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I'm extremely excited to announce a brand new sponsor for the Behind the Shield podcast

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that is Transcend.

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Now for many of you listening, you are probably working the same brutal shifts that I did

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for 14 years.

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Suffering from sleep deprivation, body composition challenges, mental health challenges, libido,

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hair loss, etc.

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Now when it comes to the world of hormone replacement and peptide therapy, what I have

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seen is a shift from doctors telling us that we were within normal limits, which was definitely

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incorrect all the way to the other way now where men's clinics are popping up left, right

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and center.

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So I myself wanted to find a reputable company that would do an analysis of my physiology

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and then offer supplementations without ramming, for example, hormone replacement therapy down

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my throat.

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Now I came across Transcend because they have an altruistic arm and they were a big reason

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why the 7X project I was a part of was able to proceed because of their generous donations.

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They also have the Transcend foundations where they are actually putting military and first

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responders through some of their therapies at no cost to the individual.

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So my own personal journey so far filled in the online form, went to Quest, got blood

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drawn and a few days later I'm talking to one of their wellness professionals as they

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guide me through my results and the supplementation that they suggest.

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In my case specifically, because I transitioned out the fire service five years ago and been

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very diligent with my health, my testosterone was actually in a good place.

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So I went down the peptide route and some other supplements to try and maximize my physiology

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knowing full well the damage that 14 years of shift work has done.

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Now I also want to underline because I think this is very important that each of the therapies

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they offer, they will talk about the pros and cons.

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So for example, a lot of first responders in shift work, our testosterone will be low,

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but sometimes nutrition, exercise and sleep can offset that on its own.

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So this company is not going to try and push you down a path, especially if it's one that

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you can't come back from.

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So whether it's libido, brain fog, inflammation, gut health, performance, sleep, this is definitely

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one of the most powerful tools in the toolbox.

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So to learn more, go to transcendcompany.com or listen to episode 808 of the Behind the

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Shield podcast with founder Ernie Colling.

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This episode is sponsored by Global Medical Response, yet another sponsor that I have tracked

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down because they have a solution to one of the biggest problems we have in emergency

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medicine and healthcare.

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We often hear the term 911 abuse, but what I love is the concept that this should be

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a three tier system, ALS, BLS and then the non-emergent element.

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With the evolution of telehealth and telemedicine, that third tier is now possible virtually.

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In 2018, Global Medical Response pioneered 911 nurse navigation.

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In communities across the country, GMR's nurse navigators use evidence-based clinical protocols

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to screen a patient's current condition, providing an appropriate resource to meet the patient's

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unique healthcare needs, whether that's dispatching a rideshare to an urgent care and a point

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management at a federally qualified health center or virtual care with a physician on

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the spot.

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The five level screening system ensures patients receive the right resource at the right time

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in the right setting to achieve the right outcome at the right cost.

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So as a huge advocate for our first responders health and of course the people that we serve,

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this solves three issues.

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It allows the patient to have a far less expensive option when it comes to their non-emergent

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issue.

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It stops a firefighter or a paramedic being woken up for that call and it frees up an

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ER bed for a true emergency.

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So if you want to hear more about how GMR can integrate nurse navigation in your 911

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system, listen to episode 998 with Joshua Rose and Dr. Jared Troutman or go to globalmedicalresponse.com.

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This episode is sponsored by TeamBuildr, yet another company that's doing great things

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for the first responder community.

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As a strength and conditioning coach myself who also trains tactical athletes, dissemination

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of wellness information is one of the biggest challenges.

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TeamBuildr is the premier strength and conditioning software for tactical athletes and there are

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several features that really impress me.

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Firstly there is a full exercise library so you the personal trainer does not have to

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create that within your own department.

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Secondly, you can send out programming but also individualize, which I love.

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So you blanket program for everyone.

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Now you can tweak based on someone's injury, someone's need to maybe drop some body composition

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rather than having to write a program for every single person on their own.

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TeamBuildr also allows you to build custom questionnaires to collate health and wellness

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data.

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It integrates with wearables and I think one of the most important things is obviously

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it tracks.

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To me it's imperative that we as a profession start tracking our people from day one and

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then over the full span of their career, therefore catching potential wellness issues and injuries

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before they happen.

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Now if you want to try TeamBuildr they are offering you, the audience of the Behind the

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Shield podcast, a free 14-day trial to experience all of the features.

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And if you want to take a deeper dive into TeamBuildr, listen to episode 1032 with

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Melissa Mercado or go to teambuildr.com and I'll spell that to you because it's not as

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you think.

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T-E-A-M-B-U-I-L-D-R.com.

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Welcome to the Behind the Shield podcast.

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As always my name is James Gearing and this week it is my absolute honor to welcome on

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the show veteran, lawyer and state representative Danny Alvarez.

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Now in this conversation we discuss a host of topics from his journey into the military,

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the world of law, immigration, the American dream, the firefighter work week, Wave, the

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incredible technology that's helping with PTSD and so much more.

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Now before we get to this incredible conversation as I say every week, please just take a moment.

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Go to whichever app you listen to this on, subscribe to the show, leave feedback and

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leave a rating.

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Every single five star rating truly does elevate this podcast, therefore making it easier for

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others to find.

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And this is a free library of over 1000 episodes now.

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So all I ask in return is that you help share these incredible men and women stories so

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I can get them to every single person on planet earth who needs to hear them.

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So that being said, I introduce to you Danny Alvarez.

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Enjoy.

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Well Danny, I want to start by saying welcome to my home and thank you for driving all the

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way from the other side of the state.

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Thank you for having me my brother.

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It's an honor to be here.

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It really is.

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So for people listening, if you were at your residence, where are we finding you today?

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You'd be finding me down right outside of Fishhawk in Hillsborough County outside of

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Tampa.

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So I heard you on one of the podcasts, it's not complaining is the wrong word, saying

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that around your area the traffic is terrible because of the overdevelopment.

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So as an icebreaker, because most of us in Florida have to deal with a lot of traffic,

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especially I think post COVID with the influx.

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So what is the issue that you're dealing with in your own home at the moment?

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Is it about traffic or you mean?

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Yeah, like just the whole, I think overdevelopment traffic truly is.

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So what ends up happening?

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This is a Florida wide story, but Hillsborough County seems to like have a magnifying glass

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on it.

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And as we asked people to come to Florida, because it's the great state and we love it

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so much somewhere along the line, someone or somebodies forgot to add some infrastructure

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transportation, fire stations and all that stuff.

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But the problem is people paid for it, right?

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They paid for it in their impact fees.

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They paid for it in their development fees.

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So right now it's a constant state of catch up and it's constant state of blaming somebody

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else.

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At some point we just say, okay, enough blaming, let's fix it ourselves.

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So Hillsborough County is an incredible place to live.

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But when you are getting to the point where people are so frustrated that they're talking

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about leaving, right?

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So we attracted them.

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Now can we keep them?

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The investment infrastructure has got to be there so that we can keep them and then continue

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to make people happy because we're not done growing.

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It's still growing.

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We were just out, we had a big old wedding party yesterday, right?

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And we had it at the East side, the Southeast side of the county.

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And in the old days, when I say the old days, I'm talking about like 20 years ago, you know,

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in our lifetime, you would need a passport to go out there before you saw a house, right?

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And then now it's just development, development, and then there's a little bit of cow land

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left.

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So it's just the way it is.

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Things are changing, but we got to put in that infrastructure to make sure it can work.

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Absolutely.

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And protect agriculture, but we'll jump into that in a bit.

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Absolutely.

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All right.

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Well, then I'd love to start at the very beginning of your journey and then we'll obviously get

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to the key topics that we want to hit.

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So tell me where you were born.

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All right.

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Tell me a little bit about your family dynamic, what your parents did, how many siblings?

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Okay.

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I was born 50 years ago.

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I can't even believe we say that.

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50 years old.

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That's crazy.

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I'm 52.

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You're 52 or five also.

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Five as well.

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50 as well.

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Is it like when you talk about that, aren't you like weirded out a little bit?

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It sounds weird.

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I look in the mirror and I see how gray and wrinkly I am and then go, oh, okay.

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I am 50.

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Yeah.

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But like when my dad was like in his forties, I was like, that dude's old as heck.

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And I look now and I'm like, I have seven kids total.

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And I look, I'm like, do they see me the same way?

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So that makes me hit the gym just a little bit harder because even if I look at, I'll

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always smoke them.

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So I just want you to know that that's always coming.

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So I was born in Miami and then I was raised in Houston, Texas until I was about 12.

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So around 12 or 13, we came back and I'll tell you that in a second.

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But when I came back, I had a Texas accent.

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So I'm a Cuban kid, right?

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Trying to like reintegrate into like Cuban Miami.

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And I would say, Hey y'all and yes ma'am.

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And I remember like, I grew up in this really, really tight bubble.

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Like we were Catholic.

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So it was a Catholic school, you know, that you're, you're perfect Hispanic, Catholic

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Cubans in Texas.

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And when I came back, my teacher was Jewish.

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And I remember like, she's like setting up this diorama outside of our classroom.

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And I remember telling her, I was like, ma'am, where's Jesus in this thing?

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And she goes, well, Danny, like we, we don't believe in Jesus in my religion.

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And I was like, well, ma'am, I don't know about you, but you're going straight to hell.

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My mom had to run down and her broken English and explained to them that, you know, I didn't

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mean any harm by it.

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But so we, you know, we, my parents are Cuban.

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You and I probably shouldn't even be having this conversation because I shouldn't even

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be in this country.

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But for like the communist revolution that took over and then put a gun to my family's

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head literally, and they escaped to America.

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That was in 1959 and 1961 respectively.

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My dad's what's called a Peter Pan kid.

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So he came over by himself with his brother through a Catholic church program that the

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priests helped administer a foster care program here.

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So for about two years while my grandparents waited to see if Castro would be as bad as

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they thought it was.

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And then finally they, they're like, they couldn't take any more.

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They came over.

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That's one side.

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My other grandfather was a sixth grade educated kid who became a soldier.

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He was in the Navy at one point, became a soldier.

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And then once the, the opposition won, they went into hiding while they were waiting for

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my grandmother's family to provide a visa back in America.

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So he, they would hide literally all over the place.

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And my grandfather would sell eggs on the street.

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I don't know where he got the eggs.

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That's just our story.

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Probably chickens.

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Yeah, probably.

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I'm no scientist, but so we remember the story gets told to us all the time where, you know,

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the day the visa came in, my grandma, my mom says that the guy that was in charge of their

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block was a major in the army, but he took a liking to my aunt and my, my mom.

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And so he came and got my grandfather and they, and so he was hiding, but hiding in

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the open.

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Like, so like the bad guys that everyone converts for their survival or they, they suffer the

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consequence.

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So he took my grandfather away and they thought, oh, they're never going to see my grandfather

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again.

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So my grandmother gets my aunt and my mom takes them to the airport.

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They get strip searched.

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They get things taken away as they get on the airplane.

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There's my grandfather with that major sitting in the airplane.

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And then the major says goodbye, gets off the airplane and he saved my grandfather's

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life literally.

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Cause there's no way he would have been them that he was on a list that he, in fact, they

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were in prison and he had escaped at one point.

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So we shouldn't be in America.

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So we take our American story and our family very, very seriously.

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Whether that's in service or in giving back to the community or how, you know, how we

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look at governance overall, that's, that's a big part of our story.

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So born in 74 grew up in Houston, went to rodeos, you know, that was our, that was our

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field trip, you know, growing up in that kind of culture.

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It was funny at the time I was like the only kid who spoke Spanish, I thought, you know,

235
00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:23,080
and then when I came to Miami, I realized I was not as unique as we thought we were.

236
00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:25,080
So yeah, that's it.

237
00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:26,520
Very much.

238
00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:33,000
Just from a eyewitness firsthand account, what were the atrocities that the Cuban people

239
00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:36,080
were suffering that so many were fleeing from?

240
00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:41,880
Well, you know, if you were to talk to my grandfather, like his friends and civilians

241
00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:47,080
and people that they knew would get murdered by the firing squad, they'd get everything

242
00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:48,440
taken away from kids.

243
00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:54,480
The reason my grandparents sent my uncle and my dad over was because they were taking kids

244
00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:59,480
away from their families to go to these re indoctrination camps to kind of teach them

245
00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:04,880
the ways of the other communist ways and the socialist ways.

246
00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:08,840
You'd have people literally just disappear off the street one day, never to be seen from

247
00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:10,400
or heard from again.

248
00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:14,920
Some would reappear like 18 years later, having been put in a political prison that you didn't

249
00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:16,200
know even existed.

250
00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:26,640
So really it was a it was a total transformation of a society where back in 1959 it was Cuba

251
00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:32,680
was run by a dictator and a sergeant decided he wanted to do a coup and took over.

252
00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:34,640
But it was like the fifth coup in a row.

253
00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:35,640
You know what I mean?

254
00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:41,920
So the upheaval wasn't unusual, but there was a thriving middle class.

255
00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:45,120
And so, you know, we look at societies and we say if they're going to make it or they're

256
00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:48,040
not by the level and strength of their middle class.

257
00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:51,040
Well, Cuba had a very strong middle class.

258
00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:53,960
And that was what was really took the greatest hit.

259
00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:58,880
So when they got stuff stripped away from them, you know, they had no choice.

260
00:15:58,880 --> 00:15:59,880
They left.

261
00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:01,640
And now we see the effects of the social engineering now.

262
00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:08,720
So so when you get Cubans arrive today from from from Cuba, they're just not the same

263
00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:11,160
type of person that comes in there.

264
00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:12,160
They're survivors.

265
00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:13,160
Right.

266
00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:18,240
These are people that have done anything they can, any scheme against the government to

267
00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:22,860
survive because when you have a allocation booklet and it says you get like two loaves

268
00:16:22,860 --> 00:16:26,840
of bread and that ain't going to cut it for your family, you figure it out and you figure

269
00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:27,840
it out quick.

270
00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:31,360
So when they come to America, man, this is the easiest place to exploit.

271
00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:37,000
So unfortunately, what ends up happening is it's the the temptation is so big.

272
00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,760
And this is not to cast any aspersion against like recently arrived Cubans.

273
00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:43,120
There's tons of great ones that never get in trouble.

274
00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:47,640
But I will tell you, when I worked in the sheriff's office, if we had some sort of fuel

275
00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:54,360
scam, some grow house marijuana or some insurance scam, like my first question, you know, was

276
00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:58,400
always like, can we please be sure it wasn't recently arrived Cubans?

277
00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:01,280
And a lot of times it was a lot of people in Miami.

278
00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:05,240
Well, you'd feel the pressure in Miami when the cops figured it out in Miami.

279
00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:09,760
They'd come to other communities, Hispanic communities, Orlando and Tampa.

280
00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:14,080
And then they try that there until we caught on and then try to put a stop on it.

281
00:17:14,080 --> 00:17:17,920
I think this is one of the the nuanced conversations when it comes to immigration.

282
00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:21,160
If you look at Haiti, right, desperation, those poor people live in.

283
00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:22,160
Right.

284
00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:26,640
When you come to the U.S. legally, legally, whatever that looks like, there's that level

285
00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:27,640
of desperation.

286
00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:32,840
The baseline is completely different than what we would consider, you know, good conduct

287
00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:35,900
as a Brit, as an Aussie, as an American.

288
00:17:35,900 --> 00:17:41,640
And so, you know, there is this kind of this jarring transition period.

289
00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:48,480
So how do we if you were king for a day, what would the immigration process look like, whether

290
00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:51,820
it's filtering out the people that shouldn't be here in the first place or whether it's

291
00:17:51,820 --> 00:17:57,540
helping people integrate into society so that you didn't have that leaning into that same

292
00:17:57,540 --> 00:18:02,640
desperation activity that you were so used to in your poorer country?

293
00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:05,760
I don't think anyone is afraid of working hard.

294
00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:06,760
Right.

295
00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:11,200
So that I refuse to accept when someone says, oh, it's hard for an immigrant.

296
00:18:11,200 --> 00:18:12,200
Yeah, it's hard.

297
00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:13,200
Right.

298
00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:17,120
Like you left your country, you left everything, you know, it's a completely new system.

299
00:18:17,120 --> 00:18:19,040
It's not going to be easy.

300
00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:24,680
But what we should make easier is the speed and system to vet.

301
00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:28,240
I'm all for making sure I know who's in my house.

302
00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:30,560
OK, there's like you let me into your house.

303
00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:33,520
You knew it was me, but you don't let a stranger in here and just hang out.

304
00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:36,400
My German shepherd checked you out for exactly.

305
00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:38,280
And it's a good dog, too.

306
00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:44,160
So there's no problem in that we our system is set up and it's so inefficient.

307
00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:49,600
Our legal system is so inefficient that we're penalizing the people that are really going

308
00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:51,280
to be some of the greatest contributors.

309
00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:58,400
When you look at quality Americans, it's it's those first second generations, not to say

310
00:18:58,400 --> 00:18:59,400
the other ones aren't quality.

311
00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:04,520
But what I'm talking about is you're going to get someone that is so loyal to America

312
00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:11,500
because you not only gave them hope, but you created something front.

313
00:19:11,500 --> 00:19:13,560
Let them create something from that hope.

314
00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:16,600
When we talk about Mexico, when you talk about Cuba, you talk about third world, when you

315
00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:21,560
talk about second world, when you're born into where you're born, that's it.

316
00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:22,560
Right.

317
00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:24,560
And a lot of times there's no upward mobility in America.

318
00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:26,200
We don't we don't believe that.

319
00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:29,120
Like I don't know anything about you and I don't care.

320
00:19:29,120 --> 00:19:30,120
Are you a good person?

321
00:19:30,120 --> 00:19:31,120
Right.

322
00:19:31,120 --> 00:19:35,060
Are you are you working hard and like how can I help you make us better?

323
00:19:35,060 --> 00:19:38,400
That's really what the promise of America is and has always been.

324
00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:39,560
And it can continue to be.

325
00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:41,380
It should be.

326
00:19:41,380 --> 00:19:46,040
We just right now have perverted our system to a way that's like almost unrecognizable

327
00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:49,320
and we were rewarding things that we shouldn't.

328
00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:53,920
And we are actually disincentivizing those that I want to come here and contribute.

329
00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:57,540
You know, I heard someone say the other day, I taught it at the University of Tampa for

330
00:19:57,540 --> 00:19:58,540
almost nine years.

331
00:19:58,540 --> 00:20:04,600
I taught business law and I was flabbergasted how many people were foreigners in my class.

332
00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:06,720
I didn't know this.

333
00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:07,720
They pay full boat.

334
00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:09,180
They don't they don't get scholarships.

335
00:20:09,180 --> 00:20:11,960
So when they're here, they're really here for the American education.

336
00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:13,800
And a lot of them want to stay.

337
00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:17,840
And you know what I want, I want you to stay because everything I just put in your brain,

338
00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:21,560
I don't want you to go take somewhere else and compete against me.

339
00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:22,560
Right.

340
00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:26,080
I want you to make America better for.

341
00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:31,160
There's really not a quick venue for those students to stay here and give back to the

342
00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:32,720
community that taught them so much.

343
00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:35,040
So and they want to a lot of them want to someone to go back.

344
00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:37,040
Of course, it's it's normal.

345
00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:39,320
But I heard there's a plan to address it.

346
00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:40,680
I was like, that's brilliant.

347
00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:45,320
We should be motivating those people that are already trained in our way to stay here

348
00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:46,320
and make us better.

349
00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:50,160
So that's an interesting parallel with the first responder professions, because at the

350
00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:55,960
moment we have this epic recruitment crisis and we're losing a lot of great firefighters,

351
00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:58,020
you know, paramedics, police officers.

352
00:20:58,020 --> 00:21:04,560
And because we're dissing dissing, oh my goodness, sentencing, thank you, because the job itself

353
00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:08,200
is amazing and no one in uniform is going to be like, oh, well, I'm just tired of fighting

354
00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:11,000
fires or I just don't like interacting with bad guys.

355
00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:13,480
That's why that's their purpose is their goal.

356
00:21:13,480 --> 00:21:18,720
But the working environment is what's taken away that commitment because it's becoming

357
00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:22,120
the detriment of their mental health, their physical health and their relationships.

358
00:21:22,120 --> 00:21:23,120
That's exactly right.

359
00:21:23,120 --> 00:21:27,560
And it's an incredible parallel when the environment right.

360
00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:32,200
Like the skills, you know, we might change tactics, right?

361
00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:34,320
The equipment definitely, I think, gets better.

362
00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:38,960
It gets worse, but the equipment definitely improves.

363
00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:42,800
So you then have to ask, like, where did this man and woman come from and why are we pushing

364
00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:45,240
them away in a manner that you don't mean to?

365
00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:48,040
Like every single politician tells you a thousand percent.

366
00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:50,160
I am a back first responders.

367
00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:52,120
And you know what my answer is?

368
00:21:52,120 --> 00:21:55,120
Everyone loves cops and firefighters till it's time to pay for them.

369
00:21:55,120 --> 00:21:56,120
Right.

370
00:21:56,120 --> 00:22:00,120
And in the world that we live in, the safety and security you like is expensive.

371
00:22:00,120 --> 00:22:04,120
It is just is a function of all sorts of stuff.

372
00:22:04,120 --> 00:22:05,120
Right.

373
00:22:05,120 --> 00:22:06,960
Insurance, right.

374
00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:12,520
Workers compensation and just the mere fact that life is more expensive than it is.

375
00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:17,560
But if we've got this baseline minimum that we as Americans have created, because it's

376
00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:23,000
not a Florida thing, it's an American thing where you call 911, you push those three numbers

377
00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:25,640
and you want someone to show up.

378
00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:27,160
That's the expectation.

379
00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:31,360
Just ask any ask any kid how you get the cops to come over, how you get the firefighters.

380
00:22:31,360 --> 00:22:33,600
They know those three numbers, right?

381
00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:36,760
Well, that takes a lot.

382
00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:42,160
It's just it sounds like one phone call, but that one phone call is so deep.

383
00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:43,160
Right.

384
00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:44,920
It just represents so much.

385
00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:48,800
But most people aren't willing to pay for it until until it's time to get a vote.

386
00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:49,800
You know what I mean?

387
00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:53,000
And so I become this I don't care.

388
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:57,520
I become this unpopular dude around other politicians because when we call out this

389
00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:00,680
hypocrisy and they'll be like, oh, that's not true.

390
00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:01,680
I support them.

391
00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:03,680
And I'm like, Danny, you just think it's an unlimited budget.

392
00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:06,640
And I'm like, no, it's a prioritization of budget.

393
00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:07,640
Right.

394
00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:11,200
Like you want this incredible economy in Tampa.

395
00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:12,400
I want it to.

396
00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:13,400
Right.

397
00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:15,240
But no one's going to invest in Tampa.

398
00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:19,280
No one's going to bring their breast and brightest to Florida if they think, oh, I'm going to

399
00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:21,200
get robbed along the way.

400
00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:25,340
I can't let my kids play outside under the under the streetlights.

401
00:23:25,340 --> 00:23:29,600
You know, when I get to work, I have to worry about clutching my purse because I got to

402
00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:33,320
pass these areas that are unsullied in downtown Tampa.

403
00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:34,320
No one's doing that.

404
00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:35,320
You know what I mean?

405
00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:40,040
They're going to find places that prioritize the public safety and then they're going to

406
00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:41,040
go there.

407
00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:43,880
I'm I believe we prioritize it.

408
00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:46,200
It just I'll never be happy.

409
00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:47,200
Right.

410
00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:48,840
I just I'm just honest guy.

411
00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:54,560
I'll never be happy until we get to a point where our numbers are full.

412
00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:57,720
And I'm rejecting people that are good applicants.

413
00:23:57,720 --> 00:23:58,720
Right.

414
00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:00,600
I don't want to disincentivize anybody.

415
00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:07,320
I wanted to get to a point where our our our pool of people so big because our pay is right,

416
00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:11,240
our work life balance is right, our safety and security is right.

417
00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:12,880
And we're making it work.

418
00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:13,880
So that's the goal.

419
00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:16,680
I mean, I'd rather die trying to get there, if that makes sense.

420
00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:17,960
Well, this is what's crazy.

421
00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:22,680
And I've learned this just through, you know, thousands of conversations now is when you

422
00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:27,360
actually break down the finances behind these first responder communities and the fire services

423
00:24:27,360 --> 00:24:32,500
of when I know there's such a waste of money through the mismanagement, through the way

424
00:24:32,500 --> 00:24:34,840
that we've allowed it to spiral downwards.

425
00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:40,060
And now, I mean, they're offering recruitment sign on bonuses now in the fire service.

426
00:24:40,060 --> 00:24:43,360
We used to have hundreds, if not thousands of people, as you said, and you turn away

427
00:24:43,360 --> 00:24:45,960
90, 95 percent of them.

428
00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:49,480
And that's how you forge an elite team that's going to respond when you push three numbers

429
00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:50,480
on a phone.

430
00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:51,480
That's right.

431
00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:52,480
Now we've got the polar opposite.

432
00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:57,480
But if you look at the mandatory overtime and the workmen's comp, you know, all the lawsuits

433
00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:01,920
and all the things that come from destroying a workforce, the money's already there.

434
00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:03,680
So we don't even need money.

435
00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:08,400
The initial budget year you do to create the extra people, the extra positions, that's

436
00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:11,720
then going to draw people in and Pasco County has done it.

437
00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:16,340
And every department that's gone to 24 72, which I know we're going to get to, they're

438
00:25:16,340 --> 00:25:17,600
seeing a huge uptick.

439
00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:18,960
I just asked Destin.

440
00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:21,400
They said, yeah, we had loads of applicants.

441
00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:23,760
And they just announced that they're going to it.

442
00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:28,480
So this is what's crazy is there's a lot of areas where it's just a false economy and

443
00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:29,760
we don't need more money.

444
00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:31,520
We just need reappropriation of funds.

445
00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:33,000
We need proper use of it.

446
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:34,000
Exactly.

447
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:38,960
And what the law enforcement fire needs is more people, more training and a higher bar.

448
00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:41,880
And then the rest and recovery built into their work.

449
00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:42,880
Sure.

450
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:43,880
Absolutely.

451
00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:44,880
Smart.

452
00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:45,880
All right.

453
00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:46,880
Well, just one more area of the immigration.

454
00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:47,880
Yeah.

455
00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:51,960
One of my friends was telling me recently about the predatory nature of immigration

456
00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:58,160
lawyers on some of these people that maybe came over here initially illegally and they're

457
00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:00,040
trying to do it the right way.

458
00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:05,200
And you know, they're they're trying to hold down a job and it would be another value to

459
00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:06,920
the United States of America.

460
00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:11,880
I hear a lot of these kind of fields are giving people false hope.

461
00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:15,680
And at the end, after taking thousands and thousands of their their money, they end up

462
00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:18,040
getting extradited anyway.

463
00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:19,600
So so I'm a lawyer.

464
00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:20,600
I don't know.

465
00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:25,480
I didn't say that before, but I'm a lawyer and I have done I would say dabbled in some

466
00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:26,480
immigration work.

467
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:32,540
Really, what I did was you remember when Venezuela when Hugo Chavez was really having like the

468
00:26:32,540 --> 00:26:37,400
bad part of well, it's all bad, but it got really bad in Venezuela.

469
00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:38,680
Like they were chopping people up.

470
00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:40,120
They were murdering people in the streets.

471
00:26:40,120 --> 00:26:44,200
And so we were helping like we as America benefited from getting like the waves of their

472
00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:48,520
doctors and their engineers are most highly educated and their most highly skilled workforce

473
00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:49,520
to America.

474
00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:54,160
So we did a couple asylum applications to help a couple of people out.

475
00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:55,640
Now what ends up happening?

476
00:26:55,640 --> 00:27:00,200
You go to a lawyer and they're going to tell you I can do something for you.

477
00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:01,200
Right.

478
00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:03,160
But I don't know what the outcome is going to be.

479
00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:04,160
Right.

480
00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:05,160
So it's the perfect out.

481
00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:08,360
And there's no blame on the lawyer for that because that's I'm going to do that to you.

482
00:27:08,360 --> 00:27:11,480
You come to me and you have a clear cut auto accident case.

483
00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:14,280
I'll be like, I think I can help you.

484
00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:16,320
And you'll be like, God, can you or can you not?

485
00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:21,240
This is what I know that I when I'm in construction, can you build me my house?

486
00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:23,400
And if I told you, I think I can.

487
00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:24,400
You're never going to hire me.

488
00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:25,400
Right.

489
00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:27,400
But it's just there's no certainty in the law.

490
00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:28,400
Right.

491
00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:32,680
There is best guest or best educated guests at best.

492
00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:36,080
When it comes to immigration, put yourself in the hands of put yourself in the mindset

493
00:27:36,080 --> 00:27:40,120
of someone who is here illegally has overstayed their visa.

494
00:27:40,120 --> 00:27:45,560
But whatever puts them in a status that is not right for them.

495
00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:49,720
And then you go to a lawyer and the lawyer is like, hey, all these factors that are not

496
00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:55,560
in my control, the political environment, the administrative judge that you get, what

497
00:27:55,560 --> 00:28:00,240
you've done to become in that status, all those things affect.

498
00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:01,280
And then they go.

499
00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:06,480
So you pay me all this money and I still you still could be getting a flight out of America.

500
00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:09,160
I just want you to know that.

501
00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:10,920
Some people might not explain it that well.

502
00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:12,360
Some people are very predatory.

503
00:28:12,360 --> 00:28:13,360
And that is a fact.

504
00:28:13,360 --> 00:28:14,360
Right.

505
00:28:14,360 --> 00:28:22,880
So it's easy for to go out in in an environment like that and say, hey, believe me and listen,

506
00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:25,080
hispanic like, well, let's just talk about hispanic side.

507
00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:26,080
Right.

508
00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:28,400
This the central South American, they call me doctor.

509
00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:31,960
Like in those countries that you're allowed, it's it's doctor Alvarez.

510
00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:32,960
Right.

511
00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:33,960
And that's what you call a lawyer.

512
00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:36,560
So and, you know, they have class systems over there.

513
00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:39,360
And so lawyers are of the educated highest class.

514
00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:44,840
So when the doctor says, when the lawyer says it's verboten, that's the Bible.

515
00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:45,840
Right.

516
00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:46,840
So they'll take it.

517
00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:47,840
They run with it.

518
00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:52,000
And if you have someone that could be less than fully, you know, a little unscrupulous,

519
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:56,040
then you could take advantage of that gray area and really play on people's fears.

520
00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:57,480
Now, could you prove it?

521
00:28:57,480 --> 00:28:59,960
I don't know if you could prove that.

522
00:28:59,960 --> 00:29:01,400
I'm sure you could at some points.

523
00:29:01,400 --> 00:29:05,840
But like in the Hispanic community, there is a lot of fear mongering that goes on.

524
00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:07,540
So I'll give you a perfect example.

525
00:29:07,540 --> 00:29:13,020
When I worked for the sheriff's office in Hillsborough County, bad guys would prey on

526
00:29:13,020 --> 00:29:16,640
the undocumented community or the migratory community.

527
00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:18,400
So we we're strawberries.

528
00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:19,400
We have tons of strawberries.

529
00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:23,720
We have lots of tomatoes and we'll have migratory.

530
00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:24,720
They're legal.

531
00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:25,720
Right.

532
00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:31,120
But they're migratory workers that would travel between Florida and the other parts of the

533
00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:32,820
south.

534
00:29:32,820 --> 00:29:40,240
So they're here and some bad guy is robbing, stealing, hurting one group.

535
00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:44,960
And they refuse to call 911 because they believe somewhere in that mix, some of those people

536
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:47,880
may have a different kind of status than legal.

537
00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:52,880
And the next thing you know, they're like, oh, the guys are going to come and arrest

538
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:53,880
me.

539
00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:56,040
So I had to spend a whole bunch of time.

540
00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:57,040
Right.

541
00:29:57,040 --> 00:29:58,040
Think about this.

542
00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:02,640
A bad guy gets emboldened, starts growing, starts fear not fearing the law because there's

543
00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:04,200
no one's going to call the law.

544
00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:09,200
And that person will eventually leave that migrant community and go out.

545
00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:11,200
I want you to call it the first time.

546
00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:12,200
Right.

547
00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:13,200
But they wouldn't.

548
00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:15,760
So we had to do an entire PR campaign.

549
00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:17,940
Our sheriff's office wears white, right.

550
00:30:17,940 --> 00:30:18,940
White shirts.

551
00:30:18,940 --> 00:30:24,760
And so we'd say when you call 911 and those white guys, white shirts come, they don't

552
00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:30,120
even have the capability to process any sort of immigration status.

553
00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:31,280
We can't even check it.

554
00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:35,280
What we're concerned about is that someone break a state law that we're charged with

555
00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:41,840
enforcing and can we go and get that bad guy off the street before they hurt anybody else?

556
00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:44,680
To me, I remember responding to a call one time.

557
00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:49,960
It was a single wide trailer split into four units, which I couldn't, I couldn't believe

558
00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:50,960
it.

559
00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:55,640
I'm not, I'm talking about families living in these like little shells inside there.

560
00:30:55,640 --> 00:31:01,800
And this woman had been beaten by a robber in front of her children with a pistol.

561
00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:05,800
And it turned out everybody knew who the dude was, but they were afraid to call and the

562
00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:07,160
guy just became predatory.

563
00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:08,160
You know what I mean?

564
00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:10,680
So we put a stop to that real quick.

565
00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:16,600
But we, we really had to invest in making sure the community learned how to trust when

566
00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:17,720
they called 911.

567
00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:19,560
So it was a really, really big effort.

568
00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:24,880
So I've had many conversations with people that are either combatting human trafficking

569
00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:26,880
or even some that were victims of human trafficking.

570
00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:32,160
And I think one of the least discussed elements of that is the migrant worker, the forced

571
00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:37,200
labor in all different capacities with you being such a rural area and having a lot of

572
00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:38,560
these fruit farms.

573
00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:41,680
What have you been in your exposure of some of that action?

574
00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:43,720
So we, we recognize it happens.

575
00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:47,800
If you've ever go to some of these like camps, like where does some of these folks live?

576
00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:52,400
Like you realize like the transient nature there is like, you could knock on someone's

577
00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:53,400
door.

578
00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:58,680
So we had to go give, I was the president of the sheriff's Hispanic advisory council

579
00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:02,280
council at the time when I was president, it had been around for 30 years and it was

580
00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:05,800
like a liaison between the sheriff's office and that community.

581
00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:10,960
We went with turkeys, but our shirts said sheriff Thanksgiving, we're giving out full

582
00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:11,960
meal sets.

583
00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:13,480
No one would take the food.

584
00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:14,840
No one would answer the door.

585
00:32:14,840 --> 00:32:16,320
So we literally had to think this through.

586
00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:20,960
So we, we took off our shirts and we changed shirts and then we came back and they're like,

587
00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:21,960
okay, we'll take it now.

588
00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:25,800
Cause they could trust and, and though I say all this to know that the amount of people

589
00:32:25,800 --> 00:32:29,760
that were in and out that you have no idea who that is.

590
00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:36,000
Like it would, it's almost an administrative impossibility to figure out who's living in

591
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:37,000
this one trailer.

592
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:38,000
Cause they're here today.

593
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:39,640
They're gone tomorrow.

594
00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:43,360
Even if they're here to work in Hillsborough County, they get a bad vibe.

595
00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:46,820
They moved to another place cause they're just here to survive.

596
00:32:46,820 --> 00:32:47,820
So is it possible?

597
00:32:47,820 --> 00:32:53,480
Yeah, we, and we keep hearing that even Hillsborough is one of the higher counties with human trafficking.

598
00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:56,600
And here's, here's my problem with it.

599
00:32:56,600 --> 00:32:59,840
It's almost impossible to visualize.

600
00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:00,840
Right?

601
00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:05,560
So like we, when you're on the street a lot, especially working for the sheriff's office

602
00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:07,960
and you're like, listen, I keep hearing this.

603
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:08,960
Can we go see it?

604
00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:09,960
Can we go find it?

605
00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:10,960
Can we go?

606
00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:14,740
And it's, it's harder to contextualize as well.

607
00:33:14,740 --> 00:33:19,640
So selling this, like we, we hear about it and we hear the numbers, but you don't see

608
00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:25,680
like a bus of, of women or a bus of children getting discovered that often, although we're

609
00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:26,680
finding it now.

610
00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:28,040
Have you, have you been hearing that?

611
00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:36,360
Like the federal government has been, we'll announce, oh, in a joint nationwide raid,

612
00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:38,700
they found 30 kids that had been missing.

613
00:33:38,700 --> 00:33:41,000
And so it's out there and we know it's real.

614
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:48,000
And in fact, right now as the state of Florida, we're trying to figure out how to attack it.

615
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:50,680
Right now we have each County has their own sheriff's office.

616
00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:52,360
That's a constitutional thing.

617
00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:57,520
And then we have a state law enforcement divisions as well.

618
00:33:57,520 --> 00:34:05,480
And so we're trying to figure out new ways to attack human trafficking using, right.

619
00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:10,120
Hopefully using the people that used to chase bad guys like terrorists and stuff, because

620
00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:14,400
we have, you know, Florida's home to so calm, tons of retirees come here.

621
00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:16,880
They don't just stop knowing what they know how to do.

622
00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:17,880
Right.

623
00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:19,640
So like there's a guy named, uh, his name is Richard ring.

624
00:34:19,640 --> 00:34:22,040
He's out of, uh, Orlando.

625
00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:30,200
He's got, um, a private eye, like he's a, you know, a security company, but his nonprofit

626
00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:35,560
finds kids and they, they literally go on the computer and once they get the cold case

627
00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:41,040
information or once someone gets them the information and his nonprofit volunteer stuff

628
00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:43,800
literally goes in and says, give me the data.

629
00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:46,040
And they've found people in a day.

630
00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:48,480
They found people in an hour, right.

631
00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:49,480
That we're missing.

632
00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:51,600
Um, so it's a lot of times it's prioritization.

633
00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:55,880
Like we have a certain amount of people, um, we got crimes happening right now that are

634
00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:58,640
violent and we got to prioritize those.

635
00:34:58,640 --> 00:35:03,040
And then by the time it gets to these cases, it's just about resource allocation.

636
00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:07,440
And maybe we need to, maybe we need a force resource allocate there more.

637
00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:11,320
Um, but I know that's something that we, they're talking about literally as we speak, you know,

638
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:15,320
right now, especially using some of these like former SOCOM assets, that'd be really

639
00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:16,320
cool.

640
00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:18,880
These are dudes that don't say, don't take no very well.

641
00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:19,880
So I like that.

642
00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:20,880
Yeah.

643
00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:23,640
We'll also put in some fear in system, these predators in the first place.

644
00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:24,640
Absolutely.

645
00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:26,320
And that's, and that I think is the biggest problem, right?

646
00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:30,360
So our system is set up like we believe in human rights, right?

647
00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:34,320
Like that's your bill of rights that that was, it was a transformative document that

648
00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:36,440
the world hadn't really ever seen.

649
00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:37,480
Like we didn't answer to God.

650
00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:40,600
We answered to the law, right?

651
00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:42,160
Um, on paper.

652
00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:47,520
And so when we talk about individual rights, we, we really make sure that the government

653
00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:48,600
does it right.

654
00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:51,800
If we're going to take your rights, we have to be sure.

655
00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:58,140
Well, that offers a lot of gray area and the bad guys that want to live in the gray area,

656
00:35:58,140 --> 00:35:59,600
our system is based on faith, right?

657
00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:05,800
Listen, you get pulled over by a four foot, nothing, um, female with a badge and a gun.

658
00:36:05,800 --> 00:36:08,440
You might say to yourself, you know, I could probably take this girl.

659
00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:09,440
You think, right?

660
00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:10,440
Be careful.

661
00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:16,120
There's a lot of really tough women out there and I've seen them take down men like 10 times

662
00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:23,800
their size, but your faith is in the system and it's in that badge that says, I just don't

663
00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:24,800
want the repercussions.

664
00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:28,360
Like when we get into car accidents, we don't come out with AKs and like figure it out.

665
00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:30,800
We say, here's your insurance, here's my insurance.

666
00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:34,880
And we have faith in this is when the faith goes away though, that's when the system collapses.

667
00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:40,960
But, um, the bad guys that knows how to exploit that gray and that's what happens with these

668
00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:41,960
child predators.

669
00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:48,280
And I think thanks to the internet and thanks to folks that are highlighting this more,

670
00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:51,040
we're seeing human trafficking for what it is.

671
00:36:51,040 --> 00:36:53,640
Because again, remember we talked about this thing happens in the gray.

672
00:36:53,640 --> 00:36:56,400
You and I live in, in our little subdivision.

673
00:36:56,400 --> 00:36:57,920
Our kids play outside.

674
00:36:57,920 --> 00:36:59,960
We don't have any interaction with these things.

675
00:36:59,960 --> 00:37:04,600
And we like, that's 2025 that that doesn't happen in our day and age.

676
00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:08,780
And it's happening right underneath our nose and we just couldn't imagine it.

677
00:37:08,780 --> 00:37:13,240
So maybe the internet's putting a spotlight on these things and that's a good thing for

678
00:37:13,240 --> 00:37:15,520
the effort to try and stop it.

679
00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:17,520
So especially prostitution.

680
00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:18,520
That is human trafficking.

681
00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:22,080
And we all think about Liam Neeson and you know, someone getting flung in a van in a

682
00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:26,000
different country, but most of our human trafficking is grooming our children.

683
00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:27,560
And then we're putting them into that.

684
00:37:27,560 --> 00:37:29,520
See you just said that it's perfect.

685
00:37:29,520 --> 00:37:33,200
So at the beginning, when we talk about human trafficking, right?

686
00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:38,800
We say I took somebody and I absconded with them and I took away their freedom.

687
00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:39,800
Right?

688
00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:40,800
Like that's what we think.

689
00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:45,940
We don't realize that you could imprison somebody right, right here in Hillsborough County,

690
00:37:45,940 --> 00:37:50,920
right here, wherever you are and intimidate them to the point where they succumb to do

691
00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:52,440
whatever it is that you want.

692
00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:56,840
And then you use them to prostitute them or sell drugs for you.

693
00:37:56,840 --> 00:37:59,640
And look, we're all people that are free will.

694
00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:00,640
We got that.

695
00:38:00,640 --> 00:38:05,200
But you can beat someone down enough and we've seen it on the street.

696
00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:09,280
You can beat someone down enough to mentally own them, to have them do things that are

697
00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:10,920
against their better interests.

698
00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:11,920
Right?

699
00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:12,920
Hell, we do that with credit cards.

700
00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:17,160
We do that with things that are not, you know, sully or scandalous.

701
00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:18,160
Right?

702
00:38:18,160 --> 00:38:21,400
Imagine you beat someone down enough that they sell their body for sex.

703
00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:22,400
Right?

704
00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:24,160
And then give you a piece of the money for it.

705
00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:30,360
So it's not always there is a lot of it's all you know, we look in black and whites

706
00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:33,520
when we write laws, but there's a lot of gray that goes into it as well.

707
00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:38,880
So I think that's one of the biggest issues I see, especially when things are politicized

708
00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:42,340
is that it's like World War One, two trenches.

709
00:38:42,340 --> 00:38:46,240
So if you look at, you know, many problems are, you know, like you said, you have a choice,

710
00:38:46,240 --> 00:38:50,120
you know, just just you be, you know, use extreme ownership or whatever the thing might

711
00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:51,120
be.

712
00:38:51,120 --> 00:38:53,180
But it's also environment.

713
00:38:53,180 --> 00:38:54,180
You are a product of your environment.

714
00:38:54,180 --> 00:38:58,080
And I at 50 years old, just like yourself, still in good shape, still, you know, I don't

715
00:38:58,080 --> 00:38:59,780
even have a doctor.

716
00:38:59,780 --> 00:39:03,400
But I grew up on a farm in England, growing vegetables, you know, having livestock that

717
00:39:03,400 --> 00:39:08,120
we ate, you know, having dirt and having to bail and sure round up sheep and do all the

718
00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:09,120
things outside.

719
00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:10,120
Exactly.

720
00:39:10,120 --> 00:39:11,120
So that was my baseline.

721
00:39:11,120 --> 00:39:14,160
Like I always tell people, you know, on the show is like, well, imagine if you grew up

722
00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:20,400
in a, you know, in inner city Manhattan or Brooklyn or somewhere, and the local playground

723
00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:24,080
is riddled with gangs and the only food, you know, comes from a bodega.

724
00:39:24,080 --> 00:39:26,280
That's a very different environment.

725
00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:31,520
So if it was just simply making good choices, 70 percent of the United States of America

726
00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:32,960
wouldn't be obese or overweight.

727
00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:33,960
That's the truth.

728
00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:36,920
You know, we wouldn't consume 75 percent of the world's painkillers.

729
00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:37,920
That's right.

730
00:39:37,920 --> 00:39:41,240
We wouldn't have, you know, almost 25 percent of the world's incarcerated population if

731
00:39:41,240 --> 00:39:42,960
it was just making the right decision.

732
00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:43,960
That's right.

733
00:39:43,960 --> 00:39:47,120
Clearly, there's an environmental element that we also have to bring into the conversation.

734
00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:48,120
Absolutely.

735
00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:51,160
Especially like as we start highlighting food right now, right?

736
00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:57,760
We look at food as so so I'm divorced and my my ex wife and I, when we talk about how

737
00:39:57,760 --> 00:40:05,720
we run each one of our houses, I'm really adamant that the kids limit their sugar.

738
00:40:05,720 --> 00:40:09,920
And it's because we know we're like we talk about fat being like the detrimental thing.

739
00:40:09,920 --> 00:40:11,600
And we like, well, we need good fat.

740
00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:13,800
We need fat on a regular basis.

741
00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:17,400
And the the murder is the sugar.

742
00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:23,320
And we and so I remember her saying to me one time, hey, but we used to eat those all

743
00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:24,320
the time.

744
00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:25,320
And I'm like, that's the truth, man.

745
00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:27,560
I used to eat the hell out of some Oreos, bro.

746
00:40:27,560 --> 00:40:34,320
I mean, but the Oreo from 1985 to 95, you know, is not the Oreo of today.

747
00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:38,320
I mean, if you just look at the table of content, I mean, the ingredients list is they're not

748
00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:39,320
the same foods.

749
00:40:39,320 --> 00:40:40,320
You know what I mean?

750
00:40:40,320 --> 00:40:42,400
And then, OK, so you look at that isolated.

751
00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:43,400
All right.

752
00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:48,000
And then there's like sugar in everything to the point where your kid has consumed triple

753
00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:50,160
the amount of sugar they're supposed to.

754
00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:52,280
And we haven't gotten to lunch yet, you know.

755
00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:57,980
So it's it's really when you say environmental, there's a lot of stuff that works against

756
00:40:57,980 --> 00:41:02,300
us that we don't know that is working against us.

757
00:41:02,300 --> 00:41:06,520
It's coming to light and we're getting that education now.

758
00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:10,480
But man, for a long time, I was like, man, we have in this one phone right here, we have

759
00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:11,480
the world's supercomputer.

760
00:41:11,480 --> 00:41:15,760
We get every answer we need, and I feel like sometimes we're dumber than we've ever been.

761
00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:16,760
You know what I mean?

762
00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:17,800
But but that's coming to light.

763
00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:21,640
I feel like we're getting more and more information, at least as to nutrition.

764
00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:23,760
You know, now you get the information.

765
00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:24,760
What do you do with it?

766
00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:25,760
That's the deal.

767
00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:30,040
Well, I can tell you just from experience, the algorithms are set up to silence the middle

768
00:41:30,040 --> 00:41:31,520
ground common sense voice.

769
00:41:31,520 --> 00:41:32,520
Oh, yeah.

770
00:41:32,520 --> 00:41:34,920
I even got my Instagram shut down a few months ago.

771
00:41:34,920 --> 00:41:39,240
And all I have shared was episodes of the podcast and then usually like kindness and

772
00:41:39,240 --> 00:41:40,240
compassion videos.

773
00:41:40,240 --> 00:41:45,360
I was really and yeah, I mean, it's it's an unpopular thing in all these because they

774
00:41:45,360 --> 00:41:50,360
don't want you talking about healthy food and, you know, psychedelic therapy and all

775
00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:51,840
these things that are actually working.

776
00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:52,840
Sure.

777
00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:54,200
Lots of companies making lots of money.

778
00:41:54,200 --> 00:41:56,640
They're like, you shut up about making the country healthier.

779
00:41:56,640 --> 00:41:58,080
How am I going to sell my next vaccine?

780
00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:02,160
If we talk about that, it was crazy, too, is like it doesn't even have to be nefarious,

781
00:42:02,160 --> 00:42:03,160
right?

782
00:42:03,160 --> 00:42:07,480
It could just be where you are.

783
00:42:07,480 --> 00:42:13,200
I am an advertiser, right? and you spoke about something, right?

784
00:42:13,200 --> 00:42:16,280
And it triggers the algorithm to go, oh, they're like here.

785
00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:20,600
They listen to us talking about food and all their food categories come up on the algorithm

786
00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:25,880
and they start flooding, you know, all these ads that come in at the time of stuff you

787
00:42:25,880 --> 00:42:27,480
and I are talking against.

788
00:42:27,480 --> 00:42:28,480
Right.

789
00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:32,120
And so you'd be like, oh, look, there's the man coming out as just this simple computer

790
00:42:32,120 --> 00:42:34,840
program that is destroying the world.

791
00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:35,840
You know what I mean?

792
00:42:35,840 --> 00:42:38,960
When we look at politics, for example, remember, like when we talk about politics, if you go

793
00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:46,040
on Instagram and you like something that is right of center, well, Instagram goes well,

794
00:42:46,040 --> 00:42:47,240
Instagram is built.

795
00:42:47,240 --> 00:42:53,960
Facebook is built to funnel you content that keeps you on the service, that keeps you looking

796
00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:56,680
at ads so they can sell those ads.

797
00:42:56,680 --> 00:42:57,680
It's a simple formula.

798
00:42:57,680 --> 00:43:00,400
It has nothing to do with right, left, right, left.

799
00:43:00,400 --> 00:43:01,400
Right.

800
00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:02,400
Same as the news.

801
00:43:02,400 --> 00:43:03,400
CNN and Fox.

802
00:43:03,400 --> 00:43:04,400
Same exact model.

803
00:43:04,400 --> 00:43:09,120
You click on something like my father-in-law will click on something and next thing you

804
00:43:09,120 --> 00:43:13,680
know, all he gets is ultra right wing stuff.

805
00:43:13,680 --> 00:43:16,080
And then you're like, the world is collapsing.

806
00:43:16,080 --> 00:43:17,080
You know what I mean?

807
00:43:17,080 --> 00:43:18,800
And the truth is, do we have problems?

808
00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:19,800
Yeah.

809
00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:21,800
Do conservative values maybe save some?

810
00:43:21,800 --> 00:43:22,800
Yeah.

811
00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:24,880
But everyone on the other side of the aisle isn't the devil.

812
00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:25,880
You know what I mean?

813
00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:26,880
They're really not.

814
00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:28,600
America lives in this 80% world.

815
00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:30,260
We always have.

816
00:43:30,260 --> 00:43:31,260
Everyone always has.

817
00:43:31,260 --> 00:43:37,880
And now we're, we're so divided and I, I will blame this little box right here.

818
00:43:37,880 --> 00:43:42,720
I'm holding my phone for those of you that can't see, uh, I will blame it.

819
00:43:42,720 --> 00:43:46,720
There's no doubt because it has programmed, right?

820
00:43:46,720 --> 00:43:51,120
And you didn't know it was programming you right until that came out.

821
00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:54,160
And now, now that we know it, but we still don't do anything about it.

822
00:43:54,160 --> 00:43:55,160
You know what I mean?

823
00:43:55,160 --> 00:43:57,280
So we still stay on it and we still get divided.

824
00:43:57,280 --> 00:44:05,480
So yeah, we have to do a lot to wake up and get ourselves out of this lethargy that we

825
00:44:05,480 --> 00:44:08,880
have put ourselves in the malaise.

826
00:44:08,880 --> 00:44:11,720
But that takes a lot of effort and a lot of people don't want to put in, it's just easier

827
00:44:11,720 --> 00:44:13,160
not to.

828
00:44:13,160 --> 00:44:19,260
One of my guests a few months ago made a really powerful analogy and they said the problem

829
00:44:19,260 --> 00:44:27,240
with society today is imagine you were in medieval England and the king and queen had

830
00:44:27,240 --> 00:44:30,040
got the peasants arguing over something.

831
00:44:30,040 --> 00:44:31,960
So they were at each other's throats.

832
00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:34,400
He said, if you're fighting each other, where are you not looking?

833
00:44:34,400 --> 00:44:36,520
Yeah, you're not looking at the king that's taking all your stuff.

834
00:44:36,520 --> 00:44:37,520
The castle.

835
00:44:37,520 --> 00:44:38,520
That's exactly right.

836
00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:44,480
And this is the thing is that now we've devolved to Joe Biden or Donald Trump is your, you

837
00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:50,840
know, either 90 year old or orange, you know, second coming of Christ rather than how can

838
00:44:50,840 --> 00:44:56,360
I fix my own home and then walk out my front door and be a positive influence in my community.

839
00:44:56,360 --> 00:45:01,640
So they've devalued and depowered and almost like neutered that 80 percent that really is

840
00:45:01,640 --> 00:45:03,120
the base of the pyramid.

841
00:45:03,120 --> 00:45:09,260
And if we all band together and demand real food in our schools and PE programs and addressing

842
00:45:09,260 --> 00:45:12,700
the mental health crisis that's causing our children to have to rehearse their murder

843
00:45:12,700 --> 00:45:16,560
and code red drills, maybe just maybe we can move the needle.

844
00:45:16,560 --> 00:45:20,240
But see that should then we come full circle, right?

845
00:45:20,240 --> 00:45:21,740
So I'm a state rep.

846
00:45:21,740 --> 00:45:24,160
You should be coming and complaining to me, right?

847
00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:29,920
And you should be going to Tallahassee to talk about it because 99 percent of the problems

848
00:45:29,920 --> 00:45:33,920
that we all talk about, those are federal and those have nothing to do with us.

849
00:45:33,920 --> 00:45:34,920
Right.

850
00:45:34,920 --> 00:45:36,680
And they don't really control us that much.

851
00:45:36,680 --> 00:45:37,680
Yes.

852
00:45:37,680 --> 00:45:38,680
I'm going to listen.

853
00:45:38,680 --> 00:45:42,920
I told you I'm a guy who really values the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

854
00:45:42,920 --> 00:45:44,200
We know all that stuff.

855
00:45:44,200 --> 00:45:49,000
But the reason I'm a state rep and I haven't run for anything higher and I'm not saying

856
00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:53,960
I will never, but I'm not super interested in it is because I can really solve problems

857
00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:56,000
for the people in my area and my state.

858
00:45:56,000 --> 00:45:59,320
If you look the way I look at things, I got hired by my district, right?

859
00:45:59,320 --> 00:46:00,320
That's district 69.

860
00:46:00,320 --> 00:46:01,860
I got hired by them.

861
00:46:01,860 --> 00:46:02,860
So I'm very parochial.

862
00:46:02,860 --> 00:46:08,120
I like will fight for those people like an animal, even to the detriment of someone.

863
00:46:08,120 --> 00:46:10,240
Let's just say in Orlando, that's my job.

864
00:46:10,240 --> 00:46:11,240
Right.

865
00:46:11,240 --> 00:46:14,320
Like I fight for them and then I'm a fight for Hillsborough County and then I'm a fight

866
00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:15,320
for my region.

867
00:46:15,320 --> 00:46:16,400
Then I'm a fight for my state.

868
00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:22,620
And so those are those are my rings of of of order there for me.

869
00:46:22,620 --> 00:46:25,060
And so we can do a ton.

870
00:46:25,060 --> 00:46:27,920
And so we'll get calls from other reps all over the country.

871
00:46:27,920 --> 00:46:30,120
And they're like, how do you how do you do that?

872
00:46:30,120 --> 00:46:32,840
And we're like, guy, it's really easy.

873
00:46:32,840 --> 00:46:36,600
You solve your problem and you don't worry about what everyone else is doing.

874
00:46:36,600 --> 00:46:37,600
Right.

875
00:46:37,600 --> 00:46:41,400
So we figure out that Florida needs X, Y and Z and we just do it.

876
00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:42,880
You know what I mean?

877
00:46:42,880 --> 00:46:43,880
Do we get things wrong?

878
00:46:43,880 --> 00:46:45,340
Listen, we're human beings.

879
00:46:45,340 --> 00:46:46,520
We get things wrong all the time.

880
00:46:46,520 --> 00:46:47,520
You know what I mean?

881
00:46:47,520 --> 00:46:51,160
We got to go back and fix them or we're like, Mr. Mark on that one.

882
00:46:51,160 --> 00:46:52,600
Because some of them we get really right.

883
00:46:52,600 --> 00:46:53,600
You know what I mean?

884
00:46:53,600 --> 00:46:54,600
Some of them we get really right.

885
00:46:54,600 --> 00:46:58,960
And we that's why people are coming to Florida, because you know, you know, like, remember

886
00:46:58,960 --> 00:47:03,360
like your boss, like some of your favorite bosses didn't get it right all the time, but

887
00:47:03,360 --> 00:47:04,760
they made decisions.

888
00:47:04,760 --> 00:47:08,760
They were fair and you they respected you and you respected them.

889
00:47:08,760 --> 00:47:09,760
Right.

890
00:47:09,760 --> 00:47:11,720
That's really like the best you can get from government.

891
00:47:11,720 --> 00:47:12,720
You know what I mean?

892
00:47:12,720 --> 00:47:13,720
You're hoping for those things.

893
00:47:13,720 --> 00:47:14,720
You know what I mean?

894
00:47:14,720 --> 00:47:18,280
Like they make a decision like because leadership requires decisiveness.

895
00:47:18,280 --> 00:47:19,280
Right.

896
00:47:19,280 --> 00:47:20,280
And so make a decision.

897
00:47:20,280 --> 00:47:21,280
Like COVID, what are we doing?

898
00:47:21,280 --> 00:47:22,280
We going left?

899
00:47:22,280 --> 00:47:23,280
We going right?

900
00:47:23,280 --> 00:47:24,280
Let's go.

901
00:47:24,280 --> 00:47:25,280
Be fair.

902
00:47:25,280 --> 00:47:26,280
Right.

903
00:47:26,280 --> 00:47:28,000
Know that I'm never going to always agree with you.

904
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:29,000
You know what I mean?

905
00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:30,600
But I know I'm going to get a fair shot.

906
00:47:30,600 --> 00:47:31,600
Right.

907
00:47:31,600 --> 00:47:37,880
That way we at least have that in our lawmaking and then govern that way.

908
00:47:37,880 --> 00:47:41,160
And you will you'll win both the left and the right.

909
00:47:41,160 --> 00:47:47,300
Because last time I checked, I might be a Republican, but I got elected to represent

910
00:47:47,300 --> 00:47:49,440
everyone in District 69.

911
00:47:49,440 --> 00:47:50,440
Right.

912
00:47:50,440 --> 00:47:52,000
And I take that super for real, brother.

913
00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:53,760
Listen, this is the funniest thing in the world.

914
00:47:53,760 --> 00:47:55,160
Like one time.

915
00:47:55,160 --> 00:47:58,640
So to highlight what we're talking about, this divisiveness.

916
00:47:58,640 --> 00:48:03,440
So this women like I think it's mothers, women or mothers against guns.

917
00:48:03,440 --> 00:48:04,440
I'm butchering it.

918
00:48:04,440 --> 00:48:06,740
So ladies, forgive me if I'm telling this story.

919
00:48:06,740 --> 00:48:12,360
And I remember they all had their shirts and and I'm a gun guy.

920
00:48:12,360 --> 00:48:16,380
Just so you know, like like I am a firm, die in the wood, believer, gun guy.

921
00:48:16,380 --> 00:48:17,380
You want a gun?

922
00:48:17,380 --> 00:48:18,380
I want you to have a gun.

923
00:48:18,380 --> 00:48:19,380
You don't want a gun.

924
00:48:19,380 --> 00:48:20,380
You don't want to have one.

925
00:48:20,380 --> 00:48:21,380
Right.

926
00:48:21,380 --> 00:48:22,760
Just don't limit somebody else's right to do so.

927
00:48:22,760 --> 00:48:27,080
So the ladies are like, we would come talk to you, but we know you're never going to

928
00:48:27,080 --> 00:48:28,080
talk to us.

929
00:48:28,080 --> 00:48:31,680
And I was like, ma'am, you talking to me?

930
00:48:31,680 --> 00:48:34,040
And they're like, yes, you representative Alvarez.

931
00:48:34,040 --> 00:48:37,360
And I was like, well, ma'am, how do you know you won't talk to me if you haven't even tried

932
00:48:37,360 --> 00:48:38,360
to make an appointment?

933
00:48:38,360 --> 00:48:40,280
And they're like, would you talk to us?

934
00:48:40,280 --> 00:48:41,680
I'm like, bring all this group.

935
00:48:41,680 --> 00:48:42,680
Let's go.

936
00:48:42,680 --> 00:48:46,200
And all of them, they're like, they're like clutching their purse or giving me dirty looks.

937
00:48:46,200 --> 00:48:49,500
And at the end of the day, you know what that represented?

938
00:48:49,500 --> 00:48:50,500
Lack of communication.

939
00:48:50,500 --> 00:48:51,500
Right.

940
00:48:51,500 --> 00:48:55,280
Again, I don't agree with everything they say, but they deserve to be heard.

941
00:48:55,280 --> 00:48:56,280
Right.

942
00:48:56,280 --> 00:48:57,760
That's what I signed up for.

943
00:48:57,760 --> 00:48:59,380
Let's go listen to what they say.

944
00:48:59,380 --> 00:49:03,680
And you cannot imagine how many times from conversations like that I'll go, I didn't

945
00:49:03,680 --> 00:49:04,760
know that part.

946
00:49:04,760 --> 00:49:06,440
And maybe it shifts a point of view.

947
00:49:06,440 --> 00:49:08,420
Maybe it shifts a course of action.

948
00:49:08,420 --> 00:49:10,920
Maybe it shifts an energy, right?

949
00:49:10,920 --> 00:49:14,560
Where I'm not as excited to do something as I was before, because now I have a different

950
00:49:14,560 --> 00:49:15,840
point of view.

951
00:49:15,840 --> 00:49:18,580
You have to be open to these things.

952
00:49:18,580 --> 00:49:21,640
If you're going to try to come up to Tallahassee and make laws.

953
00:49:21,640 --> 00:49:23,280
And if you're not, you're in the wrong job.

954
00:49:23,280 --> 00:49:28,040
If you're not, and you think you're just there to like to push something through.

955
00:49:28,040 --> 00:49:29,400
Look, we have an agenda.

956
00:49:29,400 --> 00:49:30,400
I have an agenda.

957
00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:31,400
Right.

958
00:49:31,400 --> 00:49:33,480
Like, look, cops and first responders are my agenda.

959
00:49:33,480 --> 00:49:34,480
Right.

960
00:49:34,480 --> 00:49:38,320
So I'm not going to be really dissuaded off that point.

961
00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:40,120
But it's about degrees.

962
00:49:40,120 --> 00:49:41,120
Right.

963
00:49:41,120 --> 00:49:42,120
So my azimuth is true.

964
00:49:42,120 --> 00:49:43,120
I might go a little left.

965
00:49:43,120 --> 00:49:44,400
I might go a little right.

966
00:49:44,400 --> 00:49:47,760
But we're going to get somewhere to where I wanted us to go.

967
00:49:47,760 --> 00:49:49,960
But I'm not going to do that without listening to people.

968
00:49:49,960 --> 00:49:51,800
So yeah, I think this is the problem again.

969
00:49:51,800 --> 00:49:52,800
The 80 percent.

970
00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:54,160
When we put a uniform on, we respond.

971
00:49:54,160 --> 00:49:57,280
We don't ask which party they are before we help them.

972
00:49:57,280 --> 00:49:58,520
You just help everyone.

973
00:49:58,520 --> 00:49:59,520
That's exactly right.

974
00:49:59,520 --> 00:50:00,680
The mothers against guns.

975
00:50:00,680 --> 00:50:06,240
Was there usually a loss of a child in the in the kind of backstory of most of them?

976
00:50:06,240 --> 00:50:10,780
I think some like in their foundation there was.

977
00:50:10,780 --> 00:50:15,160
And then ultimately, but not any anybody that I talked to.

978
00:50:15,160 --> 00:50:17,400
But that doesn't mean it didn't get founded that way.

979
00:50:17,400 --> 00:50:23,200
I believe it actually got founded by and then expanded on when someone lost their child.

980
00:50:23,200 --> 00:50:25,000
Listen, what you said is the truth.

981
00:50:25,000 --> 00:50:31,160
Like it is disgusting to me that I do battle drills with my children.

982
00:50:31,160 --> 00:50:32,160
Right.

983
00:50:32,160 --> 00:50:38,040
Like I literally we will go to school and we will look at places where they can run.

984
00:50:38,040 --> 00:50:39,040
Right.

985
00:50:39,040 --> 00:50:41,200
And we're like caught out in the open, you know, I'm saying.

986
00:50:41,200 --> 00:50:46,960
And like you have to program to your kid like, hey, kid, run and run.

987
00:50:46,960 --> 00:50:50,040
And if you're out by yourself, you'll never get in trouble because we always say never

988
00:50:50,040 --> 00:50:51,040
leave the school.

989
00:50:51,040 --> 00:50:52,900
You know, don't talk to strangers, all that kind of stuff.

990
00:50:52,900 --> 00:50:55,200
And now you're having to teach them the opposite.

991
00:50:55,200 --> 00:51:03,680
So like gun safety, for example, in my house, we teach gun safety like it is a perishable

992
00:51:03,680 --> 00:51:04,680
skill.

993
00:51:04,680 --> 00:51:05,680
Right.

994
00:51:05,680 --> 00:51:07,560
And so we retrain at minimum once a quarter.

995
00:51:07,560 --> 00:51:10,760
I don't have a timeline, but we're always talking about it.

996
00:51:10,760 --> 00:51:11,760
Right.

997
00:51:11,760 --> 00:51:13,040
I'm not worried about my house.

998
00:51:13,040 --> 00:51:15,720
I'm worried about when my kids go to somebody else's house.

999
00:51:15,720 --> 00:51:18,480
So we have battle drills for that.

1000
00:51:18,480 --> 00:51:21,800
Like what happens when Tommy pulls out his dad's gun?

1001
00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:22,800
What do you do?

1002
00:51:22,800 --> 00:51:26,020
You know, my kids are to leave right away and go find an adult.

1003
00:51:26,020 --> 00:51:30,840
What happens if Tommy follows you with a gun, open the front door and run out of the house?

1004
00:51:30,840 --> 00:51:34,520
Well, you told me not to go outside.

1005
00:51:34,520 --> 00:51:38,480
We will I'd rather find you outside and figure out that problem.

1006
00:51:38,480 --> 00:51:40,360
That's a problem for the future.

1007
00:51:40,360 --> 00:51:41,980
Let's solve this problem right now.

1008
00:51:41,980 --> 00:51:46,960
So we talk about these things actively and all the time when it comes to it.

1009
00:51:46,960 --> 00:51:49,200
But should we have to?

1010
00:51:49,200 --> 00:51:54,580
No, you know, we shouldn't schools shouldn't you shouldn't have to worry about it.

1011
00:51:54,580 --> 00:51:56,480
But that's the world we're at right now.

1012
00:51:56,480 --> 00:52:02,180
So well, this is what kills me is when we have, you know, I mean, so many shootings

1013
00:52:02,180 --> 00:52:07,740
every year, what ends up happening is it becomes again back to World War One, the pro and the

1014
00:52:07,740 --> 00:52:09,000
anti gun people.

1015
00:52:09,000 --> 00:52:10,000
Right.

1016
00:52:10,000 --> 00:52:11,000
And that solves nothing.

1017
00:52:11,000 --> 00:52:17,300
Because if you look at the pie chart that creates a you know, homicidal homicidal teenager,

1018
00:52:17,300 --> 00:52:20,720
you have yes, the access to a weapon, of course, as part of it, you know, and I think that

1019
00:52:20,720 --> 00:52:22,480
there's a nuanced conversation.

1020
00:52:22,480 --> 00:52:27,000
When we're coming here, going to gander mountain, and there was 50 cows sitting there and children

1021
00:52:27,000 --> 00:52:28,000
were playing them.

1022
00:52:28,000 --> 00:52:32,720
That has one purpose to kill someone from a killer human being from a long fucking way

1023
00:52:32,720 --> 00:52:33,720
away.

1024
00:52:33,720 --> 00:52:34,720
What a 50 cow?

1025
00:52:34,720 --> 00:52:35,720
Yeah.

1026
00:52:35,720 --> 00:52:37,280
So I don't think you can say that's a home to another means.

1027
00:52:37,280 --> 00:52:39,040
So there's there's there's room for improvement.

1028
00:52:39,040 --> 00:52:40,040
Sure.

1029
00:52:40,040 --> 00:52:41,200
What we can access.

1030
00:52:41,200 --> 00:52:46,440
That being said, though, the mental health conversation, the sleep deprivation conversation,

1031
00:52:46,440 --> 00:52:50,840
the violent video game conversation, the side effects of psychiatric med conversation, the

1032
00:52:50,840 --> 00:52:54,520
bullying conversation, you know, obviously, then the broken home conversation, I mean,

1033
00:52:54,520 --> 00:52:57,400
there's all these pieces, but it's never discussed.

1034
00:52:57,400 --> 00:53:00,440
And again, it's like, well, why don't fat people just make good choices?

1035
00:53:00,440 --> 00:53:06,040
You know, you know, I think it's discussed, but it's never discussed in totality.

1036
00:53:06,040 --> 00:53:07,040
Right.

1037
00:53:07,040 --> 00:53:11,000
So you and I go, we can spend some time talking about like violence in the home.

1038
00:53:11,000 --> 00:53:14,520
We'll spend some time talking about each bucket.

1039
00:53:14,520 --> 00:53:21,680
But one of the things that we refuse to not refuse, but maybe we don't do a good job is

1040
00:53:21,680 --> 00:53:26,540
tying all of these factors in together and go, well, that didn't happen when we were

1041
00:53:26,540 --> 00:53:27,540
growing up.

1042
00:53:27,540 --> 00:53:29,600
You know, well, when I was growing up was in the 80s.

1043
00:53:29,600 --> 00:53:30,600
Right.

1044
00:53:30,600 --> 00:53:34,560
And in the 80s, we were just coming into the revolution of divorces.

1045
00:53:34,560 --> 00:53:35,560
Right.

1046
00:53:35,560 --> 00:53:37,760
And we had split homes and we were figuring that out.

1047
00:53:37,760 --> 00:53:38,760
And then computers started.

1048
00:53:38,760 --> 00:53:39,760
Right.

1049
00:53:39,760 --> 00:53:42,440
Like, just like you're saying, and then computers started in these violent video games start

1050
00:53:42,440 --> 00:53:47,320
like when my little kid can identify guns, you know, that I can identify.

1051
00:53:47,320 --> 00:53:48,320
And I was a soldier.

1052
00:53:48,320 --> 00:53:51,320
You know, I mean, like, I don't I was like, they're like, oh, that's an AK-7, some, some,

1053
00:53:51,320 --> 00:53:52,320
some.

1054
00:53:52,320 --> 00:53:53,320
I'm like, it is.

1055
00:53:53,320 --> 00:53:54,320
How do you know that?

1056
00:53:54,320 --> 00:53:55,320
You know?

1057
00:53:55,320 --> 00:53:58,480
So here's a little sidebar.

1058
00:53:58,480 --> 00:53:59,480
That was funny.

1059
00:53:59,480 --> 00:54:03,880
My my one of my sons just joined the Air Force and he's talking to me.

1060
00:54:03,880 --> 00:54:05,520
He's big into this call of duty.

1061
00:54:05,520 --> 00:54:09,160
And I was like, guy, I just need you to understand something.

1062
00:54:09,160 --> 00:54:10,160
Call of duty.

1063
00:54:10,160 --> 00:54:14,120
Don't you ever talk about that with your drill sergeant because you're going to have a really

1064
00:54:14,120 --> 00:54:15,120
rude awakening.

1065
00:54:15,120 --> 00:54:18,960
And he's like, well, I want to see if I can shoot a shh.

1066
00:54:18,960 --> 00:54:20,140
Don't say another word.

1067
00:54:20,140 --> 00:54:21,140
Just don't say another word.

1068
00:54:21,140 --> 00:54:22,140
Right.

1069
00:54:22,140 --> 00:54:25,360
And it creates this false reality.

1070
00:54:25,360 --> 00:54:27,760
And the other part is this World War One.

1071
00:54:27,760 --> 00:54:35,040
We had a problem as American soldiers shooting a silhouette because we were not accustomed

1072
00:54:35,040 --> 00:54:38,660
in our brain or trained to shoot humans.

1073
00:54:38,660 --> 00:54:42,680
Our job in civil and civilization is the preservation of life.

1074
00:54:42,680 --> 00:54:45,360
Hell, your job is to go save lives.

1075
00:54:45,360 --> 00:54:46,360
Right.

1076
00:54:46,360 --> 00:54:52,320
So what we had to do after World War One is we changed our targets in the military from

1077
00:54:52,320 --> 00:54:54,800
circles to figures.

1078
00:54:54,800 --> 00:55:00,360
So when the so when you see somebody through your sights, it's not the first time you've

1079
00:55:00,360 --> 00:55:04,400
ever pulled a trigger on something that looks like a human.

1080
00:55:04,400 --> 00:55:10,440
It's this subtle psychological conditioning that was a silhouette.

1081
00:55:10,440 --> 00:55:14,640
Imagine shooting someone on this video game and getting points for it.

1082
00:55:14,640 --> 00:55:15,640
Right.

1083
00:55:15,640 --> 00:55:18,240
And I'm not trying to be like some softie or anything.

1084
00:55:18,240 --> 00:55:21,520
What I'm trying to tell you, though, is the reality of the matter is we've taught these

1085
00:55:21,520 --> 00:55:26,640
kids that there is no consequence that comes from because all you do is turn off the game.

1086
00:55:26,640 --> 00:55:27,800
Well, also, you get rewarded.

1087
00:55:27,800 --> 00:55:29,160
Like you said, it's operant conditioning.

1088
00:55:29,160 --> 00:55:33,240
If you listen to Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman's work, and he wrote on killing on

1089
00:55:33,240 --> 00:55:37,120
combat, but also assassination generation, where he broke down the psychology of the

1090
00:55:37,120 --> 00:55:38,440
school shooters.

1091
00:55:38,440 --> 00:55:41,880
And there are cases where school shooters were incredibly accurate and they barely ever

1092
00:55:41,880 --> 00:55:44,400
used a firearm, but they play video games.

1093
00:55:44,400 --> 00:55:45,840
That they played video games.

1094
00:55:45,840 --> 00:55:48,760
So you've got this virtual world where they're rewarded.

1095
00:55:48,760 --> 00:55:51,840
And then you get this one upmanship and some of these shootings where they've beaten the

1096
00:55:51,840 --> 00:55:52,840
score.

1097
00:55:52,840 --> 00:55:54,280
Quote, you know, air quotes.

1098
00:55:54,280 --> 00:55:57,760
And then you add in sleep deprivation, which is a huge thing, which is now feeding the

1099
00:55:57,760 --> 00:56:00,800
psychosis because these kids are up all night gaming.

1100
00:56:00,800 --> 00:56:03,040
It's not just the fact that it's shooting guns.

1101
00:56:03,040 --> 00:56:04,040
It's so much more than that.

1102
00:56:04,040 --> 00:56:05,040
The energy drinks.

1103
00:56:05,040 --> 00:56:07,040
Let's add the energy to the conversation.

1104
00:56:07,040 --> 00:56:08,040
Right.

1105
00:56:08,040 --> 00:56:10,240
Like, first off, what is doing to your physiology.

1106
00:56:10,240 --> 00:56:11,240
Right.

1107
00:56:11,240 --> 00:56:17,840
So that same boy that is in the Air Force now, he would says, oh, I need two Red Bulls

1108
00:56:17,840 --> 00:56:18,840
to go to bed.

1109
00:56:18,840 --> 00:56:23,880
I'm like, guy, you don't you're actually destroying your circadian rhythm.

1110
00:56:23,880 --> 00:56:27,320
You know, so we'd have to take it away from him.

1111
00:56:27,320 --> 00:56:28,880
You know, we literally turn it off.

1112
00:56:28,880 --> 00:56:34,880
You know, I came into his life different later in his life.

1113
00:56:34,880 --> 00:56:38,280
But up all night playing video games, these violent video games.

1114
00:56:38,280 --> 00:56:41,320
And there's a sense of violence that we need to teach men.

1115
00:56:41,320 --> 00:56:42,320
Right.

1116
00:56:42,320 --> 00:56:43,520
We need to teach men how to be violent.

1117
00:56:43,520 --> 00:56:46,760
But then you control it and turn it on for the good.

1118
00:56:46,760 --> 00:56:47,760
Right.

1119
00:56:47,760 --> 00:56:50,600
And then to suppress the bad.

1120
00:56:50,600 --> 00:56:51,680
That's really difficult.

1121
00:56:51,680 --> 00:56:52,680
You know that, right?

1122
00:56:52,680 --> 00:56:55,760
Because like our natural banal instinct is I'm a warlord.

1123
00:56:55,760 --> 00:56:56,760
I like your stuff.

1124
00:56:56,760 --> 00:56:57,760
I want to come take it.

1125
00:56:57,760 --> 00:56:59,920
We're teaching not to do that.

1126
00:56:59,920 --> 00:57:00,920
Right.

1127
00:57:00,920 --> 00:57:04,720
But we want the man and the woman, to be honest with you, that can go do that.

1128
00:57:04,720 --> 00:57:08,500
And then we say, come back to your society and don't do that, please, until we need you

1129
00:57:08,500 --> 00:57:10,000
to do that again.

1130
00:57:10,000 --> 00:57:11,000
Right.

1131
00:57:11,000 --> 00:57:14,200
So you know that you were highlighting something.

1132
00:57:14,200 --> 00:57:16,920
You know, where we saw it a lot is our drone operators.

1133
00:57:16,920 --> 00:57:22,360
So you'd have all these kids who had played video games for forever and they were phenomenal

1134
00:57:22,360 --> 00:57:23,360
recruits.

1135
00:57:23,360 --> 00:57:27,240
So when we had our 20 year war and our drones got a lot better, they're they're sitting

1136
00:57:27,240 --> 00:57:29,760
in Las Vegas, right?

1137
00:57:29,760 --> 00:57:35,840
Having a drone and you know, that's flying out of Qatar or flying out of UAE or wherever

1138
00:57:35,840 --> 00:57:38,400
in Afghanistan, they go kill people.

1139
00:57:38,400 --> 00:57:39,400
Right.

1140
00:57:39,400 --> 00:57:40,400
Because that's the mission.

1141
00:57:40,400 --> 00:57:41,440
They had to go kill some bad guys.

1142
00:57:41,440 --> 00:57:44,120
They watched them go down and then like, OK, I got to go.

1143
00:57:44,120 --> 00:57:45,120
I got dinner reservations.

1144
00:57:45,120 --> 00:57:46,120
I got to go.

1145
00:57:46,120 --> 00:57:48,560
I got to go meet my family for whatever.

1146
00:57:48,560 --> 00:57:49,560
Right.

1147
00:57:49,560 --> 00:57:52,120
The psychology of that is horrific.

1148
00:57:52,120 --> 00:57:53,280
Right.

1149
00:57:53,280 --> 00:57:54,280
In the long term.

1150
00:57:54,280 --> 00:57:56,160
And people will be like, wait, what a wuss.

1151
00:57:56,160 --> 00:57:57,160
Right.

1152
00:57:57,160 --> 00:58:03,080
But the PTS that they're dealing with, right, when they they're literally cannot handle

1153
00:58:03,080 --> 00:58:10,040
flying this drone across the world, killing right in their mind, justified.

1154
00:58:10,040 --> 00:58:11,640
Americans you know, we have a combat mission.

1155
00:58:11,640 --> 00:58:12,980
We've done all the vetting.

1156
00:58:12,980 --> 00:58:15,200
We've done all this stuff and it is justified.

1157
00:58:15,200 --> 00:58:20,800
And then go home, sleep in their bed and the safety and security somewhere in America where

1158
00:58:20,800 --> 00:58:22,440
they're flying from.

1159
00:58:22,440 --> 00:58:24,440
How does that mess with their brain?

1160
00:58:24,440 --> 00:58:26,240
It's not a video game.

1161
00:58:26,240 --> 00:58:27,240
Right.

1162
00:58:27,240 --> 00:58:30,520
But they were trained by their video game.

1163
00:58:30,520 --> 00:58:36,880
But when they turn off that PS4 or five is just off when they shut the door to the, you

1164
00:58:36,880 --> 00:58:42,000
know, the Reaper control booth, like someone died, you know, and they have to live with

1165
00:58:42,000 --> 00:58:43,000
that.

1166
00:58:43,000 --> 00:58:44,080
They have to be mentally prepped for it.

1167
00:58:44,080 --> 00:58:48,280
So I really feel bad for those folks because, you know, when we talk about the trigger puller

1168
00:58:48,280 --> 00:58:52,160
that went through the door or someone got blown up by IED and they're they were out

1169
00:58:52,160 --> 00:58:53,440
there, they were risking it themselves.

1170
00:58:53,440 --> 00:58:54,520
You know what I mean?

1171
00:58:54,520 --> 00:58:58,080
And here that that person is out there in a box.

1172
00:58:58,080 --> 00:58:59,080
Right.

1173
00:58:59,080 --> 00:59:00,480
But the PTS is just as real.

1174
00:59:00,480 --> 00:59:01,480
You know what I mean?

1175
00:59:01,480 --> 00:59:04,280
And they've killed maybe more people, you know?

1176
00:59:04,280 --> 00:59:05,280
Yeah.

1177
00:59:05,280 --> 00:59:08,160
We think of the moral injury because we know now after the fact that all the collateral

1178
00:59:08,160 --> 00:59:13,040
damage that was done in Iraq and Afghanistan and now you're in that box, you're in Vegas,

1179
00:59:13,040 --> 00:59:17,920
you think you're, you know, part of a noble cause and then you find out actually there

1180
00:59:17,920 --> 00:59:22,440
was bad intel and you just blew up a, you know, full of, you know, wife and kids and

1181
00:59:22,440 --> 00:59:23,960
that's got to be brutal.

1182
00:59:23,960 --> 00:59:26,800
So that that's going to happen no matter what, though, bro.

1183
00:59:26,800 --> 00:59:30,040
You know that, like, if you think about it, like you could be the one calling that in

1184
00:59:30,040 --> 00:59:32,080
and you're like, holy crap.

1185
00:59:32,080 --> 00:59:35,640
I remember my brother had some really close calls.

1186
00:59:35,640 --> 00:59:36,640
He fought in Iraq.

1187
00:59:36,640 --> 00:59:38,160
He was an infantry guy.

1188
00:59:38,160 --> 00:59:44,480
He had some some close calls and even some calls like where you're like, I hope that

1189
00:59:44,480 --> 00:59:45,480
was right.

1190
00:59:45,480 --> 00:59:52,160
You know, they once shot a little girl and I tell the story normal normally for another

1191
00:59:52,160 --> 00:59:57,360
reason, but they they once shot this little girl in and now it's by accident.

1192
00:59:57,360 --> 00:59:58,360
Right.

1193
00:59:58,360 --> 01:00:03,280
And so I'm telling you the story because of the mistake.

1194
01:00:03,280 --> 01:00:07,160
But the reason we normally tell the story is because when when my brother went to they

1195
01:00:07,160 --> 01:00:09,480
were rendering aid and they were going to they were going to do everything to save her

1196
01:00:09,480 --> 01:00:10,480
life.

1197
01:00:10,480 --> 01:00:12,960
You know, he calls in a chopper just for this.

1198
01:00:12,960 --> 01:00:15,420
I think she was nine, maybe 10.

1199
01:00:15,420 --> 01:00:17,440
Her dad was like, don't worry about it.

1200
01:00:17,440 --> 01:00:18,440
It's just a girl.

1201
01:00:18,440 --> 01:00:20,520
And my brother's like, what?

1202
01:00:20,520 --> 01:00:25,840
So my brother had to do some rough things to get that dude to actually take that girl

1203
01:00:25,840 --> 01:00:26,920
because he couldn't leave the line.

1204
01:00:26,920 --> 01:00:28,280
They were still in the middle of the fight.

1205
01:00:28,280 --> 01:00:29,280
Right.

1206
01:00:29,280 --> 01:00:33,500
So to get to the chopper that actually had just come in just for that girl.

1207
01:00:33,500 --> 01:00:34,500
So these things happen.

1208
01:00:34,500 --> 01:00:39,520
You know, wars very foggy, you know, even and it gets foggier.

1209
01:00:39,520 --> 01:00:40,520
Right.

1210
01:00:40,520 --> 01:00:44,880
When you get someone like in a super safe box in Washington, D.C. or Tampa, you know,

1211
01:00:44,880 --> 01:00:53,480
we out of Tampa, we prosecute wars in Central Asia and, you know, in SOCOM is based out

1212
01:00:53,480 --> 01:00:56,040
of there and we prosecute wars there all the time.

1213
01:00:56,040 --> 01:01:00,680
So it's it's got to be I mean, I don't envy those people at all, you know, trying to make

1214
01:01:00,680 --> 01:01:01,680
those calls.

1215
01:01:01,680 --> 01:01:03,560
But you know, I guess that's what they pay them for.

1216
01:01:03,560 --> 01:01:05,680
And hopefully they do more right than wrong.

1217
01:01:05,680 --> 01:01:06,680
That's the it's my prayer.

1218
01:01:06,680 --> 01:01:07,680
Yeah.

1219
01:01:07,680 --> 01:01:08,680
Yeah.

1220
01:01:08,680 --> 01:01:09,680
I mean, it's the thing they are literally following orders.

1221
01:01:09,680 --> 01:01:11,200
They're doing what they're told to do.

1222
01:01:11,200 --> 01:01:12,200
Yeah.

1223
01:01:12,200 --> 01:01:15,640
And I think, you know, as we unpack these wars and some of the politics behind it, I

1224
01:01:15,640 --> 01:01:19,560
know a lot of veterans that struggle now, you know, should we be in Iraq?

1225
01:01:19,560 --> 01:01:22,880
You know, was was all the things were the things that we did in Afghanistan?

1226
01:01:22,880 --> 01:01:23,880
Right.

1227
01:01:23,880 --> 01:01:26,320
You know, was this person actually an enemy or, you know, would they have been a good

1228
01:01:26,320 --> 01:01:27,320
tribal leader?

1229
01:01:27,320 --> 01:01:28,880
I mean, it's it's after the fact.

1230
01:01:28,880 --> 01:01:33,960
It's not blaming the people at all, but that's got to just have its mental health impact.

1231
01:01:33,960 --> 01:01:37,080
You know, you left your interpreter behind when we just, you know, up sticks.

1232
01:01:37,080 --> 01:01:43,280
I mean, all these these emotional human costs of these men and women, or arguably children

1233
01:01:43,280 --> 01:01:48,440
that we sent overseas that now are kind of unpacking their service and questioning some

1234
01:01:48,440 --> 01:01:49,680
of the things that happened there.

1235
01:01:49,680 --> 01:01:50,680
Yeah.

1236
01:01:50,680 --> 01:01:52,520
And I think that's a natural evolution of your service.

1237
01:01:52,520 --> 01:01:53,520
Right.

1238
01:01:53,520 --> 01:01:56,680
Like when you when you want to sign up to serve your country and like you're some farm

1239
01:01:56,680 --> 01:02:01,520
kid from Iowa and then next thing you know, you find yourself in Kabul and you're like,

1240
01:02:01,520 --> 01:02:02,520
what?

1241
01:02:02,520 --> 01:02:03,520
Who's the bad guy?

1242
01:02:03,520 --> 01:02:04,520
That's the bad guy.

1243
01:02:04,520 --> 01:02:05,520
Do I go after that guy?

1244
01:02:05,520 --> 01:02:07,200
I mean, I just hopefully you're doing the right thing.

1245
01:02:07,200 --> 01:02:11,680
The best part about being an American soldier, I'll tell you this, is I knew that I never

1246
01:02:11,680 --> 01:02:13,400
had to follow an unlawful order.

1247
01:02:13,400 --> 01:02:14,400
Right.

1248
01:02:14,400 --> 01:02:20,840
And every and I don't think that like most people like that are on calibrated to the

1249
01:02:20,840 --> 01:02:23,000
way we are trained.

1250
01:02:23,000 --> 01:02:24,680
Understand this to be true.

1251
01:02:24,680 --> 01:02:29,240
You could tell me to do something and I'll be like, no, I'm not doing that, sir.

1252
01:02:29,240 --> 01:02:30,240
Right.

1253
01:02:30,240 --> 01:02:32,840
Now, that doesn't mean I'm not going to go do unfun things.

1254
01:02:32,840 --> 01:02:34,600
I'll have to do that.

1255
01:02:34,600 --> 01:02:37,960
But if you go tell me to go murder that family just because you don't like them, we're not

1256
01:02:37,960 --> 01:02:38,960
doing that, sir.

1257
01:02:38,960 --> 01:02:43,640
You know, and then I'll tell you, there was decisions that were made like that throughout

1258
01:02:43,640 --> 01:02:47,160
the war every day of the war without you and I having been there.

1259
01:02:47,160 --> 01:02:48,680
I can promise you that that happened.

1260
01:02:48,680 --> 01:02:50,160
I know some of them, you know what I mean?

1261
01:02:50,160 --> 01:02:53,160
There were someone would be like, no, we're not doing that.

1262
01:02:53,160 --> 01:03:02,120
We don't have the and the amount of risk that our soldiers, including, I will tell you,

1263
01:03:02,120 --> 01:03:07,920
British soldiers as well, put themselves in right for this analysis process to make sure

1264
01:03:07,920 --> 01:03:11,160
we were doing the right thing.

1265
01:03:11,160 --> 01:03:12,160
That's how we were taught.

1266
01:03:12,160 --> 01:03:17,600
And at first, when I was an infantry officer, I was like, man, that is some that's some

1267
01:03:17,600 --> 01:03:19,000
really rough, weak stuff.

1268
01:03:19,000 --> 01:03:23,480
I thought, you know, small, immature, just growing my brain set, right?

1269
01:03:23,480 --> 01:03:28,100
Going well, my job here is to close with the bad guy, right?

1270
01:03:28,100 --> 01:03:30,000
Kill the bad guy if necessary.

1271
01:03:30,000 --> 01:03:31,200
And let's go home.

1272
01:03:31,200 --> 01:03:33,600
And that was what black and white, right?

1273
01:03:33,600 --> 01:03:39,960
And in reality, on a shifting battlefield, you look around, you go, is that the bad guy?

1274
01:03:39,960 --> 01:03:41,160
And today it's a bad guy.

1275
01:03:41,160 --> 01:03:42,160
Tomorrow is not.

1276
01:03:42,160 --> 01:03:45,640
So another story from my brother, for example, when he was in Iraq, there was this thing

1277
01:03:45,640 --> 01:03:47,280
called the Great Awakening.

1278
01:03:47,280 --> 01:03:52,520
So he would send me photos of him with people and I would get really pissed off and I'd

1279
01:03:52,520 --> 01:03:56,780
be like, stop taking photos with those people so close to you.

1280
01:03:56,780 --> 01:03:59,440
You don't know if that's a bad girl or not.

1281
01:03:59,440 --> 01:04:05,140
And one day Al Qaeda was like had just gone too far and the locals were like, we're done.

1282
01:04:05,140 --> 01:04:07,120
And they're like, literally it was called the awakening.

1283
01:04:07,120 --> 01:04:09,720
They then go, that guy is the bad guy.

1284
01:04:09,720 --> 01:04:13,320
And there's like photos, people in the photos with my brother that he'd been taking photos

1285
01:04:13,320 --> 01:04:14,320
of.

1286
01:04:14,320 --> 01:04:15,380
I was like, I told you, right?

1287
01:04:15,380 --> 01:04:19,960
So it's easy, though, to say that from the comfort of Tampa while he's trying to like

1288
01:04:19,960 --> 01:04:27,120
make sure his men and him survive in an environment that is less than hospitable.

1289
01:04:27,120 --> 01:04:35,280
But it shifts so much in how that happens, what that affects your brain and how that

1290
01:04:35,280 --> 01:04:36,280
is.

1291
01:04:36,280 --> 01:04:37,280
It's got to take a toll.

1292
01:04:37,280 --> 01:04:38,280
You know what I mean?

1293
01:04:38,280 --> 01:04:39,280
It's like the kid from Iowa.

1294
01:04:39,280 --> 01:04:40,280
Let's go back to that guy.

1295
01:04:40,280 --> 01:04:43,440
I just want to serve or maybe I just want to pay for college.

1296
01:04:43,440 --> 01:04:47,040
Maybe I did not really have a venue out.

1297
01:04:47,040 --> 01:04:50,440
Like my own son that's in the Air Force right now, he really didn't have a lot of options

1298
01:04:50,440 --> 01:04:51,440
in life right now.

1299
01:04:51,440 --> 01:04:53,040
He's one of the most brilliant kids you've ever met.

1300
01:04:53,040 --> 01:04:54,040
You know what I mean?

1301
01:04:54,040 --> 01:04:55,680
Just not a whole lot of motivation.

1302
01:04:55,680 --> 01:05:00,520
Now, like just after a basic training, he looks focused and directed.

1303
01:05:00,520 --> 01:05:01,840
Still the same kid there.

1304
01:05:01,840 --> 01:05:02,840
You can see it.

1305
01:05:02,840 --> 01:05:06,760
I'm not saying overnight he transformed into something that he's not, but he is on the

1306
01:05:06,760 --> 01:05:09,400
path that didn't exist prior to that.

1307
01:05:09,400 --> 01:05:12,560
So I don't know.

1308
01:05:12,560 --> 01:05:14,480
It sure is easy talking from Ocala.

1309
01:05:14,480 --> 01:05:17,960
No, but it's interesting because it is a nuanced conversation.

1310
01:05:17,960 --> 01:05:18,960
Yeah, it is.

1311
01:05:18,960 --> 01:05:19,960
It very much is.

1312
01:05:19,960 --> 01:05:22,760
You talked about your parents immigration story.

1313
01:05:22,760 --> 01:05:28,080
Now you've got this son who's trying to find his feet in the world.

1314
01:05:28,080 --> 01:05:33,440
What I find interesting coming from another country is my perception of the American dream

1315
01:05:33,440 --> 01:05:35,520
is the old one.

1316
01:05:35,520 --> 01:05:40,160
Just a little bit of land, grow some food, have chickens.

1317
01:05:40,160 --> 01:05:44,280
When I came to the States, it was before the crash.

1318
01:05:44,280 --> 01:05:51,840
So the American dream was to have two Winnebago's and four Suburbans and jet skis and dirt bikes.

1319
01:05:51,840 --> 01:05:55,520
And it just completely gone.

1320
01:05:55,520 --> 01:06:00,640
What I find sad for our generation, especially this one graduate in the last few years went

1321
01:06:00,640 --> 01:06:04,760
through COVID, came out the other side where there were no jobs.

1322
01:06:04,760 --> 01:06:06,080
We don't think about that.

1323
01:06:06,080 --> 01:06:07,680
We just said, oh, we'll just give you handouts.

1324
01:06:07,680 --> 01:06:08,960
Oh, the handouts are done now.

1325
01:06:08,960 --> 01:06:12,280
Now go to work, you lazy turret.

1326
01:06:12,280 --> 01:06:20,760
I don't see that American dream that you can be anything kid conversation in 2025.

1327
01:06:20,760 --> 01:06:24,880
That's what draws a lot of people from other countries here.

1328
01:06:24,880 --> 01:06:27,120
And it is what happens in America.

1329
01:06:27,120 --> 01:06:32,160
If you ignore the politics and the division and the shitty news stations at our core,

1330
01:06:32,160 --> 01:06:33,160
you can be anything.

1331
01:06:33,160 --> 01:06:37,560
I came from another country, became a firefighter, became a stuntman, started a podcast, wrote

1332
01:06:37,560 --> 01:06:38,560
books.

1333
01:06:38,560 --> 01:06:42,240
I probably couldn't have done that if I was from Eastern block or North Korea or a lot

1334
01:06:42,240 --> 01:06:44,820
of other places.

1335
01:06:44,820 --> 01:06:51,080
So what is your kind of perception on kind of refinding that inspiration, that draw,

1336
01:06:51,080 --> 01:06:54,320
not only for immigrants, but for our own young people?

1337
01:06:54,320 --> 01:06:56,400
So I think it's almost two tier, right?

1338
01:06:56,400 --> 01:06:59,840
So tier one, I'm going to say this, so I go back to tier two, right?

1339
01:06:59,840 --> 01:07:04,440
So tier one, the immigrant, tier two is the current American.

1340
01:07:04,440 --> 01:07:13,480
So every year I take, I was the chairman of this nonprofit called the Allied Forces Foundation.

1341
01:07:13,480 --> 01:07:19,800
And we take veterans to Scotland and we do a 55 mile road march.

1342
01:07:19,800 --> 01:07:22,520
They call it a yomp through the highlands.

1343
01:07:22,520 --> 01:07:28,840
And it's really to raise money for the British soldiers fund because their VA isn't like

1344
01:07:28,840 --> 01:07:30,400
our VA in any way, right?

1345
01:07:30,400 --> 01:07:31,400
Which is sad.

1346
01:07:31,400 --> 01:07:35,480
So we'll bring teams from the Ukraine, we'll bring teams from France.

1347
01:07:35,480 --> 01:07:38,680
And the biggest part of the contingency is from America.

1348
01:07:38,680 --> 01:07:42,200
But the reason I tell you that is because number one, I got to interact with their soldiers.

1349
01:07:42,200 --> 01:07:45,200
Number two, I got to interact with foreigners.

1350
01:07:45,200 --> 01:07:48,360
Like you live in America, you never leave America.

1351
01:07:48,360 --> 01:07:50,200
This is all you know.

1352
01:07:50,200 --> 01:07:57,560
When you go overseas, you're like, whoa, we really, really have it good, right?

1353
01:07:57,560 --> 01:08:03,920
Even just the ability to have land or opportunity because it's so limited over, at least in

1354
01:08:03,920 --> 01:08:08,360
Scotland, in parts of Europe that I've been to.

1355
01:08:08,360 --> 01:08:09,960
So it's perspective.

1356
01:08:09,960 --> 01:08:13,600
When you have an immigrant land in America, right?

1357
01:08:13,600 --> 01:08:17,280
The American dream to them is based on hope, right?

1358
01:08:17,280 --> 01:08:21,760
A hope which has a lesser light maybe where they're from, right?

1359
01:08:21,760 --> 01:08:27,000
You get someone from Guatemala that comes here and they were born poor, brother, that

1360
01:08:27,000 --> 01:08:32,560
person's chances of getting anything but just maybe one rung up is almost impossible.

1361
01:08:32,560 --> 01:08:33,840
Just a fact.

1362
01:08:33,840 --> 01:08:37,920
They come here and we tell them, hey, you can be anything you want.

1363
01:08:37,920 --> 01:08:41,360
I once dated a girl from Colombia, right?

1364
01:08:41,360 --> 01:08:44,000
And brother, she was gorgeous.

1365
01:08:44,000 --> 01:08:47,560
I mean, she was beautiful.

1366
01:08:47,560 --> 01:08:50,180
Educated in Colombia, she had a college degree.

1367
01:08:50,180 --> 01:08:52,360
She comes here.

1368
01:08:52,360 --> 01:08:54,560
She thinks of herself as a waitress.

1369
01:08:54,560 --> 01:09:00,280
Their system over there, very oriented by, I say caste, but that's, I know that's the

1370
01:09:00,280 --> 01:09:01,920
Indian system, but I'm trying to use it.

1371
01:09:01,920 --> 01:09:02,920
They have something similar.

1372
01:09:02,920 --> 01:09:04,600
Like a social ladder.

1373
01:09:04,600 --> 01:09:05,600
Social ladder.

1374
01:09:05,600 --> 01:09:06,600
Thank you.

1375
01:09:06,600 --> 01:09:07,600
Perfect.

1376
01:09:07,600 --> 01:09:08,600
Yeah.

1377
01:09:08,600 --> 01:09:12,280
Her mom says her grandmother who helped raise her, she grew up with dirt floor.

1378
01:09:12,280 --> 01:09:13,280
Okay.

1379
01:09:13,280 --> 01:09:16,360
Her grandmother goes, why are you reaching so high?

1380
01:09:16,360 --> 01:09:17,360
He's a lawyer.

1381
01:09:17,360 --> 01:09:21,840
Now listen, when I look in the mirror, I'm a schlub, right?

1382
01:09:21,840 --> 01:09:24,440
Puts on his boots just like anybody else.

1383
01:09:24,440 --> 01:09:26,480
I think nothing of title, right?

1384
01:09:26,480 --> 01:09:29,920
I look at a man and a woman, I say, are you a good person?

1385
01:09:29,920 --> 01:09:33,320
Then I want you near me friend or more.

1386
01:09:33,320 --> 01:09:34,920
No.

1387
01:09:34,920 --> 01:09:43,120
So like their, her grandmother was self-limiting over there because that's the reality of her

1388
01:09:43,120 --> 01:09:46,040
family and what they had done over there.

1389
01:09:46,040 --> 01:09:47,040
Right?

1390
01:09:47,040 --> 01:09:49,000
But we're in America and I was trying to explain her headless.

1391
01:09:49,000 --> 01:09:50,880
When you walk in the room, nobody sees that.

1392
01:09:50,880 --> 01:09:54,920
No one knows that you had, in fact, you should wear that dirt under your toenails that you

1393
01:09:54,920 --> 01:09:59,520
grew up in as a badge of honor, because look at how far you've come in America, right?

1394
01:09:59,520 --> 01:10:01,560
That's the American dream.

1395
01:10:01,560 --> 01:10:02,600
That's the hope, right?

1396
01:10:02,600 --> 01:10:04,480
We used to attach things to it.

1397
01:10:04,480 --> 01:10:09,200
You could get your post stamp, you get a house for my parents and my grandfather.

1398
01:10:09,200 --> 01:10:11,560
He bought a two bedroom, one bath house.

1399
01:10:11,560 --> 01:10:13,080
He had made it.

1400
01:10:13,080 --> 01:10:14,080
Okay.

1401
01:10:14,080 --> 01:10:15,080
It wasn't big, right?

1402
01:10:15,080 --> 01:10:16,700
Two bedroom, one bath.

1403
01:10:16,700 --> 01:10:20,280
He thought he was the king of the hill had made it right.

1404
01:10:20,280 --> 01:10:21,480
Ownership of property.

1405
01:10:21,480 --> 01:10:23,920
I could appreciate if we get back to that, right?

1406
01:10:23,920 --> 01:10:29,240
In a sense of, um, because there's something about owning a piece of the dream, right?

1407
01:10:29,240 --> 01:10:30,240
And that's real.

1408
01:10:30,240 --> 01:10:31,240
You own it.

1409
01:10:31,240 --> 01:10:32,440
Your name's on the title.

1410
01:10:32,440 --> 01:10:33,440
You have your car.

1411
01:10:33,440 --> 01:10:37,480
When they get their first cars that, you know, it could be a jalopy that we wouldn't even

1412
01:10:37,480 --> 01:10:41,520
drive anymore, but they got four wheels and think about where you're from.

1413
01:10:41,520 --> 01:10:44,240
Like having a car in England is like a big deal.

1414
01:10:44,240 --> 01:10:45,240
You know what I mean?

1415
01:10:45,240 --> 01:10:46,240
Like bigger than it should be.

1416
01:10:46,240 --> 01:10:47,840
In my mind, it's just transportation.

1417
01:10:47,840 --> 01:10:54,920
I thought, now, how do we get back to getting Americans to realize that that is the bigger

1418
01:10:54,920 --> 01:10:55,920
part, right?

1419
01:10:55,920 --> 01:11:02,560
Like where you are so jaded by how, um, it is to be an American notice.

1420
01:11:02,560 --> 01:11:04,200
I said, how, right?

1421
01:11:04,200 --> 01:11:07,720
Um, what and how it is to be an American.

1422
01:11:07,720 --> 01:11:13,280
You, you don't realize the value of what you have and how do you wake someone up to it?

1423
01:11:13,280 --> 01:11:14,280
Right?

1424
01:11:14,280 --> 01:11:20,520
Um, I probably have had this conversation more with my friends as an, and then nothing

1425
01:11:20,520 --> 01:11:22,600
makes me feel more like an old timer.

1426
01:11:22,600 --> 01:11:28,080
Like I feel like I'm 90, you know, having this conversation and truly like, I, I don't

1427
01:11:28,080 --> 01:11:29,560
land on an answer.

1428
01:11:29,560 --> 01:11:33,800
We don't land on an answer because I don't know whether I fight this phone, whether I

1429
01:11:33,800 --> 01:11:39,640
fight the lethargy of, of the PC stuff at school, what we're teaching our kids.

1430
01:11:39,640 --> 01:11:41,880
Do I homeschool my kid to teach him?

1431
01:11:41,880 --> 01:11:45,720
So I stopped trying to control everyone else.

1432
01:11:45,720 --> 01:11:46,720
Right.

1433
01:11:46,720 --> 01:11:50,140
Even as a politician, I stopped on this part, right?

1434
01:11:50,140 --> 01:11:54,360
If you can't see how great it is you have and the opportunities you have, there's nothing

1435
01:11:54,360 --> 01:11:56,240
I'm going to do that's going to shake your head.

1436
01:11:56,240 --> 01:12:01,880
I mean, we're on a podcast, we have TV, we have documentaries, nothing shows you.

1437
01:12:01,880 --> 01:12:06,160
Like I could take you to North Korea to highlight it and you'd still probably figure out, man,

1438
01:12:06,160 --> 01:12:08,480
but you know, my internet sucks.

1439
01:12:08,480 --> 01:12:10,720
You're like, come on, man.

1440
01:12:10,720 --> 01:12:13,800
So what I do is I can control what I can control my kids.

1441
01:12:13,800 --> 01:12:14,800
Right.

1442
01:12:14,800 --> 01:12:17,800
And so I got told you, we have, we at home, we have seven, right.

1443
01:12:17,800 --> 01:12:22,960
And each one of those kids, I am the indoctrinator in chief, just so you know that.

1444
01:12:22,960 --> 01:12:29,200
Like I, I am the one that's pouring into them the values of what I think they should have.

1445
01:12:29,200 --> 01:12:32,680
And then I do my best until one eight, right.

1446
01:12:32,680 --> 01:12:36,080
Until they're 18 and they go out the door and I'm not done.

1447
01:12:36,080 --> 01:12:39,560
But at that point it's, I'm more done than not.

1448
01:12:39,560 --> 01:12:43,280
At that point, I'm trying to do my left and right limits to keep you in the lanes and

1449
01:12:43,280 --> 01:12:46,120
be like, Hey, do you think that maybe you should?

1450
01:12:46,120 --> 01:12:48,400
And they're like, Oh, right.

1451
01:12:48,400 --> 01:12:52,880
But until then we're talking about American exceptionalism.

1452
01:12:52,880 --> 01:12:55,400
We understand America has her problems.

1453
01:12:55,400 --> 01:12:58,440
We talk about the incredibleness of the constitution.

1454
01:12:58,440 --> 01:13:00,960
We talk about God and faith.

1455
01:13:00,960 --> 01:13:01,960
Like there's no tomorrow.

1456
01:13:01,960 --> 01:13:04,560
We talk about family responsibilities.

1457
01:13:04,560 --> 01:13:09,200
We talk about giving more than you get in community service.

1458
01:13:09,200 --> 01:13:11,560
I have expectations of my children, right.

1459
01:13:11,560 --> 01:13:15,040
That they serve their community, right.

1460
01:13:15,040 --> 01:13:19,320
There's nothing more that I hate about someone who bitches about something that's wrong without

1461
01:13:19,320 --> 01:13:23,480
either giving me a solution to the problem or being part of the solution of the problem.

1462
01:13:23,480 --> 01:13:27,320
So you as an American, as a resident here, as whatever you have the right to complain

1463
01:13:27,320 --> 01:13:30,160
all you want, that's the freedom of speech.

1464
01:13:30,160 --> 01:13:36,120
But boy, I feel like your bitching sure does carry a lot more weight when you've put skin

1465
01:13:36,120 --> 01:13:37,120
into the game.

1466
01:13:37,120 --> 01:13:38,120
Okay.

1467
01:13:38,120 --> 01:13:40,160
Not paying taxes is not enough, right?

1468
01:13:40,160 --> 01:13:41,600
What have you done for your community?

1469
01:13:41,600 --> 01:13:42,800
And I don't need you to put on a uniform.

1470
01:13:42,800 --> 01:13:43,800
I want you to, you know what I mean?

1471
01:13:43,800 --> 01:13:44,800
I really do.

1472
01:13:44,800 --> 01:13:46,520
I want you to.

1473
01:13:46,520 --> 01:13:51,160
But if you don't put on a uniform, okay, tell me what you did for your family.

1474
01:13:51,160 --> 01:13:52,680
Tell me how you served your church.

1475
01:13:52,680 --> 01:13:54,800
Tell me how you volunteered at the hat.

1476
01:13:54,800 --> 01:13:56,520
Tell me how you made this homeless shelter better.

1477
01:13:56,520 --> 01:13:58,260
Tell me how you cleaned up a road.

1478
01:13:58,260 --> 01:14:03,600
Tell me you did something better than leaving your community better than you found it.

1479
01:14:03,600 --> 01:14:06,280
And these are the things that I pour into my kids.

1480
01:14:06,280 --> 01:14:08,440
And it's not just a one time thing.

1481
01:14:08,440 --> 01:14:12,600
I promise you, if you had my kids here, they'd be like, Oh, here he goes again.

1482
01:14:12,600 --> 01:14:17,120
And I'll say like, look, even just how we deal with bullies, for example, Alvarez's

1483
01:14:17,120 --> 01:14:18,680
do not stand by.

1484
01:14:18,680 --> 01:14:19,680
You understand that?

1485
01:14:19,680 --> 01:14:23,520
Like they know if they watch someone getting bullied and they don't do something and I

1486
01:14:23,520 --> 01:14:26,840
find out about it, they're going to have to deal with a bully here.

1487
01:14:26,840 --> 01:14:27,840
Right.

1488
01:14:27,840 --> 01:14:31,840
And I don't mean to make light of that word, but they're going to have to deal with me.

1489
01:14:31,840 --> 01:14:32,840
Right.

1490
01:14:32,840 --> 01:14:35,580
If they know that they have to defend themselves and they know that they have to defend their

1491
01:14:35,580 --> 01:14:36,580
brothers too.

1492
01:14:36,580 --> 01:14:40,760
Like, so if they get into a fight at school because they went into their sister's help

1493
01:14:40,760 --> 01:14:44,280
or their sister came to their aid, they're not getting in trouble with me.

1494
01:14:44,280 --> 01:14:47,060
They might get in trouble with the school.

1495
01:14:47,060 --> 01:14:52,700
My oldest who is 20 and at FSU right now, he put that to the test.

1496
01:14:52,700 --> 01:14:58,980
That dude had a three, got a three day suspension and at school for defending himself and his

1497
01:14:58,980 --> 01:15:05,200
teacher were his principal was like almost pissed that the way I was treating it, I was

1498
01:15:05,200 --> 01:15:08,400
like, ma'am, did he defend himself?

1499
01:15:08,400 --> 01:15:09,400
Yeah.

1500
01:15:09,400 --> 01:15:10,840
And he tried to, he tried to mitigate it.

1501
01:15:10,840 --> 01:15:11,840
Right.

1502
01:15:11,840 --> 01:15:14,480
And then my son put them in a choke hold and the guy passed out.

1503
01:15:14,480 --> 01:15:15,840
He didn't threaten anybody else.

1504
01:15:15,840 --> 01:15:21,160
And we talked about like making sure that we were making the right decisions.

1505
01:15:21,160 --> 01:15:24,840
Even the police officer that was there that day was like, he did good.

1506
01:15:24,840 --> 01:15:27,040
Like he didn't go too far.

1507
01:15:27,040 --> 01:15:28,880
He didn't be defending himself.

1508
01:15:28,880 --> 01:15:31,200
And then afterwards she goes, and you know what?

1509
01:15:31,200 --> 01:15:32,200
He didn't even lie about it.

1510
01:15:32,200 --> 01:15:34,400
And I was like, ma'am, I didn't understand what this was.

1511
01:15:34,400 --> 01:15:35,600
I didn't get this part.

1512
01:15:35,600 --> 01:15:37,200
She said he didn't even lie about it.

1513
01:15:37,200 --> 01:15:39,120
I was like, what are you talking about?

1514
01:15:39,120 --> 01:15:40,880
He goes, most kids would have lied about it.

1515
01:15:40,880 --> 01:15:46,200
And I was like, well, my son understands that if he lies to me or he lies to you about it,

1516
01:15:46,200 --> 01:15:50,760
then that per percussion will be 10 times worse than anything you could do to him.

1517
01:15:50,760 --> 01:15:53,760
And so these are the things we try to pour into them.

1518
01:15:53,760 --> 01:15:59,160
When we talk about rebuilding the American dream, I know this a long answer.

1519
01:15:59,160 --> 01:16:06,080
So I will ensure that my part of the American dream or my hope is well founded in these

1520
01:16:06,080 --> 01:16:07,080
kids.

1521
01:16:07,080 --> 01:16:09,360
And then what they do with it, they're off to the races.

1522
01:16:09,360 --> 01:16:10,360
You know what I mean?

1523
01:16:10,360 --> 01:16:12,280
So I got Logan in the Air Force.

1524
01:16:12,280 --> 01:16:14,560
Tony is going off too.

1525
01:16:14,560 --> 01:16:17,720
He's still debating how he wants to serve, if he's going to serve.

1526
01:16:17,720 --> 01:16:21,840
And then I got a 16 year old girl, Haven.

1527
01:16:21,840 --> 01:16:23,600
She's a beauty queen, right?

1528
01:16:23,600 --> 01:16:25,360
Literally, literally.

1529
01:16:25,360 --> 01:16:27,160
She's in pageants and stuff.

1530
01:16:27,160 --> 01:16:32,280
And she's like, I think I want to fight terrorists before I go do my job.

1531
01:16:32,280 --> 01:16:34,280
And I was like, really?

1532
01:16:34,280 --> 01:16:35,640
OK, that's great.

1533
01:16:35,640 --> 01:16:39,800
I'm however it is that you see your service.

1534
01:16:39,800 --> 01:16:45,800
And then my brother, we got a cousin of mine who's in special operations at Fort Bragg

1535
01:16:45,800 --> 01:16:46,800
right now.

1536
01:16:46,800 --> 01:16:48,320
I had another one in the Air Force.

1537
01:16:48,320 --> 01:16:53,760
My brother's a cop in Miami who is also a veteran.

1538
01:16:53,760 --> 01:17:01,360
So we're a family that serves not because we think it's cool for the scare badges on

1539
01:17:01,360 --> 01:17:05,840
our chest or the storytelling, because I think it's part of the ethos that we've developed

1540
01:17:05,840 --> 01:17:09,480
of a way of thanking our country for saving our lives.

1541
01:17:09,480 --> 01:17:13,640
And then it's developed from there to protect the American way and the hope and the dream

1542
01:17:13,640 --> 01:17:14,640
that it is.

1543
01:17:14,640 --> 01:17:15,640
Beautiful.

1544
01:17:15,640 --> 01:17:19,920
Well, I mean, with all that service you have in your family, you mentioned that you came

1545
01:17:19,920 --> 01:17:23,760
up through the military and then the law field.

1546
01:17:23,760 --> 01:17:27,280
What was your journey as far as the exposure into law enforcement?

1547
01:17:27,280 --> 01:17:32,760
And then what are some of the glaring issues that you're trying to help fix when it comes

1548
01:17:32,760 --> 01:17:34,840
to the first responder professions?

1549
01:17:34,840 --> 01:17:44,800
OK, so I only got out of the army when I met my wife because I told her I was never going

1550
01:17:44,800 --> 01:17:45,800
to be a civilian.

1551
01:17:45,800 --> 01:17:47,040
She's like, OK.

1552
01:17:47,040 --> 01:17:52,920
And I don't think she'd ever really thought that I was this serious about it.

1553
01:17:52,920 --> 01:17:54,700
So I said, I'll get out.

1554
01:17:54,700 --> 01:17:56,120
But I'm going to go to the FBI.

1555
01:17:56,120 --> 01:17:57,640
So I got into the FBI.

1556
01:17:57,640 --> 01:18:02,600
And then when we got into the FBI, she's like, well, I didn't think you'd make it in there.

1557
01:18:02,600 --> 01:18:04,680
If you if you go, I don't think we're going to make it.

1558
01:18:04,680 --> 01:18:07,320
And so I'm a pretty faith based person.

1559
01:18:07,320 --> 01:18:09,240
I was like, maybe this is one of God's challenges.

1560
01:18:09,240 --> 01:18:10,240
So I didn't go to the FBI.

1561
01:18:10,240 --> 01:18:11,240
Right.

1562
01:18:11,240 --> 01:18:15,800
I said, I'm a double down on my family.

1563
01:18:15,800 --> 01:18:17,520
And in retrospect, I think there was a mistake.

1564
01:18:17,520 --> 01:18:18,520
But like, are there mistakes?

1565
01:18:18,520 --> 01:18:22,680
Like, because that kind of like painted and colored my life going forward.

1566
01:18:22,680 --> 01:18:23,680
Right.

1567
01:18:23,680 --> 01:18:28,360
So I was listless, probably the closest to depressed I'd ever been in my life.

1568
01:18:28,360 --> 01:18:32,160
But this is 2003.

1569
01:18:32,160 --> 01:18:33,160
Nobody's talking about this stuff.

1570
01:18:33,160 --> 01:18:34,160
You know what I mean?

1571
01:18:34,160 --> 01:18:36,840
I feel like a wuss.

1572
01:18:36,840 --> 01:18:39,680
But there is I sold pharmaceuticals at the time that I had.

1573
01:18:39,680 --> 01:18:43,760
That was like a supposed to be a joke job until I got my FBI assignment.

1574
01:18:43,760 --> 01:18:47,800
When I remember, like, telling my boss, I quit because I got my FBI papers.

1575
01:18:47,800 --> 01:18:50,360
It said report to the Academy on this date.

1576
01:18:50,360 --> 01:18:51,720
And he's like, you quit.

1577
01:18:51,720 --> 01:18:58,200
Because we were making him a lot of money and we're still friends to this day.

1578
01:18:58,200 --> 01:19:03,560
So I remember one day after I had told the FBI I wasn't going to go, I felt so embarrassed

1579
01:19:03,560 --> 01:19:05,120
that I didn't go.

1580
01:19:05,120 --> 01:19:06,520
I sent my recruiter flowers.

1581
01:19:06,520 --> 01:19:07,520
It was a she.

1582
01:19:07,520 --> 01:19:10,760
And I don't think she'd ever received flowers.

1583
01:19:10,760 --> 01:19:11,760
And I'm sorry.

1584
01:19:11,760 --> 01:19:15,020
You know, I was like, I was really embarrassed.

1585
01:19:15,020 --> 01:19:20,040
So like a year later, I remember like going into doctor's offices, going, I used to jump

1586
01:19:20,040 --> 01:19:26,040
out of airplanes, be responsible for millions of dollars of equipment, all these people's

1587
01:19:26,040 --> 01:19:27,040
lives.

1588
01:19:27,040 --> 01:19:33,080
And I am literally asking this doctor who blows me off eight of 10 times, right, to

1589
01:19:33,080 --> 01:19:37,800
do whatever I'm asking him to do with this product that I'm selling.

1590
01:19:37,800 --> 01:19:42,360
This is a ridiculous, non purpose filled life, right?

1591
01:19:42,360 --> 01:19:44,800
There's one day I could not put my pants on.

1592
01:19:44,800 --> 01:19:46,800
I'm like looking at my pants.

1593
01:19:46,800 --> 01:19:51,080
They are around my ankles and I'm like trying to will them to come up.

1594
01:19:51,080 --> 01:19:54,760
You know, I remember begging.

1595
01:19:54,760 --> 01:19:56,760
I was like, please come up, pull them up.

1596
01:19:56,760 --> 01:20:00,280
You know, we got to get out the door.

1597
01:20:00,280 --> 01:20:05,080
So that was the day I remember calling my talk to my wife that night and I had called

1598
01:20:05,080 --> 01:20:09,280
the FBI back and they'd only been like three years, two years, some since I had told them

1599
01:20:09,280 --> 01:20:12,920
no and there were still bad stuff going on and they really needed people.

1600
01:20:12,920 --> 01:20:14,360
They said, yeah, we'll take you back.

1601
01:20:14,360 --> 01:20:17,400
We just got to do your background check for two years.

1602
01:20:17,400 --> 01:20:20,400
So I told my wife that I want to go back, but we now had a son and I was never going

1603
01:20:20,400 --> 01:20:21,400
to leave my son.

1604
01:20:21,400 --> 01:20:22,400
You know what I mean?

1605
01:20:22,400 --> 01:20:24,600
That's my first commitment is to my family.

1606
01:20:24,600 --> 01:20:27,880
You know, and she said, no, we're still not going.

1607
01:20:27,880 --> 01:20:32,360
And that night I moved to the couch and that's when those, you know, that was my first divorce.

1608
01:20:32,360 --> 01:20:33,360
You know what I mean?

1609
01:20:33,360 --> 01:20:36,780
Like I said, that was my story of how we got there.

1610
01:20:36,780 --> 01:20:40,760
So I had gone to law school in the meantime, you know, trying to figure out something other

1611
01:20:40,760 --> 01:20:44,760
to do other than pharmaceutical sales, which I was miserable at.

1612
01:20:44,760 --> 01:20:46,520
And I thought, oh, I'll become a lawyer.

1613
01:20:46,520 --> 01:20:48,480
And I was a reluctant lawyer.

1614
01:20:48,480 --> 01:20:49,640
Like I'm there.

1615
01:20:49,640 --> 01:20:51,600
I love these constitution classes.

1616
01:20:51,600 --> 01:20:55,480
I love these legal theory classes about how we make law and all.

1617
01:20:55,480 --> 01:20:57,000
I thrived in that.

1618
01:20:57,000 --> 01:20:58,400
Everything else I loathed.

1619
01:20:58,400 --> 01:20:59,400
Right.

1620
01:20:59,400 --> 01:21:00,400
I just so I graduated law school.

1621
01:21:00,400 --> 01:21:03,080
I passed the bar.

1622
01:21:03,080 --> 01:21:04,760
Not very plus about it.

1623
01:21:04,760 --> 01:21:06,760
We're in the middle of the worst economy.

1624
01:21:06,760 --> 01:21:08,760
You know, this is like when the bubble hit.

1625
01:21:08,760 --> 01:21:13,640
I go back to law school to hide and I get a second law degree thinking when I come out,

1626
01:21:13,640 --> 01:21:14,640
this thing will be over.

1627
01:21:14,640 --> 01:21:15,640
It wasn't over.

1628
01:21:15,640 --> 01:21:20,160
It was like it went over a couple more years and I ended up having to open my own law firm

1629
01:21:20,160 --> 01:21:22,440
super early because no one would hire.

1630
01:21:22,440 --> 01:21:24,000
Like it was that bad.

1631
01:21:24,000 --> 01:21:29,040
In fact, like the top 10% people, which I was definitely not in the top 10% were getting

1632
01:21:29,040 --> 01:21:31,080
job offers rescinded at that time.

1633
01:21:31,080 --> 01:21:33,640
So it was so I had kids to feed.

1634
01:21:33,640 --> 01:21:35,440
So it is what it is.

1635
01:21:35,440 --> 01:21:37,800
We open our own law firm and we figured it out.

1636
01:21:37,800 --> 01:21:40,920
I think the gray hair at the time, like I had a little bit older.

1637
01:21:40,920 --> 01:21:44,480
I had some gray hair and it made people think like, oh, he must know what he's talking about.

1638
01:21:44,480 --> 01:21:50,640
But if they only knew, you know, they only knew that's when that's why I taught at business

1639
01:21:50,640 --> 01:21:52,080
law because that's how I fed my family.

1640
01:21:52,080 --> 01:21:56,520
So business law at the University of Tampa, I taught two sections that kept the lights

1641
01:21:56,520 --> 01:21:57,520
on.

1642
01:21:57,520 --> 01:21:58,520
That was lights money.

1643
01:21:58,520 --> 01:22:05,800
So then I volunteered at the sheriff's office and this was my first contact with the sheriff's

1644
01:22:05,800 --> 01:22:06,800
office.

1645
01:22:06,800 --> 01:22:09,960
And at the Hispanic Advisory Council, I told you, I then became the president.

1646
01:22:09,960 --> 01:22:14,160
I was that I did that for five years and I also was on their shooting review board.

1647
01:22:14,160 --> 01:22:19,320
So every single time a deputy would discharge a weapon outside of training, it came to the

1648
01:22:19,320 --> 01:22:21,320
shooting review board.

1649
01:22:21,320 --> 01:22:27,280
And I was a civilian amongst all of the sworn officers.

1650
01:22:27,280 --> 01:22:30,880
And if you know anything about a sheriff's office, it is a paramilitary organization

1651
01:22:30,880 --> 01:22:35,360
where the sheriff is the general and then it follows rank order.

1652
01:22:35,360 --> 01:22:42,640
So oftentimes at a sheriff's office, not this one, but at any sheriff's office, there

1653
01:22:42,640 --> 01:22:49,640
isn't a lot of opportunity to stand on your own and free think for fear of not wanting

1654
01:22:49,640 --> 01:22:54,120
to do the right thing by the sheriff or not agreeing someone above you and then you getting

1655
01:22:54,120 --> 01:22:55,120
the repercussions.

1656
01:22:55,120 --> 01:23:00,560
So oftentimes at these hearings, you'd have people be, you know, either they all agreed

1657
01:23:00,560 --> 01:23:01,560
and they were bright.

1658
01:23:01,560 --> 01:23:05,280
Like I'm not saying that anything wrong happened at those, but there was one time I, I, I

1659
01:23:05,280 --> 01:23:08,440
specifically remember they were trying to say it was a negligent shooting.

1660
01:23:08,440 --> 01:23:10,520
And I was like, that's not negligent.

1661
01:23:10,520 --> 01:23:14,360
And the entire place was like, what?

1662
01:23:14,360 --> 01:23:18,200
And I really felt great, honestly, because I felt I was doing the right thing.

1663
01:23:18,200 --> 01:23:21,920
I was standing up for somebody who I thought needed this.

1664
01:23:21,920 --> 01:23:23,800
This guy had gone to the door.

1665
01:23:23,800 --> 01:23:29,000
They were there to arrest like a felon with like 40, either 48 felony charges on his record.

1666
01:23:29,000 --> 01:23:30,000
They see him inside.

1667
01:23:30,000 --> 01:23:31,800
They go to knock the door down.

1668
01:23:31,800 --> 01:23:37,320
The secondary latch to the door catches and the deputy falls back and then starts falling

1669
01:23:37,320 --> 01:23:38,600
down a staircase.

1670
01:23:38,600 --> 01:23:43,400
They were using Glocks at the time and his finger hits the trigger as he's falling around,

1671
01:23:43,400 --> 01:23:44,840
skims the ground and goes into the wall.

1672
01:23:44,840 --> 01:23:48,000
No one got injured to me, right?

1673
01:23:48,000 --> 01:23:49,880
That that was like in the process.

1674
01:23:49,880 --> 01:23:52,760
That is an actual accidental discharge, right?

1675
01:23:52,760 --> 01:23:57,600
Like I am, I am horrible on negligent discharges.

1676
01:23:57,600 --> 01:24:01,920
Like there is very little room for you to have actually shot your weapon improperly

1677
01:24:01,920 --> 01:24:02,920
in my mind's eye.

1678
01:24:02,920 --> 01:24:06,580
Either you had trigger discipline, you weren't like being safe or whatever.

1679
01:24:06,580 --> 01:24:10,280
But this guy, he was in the middle of the, of the action.

1680
01:24:10,280 --> 01:24:14,120
So that was there.

1681
01:24:14,120 --> 01:24:17,120
I remember like, Hey, these people could use a voice.

1682
01:24:17,120 --> 01:24:18,280
And then it like occurred to me.

1683
01:24:18,280 --> 01:24:23,240
I was like, if I hadn't been there, like what they'd have given that guy like a negligent

1684
01:24:23,240 --> 01:24:27,800
discharge on his record for doing his job, right?

1685
01:24:27,800 --> 01:24:31,280
And I, and then afterwards, I remember a couple of the majors, cause it was a bunch of majors

1686
01:24:31,280 --> 01:24:32,280
in there.

1687
01:24:32,280 --> 01:24:33,280
We're like, Hey, good job.

1688
01:24:33,280 --> 01:24:34,280
Good job.

1689
01:24:34,280 --> 01:24:35,280
And I was like, good job.

1690
01:24:35,280 --> 01:24:36,280
Why, why didn't you say something?

1691
01:24:36,280 --> 01:24:39,080
And they're like, ha, you know, and so then I understood the politics because there's

1692
01:24:39,080 --> 01:24:40,080
reality.

1693
01:24:40,080 --> 01:24:41,720
There's a politics inside every office.

1694
01:24:41,720 --> 01:24:42,720
That's how it works.

1695
01:24:42,720 --> 01:24:48,720
So then eventually 2017 comes and there's a new sheriff that gets appointed by the governor,

1696
01:24:48,720 --> 01:24:53,720
a governor that I actually had worked for as a political director.

1697
01:24:53,720 --> 01:25:03,720
And that sheriff hires me to be an information at the time was called a PIO.

1698
01:25:03,720 --> 01:25:09,360
And then we changed it when I ended up getting promoted to become the chief information officer,

1699
01:25:09,360 --> 01:25:10,360
right?

1700
01:25:10,360 --> 01:25:12,540
So we, we made it a chief level position.

1701
01:25:12,540 --> 01:25:19,240
And then I kind of advised him on politics, helping him get known in the community.

1702
01:25:19,240 --> 01:25:20,240
And that's what we did.

1703
01:25:20,240 --> 01:25:24,080
So I worked formally at the sheriff's office, not in law enforcement as a law enforcement

1704
01:25:24,080 --> 01:25:25,080
officer.

1705
01:25:25,080 --> 01:25:26,880
I was there for those five years beforehand.

1706
01:25:26,880 --> 01:25:32,200
And then I worked at the sheriff's office for another three, but you know, like when

1707
01:25:32,200 --> 01:25:37,080
you are like the new guy, especially when you don't have a badge, everyone looks at

1708
01:25:37,080 --> 01:25:40,920
you like with distrust, like it's a trust-based system.

1709
01:25:40,920 --> 01:25:44,920
Like I was that guy when we were in the army, like who's this new guy coming in and why

1710
01:25:44,920 --> 01:25:46,000
am I going to trust him?

1711
01:25:46,000 --> 01:25:50,640
So what I did was, um, I made a deal with the sheriff.

1712
01:25:50,640 --> 01:25:51,640
I'll do this job.

1713
01:25:51,640 --> 01:25:55,440
I'll shut down my law firm, which actually wasn't that hard of a thing to do because

1714
01:25:55,440 --> 01:25:58,800
I was super happy to be doing something other than the law.

1715
01:25:58,800 --> 01:26:01,840
And, but I want full access to the sheriff's office.

1716
01:26:01,840 --> 01:26:03,600
I I'm going to tell their story.

1717
01:26:03,600 --> 01:26:07,680
I need to be amongst the men and women and I need carte blanche.

1718
01:26:07,680 --> 01:26:09,040
And he's like, whatever you want.

1719
01:26:09,040 --> 01:26:13,240
And I was like, huh, I hope you don't live to regret those words.

1720
01:26:13,240 --> 01:26:16,840
And so ultimately the man honored his word.

1721
01:26:16,840 --> 01:26:19,520
I did everything at the sheriff's hall.

1722
01:26:19,520 --> 01:26:21,280
I tried out for the squat team.

1723
01:26:21,280 --> 01:26:23,100
We did the bomb team tryouts.

1724
01:26:23,100 --> 01:26:24,800
We went to the dive team.

1725
01:26:24,800 --> 01:26:26,560
We did, I did a tracker class.

1726
01:26:26,560 --> 01:26:32,080
I learned how to fast rope that I was working truly.

1727
01:26:32,080 --> 01:26:36,340
We were on call 24 seven because there was only two of us that did the job I did.

1728
01:26:36,340 --> 01:26:40,160
And then, so if we had a murder scene, we had to report to it like two in the morning.

1729
01:26:40,160 --> 01:26:43,320
Well, by the time you're done with it, it's already time to go to work.

1730
01:26:43,320 --> 01:26:48,200
So I was in my young forties, early forties at the time.

1731
01:26:48,200 --> 01:26:52,000
And bro, we're not 18 anymore.

1732
01:26:52,000 --> 01:26:54,780
And the hours began to catch up.

1733
01:26:54,780 --> 01:26:59,680
And so eventually I think the deputies would see me out and they saw like if they were

1734
01:26:59,680 --> 01:27:01,200
there, I was going to be there.

1735
01:27:01,200 --> 01:27:04,440
And you know, cause normally what would happen is the PIOs would just call it in.

1736
01:27:04,440 --> 01:27:07,920
They'd be like, Hey, Sarge, tell me what happened so I could write this up.

1737
01:27:07,920 --> 01:27:08,920
And they do that.

1738
01:27:08,920 --> 01:27:09,920
And then they go back to bed.

1739
01:27:09,920 --> 01:27:14,240
But I, I, I thought that was like a betrayal of the way we're supposed to be.

1740
01:27:14,240 --> 01:27:17,160
So we're out, if they're out, we're out.

1741
01:27:17,160 --> 01:27:20,880
Um, and I did a lot of ride-alongs.

1742
01:27:20,880 --> 01:27:26,920
So to, to learn, to tell someone's story, if you don't know their story, this, and I

1743
01:27:26,920 --> 01:27:28,680
tell politicians the same thing.

1744
01:27:28,680 --> 01:27:33,020
You, you want to make laws about XYZ, but you haven't gone and visited or you haven't

1745
01:27:33,020 --> 01:27:36,040
gone and lifted a finger like ride-alongs with fire departments.

1746
01:27:36,040 --> 01:27:41,200
You, you, you don't want to fund extra bunker gear, but have you been to a fire yet with

1747
01:27:41,200 --> 01:27:45,960
them and see how disgusting they get and then have to wear the same gear again, because

1748
01:27:45,960 --> 01:27:50,920
the dryers are only good for four hours if they even have a cleaner and a decontaminant

1749
01:27:50,920 --> 01:27:52,160
in a dryer.

1750
01:27:52,160 --> 01:27:56,400
So I did a lot of ride-alongs, a lot of ride-alongs.

1751
01:27:56,400 --> 01:27:57,760
I got to see a lot.

1752
01:27:57,760 --> 01:28:04,120
I saw more behind the yellow tape than I probably even care to remember.

1753
01:28:04,120 --> 01:28:06,240
I didn't think I had any problem with it at all.

1754
01:28:06,240 --> 01:28:07,240
Right.

1755
01:28:07,240 --> 01:28:10,840
And I, and I still think I have a pretty good grip on it, but you know, when you see enough

1756
01:28:10,840 --> 01:28:13,760
dead bodies, when you go from not, right.

1757
01:28:13,760 --> 01:28:15,760
This is what I always say.

1758
01:28:15,760 --> 01:28:17,600
There's like a fake veil, right.

1759
01:28:17,600 --> 01:28:22,880
That exists in, in when you live in society, but when you're in a first responder, that

1760
01:28:22,880 --> 01:28:24,640
veil is lifted.

1761
01:28:24,640 --> 01:28:29,200
Every corner to me now is, Oh, I remember this little kid got killed there.

1762
01:28:29,200 --> 01:28:30,920
Oh, that little kid got murdered there.

1763
01:28:30,920 --> 01:28:32,360
Oh, we had a suicide here.

1764
01:28:32,360 --> 01:28:35,360
Oh, this horrible accident there.

1765
01:28:35,360 --> 01:28:41,760
And I felt like I was kind of losing my humanity at one point when I report like it, like two

1766
01:28:41,760 --> 01:28:47,400
or three in the morning outside of USF, there's a veteran, like a homeless veteran that had

1767
01:28:47,400 --> 01:28:51,800
been riding his bike and he killed himself by throwing himself in a traffic.

1768
01:28:51,800 --> 01:28:52,800
Right.

1769
01:28:52,800 --> 01:28:54,840
Um, I'm a veteran.

1770
01:28:54,840 --> 01:29:03,120
I told you that and we're standing over his body and the traffic homicide sergeant goes,

1771
01:29:03,120 --> 01:29:04,320
Hey, scoot over, scoot over.

1772
01:29:04,320 --> 01:29:05,660
He's leaking on you.

1773
01:29:05,660 --> 01:29:07,400
And I was like, Oh God dang it.

1774
01:29:07,400 --> 01:29:12,900
We just scoot over real quick and just got back to talking about the kids.

1775
01:29:12,900 --> 01:29:16,280
And I, when I walked away from that, I'm like, you're an asshole.

1776
01:29:16,280 --> 01:29:19,020
You know that like, where have you gone?

1777
01:29:19,020 --> 01:29:25,400
This is a dude who shares the same title as you, right in his spiral down, he's homeless

1778
01:29:25,400 --> 01:29:31,760
and in his desperation to get rid of the pain, he has killed himself and then ends up harming

1779
01:29:31,760 --> 01:29:33,000
somebody else, right?

1780
01:29:33,000 --> 01:29:35,960
By being the person that ran him over, right?

1781
01:29:35,960 --> 01:29:38,200
Think about the person that hit him then.

1782
01:29:38,200 --> 01:29:39,200
Right.

1783
01:29:39,200 --> 01:29:43,400
And you, you were talking about your kids and were upset that he was going to leak on

1784
01:29:43,400 --> 01:29:44,800
your shoes.

1785
01:29:44,800 --> 01:29:49,640
So that's at the point where I was like, Oh, I gotta get out of this.

1786
01:29:49,640 --> 01:29:50,640
You know what I mean?

1787
01:29:50,640 --> 01:29:58,700
And by the way, remember three years, not 30, not 20, not even 10, three.

1788
01:29:58,700 --> 01:30:03,360
And I was already like everywhere I go, I'm seeing dead people, right?

1789
01:30:03,360 --> 01:30:06,280
Or dead scenes, tragedy.

1790
01:30:06,280 --> 01:30:07,760
Everything is horrible.

1791
01:30:07,760 --> 01:30:10,680
Everything is like, like the glass is half full.

1792
01:30:10,680 --> 01:30:14,160
I'm a glass, always full guy, not even half full, right?

1793
01:30:14,160 --> 01:30:16,680
Like I could have a good time by myself in this room.

1794
01:30:16,680 --> 01:30:17,680
You know what I mean?

1795
01:30:17,680 --> 01:30:18,680
Like it doesn't matter.

1796
01:30:18,680 --> 01:30:21,280
And it was changing me quickly.

1797
01:30:21,280 --> 01:30:34,000
And that's when really I started realizing also for some reason, my sheriff's office

1798
01:30:34,000 --> 01:30:41,200
had this run of suicides, some of them murder suicides by deputies that, I mean, there's

1799
01:30:41,200 --> 01:30:42,200
nothing to show off.

1800
01:30:42,200 --> 01:30:44,480
This is in fact, this is the opposite, right?

1801
01:30:44,480 --> 01:30:49,880
Like we had one happen.

1802
01:30:49,880 --> 01:30:53,800
The guy kills his family and then, or, and then kills himself.

1803
01:30:53,800 --> 01:30:55,280
And that happened in Pasco.

1804
01:30:55,280 --> 01:30:57,160
So I didn't have, I didn't have to go to that scene, right?

1805
01:30:57,160 --> 01:31:00,160
That was another sheriff's office scene.

1806
01:31:00,160 --> 01:31:05,080
Pasco is the County to the north of us, but I'm one day I'm taking a shower and I get

1807
01:31:05,080 --> 01:31:08,000
a call and it's ringing, ringing.

1808
01:31:08,000 --> 01:31:15,160
And then I look up and I see that it's the, it's a 911 center calling the comm center.

1809
01:31:15,160 --> 01:31:18,520
And the guy's like, Hey sir, are you by your radio?

1810
01:31:18,520 --> 01:31:20,320
And I was like, I'm in the shower.

1811
01:31:20,320 --> 01:31:21,560
Like get to your radio.

1812
01:31:21,560 --> 01:31:23,000
So I didn't have a portable radio.

1813
01:31:23,000 --> 01:31:24,000
I ran to my car.

1814
01:31:24,000 --> 01:31:30,560
I turned it on and all I'm hearing is the scene de-evolve, right?

1815
01:31:30,560 --> 01:31:31,680
As it's going bad.

1816
01:31:31,680 --> 01:31:37,680
It's clearly a deputy that is talking about committing suicide.

1817
01:31:37,680 --> 01:31:42,640
And there's three other deputies that are in front of him and they're trying to only

1818
01:31:42,640 --> 01:31:46,080
one now is communicating to the, to the radio.

1819
01:31:46,080 --> 01:31:54,200
And you can hear his lieutenant who is friends with this guy screaming, the car screaming.

1820
01:31:54,200 --> 01:31:59,920
And every time he keys the mic, you hear the engine just ripping the lights and sirens,

1821
01:31:59,920 --> 01:32:02,080
but the lieutenant is super calm.

1822
01:32:02,080 --> 01:32:04,320
He's like, buddy, I'm on the way.

1823
01:32:04,320 --> 01:32:05,680
Don't do anything until I get there.

1824
01:32:05,680 --> 01:32:07,160
Just give me a chance.

1825
01:32:07,160 --> 01:32:11,720
And then like, I only think it's a deputy like in need at the time.

1826
01:32:11,720 --> 01:32:12,720
Right?

1827
01:32:12,720 --> 01:32:14,600
So I run in, I don't remember any of this.

1828
01:32:14,600 --> 01:32:16,440
I don't remember putting clothes on.

1829
01:32:16,440 --> 01:32:18,040
I don't remember anything.

1830
01:32:18,040 --> 01:32:23,400
I remember being in my car when the female comes over the radio and says he's killed

1831
01:32:23,400 --> 01:32:24,400
himself.

1832
01:32:24,400 --> 01:32:25,400
Okay.

1833
01:32:25,400 --> 01:32:27,600
I got to that scene.

1834
01:32:27,600 --> 01:32:32,980
What I do remember is it was in plant city, which is a, it's its own municipality.

1835
01:32:32,980 --> 01:32:34,720
And none of the cops would look at me in the eyes.

1836
01:32:34,720 --> 01:32:39,400
Like as I'm going through the scene, none of the cops would look at me in the eyes.

1837
01:32:39,400 --> 01:32:41,960
I remember the smell of my breaks, right?

1838
01:32:41,960 --> 01:32:43,680
Cause I got there.

1839
01:32:43,680 --> 01:32:46,280
It was probably should have taken me like 25 minutes to get there.

1840
01:32:46,280 --> 01:32:49,080
I remember I got there like about 12 minutes.

1841
01:32:49,080 --> 01:32:53,240
And then when I get there, the three deputies that are still my friends to this day were

1842
01:32:53,240 --> 01:32:54,240
zombies.

1843
01:32:54,240 --> 01:32:58,640
Like they're walking around and they just, one of them just, I'm holding, I've never

1844
01:32:58,640 --> 01:32:59,920
touched this man.

1845
01:32:59,920 --> 01:33:00,920
Right?

1846
01:33:00,920 --> 01:33:05,360
I'm feeling him crying in my arms, right?

1847
01:33:05,360 --> 01:33:06,360
We didn't know.

1848
01:33:06,360 --> 01:33:07,360
Well, we didn't know.

1849
01:33:07,360 --> 01:33:13,720
I didn't know until I got there was that the guy who killed himself was one of the greatest

1850
01:33:13,720 --> 01:33:16,880
deputies that had always been that guy, right?

1851
01:33:16,880 --> 01:33:26,300
Had been everyone's friend trained extra come in extra, extremely well regarded reputation.

1852
01:33:26,300 --> 01:33:33,840
That day he wakes up at one scene, kills his wife, kills his granddaughter, right?

1853
01:33:33,840 --> 01:33:41,240
Gets in the car, drives to his daughter's house, knocks on the door while her boyfriend

1854
01:33:41,240 --> 01:33:44,320
is upstairs, kills her downstairs.

1855
01:33:44,320 --> 01:33:47,440
And the scene that I arrived was him taking his own life.

1856
01:33:47,440 --> 01:33:48,440
Right?

1857
01:33:48,440 --> 01:33:55,520
And so now this is number, this is like number two that, that day I remember the chief calls

1858
01:33:55,520 --> 01:33:59,460
and like she's screaming at me because apparently she'd been calling me and I just didn't even

1859
01:33:59,460 --> 01:34:02,120
realize it because I, I am a zombie now.

1860
01:34:02,120 --> 01:34:09,240
I'm standing over the body with his, like he's got something laid on over him and she's

1861
01:34:09,240 --> 01:34:12,520
like, where the hell are you?

1862
01:34:12,520 --> 01:34:13,520
We got a job to do.

1863
01:34:13,520 --> 01:34:17,280
And I was like, Oh, I still have a job to do.

1864
01:34:17,280 --> 01:34:24,260
So that same day we lost a firefighter in Clearwater to suicide.

1865
01:34:24,260 --> 01:34:29,560
And in the neighborhood I represent now as a, as a representative, we lost an air force

1866
01:34:29,560 --> 01:34:32,080
special operations guide to suicide.

1867
01:34:32,080 --> 01:34:37,440
Three scenes, two of which my people had to go cover the same day that one of their guys

1868
01:34:37,440 --> 01:34:39,200
had done that.

1869
01:34:39,200 --> 01:34:44,440
And that's when I was like, dude, enough, like enough, we have to do something.

1870
01:34:44,440 --> 01:34:45,440
Right?

1871
01:34:45,440 --> 01:34:46,920
And you, you feel so damn hopeless, right?

1872
01:34:46,920 --> 01:34:50,040
You're like, like we don't, our people don't do this.

1873
01:34:50,040 --> 01:34:51,720
Like we're the ones that go save people.

1874
01:34:51,720 --> 01:34:54,600
Why are we hurting ourselves?

1875
01:34:54,600 --> 01:34:57,480
So again, you try to control what you control.

1876
01:34:57,480 --> 01:35:02,000
So there's this nonprofit called hook a hero and I poured myself into it.

1877
01:35:02,000 --> 01:35:08,320
So whenever there's a scene now, any trauma, what we would do as like people that were

1878
01:35:08,320 --> 01:35:13,220
in law enforcement, this was founded by a deputy on the SWAT team.

1879
01:35:13,220 --> 01:35:18,620
And that includes firefighters now and now we've raised enough money to actually pay

1880
01:35:18,620 --> 01:35:21,840
for clinical therapy if it's needed.

1881
01:35:21,840 --> 01:35:26,040
So like if you're in a bad scene, like you're in a bad fire scene, you're in a bad shooting

1882
01:35:26,040 --> 01:35:31,840
scene or whatever, we take you and we would do buddy counseling and we'd take you fishing,

1883
01:35:31,840 --> 01:35:34,880
hunting, something to decompress so that you could talk.

1884
01:35:34,880 --> 01:35:40,440
And it's actually more effective than I thought because we'd have deputies that would come

1885
01:35:40,440 --> 01:35:42,640
up later and be like, you know what?

1886
01:35:42,640 --> 01:35:44,800
I, that, that was just what I needed.

1887
01:35:44,800 --> 01:35:47,040
Some needed more and that's how we fundraise to do it.

1888
01:35:47,040 --> 01:35:49,280
And so that, that organization still exists today.

1889
01:35:49,280 --> 01:35:54,680
In fact, they're part of Orlando's EAP, which makes me happy Orlando PDZAP because it's

1890
01:35:54,680 --> 01:35:59,900
peer to peer not risking your badge, you know, and you're talking to someone who's actually

1891
01:35:59,900 --> 01:36:02,720
been through what you're, what you're suffering from.

1892
01:36:02,720 --> 01:36:05,080
So it wasn't the only one.

1893
01:36:05,080 --> 01:36:06,160
Like it wasn't the only one.

1894
01:36:06,160 --> 01:36:12,400
Like we still had a litany more of like law enforcement suicides from my own agency.

1895
01:36:12,400 --> 01:36:18,000
And then I remember in Sebring, Highlands County, the sheriff's office called and said

1896
01:36:18,000 --> 01:36:21,240
like they were on the anniversary of one of their cops being murdered.

1897
01:36:21,240 --> 01:36:24,480
They had just had an active shooter in the Sebring bank.

1898
01:36:24,480 --> 01:36:29,520
And at the same time, one of their sergeants in uniform kills himself out there.

1899
01:36:29,520 --> 01:36:32,920
And that, at that agency only had a hundred deputies.

1900
01:36:32,920 --> 01:36:35,160
Like we have a hundred people on a shift.

1901
01:36:35,160 --> 01:36:36,160
You know what I mean?

1902
01:36:36,160 --> 01:36:37,200
Like they had a hundred deputies.

1903
01:36:37,200 --> 01:36:38,200
So that guy knew them.

1904
01:36:38,200 --> 01:36:40,360
Not only did they know them, they're probably really good friends.

1905
01:36:40,360 --> 01:36:41,360
You know what I mean?

1906
01:36:41,360 --> 01:36:44,680
The sheriff was like, they're asking for advice on how to handle it.

1907
01:36:44,680 --> 01:36:47,920
And I was like, how to handle it?

1908
01:36:47,920 --> 01:36:50,520
Just tell them, tell them media that you loved them.

1909
01:36:50,520 --> 01:36:52,300
Tell them that he was part of your family.

1910
01:36:52,300 --> 01:36:56,800
Tell them that you don't know what demons could have came and got them, but that he

1911
01:36:56,800 --> 01:36:59,960
will always be remembered as someone that you cared for and that you loved.

1912
01:36:59,960 --> 01:37:04,800
And we got to figure out how to prevent this in the future and just tell them the truth

1913
01:37:04,800 --> 01:37:06,480
and it'll go away.

1914
01:37:06,480 --> 01:37:10,780
They were worried that it would bring some bad light or that it was a bad reflection.

1915
01:37:10,780 --> 01:37:15,280
Now listen, if you think about it, like think about it.

1916
01:37:15,280 --> 01:37:18,920
If you're in the natural progression of things, like, you know, if something bad happens to

1917
01:37:18,920 --> 01:37:22,480
someone in your family because they did it to themselves, you say, what did I do?

1918
01:37:22,480 --> 01:37:23,480
Right?

1919
01:37:23,480 --> 01:37:30,600
I just spoke at the fallen firefighters, um, uh, memorial ceremony.

1920
01:37:30,600 --> 01:37:32,440
Like, and it was like one of the honors of my life.

1921
01:37:32,440 --> 01:37:37,240
And it was really, I, I look, listen, brother, I can speak to like 7,000 people today without

1922
01:37:37,240 --> 01:37:38,240
even a speech.

1923
01:37:38,240 --> 01:37:40,280
And this doesn't intimidate me.

1924
01:37:40,280 --> 01:37:41,280
I can do it.

1925
01:37:41,280 --> 01:37:45,320
You probably will think that, man, he memorized his speech that day.

1926
01:37:45,320 --> 01:37:49,040
When I'm looking at the families of fallen firefighters, that was rough.

1927
01:37:49,040 --> 01:37:50,040
Right?

1928
01:37:50,040 --> 01:37:53,680
But I also took the opportunity to talk about what we're talking about now.

1929
01:37:53,680 --> 01:37:54,680
Right?

1930
01:37:54,680 --> 01:37:56,440
Um, and we talked about hope.

1931
01:37:56,440 --> 01:37:57,440
We talk about the injury.

1932
01:37:57,440 --> 01:37:58,720
We talk about how we should look at it.

1933
01:37:58,720 --> 01:38:00,200
We talk about rest, all the things.

1934
01:38:00,200 --> 01:38:06,560
Do you know that the next day, one of the dudes in that crowd killed himself in the

1935
01:38:06,560 --> 01:38:07,560
honor guard?

1936
01:38:07,560 --> 01:38:09,000
And do you, do you know what I'm thinking?

1937
01:38:09,000 --> 01:38:15,280
I'm thinking, holy crap, what did I say that that was the thing that pushed him over the

1938
01:38:15,280 --> 01:38:16,440
edge for the next day?

1939
01:38:16,440 --> 01:38:17,440
You know?

1940
01:38:17,440 --> 01:38:18,880
Um, so I understood.

1941
01:38:18,880 --> 01:38:21,760
I understand where a leadership person could be like, I don't want, does it look bad on

1942
01:38:21,760 --> 01:38:22,760
me?

1943
01:38:22,760 --> 01:38:23,760
You know, I get that.

1944
01:38:23,760 --> 01:38:26,640
That's a very easy, quick, banal thing, but they chose to do the right thing.

1945
01:38:26,640 --> 01:38:30,400
And that sheriff went out and said those things or someone for him said it.

1946
01:38:30,400 --> 01:38:32,320
So they honored that guy that way.

1947
01:38:32,320 --> 01:38:36,120
So that's, that's kind of how I got here.

1948
01:38:36,120 --> 01:38:40,360
Um, I've kind of made it my mission to, uh, do something.

1949
01:38:40,360 --> 01:38:44,400
I don't know what we'll end up doing, but to do something about it at a minimum, just

1950
01:38:44,400 --> 01:38:49,480
not stand by, you know, and let it, uh, let it happen without that.

1951
01:38:49,480 --> 01:38:53,120
There'd be some voice of reason, you know, hopefully behind it.

1952
01:38:53,120 --> 01:39:01,640
So in eight years and over a thousand conversations, I am an expert in nothing zero, but I've

1953
01:39:01,640 --> 01:39:07,080
got to really hunt down the experts and layer these questions to the point where if you

1954
01:39:07,080 --> 01:39:12,560
think about a Venn diagram, there's an overlap of absolute truths because we're talking,

1955
01:39:12,560 --> 01:39:17,760
you know, Delta and SAS and PJs and psychologists and neuroscientists and, you know, all these

1956
01:39:17,760 --> 01:39:25,400
people and they're all, you know, these things are overlapping where I see real glaring common

1957
01:39:25,400 --> 01:39:28,640
denominators when it comes to first respond to mental health.

1958
01:39:28,640 --> 01:39:33,960
Firstly, the understanding that a lot of us that enter the profession have unaddressed

1959
01:39:33,960 --> 01:39:34,960
trauma.

1960
01:39:34,960 --> 01:39:35,960
That's why we went into service.

1961
01:39:35,960 --> 01:39:37,320
You know, a lot of us were hurt.

1962
01:39:37,320 --> 01:39:40,080
A lot of us didn't want that to happen to someone else.

1963
01:39:40,080 --> 01:39:42,400
The excitement of the job, we bury it down.

1964
01:39:42,400 --> 01:39:45,840
I don't, not only think about what happened to me because I'm too busy fighting fires

1965
01:39:45,840 --> 01:39:48,160
and responding to cardiac arrests.

1966
01:39:48,160 --> 01:39:54,800
Um, the, uh, organizational betrayal, you know, you put, as you said, that badge on

1967
01:39:54,800 --> 01:40:00,000
your chest, that means that I will serve and even possibly die for the people that in my

1968
01:40:00,000 --> 01:40:01,960
community and I'm part of this tribe.

1969
01:40:01,960 --> 01:40:02,960
I am a police officer.

1970
01:40:02,960 --> 01:40:04,800
I am a firefighter.

1971
01:40:04,800 --> 01:40:09,760
And when a back is turned on an individual, that is detrimental.

1972
01:40:09,760 --> 01:40:12,240
And that's another under discussed thing.

1973
01:40:12,240 --> 01:40:16,640
But the most actionable one, aside from simply just putting counseling at the front door,

1974
01:40:16,640 --> 01:40:21,480
which would address, you know, the childhood trauma part, let's literally the same way

1975
01:40:21,480 --> 01:40:26,560
as we do pushups and run, let's also work on our mental fitness and give new recruits

1976
01:40:26,560 --> 01:40:30,720
an opportunity to offload whatever they brought into the job.

1977
01:40:30,720 --> 01:40:35,400
And it might be, let's just chit chat about the weather and then ultimately it ends up

1978
01:40:35,400 --> 01:40:40,160
talking about those things or, um, you know, offload your military service before you come

1979
01:40:40,160 --> 01:40:41,780
in, whatever the thing is.

1980
01:40:41,780 --> 01:40:48,080
But the real, um, herd of elephants in the room, especially in the fire service is the

1981
01:40:48,080 --> 01:40:49,740
sleep deprivation.

1982
01:40:49,740 --> 01:40:54,960
If you, as you know, as your brother knows, if you want to select for SF sleep deprivation

1983
01:40:54,960 --> 01:40:57,760
is a tool to cause people to quit.

1984
01:40:57,760 --> 01:41:01,360
If you want to interrogate someone, sleep deprivation is a tool.

1985
01:41:01,360 --> 01:41:08,040
Um, if you want to even torture someone to sleep deprivation tool and in the fire service,

1986
01:41:08,040 --> 01:41:13,200
which is the community I know the most on average, our firefighter basic work week is

1987
01:41:13,200 --> 01:41:16,680
56 hours a week, 24 hours basically without sleep.

1988
01:41:16,680 --> 01:41:22,520
And then a 48 hour period, the, we have done to own our own mistakes as a profession.

1989
01:41:22,520 --> 01:41:25,120
We've told the public that we have this amazing shift.

1990
01:41:25,120 --> 01:41:29,680
We work one day on two days off, 10 days a month, which is absolute bullshit because

1991
01:41:29,680 --> 01:41:33,120
a eight hour day is a day, not 24.

1992
01:41:33,120 --> 01:41:37,200
So we work three days on one day off or 30 days a month.

1993
01:41:37,200 --> 01:41:41,480
Now if you look at the last 10 years, 10 years ago, I think people still really were lining

1994
01:41:41,480 --> 01:41:45,200
up around buildings for first responder positions.

1995
01:41:45,200 --> 01:41:49,180
In 10 short years, we have people begging anyone.

1996
01:41:49,180 --> 01:41:54,480
We have people giving financial incentives, you know, sign on bonuses for a cop, for a

1997
01:41:54,480 --> 01:41:58,460
firefighter, which is unheard of before.

1998
01:41:58,460 --> 01:42:04,520
And what we are seeing now, and this is something I've been very vocal about is the proactive,

1999
01:42:04,520 --> 01:42:10,240
courageous leaders, especially in Florida here are realizing that as we touched on earlier,

2000
01:42:10,240 --> 01:42:15,160
the false economy of breaking your first responders, there is money there to invest in your people.

2001
01:42:15,160 --> 01:42:22,560
And the move to the 24 72, which your neighbor Pasco is done, is one of the biggest answers

2002
01:42:22,560 --> 01:42:27,200
to the cancer, the mental health, testosterone, all the things that we're seeing.

2003
01:42:27,200 --> 01:42:31,440
And on top of delivery of service and saving the taxpayer money, because as you mentioned

2004
01:42:31,440 --> 01:42:37,560
earlier, we're seeing a decline of, of, um, service to our community, but no one's given

2005
01:42:37,560 --> 01:42:38,560
tax refunds.

2006
01:42:38,560 --> 01:42:40,120
The public doesn't know that.

2007
01:42:40,120 --> 01:42:41,120
You know what I mean?

2008
01:42:41,120 --> 01:42:42,120
Right.

2009
01:42:42,120 --> 01:42:43,120
You know, so exactly right.

2010
01:42:43,120 --> 01:42:47,760
So the police officers were pulling over your teenage son, maybe hasn't slept, you know,

2011
01:42:47,760 --> 01:42:51,720
and now they get shot because they're reaching for their driving license or the medic pushes

2012
01:42:51,720 --> 01:42:55,520
the wrong drug or the fire engine plows into the minivan.

2013
01:42:55,520 --> 01:42:59,480
That's a lower level of service, you know, not to mention that the rescue, the ambulance

2014
01:42:59,480 --> 01:43:05,200
that should be available for your home is now doing into facility transports for a hospital.

2015
01:43:05,200 --> 01:43:09,200
So there's all these things that are behind that veil that you talked about.

2016
01:43:09,200 --> 01:43:16,200
For me, I believe that the 24 72 in the fire service is an absolutely crucial way of turning

2017
01:43:16,200 --> 01:43:21,320
the ship around so we can get this bar back up and get young people excited about his

2018
01:43:21,320 --> 01:43:22,320
profession.

2019
01:43:22,320 --> 01:43:27,480
What is your perspective on the first responder or the firefighter work week and how do we

2020
01:43:27,480 --> 01:43:29,240
address this recruitment crisis?

2021
01:43:29,240 --> 01:43:30,240
All right.

2022
01:43:30,240 --> 01:43:31,240
You unpacked a couple of things here.

2023
01:43:31,240 --> 01:43:35,440
I want to talk in on my answer to that question, but I want to talk about the resiliency.

2024
01:43:35,440 --> 01:43:41,040
I want to talk about sleep and I want to talk about my expectations of fire leadership.

2025
01:43:41,040 --> 01:43:42,040
All right.

2026
01:43:42,040 --> 01:43:43,440
So those three things afterwards.

2027
01:43:43,440 --> 01:43:51,760
So I am a huge proponent of one on three off a huge proponent.

2028
01:43:51,760 --> 01:43:56,480
I say that with a caveat that I understand I might this might not be the only answer,

2029
01:43:56,480 --> 01:43:57,480
right?

2030
01:43:57,480 --> 01:43:58,480
To do that.

2031
01:43:58,480 --> 01:44:07,320
That's what I do know because what we're seeing in studies are that two fundamental pillars

2032
01:44:07,320 --> 01:44:13,000
of your health and mine, men, women also, to be honest with you, but we're finding when

2033
01:44:13,000 --> 01:44:19,240
our studies in men and we get a lot of this coming out of so calm or the army testosterone

2034
01:44:19,240 --> 01:44:21,600
and sleep, right?

2035
01:44:21,600 --> 01:44:25,760
When I was in the army, I was told you can get four hours sleep regulations.

2036
01:44:25,760 --> 01:44:28,960
And I have no idea if this is actually true, but this is what we were told.

2037
01:44:28,960 --> 01:44:32,760
We're supposed to give you four hours of sleep and it doesn't have to be continuous.

2038
01:44:32,760 --> 01:44:34,700
Think about what I just told you, right?

2039
01:44:34,700 --> 01:44:40,380
So you want me to go lead 18 year olds who are operating on, we didn't even have energy

2040
01:44:40,380 --> 01:44:46,720
drinks at the time on four hours of sleep with a M 60 machine gun and that then a two

2041
01:44:46,720 --> 01:44:47,720
40, right?

2042
01:44:47,720 --> 01:44:48,720
High rates of fire.

2043
01:44:48,720 --> 01:44:51,360
Do you know how many times we said we almost died?

2044
01:44:51,360 --> 01:44:54,080
You literally, we would be like, man, that was close.

2045
01:44:54,080 --> 01:44:58,360
We almost died, these are probably decisions we made it because we were smoked.

2046
01:44:58,360 --> 01:44:59,700
Okay.

2047
01:44:59,700 --> 01:45:01,320
Is that reality in war?

2048
01:45:01,320 --> 01:45:03,120
Maybe are you trying to replicate it?

2049
01:45:03,120 --> 01:45:04,120
Maybe okay.

2050
01:45:04,120 --> 01:45:07,160
So, but we can't live on that edge, right?

2051
01:45:07,160 --> 01:45:10,440
And then think we're actually training sustainably, right?

2052
01:45:10,440 --> 01:45:11,440
Safely.

2053
01:45:11,440 --> 01:45:16,000
And then something that where we can actually replicate it on a regular basis so that it

2054
01:45:16,000 --> 01:45:18,340
becomes valuable to us, right?

2055
01:45:18,340 --> 01:45:24,240
So in my mind's eye, the more sleep you get, right?

2056
01:45:24,240 --> 01:45:29,160
That is showing this, the more sleep you get, the deeper you go, the longer you go, the

2057
01:45:29,160 --> 01:45:31,540
more restorative it is for your brain.

2058
01:45:31,540 --> 01:45:37,740
If we could bottle sleep into a pill form, you would get rid of the pharmaceutical industries

2059
01:45:37,740 --> 01:45:42,320
like there's no tomorrow because all of the goodness that comes from restorative sleep,

2060
01:45:42,320 --> 01:45:43,320
right?

2061
01:45:43,320 --> 01:45:47,240
Regeneration, our human growth hormone, all that kind of stuff would be packaged in that

2062
01:45:47,240 --> 01:45:48,240
little bottle.

2063
01:45:48,240 --> 01:45:50,280
So actually, all you got to do is sleep, right?

2064
01:45:50,280 --> 01:45:56,840
But when we take that away, so remember when I told you like I'd live with like a couple

2065
01:45:56,840 --> 01:46:01,200
hours of sleep because I get called out and it was only me and this one other person and

2066
01:46:01,200 --> 01:46:03,320
we were on 24 seven, I felt it.

2067
01:46:03,320 --> 01:46:04,940
I literally felt it.

2068
01:46:04,940 --> 01:46:10,740
But when I was 18 to 25 and 26, 27, I could bounce back pretty good, right?

2069
01:46:10,740 --> 01:46:13,240
Even though it was hurting me then, but I didn't feel as much.

2070
01:46:13,240 --> 01:46:15,380
Well, it hurt when I was in my forties, right?

2071
01:46:15,380 --> 01:46:20,240
Like I mean, super groggy soup and I'm not used to that.

2072
01:46:20,240 --> 01:46:22,080
So imagine a lifetime of it, right?

2073
01:46:22,080 --> 01:46:25,200
Imagine I tell you one on two off.

2074
01:46:25,200 --> 01:46:30,240
So in my mind's eye, if you can get more restorative sleep, right?

2075
01:46:30,240 --> 01:46:33,520
I'm going to give you the tool by doing one and three, right?

2076
01:46:33,520 --> 01:46:38,600
And I think what's going to end up happening is you'll start seeing the pressure of that

2077
01:46:38,600 --> 01:46:39,600
building.

2078
01:46:39,600 --> 01:46:41,200
Coral Gables is already talking about it.

2079
01:46:41,200 --> 01:46:43,200
Palm Beach is already talking about it, right?

2080
01:46:43,200 --> 01:46:46,040
You know, Gainesville is already doing it.

2081
01:46:46,040 --> 01:46:47,560
Palm Beach County went to it already.

2082
01:46:47,560 --> 01:46:48,560
Right.

2083
01:46:48,560 --> 01:46:49,560
So I'm sorry.

2084
01:46:49,560 --> 01:46:50,560
I stand corrected, right?

2085
01:46:50,560 --> 01:46:52,160
So we're already doing it.

2086
01:46:52,160 --> 01:46:54,040
They're recruiting.

2087
01:46:54,040 --> 01:46:59,920
Pasco is already reporting that their recruitment numbers are unheard of and they're stealing,

2088
01:46:59,920 --> 01:47:03,600
to be honest with you, from Hillsborough County, from my county, right?

2089
01:47:03,600 --> 01:47:08,160
Which is a professionally run, well-paying, good union that represents our people.

2090
01:47:08,160 --> 01:47:10,000
Good, really good leadership.

2091
01:47:10,000 --> 01:47:12,760
They got really good leadership right now.

2092
01:47:12,760 --> 01:47:17,560
I'm telling you, like those, the top chiefs right now have not forgotten what it is to

2093
01:47:17,560 --> 01:47:20,120
wear the boots and run out.

2094
01:47:20,120 --> 01:47:21,120
Okay.

2095
01:47:21,120 --> 01:47:23,360
But I will tell you this.

2096
01:47:23,360 --> 01:47:26,120
I'm open to other ideas, right?

2097
01:47:26,120 --> 01:47:30,880
Meaning every time I think I've figured out the only way to skin the cat, there may be

2098
01:47:30,880 --> 01:47:32,040
other skin the cat.

2099
01:47:32,040 --> 01:47:35,280
I'd like to see what the data shows me from one and three, right?

2100
01:47:35,280 --> 01:47:41,440
I really want to see that because I think like if I'm a, if I'm, my hypothesis is correct,

2101
01:47:41,440 --> 01:47:43,280
people have good effects, right?

2102
01:47:43,280 --> 01:47:47,960
I think one of the criticisms of one and three is people are like, yeah, now I need to fund

2103
01:47:47,960 --> 01:47:49,320
a third shift, right?

2104
01:47:49,320 --> 01:47:51,120
Another, a fourth shift, right?

2105
01:47:51,120 --> 01:47:54,200
And those firefighters are simply just going to, they're not going to get their sleep.

2106
01:47:54,200 --> 01:47:55,440
They're just going to go get their work.

2107
01:47:55,440 --> 01:47:57,680
My answer to that is, you know, they're side jobs.

2108
01:47:57,680 --> 01:48:01,400
My answer to that is they're going to sleep at night, right?

2109
01:48:01,400 --> 01:48:03,140
And they're going to get the sleep they can.

2110
01:48:03,140 --> 01:48:06,040
That is at least it's continuous, right?

2111
01:48:06,040 --> 01:48:09,040
Through at hopefully an eight hour period.

2112
01:48:09,040 --> 01:48:15,760
Not their 24 on two broken circadian rhythms back to their 24 hours on.

2113
01:48:15,760 --> 01:48:22,360
So I have great hope in the one and three, but there is the question, will that hurt

2114
01:48:22,360 --> 01:48:24,220
leadership, right?

2115
01:48:24,220 --> 01:48:28,520
Like leadership pipeline, maybe in what way, how would they hurt by this?

2116
01:48:28,520 --> 01:48:30,680
You I'm one in three.

2117
01:48:30,680 --> 01:48:32,440
I have three days off every day.

2118
01:48:32,440 --> 01:48:35,240
Why would I want to go up any higher than maybe captain?

2119
01:48:35,240 --> 01:48:36,240
I think about that, right?

2120
01:48:36,240 --> 01:48:37,240
I don't know.

2121
01:48:37,240 --> 01:48:40,920
Maybe because I'm now going to go from one and three to working five days a week for

2122
01:48:40,920 --> 01:48:41,920
sure.

2123
01:48:41,920 --> 01:48:42,920
Right.

2124
01:48:42,920 --> 01:48:44,920
I can see some that I could do a possibility.

2125
01:48:44,920 --> 01:48:51,300
The other thing is I once heard another alternative that says, and remember not a firefighter.

2126
01:48:51,300 --> 01:48:55,400
I'm coming to the issue with an open heart and a will to fix things.

2127
01:48:55,400 --> 01:48:56,400
Right?

2128
01:48:56,400 --> 01:49:02,640
So I don't, I don't want to step on, uh, boots, let's say that, uh, and I will, but

2129
01:49:02,640 --> 01:49:06,860
I don't want to step on them unnecessarily without having some aforethought here.

2130
01:49:06,860 --> 01:49:09,760
So when the fire service comes together, right?

2131
01:49:09,760 --> 01:49:12,440
Remember it was fire and then rescue.

2132
01:49:12,440 --> 01:49:18,520
And so we have one firehouse, one bus going out and picking people up.

2133
01:49:18,520 --> 01:49:20,580
And then we've had to train the truck, right?

2134
01:49:20,580 --> 01:49:23,920
To have full ALS on it at all times.

2135
01:49:23,920 --> 01:49:24,920
Right.

2136
01:49:24,920 --> 01:49:27,560
Because 90% of our calls are medical.

2137
01:49:27,560 --> 01:49:32,360
What if we had a different model that said fire truck stays fire, right?

2138
01:49:32,360 --> 01:49:34,240
We'll always treat those guys.

2139
01:49:34,240 --> 01:49:35,760
They have to cross train.

2140
01:49:35,760 --> 01:49:40,280
There's got to be paramedic certified ALS if we need them and we get two buses running

2141
01:49:40,280 --> 01:49:43,720
at a time and we shift it from 24 on to 12.

2142
01:49:43,720 --> 01:49:44,840
We can do whatever we want.

2143
01:49:44,840 --> 01:49:46,240
Like you be creative chief.

2144
01:49:46,240 --> 01:49:47,240
You know what I mean?

2145
01:49:47,240 --> 01:49:48,240
You can do whatever you want.

2146
01:49:48,240 --> 01:49:49,400
Split your shift, right?

2147
01:49:49,400 --> 01:49:52,040
You still need as many people, right?

2148
01:49:52,040 --> 01:49:53,640
You still need as many people.

2149
01:49:53,640 --> 01:49:58,880
You don't need, um, uh, as many houses as you would, you know, I meant necessarily.

2150
01:49:58,880 --> 01:49:59,880
I'm sorry.

2151
01:49:59,880 --> 01:50:01,880
You don't need as many, um, you need as many trucks.

2152
01:50:01,880 --> 01:50:03,880
You need people and you split it.

2153
01:50:03,880 --> 01:50:07,920
And now those people that are going, no one should be riding for 24 hours seeing what

2154
01:50:07,920 --> 01:50:10,840
those people are doing at the volume of calls that they're doing.

2155
01:50:10,840 --> 01:50:11,840
Right.

2156
01:50:11,840 --> 01:50:13,600
So if you split that, there's a theory.

2157
01:50:13,600 --> 01:50:14,600
I don't know.

2158
01:50:14,600 --> 01:50:17,720
Maybe someone comes to us with another theory that we don't know about.

2159
01:50:17,720 --> 01:50:23,960
I'm telling you, my brother, that if you told me if we smoked dog crap, right, and we could

2160
01:50:23,960 --> 01:50:29,760
and that that would save lives, I would fund with a Floridian tax money that study to see

2161
01:50:29,760 --> 01:50:32,120
if we could save one firefighter's life.

2162
01:50:32,120 --> 01:50:37,200
Um, so I'm open to anything I really like, and I'm really excited about one in three.

2163
01:50:37,200 --> 01:50:40,200
Listen, how old do you have to be to be a firefighter?

2164
01:50:40,200 --> 01:50:42,640
Because I might go one in three myself.

2165
01:50:42,640 --> 01:50:44,320
I like the idea a lot.

2166
01:50:44,320 --> 01:50:45,640
Well, this is what's craziest.

2167
01:50:45,640 --> 01:50:48,160
People look at that and it sounds amazing.

2168
01:50:48,160 --> 01:50:49,360
It's a 42 hour work.

2169
01:50:49,360 --> 01:50:53,800
It is a 40 or more that one on three off, which is a terrible way of saying, cause it's

2170
01:50:53,800 --> 01:50:54,800
not one.

2171
01:50:54,800 --> 01:50:56,880
It's like I said, three, I actually like, I hadn't heard that before.

2172
01:50:56,880 --> 01:51:00,680
Three on two office, what it would be because that's, that's first day you're off.

2173
01:51:00,680 --> 01:51:01,680
You're not.

2174
01:51:01,680 --> 01:51:03,080
You're not going to be five to eight.

2175
01:51:03,080 --> 01:51:09,160
Um, but there's the 12 hour thing, cause the way I look at it, we haven't done the research,

2176
01:51:09,160 --> 01:51:10,160
but it's really common sense.

2177
01:51:10,160 --> 01:51:14,060
Would a 56 hour we'd be more detrimental than the 42 of course.

2178
01:51:14,060 --> 01:51:16,520
So if you flip it around, is it worse?

2179
01:51:16,520 --> 01:51:20,720
Look at what we've got now, a national recruitment crisis.

2180
01:51:20,720 --> 01:51:25,720
First responders taking their own lives, you know, almost every single day we try one cancer,

2181
01:51:25,720 --> 01:51:29,220
you know, divorces, pediatric illnesses.

2182
01:51:29,220 --> 01:51:32,600
So our evidence is the way we're doing it now isn't working.

2183
01:51:32,600 --> 01:51:35,760
There's this, there's irrefutable data on that.

2184
01:51:35,760 --> 01:51:38,200
Imagine I tell you like, Hey, like you're this generation.

2185
01:51:38,200 --> 01:51:39,840
I don't even know what we call this generation.

2186
01:51:39,840 --> 01:51:44,400
Like, like I can't, when I was teaching, I'd be like, you don't even have to be good anymore

2187
01:51:44,400 --> 01:51:45,400
guy.

2188
01:51:45,400 --> 01:51:46,400
You just have to be competent.

2189
01:51:46,400 --> 01:51:51,980
If you show up a 40 or 50 year old guy like me, like, man, that guy's a go getter.

2190
01:51:51,980 --> 01:51:53,640
He showed up in our day.

2191
01:51:53,640 --> 01:51:57,440
We had to be there early and wait to the boss left to make sure that we didn't get fired

2192
01:51:57,440 --> 01:52:00,080
for lack of will and effort, you know what I mean?

2193
01:52:00,080 --> 01:52:01,760
Or desire to be there.

2194
01:52:01,760 --> 01:52:04,240
So our pool of people is different.

2195
01:52:04,240 --> 01:52:07,440
And so now you want to tell that person, Hey, I got a job for you.

2196
01:52:07,440 --> 01:52:12,420
Your kid has a 30% chance of then, you know, of getting cancer than any other kid.

2197
01:52:12,420 --> 01:52:16,560
You are probably going to be at least one, maybe two divorces in sounds really great.

2198
01:52:16,560 --> 01:52:17,560
You're going to have a lot of nightmares.

2199
01:52:17,560 --> 01:52:19,100
You ain't going to sleep a lot.

2200
01:52:19,100 --> 01:52:24,000
And there's a, there's a great chance that, you know, you may get this thing called PTS

2201
01:52:24,000 --> 01:52:26,080
you in sounds great to me, doesn't it?

2202
01:52:26,080 --> 01:52:30,360
Oh, by the way, you get a great union to defend you and maybe you're going to get a retirement,

2203
01:52:30,360 --> 01:52:32,400
but everything else still comes with it.

2204
01:52:32,400 --> 01:52:33,400
Are you serious?

2205
01:52:33,400 --> 01:52:34,400
How do we recruit to that?

2206
01:52:34,400 --> 01:52:35,400
You know what I mean?

2207
01:52:35,400 --> 01:52:40,160
And so, um, you, you have to look at this globally, right?

2208
01:52:40,160 --> 01:52:42,040
You have to look at it globally.

2209
01:52:42,040 --> 01:52:45,640
You're not just talking about putting a guy or a gal on a truck.

2210
01:52:45,640 --> 01:52:49,580
When you press nine one, the door goes up and out goes a truck.

2211
01:52:49,580 --> 01:52:53,800
You have to look at, am I setting this guy or gal up for divorce?

2212
01:52:53,800 --> 01:52:54,800
Right.

2213
01:52:54,800 --> 01:52:57,760
And you say, well, that's my problem says the city councilman.

2214
01:52:57,760 --> 01:53:01,680
And my answer is you keep saying it's not your problem, right?

2215
01:53:01,680 --> 01:53:04,000
You keep getting the same result.

2216
01:53:04,000 --> 01:53:09,280
Um, I started to think about one in three, and then I said, well, let me look at cop

2217
01:53:09,280 --> 01:53:10,280
world, right?

2218
01:53:10,280 --> 01:53:11,320
Let me look at cop world.

2219
01:53:11,320 --> 01:53:16,920
So now that I left the sheriff's office, I got, I am the general counsel to the Tampa

2220
01:53:16,920 --> 01:53:18,240
police union.

2221
01:53:18,240 --> 01:53:20,240
It's called the PBA.

2222
01:53:20,240 --> 01:53:24,440
And so I still go out on call outs whenever, uh, you know, there's a use of force or there's

2223
01:53:24,440 --> 01:53:27,760
a bad accident and then we do negotiations with the city.

2224
01:53:27,760 --> 01:53:31,820
So I'm still formally involved in law enforcement and I love it.

2225
01:53:31,820 --> 01:53:34,320
Now I get to highlight things between these two departments.

2226
01:53:34,320 --> 01:53:39,680
I was born at the sheriff's office, which is a 30 year retirement or was until we just

2227
01:53:39,680 --> 01:53:41,280
changed that at the state.

2228
01:53:41,280 --> 01:53:43,000
Um, it was one of our priorities.

2229
01:53:43,000 --> 01:53:45,920
I want 20, but we, we settled on 25.

2230
01:53:45,920 --> 01:53:48,920
It was 30 at the time, right?

2231
01:53:48,920 --> 01:53:54,400
Um, they work two days on, two days off, three days on, three days off.

2232
01:53:54,400 --> 01:53:55,400
Right.

2233
01:53:55,400 --> 01:53:59,920
And then I've already told you the stories of, you know, how they're self-harming over

2234
01:53:59,920 --> 01:54:04,280
at TPD, uh, union.

2235
01:54:04,280 --> 01:54:09,760
So I say that because I never, I never thought of this before.

2236
01:54:09,760 --> 01:54:15,540
If I became a sheriff tomorrow, and by the way, I'm a Republican card carrying, but my

2237
01:54:15,540 --> 01:54:20,720
men and women, if I was the sheriff of whatever county we're in today, there would be a union,

2238
01:54:20,720 --> 01:54:21,720
right?

2239
01:54:21,720 --> 01:54:24,920
And all of the things that you said was real, the betrayal part, right?

2240
01:54:24,920 --> 01:54:26,120
This is real life.

2241
01:54:26,120 --> 01:54:27,120
Okay.

2242
01:54:27,120 --> 01:54:30,120
So if we were operating tactically, right?

2243
01:54:30,120 --> 01:54:33,120
And we said, Hey, our job is to go fight bad guys in a vacuum.

2244
01:54:33,120 --> 01:54:34,120
Okay.

2245
01:54:34,120 --> 01:54:39,480
But there's mayors, there's city councilmen, there's voters, there's stakeholders, there's

2246
01:54:39,480 --> 01:54:42,200
a political pressures.

2247
01:54:42,200 --> 01:54:44,920
All of that is affecting your police and your fire department.

2248
01:54:44,920 --> 01:54:45,920
Right.

2249
01:54:45,920 --> 01:54:51,560
And oftentimes that pressure is going down to the end user, the, the, the basic police

2250
01:54:51,560 --> 01:54:56,240
officer, which is now wondering, do I pull a trigger on this person or not?

2251
01:54:56,240 --> 01:54:58,400
They have a gun in my face.

2252
01:54:58,400 --> 01:55:01,880
And 10 years ago, we would have been like, why didn't you shoot them right away?

2253
01:55:01,880 --> 01:55:07,420
Now we're like, what's their geo, what's their demographic?

2254
01:55:07,420 --> 01:55:09,280
Are you going to get in trouble for doing it?

2255
01:55:09,280 --> 01:55:17,160
And I have actually counseled on cases where a police officer says, stop police 13 times

2256
01:55:17,160 --> 01:55:19,160
bad guy turns around.

2257
01:55:19,160 --> 01:55:23,280
And the only reason the bad guy doesn't shoot and you can see it in the body cam is because

2258
01:55:23,280 --> 01:55:27,600
when he had been shooting in the air, his weapons stovepiped, but he would have, we

2259
01:55:27,600 --> 01:55:32,720
would be going to a funeral today because the young cop was afraid of what would happen

2260
01:55:32,720 --> 01:55:33,720
afterwards.

2261
01:55:33,720 --> 01:55:34,720
Right.

2262
01:55:34,720 --> 01:55:38,560
And he was dead to rights all every day that ends in why he was okay.

2263
01:55:38,560 --> 01:55:40,800
If he would have shot and killed that guy.

2264
01:55:40,800 --> 01:55:46,320
So I say we, the union part, I don't care what union, to be honest with you, I just

2265
01:55:46,320 --> 01:55:52,760
need those people to have a voice that defends them against the pressures of the politics.

2266
01:55:52,760 --> 01:55:58,520
When those pressures come against, because I would never let you be a cop or a firefighter

2267
01:55:58,520 --> 01:56:01,360
in any, any city in the state of Florida.

2268
01:56:01,360 --> 01:56:02,600
If there, I wouldn't recommend it.

2269
01:56:02,600 --> 01:56:03,600
You know what I mean?

2270
01:56:03,600 --> 01:56:04,600
Like without one.

2271
01:56:04,600 --> 01:56:09,320
I'm positive that my sheriff's office friends will hear this and maybe that will make them

2272
01:56:09,320 --> 01:56:10,320
upset.

2273
01:56:10,320 --> 01:56:16,280
But there's like a level of PTSD that operates over there because it's some sheriff's offices,

2274
01:56:16,280 --> 01:56:17,280
you know what I mean?

2275
01:56:17,280 --> 01:56:20,640
Not over at that one necessarily, but there's some, because they don't think that they have

2276
01:56:20,640 --> 01:56:24,600
a voice when it comes to operating underneath their SOPs.

2277
01:56:24,600 --> 01:56:26,400
There's a lot of politics involves.

2278
01:56:26,400 --> 01:56:31,880
So I think that's a really big factor, but at TPD, they've got four days on four days

2279
01:56:31,880 --> 01:56:33,080
off, right?

2280
01:56:33,080 --> 01:56:36,320
So you're going to have a regular ish work week without any.

2281
01:56:36,320 --> 01:56:40,920
Now they only get one weekend, one technical weekend, right?

2282
01:56:40,920 --> 01:56:44,760
That means a Saturday and a Sunday every six weeks, right?

2283
01:56:44,760 --> 01:56:47,120
But they get four days on four days off.

2284
01:56:47,120 --> 01:56:49,160
They retire in 20.

2285
01:56:49,160 --> 01:56:51,480
My first retiree that I saw that was 20 years old.

2286
01:56:51,480 --> 01:56:53,440
I was like, dude, where are you going?

2287
01:56:53,440 --> 01:56:54,840
He's like, Oh, I'm, I'm done.

2288
01:56:54,840 --> 01:56:57,680
I was like, you're done what I'm retiring.

2289
01:56:57,680 --> 01:57:00,360
I was like, guy, you look super young.

2290
01:57:00,360 --> 01:57:03,000
Those extra 10 years of humping his own, right?

2291
01:57:03,000 --> 01:57:05,440
Coming in and out of a cop car, doing all that.

2292
01:57:05,440 --> 01:57:06,960
That adds to you, man.

2293
01:57:06,960 --> 01:57:09,360
The stress, the trauma, all that kind of stuff.

2294
01:57:09,360 --> 01:57:17,240
So I think when we're talking about your one in three, that's one of the factors, right?

2295
01:57:17,240 --> 01:57:19,400
We got to make sure that their sleep is restorative.

2296
01:57:19,400 --> 01:57:20,400
You know what I mean?

2297
01:57:20,400 --> 01:57:25,040
The next thing we're talking about, you mentioned a little bit about it is the resilience.

2298
01:57:25,040 --> 01:57:27,000
I'm calling it resiliency, right?

2299
01:57:27,000 --> 01:57:29,080
Mental health is part of the resiliency, right?

2300
01:57:29,080 --> 01:57:33,120
So you said it and we're doing it.

2301
01:57:33,120 --> 01:57:36,240
Well, I'm trying to do it, right?

2302
01:57:36,240 --> 01:57:38,800
Right now we have a whole bunch of old timers, right?

2303
01:57:38,800 --> 01:57:41,640
They've been there now and the old timers are running.

2304
01:57:41,640 --> 01:57:43,400
So the chiefs, right?

2305
01:57:43,400 --> 01:57:45,400
And then we have the rookies coming in.

2306
01:57:45,400 --> 01:57:52,760
So I'm my, my idea right now is to pinch it until it meets in the middle, meaning the

2307
01:57:52,760 --> 01:57:54,360
education.

2308
01:57:54,360 --> 01:58:00,240
Anytime I go and speak to anyone in any fire service, I literally look at everyone in the

2309
01:58:00,240 --> 01:58:03,000
crowd and because what are they going to do?

2310
01:58:03,000 --> 01:58:04,000
Fire me?

2311
01:58:04,000 --> 01:58:05,000
They can't fire me.

2312
01:58:05,000 --> 01:58:09,920
I literally say, if you're telling your men and women to suck it up, you're failing them

2313
01:58:09,920 --> 01:58:11,560
and you're wrong, right?

2314
01:58:11,560 --> 01:58:13,680
And you can see the eyes open up real big.

2315
01:58:13,680 --> 01:58:17,280
You know whose eyes don't open up is like the, the firefighters that are in the crowd

2316
01:58:17,280 --> 01:58:18,840
going, hell yeah, give it to them.

2317
01:58:18,840 --> 01:58:19,840
Give it to them.

2318
01:58:19,840 --> 01:58:20,840
Right?

2319
01:58:20,840 --> 01:58:21,840
Why?

2320
01:58:21,840 --> 01:58:22,840
Because we grew up that way.

2321
01:58:22,840 --> 01:58:23,840
I grew up though.

2322
01:58:23,840 --> 01:58:25,680
Hey, this is the job.

2323
01:58:25,680 --> 01:58:26,680
Suck it up.

2324
01:58:26,680 --> 01:58:27,680
No sleep.

2325
01:58:27,680 --> 01:58:28,680
No this.

2326
01:58:28,680 --> 01:58:29,680
No.

2327
01:58:29,680 --> 01:58:32,920
Eventually, if we continue to make exceptions for everything, we're not going to have a

2328
01:58:32,920 --> 01:58:34,240
firefighter, right?

2329
01:58:34,240 --> 01:58:35,600
We're not going to have a soldier.

2330
01:58:35,600 --> 01:58:36,600
Soldiers got to shoot.

2331
01:58:36,600 --> 01:58:37,600
They got to jump.

2332
01:58:37,600 --> 01:58:38,880
They got to blow stuff up.

2333
01:58:38,880 --> 01:58:40,280
All that does trauma.

2334
01:58:40,280 --> 01:58:42,320
All of that does micro concussions.

2335
01:58:42,320 --> 01:58:47,640
So we have to learn how to live within the risks that we signed up for, for the emergent

2336
01:58:47,640 --> 01:58:51,680
tasks that were given or the dangerous deeds that we've got to go do.

2337
01:58:51,680 --> 01:58:53,120
We got to figure this out.

2338
01:58:53,120 --> 01:58:56,800
What we've been doing in the past saying, Hey, it is what it is.

2339
01:58:56,800 --> 01:59:00,200
When you got a guy stand next to a breaching charge, right?

2340
01:59:00,200 --> 01:59:06,080
And he's the number one, number two, number three, that over pressure will jack your brain

2341
01:59:06,080 --> 01:59:07,080
up.

2342
01:59:07,080 --> 01:59:09,800
Now we got to train it because we got to make sure we do it right.

2343
01:59:09,800 --> 01:59:13,600
And for the first time, we actually do actions on objectives, right?

2344
01:59:13,600 --> 01:59:18,400
Well, you can only do so much of those until your brain scrambled and you have now opened

2345
01:59:18,400 --> 01:59:21,000
yourself up to what is BTS, right?

2346
01:59:21,000 --> 01:59:29,480
So I tell chiefs today, if you are doing this and you're not properly addressing the factors

2347
01:59:29,480 --> 01:59:34,360
that lead up to it, not just mental health, mental health is one thing we're talking about

2348
01:59:34,360 --> 01:59:36,080
environmental factors.

2349
01:59:36,080 --> 01:59:40,800
You guys go in and have all sorts of carcinogens, all sorts of chemicals.

2350
01:59:40,800 --> 01:59:44,800
We know that PFAS in your, in your gear existed.

2351
01:59:44,800 --> 01:59:50,160
All of those begin to accumulate when your biggest organ called your skin absorbs it,

2352
01:59:50,160 --> 01:59:51,160
right?

2353
01:59:51,160 --> 01:59:55,360
That gets in your system, gets through the blood brain barrier, begins to affect, right?

2354
01:59:55,360 --> 01:59:59,100
The trauma micro and macro, right?

2355
01:59:59,100 --> 02:00:02,560
You don't need to just go to one scene, see some kid melting, right?

2356
02:00:02,560 --> 02:00:07,880
You can have a couple of bad cuts, hear one mom screaming that, you know, her child is

2357
02:00:07,880 --> 02:00:08,880
dead.

2358
02:00:08,880 --> 02:00:10,920
You only got to hear that one time, right?

2359
02:00:10,920 --> 02:00:15,880
Those things add up your lack of sleep, which we're starting to address.

2360
02:00:15,880 --> 02:00:21,560
Unrealized trauma from being kids, right, like the, the history that we come with, all

2361
02:00:21,560 --> 02:00:27,200
of these factors together, when you start to churn it up, right?

2362
02:00:27,200 --> 02:00:31,660
The result is when we don't treat it, when we don't talk about it, when we don't normalize

2363
02:00:31,660 --> 02:00:34,400
it is guns in people's mouths, right?

2364
02:00:34,400 --> 02:00:40,180
Or you know, like the end of life for someone that is not, it's not their time.

2365
02:00:40,180 --> 02:00:44,880
So one of the bills that we're filing is one of the things in my bill that we're filing

2366
02:00:44,880 --> 02:00:48,680
in our first responder packages, we're mandating from the bottom, right?

2367
02:00:48,680 --> 02:00:53,080
We talked about the top, we talked about now normalizing the conversations, we talked about

2368
02:00:53,080 --> 02:00:57,120
influencing and trying to get training in from the bottom.

2369
02:00:57,120 --> 02:01:02,440
What we're doing is we're going to mandate in both the fire Academy and the police Academy,

2370
02:01:02,440 --> 02:01:05,720
four and a half hour block of resiliency training.

2371
02:01:05,720 --> 02:01:10,360
So it won't be the first time they ever hear it is when someone like you pulls them to

2372
02:01:10,360 --> 02:01:13,160
the side on the truck and says, Hey man, are you sleeping?

2373
02:01:13,160 --> 02:01:15,520
They're going to learn that they need sleep.

2374
02:01:15,520 --> 02:01:20,400
They have to mitigate their environmental dangers that they have to report when they

2375
02:01:20,400 --> 02:01:24,880
get their concussive effects or their traumas to their head, like TBI is to make sure that

2376
02:01:24,880 --> 02:01:25,960
we were safe.

2377
02:01:25,960 --> 02:01:30,360
And then they're going to have to deal with just the basics of the trauma overall, right?

2378
02:01:30,360 --> 02:01:35,880
When we start to normalize that conversation from the bottom and you tell a tough alpha

2379
02:01:35,880 --> 02:01:40,400
male or alpha female, Hey, you're going to see some crap.

2380
02:01:40,400 --> 02:01:41,900
It's going to really suck.

2381
02:01:41,900 --> 02:01:43,720
If you need a moment, let me know.

2382
02:01:43,720 --> 02:01:44,980
There's no shame in it.

2383
02:01:44,980 --> 02:01:47,240
When you hear the tough guy do that, right?

2384
02:01:47,240 --> 02:01:51,720
The guy you look up to Mr. Delta force or the number one breacher in your fire company

2385
02:01:51,720 --> 02:01:52,720
do that.

2386
02:01:52,720 --> 02:01:56,920
Then all of a sudden you're like, well, if that guy can do it, then it's okay for me

2387
02:01:56,920 --> 02:01:57,920
to do it.

2388
02:01:57,920 --> 02:01:58,920
Right.

2389
02:01:58,920 --> 02:01:59,920
And it's not weakness.

2390
02:01:59,920 --> 02:02:02,020
Here's the, here's the issue that, that really pisses me off.

2391
02:02:02,020 --> 02:02:03,020
Like there's no tomorrow.

2392
02:02:03,020 --> 02:02:06,600
Like I think what you think is weakness is ultimate strength.

2393
02:02:06,600 --> 02:02:12,480
Do you know what it takes for someone to be this revealing that, you know, their brain

2394
02:02:12,480 --> 02:02:14,640
isn't firing at all symptoms, you know what I mean?

2395
02:02:14,640 --> 02:02:19,320
Like are on all cylinders that that's, that's probably the greatest courage that you could

2396
02:02:19,320 --> 02:02:20,320
have.

2397
02:02:20,320 --> 02:02:21,320
You know what I mean?

2398
02:02:21,320 --> 02:02:25,840
So like in the meantime, um, I've gotten a ton from SOCOM.

2399
02:02:25,840 --> 02:02:31,740
Socom is in my backyard, the Tampa, a bunch of my friends, uh, came up through the special

2400
02:02:31,740 --> 02:02:32,740
operations community.

2401
02:02:32,740 --> 02:02:37,200
Um, I still do a lot of work in the nonprofit space with those guys and gals.

2402
02:02:37,200 --> 02:02:39,320
And so they're doing some cutting edge stuff.

2403
02:02:39,320 --> 02:02:43,680
Like for example, we just funded ETMS in Florida.

2404
02:02:43,680 --> 02:02:46,520
Um, electro, I'm going to get it wrong.

2405
02:02:46,520 --> 02:02:47,520
I'm not a doctor.

2406
02:02:47,520 --> 02:02:48,520
Trans cranial stimulation.

2407
02:02:48,520 --> 02:02:49,840
Thank you so much.

2408
02:02:49,840 --> 02:02:51,280
I appreciate that.

2409
02:02:51,280 --> 02:02:58,320
So I got this from, from my legislative aid, my former legislative aid was a Ranger battalion

2410
02:02:58,320 --> 02:03:03,520
guy hanging out with another Ranger battalion guy and said, Hey, we, we got this new thing

2411
02:03:03,520 --> 02:03:08,240
that's that saved a couple of Navy SEALs from getting discharged medically because they

2412
02:03:08,240 --> 02:03:12,480
were pretty jacked up, you know, from their accumulation.

2413
02:03:12,480 --> 02:03:13,640
Really what is it?

2414
02:03:13,640 --> 02:03:21,840
So ETMS in, in quickly for those, your viewer or listeners that don't know, if you're, we

2415
02:03:21,840 --> 02:03:28,720
think the front cortex of your brain pre cortex, right, frontal lobe, it should have pathways,

2416
02:03:28,720 --> 02:03:30,680
neural pathways that are clear and open, right?

2417
02:03:30,680 --> 02:03:33,540
They signal goes back and forth and there's no obstruction.

2418
02:03:33,540 --> 02:03:38,760
But because of the things we talked about, environmental trauma, concussive effects,

2419
02:03:38,760 --> 02:03:43,840
major concussive lack of sleep, those pathways get muddled.

2420
02:03:43,840 --> 02:03:49,800
So what this thing does is it scans your brain and then it comes up with an exact treatment

2421
02:03:49,800 --> 02:03:55,400
profile for your brain and it sends signals through it that reopen those very, very much

2422
02:03:55,400 --> 02:04:02,200
like these, uh, Hiawaska is these mushroom treatments that do something similar, but

2423
02:04:02,200 --> 02:04:05,360
may not have, may not last as long.

2424
02:04:05,360 --> 02:04:06,360
Right?

2425
02:04:06,360 --> 02:04:11,440
So Ohio did a really good job, um, in leadership and doing this and they provided it for their

2426
02:04:11,440 --> 02:04:13,160
first responder community.

2427
02:04:13,160 --> 02:04:17,080
And what we did here in Florida is this year we're opening five locations.

2428
02:04:17,080 --> 02:04:21,800
The one in Tampa is open, the one in Miami is opening here very shortly.

2429
02:04:21,800 --> 02:04:24,400
Um, five locations, $10 million.

2430
02:04:24,400 --> 02:04:29,240
If you're a first responder or you're a veteran, you literally sit down, uh, you flash your

2431
02:04:29,240 --> 02:04:35,000
ID, they give you the tests that you need to, to sit down and boom, your EAP doesn't

2432
02:04:35,000 --> 02:04:36,000
know.

2433
02:04:36,000 --> 02:04:39,480
Your chief doesn't know your badge is never on the line.

2434
02:04:39,480 --> 02:04:44,960
And what a lot of these, um, folks that I am talking to personally are reporting back

2435
02:04:44,960 --> 02:04:48,480
is, um, you know, it's not the wonder drug.

2436
02:04:48,480 --> 02:04:52,760
Everyone thinks that you all of a sudden you're not better overnight, but a lot of them, uh,

2437
02:04:52,760 --> 02:04:56,560
are thinking more clearly are getting more restorative sleep, like more than they've

2438
02:04:56,560 --> 02:04:58,040
ever slept before.

2439
02:04:58,040 --> 02:05:02,380
Um, and the results for my people are incoming as we speak.

2440
02:05:02,380 --> 02:05:09,920
And we will roll that up into the FDA study, which, so they can be indicated for, uh, PTSD.

2441
02:05:09,920 --> 02:05:12,600
And then after that, it's going to be paid for by your insurance.

2442
02:05:12,600 --> 02:05:16,500
So we'll probably run this program, let's say three to five years is the guide slope

2443
02:05:16,500 --> 02:05:19,200
that I told the bosses that I would need the money for.

2444
02:05:19,200 --> 02:05:21,040
And they're like, well, you are persistent.

2445
02:05:21,040 --> 02:05:25,880
I was like, listen, I'll let you meet the people whose lives you saved by, by getting

2446
02:05:25,880 --> 02:05:28,600
this money in their hands and are getting this treatment on their heads.

2447
02:05:28,600 --> 02:05:31,160
So, um, I'm going to sit down for it.

2448
02:05:31,160 --> 02:05:36,840
I feel, I feel the effects I feel of, uh, you know, we've blown up a lot of things.

2449
02:05:36,840 --> 02:05:40,760
I did a lot of jumps, uh, where I really had a lot of hard landings.

2450
02:05:40,760 --> 02:05:43,280
Um, I'm extremely forgetful.

2451
02:05:43,280 --> 02:05:44,280
I sleep nothing.

2452
02:05:44,280 --> 02:05:45,280
You know what I mean?

2453
02:05:45,280 --> 02:05:50,400
Um, I got told you, like, I think some of the effects of, uh, of some of the things

2454
02:05:50,400 --> 02:05:54,880
I've seen and done when I was in the sheriff's office, you know, they'll catch up eventually.

2455
02:05:54,880 --> 02:05:59,040
Um, so I'm excited about sitting in the chair myself, but the results have been, from what

2456
02:05:59,040 --> 02:06:00,040
I hear incredible.

2457
02:06:00,040 --> 02:06:02,960
And I'm very excited about it.

2458
02:06:02,960 --> 02:06:08,480
Hillsborough County fire department, or fire rescue, they actually provide that service

2459
02:06:08,480 --> 02:06:09,480
through their EAP.

2460
02:06:09,480 --> 02:06:13,920
So if you, you end up getting that down the line, you're going to, you're going to have

2461
02:06:13,920 --> 02:06:18,360
access to it as well over there and their results have been outstanding.

2462
02:06:18,360 --> 02:06:22,640
So I'm, I'm excited for what, what the future holds on that side.

2463
02:06:22,640 --> 02:06:23,640
Beautiful.

2464
02:06:23,640 --> 02:06:28,480
Well, just going back to the, the work week shift conversation, it's interesting because

2465
02:06:28,480 --> 02:06:32,120
if you look at the 12th, cause that's one of the things that the fire fighters really,

2466
02:06:32,120 --> 02:06:35,520
to be honest, are worried about is all we're going to be told to do 12th.

2467
02:06:35,520 --> 02:06:40,520
But if you look at law enforcement, doctors, nurses, you know, not exactly pillars of health,

2468
02:06:40,520 --> 02:06:41,520
a lot of them.

2469
02:06:41,520 --> 02:06:45,640
So, and if you ask the sleep medicine gurus, they say, yeah, that going from night to day

2470
02:06:45,640 --> 02:06:48,680
to night today is the worst circadian rhythm shift.

2471
02:06:48,680 --> 02:06:49,680
Absolutely.

2472
02:06:49,680 --> 02:06:50,680
So the fire service has a 24.

2473
02:06:50,680 --> 02:06:51,680
I think that's a benefit.

2474
02:06:51,680 --> 02:06:55,920
And especially as we're Jack of all trades for me, if I think about all the things I'm

2475
02:06:55,920 --> 02:07:00,560
responsible for and I go in and I do my physical training and my, you know, my workouts and

2476
02:07:00,560 --> 02:07:06,800
my drug checks and then running calls and doing all my equipment checks, you know, if

2477
02:07:06,800 --> 02:07:10,920
I left after 10 or 12 hours, I would have just finished my checkouts, you know?

2478
02:07:10,920 --> 02:07:14,000
So I think it's a different conversation with fire.

2479
02:07:14,000 --> 02:07:18,480
What I would love to see, and I know I think we touched on this when we spoke before, where

2480
02:07:18,480 --> 02:07:24,200
I struggled to understand is that a lot of our administrators, politicians, chiefs, even

2481
02:07:24,200 --> 02:07:28,940
union leaders, some of them work 40 hours and refuse to advocate for their men and women

2482
02:07:28,940 --> 02:07:34,520
that are working 56 or in a mandatory overtime case, which is all the time, it's an 80 hour

2483
02:07:34,520 --> 02:07:36,400
work week for our firefighters.

2484
02:07:36,400 --> 02:07:41,580
I would love to see a standardized work week of 42, 24, 72.

2485
02:07:41,580 --> 02:07:43,320
What is the path to that?

2486
02:07:43,320 --> 02:07:46,760
I think that begins with education.

2487
02:07:46,760 --> 02:07:50,480
And so I literally, we started off talking about ride alongs.

2488
02:07:50,480 --> 02:07:51,760
Remember that?

2489
02:07:51,760 --> 02:07:58,480
I need every chief that can ever hear my voice to, so I took one thing from this podcast

2490
02:07:58,480 --> 02:07:59,480
today.

2491
02:07:59,480 --> 02:08:01,880
I'm going to go reach out to my politicians.

2492
02:08:01,880 --> 02:08:05,680
You've got to have a relationship with those folks and you've got to open their eyes.

2493
02:08:05,680 --> 02:08:07,240
And guess what?

2494
02:08:07,240 --> 02:08:09,480
Someone's going to get unelected and you got to do it again.

2495
02:08:09,480 --> 02:08:12,760
Sorry, you're the chief, your job, right?

2496
02:08:12,760 --> 02:08:14,280
Let's get them out there.

2497
02:08:14,280 --> 02:08:20,280
Let's get them to understand part of my, you know, education campaign doesn't, isn't just

2498
02:08:20,280 --> 02:08:25,840
for Marissa top down, you know, or bottom up, top down.

2499
02:08:25,840 --> 02:08:33,240
We got to teach even our own elected officials what the reality of what our people are facing

2500
02:08:33,240 --> 02:08:34,240
is.

2501
02:08:34,240 --> 02:08:35,240
Right?

2502
02:08:35,240 --> 02:08:39,400
So for example, one thing that I want to change is I, I'm not a scientist.

2503
02:08:39,400 --> 02:08:40,400
I'm not a doctor.

2504
02:08:40,400 --> 02:08:44,760
So don't be like, Oh my God, I'd like to drop the D in PTSD.

2505
02:08:44,760 --> 02:08:46,160
It's not a disorder.

2506
02:08:46,160 --> 02:08:47,900
It's an injury, right?

2507
02:08:47,900 --> 02:08:51,000
You got an injury from on the job.

2508
02:08:51,000 --> 02:08:52,360
Now the minute I say that, you know what?

2509
02:08:52,360 --> 02:08:56,200
Every chief and every work lawyer goes, Oh my God, Danny, what are you trying to open

2510
02:08:56,200 --> 02:08:57,680
up workers' compensation?

2511
02:08:57,680 --> 02:08:58,680
No.

2512
02:08:58,680 --> 02:09:04,520
What I'm trying to tell you is, and I'm trying to normalize that this person got hurt while

2513
02:09:04,520 --> 02:09:05,520
doing the job.

2514
02:09:05,520 --> 02:09:07,400
They didn't break their arm.

2515
02:09:07,400 --> 02:09:11,040
They might've cracked their head for a lack of a better way to describe it.

2516
02:09:11,040 --> 02:09:13,000
And it opened this thing up to them, right?

2517
02:09:13,000 --> 02:09:16,440
And that way we get rid of this sigma that is some sort of disorder, right?

2518
02:09:16,440 --> 02:09:20,640
You know, a disorder, you, you saw a bunch of bad stuff.

2519
02:09:20,640 --> 02:09:21,800
You weren't sleeping right.

2520
02:09:21,800 --> 02:09:23,480
Your brain's not opening the pathways.

2521
02:09:23,480 --> 02:09:24,960
We need to reopen the pathways.

2522
02:09:24,960 --> 02:09:25,960
Let's go.

2523
02:09:25,960 --> 02:09:26,960
Right.

2524
02:09:26,960 --> 02:09:31,000
So I need more people to understand.

2525
02:09:31,000 --> 02:09:33,840
And that means we have to sell the story better.

2526
02:09:33,840 --> 02:09:34,840
Right.

2527
02:09:34,840 --> 02:09:36,640
And people like Danny, should you be selling?

2528
02:09:36,640 --> 02:09:37,640
Yeah.

2529
02:09:37,640 --> 02:09:38,820
I'm, I'm in sales, right?

2530
02:09:38,820 --> 02:09:44,360
As a politician, when I have an idea that I'm trying to pass, I'm selling my idea.

2531
02:09:44,360 --> 02:09:48,800
And then eventually if I sell it enough, it passes in the governor signs the bill.

2532
02:09:48,800 --> 02:09:51,360
What we're talking about is changing cultures.

2533
02:09:51,360 --> 02:09:52,360
Think about it.

2534
02:09:52,360 --> 02:09:55,200
You and I have just spent time talking about how the bottom's got to come up and now I

2535
02:09:55,200 --> 02:09:57,960
got to change rookie firefighters and rookie cops.

2536
02:09:57,960 --> 02:09:59,840
So they go, Hey, it's okay.

2537
02:09:59,840 --> 02:10:03,440
You know, I'm not a wuss when I say I need a timeout.

2538
02:10:03,440 --> 02:10:04,440
Okay.

2539
02:10:04,440 --> 02:10:06,280
And then I hear chiefs.

2540
02:10:06,280 --> 02:10:07,400
There's a ton of them there.

2541
02:10:07,400 --> 02:10:08,480
Listen, I've met them.

2542
02:10:08,480 --> 02:10:09,480
I believe them.

2543
02:10:09,480 --> 02:10:13,400
I've seen them, but there's a lot of them that think this is still weakness.

2544
02:10:13,400 --> 02:10:14,400
Right.

2545
02:10:14,400 --> 02:10:17,320
So eventually they'll get weeded out.

2546
02:10:17,320 --> 02:10:18,320
Right.

2547
02:10:18,320 --> 02:10:21,280
And you don't change cultures overnight.

2548
02:10:21,280 --> 02:10:23,320
This is a cultural shift.

2549
02:10:23,320 --> 02:10:25,420
What you're asking is completely different.

2550
02:10:25,420 --> 02:10:29,920
We're asking for you to look at the warrior that can have weakness, right?

2551
02:10:29,920 --> 02:10:32,640
And the weakness can get treated, right?

2552
02:10:32,640 --> 02:10:35,920
Get fixed, get worked on, get prevented.

2553
02:10:35,920 --> 02:10:36,920
Right.

2554
02:10:36,920 --> 02:10:41,200
And then your warrior has a different outlook than maybe he looked like in the past.

2555
02:10:41,200 --> 02:10:42,320
Right.

2556
02:10:42,320 --> 02:10:47,200
Our warriors in the past, and I'm including firefighters in that I'm including cops in

2557
02:10:47,200 --> 02:10:51,040
that we told them to suck it up.

2558
02:10:51,040 --> 02:10:52,840
World War II veterans.

2559
02:10:52,840 --> 02:10:56,720
Remember like we have story after story, like where they suffered in the dark.

2560
02:10:56,720 --> 02:11:01,440
They came out, they had night terrors and World War I we called it, what was it?

2561
02:11:01,440 --> 02:11:04,160
Soldiers' Heart or Battle Fatigue.

2562
02:11:04,160 --> 02:11:05,400
Yeah, Battle Fatigue.

2563
02:11:05,400 --> 02:11:06,400
Right.

2564
02:11:06,400 --> 02:11:07,400
It's existed.

2565
02:11:07,400 --> 02:11:09,360
Like it happened in the Civil War.

2566
02:11:09,360 --> 02:11:13,300
What we're saying now is the human has a value.

2567
02:11:13,300 --> 02:11:16,600
We spent all of this has a literal value, right?

2568
02:11:16,600 --> 02:11:18,400
Like just as the humanity of it.

2569
02:11:18,400 --> 02:11:22,680
So if you want to put a number to it and you're talking to your politician, how do we change

2570
02:11:22,680 --> 02:11:23,680
it?

2571
02:11:23,680 --> 02:11:29,760
We spent all this money training this cop to be a cop just to lose them because we won't

2572
02:11:29,760 --> 02:11:35,200
provide the service that treats or deals with the injury or prevents the injury in the first

2573
02:11:35,200 --> 02:11:36,200
place.

2574
02:11:36,200 --> 02:11:37,200
Right.

2575
02:11:37,200 --> 02:11:40,360
This firefighter, it takes a lot to make a firefighter, right?

2576
02:11:40,360 --> 02:11:41,360
You've become one, right?

2577
02:11:41,360 --> 02:11:42,600
It takes a lot to become one.

2578
02:11:42,600 --> 02:11:43,600
Right.

2579
02:11:43,600 --> 02:11:45,440
Now we got to, it takes a lot to keep one.

2580
02:11:45,440 --> 02:11:46,440
Right.

2581
02:11:46,440 --> 02:11:50,600
We thought it was just add retirement, give some good benefits.

2582
02:11:50,600 --> 02:11:52,600
You know, it'll grow.

2583
02:11:52,600 --> 02:11:54,800
It's not 1980 anymore.

2584
02:11:54,800 --> 02:11:55,800
Right.

2585
02:11:55,800 --> 02:12:01,120
Now we are under the burden of information and the information tells me that to keep

2586
02:12:01,120 --> 02:12:06,480
these people thriving and alive, right, we've got to do these things.

2587
02:12:06,480 --> 02:12:09,040
And again, that costs money and culture shift.

2588
02:12:09,040 --> 02:12:10,280
So it's a really big deal.

2589
02:12:10,280 --> 02:12:15,880
Well, it's interesting even with the benefits aside from all the ill health from the hours.

2590
02:12:15,880 --> 02:12:19,880
When I think about my career, like when I was in Orange County for five years, when

2591
02:12:19,880 --> 02:12:22,120
I left, I made less than when I got hired.

2592
02:12:22,120 --> 02:12:23,120
Really?

2593
02:12:23,120 --> 02:12:24,320
I sent myself through medic school.

2594
02:12:24,320 --> 02:12:26,800
So I got the medic bump, but that was all off my own back.

2595
02:12:26,800 --> 02:12:29,120
No education reimbursement, nothing.

2596
02:12:29,120 --> 02:12:32,620
But Rick Scott had start hacking away at the FRS.

2597
02:12:32,620 --> 02:12:36,960
So I literally made zero pay raises and made less after five years.

2598
02:12:36,960 --> 02:12:41,080
Then you look at the health insurance, what used to be a $10 copay and you could go get

2599
02:12:41,080 --> 02:12:42,400
anything done.

2600
02:12:42,400 --> 02:12:46,440
Now is out of pocket until you meet three, four or five thousand.

2601
02:12:46,440 --> 02:12:52,400
So even the benefits that used to be the carrot on the string, they're not there on top of

2602
02:12:52,400 --> 02:12:54,640
all the other stuff that's going on.

2603
02:12:54,640 --> 02:12:57,360
Where I am extremely optimistic is we are at a crisis.

2604
02:12:57,360 --> 02:13:02,600
We're at a nationwide first responder crisis, recruitment crisis.

2605
02:13:02,600 --> 02:13:07,760
And yes, there are some pockets where departments are still able to hire people.

2606
02:13:07,760 --> 02:13:08,800
They're more sought after.

2607
02:13:08,800 --> 02:13:14,160
If you look nationally, we are, but that's a beautiful opportunity to finally make the

2608
02:13:14,160 --> 02:13:15,160
change.

2609
02:13:15,160 --> 02:13:18,640
As you said, I'm sure there's a lot of pressure on Hillsborough now to start looking at the

2610
02:13:18,640 --> 02:13:21,660
2472 when everyone's testing at Pasco.

2611
02:13:21,660 --> 02:13:23,460
So that's a good thing to me.

2612
02:13:23,460 --> 02:13:26,000
It's going to really force this change.

2613
02:13:26,000 --> 02:13:31,880
What it's also done, sadly, though, is exposed, for lack of a better word, cowardice in leadership.

2614
02:13:31,880 --> 02:13:36,160
People that have been taking their, parading around with their bugles, taking their giant

2615
02:13:36,160 --> 02:13:41,240
salaries, and now they're being called on to lead and they refuse to advocate for the

2616
02:13:41,240 --> 02:13:42,920
wellness of their people.

2617
02:13:42,920 --> 02:13:44,240
And locally is a good example.

2618
02:13:44,240 --> 02:13:48,480
And we've had, I mean, four suicides in four years of young firefighters.

2619
02:13:48,480 --> 02:13:53,640
I would think that you'd be searching the edges of the earth to bring solutions.

2620
02:13:53,640 --> 02:13:58,600
And we've seen nothing but resistance to any sort of change whatsoever.

2621
02:13:58,600 --> 02:14:04,080
To the people out there, how do we spur them up to get the courage to look beyond their

2622
02:14:04,080 --> 02:14:09,200
own career progression and salary and start actually advocating for their people, which

2623
02:14:09,200 --> 02:14:10,240
is what they're paid to do?

2624
02:14:10,240 --> 02:14:11,720
And that's not just a chief.

2625
02:14:11,720 --> 02:14:13,480
That's city and county administrators.

2626
02:14:13,480 --> 02:14:15,160
That's union leaders.

2627
02:14:15,160 --> 02:14:19,280
Anyone who has a position that can force change but isn't at the moment.

2628
02:14:19,280 --> 02:14:24,400
So you know, people always say like anyone can lead.

2629
02:14:24,400 --> 02:14:25,600
I don't agree with that.

2630
02:14:25,600 --> 02:14:26,600
I just don't.

2631
02:14:26,600 --> 02:14:27,600
I can teach you to lead.

2632
02:14:27,600 --> 02:14:31,240
You know, I can teach you to do the right things.

2633
02:14:31,240 --> 02:14:35,640
ROTC is a perfect proof of that, like we, that's a leadership school, right?

2634
02:14:35,640 --> 02:14:37,640
West Point's leadership school.

2635
02:14:37,640 --> 02:14:41,200
But then you put some of those people out there and they're the worst leaders you've

2636
02:14:41,200 --> 02:14:42,700
ever seen, right?

2637
02:14:42,700 --> 02:14:44,360
So maybe they're good managers.

2638
02:14:44,360 --> 02:14:45,840
Maybe they can, I can teach that, right?

2639
02:14:45,840 --> 02:14:54,640
But when you talk about true leadership, you need men and women with moral intestinal fortitude,

2640
02:14:54,640 --> 02:14:55,640
right?

2641
02:14:55,640 --> 02:15:00,000
To go and make the right decisions.

2642
02:15:00,000 --> 02:15:02,080
So I'll say their names.

2643
02:15:02,080 --> 02:15:06,880
I think Jason Dockery, Hillsboro County is one of those people.

2644
02:15:06,880 --> 02:15:13,120
There's a guy named Jeremy Sitalakis who is the chief at Plant City Fire Department, little

2645
02:15:13,120 --> 02:15:14,560
tiny fire department, right?

2646
02:15:14,560 --> 02:15:16,720
Like you would overlook in 10 seconds.

2647
02:15:16,720 --> 02:15:21,440
That dude loves and fights for his men and women and the fire service in general, both

2648
02:15:21,440 --> 02:15:24,640
of those men.

2649
02:15:24,640 --> 02:15:30,600
But then alternatively, there's chiefs that suck, you know what I mean?

2650
02:15:30,600 --> 02:15:34,680
And you know what ended up happening in the army?

2651
02:15:34,680 --> 02:15:42,400
You would watch, the system was so bad that like the smart ones go, I'm not doing this

2652
02:15:42,400 --> 02:15:43,400
crap.

2653
02:15:43,400 --> 02:15:44,400
You know what I mean?

2654
02:15:44,400 --> 02:15:45,400
And they're like, I love my country.

2655
02:15:45,400 --> 02:15:46,400
I did my time.

2656
02:15:46,400 --> 02:15:47,400
You know what I mean?

2657
02:15:47,400 --> 02:15:48,400
I did it.

2658
02:15:48,400 --> 02:15:49,400
I'm out.

2659
02:15:49,400 --> 02:15:50,400
I'm going to go take care of my family and myself now, right?

2660
02:15:50,400 --> 02:15:51,400
Good luck to you.

2661
02:15:51,400 --> 02:15:52,400
And so then what happens?

2662
02:15:52,400 --> 02:15:53,560
The crap rises, right?

2663
02:15:53,560 --> 02:15:56,800
And there's about 20, 25% of those people that are like, Hey, I'm going to stick this

2664
02:15:56,800 --> 02:15:59,280
through because if I don't, who will?

2665
02:15:59,280 --> 02:16:00,280
Right?

2666
02:16:00,280 --> 02:16:01,280
And actually that's one of my lines.

2667
02:16:01,280 --> 02:16:02,280
If I don't go, who will?

2668
02:16:02,280 --> 02:16:03,280
Right?

2669
02:16:03,280 --> 02:16:06,360
So I don't think that the fire service is that different.

2670
02:16:06,360 --> 02:16:07,360
You know what I'm saying?

2671
02:16:07,360 --> 02:16:10,000
And I don't think that the police world is that different.

2672
02:16:10,000 --> 02:16:12,480
There's a whole lot of politics involved in all of it, right?

2673
02:16:12,480 --> 02:16:18,360
And there's old, but ultimately if you put on a chief's helmet, okay, or you put on a

2674
02:16:18,360 --> 02:16:25,680
sheriff's badge or a chief's badge, right, you can never forget who you are, right?

2675
02:16:25,680 --> 02:16:27,680
You're a firefighter first.

2676
02:16:27,680 --> 02:16:28,680
Okay.

2677
02:16:28,680 --> 02:16:31,080
You are a cop first.

2678
02:16:31,080 --> 02:16:38,320
You didn't become the sheriff or the chief or the police chief because you forgot that

2679
02:16:38,320 --> 02:16:40,160
or you were a bad cop.

2680
02:16:40,160 --> 02:16:43,320
You were hopefully decent, right?

2681
02:16:43,320 --> 02:16:45,040
Don't forget that, right?

2682
02:16:45,040 --> 02:16:46,480
Leadership is what it takes.

2683
02:16:46,480 --> 02:16:53,080
And then moral courage is truly what it takes.

2684
02:16:53,080 --> 02:16:57,760
And if you hear that and you're like, oh, that's easy to say, Danny, you don't think

2685
02:16:57,760 --> 02:17:03,840
it's hard to sit on this microphone and call out people in the state of Florida for not

2686
02:17:03,840 --> 02:17:04,840
doing their job.

2687
02:17:04,840 --> 02:17:05,840
Yeah.

2688
02:17:05,840 --> 02:17:06,840
It's not easy.

2689
02:17:06,840 --> 02:17:07,840
You know what I mean?

2690
02:17:07,840 --> 02:17:10,640
And there's a lot of things that are at risk, but ultimately what we're trying to do is

2691
02:17:10,640 --> 02:17:13,560
we're not, we're trying to save an ethos, brother.

2692
02:17:13,560 --> 02:17:14,560
You know what I mean?

2693
02:17:14,560 --> 02:17:19,360
We're trying to save a type of man and a type of woman that has stood into the charge, right?

2694
02:17:19,360 --> 02:17:23,420
They stand in the breach and you say, is this worth fighting for?

2695
02:17:23,420 --> 02:17:26,400
And then when you look at your badge and it says chief and you're like, well, I made it

2696
02:17:26,400 --> 02:17:29,520
and you think you've made it, you're wrong, right?

2697
02:17:29,520 --> 02:17:32,080
That's when the job begins, right?

2698
02:17:32,080 --> 02:17:35,480
You've proven that you have the intestinal fortitude to get there.

2699
02:17:35,480 --> 02:17:38,560
You drove the truck, you set the right seat.

2700
02:17:38,560 --> 02:17:43,160
Now you're the battalion chief or you're the district, you know, major when you're in the

2701
02:17:43,160 --> 02:17:44,880
cop or whatever.

2702
02:17:44,880 --> 02:17:47,040
Now's not the time you sit and kick your feet up.

2703
02:17:47,040 --> 02:17:48,960
Now it's the time you actually work.

2704
02:17:48,960 --> 02:17:53,920
Now is the time when you turn to your spouse and you go, Hey, you're not going to see me

2705
02:17:53,920 --> 02:17:55,960
again for a while because I got to lead.

2706
02:17:55,960 --> 02:17:59,480
There's I remember, like I remember there's this guy named Alan Hill.

2707
02:17:59,480 --> 02:18:01,480
He was a major.

2708
02:18:01,480 --> 02:18:05,120
He now leads Tico's internal security.

2709
02:18:05,120 --> 02:18:06,120
What a great kick.

2710
02:18:06,120 --> 02:18:07,120
You know what I mean?

2711
02:18:07,120 --> 02:18:10,320
And you know what I loved about this guy?

2712
02:18:10,320 --> 02:18:16,020
He would still hump a zone once a month, he would go out at night, right?

2713
02:18:16,020 --> 02:18:21,520
And hump the zone with his men and women to remind them that he still has it and to remind

2714
02:18:21,520 --> 02:18:24,600
himself that he was still a deputy.

2715
02:18:24,600 --> 02:18:25,600
That's leadership.

2716
02:18:25,600 --> 02:18:26,600
Okay.

2717
02:18:26,600 --> 02:18:31,960
Um, leadership is showing up in flip flops on Thursday of Thanksgiving, right?

2718
02:18:31,960 --> 02:18:37,080
And showing the men and women that yeah, you're working that night and I could be at home

2719
02:18:37,080 --> 02:18:41,720
with my own family, but I'm the fire chief of this County and I'm going to, and you might

2720
02:18:41,720 --> 02:18:45,280
be like, Danny is just, what is he's just showing up is just an act.

2721
02:18:45,280 --> 02:18:46,640
It's not an act, right?

2722
02:18:46,640 --> 02:18:47,760
It's not an act.

2723
02:18:47,760 --> 02:18:53,080
You go, you show if you're in your office more than you're in the field, you got to

2724
02:18:53,080 --> 02:18:56,720
think of yourself as wrong with a capital W. Okay.

2725
02:18:56,720 --> 02:19:03,240
We are in jobs that require hands on leadership with our people.

2726
02:19:03,240 --> 02:19:06,320
And if you're not willing to do that, you're not willing to set the example.

2727
02:19:06,320 --> 02:19:12,560
I need you to take a good look in the mirror and say, maybe I should hang this up.

2728
02:19:12,560 --> 02:19:13,640
Right.

2729
02:19:13,640 --> 02:19:16,440
If it's hard to hear that message, well, then I'm sorry.

2730
02:19:16,440 --> 02:19:17,440
You know what I mean?

2731
02:19:17,440 --> 02:19:22,280
This isn't one of those things where, um, we can call it in.

2732
02:19:22,280 --> 02:19:23,280
You know what I mean?

2733
02:19:23,280 --> 02:19:25,360
When you fake it, people get hurt.

2734
02:19:25,360 --> 02:19:26,360
Right.

2735
02:19:26,360 --> 02:19:30,520
And a lot of times the hurt that comes from bad leadership is in the betrayal.

2736
02:19:30,520 --> 02:19:33,880
And I love, I'm going to steal your, uh, your that's your words.

2737
02:19:33,880 --> 02:19:34,880
Right.

2738
02:19:34,880 --> 02:19:40,680
Because that's exactly what happens when we have someone that is betrayed by leadership.

2739
02:19:40,680 --> 02:19:41,680
Right.

2740
02:19:41,680 --> 02:19:43,400
Like I came to do a good job.

2741
02:19:43,400 --> 02:19:44,400
You know what I mean?

2742
02:19:44,400 --> 02:19:45,400
I did what you told me to do.

2743
02:19:45,400 --> 02:19:47,840
And now, um, we know we're all humans.

2744
02:19:47,840 --> 02:19:48,840
We all make a mistake.

2745
02:19:48,840 --> 02:19:51,800
And next thing you know, I'm, I'm down the river by myself.

2746
02:19:51,800 --> 02:19:53,520
That's, that's not what we expect.

2747
02:19:53,520 --> 02:19:54,520
You know what I expect?

2748
02:19:54,520 --> 02:19:56,320
I expect you to chew my ass out.

2749
02:19:56,320 --> 02:20:00,560
I expect you to punish me, but I expect you to stand with me when I made a mistake because

2750
02:20:00,560 --> 02:20:06,000
I'm sure on your way to chief, you might not have rolled the roll, the hose the right way

2751
02:20:06,000 --> 02:20:07,160
all the time.

2752
02:20:07,160 --> 02:20:11,320
You might've like cut the corner on the this and forgot the, that, you know what I mean?

2753
02:20:11,320 --> 02:20:12,800
And you just didn't get caught sometimes.

2754
02:20:12,800 --> 02:20:13,800
You know what I mean?

2755
02:20:13,800 --> 02:20:14,800
We've all been there.

2756
02:20:14,800 --> 02:20:15,800
Right.

2757
02:20:15,800 --> 02:20:17,280
So you cannot forget the low man on the pole.

2758
02:20:17,280 --> 02:20:23,400
Um, and remember that just because nobody else saw it, doesn't mean your men and women

2759
02:20:23,400 --> 02:20:24,400
didn't see it.

2760
02:20:24,400 --> 02:20:25,400
And you think you're good.

2761
02:20:25,400 --> 02:20:29,400
You know, you think you're getting the applause, but you're not, you know what I mean?

2762
02:20:29,400 --> 02:20:36,240
Because the only thing that really counts, honestly, is, is those men and women, um,

2763
02:20:36,240 --> 02:20:39,840
in politics, I don't give a damn about what somebody thinks about me.

2764
02:20:39,840 --> 02:20:40,840
You understand that?

2765
02:20:40,840 --> 02:20:44,040
Like, um, if I'm only supposed to be elected four years, okay.

2766
02:20:44,040 --> 02:20:45,840
It is, it is what it is.

2767
02:20:45,840 --> 02:20:51,120
I want to be reelected because I like doing my job.

2768
02:20:51,120 --> 02:20:53,780
Um, and I like helping.

2769
02:20:53,780 --> 02:20:59,120
And so I don't want the people that elected me to think, oh, he doesn't care what I care.

2770
02:20:59,120 --> 02:21:04,760
But if I heard every criticism and I let it affect me, then I couldn't do my job.

2771
02:21:04,760 --> 02:21:06,860
But do you know what really affects me?

2772
02:21:06,860 --> 02:21:11,400
If a firefighter thought I was a dirt bag or a soldier thought I was a piece of crap

2773
02:21:11,400 --> 02:21:15,440
or a cop thought I was dishonest, that would demoralize me.

2774
02:21:15,440 --> 02:21:16,440
You know what I mean?

2775
02:21:16,440 --> 02:21:17,440
Why?

2776
02:21:17,440 --> 02:21:20,360
Because these are people that live by honor and code, right?

2777
02:21:20,360 --> 02:21:24,680
They live by an ethos or you're supposed to, if you haven't forgotten it.

2778
02:21:24,680 --> 02:21:25,680
Right.

2779
02:21:25,680 --> 02:21:32,040
And when those men and women like really are super judgy, if they're being fair, cause

2780
02:21:32,040 --> 02:21:36,440
you know, we can be childish too, then it really hurts.

2781
02:21:36,440 --> 02:21:41,120
And if you're a chief and it doesn't hurt you, then it's time to go.

2782
02:21:41,120 --> 02:21:42,120
It's really time to go.

2783
02:21:42,120 --> 02:21:45,360
Well, this is, uh, I think this is just to underline that point.

2784
02:21:45,360 --> 02:21:49,800
This is what is frustrating and I hope, you know, people can really understand this because

2785
02:21:49,800 --> 02:21:51,240
we're in this crisis.

2786
02:21:51,240 --> 02:21:52,720
And I, again, I'm incurable optist.

2787
02:21:52,720 --> 02:21:57,080
I'm like you, I'm a glass half full or glass full guy myself.

2788
02:21:57,080 --> 02:22:00,560
This is the perfect opportunity to do one of two things.

2789
02:22:00,560 --> 02:22:02,040
Either you can turn the ship around.

2790
02:22:02,040 --> 02:22:03,440
You'll be the hero of your own story.

2791
02:22:03,440 --> 02:22:04,440
That's so true.

2792
02:22:04,440 --> 02:22:05,440
That's so true.

2793
02:22:05,440 --> 02:22:09,820
Or you're the helm when it sinks and you tell your constituents the reason they don't have

2794
02:22:09,820 --> 02:22:14,540
a fire department or a police department or, you know, paramedics won't be coming anymore.

2795
02:22:14,540 --> 02:22:16,880
So there's such a beautiful way of turning it around.

2796
02:22:16,880 --> 02:22:18,940
And it isn't even that brave a decision.

2797
02:22:18,940 --> 02:22:24,920
You just literally look at your finances, look how much money is downstream with overtime,

2798
02:22:24,920 --> 02:22:28,840
with recruits that you train that walk out the door two, three years later with your

2799
02:22:28,840 --> 02:22:33,920
workman's comp claims, with your medical disabilities and line of duty deaths and your accident

2800
02:22:33,920 --> 02:22:38,080
lawsuits millions and millions and millions of dollars.

2801
02:22:38,080 --> 02:22:42,480
So you just tell them, Hey, we're going to need a little bit because we, we, we haven't

2802
02:22:42,480 --> 02:22:44,880
invested in our people and it's got away from us.

2803
02:22:44,880 --> 02:22:46,140
The taxpayer gets better.

2804
02:22:46,140 --> 02:22:48,840
The mental and physical health of your people gets better.

2805
02:22:48,840 --> 02:22:52,920
You can put the bar back higher so you can demand more of your recruits.

2806
02:22:52,920 --> 02:22:58,300
There is no downside except having the courage to actually initiate that program.

2807
02:22:58,300 --> 02:23:04,480
So that's why I'm so, you know, set on the, again, it's not the magic bullet, but I always

2808
02:23:04,480 --> 02:23:09,880
ask the question, why doesn't a firefighter work deserve to work 42 hours a week?

2809
02:23:09,880 --> 02:23:11,040
That's the fundamental question.

2810
02:23:11,040 --> 02:23:14,720
If we make that big change, so many things will improve.

2811
02:23:14,720 --> 02:23:16,440
I agree.

2812
02:23:16,440 --> 02:23:19,440
So with that being said, I want to be mindful of your time.

2813
02:23:19,440 --> 02:23:20,440
We've been chatting over two hours.

2814
02:23:20,440 --> 02:23:22,220
We have, wow, that went quick.

2815
02:23:22,220 --> 02:23:25,040
Is there anything else you want to add before we wrap up?

2816
02:23:25,040 --> 02:23:31,640
Listen, I, I just want to make sure that anybody who hears this understands that, you know,

2817
02:23:31,640 --> 02:23:36,240
there are resources, right?

2818
02:23:36,240 --> 02:23:37,760
But you got to avail yourself of them.

2819
02:23:37,760 --> 02:23:38,760
All right.

2820
02:23:38,760 --> 02:23:43,440
If we're talking about trying to save lives, I can't, I say this all the time.

2821
02:23:43,440 --> 02:23:44,440
You'll hear me say it.

2822
02:23:44,440 --> 02:23:46,000
I can't love you.

2823
02:23:46,000 --> 02:23:49,040
I cannot love you more than you love yourself.

2824
02:23:49,040 --> 02:23:50,600
Right.

2825
02:23:50,600 --> 02:23:52,860
At some point you, I need you to reach out.

2826
02:23:52,860 --> 02:23:59,720
So if you're hurting and, or you think you're skipping a beat, it's fine.

2827
02:23:59,720 --> 02:24:00,720
Right.

2828
02:24:00,720 --> 02:24:01,720
It's totally fine.

2829
02:24:01,720 --> 02:24:03,760
Come find the help.

2830
02:24:03,760 --> 02:24:05,180
There's tons of help.

2831
02:24:05,180 --> 02:24:07,200
You just have to go reach for it.

2832
02:24:07,200 --> 02:24:08,200
Right.

2833
02:24:08,200 --> 02:24:14,080
I remember it, it took a while to understand this.

2834
02:24:14,080 --> 02:24:17,120
There was a guy in the army who I didn't know.

2835
02:24:17,120 --> 02:24:18,880
All right.

2836
02:24:18,880 --> 02:24:22,920
I didn't know, but he was like this guy we all looked up to.

2837
02:24:22,920 --> 02:24:25,640
He had been in the ranger battalion.

2838
02:24:25,640 --> 02:24:28,560
He lost his leg while leading his men.

2839
02:24:28,560 --> 02:24:34,680
And he's the first ever on record coming back to full duty in the ranger battalion as an

2840
02:24:34,680 --> 02:24:35,680
amputee.

2841
02:24:35,680 --> 02:24:42,160
Do you understand how impossible it is to be a full able bodied person and lead in the

2842
02:24:42,160 --> 02:24:43,240
ranger battalion?

2843
02:24:43,240 --> 02:24:51,000
And then this guy did it with one leg, jumping, running, climbing, everything.

2844
02:24:51,000 --> 02:24:53,800
So that dude, two years ago killed himself.

2845
02:24:53,800 --> 02:24:54,800
Right.

2846
02:24:54,800 --> 02:25:00,320
And I'm working out and at the gym and I can hit me.

2847
02:25:00,320 --> 02:25:01,880
I can't stop crying.

2848
02:25:01,880 --> 02:25:04,640
I mean, I don't know this person.

2849
02:25:04,640 --> 02:25:07,160
And I remember just being on a machine and my face is wet.

2850
02:25:07,160 --> 02:25:08,160
Right.

2851
02:25:08,160 --> 02:25:10,120
And I was like, what is happening?

2852
02:25:10,120 --> 02:25:15,720
So I call a buddy of mine who is very high up in the special force guys, like he's a

2853
02:25:15,720 --> 02:25:20,240
stud and I'm like, listen to me, bro.

2854
02:25:20,240 --> 02:25:21,240
Are you okay?

2855
02:25:21,240 --> 02:25:27,360
I, you know, like this guy who's the hero to heroes just took his life.

2856
02:25:27,360 --> 02:25:28,360
I can't take it.

2857
02:25:28,360 --> 02:25:29,680
I can't bury one more person.

2858
02:25:29,680 --> 02:25:32,800
I can't do one more funeral.

2859
02:25:32,800 --> 02:25:34,920
And he said, Danny, listen to me right now.

2860
02:25:34,920 --> 02:25:35,920
I'm fine.

2861
02:25:35,920 --> 02:25:40,000
And I really appreciate you calling me, but you've got to figure out a way to live.

2862
02:25:40,000 --> 02:25:42,040
Just let this go.

2863
02:25:42,040 --> 02:25:47,880
Because if they don't want the help after we've provided the help, then there's nothing

2864
02:25:47,880 --> 02:25:49,240
that we can do.

2865
02:25:49,240 --> 02:25:53,560
And I said, and it took hearing it from him.

2866
02:25:53,560 --> 02:25:58,880
You understand that this guy who has accomplished everything in the military, who is as gone

2867
02:25:58,880 --> 02:26:02,280
as high as you're going to go has done all these secret things.

2868
02:26:02,280 --> 02:26:06,800
And then I said to him, I said, look, it's really hard to swallow for a guy like me,

2869
02:26:06,800 --> 02:26:09,600
for guys like you that we can fix anything.

2870
02:26:09,600 --> 02:26:12,920
We can do anything, but ultimately we're, this is not up to us.

2871
02:26:12,920 --> 02:26:13,960
You know what I mean?

2872
02:26:13,960 --> 02:26:18,280
So my mission is to provide all the resource needed, right?

2873
02:26:18,280 --> 02:26:24,680
And to figure out if how to do the fix, but ultimately I can't get in your head.

2874
02:26:24,680 --> 02:26:30,560
So if you're not feeling it, right, help me help you, right?

2875
02:26:30,560 --> 02:26:34,320
Ultimately, we'd rather have you on this side, right?

2876
02:26:34,320 --> 02:26:36,240
We love you, right?

2877
02:26:36,240 --> 02:26:41,880
There are not many of us and those of us that may not wear the uniform or the same uniform

2878
02:26:41,880 --> 02:26:44,480
as you doesn't mean we care any less, right?

2879
02:26:44,480 --> 02:26:50,320
You're our brother, you're our sister and the world is better for you being in it.

2880
02:26:50,320 --> 02:26:51,960
And that's it.

2881
02:26:51,960 --> 02:26:52,960
Beautiful.

2882
02:26:52,960 --> 02:26:54,960
I'll add one caveat to that.

2883
02:26:54,960 --> 02:26:59,680
Another of the Venn diagram overlaps from so many people on the show that have been

2884
02:26:59,680 --> 02:27:05,400
at that point that you don't hear people talk about enough is that feeling of being a burden

2885
02:27:05,400 --> 02:27:12,640
with that vicious, you know, that, that vicious, um, perfect storm of sleep deprivation, unaddressed

2886
02:27:12,640 --> 02:27:19,400
traumas, organizational betrayal, TBIs, all the things the brain truly becomes miswired.

2887
02:27:19,400 --> 02:27:23,320
And you hear so many of these men and women, they believe that they believe reason of the

2888
02:27:23,320 --> 02:27:25,060
pain for their family.

2889
02:27:25,060 --> 02:27:29,280
So if I just kill myself, I will save my family from the pain.

2890
02:27:29,280 --> 02:27:32,460
This is why I keep saying, uh, is disorder the right word?

2891
02:27:32,460 --> 02:27:34,560
This is an injury, right?

2892
02:27:34,560 --> 02:27:40,680
Because you've got a guy who goes in the door when the bad guy's shooting or when the building

2893
02:27:40,680 --> 02:27:45,160
is on fire and that that's not a guy who is a burden.

2894
02:27:45,160 --> 02:27:46,160
You know what I mean?

2895
02:27:46,160 --> 02:27:47,160
He would never think of himself as a burden.

2896
02:27:47,160 --> 02:27:50,120
He's like, whatever, let's go.

2897
02:27:50,120 --> 02:27:53,840
You are going to have, or you had Doug White on your show?

2898
02:27:53,840 --> 02:27:55,200
Um, I just had him on.

2899
02:27:55,200 --> 02:27:56,200
Yeah.

2900
02:27:56,200 --> 02:27:57,200
Okay.

2901
02:27:57,200 --> 02:27:58,660
So he's a great friend of mine.

2902
02:27:58,660 --> 02:28:02,920
Part of his book story, I was there for the whole thing.

2903
02:28:02,920 --> 02:28:03,920
Right.

2904
02:28:03,920 --> 02:28:14,160
So reading his book, um, I'm going to buy, uh, w we give gifts at the, um, at the house.

2905
02:28:14,160 --> 02:28:16,040
You're supposed to like, it's like a tradition.

2906
02:28:16,040 --> 02:28:19,080
You give all the members a gift from your district or whatever.

2907
02:28:19,080 --> 02:28:24,160
I'm going to buy his book and give it to every member of the, of the Florida house and the

2908
02:28:24,160 --> 02:28:29,200
Florida Senate so they can hopefully read it and understand here's a guy you want to

2909
02:28:29,200 --> 02:28:30,200
talk about leader.

2910
02:28:30,200 --> 02:28:31,200
Remember we were talking about leader.

2911
02:28:31,200 --> 02:28:37,960
I remember going out into the field and watching this guy as a lieutenant who's typically either

2912
02:28:37,960 --> 02:28:41,880
in an office or parked in the car, kind of handling the admin.

2913
02:28:41,880 --> 02:28:43,040
That's their job.

2914
02:28:43,040 --> 02:28:49,080
Chasing bad guys as lieutenant so that his men and women could see what it looks like.

2915
02:28:49,080 --> 02:28:52,160
He can carry the burden with them.

2916
02:28:52,160 --> 02:28:53,160
Right.

2917
02:28:53,160 --> 02:28:58,360
And he can set the example who in a million years would have ever thought that that guy

2918
02:28:58,360 --> 02:28:59,720
thought he wasn't good enough.

2919
02:28:59,720 --> 02:29:00,720
You know what I mean?

2920
02:29:00,720 --> 02:29:02,920
That, that dude's better than 10 men put together.

2921
02:29:02,920 --> 02:29:03,920
You know what I mean?

2922
02:29:03,920 --> 02:29:06,440
And here he thinks he's not good enough.

2923
02:29:06,440 --> 02:29:07,440
Right.

2924
02:29:07,440 --> 02:29:10,120
So that was a perspective that I wasn't ready for.

2925
02:29:10,120 --> 02:29:11,120
You know what I mean?

2926
02:29:11,120 --> 02:29:13,560
Uh, here's a dude I look up to, I admired.

2927
02:29:13,560 --> 02:29:14,840
Why do you think I want to hang out with you?

2928
02:29:14,840 --> 02:29:15,960
You know what I mean?

2929
02:29:15,960 --> 02:29:17,580
And that's how he saw himself.

2930
02:29:17,580 --> 02:29:21,740
So, um, that's a perspective and I'm really glad you brought that up because I, I failed

2931
02:29:21,740 --> 02:29:22,740
to see that in him.

2932
02:29:22,740 --> 02:29:23,740
You know what I mean?

2933
02:29:23,740 --> 02:29:25,160
I just like, yeah, bro, you're good, man.

2934
02:29:25,160 --> 02:29:26,160
Keep up the good work.

2935
02:29:26,160 --> 02:29:27,720
You know, he wasn't good.

2936
02:29:27,720 --> 02:29:28,720
He wasn't good at all.

2937
02:29:28,720 --> 02:29:29,720
You know what I mean?

2938
02:29:29,720 --> 02:29:31,360
So we didn't lose them because of God.

2939
02:29:31,360 --> 02:29:32,360
You know what I mean?

2940
02:29:32,360 --> 02:29:33,960
We didn't lose them because there's a higher power.

2941
02:29:33,960 --> 02:29:37,360
So now we'll use his voice to go help save lives.

2942
02:29:37,360 --> 02:29:39,040
And I'm really pumped about his journey.

2943
02:29:39,040 --> 02:30:00,400
So thanks for having me on.