hold it and do it, you know what I mean. I
think you know, I don't knowyou're globally, but you know, definitely
we're move and move them that way. But there's so many, i'd say
human sort of like restrictions we putinto it in a lot of respects,
which social media and the strengths andcontrol and nature of certain parts of the
media. I think that's hard forpeople. So if you can take them

(46:50):
out, you know, and sayall the things you talk about, they
for benefit and mental health. Thereare also challenges and for people just to
get away from that digital world andjust just going what life is. You
know, what what wildlife? Whatmartins are, what rivers are? What?
You know, what snow is?You know all these advantages, what
the sea is, you know,all these things that far better for you

(47:10):
than you know, the digital world. But if you can harness it and
use the digital world as a asa tool to help you and connect and
communicate, good. But I thinkit's just in society, you know,
definitely in the UK and Ireland aswell. It's it's especially in young people.
It's it's like a it's a focalpoint. Is is the digital media

(47:31):
role than you know, the sportor what all the you know, the
community and things that they're the communityis It's more of the system role than
the community, you know. It'sthat sort of thing. Yeah, it's
I hate to use this phrase becauseit actually happens every single time, which
is every general generation doesn't know exactlywhat they're missing or this generation is so

(47:52):
different, and it is, butevery single generation has been different. If
you look at the last one hundredyears, right, Oh yeah, optimize
it. Yeah, I'm just sayingfor myself because I used to say,
all, this generation is so different, but then I kept thinking about it
after a while, and I thoughtevery blody then generations different because in the

(48:12):
two thousand they didn't have computers.In nineteen eighties they didn't have answering machines,
and then you go back to thenineteen sixties they barely had TV channels,
And you just keep pushing back everytwenty years, and it's like it's
just a huge phenomena in today's world. Yeah, I mean today's world.
The children and I'm not gonna saychildren that's under under a certain we'll say
eighteen or over. Do you havean experience that we'd never had, which

(48:37):
every generation has had some experience theprior generation didn't have. But this generation
has had something. They can dowhat you're saying, because we never traveled
when I was young. We didn'thave the money. Nobody had the money
back then unless you had some money. But the kids never traveled on their
own. Now, I mean Iused see nineteen year olds going all over
the place. Yeah, dude,more countries than I've ever been to.
This is ridiculous. I ain't right. You mean so yeah, there are

(49:00):
I mean there's again it's it's ourbenefits and I I do. I mean
my experience, you know, goingthrough actor training was so so many young
people was incredible as brilliant because youknow, you were so glad that you
weren't that age again, but alsous I think they looked to be in
in a quite revered way because ofyou know who I was in my experience

(49:22):
isn't that? But there were therewere some you and you you see young
people, you know, and they'rethey're at the cusp of you know,
that the whole of their life,and you can see some of them got
so much magic and you just wantto make sure you hold on to that
and keep running with it and justdo all those things always like go and
see the world, do this,do that, keep that light, keep
that smiling. If he's keep doingit, and it'll be yours. And

(49:43):
I think you know, and youknow long made people be doing it,
you know, I mean, wellknows. I guess my last two questions,
I know we have a few minutesleft. Again. You can find
more information about tip over at tipCalling Cee you double l over at Instagram.
One. What was it or whowas it in your life that gear
to you this mentality during during theRoyal Marines that the tip said, I'm

(50:08):
not giving up, I'm going tocontinue through and I'll give the last questions
is more of a fun question,But on this one, anybody that stood
out was it a multiple people?Was an experience? I don't know.
He s you've got school conditioning enough. But what stands out for me?
And I always remember and I canremember that the one line was was was

(50:30):
my parents, my mother and father. But my mom just said, you
know should say like it's almost you. Everything in life is yours. All
you're gonna do is give yourself,give one hundred percent and it will be
you know, it'll be yours.Whatever level said, don't measure yourself on
it. If you give one hundredpercent, it'll be yours in some way.

(50:52):
And she's not wrong, she's notwrong. You mean that hundred percent
is if you focus and just giveit and give your heart to whatever you
you going to do, it'll beyours. It will be yours. But
again that one hundred percent means onehundred percent. That's absolutely that's the tough
work. I guess my last questionit's a two part question. If you

(51:16):
could play any act, any character. Let's say you know what, Tip
or recreating this character again, whetherit's Batman, Jason Bourne, whatever it
is, Is there anything Tip wouldwant to play? And if you get
to choose whatever co star you wouldwant next to you, who would be
your co star? Okay? Ione of my favorite films. There's a

(51:40):
couple of ones, a big Grim, but I love it maybe from experiences,
but I yeah, no, no, for me, my film would
be and I think they all makinga remake of it is The Highlander.
And it was, you know,obsolutely just when I was and I was
a young marine when it was itwas not going right. Yeah, it

(52:00):
was just I like the concept,like the magic involved with it. But
it's just I love I'm a Cael, don't I'm an Irish man. Just
that you know that that wonders offthe highlands in Ireland as well, Like
just that, I'd love to loveto play that character or maybe a character
like there's a great Irish sort oflike a folklore legend called kou Holland and

(52:21):
kooh Holland is a like koo Holland. And I think there hasn't been a
massive film done about Koo Holland,and I'm thinking I'd love to get involved
with that. And that's if youever look at the Irish folklore kooh Holland,
it looks like it's an Irish.It looks like choch Holland, koo
Holland. It's see after because obviouslyit's it's in gearly an Irish oh okay

(52:47):
Holland. Yeah, like ko Colland. So it's see you father, so
it's see you with a with anacute and Cullin so c h u l
a i n n. And hewas the he was the Irish water water

(53:08):
a little pastor c h u la i n n. Folks, if
you wanted to see who are yeahand he but with it. I don't
think there's been a massive movie.But but kur Holland means the hind of
Cullen. So obviously my clan oris Thomas Cullen is Cullen. And this
goes back his name and the reasonhis name was Setanta. And there's a

(53:28):
big sort of thing a film ora betting company called Satanta. But his
name was Setanta. But when hebecause he was you know, all these
stories it's storytelling. It's what onarms an acting. I so these folklore
comes from stories. So Kur Hollandwas a young lad called Setanta and he
got attacked by this massive hind.So he killed the hind. But the

(53:49):
hind was the clan chief Holland,who was the clan chief. It was
his hind. So then he hadto then become his protection because that was
his hind. So he became theHind of Collins. Koholo mows the name
comes from interesting. What about yourco star? You let that out right
co star would be Fastbender, MichaelFastbender. I'd love to do someone Michael

(54:13):
Fastbender again. There's some incredible it'sincredible actors around the world in it.
But I just like him, thinkit's really good. Excellent again, folks
talking at Tip Colin a Royal Marine, I don't say a former anymore.
It was so much fun talking toyou. Thank you so much for doing
this. And my last little bitit's just obviously we me and a bunch

(54:36):
of former role Marines. We don'tsay former role marine commanders. We've done
a bit of a crowdfunder put togetherand these guys are extremely talented filmmakers,
and we've done a crowdfunder and wegot we've got about a hundred ks,
maybe about one fifty dollars one fiftythousand dollars, and we made a it
was going to be a three episodeseries roughly based on a character in Mentalis.

(55:00):
I had like a character maybe withmy background, who lost everything and
became who was and his team.It's called Sunray and if you go on
YouTube it says Sunray film or YouTubeand put Tip caulin Sunray, it'll come
up. But we've we've been advisedby a very well renowned editor from the
crime Peaky Blinders and Sherlock who's andwe've also got interest in Hollywood for doing

(55:24):
our VFX. That so good supportfrom States side as well, and they've
they've recommended that we should do itas a as a two hour movie.
So it is a two hour movie. It's finished in post and we've got
it with distributors as we speak,so it might get we might get it
out there. It was but soand I would say to the listeners that

(55:47):
it's punching well above its weight becauseof you know, for one hundred and
fifty K, we're talking seriously.As soon as soon as I get any
in Carlos, I'll send you alink to whatever you know, trailers or
anything, I'll send you that aswell. But you know, it's looking
good and people are interested in it, so and I think it'd be a
really good story to tell. No, you should invite your your buddies wherever

(56:10):
they were that you guys are collaborating. How many of them are you?
There's well that's in it. Obviouslywe had it. It's a fully sort
of like diverse and professional sort ofactor world. But the core of the
Foreman team as such are all actorsthat are former role Marines commandos. And
the two filmmakers are three filmmakers thatmade it initially or all former role marines

(56:31):
who are not filmmakers. You shouldbring us, you know, whatever group
you can bring to here. Wewill do another show again, just talking
about the movies and what your experiencesare like about that movie. If you
like, yeah, yeah, butit'd be good, be good. They
can maybe get um mcdan and thata few guys didn't chat with you about
it, but you know when theywhen they've got authority, because to give

(56:52):
you any sort of like stuff toshow or listen to because there's I mean,
it's really good sign line as well. Yeah, it would be great.
Yeah whatever, you guys are ready, just let me know and say,
hey, look there's a couple ofus that want to come down and
we'll do another interview with you andget the exposure out for the movie as
well. So that'd be great.I think it'd be a fun conversation.
I always like those would be cool. But thank you so much, tip

(57:14):
much for the best of luck andthanks on yourself calls. Yea, thank
you everyone. That's been great,Thanks for having me, and thank you
everyone for listening. Makes you toshare, subscribe, hit that like button
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