Brian Calvin

Today on TripWire we have Brian Colvin and his stories of different jobs in the US Army. From Medic to EOD to Culinary Specialist. From the Wisconsin National Guard to winning the TV Show Chopped of the Food Network.
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Good afternoon. Everybody. Is that time of day again on
Wednesday afternoon, August twenty eighth. This is Tripwire time and
we have Brian Covin with us. We are honored the
KGr A Digital Broadcasting Family and myself honored to have
Brian with us. Brian, welcome. Hope you're doing well, sir.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
I'm doing great. Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
I reallyciate it absolutely, Uh, super excited. Uh we were
talking in backstage before we kicked off, kind of fortuitous,
been wanting to meet you and we just happened to
meet each other here in Virginia at a at a
rodeo up north and that was fantastic. Got to talking
about coffee, and uh, we're going to talk about something

(01:20):
that's very close and dear to your heart, which is
cuisine and cooking. And we'll get into that, but uh,
first and foremost, let's uh, let's start at the beginning
so that all of our all of all the people
that are attending today and our our audience understands where
what makes you tick and why you chose the United
States Army. Brother.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, that's a that's a great question, a loaded question.
So the Army it just was kind of calling me. Uh,
I knew immediately I wanted to serve. When I was
in high school, nine to eleven was still pretty fresh
in all of our minds, and that's, you know, the
patriotism just boiling up and over. And I saw the
National Guard. They were like, hey, you can do a

(02:04):
enlistment right off the get go. You don't even have to,
you know, be a complete graduate of high school. Yet
we can send you to basic training, come back, finish
up your senior year, and then go off and finish
up your advanced individual training or your job training, which
is was I was a medic when I first joined.
I've had several jobs old cross that bridge though, but

(02:24):
I was an ALIGNE medic, a healthcare specialist nine to
one whiskey back before it changed over to sixty eight whiskey.
Really what drove me for the army trying to get in,
hope out, get into the fight, get a free education,
which was basically the big big benefit at that time. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
So, okay, so you went you went medic Wine medic.
Did you do their program where you went between junior
senior year and then finished up senior year and then
where Ultimately, did you graduate high school? And where did
you grow up?

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Ah? So the Batman origin story if you will. Yeah,
so giving me the whole future bang. I was born
in Rockford, Illinois, so I'm not originally a Wisconsin baby,
but I was raised up in Wisconsin. I love cheese, poutine,
cheese curds. I was raised up around Kenosha area, a

(03:23):
little town called Salem, and went to high school. It
was called West Stosia Wistochia Central, so West Kenosha. They
just kind of jammed it together.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
Nice.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yeah, that was basically just my school career. In terms
of doing the split option program. Yeah, absolutely. I did
basic training over my junior summer leading into the seat
year and it was honestly, it was an adult day
camp where you're getting paid. It was pretty sweet. I
didn't realize it until later on in my life just

(03:58):
how cool it was. But I'm I'm really glad I
got to do it, come back, finish up my senior year.
I'm still doing all my drill weekends with the National
Guard unit at that time.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
Answers it was a Wisconsin National Guard Yep, we are
in w I arng. Yeah, that's awesome, cool and Uh,
so how long did you stay? How long did you
do National Guard before you decided to go full time soldier.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
It's a full time soldier. I joined in two thousand
and four doing the split up, and went activeuty two
thousand six, two thousand and eight, two thousand and eight,
I believe. Okay, give or take, it seems so long.
It is so long ago, good lord, A couple of
life times. Yeah, man, now you make my age.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
Well yeah, yeah, but you're still not as old as
I am. So that's all right, you know, because I
I went in the court in nineteen ninety one, so
I'll just leave it at that.

Speaker 2 (05:04):
First issued weapon was a bow and arrow, right yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Well actually musket, but yeah, you know, I got real
good at powder ball. It's all good, no issues, yep.
So so, uh, okay, So you when you you were
so you're doing the medics stuff for four years or so?
Did you did Wisconsin deploy during that time frame or no?

Speaker 2 (05:29):
No? No, I did get to employ with their National
Guard units, and uh that's where I really kind of
looked at transitioning over to the active duty side and college. Yeah,
I was tired of being in school. School is for
fool what hit me in the button how finally get
to my master's COUPNY years later. But it's a road

(05:50):
that I traveled that I'm here now getting my education.
But I went active duty around that time frame, uh
with me. Therefore, I was taken out Campbell, Kentucky, durbur
Gate Brocks. I was still a medic at the time
and deployed Iraq with I did my time.

Speaker 1 (06:06):
Okay, yeah, I'm having a Can you hear me?

Speaker 2 (06:12):
Okay, yep, I can hear you?

Speaker 1 (06:14):
All right, good deal. That's that's that's all that matters,
as good as that means the audience can hear you
or hear me and I can hear you, so uh okay,
So you're still medic. When now you went EO D?
At what point? What was the what was where were
you at and what was what was the moment in
your in your career that you decided that you wanted
to go EO D, which is, you know, for our

(06:35):
audience that doesn't know, explosive audience or expulsive ordnance disposal.

Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yep. So the big milestone, the fork in the road
that was around in twenty twelve. I was stationed up
at Belvoir at the time it became a little bit
more of an admin assistant in the medical field. I
still love going out there getting hands on doing things.

(07:10):
And EOD was calling do a bomb suit test where
you get to put on the big green suit. Can
you hear me?

Speaker 1 (07:16):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (07:17):
I got you keep going all right, yep, where you
put on the big green suit and walk around a
little bit, see if you get claustrophobic, and see if
you can actually handle being in the suit. And I
thought it was cool. I fell in love with it,
and that's it was kind of reminiscent of when I
was doing a little bit of volunteer firefighter and EMT
time back in Wisconsin. So it was right up my
alley went to EOD school and graduated in twenty thirteen.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
Nice. So did you enjoy your time at Egglin? Oh?

Speaker 2 (07:47):
It was a blast. You know, no pun intended, right,
I didn't know a little shameless plug in there.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
Egglin. It's a beautiful place. You're right next to Deston Beach.
All the audience members. If you've never been, or have
an opportunity to go, you have to the stand there.
It is, oh, Christine White, and it feels like powdered
sugar on your feet. It's amazing.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah. The Emerald Coast, yep, really beautiful down there. It
is quite hectic during the warm months. I'll just say
that though. Lots of people down there are in the
middle of Panama City and Pensacola. So yep. Okay, So
you graduated EO D School. So when I graduated YO

(08:33):
D School, I had to go to Huntsville for like
a month of like Army EOD specific training. Was there
anything like that back in twelve for you? Yep?

Speaker 2 (08:44):
So we ended up having a two phase ordeal. There
was Phase one, which was up at what's formerly known
as Fort Lee, Virginia. It's now known as Fort greg Adams.
We went through Phase one make sure that we were
at least having a good general mastery of the basic
fundamentals or basic understanding of what EOD is before they
threw us to the wolves down to Eglin, if you will.

(09:06):
And that's all it was. There was nothing too crazy
about it. You just got to learn the absolute basics,
ask all their tests and move forward.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
Oh cool. And so when you were going through how
how long was phase one? Ooh?

Speaker 2 (09:23):
That's loaded. I know that the entire experience seemed like
it was years, years and years of training all the
way through both Phase one and Phase two combined. I
know EO D down to EGLIN. That course is generally
a long time. It's between nine and twelve months, depending

(09:43):
on if you have to retake a test or you
get injured. Phase one around that timeframe it was four
weeks give or take maybe a month two months. I
can't remember, So please don't quote me on that one.
That one I can't pay money on.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
I got you, I understand. So I just want to
compare for the audience. I want to compare the differences
because you know, like I said, I had done time
in the corps, but when I came into the Army
in ninety nine, the precursor to go into EOD school
if you were if you were a pipeliner, meaning you
were coming in through basic and then you wanted to

(10:21):
go straight to EOD, you had to go to fifty
five Bravo School, which was an ammunition supply point. You
being a prior mos as a medic wouldn't have had
to have wouldn't have had to have done that. You
would have just gone straight to EGLIN. But that's I mean,
I understand why they started Phase one. I just as

(10:44):
we talked about, you know, meeting up at the rodeo.
It's been since twenty thirteen since I was here in Virginia.
Again it's for Walker now, but it used to be
ap Hill. I was training the team leader certifications out
there and back in twenty thirteen as a contractor. So yeah,
things are a little bit different in the EOD community.

(11:07):
It's kind of morphed into some new uh new echelons
and new new stuff like I had. I don't mean
to take up all the time, but recently sat down
with three lieutenants that are getting ready to go into
uh phase one as you as you identified, and their
question was what can you what what advice can you
give us as EOD platoon leaders should we be able

(11:29):
to graduate? And I said, I don't know. We didn't
have EO D platoon leaders back when I was in
the EOD, So you know, it's it's a weird concept.
Things change, I get it, you know, everything evolves. But okay,
back to you, so where uh now, where did you
get orders for coming out of EYOD.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
School for the for the Army YEP so coming out
of EO D School. They put me at Fort Riley, Kansas,
which may seem like it's in the middle of nowhere.
It kind of is, but it's not a bad dig
I really enjoyed my time out there. It was a
much slower pace than I was used to in terms
of where I've been stationed at around city and bustling

(12:11):
urban areas, so it was a nice pump the brakes.
I don't know the units that were there with the
team members, team leaders, and it was a three years
give or take. Yeah, then I got a go ahead.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
No, no, I don't mean to interrupt. Well, what I
was gonna say is you showed up as a team member,
so were you were you still a specialists or were
you a E five at the time.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Yeah, so I was a E five. I was a
sergeant going through EOD school and I was in that
weird area right there where as soon as you showed up,
if you had all the requirements, you were basically auto
promoted to six or staff sergeant. And that happened to me.
So there was a steep learning curve that I had
to overcome and really pushing forward on. But again thanks

(13:05):
to the ridiculously awesome people that I was surrounded by.
It just was that big of an effort. I was
able to learn and train and do everything I needed
to do to become a pumping leader.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
That's fantastic. That's fantastic. I've heard I've had other EOD
texts on and around that same time frame, similar circumstances
where they got because of their time and grade and
and it also has a lot to do with probably
the how many team leaders we were running in the
EOD community for the Army at the time. There was

(13:42):
a great need for that, you know, the push and
the high mobility into picking up the next rank and
then getting your team leaders certification. I understand, I get it.
So okay, so we're at Riley, Kansas. How long were
we there? And then did you guys? Were you? Was

(14:03):
that your first deployment out of Riley as a NEO DTEC.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
So I never got to deploy with the Cats out
of Riley. We got spun up a couple times here
and there, but always got stood down. It was around
the third time that we got spun up an opportunity
for me to go become a recruiter, not a special
operations recruiter. But an actual on the streets recruiter trying
to find the next generation to fill our boots. That
opportunity popped up, and fortunately enough for the guys in

(14:30):
the unit it was they actually did spin up and
go deploy this time. It wasn't a false start, if
you will. But I ended up going down to Miami,
Florida to go recruit out of there, out of Fort Lauderdale.

Speaker 1 (14:43):
And that's what I saw that part of the country. Man. Yeah,
I know, right right back down to Hurricane Yep, well
it is her again, Alley, But I Fort Lauderdale's beautiful,
beautiful area down there in Florida. Yeah, all right. And
so so you went to recruiting duty? How long? Man?

(15:05):
You have worn a lot of hats in the military.
What's going on here? So? So how long were you
doing recruiting duty? Like as an actor, I mean you
were you were team leaders certified and then they send
you on. Okay, so did you go on recruiting duty?
So how long were you on recruiting duty? Recruiting duty?

Speaker 2 (15:25):
I did that for about four years, and that was
right around the COVID timeframe, So we all kind of
got a stop move function around PCs season for a
lot of us. So it kind of came up to
that four instet of three year mark and that's that's
where that it really happened. I mean, that's all there is.

(15:45):
There's nothing special, no cool guy story behind that one.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
I got you did? Uh? Have you had? Have you
had any kids reached back out to you that you
put in that thank you for doing what you did?

Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yes, yes, I have, And that is probably one of
the only things all of the cruit well. I mean
it was a cool, fulfilling job, but being able to
have that reach back come around full circle saying hey, thanks,
I really appreciate you. They'll stay in contact. Everyone's while
saying hey I just got promoted. You remember this time

(16:21):
when I twist my ankle. Now I'm running three three
hundred apf T it's not apf ts more, it's six
hundred a CFTs because they change the program for our
audience members do our physical fit right. Yeah, but it's
so awesome to see them just grow from where they
were off the streets to now.

Speaker 1 (16:44):
And did did you have the opportunity or I should say,
the the little bit of nostalgia where any of them
did any of them come home to do a little
like Turner R and R to do some home hometown
recruiting or assistance.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
They sure did.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
Let's hear. Let's hear about that. Come on, that's got
to be great, great stuff.

Speaker 2 (17:05):
I mean, it's it's a great story. They get to
come back showcase, Hey I did I did something. I
did a thing here I am tell their story to
hopefully some more friends, family members, dispel any myths there
might still be because for those who are looking at
the military, there's still this huge stigma, this huge myth

(17:26):
that were just a bunch of gun tot and bunnies
and that's all we do, which is absolutely incorrect. You
with the army, you get to pick the job that
you want if you qualify for it with the ASVAB
and you meet the physical qualifications through the MEPs, doctors
when they go through the process, qualify for it. So

(17:46):
if you wanted to go be an aviation mechanic, you
want to go work working with computers, do cyber warfare,
do even flying drones, if you qualify for it, you
can do it. EOD is always there. I'm not in
any you know, shameless plugs, but I'm definitely plugging that
that's always there too.

Speaker 1 (18:05):
Oh yeah, there's great jobs. When I when I realisted
in the Army, they were offering me, you know, the
Fab five Infantry Artillery, Armor combat engineer. But then they
also because I took the ASVAB coming out of the
Marine Corps going into the Army, I took the ASVAB
over again, and I scored higher. And I'm sure a

(18:25):
bunch of our mutual friends will when they hear this,
are going to start busting my jobs about that one.
But I took the ASBAB without the crayons this time,
so it worked out well and I scored higher, and
then they were offering me. The first one they offered
me was the UAV Mechanic Slash Pilot program, but at
the time in ninety nine, had no idea what it

(18:47):
was going to be because nine to eleven hadn't kicked
off and we weren't in Iraq and Afghanistan. So I
went straight. I chose E O D. That was the
second option that they gave me, and I don't haven't
regretted it since. So, yeah, that's a great job, yep,
oh yeah, absolutely absolutely So real quick back to Kansas,

(19:12):
how long did you run as a team leader in Kansas?

Speaker 2 (19:16):
I would say once I was certified, maybe the very
end of twenty thirteen, until I left in twenty sixteen.
Oh wow, okay, cool, good time, some cool incidents in
and around the local area. Because you know, but for
our audience members, if you don't know, being bomb squad,
we don't just do things overseas in the military. We

(19:37):
had to take care of everything in the continental US
that has to do with military. So if it's a
military munition, whether it's from the Civil War all the
way up until now, we find it or if someone
finds it, we have to go take care of it.
So we'd have a lot of different incidents out there
that we go run or farmer John would find something
in the middle of a field that used to be
a artillery range or something.

Speaker 1 (19:58):
Yeah impact, yep. Cool. So you you had a lot
of exposure working with leo's and other first responding units.
That's great, that's fantastic. It was what I've always enjoyed,
that uniqueness of that job. In that capacity at Benning,
we had fifty three fifty three counties in fifty six

(20:19):
counties in three states, so you know, as far as
our jurisdiction or what we would cover as you're referring
to the military ordinance thing. You know, ladies, old man
passes away. He was a World War Two vet. He's
had this Mark Duce pineapple grenade on the mantle in
the next you know, by the fireplace for since he

(20:40):
got back in nineteen forty six. And now she wants
it out of the house, so we'd have to go
get it. You know, I get it. I understand that's
good stuff. So what all right? So recruiting duty? Now,
what where's the school for recruiting duty for the army.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
So recruiting school is now in Fort Knox, Kentucky, right
next to the big gold vault. No, I never got
to go in, unfortunately, but they do have these school
little chocolate gold bars you could buy. But yeah, recruiting
school is right there. Beautiful area. It's right up and
down the line. If you're a bourbon fan, the whole
Kentucky Bourbon Trail is right there. Oh yeah, several times

(21:19):
over just to see the area because it's gorgeous. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
It's on the bucket list for a vacation for myself,
which I probably should do sooner rather than later because
I ain't getting any younger. But yes, that's awesome. And
how long was it? I'm sorry you may have said that.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
I think about four weeks long. It's a it's a burner.
Recruiting school was not easy whatsoever. There's a lot of
regulation that you have to learn and how to do
interpersonal skills and interactions with not only younger individuals but
also with adults, parents, school teachers. It's unique, very very
unique school and not as easy as something.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
Well I can imagine. And then because you always have
to look your best, always the uniform inspections and stuff
like that, and you know going through that riga maru,
so you know all that stuff that happens when you're
close to the flagpole right very much? So yo, hell yeah,
I get it, I get it. So okay, So then

(22:25):
you were a staff sergeant still or a sergeant first
class when you came out of a recruiting duty.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
Still a staffs aren't at the time. I didn't pick
up E seven until about two thousand and twenty eighteen
is when I got promoted.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
Okay, So when you're done recruiting, did you go back
to an EOD unit?

Speaker 2 (22:47):
Yep, sure did I went to Fort Riley, Kansas again
and some time there and that was it for that
until this new and exciting opportunity popped up where I
got to be an enlisted aid for a general and
or f leg officer.

Speaker 1 (23:06):
Oh wow, very cool. All right, so let's uh, let's
switch gears for a moment from military and let's talk.
We're gonna we're gonna tie the military into it because
some of our I'm pretty sure, matter of fact, most
of our most of our attendees today for our audience,

(23:28):
they have no idea that that ridiculously go look involved, man,
right there, you one shopped. Yeah, the cooking freaking show.
I forget what what channel was that on?

Speaker 2 (23:41):
Food Network?

Speaker 1 (23:44):
Food Network? Okay, so how did that happen? What got
you into it? And then what was that all like
for just I mean just like from start to finish
with the competition and then the testing and you know,
all the different dishes and I I've seen it, but man,

(24:04):
you lived it and you want it. So let's talk
about this. This is amazing stuff right here. I'm I'm
so happy to freaking bring this to I'm so happy
that you can share your story. We can share this
with all of our audience, So go ahead, have about it.

Speaker 2 (24:17):
So that's a lot to pack into a one question.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
So we got plenty of time. We got plenty of time.
You go ahead.

Speaker 2 (24:24):
I'll just start from the beginning then. Me and cooking.
I've never been an amazing cook, nor have I ever
gone to culinary school when I first initially started. But
fortunately enough, when I was down at Fort Riley, Kansas
the first time around, there were a couple of individuals
that were really really good barbecue smokers and barbecue competitors.
They took me under their wing and taught me everything

(24:47):
I know or know about basic barbecue in and of itself.
Names Buddy and Bobby Cox, great individuals down there. That's
where I really got my start in culinary because I
would talk to them NonStop about like what if I
went to culinary school, could I become a chef? How
do you become a chef? How do you do this
kind of cut? How would you recommend me? Starting all

(25:07):
in between while I'm learning how to smoke a brisket
for twenty four hours or something. So that was the
real start for culinary. Fast forward back into recruiting timeframe.
Every once in a while. When you're in the military,
you get a random email saying, hey, you qualify to
do x YGZ job? Do you want to try out

(25:28):
to be a warrant officer? Do you want to go
Green to gold be an officer? While I got one saying, hey,
do you want to go to culinary school? Yeah? Not
so well. I applied for it and eventually got selected
to become an enlisted Date and listen for somebody who
has the rank of general or a flag officer, so

(25:51):
admirals and the like. So you don't become their servant.
That's a huge misconception that a lot of people have.
You're not sitting there just waiting on them handfoot, but
you become their personal chef for events. If they want
to try a new diet, you're health and them spin
up a really nice culinary cuisine, things of that nature. Well,
getting selected for this program, they start sending me through

(26:13):
the training pipeline. The first training that I had to
go through was a I T or basic job training
once again for culinary as an E seven with privates.

Speaker 1 (26:28):
Got it?

Speaker 2 (26:30):
Yeah, that was that was Uh.

Speaker 1 (26:36):
Ye, my hat's off to you, brother, My hat's off
to you. Yep.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
So it was a unique situation. There was you know,
a couple of times in there where you'd have to
have a conversation because somebody's going left or right and
it's like, hey, you know, settle down from one first
class to another. Uh, you know, PFC, that's probably chill
out just a little bit and maybe not go that crazy.
But learned how not to cut my fingers off in
that course. Then they send you to Advanced Culinary, which

(27:05):
is a fire hydrant of classic culinary cuisine of techniques,
all in the French style. You're learning everything from sushi
to soups, to sauces to baking pastry. It it was
an onslaught. If you weren't on your A game, you
wouldn't pass much less where I came out on top
and got Honor Graduate, Distinguished, undergrad, Top performing Chef. I

(27:29):
took all the awards graduating that particular course, which I
never thought of regulation, but I did it. Thank you.
I still have all my fingers, not all my toes,
but all my fingers getting pace Zimmerman, if you're listening,
I love you. But yeah, did that. And then I

(27:51):
went through Enliced AID course, which is learning how to
do uniforms, and I mean putting together every single branch
uniform with your eyes closed. It's in accordance with every
different regulation to include the nappers, the milkers men's, the
Coast Guard regulations, the Marine Corps regulations, air Force.

Speaker 1 (28:11):
I mean just.

Speaker 2 (28:15):
Regurgitate regulation all day long to make sure that it
was correct. And then how to manage an estate, how
to take of a historical home, how to take care
of fine orientique China's and silverware like true silver that
you would have to polish type flatware. It's it was
a unique course, a lot of fun.

Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
It brings me to now.

Speaker 1 (28:41):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
I graduated from there, got selected out of Fort Riley,
Kansas on my second tour to be enlistedated to a
general officer up in Carlisle Barracks, where eventually, once again
I got another one of those random emails saying, Hey,
would you like to for chopped? I said no, My

(29:02):
wife said yes, so I said yes, And that's how
it went. That's That's how it really went.

Speaker 1 (29:08):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
They interview with me a couple of times see how
I would interact with the camera. They liked how I
jived with them, and I got on it go and
went after it.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
That's there is okay, So you brought mama up. Let's
talk about this real quick and then we'll get back
to chop because we're still not I mean, we're just
at the cuspit where you accepted or they accepted you.
You accepted the offer to go and participate and compete.
But so where where where? Where'd you meet mama homeschool
sweetheart from freaking Wisconsin? Or did you meet her in

(29:41):
your travels all over the place? I e twice in Riley, Kansas.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
So we actually met when we were both in the
National Guard. We were going to college at the time,
and uh I decided to say, Hey, I don't want
to do allege anymore. I'm going to go after duty.
He'd been talking for a while about doing the same thing. Well,
she ended up pulling the trigger and she went act
of duty and the stars aligned. We somehow got stationed

(30:09):
at the same base she was shooting for Hawaii, though,
But I think she got the better end of the
deal because she stayed with me and uh got married
down at a Fort Campbell, Kentucky at the Chapel Love
out of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and nice we've been buried ever since.
We've got four kiddos and two dogs and three cats.

Speaker 1 (30:33):
That's uh yeah, that's great, except for the except for
the cats. But I'm biased in that. Don't worry about it.
So it's fantastic. I'm gonna have to get Mama on here.
I'm gona have to get her. She's a veteran. Imnna
have to get her on here for this. I want
to get here the other side of this. Our audience
wants to hear the other side of the story. Bro.

(30:54):
That's awesome, that's awesome. You can try.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
Been trying to get her on camera since I got
except for Chop, but she avoids any camera like the
plague because she doesn't want to be Well.

Speaker 1 (31:03):
We we get black it out where we can black
it out, you know, like where she's like she's part
of the one of those murder mystery investigations and doesn't
want her identity. Yeah, exactly. Well, I'll talk to Skywatcher.
We'll make sure we can get that done. That'll be awesome.
So you know, we have to put like the law
and Order dun dunt on type of music on here
as we interview her. That'd be awesome. So okay, so

(31:25):
let's get back to chop. So you got accepted because
Mama said yes, and you said no, and then you
said yes because Mama said yes. So what was that
all like? What was the did you have to?

Speaker 2 (31:35):
Like?

Speaker 1 (31:36):
Was there a preliminary was there where you just automatically
picked and then you had to how many I didn't
even see? I apologized, I didn't see any of your episodes,
But how many people were you competing against?

Speaker 2 (31:51):
So as far as preliminary cooking or trying out there,
there was nothing like that for us. It was just
to see how we were on camp because we were
all qualified culinarians at that point. I won't say chef.
I would never my self a chef. There are people
who have worked their entire lives become as great as
they are, and I just have barely touched that particular iceberg.

(32:13):
So by no means do I consider my self a
chef for all those out there, I'm just a decent
cook that has survived. Anyway, they made sure that we
jibed with the camera and we get in there and
each branch was competing against their own branch personnel. So

(32:37):
the Navy, the Army, the Marines. They all competed in
their own separate branches. So I was going up against
three of my I guess coworkers, my fellow soldiers in
the competition, and they were just out of this world
years years and decades of experience where I only had
six or seven months. So I didn't think I was

(32:58):
going to win at all.

Speaker 1 (32:59):
It was a terrifying well, I mean, we already know
how that turned out, but so so you're competing against
fellow soldiers. Did then did it go? Because I'm assuming
this was like a veteran's season where you know, you guys,
you're all from the military, Okay, so then did you

(33:21):
have to compete?

Speaker 2 (33:21):
It was a military salute.

Speaker 1 (33:23):
Yep, okay, so then you have to compete against people
from the Navy and the Marine Corps and the Air
Force later on.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
Or no, So we didn't go a go and do
a head to head branch battle. We actually came together
as a team where mister ted Allen was calling us
joint task for or Joint Culinary Force one or something
like that. It was witty and I loved it. I
was trying to get them to say, hey, you can
have a food network patch made with joint culinary Force

(33:51):
one on it and they're like, no, you can't use
our symbol. Like okay, anyway, Yeah, we came together and
we went against what they were calling their Titans of chops.
They're titans. Weren't titans. Theyre way above what I would
consider titan. Both big time names and a fry tag.
Tiffy Beason, Jeff ab Chepong, Michelin, stars, people who've been
on TV cooking for years. Yeah, like I thought, I

(34:14):
was scared cooking against my own, you know, teammates in
the Army rounds.

Speaker 1 (34:18):
No, this was yeah, okay, we'll keep going. What what
what did you What kind of culinary kung fu did
you use to beat these guys out? What? What was
the what was the main What was the dish that
got you that made you win or helped you win?

Speaker 2 (34:44):
So the scirt sauce if you will.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
See sauce.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
So yeah, this year's the dish that had me win.
At least for the Army episode. I would say that
the winning component there was the ice cream machine. Uh,
because the person I was competing against was way above
me in terms of anything culinary wise. But unfortunately her

(35:12):
ice cream that she was trying to make. She was
it was an ice cream or sobet, some sort of
frozen because there it just didn't turn out because the
ice cream machine or the last chiller just was not
doing what it needed to do. So my little hot
trash uh strawberry short cake ordeal that I made one
because she had alty ice cream.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
Yeah, I got you, I got you. Well, you know,
it's uh, it's not not so bad just to win
on a count that Basking Robbins can't keep up, right,
I gotta, I gotta.

Speaker 2 (35:48):
All of it is just based in your ingredients. Yeah, true, yeah, yeah, absolutely, yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
You know, and again nothing against your competitors. You're you're
a very humble man, and you continuously give them props
even though you know you put effectively put this. Sorry
for the viewers. I'm outside and I'm trying to mute
so that way you guys don't hear background noise and
everything else. So I keep going in and out. I apologize,
but but I mean, so you won. And again it's uh,

(36:21):
it's refreshing to see the humbleness in you as a
as a professional, because you're a professional, and you we
can argue that point off camera later. But you're a professional,
you're doing damn good job. You love food, and you're
you're damn good as a culinary expert as a chef.
So when what year was the chopped episode? So that way, uh,

(36:46):
if our audience wants to go back and check it
out on YouTube, wouldn't they could do that? Right?

Speaker 2 (36:53):
Absolutely, So that's a great question. It should have just
aired this last year. But it's season fifty five, episodes
one through five.

Speaker 1 (36:59):
Five.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
Ever, correctly, it's the military Salute. It's the first year
that they've ever had active duty service members on, so
it should be fairly easy to find. I would hope.
I know it's on HBO, Max, so I can. I'm
on HBO, I say that.

Speaker 1 (37:15):
There you go. That's awesome. Yep, at least it wasn't
skin Max, right, Mama might have a problem with that
with the chopped up skin Max. I just said that,
my bad. All right? So okay, so it was last year.
Now how many years do you have on active service?
Because I kind of I've lost track with everything that

(37:36):
you've been doing in all the different hats you've been wearing.
I know you're still at that duty, but you you're
you're going to be you're looking to eventually, I would
say sometime in the near future retires that.

Speaker 2 (37:49):
Correct, Yep, I'm right there. I'm at eighteen and a
half years or so, and at times just ticking.

Speaker 1 (37:58):
You said eighteen and a half years in what.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
Eighteen and a half years? Time's ticking and it's just
going forward. So it's it's coming up, it's coming up fast.

Speaker 1 (38:07):
Yeah, okay, Well, what's what's next? What is your dream
for yourself? As the man that used to dissemble or
disassemble freaking military ordinance and now makes fantastic cuisine. Who's
you know? I mean just the taking bombs apart with

(38:31):
those same hands that are freaking you know, creating you know,
strawberry shortcake and everything else. So what are you plan
on doing for yourself or with yourself? And what do
you mom, you and Mama have planned after you decide
to retire.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
So honestly, I don't know. I'm a giant manchild and
I don't know what I want to be when I
grow up. I'm fortunate. I'm fortunate enough that the Army
has been helping me pay for my college education. I'm
three courses away from completing my master's right now, all
through tuition assistance, and that's not even touching my GI bill,
which I can get out of the military retirement wise

(39:09):
and just take a four year vacation down University Lane.

Speaker 1 (39:13):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (39:14):
Outside of I have gotten into education big time. I've
really fallen in love with social emotional learning development and
younger's special needs area concentration, if you will, of the
education education Oh squirrel moment, education system, education system. That's

(39:38):
what I was trying to say. I need a red bull.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
Man. We got to talk about that. That's just nasty stuff.
We gotta get you on some decent coffee. I might
know a guy, so we'll talk about that later. Yeah,
I know, right, who is that?

Speaker 2 (39:51):
Yeah? Education is right there. I could go down another avenue,
get a whole new career set up, going get a
degree in something else, Go learn to fly a plane,
go be a Walmart greeter.

Speaker 1 (40:05):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (40:07):
I could always go back to medical school and dig
back into my medic roots. I could go each culinary
school or just go cook in a restaurant, maybe be
a celebrity chef. Maybe, I don't know, if anybody, Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (40:29):
That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (40:29):
I'm that's all sorts of things.

Speaker 1 (40:32):
Yeah. Yeah, so like uh in America's got talent, they
bring back the winners, right, So when Whennesday? When are
they doing that? When are they having the winners like
the Champions of Champions freaking cookoff in.

Speaker 2 (40:47):
Yeah right, Okay, I see where you're going now.

Speaker 1 (40:48):
Yeah, I was trying to help you out. That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
I've definitely had some really cool experiences since then because
I've worked real close with the Army Recruiting Command. I'm
getting installagic in my old Army age, if you will,
and I'm trying to give back as much as possible.
But that's opened up some super cool opportunities where just
this last last May, I was able to go down
to the Memphis Barbecue Competition Memphis in May and worked

(41:17):
with other celebrity chefs like Tina Cannon from Food Network.
She showed up in Barbecue Showdown. She's done a whole
bunch of stuff. She is so cool. Got to be
the mini champion with the big Champion and learn from her.
I saw people cooking out there like Moe Casin and

(41:39):
Meyron Mixon, c Mac Dark side of the Grill. I
was working around Big Green Eggs at I think they
sold me on a Big Green Egg. I think that's
coming around for Christmas this year. But it's it's been
awesome with some of the cool things I've been able
to do with this little mini celebrity ship it and

(41:59):
I got that's great.

Speaker 1 (42:01):
So what explained for the audience what the the big
Green Egg thing is? Because we've been talking about that
loosely last a couple of times we met up, and
I'm uh, I want to, I want you to be
able to. I would like you to share that with
the audience if you don't mind. Yep.

Speaker 2 (42:17):
So I don't work for a Big Green Egg, nor
am I associated with them anyway. So this is just
a you know, personal opinion. A plug those Big Green Eggs.
They're expensive, super expensive, but it's a by once cry
one situation. I can almost guarantee it you'll never need
anything else. It's a ceramic cook grill if you will,

(42:38):
so the temperature is maintained consistently and constantly. You can
bake on it, you can roast on it, you can smoke,
you can grill. I'm sure that you could find an
attachment on there to make your own bed if you
really wanted to. But when I was down there in
Memphis in May, I saw them do all sorts of
crazy stuff on this big green egg and it is

(43:03):
it is a super product for those two uh get
worthwhile grill that they're going to keep around for years
and years to come.

Speaker 1 (43:10):
Yeah. So these are the grills that looked like extremely
large dinosaur eggs and they open up halfway and they
have different apertures and stuff like that for them. Right
the outside of them, they're all they got the rough
rough outside of it and everything. Yep. Okay, So just
so the you know, the audience knows what the hell
we're talking about, yeah, you know, making sure that they're

(43:32):
not like, well, you know that one episode on trip
Wire they were going off on a tangent about a
big green egg that No, we didn't go into dinosaur hunting.
We're just talking about a grill.

Speaker 2 (43:42):
So yeah, okay, So.

Speaker 1 (43:46):
Memphis was Memphis was a Was that a barbecue competition
or was that something else?

Speaker 2 (43:54):
Nope, that was the barbecue competition. That's that's one of,
if not the biggest barbecue competition competitions held in the
US or possibly the world. It is incredible, all sorts
of barbecue contenders, both amateur and professional, come together in
just this camaraderie type state. It's ridiculous. There was nobody

(44:16):
out there that would say, booty, that they would welcome
me into the tent, show you what they're doing, smoke
and joke with you around the pork butt that they're
looking to throw on the smoker right away. You're getting
to learn all these cool little tips and tricks and
share your stories with how you're doing your stuff in
a French culinary chopped background.

Speaker 1 (44:36):
Right.

Speaker 2 (44:36):
But it was so cool.

Speaker 1 (44:38):
Yeah, that's great, that's great. And where in Memphis is
that held that?

Speaker 2 (44:46):
Normally it's on the river. I think there was something
like construction or something happening this year. I can't remember
off the top of my head. But this time it
was held next to their big stadium that they have
down there. I cannot I think it was the Pyramid
Park Liberty Stadium. It wasn't next to the Pyramid, it
was a little bit further away. Trust me, I made
that travel down there. I had to go see the

(45:08):
bass pro chop Mecca.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I got you, I got you
all right. Well, so barbecue it sounds like, you know,
because that's where you got your start. When you're at
Riley with your buddies. Even though you've studied French cuisine,
you're still you're still really dabbling in the barbecue. So

(45:32):
do you have any tips that you want to share
with our listeners for depending on what they're cooking?

Speaker 2 (45:39):
Yeah, take your time, enjoy it. The most difficult thing
that you'll learn about doing an actual smoking type style
of cooking is tending that fire, making sure you keep
the right temperature with the right amount of smoke. If
you get it too hot, it'll cook too fast. If
you cook it too low, it'll cook too slow. And
if you all out a lot of dirty smoke, it's

(46:01):
just gonna taste bitter and nasty. It's take your time,
enjoy it. It's not meant to be a sprint. It's
supposed to be a marathon when it comes to smoking meat.

Speaker 1 (46:10):
Right, Okay? And what about sauces now, so I know
a lot of sauces have some of them have vinegar
in them and some of them don't. What's your take
on either side of that fence as far as barbecue,
the barbecue sauces or Yeah, I guess we just have
to go with a barbecue sauce because it comes in
all different flavors and colors these days.

Speaker 2 (46:31):
So absolutely, and barbecue or smoking meat in and of
itself that that is a whole genre. So you can
have everything. Going over to the Carolina, so you're gonna
have a mustard vinegar or a nice red vendor sauce.
You go down to Alabama, you got the Alabama white sauce.
Kansas City, you got the Kansas City sticky and sweet.

(46:53):
Memphis you got a dry rub. Texas you got the
the dry heat nice risk. It's all day long. Their
beef connoisseurs down there. When it comes to sauces, whatever
your favorite is the best one for you.

Speaker 1 (47:09):
I got you.

Speaker 2 (47:09):
Okay, you can't pick a brand. Yeah, it's it's whatever
you like the best that is the best sauce you
can buy.

Speaker 1 (47:16):
So it's it's palette driven, is what you're saying, based
on based on who's cooking and who's smoking or slow
roasting or whatever. Yeah, just go with whatever flavor you
like the best, I guess is what you're saying. Yeah,
very cool, very cool, Absolutely right. Uh. Odd question when

(47:36):
you were doing when you were the culinary expert for
did you did you you were at an estate for
for a flag officer. Is that correct? Did you do that?
What was it? Can you hear you were you were

(47:57):
on you were at in a state as a as
a culinary expert chef for a flag officer. Okay, what
was like? What was one of the most what was
one of the most unique dishes that you had to
make during your time doing that?

Speaker 2 (48:14):
Ooh, probably this time that I was on chopped, you know,
I'm kidding. It was a different dish every time. So
they were all unique. They were all unique. There was
nothing that was, you know, just plain Jane. Some days
they would like to have a real nice, simple American dessert,

(48:35):
so you'd do that strawberry shortcake, or you'd do an
apple pie bite. Instead of it being a big old slice,
you just have a nice little or dirt or moosee
bouche type bite. For a dessert. You could have everything
from nice fish and pompion which is fish cooked in paper,
to a beautiful grilled flaming yawn. It's everything was unique.

(48:59):
I don't think I cooked the same dish more than
twice while I was there the entire time.

Speaker 1 (49:04):
Oh wow, that's awesome and you were there for holidays
and stuff too, so you had to you had to
deal with all that stuff as well. And I'm sure
there was at that point. There's there's plenty of staff.
You're all doing you're all working together to try and
get these events taken care of and whatever they're doing.

Speaker 2 (49:20):
Yeah, yep, so yes, and no, when it comes to
the really big events, there there was a staff there.
Outside of that, I was a one man band. Uh.
It was just me making sure things were happening, and
putting out the tables, dressing them up, getting the flat
wear and find china polished, and cooking up a banging

(49:41):
meal so that everybody could eat.

Speaker 1 (49:43):
Yep, cool, very cool, that's awesome. All right, So you're
not gonna you're not gonna uh uh, you're not gonna
open up a restaurant when you get off actor duty.
You're not going to start a food truck. U. I
don't know, a food truck.

Speaker 2 (50:02):
Maybe maybe a food truck.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
We'll see how.

Speaker 2 (50:05):
Cards get laid out. After COVID, I had some friends
who were in the culinary business and they had the
brick and mortar establishments, and unfortunately, because of that, they
had to shut down.

Speaker 1 (50:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:17):
It scares me to looking up a brick and mortar
type food establishment.

Speaker 1 (50:22):
I got you, all right, Well, lord knows there's plenty
of events out there for you to compete in still
yet to come. I look forward to, you know, as
you said, eighteen and a half years. I look forward
to the next couple of years of the rest of
your time in service, whether that's twenty or twenty one
or twenty two, depending on whenever you want to pull

(50:43):
the trigger to put in your retirement packet. But I'm
looking forward to watching vicariously. And then eventually, you know,
we're gonna have to start talking, because all us talk
about food. Man, I'm gonna I gotta go eat something. Now,
this is ridiculous. So I got you know, I'll.

Speaker 2 (50:59):
Get over, I'll get you over and we'll do a
big old smoker here and do a well.

Speaker 1 (51:03):
I was, yeah, I mean, let's let's get a bunch
of us together. You know, I don't I don't want
to just for me. So it'd be great that the
group we were with with the Rodeo was fantastically a great,
great group of people, had a great time. Absolutely, Yeah,
good deal, all right, all right, So as we get
close to wrapping up. What is what's your favorite saying

(51:25):
or frequent favorite quote from your time as you've been living,
whether it's way back in history or current, you know
somewhere something new. What's the one quote that that everybody
can tie you to? And uh and and I want
you to share that with the audience.

Speaker 2 (51:44):
Yea quote that's a big one. I would say that
if you have even the smallest hint of want to
do something, if it's just a beating thought, like you
could see yourself doing it, or you want to learn
some like guitar, have a fleeting thought, go chase it down.
Go at least get the information. Worst case you decide, hey,

(52:06):
I don't want to do it, but at least you
have the information because later on, who knows, maybe Jimmy
John or Susie Saran comes by and hey, uncle Brian,
do you know something about guitars? Well, I did a
little research back here. At least you got the information
that you can spread. Don't be afraid to look into
it because you can at least say you looked into

(52:27):
it and can't regret that.

Speaker 1 (52:29):
Yeah, that's great, that's great, absolutely great, great wisdom to
share with people. Chase your dreams, no matter how big
they are. That's fantastic. I like it well, Brian, it's
been an honor, an absolute pleasure to have you on
here today. And we're gonna work on getting your your
spouse on here. We'll work on the whole blackout thing

(52:51):
and we'll figure that out. You know, all veterans are welcome.
Whether she's gun shy or camera shy or whatever, that's fine.
We'll make it work. So appreciate your time, sir. We'll
be following you and we'll get you back on here,
you know, later on down the road and see where
we go with this. Thank you everybody for being here
for Tripwire today again, same time, next week, next Wednesday.

(53:14):
Stay strong, take care of each other. You're not alone.
God bless and trip Wire out.