WE CHAT WITH ROYAL MARINE TIP CULLEN

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Stories of Special Forces Operators Podcast. Listen to
some of the bravest and toughest people on the planet
share their stories. Sit back and enjoy.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome back everybody with today we have another great guest,
Royal Marine turned actor, Tip Culin. That's Tip. The last
name is Cullen Cubled. You can find them also on Instagram,
Tip Cullen. He had a long, extensive career as a
Royal Marine for the most part, employed as a mountain
leader on operations and forward reconnaissance and in training as
a mountain and cold weather warfare instructor. He served nearly

(00:49):
thirty years when transferred to the Royal Marines Reserve, which
a lot of them, to train as an actor with
the Actors Wheel Company at Plymouth Marjon University. So this
is fascinating. This is another Special Forces, another military individual
who goes in from there over to acting. You had
several of these. It's kind of fascinating. Before we get started,
you know what to do, folks, share subscribe hit that

(01:11):
I like, but you know we like it. It's not
waste any more time working with the show. Tip call
it welcome sir.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
Well, thank you very much.

Speaker 4 (01:17):
Carlins for helping me on board tonight, this evening or
today or whatever it comes like.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Don't thank you very much for doing that. Yeah, actually
we're being here, you know what. It will come out
a few weeks and probably I think we usually release them.
I don't even know if the folks know. It's usually
it's Mondays every day at three am Pacific time, so
the Eastern Coast people can have something to listen to
when they drive to work.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Very important, very important thing.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
That's right. I think most podcasts are listen that way.
You know. It's funny tips I met I heard you
the first time on our Friends of Ours podcast The Collective,
So that was with Sean Taylor and Chance Burrow's Master
Corporal was like that.

Speaker 4 (01:56):
Yeah, great, great team, actually great team the Collective. You
know a lot of them Canadian base, but I've met
some incredible people doing those doing the Collective and also
the topics and the subject man we're covering like a
lot of it. We step into mental health, but also
there you know that our physical backgrounds help so much
with mental health, and I think the Collective puts out

(02:18):
spectrum fully of it, but draws on the experiences of
veterans and you know, and specialists as well, like special
people that are especially 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 invaluable
for everybody, every human being.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
To think absolutely if you want to catch that, folks,
the collectives on YouTube live every day eleven am Pacific.
I'm not kidding you, every day eleven am Pacific. I
get nothing from it, folks. I just really enjoy the
show and what they do. So you know me, I
have no spots, all right, So let's start off with this.
I always I'm always curious to find out what motivated

(02:55):
somebody to get into this kind of field. So what
motivated you to become a Royal Marine.

Speaker 4 (03:00):
Well, for me, I'm really not the archtypeal really type
of person to become a Row Marines commander Beauty because
of circumstances in the time. And so I grew up
in Belfast in Ireland, and you know, I was born
three months before the start of the Troubles, so my
whole life was growing up in Belfast, you know, with

(03:23):
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 commandos as well, and.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
I thought, yeah, that's really good.

Speaker 4 (03:37):
Like But obviously my family, I'm a Catholic from a
you know, Catholic, probably slightly you know, definitely nationalists, but
you know, a very you know, Irish family, and my
father was a you know, my father was a I
always say, a docker. And when I first came to England,
my accent was so much stronger. Everyone was going, a doctor,
your father's no, No, a docker works on boats, you know,

(04:00):
works bonmb as ships. So my dad was a docker
and he's still with me and his incredible mom. But
he said, don't worry about that. You'll grow out of it.
You'll grow out of it. But when I went to school,
went through you know, I grew up in that environment.
I still had this itch that had to be scratched.
And for me to be the best or to have
the adventure, I had to you know, and I was

(04:21):
support a lot in a lot ways from my family.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
They probably didn't think I was going to go follow
the path I.

Speaker 4 (04:25):
Did, but they supported me and said, look, if you
want to do something, you do it, you focus and
you give one hundred percent. And I wanted to be
become a Rome Marines commando, so I had to too
discreetly without really passing. Well, not only my immediate family
knew that I was.

Speaker 3 (04:39):
I was. Intentions were to join their own Marines.

Speaker 4 (04:43):
And I think the motivation, the final motivation to actually
do it was before I, before I when I left school,
in between when I tried to join it, when I
joined the Rome Marines. As such, it takes a while
for obviously the process to go. So I worked for
the Law Society and I Northern Ireland in Belfast, and
it was an office job, but you know, I was paid,

(05:06):
and really it was only a stop gap before I,
you know, I was discreetly going to go away and
join become my own marine. And during that period, just
before I joined the there was a bomb scar Everyone
got out of the offices and it got blown up,
and then two weeks later it got blown up again.
And this is like, you know, I'm sixteen year old
and going, yeah, all right, and we just a bomb scarre.

Speaker 3 (05:27):
Well, everyone goes just a.

Speaker 4 (05:29):
Matter of factly, and we better go down the pubs
we run the pub, bomb goes off, you know, I said,
so we're just walking past the bomb.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
Good time, go to the pub, bomb.

Speaker 4 (05:37):
Goes off, go back, and then we're in cleaning the files,
getting all the class out of it, working on with it.
And then next you know, few but two weeks later,
bomb in the same place, bomb blews up. We're beside
the coats 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 got to do something that will make
a difference in the world. Even though perception at the

(05:58):
time I went joining the British all this sort of stuff,
but it wasn't for me.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
It was I was doing my I wanted the adventure.
I want to be a role Marines commando.

Speaker 4 (06:05):
I wanted to be that skiboard soldier with Skizo and
big rock socks in the mountains, doing the you know
stuff that you know as a young man.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
You know you're after to do. And and I did it.

Speaker 4 (06:15):
All I did. I followed the dream that I wanted
to do. It's not an easy dream. There are paths
to follow. I think for any young person that wants
to become a Rome Marines commando. But I this the
first day when I arrived at the command of Training
Center at Limpston, I was just alive and that never
stopped for the thirty years, you know, So for thirty
years to join up as a marine, get through it,

(06:38):
get your green berry, become a Role Marines commando and
then do all the the stuff I'd done, the specialist
stuff I've done, and the operations are done, and managed
to get through it at the end, you know, and
had said in one piece when so many of my
friends were not as lucky, and that is you know,

(06:59):
I am a person, but I look back fondly and
I try and do not even as an actor. I
try and just pull on those memories, but always bring
the fact. There's only reason I am an actor and
possibly hopefully a credible actor, is is that I get
opportunities like this to talk about the people that didn't
make it through that adventure. And we're all young people

(07:20):
and we all had the same aspirations, the same dreams,
and unfortunately, operations and war takes that away from so
many people.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
And that's not only our own side. That's everyone young man.

Speaker 4 (07:29):
So it's a you know, extremely traumatic, you know experiences,
But for me, it's opportunities like this to make sure
that 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 put my fingers into
the emotional aspects of my trade as an actor, because

(07:51):
that was one of the first shocks I'd got when
I when I did start actor training, was you know,
I think that my experiences in the Marines had built
up by a wall of resistance, but I think we
need to have when we go in operations, you know
those you know, the traumatic experiences, what you see, you know,
the hardship. You also have a massive understand about how

(08:13):
important life is. But also like how you know, some
people in the world really, really, really do have extremely hard,
hard lives, and you completely empathize and sympathize with them
and transupport them as best you can.

Speaker 3 (08:26):
And that's why I find all my operation experience rather.

Speaker 4 (08:29):
Than more so I think than the kinetic battle are
being involved or you know, closing in and killing with
the enemy, and that I think, you know, the experiences
of the moral understanding that you were trying to help
people was always there.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
That's interesting you mentioned Bese. I interviewed a Green Beret.
I think it was last year. I can't remember that
so many of the goos, but I remember he He
started actually a theater program, and not to get people
into Holly. They wanted to separate, separate situation. But he
found out the same thing you're just mentioning. Found It
was very therapeutic for these individuals too. A lot of

(09:03):
them would do plays recreating whatever happened in their missions
and it was a I teach a trauma class and
in that trauma class, one of the things we One
of the debates that goes on in the world of psychologies,
it's kind of run a couple of seconds here, but
is the how to approach somebody with trauma is different
than talk therapies are the big debate. Some people say, no,

(09:24):
you can't do talk therap because you're retraumatize, and the
other side says you have to do it indirectly, so
emdr which you probably heard of, the tapping sounds, whatever
you're going to use. And the other one is body language.
What would your foot say if you were talking about
this moment, What is your if you started talking thinking
about it in your hands move what did your fingers
tell me? Is going on? In other way? Is drawing?

(09:45):
Now they're psychedelics, which kind of again, 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 talking to him, I saw it was similar. It
was like, oh, here you go again. We're going to
decouple this emotional memory and play it out as if
you were watching it on a screen, but you're acting
it out. So it's really fascinating. When you brought that up,

(10:08):
I'm thinking, Wow, this is something that I wish more
people would do to me.

Speaker 4 (10:13):
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 know, the mental health you know, uh,
can we say positivity from doing them is incredible. And
I stumbled into one of the you know, one of
the modules we've done at university when I was actor

(10:34):
training was the community centered Actor. So this was like,
you know, a the student can go and pick on
his community, you know, and work on it, building it, involve.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
Yourself with it and see this.

Speaker 4 (10:45):
So me coming from you know, an ened Forces background
and an Irish background, I thought, well for me, I'll
I'll try and work with the you know, the veterans
or in our rehabilitation centers and just say, look, can
I come around and do acting workshop?

Speaker 3 (10:59):
And I would do two acting workshops.

Speaker 4 (11:01):
The first one was based on what we call SODS
operas and uh in the marine, so when we're called
SODS operas, so what it was usue the mnemonic stands
for ships, Operatic and Dramatic society. So went on board ship,
marines and sailers. I think that you know in the
US is very similar. But they get time, they get
some dying time, they'll go, right.

Speaker 3 (11:22):
We'll have a SODS opera. And what happens is.

Speaker 4 (11:24):
It goes to all the guys, all the people, and
they you know, they make a stage, they get dressed up,
they make a little sort of like sketches normally normally
you know, making fun of the officers and the whole
management saying but it's incredible, and I've seen so many
talented individuals doing this wherever we're deployed in their rown Marines.
So the first sort of like workshop I was working

(11:45):
with with the veterans in the in the rehabilitation center,
was working on swords operas. And when I got to
the rehabilitation center, I mean including I mean, I had
about twelve people in each of the workshops, but the
first one, two or three of the guys there were
marines that I'd worked with and had been in my
section or my company, and I think they've gone, what

(12:06):
are you doing here? And gone, you know, I'm an
actor and I'm run the workshop, and yeah, you know,
I mean it was just like whoa. And then but
these guys had transformed both through you know, their experiences,
and at that 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,

(12:28):
in teenth Battle continually months and months on end, which
so many people have been been involved in, and a
few of them are just you know, the bubble at burst.
They you know, the whole their lives had fallen apart.
You know, there was a lot of addiction. There was
the lost family, they lost everything, and the physicality had

(12:50):
just completely transformed, and you know and I initially, and
then a few of them have developed different other psychiatric
you know, issues like Tourett's and things like that.

Speaker 3 (12:59):
They're come out.

Speaker 4 (13:00):
But when you and I and I could I seen
this first person, when they became somebody else or became
a different character, it was like they got out of
their cell for a while and left it and became
this different person and then got back into it.

Speaker 3 (13:14):
And I was watching.

Speaker 4 (13:15):
I was just you know, I was obviously running a workshop,
but I was blown away, completely blown away. And when
when we back again for the next one, we based
the workshop on the play called The Two Worlds of
Charlie f which was done by Bravo tout here in
the UK and it's done a you know, a tour
European tour as well, but it was with veterans that
are literally still some of them still in real rehabilitation,

(13:39):
and few of them become one of them. Actually Cassidy,
little Canadian guy who was a former O Marines commando,
he I worked and I've done a play with him
in Toronto as well, and amputee being blown up, and
you know, you could see the way that the guys
in this you know, the real basiation center. We're able
to one to connect with the characters in the play,

(14:01):
but also it got there mimicking. People have done stories
that were very similar to those, but they were in
different you know, a different person. And the benefit I
seen was was it was in a way I was
doing it for a self, which well, it was my community,
so I felt at home 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

(14:22):
I came away to completely changed my perception of the
benefits from the arts to people that have, you know,
mental health issues. And it's not only like service people,
it's blue light people, people work in the health services
h and also people in normal life, you know, they
have to deal with like traumatic circumstances.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
Interesting, that's fascinating, it really is. We can explore this
the whole hour. Remember, we'll have to come back and
have you come back and talk. You know, it would
be good. He's actually talk about it might be interesting.
I have to see if Bosley is willing to come
back again too. Yeah, I don't know if you know, Jeff, Yeah,
as a green Beretsing actor too. Yeah, maybe I should

(15:05):
reach out to some of these special Forces guys that
are actors and you guys can talk about we can
look up the psychology of it. I think it would
be fascinating to explore that we have exported through jiu
jitsu and dealing with trauma.

Speaker 4 (15:16):
Yeah, I mean I've got a lot of friends that
involved with that and we've taken their all. Marines in
the UK have taken quite a big sort of like
the sort of forerunners in the you know, the Brazilian
jiu jitsu and the benefits for veterans on veterans like
with with that are suffering from like you know, effects of.

Speaker 3 (15:32):
Operations or PTSD. But it's is very effective.

Speaker 4 (15:36):
We've we've got uh Reorg is the name of organization,
and they've got a lot of connections with the veterans
doing Brazilian jiu jitsu in state side Caunada as well.
So it's it's quite a big on growing community as well.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
Yeah, definitely. I mean it's crazy right now and it's
just exploding. Yeah, it's amazing. The whole martial art world is,
which is good. I think martial arts has a huge
but I think that's one of the things I like
to believe is and I know is that there's a
lot of different ways to get to the top of
the mountain. And if your top of the mountain is
obviously better mental health because there's no perfect mental health,

(16:12):
so it's always no better mental health. I think people
have to remember that for almost anything in life. Well,
when I teach criminal psychic people, sometimes well, murders are
still you know, murders are still that. Well, yeah, murders
will always still have just the way life is. If
we can reduce them, it's nice. Obviously, the same thing
here with mental health. But yeah, I think that's it's

(16:35):
interesting because you can use all kinds of things martial arts, acting, psychedelics, therapy,
sometimes medications, depending, there's so many versions art. I'm trying
to think. So dance is another really popular way fitness exercise.

Speaker 3 (16:51):
But that's it.

Speaker 4 (16:52):
It's not physicality because because our body feeds and these
chemicals and it's generated from doing physical things and obviously
keeping your mind focused in away maybe from I mean,
for me, I'm a human being like everybody else's and
the experiences we've had, and I see it as your
timeline of life. You follow it through and we hit
these points where you know, you've had life or death

(17:14):
experiences where you've got through them, but it's your ability
to keep moving on that timeline, keep moving forward. And
what I always feel is that my friends and I've
got a lot of friends which are I think a
lot of roal Marines and a lot of service people
in the UK and the States, and you know in
our allied nations of a lot of people have taken

(17:35):
their own lives since, you know, coming back from operations
and sometimes you know you've and I've you know, yeah,
it's statistically, it's it's outrageous. So many friends I know
personally that have taken their own lives, but it's just
like they've they've they've sort of got stuck in that
timeline and they can't move on from it, just keeps
getting pulled back into that point in time. But I'm

(17:57):
working with a lot of mental well a few mental
health charities.

Speaker 3 (18:01):
One's an extremely.

Speaker 4 (18:04):
Good one and it's benefited so many of my friends
called Rock to Recovery, and it's here in the UK
and it's it's sort of national and they sort of
like purely money raised money and the money then goes
into professional psychological support to veterans, but they open the
door themselves. So it's all about them understanding and as
soon as they do that the pathway and the where

(18:25):
they're able to you know, the support that and the
people I have seen transformed from having you know, good
you know, psychological support is.

Speaker 3 (18:34):
I know it works. I know that therapy.

Speaker 4 (18:36):
Works, you know, and I think it's it's important if
the support organizess like that making sure that you know,
you get the names out there, but also they get
the financial support and the charitbal support to keep you know,
delivering to people that need it.

Speaker 2 (18:50):
If I may add one thing too, is I think
sometimes people sometimes they're good to a therapist and then
they'll say, no, you know what, they don't understand. Yeah,
you know what, you don't go to another one. It's
as simple as that. If you don't like your jiu
jitsu instructor, you go to another one. You're paying the money,
you're dedicating your time. Everybody has a little amount of

(19:10):
time these days. You find another one till you get
the right one. If therapy is going to be the
route for.

Speaker 3 (19:15):
You, it is.

Speaker 4 (19:16):
But also think that for those guys, it's just that
you know, they it's that simple that step where they
they make them move forward, that is that they've already
they're ready to take it out. And that's for me.
It's always been my friends that have obviously taken their
own lives.

Speaker 3 (19:31):
I never you know, they weren't.

Speaker 4 (19:34):
There was no say, combat indicators that go ah, you know,
the vulnerable touple of them possibly you know, but they
weren't that obvious. Whereas you, I mean the other people
that you want to reach out to and just get
them so you can, you can have that and this
will talk to give them maybe a signpost or something
towards support. And I think that that's important because I mean,

(19:54):
these these the people I know, I mean, these were
they you know, they were there.

Speaker 3 (20:01):
Can we say the gold of our youth? You know?
They were? They were you know, they were strong fit.

Speaker 4 (20:08):
Morally, you know, well driven, you know young men and
the people I've worked with, and I'm thinking, you know,
if if you can get some you know that that
all that energy and those interest and focus they have
and just get it back with them and keep that
camaraderie them, think that helps, you know, and get the
armor on them.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
I think it helps so much for them as well.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
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. I think it's I think
it's one of the most crucial keys is actually that
social connection. I've seen a lot of studies of show
that with trauma we can really help relax or turn
down that sympathetic nervousness and the activities like this or

(20:51):
fight or flight. You can really calm that down by
having communication with other people and connecting with them. It's
really powerful stuff. And I think it's what you guys
had and Special Forces too. You're connected while you're operating.

Speaker 3 (21:03):
Oh no, but that's that's the importance of it is.

Speaker 4 (21:05):
And I when or I know when when I meet
like minded people, both Canadian and US veterans that I've
operated with, and you know in Special Forces as well,
and they you know when you look at them, even
though you maybe haven't seen them for maybe a couple
of years, but you've been sure in the same sort
of ship. But you when you look at them, you

(21:26):
just have that it just in the eyes. You just
got to understanding and empathy and realization when you look
at each other.

Speaker 3 (21:33):
You know what I mean? Is that is that it's
a bond where.

Speaker 4 (21:35):
You you know, you you completely you understand it, and
the other people you want to speak too well. Then
you know if you go outside of it and people can't.
I think, no matter how much you read or watch
videos or watch live news feeds of being in that environment,
it's it's not, it is not, it will never you
will never be.

Speaker 3 (21:57):
You know, evile.

Speaker 4 (21:58):
I think fully comprehend that person unless you've been sat
beside them or in a very you know, similar situation.
I think it's it's important just to have that improve
with people that have shared the same sort of like
you know, trauma you have.

Speaker 2 (22:12):
That's why I always tell therapists don't try to don't
try to act that you understand, because we'll never understand
what you guys have gone through. We just don't. I
don't never know how it feels to be being shot
at in the middle of nowhere land where there's nobody
around the help. You can't just call the cops. Hey,
somebody should that. Yeah, you can't do anything, and hopefully
I never do. You know, I've never been in that,

(22:34):
but we can still work with you, still empathize on
a lot of different angles in different ways.

Speaker 3 (22:40):
Oh No, that's it.

Speaker 4 (22:40):
That's a bit because we're and that's another thing that
we have to in veteran roll and being exclusive.

Speaker 3 (22:46):
We're part of it. We're part of society.

Speaker 4 (22:48):
We're part of you know, our culture, our nations and
everything else. I think that's the important thing is just
the is that fusion is getting you back into that.
You understand that you've always been part of it and
the reason that you went do what you did was
because you were part of that.

Speaker 3 (23:02):
And I think that's an important thing.

Speaker 4 (23:03):
You've got to just get that fusion back in and
get that you know, that transition back into before you
were you know, you were the rock star away doing
what you did your business.

Speaker 2 (23:16):
Again, folks for talking to Tip Culling. You find them
over at Instagram t ip CU double l e N.
Give them a follow over there on Instagram. Hey even
tell them you heard it from the show. So this
is interesting. I know the direction of our show has
changed a little bit lately. We keep going back and
forth depending on who the guests are, but I like

(23:36):
this direction today talking about mental health. I know there's
a lot of special forces in military that listen to
the show. There's even law enforcement. Look, there's a huge
fascination with the soft community. That's the way it is.
It's a very small group, just like elite athletes. Actually,
the similarities between you elite athletes and homicide detectives and
SWATT is really phenomenal and finding the mindsets are very similar.

(24:00):
When I was talking to a sports psychologist yesterday, he's
worked with a lot of Olympic athletes as well as
professional athletes NBA. You know, one of the things we
talked about was when a soft guy has a community,
it has a mission. He's in the middle of it.
Something has to get done. Things go wrong, it isn't
not damn it and walk away. It's okay, how do

(24:21):
I get it done? I got to figure out another
way to get this done. I got to figure out
another way. Ope, this doesn't work either. I got to
figure out another way. But they keep pressing till they
get to the goal. And that's the same thing I
found when I've interviewed Hilary Holmes, the champion boxer, when
I've interviewed gymnastic champions, Olympic athletes, same thing. Yes, I fell,
How do I get back up and to get to

(24:41):
that goal. And I guess that brings me to the
point of this question. Was there a moment or two
in your in your in your employments, in your career
and sawt that you said, wow, I got to get
my priority straight or it changed the way you looked
at the world.

Speaker 3 (24:57):
Since we chatted about it.

Speaker 4 (24:59):
Yeah, there's there's one 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.
And there's a couple of incidents after that that fell
out of that really which highlighted you know, the you know,

(25:20):
it changed my understanding of my life at the time.
But basically, when you know, very unpopular war. But when
we when we went into Iraq with the Commander Brigade,
we were the sort of lead element of the not
the lead element because obviously it was a seal team
and fully commando that landed to secure the southern sort

(25:43):
of manifolds and in a site of Basra in Al
four and the Al four peninsula, So we had to
fly forward in small teams to set up a screen
op screen forward of obviously behind enemy lines to counteract
any Iraqi reinforcements or counter attack from from up north

(26:05):
in Basra, uh and we were getting flown in.

Speaker 3 (26:08):
We're getting deployed by a US Marine.

Speaker 4 (26:09):
Corps H forty six's and the old workhorse they used
to have and on our insertion and the first night
one of them chrished underneath my helicopter. And but at
the time I was officially still on that helicopter, and

(26:31):
obviously it exploded with flann one hundred feet just into
the op We've done a circuit into Iraq, but we
went back into quit because the the actual LPs hadn't
been sanitized by cobra attack helicopters, so we can back across.
And when we came back across, the helicopter next to

(26:52):
me christ below me and exploded like you say.

Speaker 3 (26:56):
Five hundred feet.

Speaker 4 (26:57):
We were I thought at the time we were caught
in the block, but then realization that what could see
the rubble, you know, from as we were flying the
flight path, pitch black, massive blast, We're caught actually in
the actual blast, And then realized that it was a helicopter.
It still hadn't twigged even though I'm on the tail
gate by the door gunner looking directly at what were

(27:20):
the helicopter was, and the helicopter crashed and obviously on
that was out of our guys and four US Marines
and unfortunately they lost lives instantaneously blow us and when
we got mission of boat, so we had to go
back obviously completely re rolled. But the team that we
lost on the on that helicopter was our Alpha headquarters team.

(27:45):
I was the Bravo headquarters. UH were for forward, our
control team to call in fire and strike as we
needed to, so if anything had to happen to them
on the ground, then I would be the call signed
to coordinate the teams back into an RV location and
then move back through our lines. But with him all dad,
then I had to sort of step up with one

(28:05):
of one of the officers as well, and then I
became like the squadron sergeant magors Stroke, Quartermaster Stroke two
ic Stroke two troop.

Speaker 3 (28:15):
Commander and we carried on task. But it was it.

Speaker 4 (28:18):
You know you've you've just experienced and you've been part
of a blast. You know that all of your friends
have died, And unfortunately that was my helicopter during the
rehearsals and our white cards hadn't changed. So at that
point in time, people thought that I'd been killed in
the helicopter and then started get light and he realized
that now it's so then well who's there then, so

(28:39):
we had to confirm it was it was all our
I lost all my friends that were our alpha headquarters
and a few of our support teams and uh so
from that we just had that that was it. We
had to just nothing changed. We had to just carry
on with our mission. So wrapped up new aircraft from
the Royal Air Force and will Navy and we landed

(28:59):
on but we landed in broad daylight and we had
the we had the yump with a full kit body armor, helmets, guns,
you know, I mean issues through the middle of the
battle because we landed south of work forty Commander, we're
still fighting with the Iraqis in our full village. Jumped
through the battle, got ourselves in your positions, and then
carried on our task.

Speaker 3 (29:19):
I mean, we've done that.

Speaker 4 (29:21):
When we did finish our first fears of the operation,
then we can back into uh Co Lokate with the
command of Brigade and we were then up Condo forty
commando and we sort of led took a lead of
the brigade moving up through the L four to Basra,
and we laid in the Basra as well, and we
took Basra.

Speaker 3 (29:39):
So it was a you know, it was a it
was a surreal experience because.

Speaker 4 (29:44):
You do that, you've you know guys that used to
like shake hands with and helmed and you know all
of them, and ten minutes later they blow up underneath
you and there that's it gone forever and you've got
to refocus.

Speaker 3 (29:58):
And we had to carry on.

Speaker 4 (29:59):
Task and do what we had to and that was
the first thing and that it took me a while,
I think too understand the reality of what just happened
when it did happen, and just because we're trained in
a way, you just completely refocus and carry on.

Speaker 3 (30:15):
And during as we did go forward, we.

Speaker 4 (30:17):
Had one of the evolutions we had to do. I
had to go in just before getting into Basara, we've
done a raid on a village called Aboa Cassib where
we knew and this was the early years of good strong,
you know, to be say declared eye star, where we
knew that what they were seeing was correct and we

(30:37):
knew that there was a build up of any forces
and fed im in the around location in Albora Cassibe,
so we'd go in and do a raid.

Speaker 3 (30:45):
See what effect was. Basically, it was just to give
him a warning, look just give up.

Speaker 4 (30:49):
You know, when we come back next time, we're gonna
have a full commander units and we're gonna be taking
the village. So we went in and done a raid
one night, drove right in the middle of the enemy
position in small you know, just light jeeps we call
them like land rovers with machine gun mindes. Hammered the

(31:10):
enemy quite you know, it was quite full with people
like shooting alice from about thirty feet away, and you know,
luckily they were shooting high, which was good. And then
we broke contact, got ourselves back into our lines and uh,
when we got back in, it was the first time
I'd ever one being shot at. And in a way
it's quite surreal because you got somebody about thirty feet

(31:33):
away shooting I do with a you know, un automatic
with a clash the cough and you're going and it
was like and there was a lot of noise because
we had one on one tracer and our guns or
seven six to two plus we had ninety four rocket
launches low you know, extended, and then we engaged the
enemy positions with ninety fours as well, and.

Speaker 3 (31:52):
I just turned him a driver and just said is
he shooting at me? And he went, oh, oh yeah,
that was it.

Speaker 4 (32:00):
And he was still focused on turning the vehicle RNE
and getting the fifty one water right and putting smoke
and that to stop, you know, any any reinforcements come.

Speaker 3 (32:08):
So it was just it'd all just slowed down.

Speaker 4 (32:11):
It seemed quiet as I'm tattened to him, and then
it was back in Forlorn again. Then we broke contact
with all the all the gang the troops that we've
done it with, got ourselves back into.

Speaker 3 (32:20):
Our lines and like, you know, just you know, smoldering
and just took our helmets.

Speaker 4 (32:24):
Office said I'm one kaz and lads of going thousands
a bit sharping front vehicle lads were all right, 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
about maybe thirty forty Iraqis come towards our lines the
next day and obviously surrendered and we passed them through

(32:47):
the system.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
So it was benefit, and.

Speaker 4 (32:49):
Then we got a go ahead to carry another read
on another task the following night. But we just as
we were prepping and we're armoring up, we were literally
on the front line anyway, we uh, we got to
on our stay say if we're going to take it.
So that night then we were the lead element to
fix the foothold and then forty commander, we're going to

(33:10):
fight through us and take a case with tank support
as well. And so we went then secured it, and
we did have a bit of quite a feisty little
far fight in our hands when we did arrive there,
and uh, one of the locations we killed about four
or five enemy and uh, but they were still in
contact from the other side of this bridge, and the

(33:31):
guys had a few casualties, and I went in with
the medic and the salt major. We also put the
press for them, thinking that was going to be the
more benign part of the operation, but they were fullorn
and the two press guys were wanted wet himself. He
was behind the vehicle and the other guy was just
like a you know, neyver hiding hand the vehicle in contact.

(33:52):
There was enemy dead and obviously it was enemy injured.
So the guys were they dragged the enemy injured and
were giving him first aid.

Speaker 3 (33:59):
But again this is another moment, the same as the helicopter.

Speaker 4 (34:04):
But that moment I remember even telling the lads, you
said that, you know, when it does come to it,
guys trying not to look in their in their eye
and the enemy's eyes when you're doing it, because it'll mess,
it'll mess for your head. And straight away when and
then this guy back of his head was missing and
he was dying, but there was so much it was
fed eye am so it was an ideological war for him.

(34:25):
And it was just that that hate and fear in
his eyes as he stirred at me, and I knew
he was dying, like, you know, in his seconds and
we you know, and.

Speaker 3 (34:33):
There was no malice I hit from this end. That
was the thing.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
You know.

Speaker 4 (34:36):
These were young, you know, should we say poor, uneducated,
but they've been sort of like, you know, brainwashed with
so much ideology that that that was it, you know,
And I was and I'm not judging them that, but
I was just like, I just felt so sorry for him,
and we dragged, you know, we dragged on the side.
The lad started doing trying to revive him. But you know,

(34:58):
by the time I got the press come back again,
he was dead. But his eyes looking at me or
just they are the things that stay with me for
and will do for the rest.

Speaker 3 (35:07):
Of the days.

Speaker 4 (35:08):
And uh, but the people I worked, we were so
buying on and so professional. You know, there was a
hard we fight there and they they done their business.
And that that was another moment where it changed me.
And those eyes. Even I've done a play and I
I read a bit about it or I spoke with
it the screen or the scriptwriter, and we spoke about it,

(35:29):
and it really hit me, mostly when I'd done the
monologue and I was trying to and I mentioned it
is his eyes, you know, that were looking at me
from the audience. That was important to respect him, that
I did tell a story, you know, to say that
you know, there was no malice from my end, but
you know, and we went through the night before and
done our red.

Speaker 3 (35:47):
You know, you had the chance. Why didn't you just
give up? But that maybe it was never an option
for him.

Speaker 4 (35:53):
And uh, then when when we did sort of finally
roll up what you know, we were at that stage,
we were liberally as well way, we you know, we've
done our job. We moved back to our secure location,
and then we were about to go get ourselves back home.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
And then there was a choice because I obviously stepped
up now and I've.

Speaker 4 (36:10):
Got a squadron of maybe like eighty ninety guys from
all different cap badges, very well trained, and we worked
extremely hard and done via an extremely good job despite
losing you know, our headquarters in the in the initial
part of the fight.

Speaker 3 (36:26):
But when I was coming back, it was.

Speaker 4 (36:28):
Just a moment where when you're responsible for people's lives
in that way, and then you go back to you know,
back to your home. And I was a father for
four young children then and then all of a sudden,
you're back to be irresponsible and you're in charge. You know,
you're you are you and your partner. You're not responsible

(36:49):
for these young people, so you're back in responsibility. And
I spoke to my wife and I said, looks like
I just jump on my motorbike and just go just
go on a tent and just worry about me by myself,
you know, for for a day or so, with a
bottle of whiskey and just that, you know, just just
just someone the only person I had the car about

(37:11):
was me and and she'd probably gonna be the best guys.

Speaker 3 (37:16):
Ever, she said, no, you can't.

Speaker 4 (37:18):
You've got to come back to us, because if you
don't get that's what it will start. And that was
probably the wisest and you know, most wonderful and I
didn't realize at the time.

Speaker 3 (37:28):
I think it was maybe a week or so later,
and going that was that.

Speaker 4 (37:31):
Was because because that could have been, that could have
been a slippery slope. And there's a few characters that
have played like a few films I mentioned that they
were doing there were the character worked on, especially Sunray,
one of the films that were which with distributors now
that we want to get out of there.

Speaker 3 (37:45):
With Sunray, he as a background very much like mine.

Speaker 4 (37:49):
But he would have went and had that, you know
what I mean, And that would have been that slippery
slope where that was his escape escape was to go
by himself and drink skin.

Speaker 3 (38:00):
I think that was young.

Speaker 4 (38:01):
I mean, 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 that support and love
from people that loved you, and and at the time.
I didn't realize it because of you thought you were
a burden and you don't want to be responsible. But
that responsibility for that people you love is is so
important to think.

Speaker 2 (38:23):
Well, you get a lot of points for this brief showing.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
And that was only that was only one operation was on.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
Yeah, she is my condolences for your loss and your mates.
That's one of the tough things because I know the
homicide detectives. That's also a big issue with them is
the what do I tell my family and friends. I
don't want to expose them to this stuff.

Speaker 3 (38:46):
Yeah, and then dealing with the day and daylight mm hmm.

Speaker 2 (38:49):
Yeah, And this is where I think the therapist does
come in handy because that's what the therapists job is.
And of course there'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're
going to look for therapist, folks and you have a
severe trauma such a military, police or anything of that nature,

(39:11):
to go to someone who's got experience in the trauma world,
who handles that population. Because I know when we train
young therapists, I always warned them. The last thing you
want to do is pop out your eyes like you're shocked.
So all of a sudden that other person thinks, oh crap,
I'm burdening them, I'm damaging them. I don't want to
say anymore because then I got to be able to

(39:32):
handle it. And they may be right, it may not.
So that's why you have to find somebody who's got experience,
who doesn't know how to deal with this because it
is different. So that changed a lot of how you
viewed life. That it changes how you came back here.
What were some of the things that you transferred from
that experience to civilian life in the last few years.

(39:54):
Have you incorporated it at all? As it said, this
is more important for me and I need the connector
that the peace people. I need to share stories. What
is it that changed you?

Speaker 3 (40:05):
I don't I don't think. I don't think I changed.
I don't think it was that I evolved.

Speaker 4 (40:09):
I think I evolved, But the evolution of me came,
you know, the the experiences I had have really fared
who I am you mean and and made me the
person and hopefully the storyteller I am as an actor
because I want I want I love human stories, you know,
from from wherever, not necessarily it doesn't have to be

(40:31):
veteran our military. But realize that human beings are still
a wonderful beast. And I think my experiences make you
appreciate people as being as human beings. And that's you know,
especially the operations I've done all around the world.

Speaker 3 (40:45):
You realize that human beings are all exactly the same,
same wants, same wishes. Seeing everything you spread in the
ideology and being else that transforms people. But fundamentally they
still want to feed their family. They still want to
do that, you know. They's still this.

Speaker 4 (40:58):
They want education, they want this, you know, and that's
that's what you realize that human beings are human beings
and you appreciate life, other people and what they are.
But it makes you it does make you wonder sometimes
that you know that the evil side of life, or
what we consider to be the evil side of life,

(41:19):
it does.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
Make you wonder. And we know as well.

Speaker 4 (41:21):
You say, like you're working with homicide detectors and everything.
A lot of the people the purpose and that the perpetrators,
such a lot of them come from broken lives, broken homes,
broken backgrounds. They haven't had that conditioning or education or
camaraderie that probably would have got maybe in a service
life or in an environment where there's there's people that
respect them and value them, you know.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
I mean, yeah, that that gets more complicated. That's a
whole other topics when it comes to criminal minds, and
you have to start separating the person who killed somebody
by accident, the person who's killed the first time in regrets,
and then you get the psychopath who doesn't really give
a rat spear by you or anybody else.

Speaker 3 (41:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
Yeah, yeah, every time I get asked the criminal less
that you did. But every time people ask about the
criminal minors said, what do you want to talk about?
Do you want to talk about serial killers? Serial rapists?
They're all different. Yeah, so yeah, it's interesting. I'm going
to switch gears for a second. Any moments in soft
me sure there are, But any moments in your soft
experiences that said or not didn't even made you said,

(42:22):
but you're really appreciated because it made you happier, made
you more confident, increased your self esteem like damn I
could do this, or maybe a mission that you got
out of, anything like that.

Speaker 4 (42:35):
Now that the whole experience of being a roll Arnes
commander does that.

Speaker 3 (42:38):
That's in day once.

Speaker 4 (42:39):
Obviously, when you finished rom command of training, you know
your you're a command or you're a command or unit.
You know you're not considered special forces such. But within
that you've got like certain elements where you'll specialize, and
then you advance and you become a new more discreet
and work on operations not but you when you when
you pass out a tree and you honestly, the confidence

(43:02):
you get as a young person young man is is massive.
You understand even at an early age because no matter
how you know, even you know, we say professional athletes,
they understand the levels they pushing that when you think
about it, when you're training to be a command or
you push further than your boundaries, you know what I mean,
because athletes is very systematic. They're always pushing, they're always pushing,

(43:24):
but it's it's it's it's controlled push. Whereas in commando
training and they'll push you, they'll push you, but they
always push you just that slightly bit beyond your comfort
zone completely. And then when you do that, you know
and you evolve and condition yourself and become that and
then you specialize and you specialize in even harder things
and do even harder stuff. And then I mean, I

(43:46):
I you know, the wonderful memories out there, you know,
for me as a human, I want I know how
robust the human is. I know when you get you know,
when you do these argeous exercises, you get to the
end of them, and then you get put in the
big or captured and go through and tell you know
how strong or strength you can get from a human
spirit and the physical body. You know, the body is

(44:07):
a very very robust bit of equipment, you know, I mean,
and that all that that condition over so many years.
When you sort of do that transition back into you know,
normality as such, you've got a massive big chunk of
oomph should we say, confidence and ability and nothing.

Speaker 3 (44:27):
I mean especially a picture of the scene.

Speaker 4 (44:29):
I start my actor treating and I'm forty seven years old,
so I start my actor training. So I saw my
actor everyone in the actor training with between the ages
of eighteen and the eldest one was a mature student
was twenty four at the time.

Speaker 3 (44:43):
So that's it. So there what they consider to be.

Speaker 4 (44:47):
Traumatic when you're at that age group, it is, it is,
it's traumatic you know, break up with the boyfriend or
the girlfriend that you know, moving away from home, all
these sort of things, and then I'm there and in
amongst them with you know, a completely different perception of
what trum trauma and what you know, what is a
life or death experience of the day. And I think

(45:10):
that's what you could bring to every stage of other
parts of life. You understand, you know that you can
confidently pass on how they can push themselves in. And
this isn't pushing themselves to the limit you have both
physically and mentally, but you know they've got the you know,
you try and sort of nurture them, you know, push
their boundaries of what they can achieve and build that confidence.

(45:32):
I think when you're in a for me, it's in
a kind of safe space where I know I know
what for you and I know what you can do.
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 them nicely and just go,
you know, just do it, Just do it. So everybody
owns their own adventure, but they push it, they keep

(45:53):
pushing the limits of what they feel for themselves physically, mentally, educationally,
you know anything. An the challenges that they feel are
all beyond them. Just feed them, you know, and gently
you nurture them to get themselves.

Speaker 3 (46:05):
It's yours.

Speaker 4 (46:06):
Everything is yours because again is that that big world
out there. We're all just human beings.

Speaker 3 (46:10):
It's yours. But you've got to let you know, you've
got to work at it.

Speaker 4 (46:13):
You've got to focus, you've got to do this, you know,
and give them it and just give people that opportunity
and not as you get older, you really want to
see it in young people, you know them, Just go
and just just grab life, just have it, pull chunks
out of it, love everything, all the all the wonders
of it. You just need to just hold it and
do it. You know what I mean that I think
you know, I don't know you're globally, but you know,

(46:35):
definitely move and move them that way. But there's so
many i'd say human sort of like restrictions we put
into it in a lot of respects, which social media
and the strengths and controlling nature of certain parts of
the media.

Speaker 3 (46:48):
I think that's hard for people.

Speaker 4 (46:49):
So if you can take them out, you know, I
say all the things you talk about, you they for
benefiting mental health, they're also challenges and for for people
just to get away from that digital world and just
go just going what life is?

Speaker 3 (47:01):
You know, what what wildlife? What mountains are, what rivers are? What?
You know? What snow is? You know all these adventures,
what the sea is?

Speaker 4 (47:08):
You know all these things that that that far better
for you than you know, the digital world. But if
you can harness that and use the digital world as
a as a tool to help you and connect and communicate.

Speaker 3 (47:19):
Good.

Speaker 4 (47:20):
But I think it's just in society and definitely the
UK and Ireland as well. It's it's especially in young people.
It's it's like a it's a focal point. Is is
the digital media rather than you know, the sport or
or other the you know, the community and things out
the communities. It's more of the system rather than the community.

Speaker 3 (47:39):
You know. It's that sort of thing.

Speaker 2 (47:41):
Yeah, it's I hate to use this phrase because it
actually happens every single time, which is ever genera generation
doesn't know exactly what they're missing or that this generation
is so different, and it is, but every single generation
has been different. If you look at the last one
hundred years right.

Speaker 4 (47:59):
Oh yeah, not knocking it, just you trying to optimize it.

Speaker 2 (48:03):
Yeah, I'm just saying for myself. I used to say, oh,
this generation is so different, but then I kept thinking
about it after a while, and I thought, every bloody
their generation is different because in the two thousand they
didn't have computers. In nineteen eighties they didn't have answering machines,
and then you go back to the nineteen sixties they
barely had TV channels, and you just keep pushing back
every twenty years, and it's like there's just a huge

(48:24):
phenomenon in today's world. Yeah, I mean today's world. The children,
and I'm not gonna say children that's under you know,
under a certain age we'll say eighteen or other do
have an experience that we'd never had, which every generation
has had some experience the prior generation didn't have, but
this generation's had something. They can do what you're saying,
because we never traveled when I was young. We didn't

(48:47):
have the money. Nobody had the money back then unless
you had some money. But the kids never traveled on
their own. Now, I mean I used to nineteen year
olds going all over the place. Yeah, theude more countries
than I've ever been to. This is ridiculous.

Speaker 4 (48:58):
I ain't go it is you may so there are
I mean there's again it's it's our benefits and I
I do. I mean, my experience of going through actor
training was so so many young people was incredible, was
brilliant because you know, you were so glad that you
weren't that age again. But also uh, I think they
looked to be in in a quite revered way because

(49:20):
of you know, who I was and my experiences that.
But there were there were some you and you you
see young people, you know, and they're they'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 want to make sure you hold
on to that and keep running with it and just
do all those things. All it was like, go and
see the world, do this, do that, keep that light,
keep that smiling, if you just keep doing it, and

(49:43):
it'll be yours. And I think, you know, you know,
long may people be doing it?

Speaker 2 (49:47):
You know, I mean, we know, I guess my last
two questions. I know we have a few minutes left again,
and you can find more information about tip over at
tip call and see U double l E n Over
at Instagram. One? What was it or who was it
in your life that gave you this mentality during during
the Royal Marines that that tip said, I'm not giving up.

(50:09):
I'm going to continue through and I'll leave. The last
question is more of a fun question, but on this one,
anybody who stood out? Was it multiple people experience?

Speaker 3 (50:23):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (50:23):
I suppose you've got school condition or that, but what
stands out for me? And I always remember and I
can remember that the one line was was was my parents.

Speaker 3 (50:31):
It was my mother and father.

Speaker 4 (50:32):
But my mom just said to you know, she'd say,
like it's thomast you.

Speaker 3 (50:38):
Everything in life is yours.

Speaker 4 (50:40):
All you're going to do is give yourself, give one
hundred percent and it will be you know, it'll be yours.
Whatever levels you said, don't measure yourself on it. But if
you give one hundred percent, it'll.

Speaker 3 (50:50):
Be yours in some way. And she's not wrong, She's
not wrong.

Speaker 2 (50:54):
You.

Speaker 4 (50:54):
I mean that one hundred percent is if you focus
and just give it and give your heart to whatever
you you going to do, it'll be yours.

Speaker 3 (51:02):
It will be used. But again that means one hundred percent.

Speaker 2 (51:09):
That's absolutely that's the tough work. I guess. My last
question it's a two part question. If you could play
any at any character. Let's say, you know what Tip
or recreating this character again, whether it's Batman, Jason Bourne,
whatever it is, is there anything Tip would want to play?

(51:30):
And if you get to choose whatever co star you
would want next to you, who would be your co star?

Speaker 4 (51:37):
I one of my favorite films. There's a couple ones
a big Grim, but I love it maybe from my experiences,
but I.

Speaker 3 (51:46):
Yeah, not for me. My film would be and I
think the all making a remake.

Speaker 4 (51:51):
Of it is is The Highlander and it was you
know absolutely just when I was when I was a
young marine when it was right, Yeah, it was just
I like the concept, like the magic involved with it.

Speaker 3 (52:03):
But it's just I love Michael Don I'm an Irish man.

Speaker 4 (52:07):
Just that that you know that that wonders off the
highlands in Ireland as well, Like just that, I'd love
to love to play that character or maybe a character
like there's a great Irish like folklore legend called cou
Holland and Coo Holland is like Coo Holland and Uh.
I think there hasn't been a massive film done about

(52:28):
Coo Holland, and I'm thinking I'd love to get involved
with that.

Speaker 3 (52:31):
And that's it.

Speaker 4 (52:31):
If you ever look in the Irish Coo Holland, it
looks like it's an Irish. It's looks like to Challen Holland,
it's see after because obviously it's in Gey and Irish.

Speaker 2 (52:46):
Oh okay, never really cool Holland.

Speaker 4 (52:51):
Yeah, right, Couulin so it's see you father, so it's
see you with a with an acute and Cullen so
c h u l a i n n and he
was the he was the Irish water water.

Speaker 2 (53:08):
See you a little pastrophe c h u l a
i n n folks if you wanted to see who are.

Speaker 3 (53:14):
Yeah and he but with it.

Speaker 4 (53:15):
I don't think it's been a massive movie. But but
kur Holland means the hind of Cullen. So obviously my
klan or Thomas Cullen is Culen. And this goes back
his name and the reason his name was Satanta. And
there's a big sort of like a film or a
Betan company called Satanta. But his name was Satanta. But
when he because he was you know, all these stories.

(53:37):
It's like storytelling. It's what I'm armed as an act
and is so these folklore comes from stories. So Tou
Holland was a young lad called Satanta, and he got
attacked by this massive hind.

Speaker 3 (53:47):
So he killed the hind. But the hind was the
the clan chief Pullin, who was the clan chief. It
was his hind.

Speaker 4 (53:55):
So then he had to be then become his protection
because that was his hind. So he became the Hind
of Collins. Hollywood's name comes from interesting.

Speaker 2 (54:03):
What about your co star you let that.

Speaker 3 (54:04):
Out right coast would be Fastbender?

Speaker 4 (54:09):
Michael Fastbender. Really, I'd love to do something Michael Fassbender. Again.
There's some incredible it was incredible actors around the world
in it.

Speaker 2 (54:18):
But I just like him. He's really good, excellent. I
get folks talking to tipical in a Royal Marine. I
don't say former anymore. It was so much fun talking
to you. Thank you so much for doing this.

Speaker 4 (54:31):
It is And my last little bit is just obviously
we me and a bunch of former Roal Marines we
do say former roll Marine commandos. We've done a bit
of a crowdfunder put together and these guys are extremely
talented filmmakers and we've done a crowdfunder and we got
we've got about one hundred k's maybe about one fifty
dollars one fifty dollars, and we made a it was

(54:55):
going to be a three episode series roughly based on
a character in Let's said, like a character, maybe we
might background who lost everything and became who was and
his team. It's called Sunray And if you go on
YouTube it says Sunday Film or YouTube and put Tip
Collin Sunray, it'll come up. But we've we've been advised

(55:16):
by a very well renowned editor from the crime Peaky
Blinders and Sherlock Who's and we've also got interest from
Hollywood for doing our vfs, not so good support from
State's side as well, and they've they've recommended that we
should do it as a as a two hor movie.

Speaker 3 (55:33):
So it is a two more movie.

Speaker 4 (55:35):
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 nice, but so and I
would say to the listeners that it's punching well above
its weight.

Speaker 3 (55:50):
Because of you know, for one hundred and fifty k.
We're talking seriously.

Speaker 4 (55:54):
As soon as soon as I get any Carlos, I'll
send you a link to whatever you know, trailers or anything.
I'll send you that as well well. But you know,
it's looking good and people are interested in it, so
and I think it'll be a really good.

Speaker 3 (56:06):
Story to tell.

Speaker 2 (56:07):
No, you should invite your your buddies wherever they were
that you guys are collaborating. How many of them are you.

Speaker 3 (56:14):
There's well, they're in it. Obviously.

Speaker 4 (56:16):
We had a it's a fully sort of like diverse
and professional sort of actor world. But the core of
the four man team as such are all actors that
are former Role Marines commandos, and the two filmmakers, the
three filmmakers that made it initially are all former roll
Marines who are our filmmakers.

Speaker 2 (56:34):
You should bring as you know, whatever group you can
bring to the here, we'll do another show again just
talking about the movies and what your experiences are like
about that movie.

Speaker 3 (56:42):
If you like, yeah, yeah, but it'd be good good.
They can maybe get Dan and that. A few guys
even chatted you about it.

Speaker 4 (56:48):
But you know when they when they've got authority, because
to to give you any sort of like stuff to
show or or listen.

Speaker 3 (56:55):
To because it's I mean, it's a really good signline
as well.

Speaker 2 (56:57):
Yeah, that'd be great. Yeah, whenever you guys are read,
just let me know and say, hey, look there's a
couple of us that want to come down and uh,
we'll do another interview with you and get the exposure
out for the movie as well. So that'd be great.
I think it'd be a fun conversation. I always liked those.
It would be cool.

Speaker 3 (57:13):
But thank you so much, tip, the best of luck,
and thank you, you know, thank you everyone. It's been great.
Thanks for having me, and thank you everyone for listening.

Speaker 2 (57:22):
But sure to share, subscribe, hit that I like button.
You don't really