This episode is sponsored by StationWise, the
first staffing software to be truly firefighter
proof. Now you may be wondering why I have software
as a sponsor when I focus usually on physical
and mental health of the first responders, and
I will tell you exactly why. For the first time,
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to integrate wellness information through core
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Now, of course, StationWise focuses on staffing
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meaning that you can access it not only within
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one of the most powerful features of StationWise,
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if you want to hear the full story from the founder,
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want to book a demo or learn more, go to stationwise
.com. Welcome to the Behind the Shield podcast.
As always, my name is James Geering and this
week it is my absolute honor to welcome on the
show French Foreign Legion veteran and aviator
Ty Miller. Now in this conversation we discuss
a host of topics. From Ty's original journey
into the American military, how his color vision
made him ineligible, his journey into the French
Foreign Legion, their history, his deployments
to Chad and Bosnia, his transition out, his journey
into aviation, and so much more. Now, before
we get to this incredible conversation, as I
say every week, please just take a moment. Go
to whichever app you listen to this on, subscribe
to the show, leave feedback, and leave a rating.
Every single five -star rating truly does elevate
this podcast, therefore making it easier for
others to find. And this is a free library of
almost 1 ,200 episodes now. So all I ask in return
is that you help share these incredible men and
women's stories so I can get them to every single
person on planet Earth who needs to hear them.
So with that being said, I introduce to you Ty
Miller. Enjoy. Well, Ty, I want to start by saying
two things. Firstly, thank you to our mutual
friend, Dave Prechera Best, for making this introduction.
And secondly, I want to welcome you onto the
Behind the Shield podcast today. Thank you very
much, James. I appreciate being on. Now, is Ty
short for anything or is it just Ty? Haha, good
question. Ty is a part of my middle name. So
my full name is Walter Tyrone Miller. Tyrone,
usually people hear the word Tyrone and they're
thinking someone's a little bit bigger and maybe
a different color than me. Yes. But so the short
story behind that is, so my father is a cowboy
and he had a favorite horse when I was born and
his horse's name was Ty. So I was named after
my father's horse and my mother said, well, it
can't be just Ty. It has to be a little bit longer.
So she added the Roan, which is also a. color
of horse so but my sister and i both go by our
middle names so that's where ty comes from i'm
so glad i asked that the reason i did my son
is ty t -a -i and i and rather than make it short
for something because i had a a um a co -counselor
when i was a counselor on summer camps and his
name was ty and it was short for tyrone But he
was an African -American gentleman from Atlanta
that dressed in all hip hop stuff and had dreads.
And we were just this great kind of like good
cop, bad cop combo for these wealthy children
that we got to take care of for a few months.
But yeah, that was the inspiration of my son's
name. But it was the reverse because I didn't
want it to be, you know, shortened of something.
I just made it Thai, T -A -I. So there we go.
Interesting stories about names. All right. Well,
very first question, where on planet Earth are
we finding you today? I am in Vancouver, Canada,
right downtown. My wife and I live in a very
nice apartment on English Bay. And it's as typical
for Vancouver in any month that is not kind of
May through August. It's a little chilly and
wet and rainy here. Sometimes we often like it
that way because it keeps the city from getting
too busy. Sadly, when I think of Vancouver, I
think of, if I've got the right city, I think
of Gabon Mate and the opioid crisis and the homelessness.
That's a shame that that's the first thing that
comes into my mind. Is that an issue still? Are
you seeing that a lot in your city? Have you
seen kind of an evolution of that problem? Boy,
whether I've seen an evolution or not, I'm not
sure. But when I first, so growing up as an American,
Canada is this kind of nebulous place to the
north and people don't really pay much attention
to it because nothing happens in Canada, quote
unquote. Americans are more familiar with pretty
much every other part of the world than their
next door neighbor. So when I actually first
came to Canada. during my graduate school studies,
because I had a case competition, an MBA case
competition in Montreal. And so Eastern Canada,
I knew a little bit about, I didn't know anything
about Western Canada, even though I grew up in
Arizona and Colorado. But when I started working
for the software company, Crystal Decisions,
is the first time I came to Vancouver. And I
thought, wow, this is a pretty neat place. But
when I, the thing that struck me, equally as
much about Vancouver in addition to its beauty
was how much homelessness there is here. When
I first came to Vancouver and I was kind of walking
downtown and I saw homelessness everywhere and
it really took me by surprise. I was almost shocked
by it. And a lot of that homelessness is because
people are... Born into challenged families,
they have gotten into drugs, but some way or
another. There wasn't, I don't think, an opioid
crisis at the time that I first came here in
the 2000s. But that may be just because I wasn't
as familiar with opioids in general. But there
were a lot of challenges. And so whether that
has changed or progressed since then to now,
I really don't know. that attuned to it. My wife
is much more involved with people that are in
challenged situations and she's volunteered for
organizations to help families and young mothers
with things like that. But again, I'm just not
as familiar with it. I see it, but I've only
become numb to it at this point. Yeah, no, it's
a shame. It just seems to be on the radar a lot
when we talk about homelessness and addiction
in Canada specifically. Actually, hopefully I've
got Gabor Marte coming on early next year now.
So that'd be amazing. So we'll get to find out
how they're actually doing. All right, well then
let's start at the very beginning of your timeline
then. You mentioned obviously the States. Tell
me where you were born and tell me a little bit
about your family dynamic, what your parents
did, how many siblings. I was born in Montana.
My father grew up in Iowa. I was on a farm. When
he was 16 or 17 years old, he basically ran away
from home. He always wanted to be a cowboy. He
liked the farm, but he liked it when his family
were farming with traditional livestock, like
pulling the plow with oxen type of thing. moved
into the mechanized environment. And my dad really
lost interest. If he had interest in farming,
he really wanted to be a cowboy. So he basically
ran away. And he was a hunting guide and a guide
for pack trips in Montana at the time that my
mother came out. She grew up in the East coast
in New Jersey. A fairly well -to -do, I'd say
upper middle class family. My grandfather was
an industrialist, but he really liked the outdoors.
And so they would go to Montana on these pack
trips in the summer. And that's where my mother
met my dad. And so it ultimately became kind
of the quintessential cowboy school teacher pair.
So they were married. They have their eight years
difference in. My dad's eight years older. And
they had me first, again, born in Montana. And
about two weeks later, they moved me against
my will to Arizona. And that's where they tried
to start a life leading pack tricks themselves
based on a mining claim in the middle of the
Tonto National Forest. Mining claim from the
1800s, basically on the side of a mountain. And
that's where they set up camp. So no electricity,
no running water. My mother raised and my mother
then had a second daughter, my sister Sloan.
And that's where she raised us for eight years.
But after those eight years, she was kind of
ready to get back to civilization. I imagine
it would have been pretty tough as a mother raising
your kids in that type of an environment. After
eight years, they separated. She moved into the
nearest town, which is about 45 minutes away,
most of it by four -wheel drive, or I'd say half
of it by four -wheel drive to get out of where
we were living. And then a year or so after that,
they actually divorced. Interesting story. My
mother remarried and she moved with the kids
and my stepfather then up to Colorado, which
is where I spent the rest of my childhood through
high school. My dad also remarried years later.
And that marriage lasted for like a year or two.
And it was kind of a disaster. He can be challenged
to live with because of his lifestyle. He's,
again, very off the grid, very rustic. He's still
a cowboy. He'll never not be a cowboy. But then
after 23 years of having been divorced from each
other and remarried to other people and then
divorced again, my parents remarried each other.
Wow. And they've been married now for, I don't
know, close to 20 years maybe. But it works because
they live in separate states. The secret to a
happy marriage is. Yeah, that's right. So my
mom still lives in Fort Collins, Colorado. And
my dad lives between the towns of Bisbee and
Tombstone, Arizona. Tombstone being the famed
gunfight at the OK Corral place. But he still
lives off the grid. And they see each other once
or twice a year. Usually the whole family descends
upon my father in Arizona just after Christmas.
And he puts us all to work. fixing fence, moving
rocks, digging holes, whatever, doing manual
labor. So they have a good relationship. But
it's a totally different relationship. They're
different people than what they were. My sister
always wanted to be a doctor. So she became a
radiologist and she just retired, I guess, technically
this year. And she lives in Washington state.
So all of my family are American. They live in
the US. I actually renounced my US citizenship
two years ago after having lived in Canada now
since 2000 or 2001 for multiple reasons. One,
just I wanted to simplify my life. And two, I
was getting tired of being taxed more than my
fair share. by the US and Canadian government.
So there is an income tax treaty between the
US and Canada, but there are all these other
taxes that people don't talk about. Things like
we have a tax -free savings account here. There
are excise taxes, small business taxes, lots
of different taxes that aren't included in that
treaty. So I decided, okay, I'm just going to
simplify everything. And I kind of identified
now more as a Canadian than as an American. There
have been lots of changes in the US over the
past couple of decades. um so so that's where
we that's where i am now amazing yeah i i have
dual citizenship but there's no issue as far
as incomes or anything because i've been out
here now for 20 23 years wow um so yeah so my
my whole income and career has been in america
so i'm able to keep that but what's interesting
is the british recognize my dual citizenship
but the americans don't so i'm in america i'm
just an american supposedly i mean they I've
got two passports, so they're obviously just
ignoring what is actually a fact. But it's bizarre
that it would be one way, you know, by the British
and a different way by the Americans. Yeah, well,
in a way, the U .S. can still kind of get away
with that because it's kind of the Pax Americana.
When you are still the world's superpower, economically,
militarily, etc., they're able to kind of set...
in some ways, their own rules. The U .S., from
the tax perspective, the U .S. is one of only
two countries that taxes their citizens, regardless
of whether that person even ever set foot in
the U .S. Like there are many people that have
been born American simply because their parents
are American, but they've never actually been
to the U .S., but they are still liable for taxes.
The only other country that does that is apparently
Eritrea in Eastern Africa. Are you talking about
taxation without representation? I think there
is some of that in there. How ironic, as Alanis
Morissette would say. Yeah, that's right. That's
right. All right. Well, when you were in the
school age and obviously your childhood navigated,
excuse me, spanned several different states by
this point, what were you playing and doing as
far as exercise and sports? Ah, yeah. So I played
lots of soccer or football. I refer to it as
football now. So lots of soccer. That's what
it's called. Yeah, football, you use your foot
and it is a ball, unlike North American football.
The egg -throwing contest, I call it. Yeah, exactly.
I was always involved. I love playing pretty
much all sports. I would say I'm an average to
above average. in most sports. I played a little
basketball, but I have white man's disease. I
can't jump. I played a little contact North American
football, but I didn't really get big enough
by the time high school came around to continue
with that. Growing up in Colorado, it's kind
of the ski capital of the U .S., but with my
mom being a schoolteacher and my stepfather,
he was a bartender. Didn't really have that much
money, so I never got really good at skiing,
so I didn't get to go that often. When I did
go, it was usually because I would go with some
of my friends and we would do what's called snowpacking,
where for half the day, the ski resort would
have us hike up the sides of the runs, usually
on the steeper runs and the black diamond runs,
so to prevent avalanches. And then we would get
to ski for free the second half of the day and
the day following. That was really good exercise,
I'll tell you. That's how I got some of my skiing
in, but I was not great at it. I did as well
cross -country. I'm pretty good at long distance
running. Again, if there was something that got
me active and outside, I was usually playing
it. I never played baseball because I was never
home during the summers. I was usually going
to spend time with my dad in Arizona. So never
did that. Was involved in some horsemanship activities
when I was with my dad, doing like roping, but
just for practice and stuff like that. So yeah,
pretty active as a kid. Always riding a bike,
dirt bikes. What about career aspirations? When
you were in the high school age, what were you
dreaming of becoming? When I was high school,
I was always reading business magazines. So I
was reading Businessweek and Fortune and for
some reason, I just had an interest in an inclination
towards business. I didn't know it very generically
speaking, but I was the only kid that always
had a Businessweek magazine that I was reading.
And I thought that I wanted to be in finance.
I was never really great at math. I love the
idea of math and statistics and financial algorithms,
et cetera, but I was never really good at it.
So why I thought I would be good at it and wanted
to be in finance, I'm not sure. But that's what
I thought. I wanted to be like a stockbroker
or an analyst or something when I was in high
school. And I was an okay student. I was never
a straight A student, but I got decent. decent
grades, A's and B's. I was always jealous of
my sister because she was a straight A student.
In our family, whenever we got a report card,
if we got straight A's, then my parents would
take us out to dinner. My sister got to go to
whatever restaurant she wanted every quarter.
I did once. I was never a fantastic student,
but I was decent. Finished high school and I
knew I had to go to university because that was
the expectation that my mother in particular
had. So she was as much involved in filling out
the applications to apply for schools as I was.
And we actually visited a number of schools around
the US that were potential candidates for me
to go to. And I finally chose Bentley University.
which is a private school outside of Boston,
Massachusetts. And so while my mother and her
salary and my stepfather and his salary were
not significant, I was lucky in that my grandfather
had had his own business, did very well. And
my mother was good at creating trust funds for
my sister and I. So I got to attend a really
good but expensive private university. back east
and that so that was benley university that i
went to so walk me through then the first occupation
you found yourself in well so that would that
include like summer jobs at uh in high school
or just just whatever career you initially found
yourself my first well my first career would
have been the french foreign legion yeah military
career so let's fill the gap then how did you
go from wanting to be in finance to coming outside
a french gate Yeah, exactly. So, well, where
would that begin? So I got my degree, undergraduate
degree in economics, and I got that degree in
economics because by that time I felt that economics
was a broad enough discipline where it wouldn't
limit me to a career. I'll call it a traditional
career in a white collar. Whether that was finance
or software or operations management, you name
it. But I realized about halfway through university
that when I graduated university, I didn't actually
want to be stuck behind a desk in an office doing
whatever. I didn't know exactly what I wanted
to do, but I knew it had to be something that
had some adventure, had some risk. I didn't know
pretty much anything about the military because
I don't come from a military background. My family
history is not in the military. No one in my
family has been in the military other than apparently
on my mother's side, I had an ancestor that was
in the Spanish -American War that was a mail
carrier. So that was the extent of my understanding
of military. But as a kid, I was always fascinated
with military hardware. I was always drawing
ships and tanks and planes. But the idea of being
a soldier never really occurred to me. It never
entered my mind. But again, halfway through university,
I decided, you know what? I think I want to do
this. I want to go do something. I want to serve.
It was both for the adventure and I also wanted
to serve my country. I wanted to serve the US.
And so being halfway through university, I knew
that I had an opportunity to attend one of the
military academies, whether that was the U .S.
Army Academy at West Point or the Naval Academy
or the Air Force Academy. And so I was starting
to look into the Naval Academy. And I liked the
idea of becoming a pilot. But I learned pretty
quickly that because I was colorblind, that was
not an option. And I knew I was colorblind. I
didn't know that that would be a limiting kind
of theme, I guess, in my life, actually. And
it turned out that not only could I not join
the Naval Academy, I couldn't join the Army,
Navy, or Air Force being colorblind at the time.
And I thought, wow, this is really – this sucks.
What am I going to do now? So the Marine Corps
– They did accept people that were colorblind.
And that was actually fine for me because the
Marine Corps had the kind of atmosphere of a
tough outfit. And that's what I was looking for.
I wanted something to test myself physically,
mentally. And the Marine Corps was like, okay,
great. I'll do the Marine Corps. So I went to,
I applied for the officer candidate school while
I was in my third year university. And I did
great on all the tests. I did. I got 99 % on
the physical fitness test with like a three -mile
run, pull -ups, sit -ups, et cetera. The physical,
the medical test is what got me. And it wasn't
because I was colorblind, but I played soccer,
football for my university, an NCAA Division
II school. And in one game in my third year season,
I was in a one -on -one. I was a goalkeeper.
And basically the guy, that I had the one -on
-one with, he came in cleat first and severed
my posterior cruciate ligament. I was out for
the rest of the season. My knee was scoped, but
they decided not to repair it. They just cleaned
it up and they felt that the muscles around that
would compensate. For the most part, it did.
When I went to the Marine Corps medical exam,
there were these signs that said, if you don't
tell us everything, then you could risk being
in jail for five years and pay a $10 ,000 fine.
And again, because I didn't have any history
of military service in my family, I didn't have
anyone to tell me what really you had to say
and what you kind of could keep to the side.
So I told them. And so they laser focused on
that, my knee, and they were testing my knee.
And they said, you know what? we can't take you
because of your knee for insurance reasons. We
can't, we can't accept you. And I was like, oh
man. So there's no one else in the U S no other
serve branch of the U S military that I could
try. And so I had the attending surgeon that
did the surgery. I had the physical therapists
that I went to afterward to rehabilitate myself.
And I played soccer again, my senior year for
university. So it was fine for that. I had. my
senator of my state of Colorado write a letter
on my behalf requesting a waiver for me. And
this is just to enlist at this point in the Marine
Corps. I wrote a letter to the chief surgeon
of the Navy asking for a waiver. I tried to enlist
through three different states, Massachusetts,
Colorado, and Nebraska. And it was a major in
Colorado that was trying to figure out how to
get, how to, enable me to enlist through this
third state because he couldn't believe that
the government wasn't letting me join just for
my knee. But ultimately, my last step would have
been to write to the President of the United
States asking for a waiver. And that was President
Clinton at the time. But by that time, I was
like, you know what? If you guys don't want me
that badly, I'll figure out something else. At
the time, the internet wasn't really a thing
yet. This is 1992. I went to the library and
just started researching what kind of interesting
careers and adventurous things you could do as
a 22 -year -old, 23 -year -old, actually. And
that's when I stumbled upon the French Foreign
Legion, just the idea of the French Foreign Legion.
I thought, oh, interesting. This looks kind of
cool. I read a few books by some people that
had been in the Legion, including Simon Murray,
who was a famous Brit that had served in the
Legion and had become a very successful businessman,
I think, in Hong Kong after a while. And then
I also read a book by an author by the name of
Douglas Porch, who was a professor at the Naval
War College. And at the U .S. Naval Postgraduate
School, he was a professor at the Citadel. So
we had a correspondence. And I read his book
and we had a correspondence and I asked him about
the Legion. And he actually tried to persuade
me not to join the French Foreign Legion. He
basically said that having finished university,
My peers, I would kind of fall behind my peers.
They would have gotten careers and they would
have families and they would have houses. And
when I went to the Legion, if I didn't make a
lifetime career out of it, when I came back,
all of my peers would be kind of off, had done
their thing. And I was like, well, that's exactly
what I don't want to do. I want to do something
different and challenge myself in different ways.
I also contacted the FBI because the other thing
that I learned was that as an American, if you
serve in a foreign military, you risk losing
your U .S. citizenship, except for the Israeli
military. As an American citizen, you can serve
in the Israeli military, and there's some type
of deal between Israel and the U .S. where that's
fine. It's pretty current these days. Yes, exactly.
So I contacted the FBI, and they said, you know
what? If you don't tell us, we don't really care.
So I was like, okay, that's it. That's all I
need to know. So it was a month or two later.
It was April of 93 by this time. And I still
remember the day. So my mother and my father
knew at this point that I was going to go off
and do this Legion thing. I don't know if they
really believed it or not. I remember my mother
taking me to the airport shuttle in Fort Collins,
Colorado. And I remember saying goodbye and taking
the shuttle then to the airport in Denver to
fly to Paris. And I didn't realize until months
after that that day was April Fool's Day. And
so I still wonder to this day if my mother realized
that as well and thought it was some type of
cruel joke that I was playing on her. But I arrived
in Paris, took a train from Paris to Marseille.
And then from Marseille, took like a commuter
train to the town or the suburb of Marseille
called Aubagne, which is the headquarters of
the French Foreign Legion. And by the time I
got to the front gate, it was late night, early
morning. It was like, I don't know, two or three
in the morning. And it was, so it was dark. chilly
it was it was rainy uh and i got to the the front
gate and so everyone in the legion does guard
duty and so the the guard at the front gate was
there and i i asked i said i i'd like to join
the french foreign legion and i said it in my
broken french i had learned like many americans
that learned quote unquote a foreign language
learned i spoke it very brokenly a little bit.
I knew some phrases. And so I was able to get
enough out just for him to understand that I
wanted to join the French Foreign Legion. So
he basically said, okay, just a minute. And he
went back and got his sergeant on duty at the
time. And he came out and asked me a few questions.
I can't remember if we were speaking in French
or some type of English or what. And I can't
remember what the questions were, but ultimately
they understood that I was wanting to join. So
they brought me in. The sergeant got then another
– I think he was a corporal or premier first
class who was a Brit and to walk me to then the
barracks where they held guys that were volunteering.
And as we were walking to the barracks, I learned
that he was there at that regiment convalescing
from having broken both ankles jumping out of
an airplane. for a parachute jump. And I thought,
yeah, that's what I want to do. That was the
second foreign parachute regiment. So I was like,
that's exactly what I want to do. That's where
I want to go. So I was in Albania for about two
weeks. That's where all the initial volunteers
go. And that's where the French military and
government does their background tests. You do
physical fitness tests, you do medical tests,
psychological tests, intelligence tests. They
do background checks. It's a combination of Interpol
and the French Foreign Service and military intelligence
just to make sure that... So it used to be in
the Legion you could join regardless of what
you did in your past. And so a number of people
at different points in time joined the Legion
to escape something. And in the past, those somethings
could be even, I guess, potentially murder and
rape and stuff like that. The Legion, at the
time that I joined and now, they do still take
in people that are escaping some type of a crime
or escaping some type of past that they want
to get away from, but not if it's a blood crime.
And it actually turned out that because I didn't
have... Anything that I was running from to join
the Legion, I couldn't even change my name. So
I was looking forward to getting a Gnome Daguerre.
And I had actually researched names that I thought
would be cool to have, like Skylax, who was a
Greek adventurer, or Scipio or something like
that. But no, I didn't even get to change my
name. I had to keep my name. So after those two
weeks, they considered me apt to then go to the
initial training. which was four months in another
regiment, the 4th Regiment in Kastanolderi, which
is near Toulouse. And yeah, so I was there for
four months. A month of that training is done
in these remote farms near the Pyrenees. And
so that's where we do more basic training, hand
-to -hand combat, weapons training, some limited
survival training. And actually, I actually got
to march or parade in the 14th of July Bastille
parade in Paris during those four months, which
was really unusual because we were just a training
regiment. That was quite, I mean, when I was
there, I was like, wow, just five months earlier,
I was just home in Fort Collins, Colorado, trying
to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.
And now here I am marching down the middle of
the Champs -Élysées in Paris. I loved what I
was doing. I loved the unknown, not knowing what
was coming next. I liked the idea that I was
away from everyone else and what a quote -unquote
normal life was. I didn't have homesickness.
I didn't really miss, even though I have been
and still am close to my family, my sister and
my parents. I wasn't missing them. I felt kind
of badly for my mother still because I knew she
was worried. But I didn't have contact with them
for almost a year because the Legion doesn't
let you have contact with the outside world basically
for that first year. But I thoroughly enjoyed
it. Humans have a challenge of remembering some
of the bad things in the past. And so I know
that's some of what I have with the Legion. I
remember all the great things that I experienced
and did during the Legion. There were some times
that were not so fun as well, but I wouldn't
pass up those five years that I spent in the
Legion for anything. It was some of the best
five years of my life. What is the history of
the Legion? Is it pre -World War II? It is, yeah.
So the Legion started in the 1830s by... King
Louis Philippe. And it was, I think it was in
Mexico, actually. So France had a colonial presence
in Mexico. And it was in 1863, actually. I think
it was 1863 that there's kind of the most famous
battle and what is now celebrated day. in the
French Foreign Legion, which is the Battle of
Cameroon. And this is where, I don't know, it
was something like 40 or 50 legionnaires were
held up against an army of hundreds or thousands
of Mexicans. And they fought to the last man,
and they all died. And the Capitaine Danjou,
like... Before ultimately being killed, he had
lost an arm, and so he's fighting with one arm.
It was essentially, as with many, if not most,
European militaries of the time, a mercenary
force. As my understanding of military history
in Europe anyway, most militaries were hired
by the aristocracy or the nobility at the time
to fight. the wars that were being fought in
Europe. So that was no different with the French
Foreign Legion. But it's the only force that
has remained as a hired military to this day
that is still a part of a government organization.
And so it has had many... chapters in its history.
You mentioned World War II. So there were lots
of Germans that joined the French Foreign Legion
after the end of World War II. And there's a
lot of those guys that would have fought then
in Indochina when France was still in Vietnam
and they were in then therefore Dien Bien Phu.
They were often in North Africa, in Morocco and
Algeria. And so the Legion is still there today.
It's still made up of people from around the
world that want to be in an elite force and want
some of the, I guess, adventure that they feel
that they may not be able to get in their own
country or they just want to try something different.
When I joined the Legion, it was a lot of upheaval
in Central and Eastern Europe. So politically,
economically, in the early 90s and mid -90s,
it was when the Berlin Wall had fallen, the USSR
had kind of broken apart, become the 15 different
republics. And it was a challenge, as I understood
it, living in those areas in that time. So there
were lots of Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, Czechs,
Hungarians. In the Legion that were trying to
join Legion, they were looking for a better life,
really. And almost all of them had had previous
military experience already with their countries.
In my training platoon, there was a Russian submarine
captain. There was a mathematician from Mexico.
There was a bricklayer from Italy, like all walks
of life. People often talk about the U .S. being
a melting pot. of ethnicities and backgrounds.
I referred to the French Foreign Legion as a
tossed salad. It was really just a mix of everyone
that you could think of and from all over the
world. There was someone from Japan in my training
platoon. There were a number of Brits, Irish,
Welsh, Scottish, English, and there were cliques
in the Legion. There were the Anglophones, so
people that had English as a native language,
whether they're from Australia or New Zealand,
US and Canada. There were very few people from
the US and Canada. I was the only North American
in my training platoon. When I got to the second
foreign parachute regiment, there were, I think,
three other Americans. There was one Canadian.
There were quite a few brits there were quite
a few english and and scott and welsh and irish
uh guys uh and there were a number of of new
zealanders kiwis and australians as well so clicks
of anglophones you had clicks of eastern europeans
um and the poles and the russians and ukrainians
they all seem to be able to speak enough of the
same language to be able to get along um but
those were kind of the two big Sometimes referred
to them as mafias in the Legion is those cliques.
So yeah, four months in the training regiment.
One of the first things that they told us in
the training regiment was that if you finished
first, you would get your pick of regiment that
you wanted to go to. And there were and are still
10 regiments basically that make up the French
Foreign Legion. installed mostly in Southern
France. One, the parachute regiment is in Corsica.
There's one in South America. There's one in
Djibouti in Eastern Africa. There's one in Mayotte,
which is an island in the South Pacific. But
the second parachute regiment, it was the best.
It was the best of the best. And I knew that
that's where I wanted to go. And so I worked
hard in that training for the four years. And
I finished first. And so I was like, awesome,
I'm going to the parachute regiment. And that's
where things are really going to happen. I remember
the day when we finished the training, we would
go and present ourselves to the captain of the
training company. And the captain would tell
you where you're going. But I thought, I'm finishing
first. I'm going to be able to let him know where
I want to go. So I said, okay, I want to go.
parachute regiment and he said i'm sorry you
can't go to the parachute regiment because you're
colorblind and i just like this wave of like
holy crap i my colorblindness again is getting
the best of me and i was really i was just i
couldn't i couldn't believe what was happening
and i was like man um i am i When I left the
building, I was actually crying because I was
so upset. I couldn't believe this was happening.
And I told them, I was like, if I can't go to
the parachute regiment, I'm leaving. I'm deserting.
And I'm not a quitter. I will keep knocking on
that wall for as long as it takes. But that was
tough. The next day or two days after, I can't
remember what it was. They said, okay, we're
going to send you to the military hospital and
you're going to get another checkup. And they
sent me with an envelope in my hand that I was
to present at the military hospital in La Veram,
which is just in Albania, outside of the headquarters
regiment. And I don't know to this day what was
in that envelope, but I left the hospital eligible
to go to the parachute regiment. So I was a happy
camper. That's right, yeah. It's so crazy. We
talked, obviously, a few weeks ago about this,
but that was the origin story of why I'm not
a British firefighter. When I was in school,
we did the annual medicals, and they told me
with the little book, oh, you can't see colors,
you're colored by them. They literally said,
you can't be a pilot, you can't be a firefighter,
and everything that I wanted to be, almost everything,
was literally taken off the table. And then years
and years and years and years later, shortening
the story incredibly, I find myself wanting to
be a firefighter in America and say, there's
no way I can see colors. What are they talking
about? And so I ended up challenging the test
and told them, tell me anything in this room,
I'll tell you what color it is. And lo and behold,
I passed. And what it was is that, and my wife's
an optometrist now, so she's in that world. And
she said, yeah, that just gives you an indication
that there's a deficiency. And then you do deeper
tests to see like what level it is. And I just
have a red, green deficiency. I'm not colorblind.
You know, it's like not being 2020, being 2040
and then telling you, yeah, you're blind. No,
you're not blind. You're just not, you can't
see as well. So what level did you end up discovering
your kind of color deficiency was? You know,
I'm not sure what level it is. I know that the
tests, so in French, what they say I have is
a Deltonian deficiency. I probably should research
what that actually means, but it is a red, green,
colorblind deficiency. So whether it's technically
colorblindness or not, I don't know. Clearly,
I know now it is not colorblindness. to a degree
that doesn't let me fly, because that will be
another story that I'll mention in a bit here.
What I do know is that I confuse shades of colors.
So I confuse blues and purples, greens and browns,
greens and reds. And like my first year of university,
my mother got me this great backpack. My mother's
colorblind as well, by the way. And apparently
like... It's only 1 % of the colorblind population
is female. But it is, they are the carriers.
So I can't be too upset with my mother because
she's colorblind herself and she's really colorblind.
Like she can see colors, but they're really messed
up. So she's much more colorblind than I am.
But she had gotten me a backpack for my first
year of university. I thought, oh, awesome. This
is a really nice blue backpack. And my friends
were all kind of looking at me like, you know,
that's like, brilliant purple right i was like
oh no but oh well it's good enough for me um
what i learned is that uh i can read like the
first couple pages in those books that have the
dots and the numbers that are in those dots but
after the first couple pages i can't see any
of the numbers um i when i was in the legion
uh i memorized most of the pages of that book
in order to participate in some of the training
that I wanted to do. But I've forgotten what
those pages are now, what the numbers are in
those pages. And now for flying as a helicopter
pilot, I've learned that there's a test called
the Farnsworth test that I can take. And basically
you're lining up these chips uh in an order based
upon their shades of from purple to green to
blue um and i'm able i'm able to pass that i'm
able to pass that pretty well actually um that
didn't prevent me the first time from cheating
on that test either uh i took because the first
time i took that test uh it was when i was starting
my my helicopter flight training And I hadn't
been approved by Transport Canada yet to get
the highest medical certificate you need to actually
then become a commercial helicopter pilot. And
I was really nervous that I wouldn't be able
to pass this test, even though I had tried it
online and I was doing fine. But this was during
COVID when you had to wear a mask. And I wear
glasses now for reading. So when you wear a mask,
the lenses get fogged up. Uh, and the, the, the
assistant to the optometrist was telling me I
had to do this test one eye at a time. And I
knew that wasn't the case. And I actually had
them call, uh, transport Canada and had them
talk to each other so they could realize they
didn't have to do that. Um, and they also wouldn't
let me initially, they wouldn't let me take off
my mask. So I wouldn't fog up my glasses, uh,
but I got them to go be okay with that. And I
was just, I was so kind of worked up by that
point. I was like, man, if I fail this test,
it's like the end of the beginning of my helicopter
pilot attempt at a career. But the nurse had
left the room during the time that I was doing
this test. And so I surreptitiously did flip
a couple of the chips, and they were numbered
or something. I can't remember. And I only had
to swap two of them to make sure I got – I can't
remember if I got a perfect score or not. I passed
it with flying colors, no pun intended. And I
take the test each six months now that I get
renewed for my medical and I'm able to do it
now. I can put them in the order they're needed.
But that first time that I took that Farnsworth
test, there were just so many things that were
coming up that were being blockers for whatever
reason. But when I passed that test, I was like,
oh God, like beads of sweat, wipe them off. And
then it wasn't until, Four months later, Transport
Canada, which is kind of the equivalent of the
FAA in the U .S., sent me my medical certificate
showing that I had passed all the medical requirements
to become a helicopter pilot. That piece of paper,
the wave of joy that was passing through me when
I realized that I had passed the medical... especially
the color test and the color blindness that had
held me back from so many different things. I
was on cloud nine and it was just an amazing
feeling. And it was just a simple piece of paper
saying, yeah, you've got your category one medical.
It was just an amazing feeling. It's such an
important conversation though, because, you know,
when you were trying to get into the military,
it was a hard no. And I'm the same with you with
the books, you know, the first few pages, yes.
And then after that. nothing it's just a bunch
of dots you can see there's kind of a part of
a number there but you can't see the whole thing
but then you get into the profession you're trying
to get into and no one says oh you know if there's
a fire then you'll see an aquamarine light no
you can't see a red pretty damn obvious you know
what do you need to see and you can see him so
unless it's like a bizarre shade of car that
you're trying to find in some, then maybe that's
a little bit more challenging. But usually the
one with the dead person hanging out is the one
that you're trying to go to. You know what I
mean? And two other things have happened since
then related to the colorblindness. One, I learned
that my instructor during my initial flight training
to get my commercial helicopter pilot license,
he is... Colorblind, color deficient, whichever
word we want to use. And Dave Precera Best is
colorblind. And he went through some similar
challenges, both flying helicopters in the British
military, but also, and I think even more so,
flying in the Canadian military. And it was him
being persistent and saying, look. I need to
take the Farnsworth test because I can pass that
and then I can fly in Canada. So it was kind
of welcome news to see these other pilots that
were also color deficient and doing just fine.
So for people listening, when these hurdles are
being put up, even I'm going to tell you that
the psych test, another one, the MMPI we have
here, which is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Interview. When I started this podcast and started
getting all these people on from psychology,
psychiatry, they told me that was never meant
to be used as a standalone test. It's part of
forensic psychology where you do a gamut of tests
and it gives you an overall view of this person.
So we've taken this test and said, oh, this is
what you've got to pass. The polygraph. I mean,
complete smoke and mirrors. I mean, it really
is. I've got someone coming on from the, what
is he in? FBI or Secret Service, I think it's
Secret Service. And that was his world. And even
then at that much higher level, there's still
an element of, yeah, really, you're just trying
to get someone to confess to something. So you
look at these barriers, these hurdles that are
put in front of first responders and military,
and it can be decimating. They've wanted to be
this thing for their whole life. They've trained,
they've studied, they've kept their grades up,
they've kept their fitness up. And then, boom,
you hit it because of this test that really doesn't
even have any foundation in truly dictating whether
you are the right kind of candidate or not. So
I think these stories are important to just always
question. And if something is stopping you, find
someone who got around it. Find someone who navigated
that. and then go you know either just learn
from them and do the thing or even reach out
to them because i was obviously not destined
to be a firefighter in the uk you know i had
this bizarre journey that took me to the states
and then out the fire service but you know if
that's stopping someone from doing what they've
always wanted to do whatever profession you're
in question it first you know there might be
a point where yeah you can't physically or mentally
do that particular thing i would not be a high
level mathematician i can tell you that right
now But if it's just some of these blocks that
have been artificially created, that doesn't
have to be the end of your journey. There are
ways around it. Absolutely. Yeah. Never give
up. Persevere. I like to tell people that I'm
nothing if not determined. And you could have
all of the intelligence, all of the natural innate
ability. to do a lot of different things. But
if you're not willing to persevere and be determined
to achieve something, I think it's those people
that will go farther in life than others. I have
a question for you. Have you ever felt like or
thought of yourself as having a disability because
of your colorblindness? No, not at all. It's
unique. I hadn't either. In my last company in
software, at some point we were filling out a
survey. And I can't remember exactly what the
survey was for or what. But one of the questions
was, do you have a disability? And it listed
all the different types of disabilities that
could be considered a disability. And colorblindness
was on the list. And I thought, oh, my goodness.
do I have a disability? It was just so weird.
You mean I could have been parking close to the
grocery store this whole time? Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, that was kind of an eye -opener. I mean,
I get it, though. If you are in a profession
where, I've always said, I couldn't be a great
fashion designer, probably, if I'm not really
seeing the nuances of shades, maybe in the same
visual arts world. But, you know, it's only a
disability in certain areas, I suppose. But,
you know, I mean, how many amputees do we have
that are thriving in certain areas, physical
areas, you know, with their prosthesis? So is
it technically a disability? Not really. They
found a way of turning what was perceived as
a weakness into a strength. So, yeah, and I think
it really is kind of in the eye of the beholder
a little bit. Fully agree. Yeah, great point.
Circling around to a comment you made, and then
we'll kind of walk through some of your deployments
in the Legion, saying that they were the militia
that were hired by aristocracy, or that was kind
of the model back in the day. It's funny how
we've come full circle, because I've made this
point recently with the way that we are now forced
to choose from people who are candidates for
the President of the United States. Who have
only succeeded because they, A, are extremely
wealthy and B, have zero ethics. And I say that
because to become the president, you have to
take money from lobbyists of military, you know,
weapons making companies and pharmaceutical companies
and tobacco companies and all these things. That's
how you got there. So if you think about it,
it's a demistocracy. It's not democracy. It's
aristocracy with the kind of facade of democracy.
And we need to get back to democracy. Don't get
me wrong. I think democracy is an incredible,
you know, political system, but we found ourselves
straying. And just to illustrate the point, our,
you know, young children, men and women in the
military in the States have been sent to fight
wars that we had no business fighting for. And
there's a lot of people that come on the show.
that were sent because of you know post 9 11
knee jerk and rightly so in some areas completely
wrongly in other areas where it's a completely
different country so many of them are reflecting
back now knowing that they did good in those
places where they went you know um at a micro
level but macro they're like what was this for
And I think that we found ourselves almost full
circle again where a lot of our men and women
that sign up for all the right reasons are being
used as pawns for political and financial gain,
not for doing the right thing. Yeah, boy, that's
a – it's one of the reasons why I identify more
now as a Canadian than as – an american and it's
not because of americans it's because of the
political situation in this in the us um and
i there are probably i know that there are multiple
reasons and scenarios why things are becoming
and have become the way they are one of them
being i think that there isn't as much of a shared
sense of what it is to be an american Because
I know if you look at the statistics of the number
of people in government that have done service,
military service, it is a fraction of what it
used to be. And so you don't have that shared
kind of innate trust of your fellow American.
And I mean, the black and white of it is the...
the red and blue of Republicans and Democrats,
the separation that seems to keep on happening
between the two major political parties, a lot
of that seems to be because they simply don't
understand each other. And when you don't understand
each other, that's often what leads to not just
understanding or misunderstanding, but distrust.
And when you don't have an opportunity when you're
younger to experience an environment where you
have to trust the person next to you. I feel
like that is at least part of what leads to what
we're seeing in the US right now and in other
countries as well. And I think that that happens
in just about every country. I mean, countries,
the US is an example. America started because
It needed to get away from the governments of
Europe that were run by the aristocracies, the
privileged classes that were running those parts
of the continent. And so the people that got
out from under that yoke, they started a country
with an idea that was an amazing idea, the idea
of democracy, that people can, People, the government
of the people can rule themselves and make just
laws for themselves. And that has worked for
hundreds of years. But human nature, I think,
is such that individuals can't help in most cases,
but accumulate. power and wealth because they
want to feel secure. And what people's definition
of security differs from person to person and
people's ability to create that sense of security,
whether it's through money or power or whatever,
is different as well. And so ultimately, I think
what we're seeing now in the States is you're
getting A class of people that are wanting to
feel more and more secure. And by doing that,
they're creating more and more of a divide politically
and economically. So it just antagonizes the
whole situation where things and people and ideas
are becoming more and more polarized. At some
point, things are going to break down in the
U .S. I remember reading not long ago that the
upward mobility capability in Europe is better
now than in the U .S. 250 years ago, that was
why the U .S. was created, was because there
was no upward mobility in Europe. The U .S. was
able to create that with a new government and
a new democracy, but now it's flipped. I wish
I could kind of go back in time and get a sense
of what it was like either during the American
Civil War or during the American Revolutionary
War to see if there's any... how much, if at
all similar, our society today is in the U .S.
to what it was like in those periods and those
periods leading to an ultimate break with the
status quo and something being renewed. I don't
like to be a fear monger, but in some ways it
feels like things are getting close to the breaking
point in the U .S. I'm an eternal yet angry optimist,
I always say, because I truly believe in the
good in people. And I hope that the cracks that
are forming in this system, because, I mean,
you can go back, let's say, worst, worst case,
nine years to see the absolute crumbling of,
you know, I don't even want to use the word leadership,
people that are put in DC. i mean it's just been
an absolute debacle and it's been a such a deliberate
wedge driven through you know through this country
and you can see you know you can request the
statistics on the few people that are making
billions and billions and billions and billions
of dollars while you know addiction school safety
obesity i mean all these things that are no one
can refute the ill health of the american people
gets worse and worse and worse so i i don't think
you know people worried about like a a revolution,
a war. I don't think it needs to be that way.
I think it just needs to be an awakening of what
America is supposed to be. And I had a guest
on the other day. I think it was Johnny Miller
was talking about this, I think. I forget who
it was. Anyway, regardless. And they said that
you've got civilians and you've got citizens.
And he said a civilian is just someone who's
in that country. And they get to reap the benefits
of all things America in this case. And you've
got a citizen who actually invests in that country.
So the soldier, the firefighter, those kind of
people, teachers would be great examples of that
kind of person. And then everyone else that just
does good in their community, volunteers, whatever
it is. And the problem is that we haven't had
a citizen as a president for quite a while now.
Therein lies the problem. It's just take, take,
take. And the people that pay are the Americans.
I'll give you a perfect example. I just had Rick
Mountcastle on the show, who was the lawyer that
brought down, well, not brought down, but got
to at least bring to trial Purdue Pharma and
the predatory actions of OxyContin that caused
the opioid crisis that we're suffering from even
to this day. And you listen to the government
corruption with that. You listen to the FDA approving
that and all the back... room deals that were
going on there. He also talks about nursing homes.
And again, same thing. I've had Doug Orchard
talking about our pensions and how private equity
firms have been allowed to just take, take, take
from those government pensions. Again, first
responders and teachers and all these people.
So it is the same exact thing. A few people are
preying on the masses for, as you alluded to,
greed and power. And it's going to take a national
awakening, an international awakening for the
people. No one person is any more important than
another. I don't give a shit if you're the president
or the queen or whoever. We were all born the
same way, cried the same way as babies. And we
have equal opportunity to have a good life, the
same as everyone else. But you get born into
a system and you're told, oh, no, you're just
a. coal miner, whatever the thing is. No, no,
no. You're here. Just go to work, make money,
pay your taxes. And meanwhile, these organizations
are preying on your health is being ruined, all
these things. And they are the ones that are
gaining. They don't go to war. They start wars,
but they don't send their children to war. So
I think that's how we have the great American
revolution of 2026 is by people realizing that
the enemy of this whole disease that's going
on, is coming together and being one people once
again? I'm very curious to see what happens in
2026 and 2028. A great awakening can take the
form of many different things. I obviously hope
that the one is a great awakening and that two,
that it is a peaceful great awakening. It's an
interesting time to be alive and to see what's
happening in the world. I can't imagine being
a World War II veteran, having given so much
and seeing this spoiled child mentality that
is celebrated in 2025. And I think if we really
want to truly pay homage to the men and women
that paved the path for us to be where we are
today, we have to turn this thing around. I totally
agree. There's dudes everywhere with this don't
tread on me snake flag. Dude, you're being trodden
on constantly. When are you going to step up?
Not with your gun, with your mind. When are you
going to step up, realize this is a game, read
a few George Orwell books, and then have this
coming together. As you talked about in the Legion,
the tossed salad, which sends two images in my
mind simultaneously. This is this melting pot
of humans. And as I'm sure you were talking about,
Ukrainians and Russians and whoever the other
people were, in their homeland, they were told
they were enemies. In the Legion, they were men
fighting side by side. And that is the point.
We are human first. Yep. Fully agree. All right.
Well, good little rabbit hole to go down there.
Let's get back on track now. So back to the Legion.
where was it that you first found yourself deployed
once you kind of got this green light you navigated
your training with airborne where did you find
yourself uh first yeah so uh so i was i went
to the parachute regiment and that regiment is
based in calvi corsica and it's there that we
did our uh tap troop aeroport day so basically
um airborne troop training and i was assigned
to the fourth company and that Each of the four
companies in the parachute regiment, they're
kind of modeled after the SAS actually, where
the fourth company was focused on explosives
and sniping. I'm not a great shot. I'm okay with
a pistol, not with a rifle. And I didn't have
my 20 -20 eyesight, so I didn't do sniping. I
invested my time in explosives. The third company
was the amphibious company. Second company. was
the mountain company and the first company was
the urban combat specialization. So I was in
the fourth company and it was, so that would
have been April, May, June, July, summer of 93.
And it was in the winter of 94 that I was first
deployed to Chad, Northern Africa. So Northern
and Central Africa at the time, and still for
the most part today, is kind of like France's
colonial backyard still. They're all obviously
independent countries, but France has a lot of
military, economic, and political investments
in those areas. And so Chad is one of them. And
so they have rotating regiments going into...
Multiple countries, Chad being one. And so my
company was assigned to go to Chad. And there
are basically two places or head bases in Chad
that France has bases in. And that is Ngemena,
which is the capital. And then Abache, which
is this, I guess technically it is a city, but
it's... For the most part, I would say it's kind
of like mud huts, houses. There is an airstrip
at the French military outpost there. And I think
that's the reason why it exists for the French
and for why a French company or was it a platoon
or a company that we'd always go out there as?
I think it was just a platoon. So my platoon
rotated out to Abaché. It felt kind of like the
quintessential Legion outpost that you might
see a picture of a Legionnaire with a white kepi
and a long robe and a rifle standing in the middle
of the desert. That was Abishay. And we were
there in Abishay for a month. And we were always
going on tours, kind of going out into the bush.
doing patrols for days at a time in vehicles.
I know at least once, if not more than a couple
times, we actually crossed the border into Libya
just to kind of check out what was going on.
And it was there that I dug my first hole as
a legionnaire because I wasn't sleeping with
my rifle in my sleeping bag. Uh, and so for punishment,
uh, from like two or three in the morning until,
until daybreak, I had to dig a hole in the sand.
Uh, I got a great photo of it with, it was, it
ended up being like, I don't know, seven, eight
feet deep. Um, and, but it was a great, it was,
again, it was a great experience just being there,
doing that, having now colleagues from around
the world, um, learning about different. parts
of the world and people and life that I never
would have thought I would. And I was enjoying
being young. Now that I look back on it, I was
having the time of my life experiencing that.
And so we were there for four months in Chad,
rotated back to the capital of the country. But
there was... There was kind of little things
going on in North and Central Africa, sometimes
big things like Sudan right now. And Sudan at
the time was calm. Sudan is immediately to the
east of Chad. And Abashe is just a few hours'
drive from the border of Sudan, but there was
nothing going on at the time. So it was fairly
low -key in Chad, nothing big happening. um so
that tour ended uh went back then after that
tour is when i got my first leave so it was that
would have been um over a year since i had joined
the legion and i got my first leave where it
was the first time that i got to put on civilian
clothing again and that that just putting on
a pair of levi's felt strange um i was starting
to Just a few weeks before leaving Africa and
knowing that we were going to leave, I started
dreaming about McDonald's Big Macs and the foods
that I was going to eat and the things that I
was going to do and just the clothes that I was
going to wear. It all felt so foreign. When I
went on leave, I understood finally at least
an inkling of what it might have been like for...
for people that had been in Vietnam or different
conflicts. And when they go on leave or they
finish their service and how life just doesn't
feel the same, that it is different or that people
don't understand or whatever. I didn't have it
nearly to that same degree because I didn't have
the same, anywhere near that same level of challenge,
I guess, just being in Chad. But it was like,
I got an inkling of what the feeling was like.
And my mother and sister actually came to France
to spend time with me on my leave. So I didn't
actually leave the country. I just stayed in
France. And for a week, we kind of roamed around
the country. So that was fun. Then went back
after leave. And that was when, so that would
have been 94, 94. That was when we went on our
first commando training school in the Pyrenees.
So there's a national commando training center
in two locations in the Pyrenees. One is in Couliour,
which is right on the coast of the Mediterranean.
And then the Pyrenees start basically right up
there, splitting Spain and France. And the other
part of the training was in a fort area called...
uh mont louis um there are a string of forts
all along the pyrenees that were developed uh
in like the 15 or 1600s by a famous military
architect called vauban he was like the most
famous military architect of the time and so
one of these forts has been turned into a commando
training center and uh so did that for i want
to say three weeks maybe three or four weeks
um that was great fun that was i mean learned
survival training and advanced hand -to -hand
combat and foreign weapons instruction um had
like obstacle courses of all different types
all over the place and i just i loved it it was
being tested physically um and did i did pretty
well in that course as well and doing like uh
multiple uh night long marches like 75 kilometers
in three nights um and being fed things that
you wouldn't believe you could eat um it was
yeah loved it the whole time i mean now that
i think back on it i'm like wow that was just
so awesome i love that i'm sure as the example
what in the middle of it i was like man this
really is hard this sucks what was the worst
thing you had to eat um live fish uh so when
we were in coleor uh which is on again on the
coast right at the base of the pyrenees um we
were given a bucket i don't know if they were
mackerel or i don't know what they were but uh
That was the meal for the day was a bucket of
these, I don't know, like six or eight inch long
fish that were kind of flapping around. And for
me, it wasn't that bad. It actually wasn't bad
at all. One of the things that I did in the Legion
was I didn't want people to be fully confident
or secure on who I was. Um, so I, and so one
of the things that I did was I would eat random
things that people be like, why, what are you
doing? And that's like gross. And I eat lizards
and frogs and, and worms, um, that were always
live, but, uh, just to kind of keep people on
their toes a little bit. Um, but the, yeah, the,
the flapping fish that were, uh, a pretty decent
size that you couldn't just swallow whole. that
took a little getting used to. So what about
Bosnia? How did you find yourself there and what
was your experience? Yeah, Bosnia was a mess.
So when I finished my jump training in the rep
and was assigned to the fourth company, that
company had just gotten back from, Bosnia in
1993. And they were based primarily in Sarajevo.
And it was when the Civil War was kind of at
its height. Whether they were there as a part
of the UN or not, I'm not sure. But it was apparently
pretty darn hairy. Serbs and the Croats and the
Bosnian Muslims and just the whole mix. They
were all fighting each other. And you had the
Legion trying to insert itself to keep them from
killing each other. But instead, oftentimes they
just killed the Legionnaires that were there
because they were in the way, basically. And
so it was the first time I met some guys that
had some physical scars from being there. I had
learned that some of the guys, did not come back
from there um and that's when i really felt like
okay i'm really a newbie here i'm really just
i don't know anything um and so it was after
my first tour to africa that we went back to
bosnia in 96 i think um from november 95 to the
spring of 96 so we were there it was cold Let
me put it that way. I mean, the Winter Olympics
were in Sarajevo for a reason and that they get
a fair amount of snow. And so while I don't,
I can't say because I wasn't there in 93, I don't
think that things were as hot in 95, 96 as they
were in 93. One, because there was more of a
UN presence there by that time in 95, 96. And
two, there was more, I think that there was more
tension from the world on what was happening
in Yugoslavia. So while the Kurats and the Bosnians
and the Bosnian Muslims and Serbs were still
fighting each other, it wasn't as active. They
still were. And there were still some kind of
dicey situations. And it still sometimes felt
like we were kind of in the middle of something
and we shouldn't be there. But then you also
had other influences that were starting to come
in that Western countries were concerned about.
So, for example, Iran was getting more involved
in supporting Bosnian Muslims. I don't know how
much or if Russia was supporting the Serbs or
not. The thing that I remember most about Bosnia
was just the cold and sleeping sometimes, waking
up under snow in a sleeping bag and just being
freezing. And I don't do well with the cold.
When I finished grad school, my only job criteria
was that I had to live and work somewhere below
the 35th parallel, which is like Florida, Southern
California, Texas or something. So here I was
in Bosnia in the middle of winter without shelter.
And so for me, that was more difficult. That
was more tough than pretty much anything that
I had experienced in the Legion. I don't know
if you saw, I'm pretty sure it was Sarajevo.
Almost certain it was that conflict. But a news
story just broke that apparently there was almost
like this human hunting thing that was going
on where... People from other countries were
supposedly going to that war zone and being allowed
to snipe. I forget which side it was now, but
probably that kind of sniper alley type thing
where, you know, literally like some of the Hollywood
movies have portrayed in the past, but you were
basically hunting humans. Wow. I didn't know
that. I can't say I personally experienced that
there, but I wouldn't be surprised because they
were. All three sides, they were also determined.
I remember on one of our patrols, we were on
patrol specifically to find and destroy sniper
positions on the side of some hill somewhere.
And I remember seeing how much time and effort
and resources. And I can't remember who it was,
whether it was the Serbs or the Croats or the
Bosnian Muslims had put into creating these different
bivouacs and tunnels and barricaded places on
the side of this mountain. But it was impressive.
And the trenches that they had going between
them, I couldn't believe that they had actually
left these positions because they seemed so well.
fortified um but it was great i have to say it
was fun kind of blowing them all up uh and and
eliminating them um but yeah they were all three
sides they were pretty darn determined so what
made you finally decide to transition out of
the foreign legion and then which kind of uh
career path did you take after that yeah i knew
when i went to the legion that it wasn't going
to be a lifelong career. Um, the, I knew it had,
it had to be at least five years, five years
is the minimum initial contract. Um, and I was
fairly confident that I would do that minimum
five years and no more, and then go back to a
normal career, what that career would be. I didn't
know at the time. Um, and, but I do remember,
so in my third tour, when I was in, the Central
African Republic, we actually, we actually did
go on. So we went on tour, a second tour to Chad.
And when we were on tour in Chad, that's when
we were called up to go from Chad to the Central
African Republic, because there was basically
a coup d 'etat was in progress. And so we were
sent, so this was in 97. And I remember I, I
had started to think about, okay, I've got a
year and something left before I'm done with
my five years. What do I want to do next? And
I decided I wanted to go to graduate school.
So I wanted to get a joint degree. I wanted to
get an MBA and a Juris Doctorate, so a law degree.
So I started to study for the entrance examinations
for both of those. So there's something called
the GMAT, which is what you take to get into
a graduate school for a master's or uh an mba
and then there's the lsat which is the entrance
exam you take to get into law school so i had
like books uh that i had brought with me uh to
chad and that there then came with me to central
african republic um even though it was kind of
a hot zone at that point and i remember i remember
so we we would set up bivouacs or or just sites
for my squad and then our platoon in random places
throughout the city, whether that was a totally
rundown building that had been bombed for whatever
reason, or a half -built building, or in one
case we had taken over part of a Catholic convent.
And I still remember we were in a room and I
had my cot set up with mosquito netting and a
flashlight. and I was studying for the GMAT.
I was thinking, I bet there aren't many people
that have studied for their entrance examination
in a place like this. Again, because I was getting
close to the end of my career with Legion, I
knew I wanted to go back to school. I was again
thinking maybe finance, even though I wasn't,
again, that great with numbers. When I did finish
the Legion, got accepted to the George Washington
University, which is in Washington, D .C. I was
not accepted into their law school, but I was
accepted into their international affairs program.
I was able to pursue an MBA in international
business and then a master's in international
affairs. What allowed me to do the international
affairs was now being able to speak French. because
of having been in the Legion. What I really wanted
to do with either of those two degrees, I didn't
even know then. What I realized, though, was
that I was really going back to school to network,
to find out about what there was in the world
that I could do as a more traditional career.
And it was where I realized... I actually realized,
again, I knew this in undergrad, that I really
like technology. I love computers, love software.
I'm good at it. And so even though I got degrees
in areas that are not specific to technology,
I figured that I like technology so much I can
learn it on my own. And that's essentially what
I did. So this was the dot -com era. So the 2000s.
And after graduate school, I got a job with a
technology company called MicroStrategy, and
they did analytics. So basically, data mining,
the precursor of data cleansing and data quality.
data analytics, like algorithms and statistics
and machine learning, and now called artificial
intelligence that you have today. But it was
in that area. And so I was hired by this company
called MicroStrategy. And they were the high
flyers at the time for this area of software.
Their stock had skyrocketed to 300. as a share.
They were hiring as fast as they could. My primary
job criteria was that I live and work somewhere
below the 35th parallel. They hired me to work
out of their Southern California office. Finishing
my two degrees, I was driving from Washington,
D .C. to basically El Segundo, California, which
is just south of Los Angeles, and stopping to
see my parents in Colorado and Arizona on the
way. It was when I was in Colorado that I saw
on the news that this company that I had just
been hired by, their stock price had fallen from
$300 to $30. I can't remember why it happened,
something dramatic, drastic, I don't know. But
I basically learned through the news that they
were letting go of a boatload of people. And
I thought, oh, I wonder if I'm one of those people.
So I basically contacted my company. They said,
oh, yeah, you no longer have a job waiting for
you in California. I was like, oh, okay. But
you get to keep your signing bonus, your moving
bonus, and you get severance. This is for a company
that I had not worked a minute for. I had not
even started my job. But they also gave me a
spreadsheet with like, I don't know, 100, 200
contacts of companies and recruiters around the
U .S., even their competitors, that I could start.
contacting to see to find another job well compared
to what you hear of a lot of companies you know
I was really impressed and have been impressed
to this day by that company for having done that
yeah they didn't they obviously didn't have to
do that but they did and so I was yeah again
I I was impressed not only that but it was like
two years later after I had been working for
this other company, that I received a letter
from this original company, MicroStrategy. And
it was an additional check because they said
they had taken too much taxes out of the severance
that they had given me. So I was like, all right,
I wish I could find more jobs like this. But
the company they ultimately then worked for,
Crystal Decisions was headquartered in Vancouver,
Canada. Is that below that latitude line you're
talking about? Oh, it's way above it. It's like,
well, Canada -US parallel is 49th parallel. So
yeah, I definitely did not meet my primary job
criteria. So I started working for them out of
Colorado because that happened to be where my
mother was living and where I grew up. And so
I worked... out of Colorado for a year. All of
their new hires came to Vancouver for the initial
company training. There was a week of company
training. Then if you were in a technical software
role, which is what I was in, you would take
technical training as well. It just so happened
that my future wife was the technical trainer.
Either I was a good student or I needed remedial
training. one of the two but we hit it off uh
and coming this march we will have been together
for 25 years uh and and so that's how i ended
up in vancouver amazing so you're in this kind
of corporate space for a long long time what
where does the itch to get into aviation come
from and it's going to walk through that journey
yeah so uh so i had this company that i started
with crystal decisions it was acquired twice
and ultimately became what is today sap which
is a multinational software company headquarters
in germany it's kind of germany's microsoft like
70 of the world's commerce goes through an sap
system at some point or another and i had a really
great career with with sap 19 years started off
as a kind of a junior technical consultant and
finished as a vice president of our analytics
organization. And then I was starting to get
burnt out with the industry, not just the industry,
but white collar work. But there was an opportunity
to join a smaller startup slash growth company
that had actually been started by executives
from SAP. So I gave that a go for It was almost
four years. And in February of 2023, the company
had a reduction in force. So they let some people
go. And for the first time in my life, I was
someone that was let go from a job. And at first,
I was like, my self -confidence was like down
the tubes. I thought, wow, I'm being let go.
I guess I'm not needed or not wanted or something.
But it was literally just a few minutes after
I was having the conversation with both HR and
my boss, who I'm still really good friends with,
that I realized this is actually great because
I had been feeling for since before coming to
that company that I was kind of stuck. I wasn't
challenged. I was more going through the motions
of this job. And so it was a blessing in disguise
that I was let go. Again, with severance. I had
invested as well. I've always been interested
in the stock market. When I was in the Legion,
when most of my comrades, they were spending
their money on wine, women, and booze, as a famous
Tom T. Hall song goes, I was actually sending
international money orders back to the U .S.
with Fidelity Investments and investing in the
stock market. And so that investing has really
served me well. And so that's what allowed me
in February 2023 to decide I could either just
retire at 53 years old or I could do something
totally different. And so I was told it was still
COVID time in the winter of 2023, February 2023.
But people were just starting to go back to the
office that wanted to. And I was one that I functioned
better in the office than at home to do work.
And so I was there in the office. It was like
8 .30 in the morning. No one else was there.
But I see my boss and the head of HR coming down
the hallway. And they're coming toward my desk.
And there's no one else around on the whole floor.
And I'm thinking, oh, I wonder if they just come
to chat. And they get to my desk. And I'm sitting
there looking up at them and they say, can we
have a conversation? I was like, oh, okay, yeah.
So we went into this little conference room and
started letting me know that I was being let
go. And so after that, it was mid -morning and
I'm walking home and I get home and it's like
10 in the morning, walk through the door. My
wife's working from home and she looks at me
and she's on a conference call and she's like,
Got a puzzled look. And so she hangs up and she's
like, have you been let go from work? She could
feel it. She knew. And I was like, yeah. And
I was like, and I feel great. That walk, the
walk home from the office, it was like a 40 minute
walk. It just. It was becoming more and more
evident to me that I was being let go. I was
being let go in that I was being set free because
I had these golden handcuffs of the security
of the salary I was making, the bonuses that
I would get and all that stuff. But it's not
what I needed in life. I needed to be challenged
again. I went back out from home and decided
there's a famous walk in Vancouver called the
Seawall. And it's basically Vancouver's on a
peninsula and you can walk around the seawall.
And it was kind of like today. It was a gray,
chilly, wet morning. And I'm walking around the
seawall and I hear a helicopter flying overhead.
And I look up and it was the sleek blue and white
helicopter. Now I know it's a Sikorsky S -76,
but it looks like an executive helicopter. They
don't have the skids. The wheels retract up into
the body. And it was just cruising along overhead,
going over Stanley Park. And I was like, that's
pretty cool. Maybe I should look again into becoming
a helicopter pilot or a pilot of some sort. And
so a few days later, so I'm researching all this.
And the first thing I was worried about was my
eyesight, my colorblindness. And that's when
I started reading about how you can be color
deficient or have some levels of colorblindness,
but you can still fly. exactly type of colorblindness
I had or how bad it was, if it was too bad to
fly. But I went and got an aviation medical exam.
It was fine for everything except for the color
dot book test. And the physician, he was an airplane
pilot. And he was asking me why I wanted to become
a helicopter pilot, one, at my age, 53, and two,
why helicopters? Aren't they more dangerous?
What happens if you lose an engine in a helicopter?
Because now I know differently. But he thought
if a helicopter loses an engine, it just kind
of falls to the ground like a rock, unlike a
plane that can glide. And I thought, well, that's
part of why I want to do this. It's more dangerous.
I want the challenge. Now I learned that if a
helicopter loses an engine, it can glide to the
ground. as well actually better than an airplane
but anyway um so i failed the the color test
and i said i understand that there's an additional
color test that i can take called the farnsworth
test and so they booked me for an appointment
with this an optometrist or ophthalmologist specialist
to be able to take this test and that's what
i did then and at the same time i was then researching
uh aviation schools in the area so helicopter
schools um and that's when i ultimately landed
on the school that i got my license from called
chinook helicopters uh they were able to take
me in like a month and a half after i inquired
and got my initial flight uh in in a helicopter
they give you a first flight just to see if you
would actually would like to do something like
that and i loved it When you do that first flight,
they give you the controls as much as they can
or that you can handle. I learned pretty quickly
that it was going to take me a while to learn
the cyclic and the collective and the pedals
and just be able to hover. Hover is actually
quite hard in a helicopter already, but when
you're 53 years old and your brain doesn't make
these new connections as quickly as it did when
you were 23 years old, things take longer. So
I learned pretty quickly that while you can teach
an old dog new tricks, it just takes longer.
And so it took me about twice as long as the
guys, the people that were half my age to get
through the school. So from May 23 to December
23, I was full time learning how to fly helicopters
and learning all of the The ground school portion,
the theoretical part from aerodynamics to weather
to there's lots of legal parameters that you
have to learn about flying anywhere in the world.
It's basically like going to university again.
It's like getting a university degree, but for
flying. But I was loving every minute of it.
No, I shouldn't say that. It's recent enough
memory so that I know I wasn't loving every minute
of it. many days where i was so frustrated with
myself because it was taking me so long to learn
some of these things and not to learn the theoretical
pieces but to get my brain and my body to work
together to learn just the art and the science
of flying to get my hands and my feet and my
brain to get those new pathways in my brain to
be created, to learn this stuff. And it was so
frustrating so many times. And there were several
times where I thought, man, am I going to be
able to get this? Or am I just throwing money
down the drain? And I asked multiple times my
instructor and other instructors at the school,
like, is there a point where you know that you
just can't be a pilot? And for the most part,
they were like, yeah, you haven't gotten there
yet. Keep pushing for it. And at one point, I
was even, are they just saying this because I'm
giving them – I'm fairly well off. I can just
keep on paying them to try to teach me how to
fly a helicopter. But ultimately, I got it, and
I passed my flight test with great – it was like
flying colors, pun intended. And since then,
I've gotten endorsements on multiple types of
helicopters. I've gotten my night rating. I just
finished my instrument flight rules rating, which
is what will allow me to fly for the company
I work for now, Helijet, which is the first helicopter
that I saw flying overhead two years ago. and
flying to the helicopter pad in the middle of
the city where I now work doing groundwork for
this company, Helijet. And it really gave me
a new lease on life. I feel 20 years younger.
I'm challenged again. I'm excited to go to work
in the morning. If someone would have told me
a few years ago that when you're 55 years old,
you'll be working outside in the rain, making
less than a living wage. uh i would have thought
are you crazy but i love going to work i love
working with people that are half my age i like
the fact that i've learned a new skill and that
soon i will be flying and being paid to fly rather
than paying to fly just to underline that point
at the moment you're providing the ground services
for the pilots is that right so that's just to
kind of show the determination and getting to
this point, you have the humility to do the jobs
that are supporting the pilot. That's absolutely
right. And not only that, like I vacuum the floors,
I clean the bathrooms, I get things, I load people's
suitcases, I clean the helicopters, I refuel
the helicopters. I'm not even... being paid to
fly yet. I have gotten to the point where I can
fly without having to pay to fly. So Helijet
will let me fly their helicopters if there are
no passengers on it. And I'll either be flying
for Helijet sometime soon, or I'm looking at
another company as well where it's actually another.
potential chapter on my adventure. I might be
flying for a company called Custom Helicopters
in Manitoba, flying near the Arctic Circle, either
flying emergency medical helicopters or flying
another type of helicopter to provide supplies
and ferrying people and medical equipment for
indigenous populations that you can't get to
easily. So there are lots of opportunities. looking
at now for this but i like to say the world's
my oyster uh and this is what i've chosen to
do in it now that sounds amazing especially the
second one really does how did you and dave cross
paths then was it in the sim uh no not so he's
doing the sim work now our paths crossed when
so helijet does recurring ground school training
for all of its pilots um and for people and so
The chief pilot at Helijet, his name is Mike
Garland. He was also a pilot in the British military.
Just a great guy. And basically his mantra is
that anyone that is a pilot at Helijet, regardless
of the work they're doing at Helijet, they are
pilots in his eyes. So even those of us that
are pilots but that are still doing groundwork.
He lets us participate in the ground school recurrent
training with the helijet pilots. And that's
where I met Dave Becerra -Best first. He was
an instructor in the ground school. And he had
heard about me through Mike Garland. And so we'd
had a few conversations back and forth about
our experiences in the military. And I got to
fly with. uh dave uh he there was a point in
time where he there were no passengers on his
flight so he let me fly the helicopter from vancouver
to uh victoria or vancouver to um downtown to
the international airport which is where helijet
bases most of its helicopters at night um and
then we just we hit it off from there and and
so in the last couple weeks before he was leaving
helijet to go do his new simulator career. We
were just chatting more and more about different
things. And that's when I learned that he was
colorblind. And that's where he learned that
I was colorblind and some of the challenges that
I had gone through to actually serve in the military.
And he, and that's when he said, you know, you
really should talk to James. And I was like,
I don't have that colorful of a history like
yours. I listened to the podcast that you two
did and I thought, wow, that was really cool.
He'd also had a British documentary series on
first responders. But in particular, not the
Coast Guard, but I can't remember what it used
to be called in the British military. It used
to be the British military that provided first
responder services. And now I think it's a private
organization. But he flew Pumas for a regiment,
multiple regiments in the RAF for first responders.
And I know he flew with Prince William. And so
watching those episodes was really cool. So that's
how I got to know Dave. Fantastic. Well, I want
to be mindful of your time, so I'm going to throw
some quick closing questions at you, if that's
okay. Yeah, sure. First one I love to ask, is
there a book or are there books that you love
to recommend? It can be related to our discussion
today or completely unrelated. That is a good
question. Well, right now I'm reading Cosmos
by Carl Sagan, and I have a very eclectic taste.
in books and music um so i'm reading cosmos now
uh i just finished the underground railroad by
author's name escapes me um the biographies of
george washington and franklin um i like science
fiction i like fantasy um but if there's yeah
if there's any one particular book That sticks
with me more than any other. You might laugh
at this, but it is probably Gone with the Wind.
Which is about the U .S. about it's a historical
fiction U .S. Civil War. And I just I'm fascinated
by the American Civil War for reasons I can't
explain. And I have a romantic nostalgia for
the South, even though I didn't believe in. pretty
much any of the reasons why they were fighting.
When I was reading Gone with the Wind, it was
just before I decided to leave for the Legion.
I was doing different things just to explore
the world or test myself. I was fasting for three
days. On the second day of my fasting is when
I started reading this book Gone with the Wind.
The first couple of chapters of this book are
the author describing these amazing feasts of
Southern food being cooked and eaten. And I'm
on my second day of fasting and I'm thinking,
how is this happening? How is this? But the book
itself is a fantastic story. So I would probably
go to the book Gone with the Wind. Ken Burns
just released a documentary on the American revolution.
I think it just came on PBS. Oh, you are. Yeah.
I haven't hit play yet, but I'm looking forward
to finding some time for that. Yeah. It's really
good. All right. Well, speaking of that, then
what about television film documentaries that
you love? The, I would say the, if I had to choose
only one film that. I could have experienced
or that I could recommend to someone. Well, there
are two, but the one that I think is probably
more important is The Mission with the music
by N .U. Morricone and directed by, I can't remember
the director. He's a British director, but it's
about 16th century South America and the Spanish
and the Portuguese. They're fighting over territory
and how they basically completely mistreat and
subjugate the indigenous peoples there. And where
the Catholic religion has the opportunity to,
what's the word I want? They're trying to do
good things, but they're caught between the,
nobilities of Spain and Portugal. And essentially,
in order to keep the peace in Europe, the Catholic
Church decides that the Portuguese win this argument,
which means that the indigenous peoples are further
subjugated and enslaved. And it's a heartbreaking
story, but it's also a beautiful story because
Robert De Niro is in it and he starts off as
a slave runner, but basically kills his brother
for various reasons, becomes a Jesuit priest
trying to be a better person, but ultimately
ends up becoming a... fighter again to fight
off the portuguese but because he's doing that
he's excommunicated from the jesuit order uh
and it's not a happy ending in this movie but
it it's just beautifully uh written and acted
and the music is is beautiful as well so the
mission um second movie star wars yeah i was
seven years old when star wars came out and i
still remember my grandfather taking me to star
wars i've always been a star wars fan It's interesting
what you're saying about the mission. My mom
and my brother moved to Portugal. So I've got
to really kind of experience it, not only visiting,
but also from them living there now. And they
now in modern society are a very, very well connected
communal. kind society where a lot of the things
that the Portuguese leaders do are for the betterment
of the Portuguese people. So they're kind of
looked down on by a lot of European nations,
I think, because they're not as developed or
whatever you want to call it, but they do a lot
of things so well. And then even with the Catholic
Church, of course, there are some very dark chapters
of that specific part of the religion too in
the history. But the Catholic Church is being
the loudest voice when it comes to some of the
atrocities that are happening around the world
and them opposing it. So it just goes to show
you can have a bad past like the British and,
you know, hopefully do better things. Or you
can not stand up against the tyranny in your
own country and watch your country start to spiral
towards those atrocities. So caution retail.
Yeah, that is a great point. It shows as well
that we are all human. No one's perfect. There's
always a chance for redemption, whether you're
an individual or an entire country. I'm an optimist
by nature as well. I like to say that optimism
is a free resource. I'm optimistic that we, as
a human species, we will still find our way and
ultimately be better. in the future than we have
been in the past. I agree. Because I think if
you look at a lot of the ancient wisdom, if you
look at the core of a lot of the religious texts,
they are about kindness, compassion, empathy,
service. And the reason why those have lasted
for so long is because our ancestors are telling
us, look, don't do the war thing. Don't do the
torture and enslavement thing. Do the kindness,
compassion, love thing. So it wouldn't have stood
the test of time if the future of humanity was
just for us to kill each other you know it makes
no sense so we can turn our heads away from history
or we can lean into it and say all right it's
time for us to start learning now yeah absolutely
i wonder like i'm a believer that there is extraterrestrial
life um and i am i'm a believer that when we
find extraterrestrial life that hopefully it
will not be too late i don't think it will be
that will be one of the major things that make
us realize that we're all in this together and
that we will realize that we need to help each
other and that we do understand each other and
that we have a core set of beliefs that we all
can operate by and that are centered around all
those words that you just used. If they come
bearing anal probes, I've got a list of who they
should hit first. Yeah. Nice. All right. Well,
the next question, is there a person that you
recommend to come on this podcast as a guest
to speak to the first responders, military, and
associated professions of the world? There would
be. So a fellow legionnaire and Canadian whose
name is Joel Struthers. He is also a helicopter
pilot. He became a helicopter pilot pretty much
right after he left the Legion. So he's been
a helicopter pilot for a long time. And he had
a very colorful career in the Legion. And he
actually wrote several books, one book specifically
about his time in the Legion. And I will text
that to you. But I think he would be an excellent
pilot. person for you to have on your show. Beautiful.
He sounds amazing. So thank you. All right. Well,
the very last question before we make sure everyone
knows where to find you, what do you do to decompress?
So I do woodworking for a hobby. I've made all
of the wood furniture in my home and I have a
wood shop. So this hobby started like 12, 13
years ago. just going to a local community center,
learning how to do some woodworking. And that
evolved into me purchasing a commercial property
where I have my wood chop and I lease the upper
floor to an architect. And at the time, my wife
said, your hobby is getting expensive. But it
has been a very good purchase since then, both
financially and mentally, because that is where
I go to decompress. I go to my... my workshop,
and there's no one else there. There's just my
tools and machines. And some of the tools come
from my wife's great grandfather who built houses
in Vancouver. And I use them and I almost kind
of feel his presence when I'm using his chisels
and hand planes. But that's where I go to get
away from everyone and everything and decompress.
Beautiful. For people listening then. If they
want to reach out to you, learn more about you,
where are the best places online to do that?
I'm not very good at social media and social
sites, but LinkedIn is probably the place where
I have anything that is about me or that I kind
of pay attention to to some degree would be on
LinkedIn. I'm clearly not very good at social
media either because Instagram shut my page down
for the second time. So it doesn't seem to like
kindness, compassion, unity, that kind of thing.
But if I was divisive, I'm sure I'd probably
have a million followers. Right, right. All right.
Well, Ty, I want to thank you so much. Thank
you to Dave again for connecting us. But thank
you. It's been such an interesting conversation.
So different than so many on here. And for the
first time on this show, at least an insight
into. this incredibly kind of mystical unit known
as the Foreign Legion. And then, you know, your
journey in and then again, the humility to at
53 years old say, I'm going to do something else.
So I want to thank you so, so much for being
so generous with your time today and coming on
the Behind the Shield podcast. Well, James, thank
you very much for having me on. I am very thankful
and honored to be on it. So appreciate it.