Purpose After The Uniform with Army veterans Reginald Adams and Gregory Henry

Welcome And Safe Space Mission

SPEAKER_07 0:07

Brother Reggie Adams. Present. Brother Greg Henry. Also present. Are y'all ready? We are ready. All right, let's get it.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Urban Christian veterans provide a safe place for Christian veterans of color to discuss the challenges you face in your daily lives. Being a person of color has its challenges. Being a Christian has its challenges. Being a veteran has its challenges. All of those factors being combined makes her unique and sometimes difficult life experience that is something comes to bell in public forums. Thank you for turning it to the Urban Christian Veterans Podcast. Here's your host, the Allen Rose.

War Tensions And Shipping Choke Points

SPEAKER_07 0:59

Thank you, Aaron, for that wonderful introduction. This is the Allen Rose, and you are listening to the Urban Christian Veterans Podcast. So, let's get it. Alright, first of all, again thank you guys so much for sitting down with me again. Really appreciate your time. And so let's just jump right in, man. What's on your mind? What topics? Current events. What's going on that's bothering you? Or in your heart topic?

SPEAKER_08 1:33

Current events.

SPEAKER_04 1:34

Straight up straight up moose.

SPEAKER_07 1:37

Straight up moose. Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:42

That seems to be a big top.

SPEAKER_07 1:44

What what what about it? What about it?

SPEAKER_04 1:48

Well, I'll start like this. I think initially, what I believe our administration was hoping is that once the bombing started and there was a sort of a blitzkriegs, so to speak, onto the populace there, that there would be some uh cowering or okay, you know, we can't deal with this or we're gonna give up right away. That did not occur. Right. And I think the backfire to that is that prior to that Iran was letting free flow, if I'm not mistaken, of ships going through that strait. And I think that that particular part of the strait is not a a long uh distance. So there was free flowing back and forth of ships going through that strait. And with them uh threatening whether either to mine that area or to uh unleash munitions from the uh the coast, the coastline, it's giving people pause because from what I've read, the insurance on those ships can be very expensive on a load. It's based on the cargo, it's based on, I believe, the weight and the amount of the cargo, and you're talking about millions of dollars just to insure and to pass through. So it's not only the oil not moving and other products not moving, it's also the additional cost that's being brought forth to ensure that if there is uh a loss of cargo, then that's compensated. So in countries like like here where the oil prices are going up, thank you for an electric car.

SPEAKER_07 3:51

Right, right on. I don't have one, but okay.

SPEAKER_04 3:55

Yeah. Yeah, some people are feeling more than others. Here in Texas, we're an energy state, so the price has not escalated as much. But you go out to, say, California, you go out probably north to the northeast, you're gonna see elevated prices in gas.

SPEAKER_07 4:14

Hold on, man. Let me ask this question. You said Texas energy state. Now, was it not a couple years ago? Some bad weather had your your grids going down.

SPEAKER_04 4:27

Like, I'm like, y'all was like, do it without heat and and and it it was six inches of snow that was on the ground for about four days. Uh-huh. Because by the fourth day, the temperature rose and it was it was starting, it was melting, even going on to the the fourth day. By day, I think, six, it was basically gone. Except for where, you know, you had it piled up where it was, you know, uh a nice mass, but it was gone. The roads were clear. But during that time period, and I knew an older lady that you know worked at the gym, she was a retired senior citizen, she went through about two and a half years, I believe almost three years after the fact of trying to deal with contractors and repairs in her home. And you know, when you get to a certain age, you might have be on a fixed income. And it was trying. And I think what ended up happening, she ended up selling that house and moving with her sons. And I see her on social media and she's very happy, she's close to family, uh, close to her grandchildren. But there were people who had died. Yeah. Because a lot of people, uh, if you're not cognizant of how a lot of people in the world grow up or living, not grow up, but living and even grow up, you might not might not be familiar with you know hard times. You know, uh, I I think you had people who had died, you had the power grid, because we are a uh we're not an area like say Atlanta, you might have uh one particular power entity. There's various entities that you could solicit service from.

SPEAKER_07 6:23

Well, I remember y'all was going through something there. We did. And in the in the power grid was was was raggedy. And your boy left y'all cruise. He bounced and went to the beach somewhere.

SPEAKER_04 6:38

He got caught. He got caught. He got caught. Yeah, which which was was uh definitely a bad look when you had people who were suffering. Right. Right. Because it wasn't just like you know, a couple days people lost power, it was a couple weeks. So for some folks who had lost, as well as the damages that came along with what went on.

SPEAKER_07 6:59

So uh well, it's you said you said uh uh we're a power state. That's what made me. I was like, hold on.

SPEAKER_04 7:10

Yeah, yeah, it's a power capitalistic state. It's okay, right off, right off. Yeah, but there is if you're in the power, power and energy business, that's oil, gas, uh, solar, uh, wind, this is a state that embraces that, especially oil, uh obviously, because this is Texas.

SPEAKER_07 7:31

Okay. So that's why the whole this is not as impacting you guys as much. And I'll say it, we're a red state. Okay, well, Red, we we we on we on line with some with a baller, but that's cool.

SPEAKER_04 7:46

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, you the the ice is not really showing up around here.

SPEAKER_06 7:51

Yeah.

Immigration Crackdowns And Bounty Incentives

SPEAKER_04 7:52

And and uh my my brother-in-law, we were having a conversation. He was stating that if you were really serious about illegal immigration, because this is a border state, not necessarily where I am, if you went to the construction where in my area is is just blowing up. They're building, expanding. If you were to show up to some construction sites, you might yeah, you might get a whole slew. But you would affect the economy.

SPEAKER_07 8:25

I would think that Florida's the same way, Red's like, like, don't y'all, I mean, yeah, but they they got them shook down here.

SPEAKER_08 8:33

Yeah, they should. They're Ubering.

SPEAKER_07 8:37

Oh, right.

SPEAKER_08 8:38

They're not driving, they're Ubering. Um and they are they are doing minimal um like shopping out. Yeah. I know I know a few, um, and they're they're legal, but their friends, they're they're even scared because they've been sending legal folks back. So yeah, when they told me excuse me, they're Ubering, I was like, wow. Yeah, they said not they're not even trying to drive and be caught. And with this bounty, you know, it's like a thousand dollars ahead, basically. Oh, what? Yeah, for the for local, for the regular law enforcement to you get a thousand dollars ahead for turning somebody in, and the sheriff departments are being threatened to a cut in funding and stuff if you don't allow your officers to help. So the Tampa mayor was big, or mayor of the, I don't want to misquote it, one of the Tampa officials was like, we're not gonna do it. And then the governor was like, Okay, we're gonna cut your money. They bend the knee. You know, so a lot of other sheriffs are saying, we will go along with it, but that's not gonna be our main focus. A lot of people have their main focus was just go hunting. I get a thousand dollars, I get a thousand dollars. And uh in Florida, we have a huge Hispanic population. Right. And and they've they've it it has it has impacted a lot of these agricultural um uh businesses down here because that's who they use, they use migrant workers to pick. We had the strawberries just went out. Uh we have kumquats, the little Japanese fruit. Um it was horrible. Um, those people, stuff was rottening on the vine. So the very same people who are against government handouts was going to the government and saying, hey, we need some, all these farmers, we need some uh we need some assistance, which is hilarious to me.

SPEAKER_07 10:43

Well, I, you know, I don't know the situation on the ground, but from a distance, all I can go by is the news. And I recall on the news a lot of them cats down there singing about how they was gonna vote for Donald Trump.

SPEAKER_08 11:02

Yep. Oh man. So that that buyer's remorse is bad big time. And every once in a while I'll post on my social media a little box of popcorn because I'd just be sitting, we just sitting back. Traditionally, the the Dow Jones and all of that stuff didn't affect us because we weren't capped, we weren't factored into it. We weren't factored in to be productive on our own in this country. So this the we've been making it work since they brought us here. We have. We literally have. Um, and it's really not affecting us. But I've been watching us go on vacations, we haven't stopped driving, we haven't, we haven't stopped going out to restaurants. And you would think, with it crashing down, we are this is the first time in our country's history that all of this stuff, they they're not targeting us.

SPEAKER_04 12:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 12:03

They're trying to, yeah, they're trying to do something, they just got voted down about the Haitian refugee thing. And what people don't understand, I would have to explain this to somebody. If they would have pulled the um status from the Haitian refugees, that meant they would have been able to go around and just start stopping black people asking, Are you Haitian? That would have opened up the door, just like they can stop, and now they can stop any Hispanic looking or sounding person with them pulling that um refugee status from the Haitians, uh, that would have opened up the door for them to stop all black people. And that's why I was so thankful it got shut down. That the both of the houses are and they voted it down that they they're not gonna pull. It was it was like 300,000 or something. It was a crazy number of Haitians that would have lost that status um had they had that bill, and they still are going to appeal it too. So we gotta stay vigilant.

SPEAKER_07 13:06

Can you imagine? Um, you know, I mean, we we've we've all I I assume heard the stories and read the the history of Sundown Towns and just the fear of just being you know, wrong neighborhood, just just being out and about. Yeah. Right. Um it it it feels it feels like I gonna say who, I don't know. Somebody's trying to take us back there.

SPEAKER_08 13:39

Oh definitely. Oh definitely they're trying to they're definitely trying to to to to go back to it. But it it's not gonna happen. It's just not gonna happen. Well and the and the Republicans are they're they're they're tired of defending, and they see the outlandish and outrageous stuff that's being said and done, and they they're um voting on the on our side more and more. They you look at Virginia, they just turned Virginia, which was which is huge.

Congress Ethics And Market Manipulation

SPEAKER_04 14:15

Yeah. Well, Virginia was coming for a long time. If you look at the past elections, they have voted more so blue. But I I feel and I think I said this to you, uh Dennis, last time. Steve O'Bannon, Republican, I don't know if he's a strategist or member, said that if the s Congress turns come to mid-election, he said, me and a whole bunch of people in this room are going to jail. I remember that. He's right there. And and as I told Dennis last time, every year in the federal government, there's certain uh training that you have to take. There's security training, there's ethics training, there's uh whistleblower training. Matter of fact, I got a notification I I'm due to do the EEO whistleblower training. And some of the things that's occurring as far as monetary gains within the Congress is uh totally illegal. Totally illegal. And and you wouldn't even have to go below surface level. I mean, it's very obvious. But the point is that there's no enforcement. There is no enforcement whatsoever. So I I feel a lot of people think that um if there's a changeover, there's gonna be a change across the board because there are people who are doing well. It would it took me the second iteration to notice anytime he said something about the tariffs or anything, I was watching the markets. So I went in there and I changed my uh 401. And it was beneficial. Market manipulation. Yeah, and if you if you if you just pay attention, and and a lot of us in our community uh weren't taught a lot of things as far as uh the the markets. We weren't we were all taught about trusts and wills and developing LLCs, if you have real estate and how to set those things up. All those things weren't taught, but I think our generation, we're we're we're we're starting to delve into that so that now our children will know and they'll be incorporated into that. But people are if you're at a certain uh uh financial level, they are making money and they're making a lot of money.

SPEAKER_08 16:52

That's why I believe, I honestly believe the uh people of color who are Republicans, those people are like the six-figure people. They don't care what he does, as long as he keeps the money, you know, the taxes away and the money coming. Uh I I gotta I have relatives that are are Republicans, and we we go back and forth to the point to where now we can't even talk. I just say, uh, it's getting hard to defend, huh?

Who Plays The Long Game

SPEAKER_07 17:18

Well, let me ask you this, man, in more of a philosophical question on that topic, right? Um you mentioned uh we traditionally hadn't been included or taught certain things, right? How do I phrase it without sounding like um I'm all for it, but hear me out. So if you notice those who don't look like us, they have played the long game. Right? They have been putting things in place for decades. To the extent that right now all of the chips fell in place, and they had the right dude come along at the right time and become the the leader of the free world who had the same ideology.

SPEAKER_06 18:20

So my question to you is can you really fault or blame them for playing that long game, right?

SPEAKER_07 18:33

Because you can jump up and down and be mad about it or um well, let me stop the question right there. Can you blame them? I mean, it it's to me it's something to be studied. Right.

SPEAKER_04 18:46

I I think I I think that game started with Nixon. That was about the changeover of what we knew as what we knew as the Republican Party was basically the Democratic Party.

unknown 19:00

Right.

SPEAKER_04 19:00

If you look at the presidential election, how things were switching over because of the passage of civil the Civil Rights Act during that time period, there was a switch in the parties. That was one of the major things. That's when the ideology of the parties changed. Okay. You also had, you know, he took us off the gold standard to where the gold was back in the money. So there was a lot of shifts, as you said, that started during that time, that time period. I said something to this about family. You remember when during the first election, when Liz Cheney was on the committee and they were uh talking about all the uh crimes and things that have had occurred within the party. I said, uh and my thing was I'm glad you're coming to the table now. But as a person who's been in pol politics for a very long time, you knew what was happening. Everyone knew what this was not a surprise. And I'm talking for Democrats, Republicans, Libertarian, Independent, however you identified, if you've been on that hill for uh any significant period of time, this should not have been a surprise to you because you have access to information that we don't, and you're seeing and hearing the inner workings of what's going on behind the scenes. This was not a surprise. And I told Dennis uh Reggie the last time one thing that the election of Donald Trump did this time, he opened up our eyes to uh the uh the lack of working in our government.

SPEAKER_06 20:52

The shortcomings in our government.

SPEAKER_04 20:56

And the first order of business, if there's a change over at the midterm election, you you keep things in place to keep uh functioning of government and businesses going forward. But there has to be some shoring up of certain things in our government. For instance, I I'll just throw this one out there. A felon should not be sitting in the most powerful position in the world. That's number one.

SPEAKER_07 21:28

See, now you're meddling. You're meddling now.

SPEAKER_04 21:32

I I I I think number two, I think now, since the highest position um is held to term limits, I think there should be term limits on our Congress people. I think there should be term limits on the people who hold the Supreme Court. I also think you might want to s expand the number of Supreme Court justices to where to where it is right now, from where it is right now. Really?

SPEAKER_08 21:59

I agree. We should not. Die in office. You don't let 70, you don't let 80-year-old people mess with the remote control for the TV. Now you letting them legislate uh life and death, you know, cases and stuff. And they're all humped over and stuff. Come on, man.

SPEAKER_04 22:21

My mom is over 80, grandma, my father's over gonna be over 80, and they they still got it.

SPEAKER_08 22:28

I'm not doubting that. I think uh that's not a a blanket statement, but come on.

SPEAKER_02 22:35

Come on, but but we need to check everybody.

SPEAKER_07 22:38

Well well, that's the point. That's the point. I I I was gonna say, you know, from my that that was wild what you just said, but but so I was gonna say I I feel your point regarding the parties switching and in that but if you if you take the parties away for a second and you take away term limits for a second, we won't let's move those to the side for a second. There is there is basic human decency that you would expect at at certain levels of our you know of our society. And what we've you know, I think the evidence shows that it's not to me about parties. To me it's about haves and have nots. Yes. Because rich people need poor people to exist in order for them to be rich. Because if they all had the same money, then you know them would be would be Dubai. Yeah, import everything. Well, but then your your financial power wouldn't be power. It would just be you're just another dude. So then you would have to find something else. Because human beings are just like that. They want to have a leg up, they want to have you know whatever. But if everybody had it, then you wouldn't have these classes. So I think that those that are in these classes want you to stay where you are and it doesn't matter what party you're in. In fact, I don't agree with that. If in fact, here recently, you'll see that there's foolishness on both sides, and people are getting caught doing stupid stuff on both sides. And people who who gave the persona that they were above board for a bunch of years, but then watch this. As soon as they express aspirations to go higher than they are, then all of a sudden there's a scandal. Right? And so I'm just saying that you know, even when you talk about the term limits, it could be a real short term, but if the person who's in the position is raggedy, then the term limit didn't matter. Right? For a short period of time, they can tear something, tear something up. Well, yeah, we're seeing that. Right. Right. So so to me, to me, you know, I go back to what I was talking about in terms of that long game. Right. There's a when I said they played the long game, I'm not talking about a political party. I'm talking about the haves.

SPEAKER_04 25:51

Oh, definitely.

SPEAKER_07 25:54

They played the long game, and the haves are trying hard to keep the power because the have nots are becoming more educated on certain things, as you mentioned. Correct.

SPEAKER_08 26:08

I was just about to say that they they were counting on us to staying ignorant. Right, right. And so they can do move in the shadows, but the advent of the internet has been their detriment because now we got we got access to the knowledge. You have a knowledge. And I agree with you, Greg, about the wills and trusts and all that. We didn't that that's not that nothing that was taught to us. Absolutely. Now that we now that we got it, people are tired of career politicians, and the current administration was the poster child for not being a career politician. Because there's no way on earth throwing his credentials or his he was just he wasn't qualified. He's the he's a DEI more than anybody else.

Hate And Support When You Rise

SPEAKER_07 26:54

So, Reg, watch this. I I don't even know. I wasn't there, right? I wasn't there for your entire career, right? When we when we connected, we was both at the bottom of the of the ladder, right? So I wasn't there for your entire career, but I'm gonna make a bet. And if I lose, I lose. But watch this. I'm gonna bet that the closer you became, and then once you became first sergeant, I'll bet you the closer you got, the more hate you ran into. Oh man. See? Yeah, you see how that works? So the moment you begin to aspire to be better than what you are, to be more than what you are, hate begins to manifest itself. I just think there you go. And I just think that that's what's happening in our society with us who do not have. And and and and I'll tell you what, what's even worse is a lot of times the hate comes from those who look like you, who are in your same situation. Oh, you're gonna have to man, you know, and and uh yeah, it's a slave race in watch this. Unfortunately, you know, and and you guys know I just released a book, right? I just published a book. And I'm you know, I'm not gonna mention by name, but it was crazy is the sideways comments that I got from some people.

SPEAKER_04 28:27

I and I don't understand that. What was my initial reaction when I when you told me?

SPEAKER_07 28:32

Oh, yeah. This brother It was excitement. Yeah, he went and got it. You mean he showed me a picture?

SPEAKER_04 28:37

As soon as I saw, I didn't even look at what it encompassed. As soon as I saw he did the the book, I said, let me order this to support you. Yeah, I've always been like that. I've I've never understood the concept of being a crab in the book. Even if you and me, my brother, if we have something going on, if you're excelling, hey, more power to you.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

I don't like you, but more power to you. But I don't, I I I I've never I've never got that.

SPEAKER_04 29:11

I I I I don't even know how to um run that thought through my mind. If you are out there grinding, trying to make a way, more power to you. Because you you're not affecting me, you know. If anything, what it should do is motivate me to see the brother as iron sharpens iron, you know, that I you you should I should be building off of that. You know, I know what it took to um get a PhD. Not that I did it, but I told you when people in my office was doing it, they had me, hey Greg, proofread this for me. I'm like, you wrote all this, you gotta be kidding me. Ain't no way I'm going after a doctor.

SPEAKER_02 29:55

You out of your mind. Well, how you doing? Waterboard me first. I'll take you could waterboard me. I'm not doing it.

SPEAKER_07 30:02

No, but here's here's here was what's funny about that, right? Someone who I consider to be close to me.

SPEAKER_06 30:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 30:12

When I got my doctorate, right? My doctor is in ministry, doctorate ministry, right? Pastoral counseling. This individual said it's the wildest thing, man. Um yeah, but is that but are you a real doctor? You know, I like I was like, words, or this thing behind me, man. I'm like, it it took a minute to get this thing, you know. Like, I was, you know, yeah, but are you but it is that are you a real doctor though? You know, like the the mindset is you gotta have a white lab coat on. You know, uh I don't know. I don't know what the mindset was, but I I just laugh.

SPEAKER_04 30:56

I think when people hear that, they think medical, that's the probably the first place they go as a medical doctor. But there are other doctors out there. Yeah. Uh uh, when you go to a university, there are doctors because these people have shown and demonstrated an elevated sense of learning and achievement to be conferred upon that title.

SPEAKER_07 31:25

Well, you know, but to your point, I think that the whole that mentality, you know, it's it's uh it's prevalent throughout our entire society. Yeah to the extent that people are comfortable with you as long as you stay where you are.

SPEAKER_06 31:45

Right.

SPEAKER_07 31:46

You know, friends, parents, what have you, associates, um, they're they're cool with you, but the minute you begin to aspire to do bigger, then they're uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_06 32:00

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 32:01

When we when we when we exceed people's limitations that they put on us, it makes them uncomfortable. Because now if we can do it, they can do it. And if they're not doing it, now they feel like, oh, it's making me look, instead of celebrating the brother or the sister that's doing it, and so or in supporting, uh, and I'm gonna get your book too.

SPEAKER_07 32:26

Don't know.

SPEAKER_08 32:27

I appreciate it. I appreciate it. But uh, you know, we should be, like I said, always my mentality was a rising tide raises all ships. So if somebody over here doing it, right?

SPEAKER_04 32:43

Right there, but I like that one. Rising tide.

SPEAKER_08 32:48

So that's somebody over there doing it. That makes us look good.

Leadership Paths And Veteran Motivation

SPEAKER_07 32:52

But uh Reggie, check this out. When we connected again on Facebook, right, after all those years. And I saw that you retired as first sergeant. You don't know how excited I was. I was like, hold on, him? Wow, you know, I was like, yo, you know, I was could because you know where where we are. You know what I mean? I mean, so so to go from that and to see that you had made, I was like, bruh, I I wish I could have been in the unit and been calling you top. You know, like, yo, I mean, and and and here's what here's what's crazy. I know that as a leader in an organization, you gotta surround yourself with people who you can trust. Yeah. And I'd have been like, yo, if I was in that unit, oh, we would have. You know what I'm saying? I'd have been pushing you like, yo, what we doing? Uh uh company run? Let's go. I'm up front with you. Let's, you know what I mean? Let's get it. You know, like, and so I got excited when I when I heard that you had made it there. And I was like, yo, because and then my mind started going crazy. Like, that was such an inspiration to me because I was like, yo, do you know if somehow I would have stayed in and yourself, Greg, you know what I'm saying? If I would have stayed in and and and been able to kick it with y'all or whatever, you know where we would have gone. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_08 34:27

If we could have, man, you know, but now when you're saying that, uh I was I got restationed back at 598, which was crazy. Uh they you know, they done remodeled all the barracks and everything.

SPEAKER_04 34:42

Where was this located?

SPEAKER_08 34:43

Uh Fort Benning, Georgia.

SPEAKER_04 34:44

Fort Benning.

SPEAKER_08 34:45

Okay, you're main post. On main post. Okay. So I'm uh I'm an E6. I'm an E6, uh getting back to stomping grounds, basically. And I go into the battalion headquarters and outwalk, I'm going in the door, outwalks Sergeant Major Wilker. That mess me up. No, you know what? I could see that I could see that because he because he was an E6 by the time we left.

SPEAKER_07 35:15

I could see that.

SPEAKER_08 35:16

I saw the trajectory, but uh that messed me. I was I was so excited to see him.

SPEAKER_07 35:22

Bruh, I didn't see that trajectory. You know, but and and here's the thing, I'm not surprised, but he's one who, even though he used to kick it and carry on, he was the one who like he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, whatever, we're doing whatever, whatever. But then let there be uh what is it? Uh um what is it uh funeral detail. Yep, that brother's uniform would be, you know, now he's in charge of the detail. He's that dude. You know what I mean? He was on honor guard, he was on all that stuff. All of that. I was like, everything that you needed to do that was like extra, you know, and and I ain't talked to a brother in in decades, but my point is I saw that. I could see that in him. And you know, what's funny is when we first met, I ain't gonna go down that lane, but point is when we first met, we wasn't like this at first.

SPEAKER_06 36:15

Right.

SPEAKER_07 36:16

You know, and I think part of that was because he wanted to be down and cool and everything like that, but he still had these standards that I wasn't living up to. I'm just gonna, you know, you ever met somebody like that, like you could be way better than what you are, but you acting like, you know, and back then, man, I'm I'm what 20, 19? Yeah, like man, you trying to hear that, you know, whatever. Oh, box head joker backbone for me.

SPEAKER_08 36:50

You know, like he he really was pushing people trying to push us. He really was. Hey man, y'all need to study. Hey man, y'all need people like man, we call the club.

SPEAKER_07 36:59

I could see that I'm not surprised at all. There's a couple more like that. And um, you know, that that when I saw uh Anderson, him a first sergeant, I was like, Yep, I you know, I just see it. Greg, I figured you was gonna be a sergeant major somewhere, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 37:16

I just I was I was heading on that trajectory um uh because I had uh just quick history. One of my close friends, he's uh in Saudi now, started his own company. This brother was probably one of the smartest people I've ever met. He won Audi Murphy Soldier of the Year in Europe. He beat me at the battalion level for a non-commissioned officer of the year. He went on to Major Army Command and won non-commissioned officer of the year. Very smart guy. Very smart. I thought he was gonna be Sergeant Major of the Army. I didn't think I had the political acumen to be Sergeant Major of the Army. I could have been Sergeant Major of a post or something like that, or a staff sergeant major. Uh, but I was like focused, I was looking at warrant school to go to flight school. That's where my focus was. Yeah. And I think if I was in, regardless of the past, I would have either made Sergeant Major going that path because he he and I would have been instructors at Fort Gordon. He that's where he ended up. He was the instructor for Gordon. And uh we both would have were slated for that. And uh I would have gone to Warrant course. Because at that time I was I would think I was the only one in Rose and I feel who was airborne qualified. Because when I went to the the B knock and all of that, yeah, I was the only one. So we were definitely we were definitely tracking and moving on that because once I came back from Germany after doing, I think, two tours over there in in the sand, uh, I was locked in. I was like, okay. And it wasn't necessarily for rank. I was like, there's a certain lifestyle I want. The only way I can get that is to get rank. Rank brings more money.

SPEAKER_06 39:04

Let's get it. And that was mentality. Well, you know, go ahead.

SPEAKER_07 39:10

Go ahead, Rich.

SPEAKER_08 39:10

I felt that way. Um, it's only been two people that have uh I don't know, boosted or increased my spiritual uh uh awareness, so to speak. So I'm not saying the right words, but one of my best friend I grew up with, he's like he's literally a brother. Um he became a minister and a pastor, and when when I saw you, because the first time I saw you, you were in front of you was at the pulpit, and somebody took a picture of you doing like this, and I was like, Rico is freaky.

SPEAKER_01 39:51

Oh I gotta get my life to a guess. I haven't heard that name in a minute. I was it took me back.

SPEAKER_08 40:01

I got the I sent you the picture. I got the picture of us at the club. I'm like, uh that took me back to 89.

SPEAKER_07 40:08

Yeah, that's between 89 right there. Yeah, I hadn't heard that name.

SPEAKER_08 40:15

I was like, oh yeah, I got this time. Okay, it's time to get them get them stuff together, sir. Because these two, if God can do it for them, I know he can do it for me.

SPEAKER_01 40:27

Oh man.

SPEAKER_08 40:29

Brother, I was so proud. I was I was I felt like a proud uncle. I was like, wow.

SPEAKER_04 40:36

It was even easy because you were with CIO of um Georgia State or uh Chief Technology Office.

SPEAKER_07 40:44

Chief Technology. I said Georgia State. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:46

I saw that because that's when we had connected. I was like, what? Rico moving like that.

SPEAKER_04 40:52

I said, oh, I gotta step up. And it wasn't no jealous thing here. Okay, I see my partner. Yeah, because I think he he was uh a class, two about two or three classes behind me. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, when we were at um Gordon.

SPEAKER_01 41:06

I said, okay, okay, Rico, I see you. I see you. I talked time to step it. Time to step it up. Yeah, I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_07 41:14

You know, what's what's what's crazy about that is you know, when you're going through your journey, and I'm sure you guys can relate to this, who you're around is so important. Like who you surround yourself with. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Because, you know, I'll just say I told, you know, Greg, we discussed this. When we when we separated, went our separate ways after AIT, and then, you know, everybody was going through the reclass thing. Yeah. I got out because I wasn't surrounded. Like, you know, every unit I went to, I was the only one who had the MOS, right? So everybody else was they just wasn't feeling they they didn't care. Like, so, and they wasn't necessarily motivated to do anything. So I'm by myself and I wasn't surrounded by people who was trying to get it. So I was like, why am I even still in this thing? I might as well just get out. There's nothing here for me. But when you're surrounded by people who's all trying to get it and do the right thing and push now, I will say that I got out of the military and the aspirations in me still pushed me to go do some things outside the military. But the point is, had I still been in and around certain individuals who were trying to get it, who knows? You know, who knows how how that would have gone.

SPEAKER_08 42:44

Yeah, one of my mothers would always say, Show me your friends and I'll tell you who you are. That's a true state.

SPEAKER_06 42:51

Yeah, yeah, that's that's yeah.

SPEAKER_08 42:54

At Fort Bennington, we we pushed, we did push each other. Now we might have pushed each other to do some wrong stuff.

SPEAKER_07 43:01

Yeah, I was gonna say.

SPEAKER_08 43:03

But we pushed, and I remember like, hey, corresponding courses. Here you go. You know, and and right here, hey, study for the board, hey, you know, I I remember that, you know, and and those guys, we we have fun. I tell people all the time, I don't know what I did during the week, but I can tell you what I did on the weekends. Yeah, but uh, we had fun. Um but but we we were pushing, and I spent the rest of my career trying to surround myself with that kind of nucleus, and it didn't always happen to be with like rank, it ended up being uh age, same age range, yeah. So that and and then but it was only like three or four. So I especially my last duty station at Bragg, it was like I had a uh E6, E7, I had like a specialist, but we were all the same age. Our ranks, you know, and and that's that's who you let. That's who I can let my hair down with. Because you got to, you know, everybody's looking at looking for me for all the answers. And I need to be able to let my hair down with somebody. And uh, and that's who I found um to do that for yeah, man. D Rows with sharpened iron, iron sharp as iron, definitely.

SPEAKER_04 44:18

That's right. D Row, so when you left uh Borden, you your first duty station was Benning? No, man.

Korea Chaos And Hard Early Lessons

SPEAKER_07 44:25

First duty station was Korea. Oh. I don't think that's the first place you need to send. You do not. You didn't go you didn't go up to the DMG, did you? Korea.

SPEAKER_08 44:39

I'm glad I did. I fought Korea. I didn't get to Korea until I was a 13 years in the army.

SPEAKER_07 44:44

That's that's that's when you need to go to Korea. Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 44:47

Because when you went, Korea, Korea was off the chain when I went. When you went, it was off that it was crazy. I can I heard the stories because of my roommate.

SPEAKER_07 44:57

Nah, Korea, like Korea was unstable, and there was a lot of um student protests. Okay. Yeah, and you don't you don't take a uh bruh. You know what, Reggie? Do you remember on the boat in Saudi? Kennard Princess.

SPEAKER_08 45:23

Yep.

SPEAKER_07 45:23

Are you there? Yeah. So so really that's yeah, that's there. Are you right? Our unit was was over there. So so we was on the canard princess, right? We were, I think, one of the only ones who actually got to sail out.

SPEAKER_08 45:41

Okay. They stopped it by the time I got a chance to go.

SPEAKER_07 45:44

Yeah, so so we had to sail out because of scud situations and all that. But oh, so you weren't on the boat with me. So I was gonna say there was uh there was a uh reserve unit from Atlanta that was on the boat with us. Um and this dude that was on the boat, these two dudes that was on the boat, was legendary. Um, I don't know the brother's name. We used to call him Short Dog. Short, stocky, built brother with gold in his mouth, right? And he had there was another version of him that was with him, a taller one, right? It was like, and so I yeah, I was hoping you was on the boat with me because I was gonna say, um, I don't know how, what their situation was, but I saw them in Korea too. These brothers was wild, and they did not mind throwing hands. And so in Korea, why I say you don't send somebody their first duty station, right? I didn't even know how the army worked yet. Much less a foreign country, much less one that's in turmoil. So, you know, some stuff went down over there. I'm talking about protests, burning vehicles, right? I'm I'm having to uh, you know, we get him. Not I had to stand before somebody. I didn't have a license. Somebody was driving me to uh Young Sun Main Post. Yeah. It was a protest outside the gate. We had to abandon the vehicle. Vehicle got burnt up. We run into the first, to the front gate, we get in, whatever. And the driver got in trouble, and I had to come as a witness. They wanted to know why he abandoned the vehicle. Like, yo, it's burnt up, you know. But as a private, I'm nervous. I'm standing up there like I just got here, man. Like I'm about to be hemmed up, you know, like whatever. But but when I before I even got to my unit, I guess some some people who were veterans at this thing, they took me to, well, if you've if you've been to Korea, um, you know about Etawan. Um outside of Yang San Main Post, the shopping district. There's a famous club there called the Highway Club. Anybody all vets listening to this, they know if you've been to Korea, you know about this. It actually, you had to go in some steps, go up some steps to get to it. Let me just say, um, I'm not a clubber, I don't drink. There's nothing else to do. I don't know anybody. I'm just there because I think it's the thing you do. And during one of these protests, we down in the shopping district. It's wilding outside, bottles being thrown, stuff happening. But short dog and them was in there wilding out, man. I'm talking about they was hurting people. You know what I mean? And I'm talking locals, right?

SPEAKER_06 49:08

And you know, I got I was I was there and participated in a little bit of something, you know.

SPEAKER_07 49:18

Um, I caught one, I caught one, but you know, I I did a little something. Anyway, my point is then when I saw them on the boat years later, and I had to remind my man, yo, man, you know, I saw you. And then it seemed like it just energized a bunny action. Because then they turned up on the boat. You know what I mean? I mean, these brother, you know, but but I why am I saying all that? Because I think we all have these uh wild stories of you know earlier times, and then to get to a place in your life where you know you might you're more satisfied now, I would hope, than you were with yourself back then.

SPEAKER_08 50:11

Wisdom.

Purpose Versus Calling Versus Gifts

SPEAKER_07 50:13

Right. But but it brings me to that point where um, and and Greg, I know we we started with the straight, you know, and it it and I understand that, but it's just a flow. No, but but it brings me to this point where I was telling you guys, um, where I was in a group on Monday and we were talking about purpose. And I want to get your take. If I just toss the word purpose out there to you, what does that mean to you and and what thoughts come to mind in terms of your purpose?

SPEAKER_08 50:52

I had this discussion before uh one of my cousins. He was going through a dilemma about purpose and destiny and what's the difference. And we we I had to think I I even had to go back, tell my pastor what I told him, but uh uh purpose is what God puts you here for. That's what I believe. Okay, you know, and and finding that purpose or accepting it for some people, uh, that's what that's that's what we're here for. That's what we're here for. And when you find it, you know, I think uh it makes life easier. It's one of those things you you'll do without getting paid for it, you know. Um I just believe that it's that thing that this this is what you hear, this is what you one of the things you're here to do. A lot of people never find their purpose.

SPEAKER_07 51:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_08 51:52

A lot of people never find it. And I feel sorry for those people. But when you find it, and then you you move on it and you act accordingly, your life, your life seems easier. You see people like they breezing through life, they found their purpose. Whatever it is, they found it.

SPEAKER_04 52:13

I would agree with you, Reggie. That's what God has placed you here to do, and I think my son, my youngest son is going through some transition. He got out of college, got a great job, but he's ready to move on to something different because it's it's just trying on him. And had a discussion with a young lady to this uh this week, day before yesterday, when we were talking about that, and she said, you know, everyone, if you just take inventory of yourself and you find all these little things about yourself that only you know, you could put those pieces together and you will find your purpose. Well, if you just sit down and you say, Okay, what am I good at? What you know, you you you just you know write it down. All these little things that you're good at doing, you'll find that it's taking you in a general direction on what you can do, your purpose. As you said, Reggie, some people know that purpose earlier in life. Like I knew I wanted to be a pilot. It's just that I didn't have some of the direction, I didn't some of the things are my fault, procrastination. I didn't move on it, but I knew that's what I really wanted to do as a young individual. Other people, yeah, they have a harder time of finding that. And it's just a matter of taking inventory to see what God has placed, what talents He's given you, so you can move forward on it. And to say segue on what you said earlier, that's your purpose. Your destiny is where your purpose is going to take you and where you end up. That's good. Yeah, use that wrong that down.

SPEAKER_07 54:00

Yeah. Well, you know, so the group we were in, we were reading the book, and I have to say that as a book facilitator, so the the author was basically saying that your purpose changes with season. Like, you might be at a season in your life where your purpose is to do something during the season. But then you're, you know, so like say Reg as a as a first sergeant, your purpose might have been at that moment in time to direct some soldiers to keep them alive. Right? Your purpose was to keep them alive during that time, period. And then when the season changed, your purpose has changed. I, as part of that book club, it was my job to interpret and try to teach the book. But I disagree with the author. Um, I kind of look at the whole the question of purpose is I think it's threefold. And it's not just purpose. Purpose is just one part of it. I think that in life, you know, I don't want to get too deep, but I think that everything is why, what, and how. Right? So I think that your purpose is your why. Like you said, God created you. Why did God create me? Why am I here? That is your purpose. Set that aside. The what I think is what we call calling. You are called to do certain things along the way in each season of your life. But then the how are your spiritual gifts. So, in other words, you are always working toward your purpose. You fulfill your calling along the way by using the gifts that you have. So I don't think that it's you can just say, What is your purpose in a vacuum? I think you have to connect all three. My purpose, that is your destination. When it's all said and done, did you fulfill your purpose? The reason why God put you here, yes, we should be hoping for that. But I think that you, if you look at the Bible, characters in the Bible lived their purpose or achieved their purpose, I should say, not by focusing on their purpose, but by trying to live up to God's calling on them. So they focused on the calling. Am I doing what God wants me to do today, right now? And am I using the gifts he gave me in order to do those things that he called me to do? And if you look at those biblical characters, they all fell into their purpose. I don't think any of them knew what their purpose was. Well, I ain't gonna say any of them. You know, Jesus obviously knew. Right. He he kind of knew, right? And and maybe some others who perhaps God spoke to let them know what their purpose was. But I don't think we should be focused on, like people get wrapped around the axle and say, Man, I don't, I'm, I'm, I'm concerned because I don't know what my purpose is. Well, how about you start with your calling? What are do you feel God is telling you to do right now, today, in this season? And what gifts did he equip you with to do that? And eventually, you will hear those words. Well done, my good and faithful servants. Right? So that's kind of how I look at it.

SPEAKER_08 57:50

So that's a good take. That was a good take.

SPEAKER_04 57:55

When you uh before we came on, uh the power of purpose by uh he's he's past uh Miles Monroe. And the first time I came across Miles Monroe or knew anything about him, I definitely was not walking in that life. This was at this was for Gordon. It was a Saturday, and this is when they changed the roads, our MOS, I think the first time from 39 Delta to 39 Golf. And I think we were the first NCO class to go through the course change.

SPEAKER_07 58:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 58:38

Okay, so we were there. So there was this white guy uh in our class, you know, couple couple of the brothers in this uh uh Puerto Rican brother. We came down, we're like, you know, JT, still remember him. Hey, you want to, you know, go to the mall with us? You know, we all went to the mall in Augusta. And JT's like, nah, I'm I'm watching this video. And there was a drill saw, you know, there that had given this VHS tape that he was watching in our uh, you know, our little entertainment room, you know, with a big TV member de roll. It had a big TV there, a lot of some seats. So, you know, we just happened to see what this guy was saying, you know. We're looking at it, we're listening to it, and there's about maybe about three people in there. So you you go from listening to okay, you're leaning against the wall. Okay, now we're sitting. This is a Saturday now, and it's at that time where we're trying to get out and you know, go hunting. And well, I just keep it real. Come on now, stop it. Yeah, you know the deal. Yes. So it went from just us and a few other people to fill standing room only on a Saturday.

unknown 1:00:10

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:11

And all of us are young, you know, trying to get out and this dude spoke on the power of purpose that captivated all these 18, 19, 20, 21-year-old people in that room. I've to this day, I I I don't think I've ever seen something like that happen. To be captivated like that, right? And and outside of JT and that drill, those were the only people there I think that were saved. I'm just keeping those are the only two people that I know that were probably saved in that one, or knew the concept of being saved. Because I didn't know really know the concept of being saved at that time. And he and he had a captive audience speaking on the power of purpose and 56 years old, and I still remember that. I still remember that. The power of purpose, power of purpose. So uh I I I like your take on it, D Rose. Uh I like that take.

War Orders Survival And Hidden Strain

SPEAKER_07 1:01:19

That's uh yeah, yeah. As I said, you know, the book, the author didn't quite put it that way. I just I just disagree, you know, and and that's your right, doctor. Right. Right. Right. I just see it differently. I see it differently. Uh but but yeah, so with the with the purpose thing, you know, bringing it, trying to bring it back anyway, when you look at in this, you when we started with the current event, the war that's going on.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:55

And can you imagine, for instance, for for a moment, the the what the military does to people, us. You are at the mercy of these individuals who direct you to do certain things. You know, give you orders, you follow your orders or what have you. Follow legal orders. Right on. So um, but that's why I say in terms of purpose and calling, because if you get orders, your unit gets orders to go do something you may not even understand. Your calling may be to be there for those who need you to keep them alive at that moment. Your purpose probably has, you know, I don't nobody know, I don't know. I wouldn't know what anybody's purpose is, but your calling at that time may be to keep these individuals alive. And you I believe God always equips you with the gifts you need to carry out your calling. And and you are you guys ever notice how for whatever reason you can't you can't figure it out. Well, for whatever reason, people gravitate towards you and want to hear what you got to say and will listen to you. You know, and it might be because he he equipped you with that gift, right, of influence. And so now here it is. But when you're in the moment, you might not be thinking purpose, calling, gift, right? You're just you're just acting, you're just doing it, you're taking action. And so, why am I saying all this? Because I'm I'm I'm concerned, obviously, about the war. But what was even more concerning to me was either yesterday or day before, I saw a story where there are sailors on ships that are going hungry because they can't replenish the supplies on the ships because they just out there, right? They they didn't, they weren't, they weren't, um, they didn't plan, right? They didn't plan to be there this long. Like you said, you they uh certain individuals thought this was gonna be over in a in a couple days. So now they're out there and they're having to, and then there's many ships out there that they're having to replenish by other means. And you know, um they eat well on those ships. Everybody eats better than the Army for some reason, you know. But anyway. Oh so Definitely the Air Force. Well, man, yeah. Hey, you know, spoiled, man. Um but but uh they're out there, and and can you imagine not only the ones that are on the ships, but the ones that are on land, but in within range of the attacks? Everybody is just going through the motion, not going through the motions, doing what they were ordered to do. But how many actually think about those three things? Purpose, calling, gifts. Probably not a whole lot, especially when you're worried about air ray sirens going off. Yeah, you it's survival. Right.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:43

Right. It's pure survival at that particular period of time.

SPEAKER_08 1:05:48

Uh from our collective, yeah, our collective experience with the military. At least my my thought on is I know of some stuff that's not being. Put out in the media. Oh man. There's some conflicts going on in these units. You got a bunch of folks like I'm just saying out loud what they ain't gonna do. I couldn't, because we had people doing that when we was getting ready to go to Saudi. You know, and and now you're saying, okay, you want me to go over here and mess with these people? You ain't give us no directions. We don't we just go just go because you say go?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:24

Yeah. I I believe I saw, and I have to verify this, and maybe you saw the same thing. That some people were protesting, veterans were protesting at the Capitol.

SPEAKER_08 1:06:36

I saw that.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:37

At the Capitol?

SPEAKER_08 1:06:38

Yes. Um, got arrested, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:40

Yeah, they went to the rotunda and were protesting about, I guess, bringing um sailors and soldiers and marines and airmen back from over there.

SPEAKER_08 1:06:52

So it was hush, hush. Um they've they have um effectively put people in place to control all the source, all the media sources outlets. So a lot of stuff, it'll slip out and it'll get you haven't heard nothing else about it. Yeah, it'll slip out and it gets pushed under the rug or whatever. So yeah.

News Trust Journalism And Podcast Power

SPEAKER_04 1:07:15

Yeah, yeah. And I think that's why you see traditional media is slowly taking a back seat to these podcasts, and you know, all you need is this thing right here. Yep, this iPhone or this Android or Google Phone and go to an area and go live. And and that stuff is getting out there, and I think that's what one thing people are dealing with now. You you can put out information, but if the right or the right number of people are there to see what's going on, they're gonna put it out too.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:00

Well, uh I think that unfortunately uh I guess professional journalism is under attack, right? Yes, definitely. Um and because of the fact that, as you said, you know, through uh social media, through technology, just anybody can report on anything. Yes. Um nowhere near qualified from a journalistic perspective to really report on what's really going on, doing the research and and all those things that go along with it.

SPEAKER_08 1:08:38

They just want to be first.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:39

Not only, yes, um, because that pays, right? Um clicks and likes and uh impressions and uh viewers. So it kind of goes with the whole being questioned about are you a real doctor? You know, like like so I've had this debate, uh call it I don't debate stuff like this. I had a discussion with somebody about um what they thought about uh honorary doctorates, right? Are you allowed to call yourself doctor? So on and so forth. I I'm not caught up in a title, I don't care, one way or another, right? Um what I will say is where the rubber meets the road, and the thing that qualifies me as you know, to to carry the title, all that means is I actually went through the rigorous uh journey of actual field research, and I know what it takes to do research. That is what would separate me from the someone who does who's never been through that. And so the same thing happens with journalism. There are journalists out there that know what it's about in terms of actually reporting on something. They have verified their sources, they have done the research, they work hard so that they can inspect, especially those those journalists that have deadlines. I gotta get this out by a certain time, so they gotta go do a whole bunch of research before they can put it out there. Versus Joe Blow or Joe, well, I won't say his name because I might get jammed up, but um Joe Podcaster, who well, you know what? Joe Podcaster is pretty big, so he might have a team that does some form of research. I can't speak on that. But the cat next door, I know he doesn't, right? And how many of us have seen video clips of somebody somewhere and something crazy's happening and they record it, and you be like, oh man, it's a fight. They're doing whatever, whatever. And then they won't hold the camera still, and you know, they out there doing but but and then you get a whole bunch of people commenting on whatever they saw. Nobody knows because there's no context, because no one did research, they just was trying to get likes and build their following, you know, and a lot of people come to rely on that as their news source. Girl, guess what I read today? You know, and and and no no journalism. So unfortunately, I think it's by design. I think that's because you don't know what what source is true, right? And you what you've done is you've devalued the actual you know credible news sources from both ends, from the from the top, where certain individuals have bought the conglomerate that owns them now, and from the bottom, the viewers who saying, Well, I need to watch you when I can go out here and you know, plus this is more entertaining over here.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:25

Yeah, you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_08 1:12:26

Monetize it, and it's been monetized first. Being first has been monetized over being right. And when when the the top officials can just say fake news, and they have a base who believes anything that says that they say out of their mouth. I cut they I call them the talking heads. When you turn on your CNNs and all of them, and you see them talking heads, people just believe them. And I was like, What? Nobody does their own research. As long as they're saying what you want to hear, what they would be thinking in their head, it's gotta be true. It's gotta be true. And that's that's the sad part about what's going on. But I also see some of those people's eyes are being opened now, the scales are being removed. And so now we have all these um buyers' remorse people coming on. Oh, I I did I voted, but um, I don't I think I made a mistake. Oh, it's too late now. We were trying to tell you.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:30

Speaking of mistakes, y'all did y'all hear about uh the comment Tucker Carlson made recently about how he re he regrets.

SPEAKER_08 1:13:42

Yep.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:43

Having helped Tucker Carlson, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:46

Yes, go go go about go back about 35 minutes to when we started this, and I said all these people who have been in it, left or right, knew what it was. So what what were regrets are you talking about?

SPEAKER_07 1:14:04

The thing is this I am all for reconciliation and repentance. I I'm all for those things. Roger that, Pastor. Ah but where I had issue with his uh with his statement was he said, nah, I you know I regret helping you know the president get elected. I regret misleading people. But then he said, I didn't mean to. But you knew you were doing it. Right. That's where I have that's where I have a problem. So your apology is not sincere.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:50

They don't want to be blamed. It's just like if you if I wronged you, my brother, and it's brought to my attention, I've wronged you. I come to you, hey, I I just heard this is what went on. Hey, I apologize. I didn't mean for it to come out like that. Compared to uh I start to get flat for what I did to you. And just because of the flat, okay. All right, man, I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you know what? Keep that because that is not sincere. So, so so keep that. So I'm I'm seeing this. Let me let me give you an example. Okay, and let me see how I could put this. Okay, because we talked about the young ladies in the Epstein files. Oh, yeah. Okay. Okay. I don't think anyone with common sense will deny that crimes were committed. I I I think a common sense person you have the evidence on these young ladies that were from I think twelve and a half to eighteen years of age. Yeah, I think it's the age span. Because it started out younger and they stayed into this whatever it was until around eighteen years old. And then they got aged out, is what I'm gathering. Okay. So we knew there were crimes committed. I think it was the Rolling Stone magazine where they asked our president about knowing him. And I'm paraphrasing the exact quote. And he stated something to the fact that yeah, I know him, he's a good guy, but he likes him young. Now, um stay with me. You usually back in the day, or even in this day, when you have a uh older gentleman he and you say he likes him young, your first thing is okay, he likes some 20-year-old, or something to that effect, but gonna be of age.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:00

But now the evidence is coming out, and you find now that all the young people that he liked were underage.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:12

You said you knew knew he liked them young, and you see that the age range were underage young ladies. So you knew what he was doing.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:24

When you are fawning over your own daughter, saying that if she was my daughter, I'd probably be dating her.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:34

That is weird to me.

SPEAKER_07 1:17:38

That's just nasty, grimy, nasty.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:40

See I mean think about it. Your own you're saying you're saying that over your own daughter.

SPEAKER_08 1:17:53

They know they know um them them files come out, whole bunch of folks going down.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:00

Left and right in middle.

SPEAKER_08 1:18:02

Yeah, and that is why the emphasis is on distracting us, because every time I'm a I'm an observer. I've been I've been an observer you and I both um uh for a long time, and I've noticed every time something pops up with them files, something crazy pops up. So I'm also like a conspiracy theorist person. So um being another conspiracy theorist people, we're thinking that if it gets to a point to where they can't control the narrative, we're gonna have another uh we're gonna have a false flag incident like 9-11. And that will totally refocus everybody in patriotism. You know how much patriotism happened? How many soldiers and people joined the military after 9-11? Um, it totally focused, it brought everybody together blacks, whites, cats, dogs. We was all kumbaya on it.

Israel Narratives And Hijacked Labels

SPEAKER_07 1:19:03

Because that's what um, you know that's what Israel did, right? You know that happened in Israel. Yep. Like with the current state of affairs, you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:12

Um Yahoo was coming to the end of his term and was getting jammed up for some and was funding Hamas through Qatar. Yeah, I had to say I had to shut somebody down at the gym when this was going on. He's like, Well, what do you think about you know what's going on with Israel people? The attack was heinous. No one would disagree with that when those thousand people had taken off. But I broke it down to him like this I'm Israel.

SPEAKER_06 1:19:46

You're my people. This is our enemy. I'm giving this country money to give to our enemy who attacked us.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:00

And do you think Israel has one of the best intelligence agency on the planet? It's them, it's uh us, CIA, and it's uh M I Six British. You remember when uh those uh pagers started blowing up? Right, right, right. You mean to tell me a country who could infiltrate a manufacturer of these devices over a fifteen year period set explosives in them at a certain prescribed time and didn't see this attack coming.

SPEAKER_06 1:20:51

I don't believe it.

SPEAKER_08 1:20:54

They decimated just like us in Pearl Harbor.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:57

Yeah, it came out later that we knew we knew that's not a that's not a secret, we knew. Yep, and they knew like to your point, they knew, and so the the that whole land has been leveled, and I I think that they want to go in there, they want to rebuild it, they want to put up uh luxury space in that area and move the current individuals totally out or into one consolidated spot where you'll be forced system. And we my my son and we had a a discussion and he would identify as a Christian, but he said, you know what? I have a hard time with some of these people who are prescribing to be Christians and think what's going on over there is is right. He said, I've known the and this is him talking. He said, I know the Bible, I've read it uh three three times back to front. I know it somewhat, but um you you you could tell there was a troubling on him where you have people who who state that you know they're Christian, but you know, if we don't look the same, it's gonna be a problem as far as getting on or talking to you. Evangelicals, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's it's it's it's a hard it's a hard take. You know, people are not gonna listen to what you say, they're gonna see what you do.

SPEAKER_07 1:22:42

So it's a it's a hard take. Yeah, absolutely, man. And I think one of the things that uh gets under my skin right now is that you have people who defend the country of Israel and try to do it from a biblical perspective. Those are God's people.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:12

Right. Don't you tempt me. Don't you tempt me. I'm not going to be heroes.

SPEAKER_07 1:23:19

Don't you tempt me that path because I don't need my phone blowing up.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:24

Don't you tempt me, brother.

SPEAKER_08 1:23:27

You just be a good moderator.

SPEAKER_07 1:23:29

That's what we're doing. I'm not cool, but but that that bothers me.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:35

And when before you go on, I'll just say I've been to the pyramids. I've been inside the pyramids. Okay. I've been to the Egyptian museum, I've seen the artifacts. Okay.

SPEAKER_07 1:23:49

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No doubt.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:51

Oh, I am woke. And that's all I'll say.

SPEAKER_07 1:23:56

Oh, man. I guess that falls in the category to me, right? Of there's certain groups on this planet that will hijack a term for their use. Evangelical is a term that was hijacked for their use. Woke was a term that was hijacked. It was hijacked for their use. The term Jew has been hijacked. The country of Israel that was formed very recently. 1940s was hijacked to the the the name of the country. Yeah. You see how that works? Here it is, decades later, there's individuals who are willing to die on that hill. Like, that's the people. That's the people of Israel. That's the you know what I mean. So remember the question I asked was can you really blame somebody for playing a long game? Because it's almost something that needs to be studied, right? Like, y'all jokers did a pretty good job with this foolish.

SPEAKER_08 1:25:20

They got some good PR. They got some good PRs. Yeah.

Entrepreneurship Education And The Long Game

SPEAKER_07 1:25:22

Y'all did some fit. I'm talking all aspects of these of these things because I'll put it this way. Real quick, years ago, someone introduced me to the book, The Art of War. And I was, and they explained this story to me where some ancient Chinese dynasty dynasties were at war with each other. And one dynasty could not beat the other one. But the one that could not beat the other one, what they did was they played the long game. What they did was they did something to sterilize the women of the other dynasty. So over time, the population shrunk. That's long game. That's like, you know, I can't beat you today, but my son's gonna be here and you won't have one. That's that's that takes forward thinking. So somehow I forgot how they did it, but they they sterilized them. And I don't know if it was something they put in the water, you know, I don't know what they did. But so you're beating me today, but don't worry. In a couple, a couple of generations, we'll own all this because you're you know, you're not gonna have, you know, a population that's gonna be able to keep up with us. That happens here too, right? You know, we've talked about how our community has this uh these aspirations of go to school to get a good job. Other communities teach go to school so you can create jobs. In other words, entrepreneurship. So we'll end up we end up being generations of human resource for other people's generations who are looking for there. You go, they're looking for workers, and we gladly feed them. Go to school so you can get that good job. Or better yet, look, good government job. But others teach their kids here's how you build business, and then look for the best workers to come work for you.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:49

That's the long game. Yeah, that's the long game. I I think that's what something I've seen from my travels, and I and I picked up on that many years ago. I watched when I would go you go to Egypt or any country abroad and you notice if they come to the United States, they're more entrepreneurial than we are. Because that's the mindset. It's not a mindset of working for someone else. They'll take whatever skill set or knowledge that they have and they'll parlay that into a business to earn themselves income instead of taking that talent and resources that they have and working for someone else.

SPEAKER_07 1:28:40

Watch this. Our government helps them to do that. Yeah, our government gives them grants so that they can do that. And my is so Saudi. When we were in Saudi, you know, I keep thinking that this brother was with me everywhere, but I don't know if he was with me this time. But but the first time I came across this and was educated on it was at the Dairy Queen in Saudi. We were talking to the brothers that was running the Dairy Queen, and he explained how they had family in the U.S. because the U.S. government gives them grants to open up a dairy queen over there. I say over there because we were in Saudi. And notice that in that Dairy Queen, notice all the employees. That's family. Yep. So they come over, the government gave them the grant to open up the Dairy Queen. They bring their family members over on visas to work. And as long as they are entrepreneurs, they can get these visas. So now their family members go out and open up Dairy Queens. And they continue to process, and it's our government that was funding it.

SPEAKER_08 1:30:09

Yep. And they get tax breaks.

SPEAKER_07 1:30:11

All of that. And I'm like, but but here in the U.S., it is so hard. We're not coming through the same channels that they are for us to open businesses over here. Right? They've got a channel that they can come through. We don't get that same opportunity. So guess what? We're trying to go work for them. Now, furthermore, something that breaks my heart, man. How many times have you gone to a high school graduation? Kids walking across the stage, family going crazy because they made it to the finish line. Am I lying? I mean, it's like they they they clapping, they're going crazy. They in the aisles doing cartwheels. People got to ask them to calm down for a minute. Can you can we please? Because their kid made it to the finish line, graduating high school. I'm like, bruh, do they know that that's the starting block? This is not the finish line.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:13

That's the beginning. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:31:15

The mindset is you get that high school diploma, you can get you a good job. And then if there's others who are more further along, you go get that college degree so you can get that good job. That's the lie. Meanwhile, folks coming from other countries getting funding to open up these businesses, and that's where you're going to end up working for them.

unknown 1:31:42

Yep.

SPEAKER_07 1:31:44

Long game, brother. It's the long game.

SPEAKER_08 1:31:46

The oppressed will never allow, I mean, the oppressors will never allow the oppressed to gain. That is not, it's not in their good, it's not in their best interest.

Influencers Fading And Skills That Pay

SPEAKER_04 1:31:58

The long game makes you change the mindset to where instead of thinking within this small box, you need to think outside of the box and start pushing entrepreneurship. That that should be just like how growing up we were taught go to school, do whatever, get a good job, work 25, 30 years. But one thing, and we me and my son, we had the discussion, these young people, this that next generation, they're like, oh no, we ain't doing that. Nope, we ain't we ain't walking all 25, 30 years for some gold watch or whatever. We're we're trying to get it right now. And they're trying to do it smarter than we are. And I I admire that. Trying to be influencers though. But even even talking with that lady who talked to Dobbs, she was she was in journalism. Um and she said that the the time of the influencers, I think, are are going by the wayside. And here's what I took from it people are tired. I think people are because you cannot sometimes determine what is real and what is not. I think people are are are really getting tired of that. Even in the market, companies are not necessarily looking for a whole slew of influencers. They're focusing on a core group of individuals that will push their product and be uh well engaged within their product instead of going for this broad net. I think what's gonna happen, I think we're gonna see more focus on what's out there. We're not gonna see the level influencers uh that were there for not saying that they're gonna disappear, but I think there's gonna be a narrower focus to what's going on in society. I think all of us, uh, this young lady uh that I went to school with gave a testimony of, you know, it went it went uh hand in hand with this other brother I I follow who's from Detroit. He's lives there in Houston, to where basically she got out, got a good government job, but was on that probationary period, you know, she from the DMV, somebody went sideways on her, and she had to get sideways with them, and then so she got removed. She said she was on uh assistance for like six months. But she had a skill set she could do here. Okay. Long story short, she ended up opening up her own shop. And then when COVID came, she had people come in there, she was traveling. So we're now she's pretty doing very well. And that was a over a 30 year span. And the brother says, you know, he's a big real estate guy. He was an executive in the automotive industry, you know, decent level executive. I'm sure he's probably making 200 plus thousand a year plus bonuses. He walked away from it, parlayed the money he had into real estate. And I would say he has a minimum of 30 plus doors. Minimum. So he said, and he has investments, he has gold, he has silver, that type of thing. And he said, You're either gonna and I'm looking at both of them, and this is the point they were trying to make, you're either gonna be an entrepreneur willingly, or you're gonna be forced to be an entrepreneur in some type of capacity to where your skill set you're gonna be providing services for different entities using your talents, you know. You you express the roles of uh you know, what what are your talents of what God has given you and start to use it, utilize those talents to parlay that into some type of uh business opportunity to where you're not working for somebody else.

Serving The Community With This Podcast

SPEAKER_07 1:36:14

So that's why I encouraged you guys before we got started, right? Get your get your get your stuff right, right? Because you know, no they but here's the thing when we talk about influencers, right? Everybody that's in this podcast space, um, they want to blow up, they want to have viewership, they want to have all these things. Not me really, right? I don't I don't I don't get into all that. I just want to I have a passion for for having conversations where people express what's on their mind. My podcast is called Urban Christian Veterans for a reason. You know, it's urban, right?

SPEAKER_06 1:36:58

Or for lack of a better term. Um I would say veterans of color um that are believers, and I believe we have a perspective, and as long as there are there is a military and then there are conflicts, we will have a perspective that that is unique to I would say other veteran groups.

SPEAKER_07 1:37:31

That's why I do this, and my hope is to reach those who can relate to hear you guys and your your opinions to where they can say, you know what, me too. I I can relate. I thought it was just me. You know, so that's why sometimes I'll bring up certain topics where it hits us a little differently. Yeah. Because we've already said some things on this this episode tonight that I believe other veterans' groups would not be able to relate to. You know. So that's why I do what I do, and it's not about a whole bunch of, you know, I don't consider myself trying to be an influencer. I consider myself just trying to allow you to get your story out and your perspective out. Having meaningful conversations, meaningful conversations, and hopefully allow others who can relate to know they're not alone. We think this way too. So that's what that's about. So, and I still encourage you, you know, hey, Rich, man, get your lights, get your lights straight. Get your get your I get you. Yeah, yeah, we get it. Let's go to get you, let's get you get you set up right, you know.

Expat Options And Conditioned Suspicion

SPEAKER_08 1:38:49

I I've been asked to speak to a lot of kids, a lot of my friends, kids thinking about going to the military or whatever, and I had to really modify that over time. And I was like, hey, the military is not for everybody. School isn't for everybody. But guess what? Plumbers make six figures a year, electricians make six figures. I said, also, there is an aspect that I didn't have before that I've added is think about going to work overseas. You know, so um I've had to start adding that in because that that's but that's I said I'm not talking about no war zone. You can go to the Philippines and you know places like that. Because people always think I'm thinking about Iraq and our no, we can go to the Philippines and make a uh they got this group on Facebook. I'm just not finding this group of us going to the Philippines to live. And they're they're thriving, they're not just existing, they're thriving over there because of the money, you know. They have a VA over there, they got way better health care, you know, and and and they call them expats. So the expat people are going over there, become an expat. Living. My sister is thinking about moving to Panama. Panama.

SPEAKER_04 1:40:08

Panama is is a for expats. It is a a great haven because number one, they use our dollars. Number two, just like here in Texas is big, you go to a restaurant or a venue and they'll give you veterans' discount. Well, it's the same thing in Panama. If you're uh expat coming for the United States, you get discounts for shopping at different venues. So it's very beneficial. Panama is a big one. Yeah, Panama is a big one. Uh Portugal is another big one. You'll start to see a lot of us. South Africa. Yes, and Ghana. South Africa. I I've been doing some research, and that's a big place to for us as well.

SPEAKER_08 1:40:55

A white guy came up to me. Me and a friend were talking about, hey, we might, the first um president, his his first election, a white guy stopped us in the parking lot. Was like, hey, I'm getting a house built right now in Ghana. We were like, whoa, because we were just talking about, hey man, we think about moving out of the country, you know, and all that stuff. And he was like, tell all your friends. He said, tell everybody, go to Ghana and get a house built. And what he does is the people that are building it, he allows them to live on the compound while they're building. And then they take care of the grounds and they take care of it. Then when he said, Well, I call them and say, Hey, we're coming over for two weeks, then they go somewhere else. But he let them live there while they're building. He said, I'm telling you, he said, I know I'm a white guy. Y'all, he he he was plain. He said, Tell everybody you know, go to Ghana, do citizenship or whatever you gotta do, and and and get a house built. Because when when this over here goes crazy, you need to be able to pop smoke.

SPEAKER_07 1:42:03

You know what, man? I don't know why. That just that just didn't sit well with me. Because I'm like, the white guy tells me. I mean, let me let me let me let me preface it by no, it's not a racist thing. However, the first thing that came to my mind was no, I'm not coming over there so I can work for you.

SPEAKER_03 1:42:25

You know that like that's what that was that was what I was thinking to say.

SPEAKER_07 1:42:29

I'm like, no, I'm not, I'm not doing that. I'm just for whatever reasons, and that's the thing. That's the that's the conditioning, right? Like it's it's like unfortunately, the country we live in has conditioned us to have to be defensive and cautious, yeah, with with with everything.

SPEAKER_04 1:42:50

And you know, I see my response, much smaller than I excess. So you want me to come up there and talk for you? Is that what you're telling me?

SPEAKER_07 1:43:00

On the continent? And look, what he say, tell everybody you know. No, I'm not telling everybody I know the call. I'm not doing that.

SPEAKER_08 1:43:16

No, but that's what I'm saying. We are conditioned, sir. We are conditioned, right?

SPEAKER_07 1:43:20

We, you know, and and unfortunately, the the the impact of that is it causes us. We're already we're already started at a deficit. We were starting from behind, and that continual conditioning is meant, I think, to keep us behind. And who knows, that could have been a blessing, right? But I blocked my own blessing. Nah, nah, partner. Nah, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not coming over there. I'm not, I'm not doing that.

SPEAKER_08 1:43:52

You know, as a people, we're we're doing okay in this country. Uh we've we've always been able to find our little niches. Yeah. And we we work above, around, and below the system. We're we're gonna we can grow stuff. We we we barter. Got somebody bringing over you some. You grow this, I grow that. But this stuff, one one guy podcast I'm listening to, he's like, no matter which party is in, they ain't never been nothing, nothing for us. Neither one of them. So we we're sitting back.

Military Memories That Still Lead Us

SPEAKER_07 1:44:27

Here's what here's here's what I want to do, man. I want to end this on something lighter because the stuff has been kind of heavy. Been heavy. It's been kind of kind of heavy. So give me thinking back on your military career. Um, within reason, within reason, give me an experience, both of you, an experience that uh impacted you within reason. I we it's it's a family show. An experience that that impacted you, stuck with you to this day, that still influences maybe your your your character, the way you behave, the way you carry yourself, or just had it had a s had a profound impact on you.

SPEAKER_06 1:45:23

Whatever that is. Within reason. You want to go right or you want me?

SPEAKER_04 1:45:35

Uh the gentleman I spoke of, uh, I said he was one of the smartest people I I've ever met, uh, Curtis Massenberg. He's over in Saudi. He he got over there, he grew up Christian, he he converted to Islam. And during his time as an instructor at Fort Gordon, you know how we have an exchange of uh foreign troops who come through our schools. Right. He taught one and he stayed connected with that individual un to the point when he got out and moved over there and started his business. And he said something to me. We went over there about two years ago, my friend and uh uh who lives there in Georgia, in the Atlanta metro area. We went over there to not only see him, but to give him some insight based on our experience working in corporate America war, working in government, uh, so you could parlay that information into his business. Okay, and he said something to me that I was like, wow. And he stated that he watched the moves that I made that our other mutual friend made when we decided to get out because we were fast tracking. I I was uh he made E6 in, I think right at six, I made it in seven. We're all we're we're fast tracking, we're gonna make E7 below the board. We we ain't no doubt about it. And he said we inspired him to have that confidence to step out. But when I stepped out, I was like, oh man, what am I gonna do? I gotta get a job, I gotta do XYZ. Right. I had to figure it out. But I say all that to say this people are watching you.

SPEAKER_07 1:47:39

There you go.

SPEAKER_04 1:47:41

Unbeknownst to you, people are watching you. And even going back to this young lady I grew up with, and this is going back to elementary school, and she was giving all the fathers a shout out. And she would, every person she was giving a shout-out to, she says, she would say a little quip about them. And when she got to me and she called me GH, she says, I remember you taking up for me on the playground when we were kids, and you were always that individual who would take up for people. And oh man, that that that hit my heart. Because this is like fifth, fifth, sixth grade on the playground. You know, when you have recess and all that that thing, and she still remembered that. So I say this to say when you're walking through this life, man, people are watching you, whether you think so or not. Uh, and you may be influencing people more than you think. So just you know, I try to watch our I'm not perfect by no means, but I try to w walk a certain way and be respectful of people who come through my life and and how I move and I involve. So I think that that's one one thing that's I I could walk.

SPEAKER_08 1:49:07

All right, appreciate you. For me, um I was a first sergeant, so uh, and I get a phone call at home out of the blue. Well, one thing I have never done is deleted my soldiers out of my phone. So even from other duty stations, um I still had their number. So this kid called me, and he was, first of all, he was a cook. So, and I'm a I grew up a generator mechanic. So that my our paths are different, you know, and and and working and everything. But I was in leadership over him, and um, he called me and he was like, Hey, I just want to tell you and thank you for um always being there for me, always motivating me, and and I've never tried that, that wasn't my goal to, yeah, because I think if you go out to be a motivational speaker, you know, in the army, you you're gonna come off as in disingenuous. So he he called and thanked me, and that really touched me. That was like, wow, I wasn't expecting that. It was another whole nother duty station. He said his pastor had challenged them to call someone who has directly influenced their lives for the better. And that really, I was like, man, I really appreciate it. Now I've had soldiers, you know, and for for me, there are some first sergeants who don't like to be called top, which crazy. But um, for me, that's a term of endearment. When when your soldiers call you top, they they know you care. And and a lot of people, I'm not a toy, don't call me top, tops are toys. I've had a first sergeant tell me that because I thought, hey, what's up, top? He was like, Don't I don't like be called top. Okay, but anyway, so yeah, that that was the that that one kid, he said his pastor told him this kid was a uh uh uh uh he was off the chain. And he so he he came in the army almost like like the government, like hey, army, jail, you know, type thing. Well, he went to as a teenager, he went to um South America with a construction crew, learned Portuguese just by being around it, married uh uh one of the a lady from down there, came back, got in the army, and that blew me away because I heard him speaking Portuguese. I was like, when did you learn Portuguese? Because he was white. When did you learn Portuguese? He told me his story, but then I moved on and everything. But he called me, and that really that was the one right there that let me see that, like you said, G, uh people are watching you. Yeah, people are watching you, so yeah, that was that was it for me. He called me.

SPEAKER_07 1:52:22

Well, mine isn't so inspirational. But it's yours, but it's yours. Nah, man. So something that impacted me to this day, and and it and it showed up in my whole civilian career. Basic training, BRM. When I first started shooting, I couldn't shoot for nothing. It was so bad that um that you know, first of all, I didn't know I needed glasses until, you know, you you you do your intake, and then it was like, oh, you need glasses. So I was walking around with them birth controls on. Right? Them brown back in the day, which is brown birth controls. Yeah, we know. Right. So so it was so bad that when I was out there shooting, trying to qualify, I had the uh the rear sight so close to me that it was hitting my glasses and it was scratching it. That's just how goofy I was shooting. And I was the dude that was on the range, I was eight up. When, you know, the the the drill sergeants had those paddles out, the green and the red side, ready on the left, ready on the right, you know, all of that. For whatever reason, I was uh I was absent-minded. I would be looking at stuff, and every time I look around, one of them drill sergeants would hit me in the back of the Kevlar pot with one of them paddles, pow! And it scared me. So I was out on the range, terrified, like, oh okay, you know, pay attention. But over time, I think BRM was like three weeks. And by qualification, I was one of the best shooters, right? I had to get new glasses because it was scratched from me. But then I learned how to shoot. All of a sudden, now I'm pop-up targets, I'm knocking them down. I don't miss. Well, now it's time to qualify.

SPEAKER_06 1:54:22

And I'm out there, you know, I'll never forget.

SPEAKER_07 1:54:27

Prone, unsupported, laying there, I'm knocking them down. You know, um, and then there was this thing where the con the commander said, and I'm talking company commander said, anybody shoot Hawkeye, I'm taking you to McDonald's. You know when you in basic, right? McDonald's? Oh yeah. So I'm out there knocking them down. Pow pow because first it's prone supported. Yeah, and you in the foxhole. Yeah. 20 out of 20. Oh, I got this. I got this. Now we we uh now it's uh prone unsupported. I'm out there. Pow, pow. We get to now that second 20-round magazine. I think I might have been on shot. 16. Click. But you know, sports, right? Slap, pull, observe, release, tap, squeeze. Got to target. Next one come up, click, click, no problem. Slap, pull, observe, release, tap, squeeze. So now I got two targets left. All I gotta do is reach over, get the rounds, put them in. I know what I'm doing, but out the corner of my eye, I seen a drill sergeant boot. And I didn't know if I could was allowed to reach over and get these rounds. So the targets popped up. I just looked at it, man. Like, oh the next target popped up. I just looked at it. So I shot 38 out of 40. I look at the drill sergeant. He he fold his arms and walk off. It was his fault because he hit me with that paddle on the back of my head, right? So he had me trained to not think. He had me trained to just do what I'm told. They never taught us to put a round in and all that. That's just, you just knew how to do it, but that wasn't part of BRM. You just you shoot what's in your magazine. So you fast forward now. I'm in PLDC. Man, I'm talking about I'm I'm banging it out in PLDC. My partners, they all like, you know, because the thing in PLDC was the commandant's list. But but the top two slots get recognized at graduation, right? Oh, Rose, you about to be cooking what what they used to say? Uh you about to be uh comrade of the year. You know, they they teasing me, like, hey, you doing this thing. We on our final inspection. Final inspection. I'm I think I'm tired for topping the class. I'm tired. So I'm gonna I know I'm gonna be recognized at the graduation. Sergeant Major comes in, does the inspection. My uniforms are crisp in the closet. You know, I never touched them. He comes through, went straight to the button, and found the tag from the cleaners and dropped it on the floor. That dropped me down to number three. So now I'm one of 40 on the commandance list. I'm no better than the other 40. And these two white guys got recognized at graduation. Scores was good, but I got that demerit because of that tag. So it taught me to pay attention to detail, right? Because it just, you know, I was devastated. Everybody else was like, man, you made the my partners, they didn't even make a top 40. They wasn't even on the list. You know, they was I didn't even make it on the list, but I was devastated because I was like, man, you know, I worked so hard and to lose it right at the end. So my entire working career, I, you know, I took what I was, what I learned in the military. I was a hard charger, I was paying attention to detail, whatever, and I and I climbed the ladder, you know, on the corporate side, and you talk about the positions I've held over the years, and I attribute that to I'm doing the extra things that other people weren't doing. You know what I mean? And it just, you know, I I climb, climb, climb, climb, climb. And that showed me about achievement. But what the ultimate lesson was well, you just I mean, dude, I wasn't I wasn't fun to work around either. I was about getting it. I was that dude, you know. Um but what it showed me was unless you're working towards working within your calling towards your purpose, no matter what you achieve, you're gonna still feel empty inside. Bro, I made it to the top of my my field, and to this day, I'm sick to my stomach. Anyone says, hey man, you know, we've got the CIO position over here. You think I get sick to my stomach. Man, no, get away. I don't even want to do that. You know what I mean? I know I could do it. I know I could, you know, there's money that comes with it and all that other stuff. But the military taught me the the what and the how. Right? Here's you know, here's what you gotta do to get there. Here's how you go about doing it. So I know how to climb, but the military did not teach me to look for my purpose. And so I'm climbing the ladder. I'm climbing the wrong ladder, let me just say it that way. Okay, you know what I mean? And now you see, years later, decades later, I'm pursuing my purpose, you know, with this stuff back here. And no money comes with this. No, you know what I mean, no accolades, none of that. It's I'm pursuing my purpose now. And uh, but that's what the military taught me. And to this day, man, I still I hear that ringing in my ears from dude hit me on the back of the head, pow. But yo. But they wanted soldiers. They wanted someone to, you know, do what you're supposed to do, not free thinkers. And had I been a free thinker, I would just reach over there and did what I had to do and shot, you know, 40 out of 40. Hawkeye. You know, but anyway, that's my thing. Yeah, I had to admit the kid did get smacked in the back of the head.

SPEAKER_04 2:01:16

I I got smoked. But now you're free thinking and you're critical thinking. There you go. And that's what the uppers don't want. So you're in danger, and they will be checking your phone.

Gratitude And Closing Plans

SPEAKER_07 2:01:30

Right. You know what I'm saying? Y'all go saying stuff that's gonna have me all hemmed up now. No, but uh, gentlemen. I didn't let loose. I didn't let loose. We look, we we need to let loose next time because that that's what needs to click. That's according to that's according to the influences, right? Uh but uh look, thank you, man. I really appreciate you guys. Yeah, uh, we need to do this again. We need to do this again regularly if you guys are available. And uh you know, um, we'll go from there, man. We'll we'll you know uh we'll set something up, whatever your your schedules are allowed. And then because there are so many things we did not touch.

SPEAKER_08 2:02:26

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_07 2:02:28

Yeah, so again we have to get up out of here. Yeah, yeah. Hey, thank you, brothers. I appreciate it, and we will get together next time. Alright, brother. See you later.