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

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of the Behind the Shield podcast with Joel Totoro and Wes Barnett. I'm extremely excited to announce

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Welcome to the Behind the Shield podcast as always my name is James Gearing and this week it is my

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absolute honor to welcome on the show former firefighter turned stuntman Eric Salas. Now in

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this conversation we discuss a host of topics from his own journey into the fire service,

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some of the calls he still carries with him today, his transition into the world of stunts,

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elite skydiving, base jumping, fitness standards, training diligence, driving, mental health,

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and so much more. Now before we get to this incredible conversation as I say every week

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please just take a moment go to whichever app you listen to this on, subscribe to the show,

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leave feedback, and leave a rating. Every single five-star rating truly does elevate this podcast

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therefore making it easier for others to find and this is a free library of well over 1 000 episodes

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

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so I can get them to every single person on planet earth who needs to hear them. So with that being

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said I introduce to you Eric Salas. Enjoy!

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Well Eric I want to start by saying just welcome thank you so much for driving all the way to my

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home today as you mentioned before we hit record this is a long time coming our paths across

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through a really unique journey as well but I just want to start by welcoming you to my home today.

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Well thanks for having me man I uh I know we've talked of doing it over a computer but

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I was like no way I had to come sit down with you man face to face

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and that smile dude like I'm in bro. All right well I've normally asked people where would we

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find you usually but the entire planet is your home at the moment so why don't we start at your

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origin story and then we'll work through to this incredible profession that you're part of now.

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Tell me where you were born and tell me a little bit about your family dynamic what your parents

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did how many siblings? Okay so I was born in Sarasota Florida uh we grew up just north of

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there in Bradenton but if you know that area everybody's kind of like oh Bradenton Sarasota

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right that whole little stomping ground was home um I have a twin brother named Jesse who I believe

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you've interviewed before yeah and I have an older sister named Jenny and I have a half brother named

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Joe and my parents my dad was from Mexico my mom a nice German Irish girl up in Wisconsin they met

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in Wisconsin took off down to Florida and that's kind of where it all all goes down we uh you know

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simple dynamic my dad was pretty hard working and my mom was you know of great support system very

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nurturing uh they were in the restaurant industry when we were little and as time went on they got

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into real estate um and it was yeah I think we won the parent lotto you know dad was pretty

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disciplinary my mom very nurturing uh that dynamic together you kind of see it in all of us kids as

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we've grown up um you know my mom more adventurous wanting to be at the beach on the weekends my dad's

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that old school Mexican of work work work loves it you know lives for it um so that that compare

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and contrast if you will those two kind of opposites combined I think was really good for us to where

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now as an adult got this work ethic but at the same time I love my adventure you know I always

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want to wander like you're just saying uh my my home is everywhere whatever tv show takes me or

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movie or just life adventure it's always pulling me in different directions um yeah I grew up in

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Florida pretty simple went to high school there uh you know we're my brother and I got in a good

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fair bit of trouble um as we got into high school my parents split up and we were kind of just

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having fun you know I kind of was in the like hey that's your business I'm over here being a teenager

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I don't really care and now that you guys are apart I can get I can do whatever I want and I love my

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parents they seemed happier apart so I was like hey cool do your thing I'm over here doing mine

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and uh the discipline that we grew up with we always kind of got in trouble but we kind of knew

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that line where we wouldn't cross it I say we because my brother and I have always kind of

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referenced the two of us uh so we kind of would walk that boundary line of getting in trouble being

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a teenager but never the stuff that would get you in jail right you kind of we could see it I'm

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gonna leave now this seems like you get to a place that I don't want to be part of um so we did all

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that in high school found our ways into trouble and uh you know teenagers nothing too bad but

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but uh yeah that was that was growing up that was that was life man am I remembering correctly that

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your dad was a veteran as well yeah my dad was a Vietnam vet uh you know drafted 18 19 so there's

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a lot of uh sternness and discipline maybe it was already in there as the Mexican that I always chalk

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up to is the hard workers that we know so well uh but I think that military veteran in him

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there's definitely a an aspect to him that as time goes he makes more sense right like saying I love

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you isn't a normal thing from him uh and knowing his background coming up losing his mom when he

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was young you know going off into Vietnam uh and trying to imagine being 19 going off into Vietnam

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you know we always have such a high view of that like trying to envision experiencing that knowing

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that he did and what they went through and uh it shapes a lot of how I see him as time goes

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in his simple quiet very kind mentality but yet there's that sternness to him still you know I

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was acting a fool not too long ago and he just cut the shit you know who do you think you are and

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you sit back and you're like oh man sorry dad my dad you're still my dad you're still my dad and

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you're still gonna call me on my shit so but yeah he's a veteran and he's still with us and you know

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he's still three purple hearts I want to say got wounded a couple times I think he has a bronze

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star as well you know he just pulled the medals out for the first time last year never saw him

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and out of nowhere he pulls him out shows them all like whoa all right you've done some shit

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stuff that I can't imagine now let alone at 19. Well I mean it's interesting as well because I

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love these multi-generational conversations you know you hear about dad or granddad or grandma and

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you there's so many powerful immigrant stories you know and so many people that came to this country

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and gave so much you know and whether it's serving in the military whether it's um you know starting

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from the bottom and working the way up I just had a neurosurgeon and his dad immigrated from Mexico

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he was a mechanic became a mechanical engineer and then his son becomes a brain surgeon for crying

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out loud so in this environment where the word immigrant is kind of held with a lot of negative

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connotation I think it's important for us to hear all of these incredible immigration stories and

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how much of the fabric of America does come from overseas and it's awesome you say that because I

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think and agree heavily uh I'm living the reward of his sacrifices of my parents sacrifices right

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they both did it together and because of what they gave up in order to raise us the way that they did

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what they went through to get to where they did and believing in you know my grandfather came here

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with my dad when they were young and they made sacrifices to give my dad my dad made sacrifices

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to give to me and you know my siblings and through that it's a driving force within a lot of my not

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slowing down you know I'm 42 now and I think I'm coming into my prime you know the knowledge is

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there now maybe the body isn't as uh understanding as it was in the 20s but that's okay I think that's

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you know you give up certain things uh to have certain experiences and continually driving forward

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is my job because of what my parents have done for me and to take full advantage of every opportunity

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I have and there's some kid that would sacrifice everything to get to be doing what I'm doing and

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be where I'm being and maybe they won't get the same opportunity as I will maybe they're living

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the process that my dad lived right and in terms of better opportunities for their kids and so

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as time goes and you know you see the world as it is I think if we have the opportunity to chase life

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and live it and keep progressing and keep advancing and keep improving those around you I think the

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more you grow the more it spiders out to everyone around you and you impact those around you and by

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you know you never know you could be the lighthouse for somebody looking for light and so shine bright

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right don't tone yourself down be who you are authentically shine bright keep your eyes open

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shine bright keep growing and I look at it and I keep every time I look at my dad and I'm like wow

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man like what he went through and I look at him and I go yeah I'm gonna I'm gonna go as far as I

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can take this thing and I'm gonna make you proud you know so it's it's interesting and immigrants

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you know I think anybody who gets here and sees the opportunity in this world and goes after it

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will be greatly rewarded and I think if people stop looking so negatively at those around them

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and maybe focus on themselves a little more and their own goals and their own life ambitions and

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whatever that looks like whether it's becoming fit maybe they're out of shape they need to become

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fit maybe it's I want to start skydiving maybe it's I want to read better I want to juggle I

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don't know whatever a challenge that could be those little simple things if you focus on yourself

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and go after it you stop looking at those around you being like you know that immigrant's just

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trying to have a better life you know and if they're operating within society and being a

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good human being and working hard I hope they have everything that they came here for that's

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a great American dream right 100% yeah I love that phrase if you want to change the world start at

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home I mean it's easy to look outside at everything and everyone else and not look at yourself

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and all the answers all the things all the shortcomings all the reward all the stuff

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starts with you inside where are you at where's your mind are you happy are you the best version

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of yourself and without it you're always going to be looking outside and everybody else sucks and

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everyone's wrong and this isn't fair and this isn't right and life's inherently not fair and

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people inherently are I think inherently good but I think with the times it feels like people are

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angry people feel uh uh wronged shorted I don't know uh I don't know I try to just stay positive

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and try to everyone that I interact with try to pull a smile out of them well it's because I think

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you know certainly the last eight years arguably longer people have been told you need to choose

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a side it's us against them I haven't seen any unification of the states for a long long time

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and it's you know we talk about the greatest country and I agree I think it's a competition

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but you know the American dream is a real thing I mean I'm an immigrant from the the UK and you know

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love it here but that anger I think comes from this deliberate division which has spanned both

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sides of the aisle both you know tv stations we all know which one aligns with which political

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organization and so you know we've been cleaved as a nation you know and it was evident when when

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the pandemic came you know you pro or anti-vax you know you pro or anti-police like well wait a second

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these are nuanced conversations what do you mean pick a side it's not world war one so I think

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that's where a lot of the anger comes but I'm very optimistic that there's an awakening now and I just

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was going out with my wife last night and there was two older couples having a conversation

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and they were talking about Donald Trump but they were picking apart all of his all the things that

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he said he's going to change and he was in North Carolina which seemed like a good thing but the

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North Carolina vote was was on the on the defense so he probably helped me to force that vote so

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rather than just saying oh Biden's an idiot they were actually having an adult conversation about

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you know what these promises are are they going to be delivered and that's the first time I heard

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that and what was interesting as well they were also talking about all the countries they visited

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so they got outside their little box saw the world view and so I think this is the next step I think

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that most of us normal people the 80 in the middle have realized that we have been divided and now

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you know we're not holding any of these political people as the the second coming of Christ I'm

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certainly not but if you've got you know individuals who like for example RFK are saying we're going to

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address the obesity crisis we're going to address PFAS you know then I think that's a huge step

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forward and it's not about which party did it I think it's just that as a country we're having a

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you know hopefully a kind of renaissance of awakening where oh we are all American oh it is

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really what's best for the country that's important not who you align with so so I

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think that anger came from that division but I really hope that as we move forward now we're

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going to see that dissipate because the the party that wins now is the one that unifies us not divides

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us I love what you said there and I couldn't agree more you know we're all on this boat together

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and we're all trying to pursue life and be happy and if we're busy fighting about little things

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our differences instead of celebrating them that's a problem what are we doing this life that we're

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living this experience that we're having is going to come to an end and so how you spend your days

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mad at the world mad at this mad at that you should have done this they did should have done that

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believing that the politicians are going to save us you know happiness you know it's it's an inner

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thing and it's it's a lot with what's going on in the world and feeling like everything's ramping up

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but I do feel like there's a shift awakening is a good way to put it I feel like change is happening

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and hopefully we become more united because again I don't care what your where you come from

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what your background is what your orientation I don't care about any of that stuff are you a good

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person you know are you helping those around you to to be better right like you want to feel good

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you feel like you're wrong go spend the day volunteering with some handicapped kids

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go look at some people who will never get to live or have the opportunities that you will get to

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have for no other reason than they were that's the cards they were dealt you know when I was

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when I was young this is a fun story I crushed my right hand you know and they weren't sure

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they're going to amputate it they didn't know if it was going to grow uh surgeon comes in plastic

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surgeon pieces of back together and uh I can remember the day a couple weeks after it happened

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my my hands in a sling and I'm right-handed so my right hand is no good anymore and my dad calls me

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in the kitchen sits me down at the table he says sit down there's a pen and a piece of paper there

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college-old paper a lot of lines he's like pick up the pen start making small circles continuous

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circles like I don't want to do that I didn't ask you what you wanted to do sit down start doing

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circles he's like you're going to learn to use your left hand I was like well I just want to wait

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till my right hand's better you know I don't care you know this that the other one more time and I'm

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crying you know I'm I'm 10 crying you know again I didn't ask you what you wanted these are the

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cards you've been dealt your right hand's no good anymore you're going to learn to use your left hand

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when the page is done you can get up and that lesson stayed with me and it stays with me today

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life isn't fair it ultimately doesn't care you have to adapt learn grow and make your situation

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work for you and I think about that with everything now as life unfolds and sometimes it can really

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kick you hard and I think being able to go well this isn't what I had planned today but these are

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the cards I'm dealt how do I bob weave slip fade and then crack it right down the pipe with the

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right straight and keep moving forward so where it goes from here I like you I'm optimistic I'm

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excited I think we needed change I think what RFK is doing is awesome I think health wellness

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plays into everything from how we feel day to day our mental game

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and I you know I love listening to your podcast and I love you know I was listening at firefighter

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the wildland guy just recently was it Ben uh had been um hot shot guy yes yeah and then talking

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mental health and you know you guys dove into it quite a bit and I think when you move your body

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and you take some time to check in on yourself and your brain and where you're at

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everything else just spreads out from there you know if you're feeling good and your mind's clear

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you can navigate things a little more clearly you know does it make sense no completely and it's

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that's why you know when we talk about mental health you know the fitness standards in the fire

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service for example there is no downside if we want to address mental health physical health is

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a big part of it sleep is a big part of it you know ability to process the trauma is a big part

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of it but you know you look at the US we are 70 percent overweight or obese we're actually 40

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percent obese now almost half the country's obese clinically obese um and you and then we have a

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mental health crisis you know we consume 75 percent of the world's opiates for example

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so by simply making the country healthier not only is it going to ease the pressure on our EMS

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and our hospitals you know on the actual you know tax base of Medicaid Medicare when it comes to that

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side but you're just going to make the country happier and I think what I've seen history has

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tried to tell us don't let these tyrants rise to the top they will cause so much death and

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destruction amongst normal people you know like I always point to how many Russians actually woke

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up one day and said oh I think I'd like to live in the Ukraine probably almost zero but those young

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men are dying and as are the Ukrainians for this bizarre plan that some tyrant came up with if you

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actually have a kind you know compassionate culture and that is that nurtured in you that

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is the essence of who you are when an evil shit bag starts to rise you just lop the head off and

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then you go back to your normal way but if you are a divisive hateful divided country already it's so

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easy to miss the real bad guys until they're all way in the top and that it's uh you know circling

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back to the health aspect and how it perpetuates into that it's sad for me to see people so

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unhealthy you know I see a very obese person and moving looks hard looks like it hurts and I know

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having been you know stunk eye and beaten my body up when my body hurts it affects my day to day my

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my mental awareness out into the world right and so you see the the breakdown from as simplistic as

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diet exercise you know these things that we have this meat missile that is essentially the most

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important thing that we have if you don't have your health what do you have and if you don't take care

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of your body it's going to fail you and once it fails you it makes everything else in life hard

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and so if we can attack the diet the eating the physical activity and you know I think somewhere

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physical activity becomes looked at as like you know sit down you're making us look bad yeah it's

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it's funky man you're the one looking bad dude and you feel for people because where'd you get the

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mindset where do you get the and I've lived it like I've I've trust me I I mentioned this year

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earlier my brother's all you said it my you know like the north star my brother's always been the

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north star he's a health and wellness guy his knowledge is insane and I've lived a path of

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a little bit of debauchery you know full transparency and heavy drinking you know I

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I got on Adderall at some point some prescribed this medication and I lived through these things

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that were inherently really unhealthy and luckily through great friends support and all is that

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shining light with my brother I was able to put a lot of these skeletons in the closet and lock

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them in there and get control over them but when I was in it when I was unhealthy I didn't I didn't

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even know how I didn't know there was a problem and I didn't see the problem at all and you could see

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how it carried into everything from my attitude towards others you know and the way that I treated

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people and the way that I felt about myself and you know inherently I'm a socially open happy go

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lucky guy but I was super lacking confidence and I was super lacking you know how to

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how to recognize these problems and then as they become apparent and as they become realistic

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you start going well now how do I get out of this hole you know I'm down here I don't know

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I don't even know where to start right like oh I'm a mess you know I'm drinking all the time and

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taking Adderall like it's Skittles and when you're up you're up and you're moving you're

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ah and then when you're down buddy whoo would you be down and it felt like it perpetuated a

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monster within me whether it was my attitude towards others like fuck that guy he sucks and

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now he's this and he's that and odds are he was a great guy but I had my own man and so

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I think it all I was a mess I wasn't happy I didn't feel good and so it perpetuated out

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and how big that monster would get would depend on where I was at with my day to day and so you see

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it carry over into these perpetuating monsters of you know whether it's Russia and Ukraine or

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you know Trump Biden right and whoa I'm on this side or I'm on that side and yeah I think so much

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of it comes back to all right well I can't control the monster but I can I can control myself and how

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can I be a better shining light to the interactions that I'm gonna have stay out of the narrative

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that monster was never real and you realize that yeah it was a boogeyman big time the big the the

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monster in the brain and that's why I go back to you like we talk health and wellness and I always

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say there's a monster that lives inside my mind right and it's my job to keep it in check in cage

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lock and key and through fitness you know I'm a big advocate of I wake up and before the outside

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influence comes in of the world I dictate what influences my mind so I always listen to something

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positive something motivating whether it's Kobe Bryant or Les Brown Jim Rohn the name a few people

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that I'm big fans of and I listen to that message of optimism of get after it of the way you see the

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world is on you and everything that life's gonna hit you with today the magnitude of what it is

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is how you can embrace it how you can go into it right whether it's sitting in traffic and

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losing your mouth the fuck or why am I stuck here what why is this happening right now right what's

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why am I going through this so believe in something positive and I believe in moving my body

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moving my body through ranges of motion exploring where it's at listening to it in sync with it

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and then with that comes some flow toy play right when I say flow toys it's like poi balls or a

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simpler one juggling uh and connecting with my mind hand-eye coordination and just being present

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to nothing but I'm here trying to juggle nothing else matters right now can I can I wrap my mind

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into this and nothing else and so I take control of my mind first thing in the morning and now I go

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out and just see the day and I feel good I've connected with myself I know where I'm at I can

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kind of tell sometimes now more and more when I'm in a mood you know like what's going on why am I

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why am I and I go out and maybe I'm not as personable or I'm looking at people a little

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more judgy and we talked about Ted Lasso and one of my favorite sayings I took from his

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be curious not judgmental and I try to look at so much like that now like the the weird guy and I

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want to where it's like ah he's a unique character he's different from every other person I might see

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today what is it about him oh I don't know what is it about her you know I don't know but they're

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weird and I love it and it feels like they know themselves right it's like my thing with the

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transgender stuff I don't get it I don't have to to me if someone knows who they are to the level

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where they're gonna identify and confidently meet the world as that other person good on them

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I can only hope that I can know myself that well beyond that I don't care is it mental health is

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it this is it that I don't know I don't care it's not my uh it's not my day to day it's not my life

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to live and I go well how lucky am I that I'm not having to navigate am I a man or a woman does it

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make sense you know I just I try to be compassionate right old Eric would have been

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fuck that guy and weirdo and now I'm like good for them I hope you're happy like it reminds me

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of another phrase I love you know when when to say you've got that salty firefighter for example

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used to be like what the fuck's wrong with that guy and then say don't ask what's wrong with them

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ask what happened to them so for that guy it might be 20 years in the fire service of not sleeping

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compounded by the fact that his dad left when he was three years old and now all of a sudden you've

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got a a path a reason you know where we're so judgmental like today well I'm not an addict

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well good for fucking you you're lucky huh can you imagine having to just you know the most

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important thing in the world is getting your next fix that's your reality you know so I think putting

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that compassion and empathy towards all these people you know what happened to you how did you

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get here you know you're homeless you're a sex worker you're you know you're a member of a gang

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you're the ceo of a company like you know tobacco that's killing hundreds of thousands of Americans

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and you're unfazed by it all these things what happened to you how did you get here and how can

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we get you back so I think the that's again that kindness and community it's easy to just judge

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and them and us you know and the same with the transgender I'm sure most people that are

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you know navigating that just want to navigate it on their own they don't want to be some part of a

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national politicization of this topic they're like this is my personal identity like my religion

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like you know my sexual orientation and it's only again this division that has rammed this down our

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throats where all of a sudden people are putting pronouns on their LinkedIn accounts like we didn't

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have to do that dude this is a this is a personal thing I've never put spiritual not religious on

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my fucking Instagram you know what I mean it's so funny you say it because I think about it so

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heavily like I could care less if your gender is your identity I feel bad for you if your sexual

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whatever your uh if your culture is your identity that's cool like right on uh but when it's uh

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uh you classify people based on their sexual orientation or their skin color or their

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religion and I just go there's so much more to every single person like I don't give a shit

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about who you want to be with how you want to live if you're not hurting anyone and you're not

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being a you know a problem to others who care what you do behind closed doors that's your business

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like at all if you're happy that's great like good great where and then to circle back even again

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with what you're saying about you know what happened to that person and what's going you know

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what they live through I try to look at everyone that way I don't know what they've been through

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I don't know what life they've lived I you know we saw in the fire service you'd run the calls

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and you when people talk about being abused or a victim I have inherently a hard time with

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hearing those things you know what a fucking victim is right like for me a victim is that child

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who was abused in ways that people cannot understand and you've seen it I've seen it

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I've seen it and I always reference somebody who's had it worse than whatever I'm dealing with

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or what I'm seeing and I try to be compassionate and I try to be understanding and also not

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downplaying right like when someone's like oh I'm a victim I'm going through this thing and I maybe

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don't understand it and I don't agree with their abuse of the word victim but I inherently go back

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to well if it's your worst day then it's your worst day like I don't I your experiences are

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different than mine your you know everything from your parents to your mentors to your

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you know you could have a firehouse and have a horrible crew that affects the mentality of

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the young guy coming up or young gal and now you have this person in motion it's now on a 20-30

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year career if they stay in it and when you had that young brain that could have been molded and

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shaped with great leadership they're affected by this crew of guys or gals and now you have

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another shitty person within a crew that carries on so it's fascinating but compassion I think

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compassion is a great way to look at a lot of stuff is moving forward in life and society and

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everything around us absolutely well let's get into the fire service so tell me how old you were

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when you entered and then kind of give us an overview of the highs and the lows the mentorship

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and the toxic leadership that you experienced through your career oh the fire service was a

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great chapter uh senior high school I didn't know what I wanted to do you know it was my mode I'm

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an adult now I gotta get a real job and I was in television production class and I went to shoot

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uh a project on the school to work program so my brother was in the fire academy already and

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he was doing high school for two hours and they go to the fire academy and when they would graduate

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they'd be firemen so shoot I go to shoot this video and they're doing search and rescue training

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I'm like I want to do that fuck that's badass you know I had aspirations of being in the military

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my dad Vietnam vet very different perspective on the military really didn't want us going down that

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path but when I saw firefighting I knew it's like this for me this badass so senior year it became

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all about I'm gonna graduate I'm going straight to the fire academy well I had been in a bunch of

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trouble and I wasn't really good in school and I was failing and I had to go to summer school

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my senior year to graduate and if I didn't pass my summer school class I was gonna have to repeat

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my senior year and now all I wanted to do is be a firefighter I already knew I can't be a fireman

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I'm gonna be a fireman oh this is what I'm gonna do and I said well can I go to you know fire academy

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those are college credits will that count towards this half a credit no gotta go to summer school so

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I go to summer school get through it my parents had split so my dad's in Orlando and I you know

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I was in trouble and one of the local cops who I was friends with you know I got along with the

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police we were always cool so you got to get out of here or you're gonna be like your loser friends

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and you're gonna end up in jail and in lots of trouble so I graduate I find a volunteer fire

384
00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:26,960
station up in the Orlando area my dad's in Orlando so that's where I was going and I'm in EMT school

385
00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:33,040
like out the gate the fastest program I could get in which I think was three months at the time

386
00:41:33,040 --> 00:41:37,600
was that mid Florida Tech it was mid Florida Tech that's where I went to oh did you that's awesome

387
00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:41,200
and yeah I went to mid Florida Tech and then it was central Florida fire academy at the time

388
00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:49,360
and uh it was a lot it was a lot being a guy who wasn't good in school straight in EMT school

389
00:41:49,360 --> 00:41:54,320
and uh I got through it my dad was super supportive I was like well I feel like I'm

390
00:41:54,320 --> 00:41:59,040
gonna fail I feel like I'm going over my head and if you fail you fail he said to me he goes and

391
00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:02,880
we'll pay the money and you'll do it again you'll pass the second time but cool worried about that

392
00:42:04,080 --> 00:42:09,200
focus on doing as good as you can and studying as hard as you can and if you study as hard as you

393
00:42:09,200 --> 00:42:13,760
can you know you gave it your all and you don't pass then it's okay you gave it your all I ended

394
00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:19,120
up passing my national registry on the first try so I didn't have to take the state test it was I

395
00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:25,760
crushed it in the end so that support system was pretty phenomenal straight into fire excuse me

396
00:42:26,400 --> 00:42:34,480
straight into fire academy from there I'm 18 at the time and I'm working as a volunteer firefighter

397
00:42:34,480 --> 00:42:38,400
you know I'd found a volunteer fire station my brother had been working as a volunteer firefighter

398
00:42:38,400 --> 00:42:43,520
senior year of high school so I knew out the gate like cool I'm in the fire academy I can get on a

399
00:42:43,520 --> 00:42:48,960
volunteer truck I can start learning when I do apply to a department I'll already have a resume

400
00:42:48,960 --> 00:42:53,840
going I'll already have experience and I'm not just a guy who went through the fire academy and

401
00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:58,320
that hey here's my application right I'll have this experience and I was obsessed with it I wanted

402
00:42:58,320 --> 00:43:08,400
to be a fireman I wanted to be uh I wanted to live it I it wasn't a job it was a calling it was a

403
00:43:08,400 --> 00:43:16,960
passion it was I get to do this I get to be in service of others I get to you know potentially

404
00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:22,080
put my life on the line for my fellow human being like what an honor like you know I thought I

405
00:43:22,080 --> 00:43:29,760
mentioned earlier a samurai like I'm willing to lay it all down for this cause right and you know

406
00:43:29,760 --> 00:43:36,720
I'm working as a volunteer I'm going to the fire academy and uh fire academy was it was awesome

407
00:43:37,280 --> 00:43:43,360
you know I'm a hands-on guy I'm not inherently good with book work but you know you tell me

408
00:43:43,360 --> 00:43:50,000
teach me how to pull a hose and you know take a door and man it was it just made sense right tie

409
00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:58,720
knots yeah let's do it like search and rescue hell yeah so really did well in that uh graduated

410
00:43:59,520 --> 00:44:05,120
you know we you know you go through the process and next thing you know it's over you know and

411
00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:10,800
it seems like such a big thing at the time you know being being a young dude and a kid you know

412
00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:19,120
you don't really realize uh then that you're just a kid you know you think you got it all figured

413
00:44:19,120 --> 00:44:26,160
out and you're no I'm an adult now and I'm farming and and all the while it's it's comical to me to

414
00:44:26,160 --> 00:44:33,680
think back like I was 18 19 right and even at 24 25 I was like I was a fucking kid you know on

415
00:44:33,680 --> 00:44:42,320
the truck running the calls doing the thing and you know a lot of it looking back you're able to

416
00:44:43,120 --> 00:44:49,280
be a little more compassionate with your idiocracy at that age with your lack of knowledge at that

417
00:44:49,280 --> 00:44:54,960
age and again everybody comes from different walks of life right I didn't come from a dad in

418
00:44:54,960 --> 00:45:05,600
construction who was teaching us hand tools and he was busy working to provide for us and so when

419
00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:10,560
I went to the fire service it wasn't you know put the blue stuff on the red there was a lot more

420
00:45:11,680 --> 00:45:18,240
technical aspect to it that I just wasn't prepared for and you know you talk about

421
00:45:18,240 --> 00:45:25,840
trauma and hardship within that learning process um

422
00:45:30,160 --> 00:45:35,680
I worked with a lot of great guys but I worked with a lot of shitty guys not that they were shitty

423
00:45:35,680 --> 00:45:45,360
people their ability of leadership wasn't there and as a young guy you know I think

424
00:45:45,360 --> 00:45:50,800
that mentor aspect is somebody who sees the potential within someone sees the energy I'm

425
00:45:50,800 --> 00:45:58,880
going to take all that and I'm going to make them great where I kind of got you know we

426
00:45:59,680 --> 00:46:05,040
let me circle back just a little we got on Seminole County Fire Department when we were 19

427
00:46:06,480 --> 00:46:10,320
How competitive was it when you were looking? It was super competitive. What year was this?

428
00:46:10,320 --> 00:46:20,160
It was super competitive. What year was this? 2001 or 2000 2002. Okay. 2002 because I graduated in

429
00:46:20,160 --> 00:46:29,680
2001 so 2002 we got hired and there's over a thousand applicants and it was applications on

430
00:46:29,680 --> 00:46:35,760
a piece of paper and we had enough know-it-all my brother and I were I was pretty sharp with simple

431
00:46:35,760 --> 00:46:41,440
things like hey you should take this application typewriters are still thing we got our hands on

432
00:46:41,440 --> 00:46:46,800
a typewriter we put it through a typewriter so it wasn't just hand written on there they told us out

433
00:46:46,800 --> 00:46:52,720
of thousand fifteen hundred applicants there was like seven of us who did that so we are

434
00:46:52,720 --> 00:46:58,240
automatically we're looked at like okay this stands out you're going into this process from here

435
00:46:58,240 --> 00:47:07,360
we passed our written stuff we did the whole thing and we were great with the whole process of

436
00:47:08,240 --> 00:47:12,800
all right now you're going to come in and do the physical test and you know there's people

437
00:47:12,800 --> 00:47:17,840
scattered throughout this process that are just there like okay they're at the door you're waiting

438
00:47:17,840 --> 00:47:23,200
to go in to do your medical exam and there's a guy sitting there and hey I'm Eric I'm so and so how

439
00:47:23,200 --> 00:47:27,120
long you've been a fireman all that and you sat there and talked to these guys and they were

440
00:47:27,120 --> 00:47:32,400
20-year veteran firefighters and we carry on a conversation and generally curious about them

441
00:47:32,400 --> 00:47:36,960
and their experiences and this is I mean I dreamed of this I'm getting the test for this department

442
00:47:36,960 --> 00:47:42,720
got this firefighter who's been doing this for 20 years that's knowledge it's experience it's

443
00:47:42,720 --> 00:47:48,320
this dude's a badass he's been through some shit I don't know in my head they have in my mind this

444
00:47:48,320 --> 00:47:56,480
this person's you know they've lived the things that I'm hoping to live and we went through the

445
00:47:56,480 --> 00:48:04,240
process and we got picked up Seminole County 19 years old you know we were my my twin brother and

446
00:48:04,240 --> 00:48:09,120
I say we see there go again everything the we when I talk about the we I'm referring to my twin

447
00:48:09,120 --> 00:48:18,240
we got hired together at first department and I had done a bunch of tech rescue classes

448
00:48:19,600 --> 00:48:23,280
while I was waiting to test for Seminole because there was a time frame between

449
00:48:23,280 --> 00:48:27,440
graduating fire academy and actual hiring going on and when the hiring go on you know it's

450
00:48:27,440 --> 00:48:34,160
competitive there was a lot not as many jobs then but there was a ton of applicants well this is

451
00:48:34,160 --> 00:48:39,520
what needs to be underlined as well tell people this even goes back to about 10 years ago we have

452
00:48:39,520 --> 00:48:44,160
a massive recruitment crisis now and people when I talk about well we've got to fix the things that

453
00:48:44,160 --> 00:48:48,880
are broken this is why no one's testing this fire fires anymore oh well how are we supposed to hire

454
00:48:48,880 --> 00:48:54,640
people now I'm like dude 10 years ago we had thousands of people for a handful of jobs or

455
00:48:54,640 --> 00:48:59,760
hundreds depending on where you were testing we weren't it wasn't that long ago that this was

456
00:48:59,760 --> 00:49:05,680
truly a coveted position this is how much you have failed our profession that in 10 short years we've

457
00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:11,440
gone from that level of competition and I had the same thing you had to have a resume that stood out

458
00:49:11,440 --> 00:49:16,480
you had to have something special to even be considered for you know that next round of testing

459
00:49:16,480 --> 00:49:22,640
and now they're offering fucking hiring bonuses and you know taking 18 and a heartbeat in a lot

460
00:49:22,640 --> 00:49:27,760
of places and it's just like we need to get back to where we were but these young people are so

461
00:49:27,760 --> 00:49:32,000
intelligent now they'll look at the working conditions and go no that looks terrible so it's

462
00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:36,320
up to us as a profession to fix the things that are broken the work week is the thing that I

463
00:49:36,320 --> 00:49:41,760
dumped like a you know beat like a drum it doesn't make any sense that the people that we asked to

464
00:49:41,760 --> 00:49:47,040
save lives work 56 hours a week 80 hours with a mandatory overtime which is all the time

465
00:49:47,040 --> 00:49:52,080
and yet the person in starbucks where you got your coffee earlier you know works 40 hours so

466
00:49:52,080 --> 00:49:57,280
just I just like underlining that the generation that we came from and we were testing you know

467
00:49:57,280 --> 00:50:04,320
was so so competitive and this is what we need this is a profession where our mistakes truly

468
00:50:04,320 --> 00:50:09,680
can cost lives our own our crew or the people that we serve and the fact that we've allowed it to come

469
00:50:09,680 --> 00:50:15,600
so fucking low now whether you're just begging for people to do this job you know we are at a crisis

470
00:50:15,600 --> 00:50:20,960
point and I think it's a great opportunity to turn it around but the voices of you know 10 20 years

471
00:50:20,960 --> 00:50:28,480
ago and what testing should look like need to be you know reiterated yeah and you know it's I had

472
00:50:28,480 --> 00:50:33,360
no idea about the hiring crisis you know I'm pretty removed from the fire service now it feels like

473
00:50:33,360 --> 00:50:42,240
another lifetime ago for me when I think about firefighting at that younger age one day on two

474
00:50:42,240 --> 00:50:49,360
days off is awesome you know what a what a thing and you look back now and you as we learn about

475
00:50:49,360 --> 00:50:54,000
health and wellness and maybe that just comes with age and so I love the fight that you're

476
00:50:54,560 --> 00:51:01,280
you continue to move forward with because that wisdom and time that you have and knowledge now

477
00:51:01,280 --> 00:51:07,280
can carry down to affect that younger generation of firefighter and the longevity of their life

478
00:51:07,280 --> 00:51:14,240
and it is a real thing and rest is a real thing and these work environments and these things that

479
00:51:14,240 --> 00:51:21,120
are asked of people to do in the positions that they're asked to put themselves in it's a lot

480
00:51:21,920 --> 00:51:26,800
it's a lot and it can cost you everything you know if you're not well rested and you're running

481
00:51:26,800 --> 00:51:31,440
calls in the middle of the night driving that big truck with water in the back and that moves around

482
00:51:31,440 --> 00:51:38,800
and you're not sharp it can cost everything you know one poor judgment call because you're lacking

483
00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:46,000
sleep can cost you everything and I always loved it when I was younger I don't need the sleep

484
00:51:46,000 --> 00:51:52,720
I'm an animal I'm a badass let's go let's go and it's great and that young energy is awesome and

485
00:51:52,720 --> 00:51:59,680
it's great and that young energy is awesome and again I felt I still feel so fortunate to have

486
00:51:59,680 --> 00:52:11,440
been a firefighter at that age and to get to have a job that I was excited every shift I got to go

487
00:52:11,440 --> 00:52:20,800
in and so to look now and look at it and be like it can be better for them we can make change and

488
00:52:20,800 --> 00:52:28,640
I think a lot of the change that has to happen does come at an upper admin level in some retrospects

489
00:52:29,440 --> 00:52:33,360
but I think there's a cultural change within the firefighters that needs to shift as well

490
00:52:35,680 --> 00:52:44,720
you know we talk about a lot of mental health and I hold a high accountability on the guys and

491
00:52:44,720 --> 00:52:51,680
gals themselves because inherently the upper echelon has their world and they're going to do

492
00:52:51,680 --> 00:52:58,720
what they're going to do and I think the fight always has to stay there after them to be better

493
00:52:58,720 --> 00:53:06,800
for us and do more for us and provide more but at the same time I think within the culture the shift

494
00:53:06,800 --> 00:53:22,480
from ego and alcohol as a solution to personal mental health and ways to work through the stuff

495
00:53:22,480 --> 00:53:29,920
that we deal with and see and go through on you know a shift basis right we act as if working

496
00:53:29,920 --> 00:53:34,800
a code on an old person's no big deal still going in and breaking ribs still slamming a tube down

497
00:53:34,800 --> 00:53:39,920
a human being's throat you're still pumping drugs into him trying to bring him back to life or

498
00:53:41,440 --> 00:53:46,080
take that out of the equation add in a child or you're cutting somebody out of a car and then

499
00:53:46,080 --> 00:53:51,200
you're telling the family I did everything I could I'm sorry and you're having to see that stuff you

500
00:53:51,200 --> 00:53:58,160
don't think it at the time that it affects you remember as a young guy my first big fire you

501
00:53:58,160 --> 00:54:04,400
know we did a search and I mean I'm shit man it was a horrible horrible scene but you know I was

502
00:54:04,400 --> 00:54:10,880
in my early 20s and you know a second alarm big house fire no veto I'm sure if someone you wanted

503
00:54:10,880 --> 00:54:16,800
to research that they could find it I think four kids died that day and I remember showing up

504
00:54:17,920 --> 00:54:22,960
in the best reference I could use it was like band of brothers where everything slowed down it was

505
00:54:22,960 --> 00:54:28,640
these kids are coming by in the arms and lifeless bodies no facial features it's all been burned

506
00:54:28,640 --> 00:54:34,000
off and the dad's back there crashing through trying to break into the house he's covered in

507
00:54:34,000 --> 00:54:39,200
blood they're pulling him away and like oh you guys are gonna there's one more kid in there you guys

508
00:54:39,200 --> 00:54:44,160
are going in and then it's like you know we dropped down we're putting our masks on we're putting

509
00:54:44,160 --> 00:54:49,040
our gear on I'm like oh yeah train for this let's go and we drop in this window and you can't see

510
00:54:49,040 --> 00:54:54,560
your hand in front of your face and you're doing the search and I can remember sweeping the room

511
00:54:55,360 --> 00:54:58,960
you know I grabbed my partner's boot I trained this right grab my partner's boot okay cool now

512
00:54:58,960 --> 00:55:06,000
I sweep out right and I remember like oh it must be a toy or something and I go wait a second

513
00:55:06,960 --> 00:55:13,280
I think that's hey I think I found I think I found one and the guy I was with oh where that's it

514
00:55:13,840 --> 00:55:19,120
you know and the body goes they go to the window pass it out you know we find our way out of there

515
00:55:19,120 --> 00:55:29,600
as the last kid and long story short we go back to the firehouse and they're going hey

516
00:55:30,640 --> 00:55:35,760
you know they're going to do a debrief on what went down like a what do they call it the health

517
00:55:35,760 --> 00:55:43,120
and wellness you know yeah the after action yeah that after action CISD yeah yeah CISD that was it

518
00:55:43,120 --> 00:55:50,400
do you want to go I'm like I don't need to go well I need to go for I look at my partner like

519
00:55:50,400 --> 00:55:56,240
you do you need to go the lieutenant goes you guys are going and I remember going in there and

520
00:55:56,240 --> 00:56:03,600
sitting back and just kind of being trying to be the tough guy like and there's a guy a big burly

521
00:56:03,600 --> 00:56:10,000
firefighter I want to say he was with a veto talking and crying and back then I remember being like

522
00:56:10,000 --> 00:56:16,640
pfft pussy and now I look back and I'm like that was one of probably the strongest human beings

523
00:56:16,640 --> 00:56:22,800
in that room and what that dude saw that day we passed I didn't even see the kid

524
00:56:24,400 --> 00:56:32,320
my partner passed her out as last we saw them they put up tarp walls and they were the medics

525
00:56:32,320 --> 00:56:40,720
that were working on those kids they were the guys that really saw it all and so you think back now

526
00:56:40,720 --> 00:56:48,480
and I go it's good to talk through this stuff it's good to recognize that what we were seeing

527
00:56:49,360 --> 00:56:59,600
what our current teams are seeing is a lot it's a lot to see life and then it's gone and it's a lot

528
00:56:59,600 --> 00:57:11,680
to see the crying families and you carry it with you you do and I see it as a blessing

529
00:57:13,120 --> 00:57:22,480
I see it as a reminder that all of this ends I said it before already and to be happy be happy

530
00:57:22,480 --> 00:57:27,120
when you can because the dark days are coming and the dark days are coming for all of us

531
00:57:27,120 --> 00:57:34,320
and you know you have bad days and I'm like is it a bad day or is it just a day because a bad day

532
00:57:35,280 --> 00:57:40,640
somebody really close to you is going to be sick that they're never going to recover from bad day

533
00:57:40,640 --> 00:57:44,800
somebody close to you that you love is is gone and you're never going to get to see them again

534
00:57:45,600 --> 00:57:52,800
and so I save the bad days for that and I keep that mindset from the fire service of

535
00:57:52,800 --> 00:58:05,760
this is such a gift life is such a gift man it's it's it brings back so many memories of

536
00:58:06,560 --> 00:58:14,240
the little things the little things that you would run you know you've seen it yep it stays

537
00:58:14,240 --> 00:58:18,400
with you right mm-hmm I mean I wrote two books about it which I'm excited to read

538
00:58:18,400 --> 00:58:22,320
which I'm excited to read thank you for those you're at the top of my dake

539
00:58:23,680 --> 00:58:27,520
yeah actually one of the one of the chapters is going to resonate very deeply after what you just

540
00:58:27,520 --> 00:58:33,360
told me so yeah I mean but this is it and I've had so many people not focusing on my book but just

541
00:58:34,320 --> 00:58:40,160
so many people have said to me I had to put it down after chapter one chapter four whatever because

542
00:58:40,160 --> 00:58:45,120
I saw myself and I went and got help or I went and did you know one of my friends has psychedelic

543
00:58:45,120 --> 00:58:51,920
journeys a lot and he was like I had to go do a journey and someone had told their friend about

544
00:58:51,920 --> 00:58:56,400
it and he'd said I'm scared to read it and I'm like okay this is good because this is how it

545
00:58:56,400 --> 00:59:02,480
should impact us you know not that it triggers you and you regress but it's like this mirror like hey

546
00:59:03,120 --> 00:59:09,520
the validation what we see like it should have an impact human beings are not supposed to see and

547
00:59:09,520 --> 00:59:13,280
do this you know and then you add in again the sleep deprivation all these other compounding

548
00:59:13,280 --> 00:59:20,240
layers and you know what you brought into the job but uh yeah I mean just on its own when you look

549
00:59:20,240 --> 00:59:24,640
I mean I only had a 14 year career that was it that's half of what a lot of guys have women

550
00:59:25,920 --> 00:59:30,800
and I think back like you know when I was writing the books I wrote on a piece of paper not the

551
00:59:30,800 --> 00:59:37,840
deaths that would be the whole fucking pad full but the the worst deaths and it was to say two

552
00:59:37,840 --> 00:59:42,400
sides of you know letter paper a4 of just oh this guy this guy this woman this kid

553
00:59:42,400 --> 00:59:49,200
I was like holy shit this is just 14 years um so yeah I mean how can it not this is what we need

554
00:59:49,200 --> 00:59:54,800
to be talking about is it doesn't have to crush you I think that you know you there are so many

555
00:59:54,800 --> 00:59:59,920
incredible tools now that can help you work through this but the way going back to you know the fire

556
00:59:59,920 --> 01:00:04,160
service the way that we've got it designed the same way as the way they told everyone to go

557
01:00:04,160 --> 01:00:10,720
through the pandemic was to not see family and friends stay inside eat fast food drink alcohol

558
01:00:10,720 --> 01:00:16,560
binge watch Netflix was clearly not the way that you make people healthier the way that you take

559
01:00:16,560 --> 01:00:22,400
away coping mechanisms from firefighters is you work them into a ground you challenge their family

560
01:00:22,400 --> 01:00:26,480
dynamic at home because they're never home you know you mean you create such stress and sleep

561
01:00:26,480 --> 01:00:32,320
deprivation that they tend to lean into alcohol so it's the same thing I believe that human beings

562
01:00:32,320 --> 01:00:38,800
can do this incredibly courageous job and have a healthy career but only if we give them the

563
01:00:38,800 --> 01:00:44,480
fucking environment to allow them to heal and you do not process these traumas when you don't sleep

564
01:00:44,480 --> 01:00:51,360
let me ask you this do you feel there's a healing aspect in your writing as you write your book as

565
01:00:51,360 --> 01:00:56,880
you circle through these things that you saw so it's funny I was telling um even Josh Brolin

566
01:00:56,880 --> 01:01:01,760
because he wrote the forward of the first book and so uh I've been going back and forth um he's a

567
01:01:01,760 --> 01:01:06,960
great guy yeah he's phenomenal I got to do some random movies with him oh really yeah just playing

568
01:01:06,960 --> 01:01:11,360
you know just part of the film that you know he's a main actor on coming to the stunt guy for a

569
01:01:11,360 --> 01:01:15,760
couple days and he's always just so lovely and he was a firefighter he volunteered for three years

570
01:01:15,760 --> 01:01:21,040
wildland that's awesome so um but yeah I was I was asking him because he just wrote an extremely

571
01:01:21,040 --> 01:01:27,920
gritty biography uh from under the truck and he did the audiobook and I started my audiobook and

572
01:01:27,920 --> 01:01:33,200
I was messaging him like this is fucking brutal man and he goes yeah I mean it really he found it

573
01:01:33,200 --> 01:01:40,320
extremely hard so the writing was cathartic you know the writing process can be extremely you know

574
01:01:40,320 --> 01:01:45,280
exhausting because you're just whittling down and you know oh this doesn't flow how am I supposed to

575
01:01:45,280 --> 01:01:52,080
make this work but ultimately it was cathartic but then when you read an audiobook and you're

576
01:01:52,080 --> 01:01:56,320
reliving all these things and you're allowing that motion to come through the microphone

577
01:01:57,040 --> 01:02:02,560
that was almost the opposite so writing was cathartic but reading it aloud like reliving

578
01:02:02,560 --> 01:02:08,720
it for the storytelling almost had the opposite like negative effect so it was kind of interesting

579
01:02:08,720 --> 01:02:12,400
you know reflecting after I was done with the audiobook I had to kind of step away and

580
01:02:13,040 --> 01:02:19,840
you know lean into my self-care to let that shit go well that's good that's that's cool to hear I'm

581
01:02:19,840 --> 01:02:25,760
always curious on what works for people and what doesn't and what they get out of it there's this

582
01:02:25,760 --> 01:02:34,000
guy ever heard of dr joe dispensa yes big fan and he talks about loop cycles and reliving experiences

583
01:02:34,000 --> 01:02:41,360
which in turn affects your perspective and how the brain doesn't know whether you're living it

584
01:02:42,640 --> 01:02:47,120
because you're thinking about it or you're actually going through it and so reading it I guess could

585
01:02:47,120 --> 01:02:53,440
create that loop cycle of emotion and feeling which in turn carried over to where you had to

586
01:02:53,440 --> 01:02:59,360
get your get your vibes back right yeah yeah yeah I think about that stuff a lot right

587
01:02:59,920 --> 01:03:06,400
you know we get fixated on something whether it's a bad call or a life experience or you know

588
01:03:06,400 --> 01:03:12,400
a bad interaction and we loop it and we loop it and we loop it and we think about it and we think

589
01:03:12,400 --> 01:03:21,840
about it and we keep festering over and over and it compounds and then it carries out into life again

590
01:03:21,840 --> 01:03:29,680
and so for me like I went through a bad breakup at one point and I was you know so caught up in it

591
01:03:30,560 --> 01:03:36,880
and I couldn't move on and I was just a mess and I heard this joe dispensa thing and talk about it

592
01:03:36,880 --> 01:03:44,320
and visualization and thought process and living in the past and it was such a transitional phase

593
01:03:44,320 --> 01:03:52,080
of my life that helped me just put things behind me and so I think about that with the calls and I

594
01:03:52,080 --> 01:03:57,040
think about that with the life interactions and maybe where I could have been a better friend or

595
01:03:57,600 --> 01:04:03,680
you know a better partner or you know better brother or sister you know not sister but better

596
01:04:03,680 --> 01:04:12,160
brother to my sister that's what I think I meant to say and yeah I don't know where I was going

597
01:04:12,160 --> 01:04:16,720
with that yeah no but I mean like you said about that that looping thought I mean this is

598
01:04:17,280 --> 01:04:22,080
I had this a while ago and it was it was so stupid it was thinking about it was near the election and

599
01:04:22,080 --> 01:04:27,040
just that kind of you know stuff that we've been bombarded with and I do not you know plug into

600
01:04:27,040 --> 01:04:30,960
that but this was just becoming more and more and one night I had those intrusive thoughts

601
01:04:30,960 --> 01:04:35,120
and it just wouldn't shut the fuck up and it was around that same time so I'm sure it was all

602
01:04:35,120 --> 01:04:41,280
compounding yeah but yeah I mean you know I I've been so lucky that I haven't really experienced

603
01:04:41,280 --> 01:04:47,280
the depths of some of you know our men and women that get to that darkest darkest place I had one

604
01:04:48,080 --> 01:04:55,040
kind of flashback in Disney flashing back to a three-year-old girl that was pretty horrendously

605
01:04:55,040 --> 01:04:59,520
killed in a car crash and the push them was pushing a stroller and it had the same blanket

606
01:04:59,520 --> 01:05:03,760
that we put over this kid and I just kind of flashed back there for a second that was it

607
01:05:03,760 --> 01:05:09,680
that was you know mining a tiny little insight and then I had a real deep depression when I

608
01:05:09,680 --> 01:05:14,480
went back home right after the pandemic so you had all that shit we had to spend almost a thousand

609
01:05:14,480 --> 01:05:20,880
dollars on fucking covid tests which they scrapped three weeks after I did my traveling by the way

610
01:05:20,880 --> 01:05:26,320
and we just you know one bullshit thing after another and so that but um yeah that those

611
01:05:26,320 --> 01:05:31,120
intrusive thoughts man I can't imagine having that over and over again of these calls so you

612
01:05:31,120 --> 01:05:35,280
know it is something to be cognizant of and you know it's it's good to hear that you found a way

613
01:05:35,280 --> 01:05:42,320
of kind of breaking that cycle it's uh it's something that I think like you said there's

614
01:05:42,320 --> 01:05:47,040
an awakening right there's a big awakening happened and I'm a huge advocate for psychedelics

615
01:05:47,920 --> 01:05:53,280
I will say it over and over mushrooms would save lives I mean my brother talked about on your podcast

616
01:05:53,280 --> 01:06:05,840
years ago um you know I was fortunate in the my you know era of my life when I was trying to figure

617
01:06:05,840 --> 01:06:10,640
out myself as a guy I think we all go through this phase where we're trying to figure ourselves out

618
01:06:10,640 --> 01:06:17,200
and uh ultimately become the version of ourselves that we aspire to be and I I started listening to

619
01:06:17,200 --> 01:06:24,240
Joe Rogan and I listened to Joe Rogan talk about psychedelics and sensory deprivation and self-work

620
01:06:24,800 --> 01:06:31,360
and it really inspired me to listen to this guy who is so open to all different perspectives and

621
01:06:31,360 --> 01:06:40,400
self-work and and exploring his consciousness and it stayed with me and I ended up dating this

622
01:06:41,360 --> 01:06:46,640
really amazing woman for for a couple years and she had explored psychedelics quite a bit

623
01:06:46,640 --> 01:06:50,160
you know I'm on the back side of this Adderall thing that I had to put behind me and

624
01:06:50,720 --> 01:06:58,880
you know I'm I'm trying to get control of myself from being a mess and I said we should do some

625
01:06:58,880 --> 01:07:04,160
I want to do mushrooms I'm gonna do mushrooms and you know I come from a pretty straight laced

626
01:07:04,160 --> 01:07:09,760
family smoked weed but that was kind of the extent of what I would do you know I never really

627
01:07:09,760 --> 01:07:17,040
what I wanted to go beyond that you know I'd seen cocaine but I was like man that seems

628
01:07:17,040 --> 01:07:22,000
messy like where that place is it could take you so I always had that I'm good I'm good

629
01:07:23,200 --> 01:07:30,560
uh so when mushrooms became more in my perspective from listening to Rogan I went I want to I want to

630
01:07:30,560 --> 01:07:37,040
tap into that aspect of myself I want to tap into the spirit world and go on a deeper level and into

631
01:07:37,040 --> 01:07:39,920
a new dimension I don't know I didn't know I didn't know what was going to come out of it

632
01:07:40,800 --> 01:07:46,880
and so this this I call her badass she and I decided we're going to eat mushrooms one day

633
01:07:46,880 --> 01:07:52,240
after a long day skydiving and we somebody had given me these chocolates and I was like cool

634
01:07:52,240 --> 01:07:55,840
we're each going to eat one I'm with this old school stunt guy he was out skydiving with us

635
01:07:55,840 --> 01:08:02,480
he was in town doing a movie beautiful human being named Joey Box he was Johnny Rico for Starship

636
01:08:02,480 --> 01:08:09,680
Troopers like really cool eccentric stunt guy from the old days and he's like oh you're gonna

637
01:08:09,680 --> 01:08:14,880
eat mushrooms how many do you have and I was like oh we have these chocolates he goes eat all of them

638
01:08:15,920 --> 01:08:20,560
eat them all oh I don't know Joey and you can tell when you talk to Joey that he's done some

639
01:08:20,560 --> 01:08:28,800
psychedelics as a true eccentric like himself would like he's a high diver trapeze circus guy

640
01:08:28,800 --> 01:08:35,200
turned stunt man and just a really cool guy so anyways we eat the chocolates that night

641
01:08:36,000 --> 01:08:42,720
and we kind of go walking down the runway and the visuals start to happen and it ends up being a

642
01:08:42,720 --> 01:08:54,160
really long night of spiritual journey visuals and the next day you know my partner she goes whoa for

643
01:08:54,160 --> 01:09:02,240
your first time we ate a shit ton of mushrooms you went deep I was like oh all right but what came out

644
01:09:02,240 --> 01:09:12,480
of it was so profound I felt so so much healing had happened that I didn't even realize needed to

645
01:09:12,480 --> 01:09:19,760
happen I called my mom and it's like I did mushrooms last night and oh I love you and I care and I'm

646
01:09:19,760 --> 01:09:28,640
gonna be a better son and dad and brother and sister and all this stuff that I had no idea

647
01:09:30,080 --> 01:09:37,280
could be so prevalent and I felt like I tapped into myself and the inner warrior that was in me and

648
01:09:37,920 --> 01:09:45,200
all this confusion that I was having inside felt so clear and so when I came out of that I'm not

649
01:09:45,200 --> 01:09:57,520
an inherent big mushroom person you know this was probably shit man 2014 or 15 that I had that first

650
01:09:57,520 --> 01:10:02,480
mushroom experience and the big it was a big one and I've explored microdosing and it's not really

651
01:10:02,480 --> 01:10:08,560
my jam you know it's something that I think is good for people if it helps you and and helps

652
01:10:08,560 --> 01:10:13,200
you find answers or gives you a calm inherently for me if I'm going to do mushrooms I want to go deep

653
01:10:13,200 --> 01:10:18,880
I want to go crack myself open and really dive into myself and look at what needs healing look

654
01:10:18,880 --> 01:10:23,840
at where I feel lost and it for me it takes you to those places and you can look at yourself raw

655
01:10:23,840 --> 01:10:31,120
and it gets scary I won't act like I haven't had some bad I can remember my buddy and I who's been

656
01:10:31,120 --> 01:10:38,880
a is my base jumping mentor another really weird dude that had younger Eric met him would have been

657
01:10:38,880 --> 01:10:43,440
like this fucking guy to where now he's one of the most fascinating human beings I've ever met

658
01:10:44,240 --> 01:10:49,920
I always joke that going on an adventure with him is like getting on Willy Wonka's boat it's like a

659
01:10:49,920 --> 01:10:55,040
beautiful little boat and then all of a sudden people are screaming and I want off this thing

660
01:10:55,040 --> 01:11:01,040
and Willy Wonka screaming back at him and then all of a sudden it's over and he's like ha we're here

661
01:11:01,040 --> 01:11:10,800
ha we're here where we're here right that that's going on adventures with this guy and you

662
01:11:12,320 --> 01:11:16,400
sorry I just got lost for a second there I do this I get these stories and I get a little lost

663
01:11:18,800 --> 01:11:24,080
pat you're talking about cracking yourself wide open and wanting to go on those deep journeys of

664
01:11:24,080 --> 01:11:31,200
self-discovery the journey's a steep yeah I just got lost in there dude it happens to me

665
01:11:31,760 --> 01:11:35,760
anyway I got so lost it was a good one I was going somewhere good with that

666
01:11:36,400 --> 01:11:40,720
well the base jumping mentor anyways well that's a good segue so we'll do that and if you remember

667
01:11:40,720 --> 01:11:45,120
then we'll jump back in but there's a lot of us that you know what not us because I'm sitting

668
01:11:45,120 --> 01:11:50,240
here not in uniform anymore but there's you know most of us when we enter we assume we're going to

669
01:11:50,240 --> 01:11:56,400
be there for 20 25 30 years I think one of the most powerful things is hearing people that

670
01:11:56,400 --> 01:12:00,640
have just transitioned out for whatever reason like mine was almost like kicked out by the

671
01:12:00,640 --> 01:12:05,040
universe like hey you know you're not going to fix this from the inside you know go be a voice

672
01:12:05,040 --> 01:12:09,520
for them on the outside never ever thought I'd be stepping away from the rig and you know here we

673
01:12:09,520 --> 01:12:14,400
are now my identity as a podcaster which sounds like you know saying youtuber it's so weird to

674
01:12:14,400 --> 01:12:22,160
hear but so talk to me about the world of stunts because you know I found myself bizarre twist of

675
01:12:22,160 --> 01:12:27,760
fate in Japan working as a stunt man doing live shows but you had obviously a much different

676
01:12:27,760 --> 01:12:33,440
journey that took you into film and television so you're wearing a firefighter's uniform walk me

677
01:12:33,440 --> 01:12:39,440
through those crazy sequences that put you in the world of skydiving and beyond all right uh

678
01:12:39,440 --> 01:12:47,680
you know everything's a chain of events right and it's easy to look back and connect all those

679
01:12:47,680 --> 01:12:56,720
pieces on how you find yourself to where I'm at today had you told Eric 24 years old all of a

680
01:12:56,720 --> 01:13:02,080
sudden I want to be a stunt guy and I've gotten really no clue what I'm talking about you know

681
01:13:02,080 --> 01:13:07,760
Hollywood is so far away and I didn't know about the live show world that I would be living what

682
01:13:07,760 --> 01:13:15,600
I'm living now I would have I never would have imagined it and I'm grateful for every day of my

683
01:13:15,600 --> 01:13:22,480
of my current life that I'm living but I was working as a firefighter and I just failed the

684
01:13:22,480 --> 01:13:27,760
Orlando test because I was going to switch departments and I'm on shift working with

685
01:13:29,360 --> 01:13:33,120
a gentleman named Mike Edmondson and everybody knew Mike Edmondson he was

686
01:13:33,120 --> 01:13:39,680
a pretty unique firefighter to me he was a badass he didn't say much he didn't really talk unless

687
01:13:39,680 --> 01:13:46,880
he liked you and I believe he was ex special forces maybe it's just another layer to the version of

688
01:13:46,880 --> 01:13:52,400
I've generated in my mind but uh I'm working with him and everybody knew he had done Band of Brothers

689
01:13:52,400 --> 01:14:00,400
and he had been a stunt guy on that and he had a stunt acting spot on it too and uh so I'm working

690
01:14:00,400 --> 01:14:05,040
with him and I'm like dude he did Band of Brothers you know and we started talking about Band of

691
01:14:05,040 --> 01:14:11,120
Brothers and he starts telling me about stunts and I'd been looking for something uh to do on the

692
01:14:11,120 --> 01:14:15,360
side of firefighting I didn't know what I was taking college classes what I wasn't really good

693
01:14:15,360 --> 01:14:21,280
at it and I kept failing them I was more there to meet chicks than it was anything else uh

694
01:14:21,840 --> 01:14:27,200
when he told me about stunts I was like I could do that that's badass so he tells me

695
01:14:27,200 --> 01:14:32,880
well I call him I'm like hey man am I crazy am I too old to start pursuing this you know I'm 24

696
01:14:32,880 --> 01:14:38,480
but I feel like been a fireman for five years already I think I'm an adult I think you know

697
01:14:38,480 --> 01:14:45,120
my life is behind me um whatever I don't know what I was thinking and he laughs at me and he goes dude

698
01:14:45,120 --> 01:14:50,560
you've been a firefighter for five years you're 24 years old if anything this is a great pre-rec

699
01:14:50,560 --> 01:14:55,360
to pursue something like this because your background in safety is a great pre-rec

700
01:14:55,360 --> 01:15:00,960
like this because your background in safety which comes full play into my career as a stunt guy but

701
01:15:00,960 --> 01:15:07,520
won't get into that yet so he tells me start taking acting classes uh start skydiving because

702
01:15:07,520 --> 01:15:12,240
that was what got him on Band of Brothers they did all the the round parachute jumps and he

703
01:15:12,240 --> 01:15:19,360
played the jump instructor for them in the first episode and uh find a stunt school you don't know

704
01:15:19,360 --> 01:15:27,040
anything about stunts so go take a take a class on it go learn about it I'm like all right go well

705
01:15:27,040 --> 01:15:31,120
what about that I guess there's nothing else to talk about right now dude I told you what to do

706
01:15:31,120 --> 01:15:35,920
go do those things once you're doing those things there might be something more to talk about after

707
01:15:35,920 --> 01:15:44,720
that all right cool so I find an acting school and I sign up for acting classes and I start skydiving

708
01:15:44,720 --> 01:15:52,640
and man uh I wish I could tell you that out the gate I was like hell yeah skydiving I was fucking

709
01:15:52,640 --> 01:16:00,080
scared man I was so scared I never imagined myself getting into skydiving uh I'd done like a tandem

710
01:16:00,080 --> 01:16:06,080
once when I was in my early 20s I'm still in my early 20s at this point uh when I was like 20

711
01:16:06,080 --> 01:16:16,000
and it was like cool we're gonna go do a skydive I got this dude strapped to my back you know I had

712
01:16:16,000 --> 01:16:19,600
that firefighter mentality like it's all gonna be fine and if it's not we'll deal with it from there

713
01:16:19,600 --> 01:16:31,600
right and so here I am signed up you know you do seven skydives in a ground school and you're a

714
01:16:31,600 --> 01:16:37,840
student skydiver so you know I go I do my full day of ground school learning all about the equipment

715
01:16:37,840 --> 01:16:43,200
learning about the jumps what's to be expected how to fly your parachute and next thing you know

716
01:16:43,200 --> 01:16:46,400
you got a rig on your back and an instructor on each side of you and you're getting thrown out of

717
01:16:46,400 --> 01:16:52,480
the plane and they're hanging on to you and you're doing your skydive checkoffs for that jump the pass

718
01:16:53,520 --> 01:16:59,520
and you deploy the parachute and now you're on your own you land the parachute there's jump one

719
01:16:59,520 --> 01:17:07,040
so I do one jump that day and I go home and I come back a couple days later and I do jump two I go

720
01:17:07,040 --> 01:17:12,800
home come back do a jump go home not the best way having taught skydiving it's not what I would tell

721
01:17:12,800 --> 01:17:22,880
people to do um but each day was so intense for me that I didn't need another jump that day I just

722
01:17:22,880 --> 01:17:32,400
I just that one for me was my day wow I just did that and jump three I would say I had all this

723
01:17:32,400 --> 01:17:37,280
inherent fear all of a sudden I could die doing this what am I doing this is nuts I sit down with

724
01:17:37,280 --> 01:17:41,600
my dad and I'm like you know I'm going you know I'm having these emotions I'm feeling sway and

725
01:17:42,320 --> 01:17:46,240
he goes there's not much I'm going to tell you in life not to go after and pursue so I was in

726
01:17:46,240 --> 01:17:51,200
Vietnam and I lived through it he goes I think you're going to be just fine skydiving just pay

727
01:17:51,200 --> 01:17:59,040
attention okay like that's all I needed to hear and I came across the book by this guy named Brian

728
01:17:59,040 --> 01:18:05,360
Germain and uh to be honest I can't remember the title of it right now but it was a lot of fight or

729
01:18:05,360 --> 01:18:13,840
flight a lot of flow state a lot of being present a lot of uh just what I needed to read and I think

730
01:18:13,840 --> 01:18:22,960
I read the book in two days I was so obsessed with it and I never looked back I was the fear was gone

731
01:18:23,760 --> 01:18:31,760
and I I knew if I took care of my equipment I knew my emergency procedures when the day comes in

732
01:18:31,760 --> 01:18:38,480
skydiving that I need to make decisions I will and I'll deal with the malfunction parachute or

733
01:18:38,480 --> 01:18:43,040
I'll deal with whatever's happening right there's only a handful of things that can go wrong sky

734
01:18:43,040 --> 01:18:50,400
diving but they're pretty big things when they do um odds are if you are I always say there's

735
01:18:50,400 --> 01:18:56,400
guidelines that I operate under within skydiving and if you respect those handful of rules that I

736
01:18:56,400 --> 01:19:03,600
hold for myself if I respect my rules within the game you'll be just fine aside from something that

737
01:19:03,600 --> 01:19:09,520
is out of your control right you know when you deploy your parachute how you take care of your

738
01:19:09,520 --> 01:19:15,920
equipment how you handle emergency situations if you operate within those guidelines you'll be just

739
01:19:15,920 --> 01:19:26,800
fine so skydiving in that realm for me always has stayed this exciting thing that uh just improves

740
01:19:26,800 --> 01:19:32,480
my life it makes me happy I go out there and I'm jumping out of planes and I'm playing in the sky

741
01:19:32,480 --> 01:19:37,920
with my friends with my magical backpack on where all I got to do is get away from them and then

742
01:19:37,920 --> 01:19:43,360
deploy my magical backpack fly my parachute I land I get the pack up and do it again

743
01:19:44,560 --> 01:19:51,040
and it holds my brain like in a really unique way it's the first times that I learned to

744
01:19:51,760 --> 01:19:57,520
what flow state was and what was happening where there is no past there is no future it is just

745
01:19:57,520 --> 01:20:08,080
this is skydiving such an impact on my ad brain where I could reel it all in and it it still

746
01:20:08,080 --> 01:20:13,200
does day carries and I found other ways to get that now without having to jump out of a plane

747
01:20:13,200 --> 01:20:21,280
but I didn't understand what was happening then and yeah it really allowed me to see skydiving

748
01:20:21,280 --> 01:20:28,720
as this thing that just made me a better person and so skydiving was a big part and it it has

749
01:20:28,720 --> 01:20:34,720
stayed a big part of my stunt career but I was skydiving and I was taking acting classes

750
01:20:35,280 --> 01:20:40,720
and within the acting classes we had this teacher who was all about the law of attraction the secret

751
01:20:41,520 --> 01:20:47,200
and this was uh something that had come out early on and she was you're gonna make vision boards

752
01:20:47,200 --> 01:20:52,640
you're gonna get the audio book the secret and you're gonna get the actual book and it's part

753
01:20:52,640 --> 01:21:00,400
of our acting class stuff and my dad had given me the book the secret years before and I threw it

754
01:21:00,400 --> 01:21:07,680
to the wayside that was so impactful on my pursuit in the stunts because again I didn't know how I

755
01:21:07,680 --> 01:21:13,440
was gonna do it I didn't know anyone in it and when you don't have those things it seems so

756
01:21:13,440 --> 01:21:20,240
impossible like how am I gonna do this thing you know it's movies it's television in that

757
01:21:20,800 --> 01:21:27,360
and in the firehouse inherently oh you're gonna become a stuntman sure you are yeah real I bet

758
01:21:27,360 --> 01:21:33,200
you will right it's kind of a joke it's fine it's a byproduct of daring to be great people are gonna

759
01:21:33,200 --> 01:21:37,600
laugh at you and think you're crazy and if they don't then you're not you're not really

760
01:21:37,600 --> 01:21:43,600
let me reword that if you're taking on something that is truly great people are gonna laugh at you

761
01:21:43,600 --> 01:21:49,600
and think you're crazy until you start to have momentum but that early phase is a bar to entry

762
01:21:50,160 --> 01:21:55,920
you know it's it's it's what you have to go through and I think when people think you're crazy

763
01:21:56,480 --> 01:22:05,760
and think you're nuts it's a compliment you're the rare you're the unique and in this day and age

764
01:22:05,760 --> 01:22:07,440
in this day and age

765
01:22:09,920 --> 01:22:14,160
those are the people I want around me those are the people I want to draw inspiration from

766
01:22:15,680 --> 01:22:25,360
I want somebody who's seems nuts nuts because it's not just another day to them they're not

767
01:22:25,360 --> 01:22:29,840
just going through the motions of life they're trying to tackle things that are like whoa wow

768
01:22:29,840 --> 01:22:37,200
and so the secret really shaped that mindset that I needed constantly in the background of

769
01:22:38,160 --> 01:22:43,360
you know the headlights only shine 40 feet in front of you and if you focus 40 feet in front

770
01:22:43,360 --> 01:22:48,640
of you ultimately you're going to get to your destination you can't see it but you know that

771
01:22:48,640 --> 01:22:56,240
you're going to eventually get there and that stayed with me as I was in this process of

772
01:22:56,240 --> 01:23:03,600
I don't know what I'm doing spending money trying to do this thing but am I doing it is is this gonna

773
01:23:04,080 --> 01:23:12,960
am I just a joke right is this you know is this ever gonna take shape and in that acting class

774
01:23:13,520 --> 01:23:22,080
I met a girl uh whose dad had been a stuntman who was a stuntman at the time sorry he's retired now

775
01:23:22,080 --> 01:23:28,640
but he had he was a stuntman and stunt coordinator and uh she ends up introducing me to her dad

776
01:23:29,840 --> 01:23:34,640
connection point right there it is never would have thought in an acting class that that would

777
01:23:34,640 --> 01:23:43,520
happen right and her dad has this property in Han City where all the stunt people come out to train

778
01:23:43,520 --> 01:23:49,600
and he's got flying trapeze he's got high fall towers and Russian swing and he'll light people

779
01:23:49,600 --> 01:23:54,720
on fire and he'll train with you right and it's funny to say right it's like wait light people on

780
01:23:54,720 --> 01:23:58,560
fire it's a skill within you know I don't have to tell it to you but I'm gonna say it because

781
01:23:58,560 --> 01:24:04,320
it's a skill within my my world well it's funny as well because when you said this story before

782
01:24:04,880 --> 01:24:10,880
and I asked you who it was like you literally ended up by chance meeting the biggest legend

783
01:24:10,880 --> 01:24:15,360
in the fire service in Florida I'm sorry in the stunt world in Florida yeah I mean I never work

784
01:24:15,360 --> 01:24:19,600
with him but I work with so many people who you know under so many people who train with

785
01:24:19,600 --> 01:24:24,000
John Zimmerman and you know that's that's if you're gonna if you're gonna be connected with one

786
01:24:24,000 --> 01:24:29,040
person back then I would imagine that John was probably the perfect person and John and I hit it

787
01:24:29,040 --> 01:24:39,520
off man we with my dedication my dedication with my background in firefighting and my discipline

788
01:24:39,520 --> 01:24:50,080
towards safety and work when I met John John was ex-military very stern very direct and

789
01:24:51,440 --> 01:24:57,200
because I had been a firefighter he was he allowed me to come out and meet him and come out to his

790
01:24:57,200 --> 01:25:05,120
property and out the gate he's like I meet 20 people a week who want to do stunts if you're

791
01:25:05,120 --> 01:25:09,840
around in six months we'll have a conversation till then you're welcome to come out and train

792
01:25:09,840 --> 01:25:17,040
on the weekends with us and good luck and I'm gonna be like shit yeah six months from now

793
01:25:17,040 --> 01:25:22,800
copy that cool I can come out and train and what I did was when he would hold his Saturday workouts

794
01:25:22,800 --> 01:25:28,400
I would get there 30 minutes early I'd be the first guy there the firehouse mentality firehouse

795
01:25:28,400 --> 01:25:33,440
mentality man it stays with you these little these little little little little little little

796
01:25:33,440 --> 01:25:40,080
these little these little things that go so far in life with whatever it is that you want to do

797
01:25:40,720 --> 01:25:48,080
right everything's built on relationships everything's built on uh to me discipline

798
01:25:48,080 --> 01:25:51,840
and hard work right we look at these things as negatives I'm like man they are the most

799
01:25:51,840 --> 01:26:02,080
freeing elements to so much with life it's silly and they're 30 minutes early I learned what he

800
01:26:02,080 --> 01:26:09,520
would set up every Saturday last person to leave stay and help clean up in the amount of people

801
01:26:09,520 --> 01:26:20,320
that I look at now who show up play leave never cared to get there early and now I'm there early

802
01:26:20,320 --> 01:26:26,400
and I'm getting to pick John's brain I'm learning about stunts I'm learning about the industry I'm

803
01:26:26,400 --> 01:26:29,840
being able to be of service and it got to the point where we'd have our coffee we'd talk

804
01:26:29,840 --> 01:26:36,480
life experience the industry and he'd go inside to get ready and I would set up and I was I was so

805
01:26:36,480 --> 01:26:42,720
stoked honored I get to do this thing everybody would leave it's me and John breaking shit down

806
01:26:42,720 --> 01:26:48,000
and there'd be times where people would stay don't get me wrong but inherently life happens

807
01:26:48,000 --> 01:26:52,880
people get to where they're at and they're in out they do their thing and you know I heard uh this

808
01:26:52,880 --> 01:26:57,120
great stunt rigger say once you don't have to help but don't slow me down and I try to remember

809
01:26:57,120 --> 01:27:01,760
and I try to remember that a lot now because it's easy to be like why aren't they helping and why

810
01:27:01,760 --> 01:27:08,400
are they who cares right it's my time I get John to myself so John and I really hit it off and

811
01:27:09,360 --> 01:27:17,360
you know there's another layer to the story that where it really became almost like I was destined

812
01:27:17,360 --> 01:27:24,240
to do this I feel that way people might call me a kook I don't care I'm I'm more than used to it I

813
01:27:24,240 --> 01:27:30,720
think uh my brother and I both are very like Winnie the Pooh we're a la la la and we go on these

814
01:27:30,720 --> 01:27:35,440
we live these life experiences and we're pretty happy go lucky and we just keep moving forward

815
01:27:37,520 --> 01:27:45,840
I'm working at my firehouse I'm now with Orlando I a year later I tested and I got on with Orlando

816
01:27:45,840 --> 01:27:50,720
I'm actually on Orlando at this point when I finally met John so uh I'm with the city of Orlando and

817
01:27:50,720 --> 01:27:55,120
I'm working at my fire station and it was a year that three hurricanes kind of just came through

818
01:27:55,120 --> 01:27:59,600
Florida there's nothing too too gnarly I'm sure some people were really affected I'm just probably

819
01:27:59,600 --> 01:28:06,160
oblivious to it um and there was a storm sitting over Orlando it flooded everything yeah just sat

820
01:28:06,160 --> 01:28:13,440
there yeah and yeah it was just a wet nasty one um this gentleman walks into our firehouse

821
01:28:13,440 --> 01:28:22,320
and he's having you know a medical situation and we sit him down and it's he's actually going down

822
01:28:22,960 --> 01:28:27,440
the pipe and we're doing our normal thing we're talking getting them talking getting medical

823
01:28:27,440 --> 01:28:35,760
background and we end up rushing them lights the sirens to the hospital excuse me and we end up

824
01:28:35,760 --> 01:28:41,040
saving his life that day right maybe it was our efforts the hospital's efforts it's a combined

825
01:28:41,040 --> 01:28:47,920
thing you know we're all in on this together turned out to be Glenn Wilder who in the stunt

826
01:28:47,920 --> 01:28:53,680
world is a legend start was one of the original founders of stunts unlimited which is a famous

827
01:28:53,680 --> 01:29:03,120
stunt group within Hollywood and you know this guy did fights with Bruce Lee Elvis Presley and he

828
01:29:03,120 --> 01:29:08,400
left his bag of medications at the firehouse that day how I get to take him to him I go I knock on

829
01:29:08,400 --> 01:29:19,920
his door one day and he invites me in and just a man who had lived a life that you could sit and

830
01:29:19,920 --> 01:29:28,400
listen to forever and he was so kind and he was so cool and he's telling me about he's telling his

831
01:29:28,400 --> 01:29:33,200
stories he knew what the older guys do you know he's telling these great stories with Elvis and

832
01:29:33,200 --> 01:29:39,760
Bruce Lee and I'm sitting there going this guy maybe off his rocker this guy maybe a little

833
01:29:39,760 --> 01:29:47,360
little loose in the head and then he pulls out a book and he shows me photos of him and Bruce Lee

834
01:29:47,360 --> 01:29:55,120
and Elvis and I'm like and I knew already because I had researched him that he was the real deal

835
01:29:56,560 --> 01:30:01,760
but I couldn't comprehend in the moment as he was telling this stuff they were like Bruce Lee

836
01:30:01,760 --> 01:30:09,680
like really you really fought with Bruce Lee on a film but holy shit and this guy became a staple

837
01:30:10,640 --> 01:30:19,040
for me he was you know you are our paths were meant to cross we were meant to meet and

838
01:30:20,480 --> 01:30:25,520
it became somebody who would teach me and share with me and when I told John that I met Glen

839
01:30:25,520 --> 01:30:30,400
Walden what happened John's like that's it you're just you're meant to be here and he's like

840
01:30:30,400 --> 01:30:37,920
you you're meant to be here everything I'm at your disposal and we just became I mean I lived

841
01:30:37,920 --> 01:30:43,200
eaten slept training stunts now you know if I wasn't at the firehouse I was skydiving if I

842
01:30:43,200 --> 01:30:51,280
wasn't skydiving I was at John's training and it became a consuming life and now I'm meeting

843
01:30:51,280 --> 01:30:56,960
people within Hollywood and John's going off to do movies and eventually John's like hey come to

844
01:30:56,960 --> 01:31:03,920
this film set come hustle and I learned what the hustle was where you you have to sneak on to set

845
01:31:03,920 --> 01:31:07,920
and you have to try to meet the stunt coordinator and in that time you have to try to hand him a

846
01:31:07,920 --> 01:31:14,240
headshot and pitch yourself and that's what you did back then luckily John would be on a set and

847
01:31:14,240 --> 01:31:21,120
he would let me come so now I'm being introduced to the stunt coordinator and you know you're doing

848
01:31:21,120 --> 01:31:28,080
this stuff all while training and all while trying to find your path and it takes time you know like

849
01:31:28,080 --> 01:31:40,560
years have gone by already of me trying to pursue stunts and each person each lesson each experience

850
01:31:40,560 --> 01:31:49,120
all kept compounding with momentum with momentum more and I'm understanding more and then Louisiana

851
01:31:49,120 --> 01:31:56,800
is blowing up for the film scene and did you ever work with a guy called Trace Trace Jeremy yeah I

852
01:31:56,800 --> 01:32:01,200
know Trace Jeremy I was in Japan with him what a beautiful soul right there amazing human being

853
01:32:01,920 --> 01:32:07,920
Cajun coon ass just funny you bring up Trace I was just talking about have you ever met Mark

854
01:32:07,920 --> 01:32:13,680
Norby you know that name he used to double Brolin him and Josh are super tight oh okay so I don't

855
01:32:13,680 --> 01:32:21,200
know if I know that name or not great guy another I mean that guy's lived a life you could you would

856
01:32:21,200 --> 01:32:26,960
love to talk to him he's a fascinating human train hopping through South America double McConaughey

857
01:32:26,960 --> 01:32:33,440
they were close friends how he came over bro I don't know but just a guy that life is better

858
01:32:33,440 --> 01:32:44,640
when he's around he's just one of those people we're talking about Louisiana Louisiana so I was

859
01:32:44,640 --> 01:32:49,680
literally working for Mark Norby Thursday Friday I got a random call the main double on a tv show

860
01:32:49,680 --> 01:32:55,680
was got super sick so Mark called me at like 6 30 in the morning hey can you get in here right now

861
01:32:56,240 --> 01:33:01,360
I was like uh yeah on my way go to take a shower and I'm like right now means right now I throw

862
01:33:01,360 --> 01:33:08,240
my stunt bag in the truck I haul ass I end up on set Thursday I had to get boot healed in a chair

863
01:33:08,240 --> 01:33:14,640
backwards and then Friday I had to go learn a fight sequence and you know step in for

864
01:33:15,680 --> 01:33:21,360
the guy who designed it and is the main stunt double which I I feel horrible you know it's

865
01:33:21,360 --> 01:33:28,160
always a great that's a a really neat thing to design a fight and then get to go perform it and

866
01:33:28,160 --> 01:33:34,640
this guy Luis Valdez is so talented and he's the main double on the show and he got super sick so

867
01:33:34,640 --> 01:33:39,680
I had to come in intimidating I have to learn a fight that Luis designed and was going to perform

868
01:33:39,680 --> 01:33:45,440
and now I got to go perform this fight and learn it on the day with this crew that's been training

869
01:33:45,440 --> 01:33:51,120
it all week and go perform it so Friday was pretty special for me I feel horrible for Luis

870
01:33:51,120 --> 01:33:57,920
but uh I was honored to step in and you know give it Eric's performance it's probably not Luis's

871
01:33:57,920 --> 01:34:04,960
he's a phenomenal fighter or I'm inherently I'm a good fighter I ain't Luis fighter and there's all

872
01:34:04,960 --> 01:34:14,160
these different levels of performance within the stunt world and you know how how well you're

873
01:34:14,160 --> 01:34:24,160
how well you're you fake fall or fake fight you know how you know that that performance aspect of

874
01:34:24,160 --> 01:34:28,960
delivering a product you know and there's different levels and standards um anyways so working for

875
01:34:28,960 --> 01:34:35,120
Norby on Friday fight goes great everything's awesome we start talking about Trace he's like

876
01:34:35,120 --> 01:34:39,840
hey how's Trace doing I'm like it's funny how people bring that guy up and it's it's really

877
01:34:39,840 --> 01:34:46,080
neat that you brought him up today because uh I probably had one of the deepest conversations

878
01:34:46,880 --> 01:34:51,440
that I really needed once when Trace Cheramie called me out of nowhere I'd been in a plane

879
01:34:51,440 --> 01:34:58,800
that clipped another plane on takeoff and I thought we're going we're crashing this is not

880
01:34:58,800 --> 01:35:02,800
how I thought today was going to end and we were doing black widow at the time so I was doing

881
01:35:02,800 --> 01:35:08,960
hidden parachute jumps and I ran down because it's the end of the day we're done filming but the

882
01:35:08,960 --> 01:35:14,240
skydiving operation is having their own event I run down gonna do a quick skydive with everybody

883
01:35:14,800 --> 01:35:19,200
because all the locals are jumping and I want to go be part of that and have some fun with them

884
01:35:19,200 --> 01:35:24,480
clip another plane think we're crashing I remember sitting back in the plane and being like all the

885
01:35:24,480 --> 01:35:32,240
hidden parachute jumps we did this week and I'm about to be in a plane crash well if this is it

886
01:35:33,200 --> 01:35:37,920
I'm happy man and I leaned back in the plane I was sitting in the tail looking forward at all

887
01:35:37,920 --> 01:35:44,080
the jumpers and I wedged myself in I said we're gonna hit and then once if I'm conscious I'm

888
01:35:44,080 --> 01:35:51,200
gonna navigate it from there pilot did a phenomenal job landed the plane safely

889
01:35:52,880 --> 01:36:00,000
we're all good parts all over the runway we're dumping fuel it's an experience well Trace calls

890
01:36:00,000 --> 01:36:04,480
me randomly and we started talking and I wasn't even going to take the call and I said yeah

891
01:36:04,480 --> 01:36:11,840
let me say what's up the trace and long story short he says to me brother in that moment

892
01:36:12,640 --> 01:36:18,560
when he thought you were gonna die you weren't begging for another day you sat back and you're

893
01:36:18,560 --> 01:36:25,280
able to go I'm happy I'm okay with it it means you're living right it's probably one of the most

894
01:36:25,840 --> 01:36:31,440
to this day touches my soul at trace I don't know where it called me and in that time went that deep

895
01:36:31,440 --> 01:36:38,320
with me and he's you know just a good dude and I got to meet Trace out in Louisiana via John Zimmerman

896
01:36:38,320 --> 01:36:44,320
you know Louisiana became a big part of my my stunt journey it was blowing up there's a tax

897
01:36:44,320 --> 01:36:49,040
incentive there so a lot of movies are happening there and right when I started to have momentum

898
01:36:49,760 --> 01:36:56,800
uh I would drive to Louisiana go hustle a film set drop off a head shot turn around and drive

899
01:36:56,800 --> 01:37:02,000
back so it was a normal thing for me to wrap a shift to the firehouse jump in my car drive nine

900
01:37:02,000 --> 01:37:08,880
hours sneak on a set introduce myself hand off a head shot turn around and drive home again bar for

901
01:37:08,880 --> 01:37:17,600
entry right people talk to me about getting into stuff and doing things I'm like you can go as far

902
01:37:17,600 --> 01:37:22,480
as you want and you can make shit happen it's just what you're willing to sacrifice I quit

903
01:37:22,480 --> 01:37:28,800
hanging out back then with friends all the time either we were skydiving together or we were the

904
01:37:28,800 --> 01:37:37,360
bar days kind of went out the window I mean I was focused on on stunts and doing this thing and yeah

905
01:37:37,360 --> 01:37:43,200
I would drive to Louisiana and we would hustle and uh sneak on his sets and do the thing and it

906
01:37:43,200 --> 01:37:48,880
starts to happen right you start to meet people you start to get to hang out on set well I'm not

907
01:37:48,880 --> 01:37:54,000
getting paid but I can hang out and learn some stuff maybe I can clean your pads maybe I can

908
01:37:54,560 --> 01:37:59,360
you know be of service in some way but either way you're all of a sudden around it and I'm all of

909
01:37:59,360 --> 01:38:06,480
a sudden on sets and I'm meeting people and again it's an industry built on networking and so you

910
01:38:06,480 --> 01:38:11,040
you're trying to build relationships with people and get to know people and show that you're a good

911
01:38:11,040 --> 01:38:15,280
hand and you can be of service and be a good member of the stunt team and that's how you

912
01:38:15,280 --> 01:38:21,680
eventually get a shot right well that's how I got a shot I hustled this coordinator multiple times

913
01:38:21,680 --> 01:38:28,640
over the years and Steve Ritzy great great guy man Steve Ritzy and Lex Gettings are kind of a

914
01:38:28,640 --> 01:38:33,760
dynamic team that have been together forever and they were they would let me come on to set and

915
01:38:33,760 --> 01:38:39,200
they they worked with John forever because they were Florida based and and so I got to know them

916
01:38:39,200 --> 01:38:47,040
and I can remember Ritzy having to kick me off set because it was a big show and I was there

917
01:38:47,040 --> 01:38:52,880
hustling it was the first time we met and told me not to touch anything or do anything like this is

918
01:38:52,880 --> 01:38:58,080
a big studio show the old days are behind us you can't be working for free and picking John asked

919
01:38:58,080 --> 01:39:04,000
me to pick up a stick of truss Ritzy rounds the corner here I am carrying trust you gotta go I

920
01:39:04,000 --> 01:39:09,760
told you John's like shit sorry man go hang out and I'm there like I'm where am I gonna go I rode

921
01:39:09,760 --> 01:39:15,680
there with John so I go out to the pad trailer and pads are covered in mud we were filming they were

922
01:39:15,680 --> 01:39:22,480
they were filming in this old fort and there's this other gentleman named Thorol that was part

923
01:39:22,480 --> 01:39:28,480
of the Ritzy Lex team cleaning pads so hey let me do that he's like well what and I'm like well

924
01:39:28,480 --> 01:39:34,880
they booted me off set but I can clean the pads get it kid there I am I clean probably a dozen

925
01:39:34,880 --> 01:39:41,120
pads and round the corner Ritzy comes what are you doing so I know I know I can't be on set and I'm

926
01:39:41,120 --> 01:39:48,640
sorry I know I messed up I figured I clean your pads huh and I could tell there was something

927
01:39:48,640 --> 01:39:54,400
that registered with him huh fast forward Ritzy gave me my SAG card doing water safety for him

928
01:39:54,400 --> 01:40:01,360
on the lucky one was Zac Efron and it kind of perpetuated from there I quit the fire department

929
01:40:02,960 --> 01:40:07,920
not long after that I always said I wouldn't quit until I had my SAG card and I could actually work

930
01:40:07,920 --> 01:40:14,080
because I have to make a living I have bills to pay and you know it's it's my responsible

931
01:40:14,080 --> 01:40:19,040
mode right I maybe it wasn't burn the boats if you want to take the island but it was my

932
01:40:19,040 --> 01:40:24,080
transition from one to the other when it made the most sense so I got my SAG card and

933
01:40:25,600 --> 01:40:32,800
I think a month later I was living in Louisiana I packed up everything uh and went there to to make

934
01:40:32,800 --> 01:40:38,320
it I was gonna I was gonna go be a stunt man and I'd met coordinators and I built relationships and

935
01:40:40,000 --> 01:40:45,120
again with the tax incentive they had to use x amount of locals and there was only so many local

936
01:40:45,120 --> 01:40:50,080
stunt performers there so you had a really good opportunity to get out there and make an

937
01:40:50,080 --> 01:40:57,280
impression and try to get on some of the shows that were happening in town and you know it it

938
01:40:57,280 --> 01:41:02,400
was a lot to go from living in Florida uprooting and all of a sudden I'm living in Louisiana

939
01:41:03,120 --> 01:41:10,160
different lifestyle just just different um is it baton rouge you live in I was in new orleans

940
01:41:10,160 --> 01:41:17,280
no one's okay I was in you know I was baton rouge was it's a different scene um you know that's like

941
01:41:17,280 --> 01:41:25,520
what an hour hour 15 north of new orleans um and I say it's a different scene and it just is a

942
01:41:25,520 --> 01:41:32,640
different vibe like baton rouge seems so different from living in the city of new orleans um and I

943
01:41:32,640 --> 01:41:38,400
wish I had the perspective that I have now when I was living there I was pretty much like a

944
01:41:38,400 --> 01:41:45,760
this place meh um where now I I love love Louisiana I love new orleans the culture's so unique it's

945
01:41:45,760 --> 01:41:54,800
so community-based uh it's really a cool spot uh I wouldn't want to live there again and I'm

946
01:41:54,800 --> 01:42:00,000
grateful for my time there but it wasn't where I wanted to be it but it was what I needed to

947
01:42:01,200 --> 01:42:04,960
it's where I needed to be to make this career happen and so

948
01:42:04,960 --> 01:42:09,840
you know when you you're willing to sacrifice you it's always a give and a take right if you

949
01:42:09,840 --> 01:42:17,200
want to be in it and you want to do this thing for me I had to be all in I had to be there I had to

950
01:42:17,200 --> 01:42:22,640
be networking I had to be training I had to be meeting people and so this is where it was going

951
01:42:22,640 --> 01:42:31,120
to happen and yeah I I would hustle I would network I would get a little sharper each time

952
01:42:31,120 --> 01:42:37,040
I would learn a little bit more on how to interact with the coordinators and how to pitch myself and

953
01:42:37,680 --> 01:42:42,560
you know I say I went from the fire service where it's you know it's cut and dry you're told what

954
01:42:42,560 --> 01:42:48,400
to do you know where you're at you know your position into an industry where it's highly

955
01:42:48,400 --> 01:42:56,160
competitive uh you make good money and so I think that also brings out lots of different variables

956
01:42:56,160 --> 01:43:06,480
within people some good some bad and I was in it I mean I was in it and if you don't network and

957
01:43:06,480 --> 01:43:13,440
you don't show up and you don't work you don't work you don't get the job you don't get the job

958
01:43:13,440 --> 01:43:20,640
now you're just sitting there okay I gotta find where can I hustle a show how can I meet a

959
01:43:20,640 --> 01:43:28,640
coordinator what shows are coming I gotta I gotta figure out how to make this happen and again now

960
01:43:28,640 --> 01:43:37,120
I'm in it I'm living it so it it the ways become more clear the hows become more clear I had a very

961
01:43:37,120 --> 01:43:41,760
young firefighter mentality I approached it just like a firehouse where I was super excited to be

962
01:43:41,760 --> 01:43:47,200
there super hard working do anything for everyone you know I'm the guy you can always call me you

963
01:43:47,200 --> 01:43:51,760
do anything for everyone you know I'm the guy you can always call me I'm always ready to go

964
01:43:52,640 --> 01:44:02,960
and uh it was very it served me very well with time uh being that young hard working always count

965
01:44:02,960 --> 01:44:07,840
on gave you an opportunity to show work ethic became somebody who wanted did a lot of safety

966
01:44:07,840 --> 01:44:14,800
work early on water safety style stuff and I feel like going into stunts having been a firefighter

967
01:44:14,800 --> 01:44:19,040
and how we approached calls how we're always looking like as we're approaching the call you

968
01:44:19,040 --> 01:44:22,640
know what's this hazard what's that hazard what's going on there what do I got to map there what

969
01:44:22,640 --> 01:44:29,120
do we got to do right that carried into stunts for me so when we're designing action or we're

970
01:44:29,680 --> 01:44:36,720
prepping a stunt I almost feel like I'm taking that full 360 view of all the safety aspects that

971
01:44:36,720 --> 01:44:41,840
need to go into this how do we do this as safe as possible and how do I keep myself or the other

972
01:44:41,840 --> 01:44:52,080
performer safe with what they're doing and it's carried so much where I feel like I can see things

973
01:44:52,080 --> 01:44:59,120
in advance and catch things it's a little stuff that can make a a good day really really bad right

974
01:44:59,840 --> 01:45:05,440
and so I'm always watching I'm always looking and that was just ingrained in me and it carried into

975
01:45:05,440 --> 01:45:13,040
the stunt world because I was doing the safety stuff and because I was not just getting to be a

976
01:45:13,040 --> 01:45:17,520
stunt performer but I was doing the stunt rigging and building the flying systems and you know you

977
01:45:17,520 --> 01:45:22,960
got people's lives on wires and you're launching them 30 40 50 feet in the air and flying them

978
01:45:22,960 --> 01:45:29,600
through rooms and around corners and into walls and beating them up but also you know trying to

979
01:45:29,600 --> 01:45:38,080
make it as safe as possible for him it's a it's a dance it's a dance within the game that has served

980
01:45:38,080 --> 01:45:46,960
me well has served me really well and I always wanted to be the great stunt performer but I

981
01:45:46,960 --> 01:45:54,640
learned early on that being a well-rounded stunt person was what I truly wanted so I could jump

982
01:45:54,640 --> 01:46:04,720
in and do a fight or I could rig you know the the fall and keep that performer safe or rig the safety

983
01:46:04,720 --> 01:46:09,920
lines for the actor to be on the roof's edge and the coordinator knows well if eric comes I could

984
01:46:09,920 --> 01:46:15,840
throw him in the fight I could throw him in the rig safety he can see in advance of what I'm going

985
01:46:15,840 --> 01:46:21,520
to need and he's going to know how to be backing me up and that to me is what it all around stunt

986
01:46:21,520 --> 01:46:27,040
person is they can fight they can fall they can drive they can safety they can see what the

987
01:46:27,040 --> 01:46:32,800
coordinator is going to need as he's there you know doing what he needs to do dealing with

988
01:46:32,800 --> 01:46:37,040
department heads you're listening and going oh we're going to need pads in this next scene or

989
01:46:37,040 --> 01:46:41,680
that actor is going to do what okay I know he's going to need knees where my coordinator is you

990
01:46:41,680 --> 01:46:46,400
have to think about does that actor have knees oh he knows eric's got it it's funny because that

991
01:46:46,400 --> 01:46:51,760
mirrors the fire service again like I had a lot of my tech classes but never joined a tech team

992
01:46:52,400 --> 01:46:57,280
because my whole thing was I come on scene you know I'm a paramedic I've got these these classes

993
01:46:57,840 --> 01:47:01,120
even like your physicality right you got a combative patient all right well you know

994
01:47:01,120 --> 01:47:05,680
the martial arts side might come in useful to restrain this person but yeah reading reading

995
01:47:05,680 --> 01:47:09,440
that even on a code you walk in let's say there's two people work in the code right where am I going

996
01:47:09,440 --> 01:47:14,720
to slot myself in so it's interesting even again with that firefighting lens and I misunderstood

997
01:47:14,720 --> 01:47:20,160
the evolution of the the stunt world I was asking ben jenkin from the four guy about this it seemed

998
01:47:20,160 --> 01:47:25,360
like you know you had the specialty um stunt performers and I know you do you know the travis

999
01:47:25,360 --> 01:47:29,600
pastranos or whatever that are the elite in their sport that are going to do that specific stunt

1000
01:47:30,240 --> 01:47:36,080
but I kind of just downplayed the importance of everyone else who's the well-rounded person

1001
01:47:36,080 --> 01:47:40,720
that like you say can do a full can do a fight and I think you know in the in the live show world we

1002
01:47:40,720 --> 01:47:46,560
we have to do that you look at the the freaking pirates dinner adventure the actual stunts in that

1003
01:47:46,560 --> 01:47:52,160
we were doing soul fights 30 feet up we're doing high falls repelling fights all the things so that

1004
01:47:52,160 --> 01:47:57,600
makes perfect sense but uh that specialization I I thought that was kind of taken over having

1005
01:47:57,600 --> 01:48:03,360
not been in the movie world from a stunt performance point of view but now you the way you just you know

1006
01:48:03,360 --> 01:48:08,160
explain that that makes perfect sense it's like being that firefighter it's on scene that you know

1007
01:48:08,160 --> 01:48:13,920
maybe you know isn't an expert in ropes or whatever but is a well-rounded first responder that can kind

1008
01:48:13,920 --> 01:48:20,080
of slot into whatever needs to happen totally and there's always the rarities I wouldn't say

1009
01:48:20,080 --> 01:48:26,960
rarities everyone's path different right I realized early on that I wasn't going to be the one x

1010
01:48:28,160 --> 01:48:35,840
stunt double who comes in and that's all they do I realized early on I was going to be the guy that

1011
01:48:35,840 --> 01:48:42,480
could do a little bit of everything because the way John mentored me the way my path took me and

1012
01:48:42,480 --> 01:48:48,000
I knew I wanted to specialize in skydiving but that's such a rarity within the film industry

1013
01:48:48,000 --> 01:48:53,520
and there's a handful of people who generally do all those so I stayed passionately pursuing my

1014
01:48:53,520 --> 01:49:01,200
skydiving but sharpening the sword and all the other areas came with time it took me all this

1015
01:49:01,200 --> 01:49:09,600
time to be where I feel like I'm at now where you know I am the rarity where I can fight I can fall

1016
01:49:09,600 --> 01:49:17,280
I can drive I can rig I can safety I can cover the set if needed I think to be able to do all

1017
01:49:17,280 --> 01:49:24,400
those things at a high level uh is rare and I encourage every young stunt person to learn

1018
01:49:24,400 --> 01:49:32,000
everything I think you understand your job better when you understand their job as well

1019
01:49:32,800 --> 01:49:38,000
and you know I look at the guys you know the Ben Jenkins who's just a total badass

1020
01:49:38,000 --> 01:49:45,040
Colin Fallenweiler who's another badass Heidi Renee moneymaker yeah Jeremy Marinas

1021
01:49:45,840 --> 01:49:51,840
Shahab I could go down a list of people that I've had the the privilege of meeting not

1022
01:49:51,840 --> 01:49:58,800
necessarily hanging with or working with a ton but I see them and I respect their dedication to their

1023
01:49:58,800 --> 01:50:06,800
craft and how good they are at what they do and I always admire it and the days I get to jump in

1024
01:50:06,800 --> 01:50:13,280
and perform like I did that fight for Lewis I get to walk away being like yeah like I am one x today

1025
01:50:13,280 --> 01:50:20,000
man I'm the big the guy pitching the fight and I live that moment and then I step back to my world

1026
01:50:20,000 --> 01:50:27,760
of tomorrow I might go rig and support my stunt performers and keep them safe or I might go sit

1027
01:50:27,760 --> 01:50:34,960
in the cold water all day just sitting there with my water safety lifeguard ring hoping I don't have

1028
01:50:34,960 --> 01:50:44,160
to do anything because if I'm doing something it's generally not good uh and I observe them

1029
01:50:44,160 --> 01:50:54,240
and I find great happiness in getting to watch people really do their thing and get to live those

1030
01:50:54,240 --> 01:51:01,360
moments you know I think it's a I tell people too that inherently with stunts you can be observing

1031
01:51:02,240 --> 01:51:07,440
people getting to do badass stuff and you can inherently want to be doing it and being like

1032
01:51:07,440 --> 01:51:13,680
I could do it better than them or why do they get to do it and I find when you learn the

1033
01:51:13,680 --> 01:51:17,920
lesson to be able to watch people get to do things you would love to be getting to do

1034
01:51:18,560 --> 01:51:22,240
and feel happiness for them that they're getting to have that moment because you know how much

1035
01:51:22,240 --> 01:51:26,160
you would mean to you so you know how much it probably means to them man does it feel good

1036
01:51:26,720 --> 01:51:33,760
and when it's your turn to shine and step in it's awesome and I love getting to come in and slide

1037
01:51:33,760 --> 01:51:40,160
a car now it's like my my skydiving now for me right I'm still big into my skydiving but cars

1038
01:51:40,160 --> 01:51:46,240
has become a huge driving force into my stunt career and those moments where I get to step on

1039
01:51:46,240 --> 01:51:53,920
a set and get behind that wheel and slide a car uh all the hard work all the training

1040
01:51:56,320 --> 01:52:03,360
it all comes down to that moment staying cool staying calm and just crushing just doing my

1041
01:52:03,360 --> 01:52:12,240
thing and I step out of it I enjoy that moment I really really try to just pause after get into a

1042
01:52:12,240 --> 01:52:18,240
big gag and then I let it go it's done it's over it doesn't matter on to the next one on to the

1043
01:52:18,240 --> 01:52:23,680
next what we got to do here today the next shot you know when they applause like I did a little

1044
01:52:23,680 --> 01:52:28,160
car crash last year on a show and they were applauding when I got out and I was just kind of

1045
01:52:28,160 --> 01:52:34,640
like what's next we got a movie to make what's our shot and I appreciate it and I enjoy it

1046
01:52:34,640 --> 01:52:39,040
and I just take a beat and then I go back to work well it's interesting because you

1047
01:52:39,600 --> 01:52:46,080
what you're describing is being part of a team you know an ego has no place in a team where I

1048
01:52:46,080 --> 01:52:50,160
think there's an interesting parallel with you know what I'm fighting for in the fire services

1049
01:52:50,160 --> 01:52:55,360
at the moment is you know we have a certain group of people and kudos to them for being out there

1050
01:52:55,360 --> 01:53:00,640
teaching you know whether it's you know whatever it is force entry v es whatever the thing and

1051
01:53:00,640 --> 01:53:04,800
that's extremely important and for example in the fire that you talked about that's exactly what

1052
01:53:04,800 --> 01:53:10,480
you and your partner did to go get that little girl from that structure fire but that's once in

1053
01:53:10,480 --> 01:53:17,360
the blue moon and as you know you know you can work 14 years or as I know should I say and not

1054
01:53:17,360 --> 01:53:22,240
have a grab like I came one room from a grab we did a primary all through the house and then the

1055
01:53:22,240 --> 01:53:28,240
host team had just extinguished and then found the the woman in the next room and then you know

1056
01:53:28,240 --> 01:53:32,480
collectively they got her out so there's times where you don't get that carrying the person out

1057
01:53:32,480 --> 01:53:38,720
of the you know the home but if the other stuff hadn't happened if the lt hadn't been on the radio

1058
01:53:38,720 --> 01:53:43,520
if the engineer hadn't been at the pump panel it wouldn't have gone that way where I think it's

1059
01:53:43,520 --> 01:53:49,920
important as a profession that we need to think about is all that hero shit is all well and good

1060
01:53:49,920 --> 01:53:54,400
but where you're really going to be a hero is advocating for your profession and more importantly

1061
01:53:54,400 --> 01:54:00,400
your family like your time at home your time to be a dad or a mother or a husband or a wife

1062
01:54:01,120 --> 01:54:06,480
and so that's not hero that's not heroic to fight for a work week that's actually healthy to fight

1063
01:54:06,480 --> 01:54:11,040
to reduce the funerals and the cancers and all these other things that we see and I think that's

1064
01:54:11,040 --> 01:54:16,480
kind of a you know what you've talked about is yeah you might get your front page cover photo moment

1065
01:54:16,480 --> 01:54:21,760
or you might not but you're still part of the same movement and if you're changing you know making a

1066
01:54:21,760 --> 01:54:27,360
difference from behind the scenes that's arguably even more admirable no one even knew that you were

1067
01:54:27,360 --> 01:54:34,800
part of you know 10 years from now the um Boynton Beach that your predecessors fought for a working

1068
01:54:34,800 --> 01:54:40,560
environment that you enjoy now you're fully staffed you go home when you're supposed to go home

1069
01:54:40,560 --> 01:54:44,880
you have a you know a strong relationship as far as your marriage and your your kids

1070
01:54:44,880 --> 01:54:49,680
no one's putting that on the front page of the paper but that's arguably even more important

1071
01:54:49,680 --> 01:54:57,440
than being the hero for that one day. And there's so much within what you just said that resonates

1072
01:54:57,440 --> 01:55:08,720
because I think when you start looking beyond the me and more about the us there's such a

1073
01:55:08,720 --> 01:55:14,880
such a I don't know when you talk about the photo right in that moment and Mimi

1074
01:55:17,120 --> 01:55:26,400
that fades away and what means the most to me I want the photo with my team I want the photo with

1075
01:55:27,200 --> 01:55:30,560
my buddy and I standing on the edge together getting ready to jump I don't care about

1076
01:55:31,520 --> 01:55:38,320
me the one photo no it's everybody who's on this ride with me and around me and I'm growing and

1077
01:55:38,320 --> 01:55:41,520
they're growing right you can inherently look at a lot of the team that I keep with me

1078
01:55:42,400 --> 01:55:47,200
uh Pat my base jumping mentor you know he was a support system when I was a joke

1079
01:55:48,080 --> 01:55:51,520
when people would laugh at me like oh you're gonna be a you're gonna be a stunt guy

1080
01:55:52,640 --> 01:55:59,920
and I would skydiving I was that guy who showed up and didn't really understand the culture but I

1081
01:55:59,920 --> 01:56:03,760
was like that little meathead firefighter inherently skydivers a little eccentric

1082
01:56:03,760 --> 01:56:08,640
little hippie and I was that guy around the drop zone with no shirt on and hanging out waiting to

1083
01:56:08,640 --> 01:56:14,320
jump and uh as time went on I was like yeah I'm gonna be I'm gonna be a stunt man and Pat was

1084
01:56:14,320 --> 01:56:25,920
with me through that and then when I started base jumping I reconnected with Pat and we we ran into

1085
01:56:25,920 --> 01:56:33,200
each other one day base jumping in uh uh Idaho at the prime bridge I'm just out there jumping off

1086
01:56:33,200 --> 01:56:42,320
the bridge and I run into Pat and we play catch-up and he inherently became the role of my base

1087
01:56:42,320 --> 01:56:48,640
jumping mentor that day and he did not he refused to teach me how to base jump a couple years before

1088
01:56:51,120 --> 01:56:58,240
and now we reconnect and I'm base jumping and so we start jumping together more often and he's

1089
01:56:58,240 --> 01:57:03,360
taking me off of earth you know base jumping is an acronym building antenna span earth

1090
01:57:04,320 --> 01:57:11,120
and I jumped bridges in Idaho there's a legal bridge there and so there's the four different

1091
01:57:11,120 --> 01:57:15,920
objects that you can jump a bridge which is inherently it's pretty pretty safe thing to

1092
01:57:15,920 --> 01:57:25,840
a little jump off of antenna which is the a span earth right so I link in with Pat we start jumping

1093
01:57:25,840 --> 01:57:33,760
together and I'm doing an aerial project a little low budget thing and hey will you come fly camera

1094
01:57:33,760 --> 01:57:40,320
for me Pat's a phenomenal skydiver as well comes in flies camera for me and then he's my my wing

1095
01:57:40,320 --> 01:57:44,640
sort wing suit base jumping mentor the base jumping keeps evolving we do some jumps overseas

1096
01:57:45,200 --> 01:57:51,520
and now I'm putting a wing suit on and he's coaching me in wing suiting and Pat was a Pat

1097
01:57:51,520 --> 01:58:01,040
was Pat is a phenomenal rock climber parachute rigger skydiver base jumper paraglider speed

1098
01:58:01,040 --> 01:58:06,640
rider so he's got this realm of skill set that I saw is value in and I'm I'm a full-time stunt

1099
01:58:06,640 --> 01:58:13,120
guy now and I'm I'm working like crazy and I would get Pat occasionally on jobs with me because one

1100
01:58:13,120 --> 01:58:19,600
he coached me in my wing suiting two I saw something within him that could be of service

1101
01:58:19,600 --> 01:58:28,400
within our in our stunt world and time keeps going and Pat's done stunt rigging jobs Pat

1102
01:58:29,600 --> 01:58:35,840
has always been there for me whenever I call to come in and shoot and then last year you know

1103
01:58:35,840 --> 01:58:41,200
we're in Malaysia and Pat's doing some base jumps for a major movie and I'm assistant aerial

1104
01:58:41,200 --> 01:58:46,720
coordinator working alongside you know John DeVore who's the head of the Red Bull Air Force who is

1105
01:58:46,720 --> 01:58:52,000
the aerial coordinator and Katie Hansen who I believe you've met and she's doing some base jumps

1106
01:58:52,000 --> 01:58:59,200
and Pat and I are laughing like who would have thought years ago that here we'd be standing and

1107
01:58:59,200 --> 01:59:03,200
I looked at him I said I told you we would I told you we'd be here one day I told you this would

1108
01:59:03,200 --> 01:59:12,160
happen I knew this would happen and I surround myself with people like Pat I want the crew I

1109
01:59:12,160 --> 01:59:17,200
want the team I want the collective I want to look back and have these memories with these people

1110
01:59:17,200 --> 01:59:23,200
and I want to step back and I could have pulled Pat out and put the camera on my head and gotten

1111
01:59:23,200 --> 01:59:29,600
to do those base jumps but I had to go Pat's the best for the job Pat is a tenfold better

1112
01:59:29,600 --> 01:59:34,960
base jumper than me and Pat has always been there in support of me and I called Pat and I said hey

1113
01:59:35,520 --> 01:59:38,160
I think I'm going to pull you out and put the camera on my head you know what he said to me

1114
01:59:38,160 --> 01:59:44,400
okay let's get you ready I'm like I'm just joking with you dude you're the best for the job you're

1115
01:59:44,400 --> 01:59:51,040
meant to be in this position I got to sit back and I got to watch them live jumping the second

1116
01:59:51,040 --> 01:59:55,120
tallest building in the world I can't go into detail I don't want to get in trouble is it in

1117
01:59:55,120 --> 02:00:06,800
the Middle East it's Malaysia and generally just feel so just full inside knowing like that's got

1118
02:00:06,800 --> 02:00:11,840
to be incredible and that I find more and more joy in I love it when it's my moment but not every

1119
02:00:11,840 --> 02:00:20,880
moment's meant to be mine and I think if we can remind ourselves that you know especially in the

1120
02:00:20,880 --> 02:00:25,360
film world especially lots of money involved especially getting to do really cool things

1121
02:00:26,480 --> 02:00:31,840
being able to go this is their moment they're meant to live it I may not understand why the

1122
02:00:31,840 --> 02:00:37,520
coordinator picked them to get to do that gag that stunt but I don't have to they're living it

1123
02:00:38,160 --> 02:00:43,600
let me let me be happy for them and it's it's a neat thing man because the support system keeps

1124
02:00:43,600 --> 02:00:53,760
going you know you you grow they grow you know this this uh guy Travis Finaghi who's a world

1125
02:00:53,760 --> 02:01:02,080
champion skydiver turnstunt man sent it to me and Travis has been a huge teacher in my life a

1126
02:01:02,080 --> 02:01:08,000
beautiful human being feminist which was very bizarre for me early on that old firefighter and

1127
02:01:08,000 --> 02:01:14,240
his dude we got a little little different time that we came up in but Travis would always say

1128
02:01:14,240 --> 02:01:21,760
Travis would always say a rising tide raises all ships and Travis would never entertain

1129
02:01:22,720 --> 02:01:28,480
trash talking or negativity ever he's my Ted lasso right we talked about that new show and I

1130
02:01:28,480 --> 02:01:34,480
think every young guy needs to watch Ted lasso there's a great message in there but Travis is

1131
02:01:35,680 --> 02:01:42,160
maybe not the punctual guy that Ted lasso is but that message that Ted lasso shares

1132
02:01:42,160 --> 02:01:49,520
Travis has been teaching that to me uh over the years and I'm so grateful for everything that

1133
02:01:49,520 --> 02:01:54,800
guys showed me and it's yeah you grow they grow they grow you grow we're all building each other

1134
02:01:54,800 --> 02:02:00,800
up man and if you can do that then you'll be happy and you won't be alone because what's the point

1135
02:02:00,800 --> 02:02:08,640
of the photo all alone I think that's the perfect place to end I think it's been such a interesting

1136
02:02:08,640 --> 02:02:14,400
interesting philosophical conversation of course we could talk about you know specific films and

1137
02:02:14,400 --> 02:02:20,800
stunts but I think this has been amazing I mean from you know your your life into the fire service

1138
02:02:20,800 --> 02:02:25,680
and then you know some of the things that you carry and then this journey into stunts it's been

1139
02:02:25,680 --> 02:02:32,880
an incredible conversation so I want to thank you so much for spending two hours sitting down here

1140
02:02:32,880 --> 02:02:38,080
telling your your life story and you know allow me to pull some of these parallels because each

1141
02:02:38,080 --> 02:02:42,240
one of these different professions and obviously I got to put one foot in the stunt world the live

1142
02:02:42,240 --> 02:02:49,040
stunt world um you know there's just so many places where the Venn diagram overlaps and and

1143
02:02:49,040 --> 02:02:55,440
your success and the mentors that you've seen in the stunt world you know literally parallel the

1144
02:02:55,440 --> 02:02:59,600
great mentors and leaders that I've seen in the fire service so I want to thank you so much for

1145
02:02:59,600 --> 02:03:04,080
being so generous with your time and coming on the Behind the Shield podcast today it's been a

1146
02:03:04,080 --> 02:03:16,960
pleasure dude I'm glad we finally did this it's fun