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This episode is brought to you by Thorne and I have some incredible news for any of you

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that are in the military, first responder or medical professions.

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In an effort to give back, Thorne is now offering you an ongoing 35% off each and every one

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of your purchases of their incredible nutritional solutions.

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Thorn is the official supplement of CrossFit, the UFC, the Mayo Clinic, the Human Performance

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Project and multiple special operations organizations.

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I myself have used them for several years and that is why I brought them on as a sponsor.

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Some of my favorite products they have are their Multivitamin Elite, their Whey Protein,

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the Super EPA and then most recently, Cynaquil.

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As a firefighter, a stuntman and a martial artist, I've had my share of brain trauma

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and sleep deprivation and Cynaquil is their latest brain health supplement.

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Now to qualify for the 35% off, go to thorne.com.

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Click on sign in and then create a new account.

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You will see the opportunity to register as a first responder or member of military.

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When you click on that, it will take you through verification with GovX.

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You'll simply choose a profession, provide one piece of documentation and then you are

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verified for life.

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From that point onwards, you will continue to receive 35% off through Thorn.

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Now for those of you who don't qualify, there is still the 10% off using the code BTS10,

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Behind the Shield 10 for a one-time purchase.

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Now to learn more about Thorn, go to episode 323 of the Behind the Shield podcast with

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Joel Titoro and Wes Barnett.

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Welcome to the Behind the Shield podcast.

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

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onto the show snowboarder, manager and one of the men behind Bubbs Naturals, Sean Lake.

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Now if you haven't heard my first interview with Sean, episode 558, I highly recommend

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that you do and I just reposted it as a bonus episode.

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One of Sean's closest friends growing up was Glenn Doherty, who became one of the two Navy

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SEALs that was killed in the Benghazi incident.

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Now in that first conversation, Sean details their friendship and the events of that day.

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So in the second conversation, Sean details the ripple effect of that event, the pursuit

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of the Congressional Gold Medal, death benefits and ensuring any future operators protecting

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people in the same situation will be taken care of.

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

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

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leave a rating.

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

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others to find.

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

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

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

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So with that being said, I welcome back onto the show, Sean Lake.

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Enjoy.

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Well Sean, I want to start by saying a couple of things.

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Firstly for people listening, we spoke in our first interview in episode 558.

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So if people haven't heard that episode yet, I urge them to hit pause on this one, go listen

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to our initial conversation because obviously this is going to segue pretty strongly into

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what we're talking about today.

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So at that as a preface, I want to welcome you back onto the Behind the Shield podcast

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today.

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James, thanks man.

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Thanks for having me back on.

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A couple of years goes by, we bump into each other at a few events and all of a sudden

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we realize there might be a lot more to talk about.

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Yep, absolutely.

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I think the last time we were face to face was the Go Ruck Games in Jacksonville.

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Yep, absolutely.

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Yeah, are they talking about putting that back on again?

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Because I know they did it and then it seems to have paused for a while.

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Well you know, when you have a guy at the helm who just loves getting around people

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and seeing all that stuff happen, I think Jason is for it.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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Actually I'm reposting episodes and I'll probably put your one out actually before this one

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comes out as a bonus episode.

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I just put Rich Rice's episode out.

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You talk about warrior poet.

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That man has achieved more than most of us will ever do in 10 lifetimes and he's one

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of the most humble human beings I've ever met in my entire life.

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It's kind of cool.

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Just get out there and do it, man.

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Absolutely.

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Now the other place where we kind of interacted, Bubz is one of the sponsors of 7X.

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So talk to me about that through your lens.

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Well that's a really neat one because it kind of taps into this different chapter of my

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background.

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Before all the adventures of Bubz Naturals, I used to be a professional snowboarder.

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I rode big mountains and filming and a little bit of contest stuff back in the 90s into

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the early 2000s, right when snowboarding was on this big popularity kick.

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So I've just always been into good old fashioned sideways sports and surfing, skateboarding,

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snowboarding has always been a huge part of my life.

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And then obviously my best friend growing up is this big larger than life personality,

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Navy Seal, Glenn Doherty.

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And Glenn was kind of the same way.

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Loved skiing, loved adventure sports, loved getting in the ocean and surfing, all the

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things.

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And we had a blast together.

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So from him becoming enmeshed in the entire seal community, Mark Devine, Seal Fit out

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here in the West Coast, Glenn's teammates that we've interacted with.

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Somewhere along the way, I met Ryan Parrott and Ryan and I just totally hit it off.

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And I realized like, wait a second, you skate?

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He's like, I skateboard all the time.

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My wife doesn't like it as much because I get hurt all the time, but I love it.

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He's like, oh, I ski, I snowboard.

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I do all these sports.

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I'm like, what?

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And then you know, I'm in a wing suiting and jumping out of planes.

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And I'm like, oh man.

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So we just like instantly became buddies.

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And what I really loved about what he was doing was his charitable drive.

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Like I was fired up on how much commitment he had to helping others and creating awareness

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and just the drive to do it.

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And I mean, look, he could be going out, doing a bunch of different things, working for profit

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and trying to build up his wealth and build his empire.

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And he just defined empire differently than a lot of people.

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And he defined it by helping others.

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And I was drawn to that.

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And I really enjoyed supporting him as his ideas kind of came out.

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He would use me as a sounding board and I'd be like, yeah, man, that sounds great.

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And then he's like, I'm going to go to seven different continents on seven different days

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and run a marathon and I'm going to jump out of a plane and I'm going to do all these things.

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And I was like, holy crap, like that's huge.

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And for him to have that vision, which is talk about your big, hairy audacious goals

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and then actually get it done, assemble the team, do the training, grind through it all.

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I mean, heck, that one person wearing bomb jacket, the whole bomb suit, adding all that

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weight to the experience is just next level.

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Not inexpensive.

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And then they missed Antarctica.

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So he went back a year later to tick that box.

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It just shows a determination and drive that I think is admirable as hell.

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So I was really lucky to be a part of that.

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And I sponsored it.

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I helped out with equipment, nutrition, the things that we do at Bubs.

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Hey, you guys are going to tear your bodies apart.

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Here's collagen peptides to fix you up.

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You're going to be out for long bouts.

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You're going to need extra energy.

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Here are these healthy fats, our MCT oil.

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Get out there and go.

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I think our commitment to military charity with our 10% to charity rule aligned really

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well with how Ryan sees the world.

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And we just cut through some of the clutter.

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I think he dealt with some, I'm not going to say shady characters.

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I'm just going to say some colorful characters that maybe made some big promises and underdelivered,

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which put him on the hook for a lot of money to execute that event.

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And I would never put myself in that position, but we did put ourselves in a good position

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to say, what do you need for support?

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I'm going to be consistent.

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I'm going to be reliable and I'm going to be here to help.

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And we just hit it off.

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It's funny.

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We were probably touching base just after Christmas talking about getting on snow and

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having some good fun.

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He's like, I'm going to go skiing.

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And I'm like, you sell out.

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Maybe I should be snowboarding, but he's just a solid human.

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And I love that.

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I can't wait to see what they do with the footage and the storytelling and put that

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out there.

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And I know you're a part of that.

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So I can't wait to see what you guys got cooking.

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Yeah, it was incredible.

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I've got to say, when I think of a lot of the people that were part of it, they are

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the same people that I chased that sponsored the podcast too.

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And the reason is these are incredible companies.

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There's a level of altruism beneath each of them, whether it's 5-Eleven or Transcend

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or Bubs or Thorn.

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And this is why, you know, when you look at, I've got a mouse, like a mouse pad, and it's

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got all the sponsors on there.

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And I'm like, this is literally the people that we should be buying from, the people

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that we should be using their products because they're not just chasing the bottom line.

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Yes, of course they're a business, but each and every one of these companies, yourself

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included, are also doing that social business, using some of the profits to give back to

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the communities.

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Yeah, hands down.

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I think that's probably one of the most important things is like, why do you do what you do?

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What's your why?

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And if you have a strong, compelling reason why you do things, it'll drive you farther

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than you can go if you don't really care.

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Like if you're just ticking boxes, man, you're just ticking boxes.

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But if you like are fired up, whatever your hack is to get there, or just true passion

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you feel in your heart that like, you know, propels you forward, you're going to do more

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and you're going to do a better job.

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And you know, it's with a company like Thorne, I love using them as an example.

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Their commitment to quality is inarguable.

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Like no one walks out and says, those guys are full of shit.

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You don't do it.

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You just you know that the integrity is there, the third party testing that, that validation,

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we know they care about anything that you're ingesting in your body for human performance

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for doing better.

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Man, like I ordered their product last night.

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I'm like, I'm proud to buy their product.

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I don't have to sift through it and wonder like, what's hokey and what's not right.

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I know that I'm dining at the top.

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And you know, that's quite frankly, what we try to do is make sure that you don't have

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to take my word for it.

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Look at the reviews.

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Look at the third party testing.

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Look at the science, these products that we make at bubs, they work.

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And not only do they work, if we do our job well, we're going to be able to help out a

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lot of people, not just from buying the products, but because I'm going to be able to donate

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to different charitable causes.

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I mean, I literally two nights ago bought tickets to a Ken Block Memorial event.

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And you know, it's a 501C3.

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I can't even go to the event, but I'm like, Hey, I'm actually in a comfortable position

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where I can spend, you know, it wasn't a huge amount of money, but you know, a couple hundred

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bucks on each ticket to go and support a great cause.

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Man, wouldn't it be cool if you didn't have to go to like a sales committee and asked

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to do those kinds of things.

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And you could just like make it a part of call it your marketing if you have to, but

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just live it.

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So yeah, those brands all live it.

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And that's, you know, they're the ones I like getting behind.

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Go Ruck, they live it, man, 100%.

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Like I use a Go Ruck backpack every single day.

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It may not be the sexiest backpack, but I'll never break it.

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This thing's going to outlast me.

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Yeah, they're amazing.

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They really are.

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And again, you know, just as a community, what they do, I think tribally, you know,

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they bring communities together and we saw it at Sandlot Jacks, all those groups of

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people that came from all over the country, actually probably beyond the national borders

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as well.

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And it was because of that tribalism in a positive way that they found that kind of

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shared suffering that we lean into in the military and the fire when we're first trying

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to get selected in the first place.

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And yeah, I mean, you just that day was nothing but, you know, smiles and, you know, conversation

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and community.

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And this is why I hope they do bring it back because it was phenomenal and it was coming

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right out of COVID too.

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So it was what we every single one.

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It was a great, it was a great F you to COVID.

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It was a phenomenal, like in person IRL, let's go.

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We're not virtual here people.

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Which is funny because Jason and I actually met on, I don't even remember the name of

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the app.

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I don't think it lasted, but we were asked to be guests.

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That's the one.

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No, it was a social media app that was audio only.

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And we were asked to be guest speakers on this conference talking about health and wellness

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from the male perspective.

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And we meet on this app and we're just like, we're both like pinging away.

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We're just like, I don't know you man, but you're cool.

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This is like in the middle of 2020 when that's all anyone had to do was be on social media

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00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:22,600
because that was how we were trying to keep our social fabric connected.

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And I just, I was like, I don't know this Jason guy, but I want to get to know him.

236
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And we got to know each other a little bit better after that.

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I'm just like, I like your brand.

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I like what you do.

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And as soon as he announced Sandlot, I was like, yeah, you're bringing people together.

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That's what this is all about.

241
00:14:36,400 --> 00:14:38,560
We're not here to be alone on an island.

242
00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:43,600
We're here to be in these tribes and really celebrate it and have one big tribe called,

243
00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:45,200
in our case, America.

244
00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:46,200
Absolutely.

245
00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:48,680
Well, in your case, Great Britain and America.

246
00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:49,680
Yep.

247
00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:51,720
Well, I mean, I'd like to say there's no corners to the planet.

248
00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:54,120
So I consider us all brothers and sisters.

249
00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:55,720
I like it.

250
00:14:55,720 --> 00:15:00,640
So you mentioned obviously, you know, growing up with Glenn, so let's revisit, you know,

251
00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:04,480
who he was, the relationship that you guys have, and then then we'll kind of walk towards

252
00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:06,280
Liberia and beyond.

253
00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:07,280
Yeah.

254
00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:13,160
So, you know, so, so Glenn Doherty and I, we grew up in Winchester, Massachusetts, little

255
00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:14,760
small suburb out of Boston.

256
00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:16,600
And that other episode does cover a lot of this.

257
00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:19,040
So, you know, I'll give you the cliff notes on it.

258
00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:22,280
But Glenn was literally this like larger than life personality.

259
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He was like the king of all of our friends.

260
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He just was kind of the center of that universe.

261
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And you know, like you're around those people that have that glow, that personality, that

262
00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:36,000
pop that, man, you're just, you're stoked to be around it.

263
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And it kind of elevates you a little bit.

264
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And he did that for a lot of people in that little town of Winchester.

265
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And then he did it when he and I decided that because we had this adventure lifestyle just

266
00:15:48,080 --> 00:15:52,760
coursing through our blood to drop out of college and do the most unconventional thing

267
00:15:52,760 --> 00:16:01,440
back in 1991 and moved to Snowbird, Utah, to try and become pro athletes.

268
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And he absolutely energized that community.

269
00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:07,840
And then, you know, he'd like, he was just the guy everyone wanted to be around.

270
00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:11,400
And we all partied together because that's what you do when you're a ski bum.

271
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Chase Powder, like I have all these amazing memories.

272
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And that community loved him and love him dearly now.

273
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And that's a pattern.

274
00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:26,480
And then Glenn said, hey, at 25, he hadn't made it as a pro skier.

275
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And he's like, you know, I think my next adventure is I heard about joining the Navy.

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I'm going to become a Navy SEAL.

277
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And we're like, what?

278
00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:37,080
Like that Charlie Sheen movie?

279
00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:38,080
What?

280
00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:40,880
Like, well, let's go rent it on VHS and see if that's what you want to do.

281
00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:44,200
And sure enough, like we rent the movie and he's like, yeah, that.

282
00:16:44,200 --> 00:16:45,760
All right, man.

283
00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:47,980
So I drove him to the Navy recruiter.

284
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He signs his paperwork.

285
00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:55,600
A year later, my best friend, my brother from another mother is a Navy SEAL graduates from

286
00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:56,600
Buds.

287
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I'm at his Buds graduation down in Coronado.

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Like holy crap.

289
00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:06,400
And I'm this vagabond, pro snowboarder, just traveling the world, having a blast, trying

290
00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:09,160
to figure out what the heck I'm going to do with my life.

291
00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:13,640
And he served 10 years down in Coronado SEAL Team 3, West Coast.

292
00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:19,920
And when I was lucky enough, just the way life worked out, I ended up graduating from

293
00:17:19,920 --> 00:17:24,520
college, wrapping up my snowboard career and moving to San Diego.

294
00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:31,520
I got recruited by Burton snowboards to work with a young pro athlete named Sean White,

295
00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:35,000
who went on to win all boatload of gold medals.

296
00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:39,120
And someone I call a friend to this day, just a cool kid.

297
00:17:39,120 --> 00:17:41,640
So that moved me to North County, San Diego.

298
00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:47,760
And all of a sudden I'm in the hub of all things, action sports and cool guy, pro athlete

299
00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:48,760
lifestyle.

300
00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:54,560
And my best buddy is right down the street in Coronado doing the coolest job ever, like

301
00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:56,780
blowing shit up as a SEAL.

302
00:17:56,780 --> 00:18:01,960
So in between his deployments, combat or otherwise, we're always getting together and getting

303
00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:02,960
the band back together.

304
00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:08,040
We've had these great years together all through our chapters, like teenage years in our 20s

305
00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:09,480
ski bumming.

306
00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:15,160
And then in our 30s, when he was originally in the SEALs and then when he got out, he

307
00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:19,680
was like 36, I guess 37, he moved up to Encinitas.

308
00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:22,200
So now he was in the town that I was living in.

309
00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:26,760
Next thing you know, we're two guys that are divorced, turning 40, roommates again, like,

310
00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:30,140
oh God, what are we doing with our lives?

311
00:18:30,140 --> 00:18:35,000
What happened the time of our lives, like training over at the local CrossFit gym that

312
00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:36,960
was owned by another SEAL named Mark Devine.

313
00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:39,800
So we were training at SEAL Fit.

314
00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:45,080
Glenn's buddies from the teams were my buddies, all of our workout buddies in Encinitas, the

315
00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:49,240
John McKinley's, the Danny Miller's, like these guys are just such big personalities

316
00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:50,240
in our community.

317
00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:52,040
We're all rallied around.

318
00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:57,280
I mean, I met my wife, Heather, through Glenn, with Glenn.

319
00:18:57,280 --> 00:19:03,560
And he's just tied to so many integral memories because he was that big of a person.

320
00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:04,720
And then we lost him.

321
00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:10,560
You know, and I talked about this before, Glenn was contracting for the CIA.

322
00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:16,400
He was a GRS operative, providing security overseas for CIA assets.

323
00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:17,640
He was bouncing all over the place.

324
00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:22,880
He'd be in Mexico, Beirut, Afghanistan, Iraq, a bunch, Yemen.

325
00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:27,920
I probably shouldn't say any of this stuff, but whatever.

326
00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:32,000
And his last one was at Tripoli in the fall of 2012.

327
00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:37,480
And anyone who remembers the terror attacks on 9-11 in Benghazi, Libya, they know a little

328
00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:40,280
bit about what happened to Glenn and why he's not with us any longer.

329
00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:42,320
Or if you ever saw the movie 13 Hours.

330
00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:47,840
So you and I talked a lot about that, what that was like and losing him and kind of the

331
00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:56,200
legacy we built after Glenn died, which was starting the Glenn Dortey Memorial Foundation,

332
00:19:56,200 --> 00:20:01,000
helping special operators transition from active duty to civilian life.

333
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:03,480
It was starting Bubbs Naturals.

334
00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:05,880
Glenn's call sign in the Navy was Bub.

335
00:20:05,880 --> 00:20:14,480
So this brand that we have, this amazing thing that I just love going to work every day and

336
00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:22,000
energizing myself with Bubbs is a literal tribute to Glenn and his service, his ability

337
00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:28,280
to stand for these great principles, self-improvement, helping others.

338
00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:29,840
And we do that.

339
00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:32,280
We do it with our products, self-improvement.

340
00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:35,360
We do it with our charitable mission, helping others.

341
00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:41,000
And it's just kind of woven into this North Star that we've been charging for over six

342
00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:42,200
years now.

343
00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:45,120
And it's awesome.

344
00:20:45,120 --> 00:20:47,040
Glenn helped make that happen.

345
00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:52,320
Like his energy and ethos have really made it happen.

346
00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:56,920
And I guess what you and I connected about, of course, was that there was so many other

347
00:20:56,920 --> 00:21:04,760
things that happened in those years in between that I just, heck, never talked about.

348
00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:07,300
Just kind of quietly went through.

349
00:21:07,300 --> 00:21:08,680
My wife knows all about it.

350
00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:10,800
God, she lived it.

351
00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:12,440
And our friends lived it.

352
00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:17,720
But it was never something that really came out that much about what happened after Glenn

353
00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:18,720
died.

354
00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:20,760
Like what happens with your government?

355
00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:22,880
What happens with his employers?

356
00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:23,880
What happens?

357
00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:29,160
What are the mechanics behind things like the Defense Base Act?

358
00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:34,520
And man, I got to learn all that firsthand.

359
00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:36,840
So we talked before we hit record.

360
00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:41,680
There's a lot of people I had on the show that had selfless service, whether it was

361
00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:47,040
in a uniform, excuse me, a military uniform, whether it's first responders.

362
00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:52,760
And sadly, there are a lot of stories of organizations that after the fact really let either that

363
00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:54,680
individual or their families down.

364
00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:58,640
So kind of like you mentioned, you lost Glenn.

365
00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:01,280
What did the next kind of few dominoes look like?

366
00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:08,080
And how were you able to help kind of intervene and right some of the wrongs?

367
00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:09,080
Yeah.

368
00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:11,140
I mean, huge question there.

369
00:22:11,140 --> 00:22:15,320
So when Glenn died, there's kind of these immediate things that happen.

370
00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:17,720
Like you get his Form DD-214.

371
00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:18,960
I guess I should clarify.

372
00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:21,840
I was the executor of Glenn's estate.

373
00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:28,100
So I was in charge of all of his legal affairs, bank accounts, death, mortgages on his house,

374
00:22:28,100 --> 00:22:29,100
you name it.

375
00:22:29,100 --> 00:22:33,520
And that's how it all stopped here.

376
00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:37,440
Glenn and I had made our wills out to each other with these very specific demands of

377
00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:41,020
each other that if Glenn dies, he gets all my debt.

378
00:22:41,020 --> 00:22:43,280
If I die, Glenn gets all my debt.

379
00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:47,040
And it was really funny at the time until it wasn't as funny.

380
00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:54,400
But being the executor of someone's estate is a very serious job and it's not an easy

381
00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:57,080
job and it takes a long, long time to facilitate.

382
00:22:57,080 --> 00:23:01,000
Well, one of the things I knew about Glenn was that he had a life insurance policy and

383
00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:06,280
he had to have a life insurance policy per his employers at the CIA for every time he

384
00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:08,160
deployed.

385
00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:12,120
And they had an insurance company called Rutherford Insurance and their sole existence seemed

386
00:23:12,120 --> 00:23:19,120
to be to, I could use colorful languages, but to provide a life insurance policy for

387
00:23:19,120 --> 00:23:21,800
anyone deploying overseas.

388
00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:27,280
And a bit predatory if you ask me, because when you align that life insurance policy

389
00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:32,580
against an archaic piece of legislation called the Defense Base Act, you can quickly read

390
00:23:32,580 --> 00:23:39,420
and Google this or chat GPT it that there is literally no way this death benefit would

391
00:23:39,420 --> 00:23:43,440
pay out if you didn't meet very strict criteria.

392
00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:44,720
Glenn was single.

393
00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:48,000
He was not married and he had no dependents, not going to pay out.

394
00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:53,520
So he literally bought a life insurance policy specifically for a deployment that was never

395
00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:54,520
going to pay out.

396
00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:57,080
Now, I didn't know this.

397
00:23:57,080 --> 00:24:02,320
I called Rutherford up and I said, Hey, horrible tragic accident happened.

398
00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:03,580
Here's the policy number.

399
00:24:03,580 --> 00:24:04,580
Here's Glenn's signature.

400
00:24:04,580 --> 00:24:06,120
Like I've got his laptop.

401
00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:07,120
Here's everything you need.

402
00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:09,960
By the way, what does it pay out?

403
00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:15,240
Because I'm going to receive those funds and I'm going to distribute them to Glenn's family.

404
00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:23,760
And we had this funny arrangement, funny in hindsight, where Glenn wanted me to take any

405
00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:26,760
money that he had left over and throw a huge party.

406
00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:28,400
That was his death wish.

407
00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:34,600
Like throw a huge party, take my friend's heli skiing, go on surf trips to Tavarua,

408
00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:37,280
just have a blast, throw a rager for me.

409
00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:40,120
And we did.

410
00:24:40,120 --> 00:24:45,400
But I talked about this, I think prior, I made a rule up in my head.

411
00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:50,040
Okay, well, look, after Glenn died, I'm like, look, I'm going to take 100% of his assets,

412
00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:51,040
what is it?

413
00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:54,120
$100,000, $200,000 of all in everything he's got.

414
00:24:54,120 --> 00:24:55,760
And I'm going to divide by four.

415
00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:57,680
I'm going to give a quarter of it to his mom.

416
00:24:57,680 --> 00:24:59,240
I'm going to give a quarter to his sister.

417
00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:00,840
I'm going to give a quarter of it to his brother.

418
00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:02,280
And I'm going to keep a quarter of it.

419
00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:07,080
And I'm going to do an investment account called the Cult of Recreationalism just for

420
00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:11,000
those heli trips and those surf trips and those epic adventures.

421
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:12,000
And I did.

422
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:17,000
And I have bought really expensive condos in Vegas to take our buddies from high school

423
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:18,640
to a Patriots game.

424
00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:24,760
I have flown bros out to go and ride powder.

425
00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:25,760
We've been doing it.

426
00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:30,160
And it's an investment account, so I can keep it rolling and keep it going.

427
00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:36,560
Anyways, I thought this money from his death benefit would go into that, into his estate

428
00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:38,920
and then get distributed accordingly.

429
00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:43,920
And it took maybe a month or two before finally Rutherford's like, oh, this won't pay out.

430
00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:45,560
Sorry, he's not eligible.

431
00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:47,560
And they were just, that was it, cut and dry.

432
00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:50,880
I'm like, what the fuck?

433
00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:52,200
What the fuck?

434
00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:57,760
Now at this point, it's been a couple months and now I'm mad.

435
00:25:57,760 --> 00:25:59,280
Like I'm past sad.

436
00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:04,460
Sad was the first chapter of grief, losing my best friend, my brother.

437
00:26:04,460 --> 00:26:06,840
But that flipped to anger real quick.

438
00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:11,600
And I had an easy target, CIA, this insurance company.

439
00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:17,960
So around that time, I'd been approached by a law firm, major law firm called K&L Gates.

440
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:20,400
And they had seen what was happening out in the press and the public.

441
00:26:20,400 --> 00:26:22,160
And they said, hey, we want to help you.

442
00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:27,600
Pro Bono, we're here to help manage whatever it is you're going to go through with this.

443
00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:30,160
And I'm like, well, I got a major issue here.

444
00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:34,440
So K&L Gates paired me with a West Coast attorney guy named Michael Mortenson, who's a deep

445
00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:36,760
dear friend to this day.

446
00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:41,280
And we sued Rutherford Insurance and the Department of State, or no Department of Labor, I think

447
00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:42,440
was the other one.

448
00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:43,940
And we sued him in federal court.

449
00:26:43,940 --> 00:26:48,060
So here I am, like early 2013.

450
00:26:48,060 --> 00:26:53,040
And I went from private citizen, surf bro, to private citizen.

451
00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:58,560
Oh shit, my name's in the newspaper because I'm suing the federal government.

452
00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:00,280
That was a pretty heavy moment.

453
00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:03,060
I was definitely like, I was mad.

454
00:27:03,060 --> 00:27:08,900
I was energized by a wrong that needed to be righted.

455
00:27:08,900 --> 00:27:13,720
And I was willing to, I guess, tap into that part of me that says, hey, fuck it, man, I'll

456
00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:14,720
do this.

457
00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:18,520
I mean, that's the old snowboarder in me.

458
00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:19,520
I don't know.

459
00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:25,140
But it was an injustice I wasn't willing to let lie.

460
00:27:25,140 --> 00:27:29,560
So I ended up in federal court in San Diego and I lose.

461
00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:30,740
I lose right away.

462
00:27:30,740 --> 00:27:31,780
Judge is pissed.

463
00:27:31,780 --> 00:27:32,820
Judge is pissed not at me.

464
00:27:32,820 --> 00:27:38,120
The judge is pissed because she knows that this is absolutely an abomination.

465
00:27:38,120 --> 00:27:43,000
But she looks at the insurance company and she's like, you know, you know that this is

466
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:47,600
the wrong thing to do, to hide behind this defense base act.

467
00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:49,480
And so, okay, our attorneys lick our wounds.

468
00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:53,080
We regroup later and they say, okay, well, we lost, but we took our swing.

469
00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:54,760
We had to.

470
00:27:54,760 --> 00:28:00,520
Let's leverage that into a bigger discussion about what we want to accomplish here.

471
00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:05,460
But we had a strategy discussion and James, like this is one of the areas that I actually

472
00:28:05,460 --> 00:28:07,200
like I like doing in business.

473
00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:08,200
Like, well, what do we want to accomplish?

474
00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:11,640
And I was like, well, here's my kind of like zero to one goal.

475
00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:16,200
My zero to one goal is I want this death benefit paid.

476
00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:21,360
Glenn laid down his life serving his country, saving lives over there.

477
00:28:21,360 --> 00:28:23,240
He goddamn deserves this money.

478
00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:27,920
Okay, we lost that lawsuit, but I'm not giving up on that.

479
00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:33,680
The second thing I'd like to do, and we all huddled and talked about this, is I'd like

480
00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:40,720
to future proof his brothers, his future brothers from going through this exact same experience.

481
00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:45,640
Because James, as much as I'd like to think that Benghazi will never happen again, it's

482
00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:47,480
going to happen again.

483
00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:54,200
We are going to lose veterans, contractors, active duty folks.

484
00:28:54,200 --> 00:29:00,200
And as long as they're private citizens that are former military doing security work for

485
00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:04,600
the CIA, for the State Department, for other groups, they're going to fall into this exact

486
00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:05,600
same trap.

487
00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:10,840
So I'd like to future proof that like, how do we get them to craft language that, you

488
00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:16,560
know, just makes these guys aware, like, hey, this life insurance policy that we're making

489
00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:19,280
you get isn't going to work.

490
00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:21,920
So go get another one, because you're going to need a second policy.

491
00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:24,920
All right, so that was like second.

492
00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:29,060
And then the third one, I actually give to an attorney named Amy Carnival, because she

493
00:29:29,060 --> 00:29:33,200
thought this vision out, I actually didn't really know much about it.

494
00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:36,040
But it was a legacy play to honor Glenn's legacy.

495
00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:43,600
And she said, well, how about if we take a swing at the Congressional gold medal?

496
00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:48,000
It's the highest congressional honor that you can give to civilians.

497
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:52,840
And we should do it for Ambassador Stevens, for Tyrone Woods, for Glenn Doherty, for Sean

498
00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:56,880
Smith, all four Americans that were killed in Magasi.

499
00:29:56,880 --> 00:30:02,480
Now this isn't now I think at this point, we're in like early 2014.

500
00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:04,520
And I'm like, wow, I really like that.

501
00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:08,040
Like because Glenn's legacy, we'd already preserved through the Glenn Doherty Memorial

502
00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:09,040
Foundation.

503
00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:12,980
But, wow, like that's really punches it up.

504
00:30:12,980 --> 00:30:22,960
So around that time, the CIA quietly awards Glenn and Tyrone Woods, those gold stars that

505
00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:26,320
they put on the CIA wall.

506
00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:34,400
So there's a wall when you walk into the CIA building that has these stars that are markers

507
00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:37,800
for those that have fallen.

508
00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:42,160
And Glenn received one, Tyrone received one, and it was a somber ceremony.

509
00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:43,400
It was really well done.

510
00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:44,400
It was quiet.

511
00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:47,480
It wasn't like boatloads of newspapers.

512
00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:53,060
But Congressional gold medal is like a, it's a bigger, it's a bigger, more public deal.

513
00:30:53,060 --> 00:30:55,680
So I felt like that was a great way to celebrate it.

514
00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:59,520
So we kind of have the zero to one, one to two, two to three goals.

515
00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:02,280
And I was like, you know what, if I just get Glenn's money paid and I can distribute that

516
00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:08,640
out to his family and do that part, like I will feel like that's a win.

517
00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:11,880
Then the movie comes out, you know, 13 hours.

518
00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:14,460
Now the hype's all around this thing.

519
00:31:14,460 --> 00:31:16,780
It's congressional time.

520
00:31:16,780 --> 00:31:20,600
There's all this buzz going on about who's running for president.

521
00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:22,080
And it's still in the news.

522
00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:26,980
Like it's been two full years and Benghazi is still major news cycle.

523
00:31:26,980 --> 00:31:30,820
And I ended up getting a meeting with John Brennan.

524
00:31:30,820 --> 00:31:33,240
And I fly out to Washington, DC.

525
00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:39,360
I'm flanked with the K&L Gates lawyers and an army of lawyers on the CIA side.

526
00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:44,000
And I get to sit down with John Brennan.

527
00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:48,380
And prior to sitting down with John Brennan, I also got to look at Glenn's employment contract.

528
00:31:48,380 --> 00:31:52,000
They let me look at Glenn's employment contract.

529
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:53,440
That thing was so redacted.

530
00:31:53,440 --> 00:31:57,680
It was like someone took a goddamn Sharpie marker and just crossed out every word except

531
00:31:57,680 --> 00:31:59,160
Glenn.

532
00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:00,920
Sign.

533
00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:02,820
Like it was like fucking useless.

534
00:32:02,820 --> 00:32:06,040
So I went into this meeting with John Brennan mad.

535
00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:10,840
Again, I'm fueled by grief and a sense of injustice.

536
00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:12,520
I've lost this lawsuit.

537
00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:14,640
I kind of got nothing to lose.

538
00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:16,680
And then they show me Glenn's contract.

539
00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:19,200
And it's like the whole goddamn thing's redacted.

540
00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:21,480
So like you can't make any sense of it.

541
00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:28,000
So I'm like, how am I supposed to help future proof this for Glenn's brothers if I can't

542
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:32,360
even understand the language that they're presented with in the first place?

543
00:32:32,360 --> 00:32:35,200
You see how insane that is.

544
00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:43,440
So anyways, I get in the room with John Brennan and I kind of threatened him.

545
00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:45,640
I didn't kind of threaten him.

546
00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:49,240
I threatened him not like physically like I'm going to take a swing at you John Brennan

547
00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:51,740
because I'm pretty sure I can take you.

548
00:32:51,740 --> 00:32:58,400
It was I presented him with the idea that he has an opportunity, had an opportunity

549
00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:01,240
to do the right thing.

550
00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:06,800
Don't tell me you don't have the money somewhere, somehow to pay this death benefit.

551
00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:11,160
Don't tell me that because God knows what kind of gold toilet seats you guys are buying

552
00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:13,240
when no one's looking.

553
00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:16,440
So you have an opportunity to do the right thing.

554
00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:21,280
And it would be a shame if I walked out of these doors and sat down with the Washington

555
00:33:21,280 --> 00:33:26,200
Post and the New York Times and told them how you blew it because you could have done

556
00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:29,840
the right thing for your soldiers that laid down their lives serving their country and

557
00:33:29,840 --> 00:33:32,320
chose not to.

558
00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:38,760
And then the second topic I gave was, you know, hey, like, this is going to happen again.

559
00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:41,120
What are you guys going to do about it?

560
00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:42,900
Like this just happened.

561
00:33:42,900 --> 00:33:44,060
It's happened before.

562
00:33:44,060 --> 00:33:47,560
I don't know how much but I guarantee Glenn wasn't the first one.

563
00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:49,740
What are you going to do about it?

564
00:33:49,740 --> 00:33:51,280
And I was sweating bullets.

565
00:33:51,280 --> 00:33:53,960
Kate, Glenn's sister was at the room.

566
00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:56,720
She kicked me under the table like, shut the fuck up, Sean.

567
00:33:56,720 --> 00:34:00,200
You're gonna get us kicked out of here.

568
00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:01,200
John Brennan stood up.

569
00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:04,040
He didn't say barely a word.

570
00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:08,080
And he just looked at me and he said, we'll look into it.

571
00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:12,360
Now I was even madder than I'm like, oh, we'll look into it like some politician bullshit

572
00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:15,720
speech and like, you know, just fucking steam coming out.

573
00:34:15,720 --> 00:34:17,760
He walks out of the room.

574
00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:21,480
And Amy, one of the you know, the attorneys for K and L case, she kind of grabs me and

575
00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:24,580
she's like, hey, that's really good.

576
00:34:24,580 --> 00:34:27,720
He usually doesn't say anything, like nothing.

577
00:34:27,720 --> 00:34:32,080
He just listens and leaves the fact that he said that might mean something.

578
00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:35,160
So like, okay, I'll take your word for it.

579
00:34:35,160 --> 00:34:36,480
Like, I don't know where I am.

580
00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:37,760
I don't know the politics.

581
00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:40,000
I don't know how this game is played.

582
00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:46,000
I just know that I met the guy who is ultimately responsible for the decision of what happened

583
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:53,000
to not, you know, to Glenn in Benghazi, but for what happened after he died.

584
00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:54,320
And the buck stops there.

585
00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:56,880
Well, obviously the buck stops at the White House.

586
00:34:56,880 --> 00:35:00,560
But I leave the room.

587
00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:03,880
A couple months goes by, six months goes by.

588
00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:04,880
There's nothing no word.

589
00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:06,820
I'm like, well, we took our shot.

590
00:35:06,820 --> 00:35:08,440
Maybe we'll just start working on this.

591
00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:12,840
You know, we'll get started a little bit heavier on the Congressional gold medal.

592
00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:14,540
And we'd already laid the groundwork for that.

593
00:35:14,540 --> 00:35:17,920
So like, I'll just put my energy there because it looks like I took the last shot I could

594
00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:19,440
take on this one.

595
00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:22,800
And then I get word by seven, eight months later.

596
00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:25,240
Hey, Sean, you're not going to believe this.

597
00:35:25,240 --> 00:35:30,640
You know, the attorney's call that you're like, they're going to pay Glenn's death benefit.

598
00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:31,920
It's going to take a while.

599
00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:35,200
There's a lot of paperwork, but they're going to pay it.

600
00:35:35,200 --> 00:35:43,000
Not only that, Sean, they're going to pay this death benefit back to every single American

601
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:44,920
who lost their lives dating back to Beirut.

602
00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:50,800
And they're like, that's over 30 families, 28 families, like some giant number of families.

603
00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:56,360
I'm like, so we're talking about millions of dollars of discretionary funding that John

604
00:35:56,360 --> 00:36:01,920
Brennan, who I was not very happy with in the moment, dug into it with his team and

605
00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:04,760
said, this is wrong.

606
00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:07,140
We're going to make it right.

607
00:36:07,140 --> 00:36:12,160
And over the next year, the monies were distributed.

608
00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:17,680
And we started getting word from some of these families that fell into this trap that had

609
00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:18,680
no pulpit.

610
00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:25,080
They had no opportunity to get in front of the CIA director and cry foul.

611
00:36:25,080 --> 00:36:29,160
And they reached out and they're like, thank you so much for helping our family.

612
00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:32,440
I'm like, holy shit.

613
00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:35,800
We really changed some lives here.

614
00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:39,160
We actually got this done.

615
00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:43,480
And man, it was fricking bananas.

616
00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:49,880
So getting that word, and there were some real human stories that came with it about

617
00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:57,000
ailing parents and widows and how the money came in at just the right time to help out.

618
00:36:57,000 --> 00:37:00,960
And it's feel good stuff, man.

619
00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:07,000
And Kate and Glenn, I'm sorry, Kate and Greg and Barbara, Glenn's family got the funds

620
00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:08,660
distributed to them.

621
00:37:08,660 --> 00:37:13,440
And it's like, whoa, all right, we did it.

622
00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:20,800
So unexpectedly, my biggest thing that I wanted out of that too was this future proofing.

623
00:37:20,800 --> 00:37:28,480
It was this idea that they would warn contractors to get their own insurance, like go do something

624
00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:29,480
else.

625
00:37:29,480 --> 00:37:34,780
And I learned years later, and this actually wasn't public at the time, I learned years

626
00:37:34,780 --> 00:37:41,560
later because I met the attorney, a retired attorney for the Central Intelligence Agency.

627
00:37:41,560 --> 00:37:45,480
I bumped into him at a conference, like really odd that I would meet this guy.

628
00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:50,040
And he's like, hey, I know who you are.

629
00:37:50,040 --> 00:37:51,040
You do?

630
00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:55,240
And he said, yeah, I'm the attorney who wrote this memo.

631
00:37:55,240 --> 00:37:59,740
It was one of the most important memos I ever wrote while working for the CIA.

632
00:37:59,740 --> 00:38:09,120
And I wrote it to ensure that any GRS operative, any agent, any contractor for the CIA that

633
00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:16,240
is killed overseas does not fall into the trap of the Defense Base Act.

634
00:38:16,240 --> 00:38:19,680
And that wouldn't have been possible if you hadn't made such a stink.

635
00:38:19,680 --> 00:38:20,680
So thank you.

636
00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:24,400
I said, thank you.

637
00:38:24,400 --> 00:38:27,560
James, it was fucking surreal.

638
00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:34,060
I met the guy who wrote the memo and I made his life, I'm sure miserable during my kicking

639
00:38:34,060 --> 00:38:38,360
and screaming and I'm going to go to the press.

640
00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:43,000
And I definitely painted it, I guess, in a way that helped them understand the human

641
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:47,520
side of those types of bureaucratic decisions.

642
00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:51,440
And yeah, it was really impactful.

643
00:38:51,440 --> 00:38:54,920
So I was like, man, I just got zero to one done.

644
00:38:54,920 --> 00:38:58,880
And I just got one to two done.

645
00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:01,480
And again, I didn't learn about that until years later.

646
00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:03,480
It was like 2022 or something.

647
00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:06,280
It took a long time.

648
00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:11,880
I found that out like kind of last, but it was actually the most rewarding to know that

649
00:39:11,880 --> 00:39:17,160
no matter what happens, there's going to be a future SEAL, a future special operator,

650
00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:21,520
a future electrician who knows, you know, that's going to serve overseas and be a part

651
00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:23,800
of a horrible situation.

652
00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:26,240
And they're not going to get screwed over.

653
00:39:26,240 --> 00:39:28,400
It's important.

654
00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:34,800
And to have played a part in that and to have played a part in seeing 30 families get redemption

655
00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:41,600
and respect and honor for the sacrifices that their family members have made.

656
00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:49,720
Man, like I never in a million years could have thought that that would happen.

657
00:39:49,720 --> 00:39:53,360
I can tell you that it's a good feeling.

658
00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:56,280
And I mean, I do it all over again.

659
00:39:56,280 --> 00:39:58,680
I hope I never have to.

660
00:39:58,680 --> 00:40:02,120
But it was really satisfying.

661
00:40:02,120 --> 00:40:08,440
Times down, the one that took the most time and energy and hours was going after the Congressional

662
00:40:08,440 --> 00:40:10,480
gold medal.

663
00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:18,960
Yeah, that one, that was like, I think we started that officially in 2014, started to

664
00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:20,040
gather signatures.

665
00:40:20,040 --> 00:40:23,840
And you got to understand, like, you have to do this within a congressional session,

666
00:40:23,840 --> 00:40:24,840
right?

667
00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:28,680
So you only have so much time to gather the right amount of signatures.

668
00:40:28,680 --> 00:40:34,200
So they drafted the legislation, Ed Markey, Senator out of Massachusetts, obviously was

669
00:40:34,200 --> 00:40:35,200
a sponsor.

670
00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:41,380
But this is meant to be not a Democrat initiative, not a Republican initiative, but a bipartisan

671
00:40:41,380 --> 00:40:44,280
true American initiative.

672
00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:50,220
So it was co-signed Republicans and Democrats together.

673
00:40:50,220 --> 00:40:51,640
And then it stalled in Congress.

674
00:40:51,640 --> 00:40:54,660
All right, so we went back the next year.

675
00:40:54,660 --> 00:41:01,160
And I flew out to Washington, DC three times to meet with congressmen and or senators with

676
00:41:01,160 --> 00:41:06,040
Kate or Kate went and then I would go a different time to walk the halls of Congress, which

677
00:41:06,040 --> 00:41:10,680
is kind of a neat thing to be a part of our nation's history and walk down the alleys

678
00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:14,840
underneath and like, you know, these crazy long hallways just to like, get a meeting

679
00:41:14,840 --> 00:41:21,400
with a congressman from Ohio or, you know, Oklahoma or, you know, California and be able

680
00:41:21,400 --> 00:41:26,000
to get that 10 minute pitch of why this is important and why they should support it.

681
00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:29,920
And we did that on and off.

682
00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:33,600
And the last time I think I went out there was like 2018.

683
00:41:33,600 --> 00:41:39,960
We'd actually just launched bubs and, you know, it looked like we were almost there.

684
00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:43,000
And then the attorneys, God love them.

685
00:41:43,000 --> 00:41:47,520
Like Amy and her team just kept pounding the pavement and they weren't getting paid to

686
00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:48,520
do this.

687
00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:53,320
It was just like the right thing to do and I'm like, man, you guys are dedicated.

688
00:41:53,320 --> 00:41:54,800
That's my plug for K and L gates.

689
00:41:54,800 --> 00:42:00,020
I, you know, can't say I work with them much anymore, but, you know, God love them.

690
00:42:00,020 --> 00:42:06,640
So they were dedicated to getting this thing all the way through and they kept hammering

691
00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:08,160
at it and hammering at it.

692
00:42:08,160 --> 00:42:11,280
And then it just kept stalling at the 11th hour.

693
00:42:11,280 --> 00:42:15,680
There wouldn't be enough senators or there wouldn't be enough congressmen.

694
00:42:15,680 --> 00:42:20,120
And finally, this was, this was 2022.

695
00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:22,800
This is two and a half years ago, three years ago.

696
00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:28,360
I get a call around Thanksgiving, the congressional session, you know, it ends right before Christmas.

697
00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:31,080
So it's like, get this done or that's it.

698
00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:35,040
And it was like, everyone at this point has been like, what are we nine years in on trying

699
00:42:35,040 --> 00:42:37,760
to drive this through?

700
00:42:37,760 --> 00:42:40,000
And you spend almost a decade of your life.

701
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:42,440
At this point, it had been 12 years since Glenn died.

702
00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:47,480
Or on the 10 year anniversary, eight of which are spent fighting nine years spent, you know,

703
00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:50,360
trying to get the congressional gold medal through.

704
00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:54,600
And everyone was kind of like at the end of that fight.

705
00:42:54,600 --> 00:43:00,200
And we had to huddle up and it was like, look at, we need seven senators.

706
00:43:00,200 --> 00:43:01,200
That's all we need.

707
00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:02,800
Like seven senators.

708
00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:06,480
I'm like, okay, who do we need?

709
00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:08,440
And it was like, well, we need this guy, Patrick Kennedy.

710
00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:13,560
No, not Patrick Kennedy, someone Kennedy.

711
00:43:13,560 --> 00:43:14,560
And he's a Republican.

712
00:43:14,560 --> 00:43:17,760
And I'm like, I actually know his congressional aide.

713
00:43:17,760 --> 00:43:19,520
Funny, small world from Sealfit.

714
00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:21,600
Like I know how to reach them.

715
00:43:21,600 --> 00:43:25,840
My business partner TJ's buddies with a guy we trained with for a long time, Ferris.

716
00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:28,240
And Ferris like knew or dated the girl.

717
00:43:28,240 --> 00:43:31,760
I can't remember the details, but it was like, I know how to reach them.

718
00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:33,360
Okay, I'll take that one on.

719
00:43:33,360 --> 00:43:34,360
What else we got?

720
00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:38,400
Oh, you know, they start rattling off these senators and no one knows how to get them

721
00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:39,400
to hold them.

722
00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:41,680
But it's like, write this form email to each of them.

723
00:43:41,680 --> 00:43:45,680
And it's like, just pepper them with this email, write the email every day and hit send,

724
00:43:45,680 --> 00:43:47,520
write the email and hit send.

725
00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:51,560
And one of the senators on the list is Bernie Sanders.

726
00:43:51,560 --> 00:43:53,840
And I kind of raised my hand on that one.

727
00:43:53,840 --> 00:43:55,840
I'm like, hey, I can get to Bernie.

728
00:43:55,840 --> 00:43:57,160
She's like, no, you can't.

729
00:43:57,160 --> 00:44:01,600
I'm like, no, like I used to work at Burton snowboards based in Vermont.

730
00:44:01,600 --> 00:44:03,520
I used to work with this guy, Dave.

731
00:44:03,520 --> 00:44:04,640
Dave's his godson.

732
00:44:04,640 --> 00:44:07,200
Like they spend every holiday together.

733
00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:12,160
Like I can get to Bernie and they're like, Bernie doesn't sign things like this.

734
00:44:12,160 --> 00:44:15,560
I'm like, oh, so now it's a challenge.

735
00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:18,240
Just like when Glenn died and I had to fight a death benefit.

736
00:44:18,240 --> 00:44:20,520
I see what we're dealing with here.

737
00:44:20,520 --> 00:44:21,920
And you know, I'm a competitive guy.

738
00:44:21,920 --> 00:44:22,920
What can I say, James?

739
00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:25,040
Like I was like, I'm going to call Driscoll.

740
00:44:25,040 --> 00:44:28,160
I'm having this conversation with him.

741
00:44:28,160 --> 00:44:29,720
And God love him.

742
00:44:29,720 --> 00:44:33,740
Like Dave and I talk, you know, every once in a while about business initiatives.

743
00:44:33,740 --> 00:44:37,960
We used to work together at Burton like 20 years ago.

744
00:44:37,960 --> 00:44:42,080
And we keep in touch about just, you know, fitness, wellness, like trying to stay in

745
00:44:42,080 --> 00:44:45,760
shape, all the things that, you know, we do.

746
00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:54,800
And I hit him up and I said, hey, I've never asked you for a favor and I'm coming to you

747
00:44:54,800 --> 00:44:55,800
for a favor.

748
00:44:55,800 --> 00:44:56,960
And he said, okay, what's up?

749
00:44:56,960 --> 00:45:01,640
I said, your old man, Bernie, you're going to spend the holidays with him?

750
00:45:01,640 --> 00:45:03,120
He's like, yeah, I'm having Thanksgiving with him.

751
00:45:03,120 --> 00:45:07,880
I said, well, you know what happened to Glenn and Dave knew all about Glenn.

752
00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:13,280
I said, well, there's this medal we're trying to get signed, the congressional gold medal.

753
00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:14,840
He's like, I know what the congressional gold medal is.

754
00:45:14,840 --> 00:45:16,760
Dave's polished up on politics.

755
00:45:16,760 --> 00:45:18,240
He had run Bernie's foundation.

756
00:45:18,240 --> 00:45:20,280
Like he, you know, he's in the know.

757
00:45:20,280 --> 00:45:25,840
And I said, I need a signature because if Bernie signs this thing, every other hold

758
00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:31,560
out Democrat or independent or anyone on the fence is going to see that Bernie signed it

759
00:45:31,560 --> 00:45:32,680
and they're going to sign it.

760
00:45:32,680 --> 00:45:36,720
Like he's a domino effect for everybody else.

761
00:45:36,720 --> 00:45:39,720
And he's like, okay, I got you.

762
00:45:39,720 --> 00:45:45,400
And he knew how to bring it to the table and how to present it to him as a friend, not

763
00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:49,040
necessarily even as an American.

764
00:45:49,040 --> 00:45:50,280
And he texts me over the weekend.

765
00:45:50,280 --> 00:45:54,240
He said, Bernie's going to sign it, sign it first thing Monday, call the attorneys up

766
00:45:54,240 --> 00:45:56,080
and I'm like, got it.

767
00:45:56,080 --> 00:45:58,160
And they're just like, how did you do that?

768
00:45:58,160 --> 00:46:02,000
And I'm like, pays to be a snowboarder.

769
00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:06,880
So you know, Bernie signed it and literally just like that, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

770
00:46:06,880 --> 00:46:09,160
We got it over the line at the 11th hour.

771
00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:15,140
We're talking like first week in December and it's on Biden's desk for signature on

772
00:46:15,140 --> 00:46:16,440
like Christmas Eve.

773
00:46:16,440 --> 00:46:18,800
So no, no media, no politics.

774
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:23,800
I don't think the Biden administration wanted to like bring a lot of attention back to Hillary

775
00:46:23,800 --> 00:46:25,120
Clinton or anything like that.

776
00:46:25,120 --> 00:46:30,880
It was very quietly passed, but I now have the placard with the legislation.

777
00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:36,000
It's called like HR 310 for the congressional gold medal.

778
00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:42,800
I have now seen a couple of renderings of different gold coins that all ghosts get sent

779
00:46:42,800 --> 00:46:48,280
out to the families for approval for the kind of likeness and visuals because it's a physical

780
00:46:48,280 --> 00:46:50,760
coin, the gold medal.

781
00:46:50,760 --> 00:46:54,960
And there's several artists that bid it to do the job.

782
00:46:54,960 --> 00:47:01,240
As far as I know today, literally in January of 2025, this thing is out for design.

783
00:47:01,240 --> 00:47:10,880
And I'm kind of waiting for that culmination of just over a decade's worth of work to come

784
00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:17,880
true with one last celebration and a big old cheers to bub celebrating with the congressional

785
00:47:17,880 --> 00:47:18,880
gold medal.

786
00:47:18,880 --> 00:47:24,040
And I'm going to invite every single person that New Glenn that I can reach out to for

787
00:47:24,040 --> 00:47:25,040
that one.

788
00:47:25,040 --> 00:47:28,320
Dip into the party fund again.

789
00:47:28,320 --> 00:47:31,040
If I have to, 100%.

790
00:47:31,040 --> 00:47:32,480
This one's worth it, man.

791
00:47:32,480 --> 00:47:34,160
I mean, that is such an amazing story.

792
00:47:34,160 --> 00:47:39,480
I'm so glad that you came back on and kind of carried that on because there's obviously

793
00:47:39,480 --> 00:47:45,480
these hurdles, these brick walls that so many of us see.

794
00:47:45,480 --> 00:47:50,600
And an interesting parallel is the cancer or the mental health presumptions in the fire

795
00:47:50,600 --> 00:47:51,600
service.

796
00:47:51,600 --> 00:47:53,840
A lot of states don't have those.

797
00:47:53,840 --> 00:47:58,080
And then if they do, what I've heard from a lot of people is you will have these insurance

798
00:47:58,080 --> 00:48:03,200
companies and kind of like you were saying with this kind of loophole with the Defense

799
00:48:03,200 --> 00:48:07,560
Base Act, they will basically fight these first responders.

800
00:48:07,560 --> 00:48:11,840
And the people have literally have been heard saying, we'll just keep fighting until they

801
00:48:11,840 --> 00:48:13,420
die.

802
00:48:13,420 --> 00:48:19,720
So this kind of lack of humanity, this mountain of red tape that gets in the way of people

803
00:48:19,720 --> 00:48:22,320
simply doing the right thing.

804
00:48:22,320 --> 00:48:24,360
I see it over and over and over again.

805
00:48:24,360 --> 00:48:29,880
But to hear how being dogmatic, having that fire in your belly and then just figuring

806
00:48:29,880 --> 00:48:33,880
out how to make it work and circumnavigating all these barriers.

807
00:48:33,880 --> 00:48:38,760
I mean, what a beautiful story to show that if you believe in doing the right thing and

808
00:48:38,760 --> 00:48:43,640
you accumulate a team of people that are behind you, that you can move mountains.

809
00:48:43,640 --> 00:48:45,680
Yeah.

810
00:48:45,680 --> 00:48:51,440
I can't say enough about Glenn's family and really about the Cannell Gates attorneys who

811
00:48:51,440 --> 00:48:58,680
just kept driving like Dennis Potter, Amy Carnival, Michael Mortenson.

812
00:48:58,680 --> 00:49:02,840
They kept the fight going and I had passion, I had energy, I brought all of that.

813
00:49:02,840 --> 00:49:09,000
I didn't have a little bit of strategy to do the one, two and three.

814
00:49:09,000 --> 00:49:14,980
But the actual execution, the amount of time spent behind the scenes lobbying congressmen

815
00:49:14,980 --> 00:49:20,600
and senators to get what would seem to be like the most simple thing through, like the

816
00:49:20,600 --> 00:49:32,240
most basic way to honor American service and sacrifice took forever.

817
00:49:32,240 --> 00:49:39,480
John Brennan, who made a lot of policy decisions, made a lot of people pretty unhappy over the

818
00:49:39,480 --> 00:49:43,040
course of his career, did the right thing.

819
00:49:43,040 --> 00:49:44,320
He did the right thing.

820
00:49:44,320 --> 00:49:45,640
He did the human thing.

821
00:49:45,640 --> 00:49:52,080
It took this to get him to do it, but it happened.

822
00:49:52,080 --> 00:49:55,240
I'm going to look back on all of this and be like, yeah, sure.

823
00:49:55,240 --> 00:50:00,880
I got a life insurance policy paid, a couple of hundred thousand bucks for service.

824
00:50:00,880 --> 00:50:01,880
That's great.

825
00:50:01,880 --> 00:50:07,080
But wow, I got to pay to 30 something other families on top of that?

826
00:50:07,080 --> 00:50:09,320
Holy crap.

827
00:50:09,320 --> 00:50:14,240
And whenever this sort of thing happens in the future, I finally got to shine a light

828
00:50:14,240 --> 00:50:19,880
on the Defense Base Act and the inequities that are built into it and how to remedy that,

829
00:50:19,880 --> 00:50:22,600
at least for the central intelligence agency.

830
00:50:22,600 --> 00:50:28,240
Hey man, Mike, that feels pretty freaking good.

831
00:50:28,240 --> 00:50:35,880
And yeah, knowing that there's a gold star out at the CIA headquarters, I had nothing

832
00:50:35,880 --> 00:50:36,880
to do with that.

833
00:50:36,880 --> 00:50:38,480
It feels good.

834
00:50:38,480 --> 00:50:42,960
But the Congressional gold medal, that's going to be a nice one.

835
00:50:42,960 --> 00:50:44,200
When that one's all said and done.

836
00:50:44,200 --> 00:50:49,000
And I don't know, I guess if you believe in something strong enough and you're willing

837
00:50:49,000 --> 00:50:54,680
to go to bat for it and you're inspired by that fire in the belly, whatever you want

838
00:50:54,680 --> 00:51:00,400
to call it, you can go a lot farther than you think you can.

839
00:51:00,400 --> 00:51:04,600
You have this experience now, not only working in the snowboarding industry early in your

840
00:51:04,600 --> 00:51:11,480
career, but then starting up with TJ, this company that you run now, Bubs.

841
00:51:11,480 --> 00:51:16,040
When I stepped away from the fire service, realized again, how many barriers, how much

842
00:51:16,040 --> 00:51:22,520
red tape, I'll give you a perfect example, a fire department and a union will sometimes

843
00:51:22,520 --> 00:51:27,720
spend two or three years negotiating a single contract.

844
00:51:27,720 --> 00:51:31,240
And this is a room of what I was told were grownups.

845
00:51:31,240 --> 00:51:35,600
So I don't understand how the fuck human beings can't sit in a room and hash things out and

846
00:51:35,600 --> 00:51:38,880
come to a conclusion in a very short amount of time.

847
00:51:38,880 --> 00:51:39,880
So you'd be surprised.

848
00:51:39,880 --> 00:51:40,980
Well, this is it.

849
00:51:40,980 --> 00:51:44,060
So let's king for a day for a moment.

850
00:51:44,060 --> 00:51:49,000
You have seen the things that work, the links that you were able to make to circumnavigate

851
00:51:49,000 --> 00:51:52,040
a lot of these barriers.

852
00:51:52,040 --> 00:51:56,640
What if we could kind of take principles from this, what needs to be applied to whether

853
00:51:56,640 --> 00:52:03,160
it's the national government, the local government, a fire department to streamline these conversations

854
00:52:03,160 --> 00:52:10,400
so that people aren't just wasting man hours and tax dollars to add molasses to a process

855
00:52:10,400 --> 00:52:14,020
that ultimately will get solved or may not if there's a barrier to it.

856
00:52:14,020 --> 00:52:17,240
But what is that inefficiency and how can we fix it?

857
00:52:17,240 --> 00:52:18,240
Yeah, man.

858
00:52:18,240 --> 00:52:20,520
I mean, I wish I had a simple answer.

859
00:52:20,520 --> 00:52:28,720
I think humanizing any situation and being able to move away from purely bureaucratic

860
00:52:28,720 --> 00:52:35,360
logic and we have a procedure and we have these steps we have to take and just injecting

861
00:52:35,360 --> 00:52:41,560
a little bit of the human element can definitely help because it can help you kind of bend

862
00:52:41,560 --> 00:52:46,120
the logic a little bit to a better sense of right and wrong and whether that's a moral

863
00:52:46,120 --> 00:52:51,320
right and wrong or a legal right and wrong, it could be either.

864
00:52:51,320 --> 00:52:57,000
But I think adding that human element, the definition of a livable wage in your case

865
00:52:57,000 --> 00:53:06,000
when you're talking about a contract negotiation and being able to find common ground is key.

866
00:53:06,000 --> 00:53:08,960
And look, I'm as guilty of it, you're as guilty of it as the next person.

867
00:53:08,960 --> 00:53:14,140
Sometimes when you dig in your heels and you entrench yourself, hopefully it's because

868
00:53:14,140 --> 00:53:19,520
you've arrived at what you believe is the line you can't cross or the line you can't

869
00:53:19,520 --> 00:53:21,440
go back any further on.

870
00:53:21,440 --> 00:53:27,360
But somewhere in that middle is where you want to be accommodating and you want to help

871
00:53:27,360 --> 00:53:31,120
both sides get to a successful conclusion.

872
00:53:31,120 --> 00:53:36,680
And that conclusion is, you know, you need something, I need something.

873
00:53:36,680 --> 00:53:40,440
Let's figure out what we both need and let's find a way to get there.

874
00:53:40,440 --> 00:53:45,520
It might take time, might take a long time, but if you can inject that more human element

875
00:53:45,520 --> 00:53:53,420
to it, that I think can help rise above indignation, stubbornness or bureaucratic malaise or molasses

876
00:53:53,420 --> 00:53:58,520
or whatever, you know, whatever that thing is, it holds it up to allow you to kind of

877
00:53:58,520 --> 00:54:00,840
rise above that and find that common ground.

878
00:54:00,840 --> 00:54:03,160
And that's a bit lofty of a concept there.

879
00:54:03,160 --> 00:54:06,880
But I think it's applicable.

880
00:54:06,880 --> 00:54:11,960
You know, I know when I go into any kind of negotiation, you know, I try and take that

881
00:54:11,960 --> 00:54:14,200
approach of like, well, what do you need?

882
00:54:14,200 --> 00:54:15,200
And what do I need?

883
00:54:15,200 --> 00:54:18,720
And where's the middle ground?

884
00:54:18,720 --> 00:54:23,880
One thing that I've encountered, and this is organizations that have already been given

885
00:54:23,880 --> 00:54:24,880
all the information.

886
00:54:24,880 --> 00:54:30,000
So the example that I'm talking about is our first responders, our firefighters specifically

887
00:54:30,000 --> 00:54:35,920
who have been nothing short of heroic once again in California, for example, they work

888
00:54:35,920 --> 00:54:37,520
56 hours a week.

889
00:54:37,520 --> 00:54:41,200
We are deep into this recruitment crisis now.

890
00:54:41,200 --> 00:54:44,680
So a lot of these men and women are being told, no, you can't go home tomorrow.

891
00:54:44,680 --> 00:54:45,920
You got to work another 24.

892
00:54:45,920 --> 00:54:48,680
So now it's an 80 hour work week.

893
00:54:48,680 --> 00:54:51,720
And so I've collated so much information now.

894
00:54:51,720 --> 00:54:54,960
I mean, obviously, even nutritionally, you know, with you and Thorne and everyone else,

895
00:54:54,960 --> 00:55:01,000
but from the sleep medicine side and all these high performance and special operations that,

896
00:55:01,000 --> 00:55:03,880
you know, it's insanity working our first responders the way that we do.

897
00:55:03,880 --> 00:55:08,480
And this is why we have the cardiac arrests and the cancers and the suicides and all the

898
00:55:08,480 --> 00:55:09,840
other things.

899
00:55:09,840 --> 00:55:14,400
And so, you know, presenting all this information and actually, as I'm sure you can understand,

900
00:55:14,400 --> 00:55:18,200
you know, you invest in your people, you actually save a lot of money because they don't break

901
00:55:18,200 --> 00:55:21,240
and you're not having to fix them all the time.

902
00:55:21,240 --> 00:55:26,880
And so a lot of departments in Florida have started to change to a shorter work week to

903
00:55:26,880 --> 00:55:28,760
give them more rest and recovery.

904
00:55:28,760 --> 00:55:35,080
But I'm also seeing a lot of cowardice where there is a refusal to change because now that

905
00:55:35,080 --> 00:55:38,520
means I'm going to have to go to my city or county and say, hey, we need some more people

906
00:55:38,520 --> 00:55:41,600
up front, but this is going to save us a lot of money downstream.

907
00:55:41,600 --> 00:55:44,280
But we need to do this initially.

908
00:55:44,280 --> 00:55:45,800
And I was saddened by it.

909
00:55:45,800 --> 00:55:50,720
I thought that, you know, if you're wearing bugles on your jacket or, you know, you were

910
00:55:50,720 --> 00:55:56,080
a city or county council member that you were of a certain quality that put you in that

911
00:55:56,080 --> 00:55:57,880
leadership role.

912
00:55:57,880 --> 00:56:03,000
But simply advocating for your own people, whether it's the citizens of your community,

913
00:56:03,000 --> 00:56:08,040
whether it's your firefighters, that doesn't resonate with quite a few people.

914
00:56:08,040 --> 00:56:12,400
So I've been very saddened by, you know, I'll say it, the cowardice in my profession of

915
00:56:12,400 --> 00:56:17,120
people that won't step up and advocate and do the right thing.

916
00:56:17,120 --> 00:56:18,600
Yeah.

917
00:56:18,600 --> 00:56:27,760
You know, God, everyone's got to go home and look at themselves in the mirror and justify

918
00:56:27,760 --> 00:56:30,320
their actions or inactions.

919
00:56:30,320 --> 00:56:35,480
And you know, you just, I would hope for you and hope for anyone in that situation that

920
00:56:35,480 --> 00:56:41,680
they have a really, really good foundation from which they're making those decisions

921
00:56:41,680 --> 00:56:46,420
and they can articulate that because that's one thing that can at least help bridge the

922
00:56:46,420 --> 00:56:48,480
gap is why?

923
00:56:48,480 --> 00:56:51,640
Why aren't you willing to like, are you going to get fired?

924
00:56:51,640 --> 00:56:52,640
Is that it?

925
00:56:52,640 --> 00:56:56,720
Like you're scared of losing your job or is it you're scared it's not going to work and

926
00:56:56,720 --> 00:56:58,160
then that's going to come back on you.

927
00:56:58,160 --> 00:57:02,480
You're going to get fired because the policy you want to change or the thing that you want

928
00:57:02,480 --> 00:57:03,480
to do isn't going to work.

929
00:57:03,480 --> 00:57:11,760
Like, Hey man, none of us improve lives without taking some swings and none of us go through

930
00:57:11,760 --> 00:57:18,180
life without scuffs, scars, bruises, blood, mud, all the things.

931
00:57:18,180 --> 00:57:22,900
If you're willing to get in that arena, you got to get in the arena.

932
00:57:22,900 --> 00:57:26,560
So those folks that are sitting on the sides, like that Theodore Roosevelt speech from all

933
00:57:26,560 --> 00:57:30,760
those years ago, like I don't ever want to be in that company.

934
00:57:30,760 --> 00:57:33,840
So yeah, like that is sad.

935
00:57:33,840 --> 00:57:38,000
You just hope that they, you know, find that energy in them to get in there and do the

936
00:57:38,000 --> 00:57:39,000
right thing.

937
00:57:39,000 --> 00:57:40,320
And I think we've always been that way.

938
00:57:40,320 --> 00:57:45,160
There's always been those folks in the side that just aren't willing to do that.

939
00:57:45,160 --> 00:57:47,160
I'm on the other side of that.

940
00:57:47,160 --> 00:57:51,280
Probably do too much of the other side where I'm getting scuffed up all the time.

941
00:57:51,280 --> 00:57:52,280
I can relate.

942
00:57:52,280 --> 00:57:53,880
Trust me.

943
00:57:53,880 --> 00:57:54,880
I know you can.

944
00:57:54,880 --> 00:57:59,000
All right, well, I've, well, you were talking, I just remembered actually, I was totally

945
00:57:59,000 --> 00:58:00,000
wrong.

946
00:58:00,000 --> 00:58:03,880
The last time we saw each other was the fireside chat where we had the two Iwo Jima veterans

947
00:58:03,880 --> 00:58:04,880
in.

948
00:58:04,880 --> 00:58:05,880
Oh, that's right.

949
00:58:05,880 --> 00:58:07,280
We actually saw each other with Ryan Parrott.

950
00:58:07,280 --> 00:58:08,280
Yep.

951
00:58:08,280 --> 00:58:09,280
Absolutely.

952
00:58:09,280 --> 00:58:10,280
So there you go.

953
00:58:10,280 --> 00:58:11,280
There's Ryan again.

954
00:58:11,280 --> 00:58:12,280
Yep.

955
00:58:12,280 --> 00:58:13,280
Amazing.

956
00:58:13,280 --> 00:58:14,280
Birdman.

957
00:58:14,280 --> 00:58:16,320
So again, you were there again, you know, I mean, being so supportive of this altruistic

958
00:58:16,320 --> 00:58:21,320
company that you're a part of, let's spend a little bit of time talking about bubs itself.

959
00:58:21,320 --> 00:58:26,400
So we'll revisit the kind of origin story of how you fell into the world of collagen

960
00:58:26,400 --> 00:58:30,000
and then the products that you offer us was sitting here today.

961
00:58:30,000 --> 00:58:35,520
You know, happy to, and I mean, talk about one thing that's changed my life.

962
00:58:35,520 --> 00:58:40,680
Normally, I should say that would be my wife for like, you know, getting me on a good straight

963
00:58:40,680 --> 00:58:45,280
and narrow, but, but yes, that too.

964
00:58:45,280 --> 00:58:52,880
You know, in 2017, my wife brought me home a jar of collagen and got it off Amazon, heard

965
00:58:52,880 --> 00:58:53,880
about it.

966
00:58:53,880 --> 00:58:54,880
She's a newscaster.

967
00:58:54,880 --> 00:58:57,480
So she heard about it on the news through interviewing people and was like, Hey, this

968
00:58:57,480 --> 00:59:02,080
is supposed to be really good for your joints and your knees sound like crinkled up newspaper

969
00:59:02,080 --> 00:59:03,680
when you walk up a flight of stairs.

970
00:59:03,680 --> 00:59:08,400
You know, at the time I was 45 years old, I'm 53 now.

971
00:59:08,400 --> 00:59:11,760
And she's like, you know, we're having babies and you're not getting any younger.

972
00:59:11,760 --> 00:59:14,240
I need to preserve you in your old age.

973
00:59:14,240 --> 00:59:15,720
Literally, that was your quote.

974
00:59:15,720 --> 00:59:16,720
And I'll never forget it.

975
00:59:16,720 --> 00:59:19,040
I'm like, yeah, she's got a point there.

976
00:59:19,040 --> 00:59:23,880
And you know, I like mountain biking and surfing and snowboarding and lifting weights and CrossFit

977
00:59:23,880 --> 00:59:24,880
and all this stuff.

978
00:59:24,880 --> 00:59:31,160
Like I got some miles on those, you know, and I started taking it and she said, look,

979
00:59:31,160 --> 00:59:32,600
you just throw in your coffee every morning.

980
00:59:32,600 --> 00:59:33,600
It's unflavored.

981
00:59:33,600 --> 00:59:37,160
I throw a scoop in, tastes a little bit like cow, but whatever.

982
00:59:37,160 --> 00:59:43,280
I mixed in my coffee and about a month goes by.

983
00:59:43,280 --> 00:59:46,920
And I noticed that my fingernails are growing like crazy, right?

984
00:59:46,920 --> 00:59:47,920
Like crazy.

985
00:59:47,920 --> 00:59:48,920
I'm like, I'm the Wolverine right now.

986
00:59:48,920 --> 00:59:50,660
We're the nail clippers.

987
00:59:50,660 --> 00:59:53,240
And then a couple more weeks goes by.

988
00:59:53,240 --> 00:59:54,240
I need a haircut.

989
00:59:54,240 --> 00:59:55,240
I just got an haircut.

990
00:59:55,240 --> 00:59:56,240
I'm like, I need another haircut.

991
00:59:56,240 --> 00:59:58,160
What the hell's happening here?

992
00:59:58,160 --> 01:00:04,340
And then about at the two month mark, we were flying cross country and you know, I'm six

993
01:00:04,340 --> 01:00:09,760
foot two, almost six, three, and I'm sitting in the back of coach and like flying on airplanes,

994
01:00:09,760 --> 01:00:11,680
like you're crunched up in the back.

995
01:00:11,680 --> 01:00:15,980
Normally I get off that airplane and I would be like rubbing my knees, trying to get the

996
01:00:15,980 --> 01:00:20,400
circulation going, tough, tough reacclamation.

997
01:00:20,400 --> 01:00:23,860
And instead of hop off the plane, grab all the stuff, got all the baby gear, march off

998
01:00:23,860 --> 01:00:24,860
the plane.

999
01:00:24,860 --> 01:00:25,860
And I'm like, hon, I feel great.

1000
01:00:25,860 --> 01:00:27,280
She's like, Oh, that's nice, dear.

1001
01:00:27,280 --> 01:00:28,680
I'm like, no, you don't understand.

1002
01:00:28,680 --> 01:00:31,780
Like I feel awesome.

1003
01:00:31,780 --> 01:00:33,560
What the heck is in this collagen stuff?

1004
01:00:33,560 --> 01:00:38,260
Cause it's the only explanation is the only thing I'd done differently in my diet was

1005
01:00:38,260 --> 01:00:39,760
adding collagen to it.

1006
01:00:39,760 --> 01:00:44,080
So another month goes by and I just feel better and better and better.

1007
01:00:44,080 --> 01:00:46,560
And I'm like, man, I got to, I want to know what this stuff is.

1008
01:00:46,560 --> 01:00:48,440
So I was just a fan boy.

1009
01:00:48,440 --> 01:00:52,640
I was telling any one of my friends, you know, over the age of 40, I'm like, Hey man, you

1010
01:00:52,640 --> 01:00:54,720
need this stuff.

1011
01:00:54,720 --> 01:01:00,000
And around that time, you know, my former business partner came by this guy, TJ and

1012
01:01:00,000 --> 01:01:04,960
TJ rolls in and we're working on some work project and kind of ideating about different

1013
01:01:04,960 --> 01:01:08,960
stuff and he sees the jar of collagen and he's like, Oh, you take that stuff.

1014
01:01:08,960 --> 01:01:11,280
And I'm like, Oh yeah, man, changed my life best ever.

1015
01:01:11,280 --> 01:01:12,280
He's like, really?

1016
01:01:12,280 --> 01:01:14,680
He's like, y'all, it's a fast trending product on Amazon.

1017
01:01:14,680 --> 01:01:16,360
Cause he's a big e-commerce guy.

1018
01:01:16,360 --> 01:01:22,080
I'm like, well, I don't know about Amazon, but I can tell you it works.

1019
01:01:22,080 --> 01:01:26,640
And we're just like, Oh, we should start a company like, Oh yeah.

1020
01:01:26,640 --> 01:01:29,720
Like I got a one-year-old crawling around on the floor behind us, but sure.

1021
01:01:29,720 --> 01:01:30,720
What would that look like?

1022
01:01:30,720 --> 01:01:34,400
Like just having spit ball in a conversation, two guys sipping coffee.

1023
01:01:34,400 --> 01:01:39,720
And we looked at each other and we're like, well, you know, just for hypothetical sake,

1024
01:01:39,720 --> 01:01:45,360
if we ever did start a company and we both said this exact same time, we'd have to do

1025
01:01:45,360 --> 01:01:48,160
something cool for charity.

1026
01:01:48,160 --> 01:01:49,160
Open the statement.

1027
01:01:49,160 --> 01:01:52,960
And I just like, my face just lit up like a little light bulb went off right away.

1028
01:01:52,960 --> 01:01:56,060
And I'm like, well, I know the charity.

1029
01:01:56,060 --> 01:02:02,080
It's gotta be Glenn's charity and Glenn's call sign in the Navy was bub.

1030
01:02:02,080 --> 01:02:07,720
So a name, the company bubs naturals as a tribute to Glenn and his way of life.

1031
01:02:07,720 --> 01:02:12,440
And it was like full entrepreneurial energy, just like, yeah, we can do this.

1032
01:02:12,440 --> 01:02:16,800
We're just sitting around the table, five minute conversation.

1033
01:02:16,800 --> 01:02:20,400
But I was so energized by that conversation.

1034
01:02:20,400 --> 01:02:22,880
I called Glenn's family.

1035
01:02:22,880 --> 01:02:24,600
I called a couple of Glenn's teammates.

1036
01:02:24,600 --> 01:02:30,360
I never forget talking to Clint Emerson and Mikey Ritlin and Shane Hyatt about it.

1037
01:02:30,360 --> 01:02:36,160
Like, you know, three just fucking awesome, awesome humans that served with Glenn.

1038
01:02:36,160 --> 01:02:40,840
And I remember Mike specifically was like, Glenn would kick your ass if you don't do

1039
01:02:40,840 --> 01:02:41,840
this.

1040
01:02:41,840 --> 01:02:42,840
Like you have to do this.

1041
01:02:42,840 --> 01:02:45,440
I was like, that's it.

1042
01:02:45,440 --> 01:02:47,080
It's on.

1043
01:02:47,080 --> 01:02:54,920
And I just set out on this journey to really see if anyone would care if we gave 10% of

1044
01:02:54,920 --> 01:03:01,640
the company's profits to charitable causes, Glenn's foundation, other cool causes, and

1045
01:03:01,640 --> 01:03:03,440
just put out a good product.

1046
01:03:03,440 --> 01:03:04,440
So I didn't want a good product.

1047
01:03:04,440 --> 01:03:06,020
I really wanted a great product.

1048
01:03:06,020 --> 01:03:11,880
So like that started this like super exhaustive search around all the different collagen providers,

1049
01:03:11,880 --> 01:03:16,120
what's in these amino acids and figuring it out.

1050
01:03:16,120 --> 01:03:18,580
Well, collagen is ground up cowhide.

1051
01:03:18,580 --> 01:03:19,640
It's connective tissue.

1052
01:03:19,640 --> 01:03:20,640
It's glue.

1053
01:03:20,640 --> 01:03:23,040
It's a glue that holds the body together.

1054
01:03:23,040 --> 01:03:30,560
Hair, skin, nails, joints, muscle recovery, your intestines, literally how you're processing

1055
01:03:30,560 --> 01:03:31,560
food.

1056
01:03:31,560 --> 01:03:32,560
It's all collagen.

1057
01:03:32,560 --> 01:03:36,000
Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body.

1058
01:03:36,000 --> 01:03:39,960
You have more collagen, James, in your body than any other protein.

1059
01:03:39,960 --> 01:03:45,480
But as I know from personal experience in science, you lose it.

1060
01:03:45,480 --> 01:03:51,360
After you turn 20, 21, 22, somewhere in there in the early mid 20s, you start losing collagen

1061
01:03:51,360 --> 01:03:53,800
at one to 2% a year every year.

1062
01:03:53,800 --> 01:03:54,800
So think about that.

1063
01:03:54,800 --> 01:04:01,160
If you start that journey at 25, when you're 35, you've lost 10 to 20% of the collagen

1064
01:04:01,160 --> 01:04:03,260
protein in your body.

1065
01:04:03,260 --> 01:04:04,760
Then go to 45.

1066
01:04:04,760 --> 01:04:07,540
Oh, like you're screwed.

1067
01:04:07,540 --> 01:04:12,280
So by supplementing with collagen with ground up cowhide, you're basically teaching your

1068
01:04:12,280 --> 01:04:18,960
body by, you know, exogenously put in your body to endogenously produce collagen.

1069
01:04:18,960 --> 01:04:24,400
So like, oh, if I just eat it more, I'm going to be able to produce more for my body.

1070
01:04:24,400 --> 01:04:31,120
And the effects of that are you're loading up your body with these key amino acids, glycine.

1071
01:04:31,120 --> 01:04:34,440
Glycine produces synovial fluid.

1072
01:04:34,440 --> 01:04:37,820
Glycine is linked to stronger sleep.

1073
01:04:37,820 --> 01:04:39,520
Sleep is linked to stronger recovery.

1074
01:04:39,520 --> 01:04:44,760
Like these are just in the amino acids that are like in the product.

1075
01:04:44,760 --> 01:04:48,000
So I wanted the absolute best product.

1076
01:04:48,000 --> 01:04:50,760
I wanted one that was considered conflict free.

1077
01:04:50,760 --> 01:04:52,800
So like where it was sourced was super important.

1078
01:04:52,800 --> 01:04:56,340
I knew there was a ton of cattle industry around the Amazon rainforest.

1079
01:04:56,340 --> 01:05:00,520
The snowboarder in me didn't want anything that was going to affect climate change.

1080
01:05:00,520 --> 01:05:03,880
So I'm like, let's find an area that's way away from there, but it's got to have the

1081
01:05:03,880 --> 01:05:08,560
best flavor, best solubility, best amino acid profile.

1082
01:05:08,560 --> 01:05:12,400
And it took a while, but we found the best source.

1083
01:05:12,400 --> 01:05:13,600
And we've been with them ever since.

1084
01:05:13,600 --> 01:05:15,240
Like we launched with them seven years ago.

1085
01:05:15,240 --> 01:05:17,040
We're with them today.

1086
01:05:17,040 --> 01:05:20,280
And I can say I'm single source to single supply.

1087
01:05:20,280 --> 01:05:24,800
I know the traceability, everything we do on this jar right here.

1088
01:05:24,800 --> 01:05:26,040
We have this badge right here.

1089
01:05:26,040 --> 01:05:29,440
It's the NSF for sport certification.

1090
01:05:29,440 --> 01:05:35,760
I get to proudly say I work with 24 out of 30 of the teams in major league baseball,

1091
01:05:35,760 --> 01:05:36,760
the NFL, the NHL.

1092
01:05:36,760 --> 01:05:41,880
Like we're in the locker room of like every hitter team that you'd want to be working

1093
01:05:41,880 --> 01:05:43,560
with and it's awesome.

1094
01:05:43,560 --> 01:05:44,560
And they all buy it.

1095
01:05:44,560 --> 01:05:46,160
They're customers of ours.

1096
01:05:46,160 --> 01:05:50,480
Yankees, Red Sox, Padres, like you name it.

1097
01:05:50,480 --> 01:05:53,360
And it's because it's good.

1098
01:05:53,360 --> 01:05:54,360
It's great.

1099
01:05:54,360 --> 01:05:55,520
It works.

1100
01:05:55,520 --> 01:05:57,000
It delivers.

1101
01:05:57,000 --> 01:05:58,240
And the brand stands for something.

1102
01:05:58,240 --> 01:06:00,960
It's not some generic like, oh, we're just another collagen brand.

1103
01:06:00,960 --> 01:06:04,080
It's like, no, no, we got the best collagen on the planet.

1104
01:06:04,080 --> 01:06:09,600
And we're third party verified to back that up and just put it in your cup and you tell

1105
01:06:09,600 --> 01:06:10,740
me.

1106
01:06:10,740 --> 01:06:11,740
That's Glenn, man.

1107
01:06:11,740 --> 01:06:13,200
That's Glenn right there.

1108
01:06:13,200 --> 01:06:16,200
Health improvement and helping others.

1109
01:06:16,200 --> 01:06:21,880
And we've donated, I think at this point, we're a little bit north of $300,000 to charitable

1110
01:06:21,880 --> 01:06:26,120
causes in that, call it seven years.

1111
01:06:26,120 --> 01:06:31,000
That's, I mean, I think we're just getting started.

1112
01:06:31,000 --> 01:06:34,640
I'm excited about that because you're just growing at first.

1113
01:06:34,640 --> 01:06:36,800
You're just trying to figure it out and cobble it together.

1114
01:06:36,800 --> 01:06:40,040
Now I'm like, oh, we can start writing some good checks here.

1115
01:06:40,040 --> 01:06:41,560
That's the juice.

1116
01:06:41,560 --> 01:06:43,200
That's the good stuff.

1117
01:06:43,200 --> 01:06:48,320
So yeah, we've got a line of nutrition products that we're really proud of.

1118
01:06:48,320 --> 01:06:51,000
We've got a functional creamer based on coconut oil.

1119
01:06:51,000 --> 01:06:52,600
It's an MCT oil powder.

1120
01:06:52,600 --> 01:06:55,920
Have you ever heard of like the Bulletproof style coffee?

1121
01:06:55,920 --> 01:07:00,080
We've got a delicious coconut oil MCT.

1122
01:07:00,080 --> 01:07:01,080
It's on tapioca starch.

1123
01:07:01,080 --> 01:07:03,320
It just creams up your coffee.

1124
01:07:03,320 --> 01:07:05,000
You don't need to add half and half into it.

1125
01:07:05,000 --> 01:07:06,120
It's just delicious.

1126
01:07:06,120 --> 01:07:09,960
And you get all these healthy fats that are great for mental focus.

1127
01:07:09,960 --> 01:07:11,200
They're insane for energy.

1128
01:07:11,200 --> 01:07:14,120
Like you're just buzzing for hours.

1129
01:07:14,120 --> 01:07:18,600
We have an organic line of coffee and we fresh roast here in North County and every roast

1130
01:07:18,600 --> 01:07:22,800
is a tribute to Glenn in different areas that he served.

1131
01:07:22,800 --> 01:07:26,720
So like we have one that's an Ethiopian single origin.

1132
01:07:26,720 --> 01:07:30,960
It's from Glenn's service time when he was overseas in Africa hunting terrorists on a

1133
01:07:30,960 --> 01:07:33,800
TV show called The Wanted.

1134
01:07:33,800 --> 01:07:37,760
We have another roast called The Origin and it's a Central American roast from a surf

1135
01:07:37,760 --> 01:07:43,120
trip that Glenn went on back in his 20s when he figured out he wanted to become a seal.

1136
01:07:43,120 --> 01:07:47,080
So I'm like, oh, the origin of Glenn's journey into service.

1137
01:07:47,080 --> 01:07:52,240
Glenn had a super challenging deployment into Mexico when he was working for the CIA.

1138
01:07:52,240 --> 01:07:56,560
And so we have a single origin Mexican roast called The Challenger.

1139
01:07:56,560 --> 01:08:01,000
And there are all these subtle little nods back to Bob, back to Glenn and his time in

1140
01:08:01,000 --> 01:08:02,000
service.

1141
01:08:02,000 --> 01:08:07,960
And we test every coffee to be certified mold free, aflatoxin free.

1142
01:08:07,960 --> 01:08:11,600
And so yeah, man, like clean, good coffee.

1143
01:08:11,600 --> 01:08:13,880
Let's go.

1144
01:08:13,880 --> 01:08:19,080
The Creamer is the world's only Whole30 approved MCT oil powder.

1145
01:08:19,080 --> 01:08:24,060
Like the things that I love being able to say because I know they're the best, but don't

1146
01:08:24,060 --> 01:08:25,360
take my word for it.

1147
01:08:25,360 --> 01:08:31,560
Like look at your labels, look at what's in the ingredients and take them out to test.

1148
01:08:31,560 --> 01:08:33,760
So that's it.

1149
01:08:33,760 --> 01:08:34,920
And we're having a lot of fun doing it.

1150
01:08:34,920 --> 01:08:38,600
We got a whole bunch of new stuff coming out this year, which I'm fired up about.

1151
01:08:38,600 --> 01:08:43,800
Why, as you know, I've used the collagen for several years now, pretty much since we first

1152
01:08:43,800 --> 01:08:44,800
met.

1153
01:08:44,800 --> 01:08:45,800
It was Jeff Nichols.

1154
01:08:45,800 --> 01:08:49,720
I'll always give him a nod because Thorne and Bubs, I think it was him.

1155
01:08:49,720 --> 01:08:53,640
When Jeff Nichols says this is good or this is shit, you're like, okay, well, that's good

1156
01:08:53,640 --> 01:08:57,760
and that shit then because I trust Jeff implicitly.

1157
01:08:57,760 --> 01:09:02,920
So but yeah, but I mean, you know, the being 50 now in this lighting is not doing me any

1158
01:09:02,920 --> 01:09:06,940
justice as far as the wrinkles, but you know, it's been amazing.

1159
01:09:06,940 --> 01:09:09,500
Like seeing the hair, the nails, which, you know, it's still important.

1160
01:09:09,500 --> 01:09:10,500
You don't want to be falling apart.

1161
01:09:10,500 --> 01:09:14,960
You don't want to be able to struggling to open a can because your nails are shit.

1162
01:09:14,960 --> 01:09:17,160
But we got a lot of stuff we want to do out there.

1163
01:09:17,160 --> 01:09:18,160
Exactly.

1164
01:09:18,160 --> 01:09:20,720
But then, you know, the skin, but also the GI health, the joint health.

1165
01:09:20,720 --> 01:09:24,000
I mean, I'm 50, I've been a stunt man, a firefighter, a martial artist.

1166
01:09:24,000 --> 01:09:28,360
So like you, you know, I've, I've, I've put a lot of mileage on this, uh, beat up meat

1167
01:09:28,360 --> 01:09:29,480
puppet at this point.

1168
01:09:29,480 --> 01:09:34,040
So I need all the help I can get, but yeah, the collagen has been amazing.

1169
01:09:34,040 --> 01:09:39,080
The apple side of vinegar, um, gummies that I have them periodically.

1170
01:09:39,080 --> 01:09:41,240
And then I don't know if you still have it because it's been out of stock for a while,

1171
01:09:41,240 --> 01:09:43,160
but the halo creamer, I love that.

1172
01:09:43,160 --> 01:09:44,280
I know that's what I was talking about.

1173
01:09:44,280 --> 01:09:45,760
Our MCT oil powder, the creamer.

1174
01:09:45,760 --> 01:09:49,480
So is that the one with the grass fed milk in it as well though?

1175
01:09:49,480 --> 01:09:51,280
The bar we do, we do too.

1176
01:09:51,280 --> 01:09:55,880
We do a vegan version that's just like, it's literally just coconut oil and tapioca starch.

1177
01:09:55,880 --> 01:10:00,560
And then we do another one where we add grass fed butter to it and it's just creamier and

1178
01:10:00,560 --> 01:10:01,560
delicious.

1179
01:10:01,560 --> 01:10:02,560
Yep.

1180
01:10:02,560 --> 01:10:04,320
That we got both of them and they are awesome.

1181
01:10:04,320 --> 01:10:09,600
Like those creamers to me are like every morning I look forward to that cup of coffee and throwing

1182
01:10:09,600 --> 01:10:11,880
a little bit of a, a little bit of the creamer in there.

1183
01:10:11,880 --> 01:10:12,880
Yeah.

1184
01:10:12,880 --> 01:10:16,260
I literally will say, cause I think the large tub has been out in stock online for a bit.

1185
01:10:16,260 --> 01:10:21,040
So I've had to use creamer and I'm like, I can't wait for Bubs to get back in stock

1186
01:10:21,040 --> 01:10:23,480
because even this creamer sucks compared to theirs.

1187
01:10:23,480 --> 01:10:26,640
And I'm genuinely handing my heart saying that and the coffee is delicious too.

1188
01:10:26,640 --> 01:10:28,520
So this isn't some paid plug.

1189
01:10:28,520 --> 01:10:33,120
This is, you know, from the heart testimony, but yeah, I mean, truly, truly amazing products.

1190
01:10:33,120 --> 01:10:37,080
And you know, for a bloke that's in his fifties, if I can, and I've had dry skin and all that

1191
01:10:37,080 --> 01:10:38,080
stuff, you know, lifeguards.

1192
01:10:38,080 --> 01:10:40,000
So my skin's been kind of beaten up.

1193
01:10:40,000 --> 01:10:44,880
Um, you know, the collagen has absolutely helped kind of slow down that process a little

1194
01:10:44,880 --> 01:10:45,880
bit.

1195
01:10:45,880 --> 01:10:46,880
Yeah.

1196
01:10:46,880 --> 01:10:49,120
It's an absolute game changer for sure.

1197
01:10:49,120 --> 01:10:50,120
And thank you.

1198
01:10:50,120 --> 01:10:51,120
It's, I love it.

1199
01:10:51,120 --> 01:10:56,440
Cause I'm, I'm actually like selfishly building products to help my lifestyle.

1200
01:10:56,440 --> 01:11:00,800
And you know, I look at like the things that I want to take and that I actively take that

1201
01:11:00,800 --> 01:11:02,160
make a difference in my life.

1202
01:11:02,160 --> 01:11:03,720
And I'm like, Hey, how can we do that?

1203
01:11:03,720 --> 01:11:05,120
Like I'll give you a hint.

1204
01:11:05,120 --> 01:11:11,080
Like we know in, in, you know, anyone who's in the nutrition space who ingests collagen,

1205
01:11:11,080 --> 01:11:17,200
it's very commonly known that vitamin C really helps you with the ingestion of collagen

1206
01:11:17,200 --> 01:11:19,960
and it helps with the absorption, you know, just rapid fire.

1207
01:11:19,960 --> 01:11:23,520
So a collagen of vitamin C go together like this.

1208
01:11:23,520 --> 01:11:28,400
Well, a lot of brands throw just a little sprinkle of vitamin C into their collagen,

1209
01:11:28,400 --> 01:11:31,980
which throws the taste off and it denatures under heat.

1210
01:11:31,980 --> 01:11:33,960
So it's like, it's, it's effectively useless.

1211
01:11:33,960 --> 01:11:34,960
It's a marketing scam.

1212
01:11:34,960 --> 01:11:40,360
So I say, well, Hey, why don't we just make a vitamin C little capsule, 500 milligrams

1213
01:11:40,360 --> 01:11:44,200
do at the highest level, a sorbic acid, put flavonoids in it.

1214
01:11:44,200 --> 01:11:49,820
So there's, you know, extra absorption and put that vitamin C and pair it with the collagen.

1215
01:11:49,820 --> 01:11:53,080
So people that are going to drink a cup of coffee with our college and have their multi,

1216
01:11:53,080 --> 01:11:57,320
you know, their vitamin C right there with them and they get the best of both worlds.

1217
01:11:57,320 --> 01:11:58,480
Let's go.

1218
01:11:58,480 --> 01:12:02,760
So that one's rolling out real soon.

1219
01:12:02,760 --> 01:12:05,640
We are rolling into the creatine monohydrate space.

1220
01:12:05,640 --> 01:12:07,680
I will let that cat out of the bag.

1221
01:12:07,680 --> 01:12:13,720
I am super fired up about that because the science behind creatine is just phenomenal.

1222
01:12:13,720 --> 01:12:17,520
And you know, this is doing your research, right?

1223
01:12:17,520 --> 01:12:25,840
Like I come to realize there's 10 companies that produce a high end creatine monohydrate.

1224
01:12:25,840 --> 01:12:28,600
Nine of them are in China.

1225
01:12:28,600 --> 01:12:32,520
One of them is not guess which one we're going to be buying from.

1226
01:12:32,520 --> 01:12:33,520
Thorne.

1227
01:12:33,520 --> 01:12:39,560
Well, no, I can't buy from those guys, but you can bet that they're smart about that

1228
01:12:39,560 --> 01:12:41,520
too.

1229
01:12:41,520 --> 01:12:45,200
But no, I mean, I'm going to go out and I'm going to buy the absolute best creatine monohydrate

1230
01:12:45,200 --> 01:12:46,200
that you can get.

1231
01:12:46,200 --> 01:12:49,360
I'm going to make sure it is lab tested, third party certified.

1232
01:12:49,360 --> 01:12:50,640
It'll be NSF for sport.

1233
01:12:50,640 --> 01:12:54,040
It'll be everything you want it to be in a phenomenal product.

1234
01:12:54,040 --> 01:12:57,080
And that's just our approach on doing it, man.

1235
01:12:57,080 --> 01:13:00,600
If you're going to get out there and throw something on there, do it right.

1236
01:13:00,600 --> 01:13:03,080
We have an electrolyte that we launched.

1237
01:13:03,080 --> 01:13:04,400
It didn't work terribly well.

1238
01:13:04,400 --> 01:13:06,200
Actually, I should say that differently.

1239
01:13:06,200 --> 01:13:09,640
It worked really well, but the flavor was super polarizing.

1240
01:13:09,640 --> 01:13:15,600
It was a very, very natural product derived from organic evaporated coconut water.

1241
01:13:15,600 --> 01:13:23,160
So we're reintroducing this product, our electrolytes, Bubbs Hydrator Dye, and we're doing it with

1242
01:13:23,160 --> 01:13:26,000
all ingredients made in the USA.

1243
01:13:26,000 --> 01:13:33,440
So literally, chloride, sodium, potassium, magnesium, organic cane sugar, all from the

1244
01:13:33,440 --> 01:13:34,660
USA.

1245
01:13:34,660 --> 01:13:41,960
Everything domestic, built in the USA, farmed in the USA, packaged in the USA.

1246
01:13:41,960 --> 01:13:45,480
And I can't be more fired up about that one and tastes delicious.

1247
01:13:45,480 --> 01:13:51,840
And we're talking like functional nutrition from quality sourcing, third party tested,

1248
01:13:51,840 --> 01:13:54,480
and just it makes a difference, man.

1249
01:13:54,480 --> 01:13:58,440
If you can't tell, that geeky stuff gets me fired up.

1250
01:13:58,440 --> 01:14:03,280
With the creatine, I know one of the issues people have, and I would assume more so in

1251
01:14:03,280 --> 01:14:07,320
the lower quality one, is GI distress.

1252
01:14:07,320 --> 01:14:12,000
What's the science behind reducing that for people in the higher quality ones?

1253
01:14:12,000 --> 01:14:13,400
So it's interesting.

1254
01:14:13,400 --> 01:14:19,000
I just heard that so anecdotally, and I assume that that's in the refinement.

1255
01:14:19,000 --> 01:14:24,200
The one that we're going to be sourcing from is 100% plant-based, which is an interesting

1256
01:14:24,200 --> 01:14:27,320
take on creatine.

1257
01:14:27,320 --> 01:14:31,360
And we've obviously been testing it and dabbling with it ourselves.

1258
01:14:31,360 --> 01:14:33,880
We've received nothing on that front.

1259
01:14:33,880 --> 01:14:39,080
But I think it's take a look at your reviews and what you can do.

1260
01:14:39,080 --> 01:14:43,680
I can tell you that when it is plant-based and refined like that, I would say you're

1261
01:14:43,680 --> 01:14:45,360
not supposed to have any issues.

1262
01:14:45,360 --> 01:14:50,720
But there's always that 1% or 2% out there that are just going to have some trouble with

1263
01:14:50,720 --> 01:14:51,720
most anything.

1264
01:14:51,720 --> 01:14:54,520
I mean, heck, there are some folks that have problems with collagen, and that's one of

1265
01:14:54,520 --> 01:14:57,160
the easiest proteins to ingest.

1266
01:14:57,160 --> 01:15:00,520
But hey, there's some finicky stomachs out there.

1267
01:15:00,520 --> 01:15:01,520
Yeah, absolutely.

1268
01:15:01,520 --> 01:15:05,640
All right, well, I want to transition to some closing questions before I let you go if you've

1269
01:15:05,640 --> 01:15:07,640
got time.

1270
01:15:07,640 --> 01:15:08,640
I got time.

1271
01:15:08,640 --> 01:15:09,640
So let's go to the closing questions.

1272
01:15:09,640 --> 01:15:10,880
Let's see if I got any good answers for you.

1273
01:15:10,880 --> 01:15:11,880
All right.

1274
01:15:11,880 --> 01:15:15,520
The first one is, is there a book or are there books that you love to recommend?

1275
01:15:15,520 --> 01:15:18,400
It can be related to our conversation today, which would be quite rare.

1276
01:15:18,400 --> 01:15:22,880
It's been quite a specific conversation or completely unrelated.

1277
01:15:22,880 --> 01:15:25,880
Are you open for visual aid on this one?

1278
01:15:25,880 --> 01:15:26,880
Absolutely.

1279
01:15:26,880 --> 01:15:27,880
All right.

1280
01:15:27,880 --> 01:15:28,880
Give me one quick second.

1281
01:15:28,880 --> 01:15:29,880
Yeah, take your time.

1282
01:15:29,880 --> 01:15:42,440
All right, you're going to have to edit that out, that little block right there, but I'm

1283
01:15:42,440 --> 01:15:43,920
sure you got the technology for it.

1284
01:15:43,920 --> 01:15:44,920
I do.

1285
01:15:44,920 --> 01:15:45,920
Right here.

1286
01:15:45,920 --> 01:15:46,920
The Comfort Crisis.

1287
01:15:46,920 --> 01:15:49,960
Michael Easter, The Comfort Crisis.

1288
01:15:49,960 --> 01:15:56,040
I can't recommend it enough for folks that are just entering into their midlife or even

1289
01:15:56,040 --> 01:16:01,040
earlier than midlife that are just seeing a little bit of complacency out there and

1290
01:16:01,040 --> 01:16:06,800
an opportunity to really take a look around and see what you're made of.

1291
01:16:06,800 --> 01:16:09,040
I absolutely recommend this book.

1292
01:16:09,040 --> 01:16:10,800
Yeah, I had that.

1293
01:16:10,800 --> 01:16:17,240
I had Michael on probably a couple of years ago now, but yeah, it was an amazing conversation.

1294
01:16:17,240 --> 01:16:18,240
He's a phenomenal human.

1295
01:16:18,240 --> 01:16:23,560
I've gotten to meet him also through the GoRuck cadre, through Jason and his team, and he's

1296
01:16:23,560 --> 01:16:25,360
just a hell of a nice guy.

1297
01:16:25,360 --> 01:16:27,760
I can't wait to see what book he writes next.

1298
01:16:27,760 --> 01:16:28,760
Absolutely.

1299
01:16:28,760 --> 01:16:33,640
All right, well, the next question, is there a film or documentary or films and documentaries

1300
01:16:33,640 --> 01:16:37,360
that you love?

1301
01:16:37,360 --> 01:16:40,440
The Snowboarder and Me really like Shaun White's piece.

1302
01:16:40,440 --> 01:16:47,720
I thought that was a really good piece of human, just stickiness, if you will.

1303
01:16:47,720 --> 01:16:49,160
I don't remember the name of it.

1304
01:16:49,160 --> 01:16:55,480
There's a phenomenal sports documentary that talks about this kind of culture shift in

1305
01:16:55,480 --> 01:16:57,400
children, training for sports.

1306
01:16:57,400 --> 01:17:05,680
It was like Wayne Gretzky, Jerry Rice, some just all-time legendary sports people really

1307
01:17:05,680 --> 01:17:13,120
talking about how when they came up in sport, they just played stick and ball sports out

1308
01:17:13,120 --> 01:17:16,840
in the parking lot and they just weren't as hyper-focused and trained.

1309
01:17:16,840 --> 01:17:21,040
There's a great message in there to basically just let your kids go out and have fun.

1310
01:17:21,040 --> 01:17:25,520
Don't get them so focused on their sports that they lose all sense of fun.

1311
01:17:25,520 --> 01:17:27,320
Let kids be kids.

1312
01:17:27,320 --> 01:17:28,440
I wish I knew the name of it.

1313
01:17:28,440 --> 01:17:32,520
I'm sorry I don't, but those are two for you.

1314
01:17:32,520 --> 01:17:33,520
We'll get it in the show notes.

1315
01:17:33,520 --> 01:17:34,520
Yeah, absolutely.

1316
01:17:34,520 --> 01:17:38,160
If you remember, send it to me because I had this conversation with some of the people

1317
01:17:38,160 --> 01:17:41,320
that were elite athletes when they were kids and then some of the strength and conditioning

1318
01:17:41,320 --> 01:17:47,960
coaches and PTs and all these other areas coming from the UK, at least the generation

1319
01:17:47,960 --> 01:17:53,640
that I grew up in and I'm 50 now, so it might be a little bit different, but we played everything

1320
01:17:53,640 --> 01:17:57,000
and no one was really playing at a high, high level.

1321
01:17:57,000 --> 01:18:01,160
You had rugby and cricket and football and all these things, but unless you were being

1322
01:18:01,160 --> 01:18:05,760
groomed to go play for Manchester or Liverpool one day, the rest of you were just playing

1323
01:18:05,760 --> 01:18:08,120
other schools.

1324
01:18:08,120 --> 01:18:12,360
What I saw is that when you left school, you carried on playing sports.

1325
01:18:12,360 --> 01:18:16,680
You had guys in their 40s and 50s that were playing pub leagues and local leagues and

1326
01:18:16,680 --> 01:18:18,600
all these things.

1327
01:18:18,600 --> 01:18:26,920
Then I moved to the States and I keep meeting these uncle Ricos, these 30-ish year old dudes,

1328
01:18:26,920 --> 01:18:31,680
totally deconditions to telling me that they were going to be in the NFL, the NBA, whatever

1329
01:18:31,680 --> 01:18:37,520
it was, if it wasn't for my ACL, my slap tear, et cetera, et cetera.

1330
01:18:37,520 --> 01:18:43,880
I started wondering what are we doing to young athletes here because we're literally destroying

1331
01:18:43,880 --> 01:18:47,080
their ability to enjoy sport as an adult.

1332
01:18:47,080 --> 01:18:53,400
You see this elite forged performance, but more often than not, the detriment of their

1333
01:18:53,400 --> 01:18:54,400
longevity.

1334
01:18:54,400 --> 01:18:56,240
It is a massive industry.

1335
01:18:56,240 --> 01:18:58,360
The film is called In Search of Greatness.

1336
01:18:58,360 --> 01:18:59,360
Perfect.

1337
01:18:59,360 --> 01:19:00,360
Thank you.

1338
01:19:00,360 --> 01:19:01,360
In Search of Greatness.

1339
01:19:01,360 --> 01:19:05,640
It came out in 2018 or something like that, right around there.

1340
01:19:05,640 --> 01:19:11,920
It was six years ago, but it really jumped out at me where I was like, wow.

1341
01:19:11,920 --> 01:19:14,280
I remember it was like Pele was in it too.

1342
01:19:14,280 --> 01:19:17,680
These guys were just talking about like, hey, man, we used to just play soccer in the back

1343
01:19:17,680 --> 01:19:21,960
alleys and it was fun.

1344
01:19:21,960 --> 01:19:26,520
They were talking about how it's gotten more and more serious and hyper-focused and hyper-laser

1345
01:19:26,520 --> 01:19:27,520
trained in.

1346
01:19:27,520 --> 01:19:32,200
There's something about just going out and having a good time that balances that out

1347
01:19:32,200 --> 01:19:35,200
and the greats are going to be great.

1348
01:19:35,200 --> 01:19:40,640
Anyways, it's a really cool look at sport.

1349
01:19:40,640 --> 01:19:47,120
As a dad who's got a young son who's good at baseball, I'm always now more cognizant

1350
01:19:47,120 --> 01:19:51,880
than ever about like, hey man, don't get them too burned out, but go to your practice, honor

1351
01:19:51,880 --> 01:19:53,720
your commitments.

1352
01:19:53,720 --> 01:20:00,280
I don't need them in an extra 10 hours a week of baseball grind at nine years old.

1353
01:20:00,280 --> 01:20:02,320
Good film.

1354
01:20:02,320 --> 01:20:03,320
Next question though.

1355
01:20:03,320 --> 01:20:05,720
I'm glad I remembered that.

1356
01:20:05,720 --> 01:20:08,080
All right.

1357
01:20:08,080 --> 01:20:11,960
Well the next one, is there a person that you recommend to come on this podcast as a

1358
01:20:11,960 --> 01:20:16,920
guest to speak to the first responders, military and associated professions of the world?

1359
01:20:16,920 --> 01:20:18,720
Well, it's funny.

1360
01:20:18,720 --> 01:20:19,720
You mentioned a few of them.

1361
01:20:19,720 --> 01:20:28,280
I'm guessing they've all already been guests, but Ryan Parrott, Jeff Nichols, Mike Ritland,

1362
01:20:28,280 --> 01:20:35,400
Clint Emerson, Jason McCarthy, Michael Easter, 100%.

1363
01:20:35,400 --> 01:20:36,400
Chris Smith.

1364
01:20:36,400 --> 01:20:40,200
I don't know if you've ever had Chris Smith on.

1365
01:20:40,200 --> 01:20:45,960
One of my dear, dear friends, another former Navy SEAL lives in Washington DC.

1366
01:20:45,960 --> 01:20:51,880
He owns CrossFit Trident out of Alexandria in Virginia.

1367
01:20:51,880 --> 01:20:58,880
Shane Hyatt, if you want just a massive pile of F-bombs and unconventional stories.

1368
01:20:58,880 --> 01:21:03,920
Tons of just amazing people that I've had great experiences with.

1369
01:21:03,920 --> 01:21:04,920
Mark Devine.

1370
01:21:04,920 --> 01:21:14,120
I mean, the guy has lived a really inspiring existence in his post-naval career, inspiring

1371
01:21:14,120 --> 01:21:19,000
thousands of individuals to really dig into themselves and see what they're made of.

1372
01:21:19,000 --> 01:21:23,600
Yeah, I mean, I could keep going, but I think that's a good list for you.

1373
01:21:23,600 --> 01:21:24,600
Yeah.

1374
01:21:24,600 --> 01:21:26,000
No, it's funny because most of them have been on.

1375
01:21:26,000 --> 01:21:27,920
That shows me how long I've been on.

1376
01:21:27,920 --> 01:21:28,920
Even Mark Devine.

1377
01:21:28,920 --> 01:21:33,560
I think he was one of my very first guests, like certainly in the first 20 or so, I think.

1378
01:21:33,560 --> 01:21:37,280
But yeah, Clint and Mike and all these other ones, but not Chris or Shane.

1379
01:21:37,280 --> 01:21:39,760
So maybe that would be the next.

1380
01:21:39,760 --> 01:21:42,520
Derek Price, former NFL.

1381
01:21:42,520 --> 01:21:48,880
I believe he was a tight end and also longtime coach with Mark Devine.

1382
01:21:48,880 --> 01:21:51,640
But hell of a stud athlete.

1383
01:21:51,640 --> 01:21:53,960
Derek Price has got a phenomenal story.

1384
01:21:53,960 --> 01:21:54,960
Brilliant.

1385
01:21:54,960 --> 01:21:56,280
Well, I appreciate that.

1386
01:21:56,280 --> 01:21:57,280
All right.

1387
01:21:57,280 --> 01:22:00,440
Well, then the last question before we make sure everyone knows where to find you, where

1388
01:22:00,440 --> 01:22:02,040
to find Bubs.

1389
01:22:02,040 --> 01:22:06,760
What do you do to decompress these days?

1390
01:22:06,760 --> 01:22:10,880
Time with the kids and my wife is really key.

1391
01:22:10,880 --> 01:22:14,580
There's this huge unplug I get to go and I walk in the door every day.

1392
01:22:14,580 --> 01:22:16,160
My wife likes me home by five.

1393
01:22:16,160 --> 01:22:18,520
I'm routinely home by 5.15.

1394
01:22:18,520 --> 01:22:20,840
I'm always late.

1395
01:22:20,840 --> 01:22:24,880
I try and have dinner on the table by six, but like, because I do a lot of the cooking

1396
01:22:24,880 --> 01:22:29,560
in the house and I love cooking, but that is part of my decompress is putting the phone

1397
01:22:29,560 --> 01:22:36,300
down as I walk in the door, flipping that switch off to put the day's work behind me

1398
01:22:36,300 --> 01:22:41,740
and really dive into what my six year old daughter wants to talk about.

1399
01:22:41,740 --> 01:22:46,040
What my wife had, you know, went through during her, the course of her day, what we're going

1400
01:22:46,040 --> 01:22:47,040
to eat for dinner.

1401
01:22:47,040 --> 01:22:51,920
We did this little ritual called roses and thorns about the one great thing that happened

1402
01:22:51,920 --> 01:22:55,720
and the one bad thing that happened during the day that everyone in the family gets to

1403
01:22:55,720 --> 01:22:57,560
talk about stuff.

1404
01:22:57,560 --> 01:22:59,600
I never would have thought I would do in a million years.

1405
01:22:59,600 --> 01:23:03,880
You'd asked me that 10 years ago and it decompresses me.

1406
01:23:03,880 --> 01:23:09,820
It pulls me down to kind of shift into like what's really important, which is your family.

1407
01:23:09,820 --> 01:23:10,820
It's your friends.

1408
01:23:10,820 --> 01:23:15,480
It's those that community that we surround ourselves with.

1409
01:23:15,480 --> 01:23:20,080
And it doesn't take much other than effort because I could stay on the phone.

1410
01:23:20,080 --> 01:23:21,400
I could still be texting.

1411
01:23:21,400 --> 01:23:26,120
I could like, you know, still doing that, but it takes an effort to really just be like,

1412
01:23:26,120 --> 01:23:27,840
Nope, I'm drawing a line.

1413
01:23:27,840 --> 01:23:28,840
That's all going to be there.

1414
01:23:28,840 --> 01:23:29,840
It's going to be waiting for me.

1415
01:23:29,840 --> 01:23:33,640
As soon as the kids are asleep, I can go right back to it.

1416
01:23:33,640 --> 01:23:38,600
But reading my books to the kids, like we're reading the wild robot series and my kids

1417
01:23:38,600 --> 01:23:44,240
are just an absolute, like just listeners of these stories and having that 30 minute

1418
01:23:44,240 --> 01:23:48,000
wind down with them at the end of the night is just epic.

1419
01:23:48,000 --> 01:23:51,280
So that's how you decompress.

1420
01:23:51,280 --> 01:23:52,280
You know, a lot more.

1421
01:23:52,280 --> 01:23:57,640
I like still beating the crap out of my body with fitness and sprinkling a little meditation

1422
01:23:57,640 --> 01:23:58,840
and get healthy habits.

1423
01:23:58,840 --> 01:24:05,000
But yeah, man, when I, when I get done from a full, full day by 5pm, I just put it all

1424
01:24:05,000 --> 01:24:06,960
down.

1425
01:24:06,960 --> 01:24:11,960
That is what I'm trying to get a lot of the fire service to really take a step back and

1426
01:24:11,960 --> 01:24:12,960
reevaluate.

1427
01:24:12,960 --> 01:24:16,560
You know, we chase like you're talking about, you know, what's the living wage is, it's

1428
01:24:16,560 --> 01:24:18,320
usually money.

1429
01:24:18,320 --> 01:24:20,640
And the ultimate currency is your time at home.

1430
01:24:20,640 --> 01:24:28,520
Like how you forge kind, compassionate, confident boys and girls is you're there, you parent

1431
01:24:28,520 --> 01:24:33,800
and allowing these agencies and the mismanagement to tell you, you can't go home or your work

1432
01:24:33,800 --> 01:24:35,480
week is this long.

1433
01:24:35,480 --> 01:24:38,740
You know, I'm trying to light a fire and I was like, remember what is most important.

1434
01:24:38,740 --> 01:24:43,640
How many bedtime stories have you missed because of someone else's decisions?

1435
01:24:43,640 --> 01:24:45,480
You know, so I think I couldn't agree more.

1436
01:24:45,480 --> 01:24:47,520
Like I pulled myself into my son.

1437
01:24:47,520 --> 01:24:51,800
I transitioned out the fire service six, six and a half years ago now.

1438
01:24:51,800 --> 01:24:52,800
And that was a big part of it.

1439
01:24:52,800 --> 01:24:56,280
If it wasn't going to change where I was at, I'm going to remove myself, fight from the

1440
01:24:56,280 --> 01:24:58,640
outside and be present every night.

1441
01:24:58,640 --> 01:25:02,800
But yeah, I mean, there is no stronger currency than being present with your family in my

1442
01:25:02,800 --> 01:25:03,800
opinion.

1443
01:25:03,800 --> 01:25:10,880
Fact, it's an amazing way to like gain perspective, like all the stresses that we have, you know,

1444
01:25:10,880 --> 01:25:13,800
obviously I'm in a unique role, not unique.

1445
01:25:13,800 --> 01:25:14,800
We all work.

1446
01:25:14,800 --> 01:25:15,800
We all have stresses.

1447
01:25:15,800 --> 01:25:18,960
We all are worried about different things at different times.

1448
01:25:18,960 --> 01:25:21,440
And we all want to produce a great product.

1449
01:25:21,440 --> 01:25:23,200
Like who doesn't?

1450
01:25:23,200 --> 01:25:27,000
And you got to know what it's for though.

1451
01:25:27,000 --> 01:25:31,600
And you know, it's not a mass wealth and buy the second house.

1452
01:25:31,600 --> 01:25:37,160
I mean, sure, that can be a part of it, but no, man, it's raise great humans, be plugged

1453
01:25:37,160 --> 01:25:44,200
in, be in love, be, you know, loving and, and instill that on that next generation and

1454
01:25:44,200 --> 01:25:47,360
still it on your wife, on your husband, like whatever, you know, wherever you're at, like

1455
01:25:47,360 --> 01:25:52,280
just, I don't know, be in it all in it.

1456
01:25:52,280 --> 01:25:53,280
100%.

1457
01:25:53,280 --> 01:25:54,280
All right.

1458
01:25:54,280 --> 01:25:57,680
Well then for people listening, where are the best places to either find you and reach

1459
01:25:57,680 --> 01:26:02,760
out to you or to find bubs and, you know, purchase the products and learn more about

1460
01:26:02,760 --> 01:26:03,760
them.

1461
01:26:03,760 --> 01:26:04,760
Yeah.

1462
01:26:04,760 --> 01:26:09,880
So, so me, like I'm on Instagram every once in a blue moon Facebook, and I just go by

1463
01:26:09,880 --> 01:26:12,960
Slaco S L A K E O.

1464
01:26:12,960 --> 01:26:19,720
I think more importantly is bubs naturals, which is just like it sounds B U B S N A T

1465
01:26:19,720 --> 01:26:26,960
U R A L S. So at bubs naturals for, you know, whether it's Tik Tok, Instagram, LinkedIn,

1466
01:26:26,960 --> 01:26:33,720
you name it, Facebook, all the metaverse where we're on there and we're super active on the

1467
01:26:33,720 --> 01:26:37,080
socials cause you kind of gotta be these days.

1468
01:26:37,080 --> 01:26:42,320
And you know, you can always find us on Amazon or Amazon prime or Amazon's choice or Amazon's

1469
01:26:42,320 --> 01:26:45,720
favorite, which is always great.

1470
01:26:45,720 --> 01:26:52,040
And in our website, which is just bubs naturals.com and yeah, come over and check us out, ask

1471
01:26:52,040 --> 01:26:56,360
questions where we're here to answer them and help you on your wellness journey, man.

1472
01:26:56,360 --> 01:26:59,480
That's what it's all about is we all want to be in this for the long haul.

1473
01:26:59,480 --> 01:27:01,000
We've got this funny expression.

1474
01:27:01,000 --> 01:27:06,400
We like saying die young as late as possible and I'm all about it.

1475
01:27:06,400 --> 01:27:07,400
Absolutely.

1476
01:27:07,400 --> 01:27:09,920
Well, I want to thank you so much mate for coming back on.

1477
01:27:09,920 --> 01:27:14,200
I mean, firstly, like I said, genuinely, you know, the products are phenomenal and that's

1478
01:27:14,200 --> 01:27:19,840
another entire side of the conversation, but also picking up the torch and fighting for

1479
01:27:19,840 --> 01:27:25,020
your best friend and you know, the pursuit of simply doing the right thing and helping

1480
01:27:25,020 --> 01:27:29,120
other people realize that is that the path that needs to be taken.

1481
01:27:29,120 --> 01:27:32,360
There are so many parallels, I'm sure for people listening in their organizations as

1482
01:27:32,360 --> 01:27:33,360
well.

1483
01:27:33,360 --> 01:27:37,400
Not only the fact that we now learned a lot more about a man who literally gave his life

1484
01:27:37,400 --> 01:27:38,400
for this country.

1485
01:27:38,400 --> 01:27:42,520
So I want to thank you so, so much for being so generous with your time once again and

1486
01:27:42,520 --> 01:27:44,560
coming on the behind the shield podcast.

1487
01:27:44,560 --> 01:27:46,800
James, thank you for having me, man.

1488
01:27:46,800 --> 01:27:48,840
It's always an honor and I love our conversations.

1489
01:27:48,840 --> 01:27:49,840
I appreciate you.

1490
01:27:49,840 --> 01:27:59,200
Thank you.