WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.799 This episode is sponsored by StationWise, the 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:05.879 first staffing software to be truly firefighter 00:00:05.879 --> 00:00:09.240 proof. Now you may be wondering why I have software 00:00:09.240 --> 00:00:11.820 as a sponsor when I focus usually on physical 00:00:11.820 --> 00:00:15.000 and mental health of the first responders, and 00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:18.420 I will tell you exactly why. For the first time, 00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:21.699 this is a staffing platform that also is able 00:00:21.699 --> 00:00:25.140 to integrate wellness information through core 00:00:25.140 --> 00:00:29.100 load tracking, exposures, and wearables integration. 00:00:29.780 --> 00:00:33.140 Now, of course, StationWise focuses on staffing 00:00:33.140 --> 00:00:36.420 and allows you to manage staffing, choose vacation 00:00:36.420 --> 00:00:40.700 picks, put in rules for leave and trades, and 00:00:40.700 --> 00:00:43.600 even deploying strike teams. But through the 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:46.759 latest programming in AI automation, they have 00:00:46.759 --> 00:00:49.640 streamlined this process to free up battalion 00:00:49.640 --> 00:00:52.159 chiefs so they can focus on what they're supposed 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:54.899 to be doing on the operational side and the fire 00:00:54.899 --> 00:00:58.009 ground. Now, StationWise is also able to monitor 00:00:58.009 --> 00:01:00.469 not only how many calls we've responded to in 00:01:00.469 --> 00:01:03.210 the shift, but the duration of the call, therefore 00:01:03.210 --> 00:01:06.530 the rest and recovery in between, thus monitoring 00:01:06.530 --> 00:01:09.129 the sleep deprivation that degrades our health 00:01:09.129 --> 00:01:12.069 and performance. It's accessible not only through 00:01:12.069 --> 00:01:15.030 the computer, but also on Apple and Android devices, 00:01:15.349 --> 00:01:17.989 meaning that you can access it not only within 00:01:17.989 --> 00:01:21.439 the station itself, but outside as well. Now, 00:01:21.459 --> 00:01:23.719 one of the most powerful features of StationWise, 00:01:23.780 --> 00:01:26.599 in my opinion, is the ability to run reports. 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:30.599 Therefore, for example, be able to see just how 00:01:30.599 --> 00:01:33.620 much money is being used on overtime that could 00:01:33.620 --> 00:01:36.579 actually be front -loaded for proactive staffing, 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:39.920 as well as setting alarms knowing when you are 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:43.079 hitting overtime parameters. And another important 00:01:43.079 --> 00:01:46.140 feature is the integration of other programs 00:01:46.140 --> 00:01:49.180 and software for payroll, training, reports, 00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:52.920 etc. Now, StationWise is trusted by numerous 00:01:52.920 --> 00:01:57.459 agencies in California, Texas, and Idaho. And 00:01:57.459 --> 00:02:00.060 if you want to hear the full story from the founder, 00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:03.439 who he himself is a son of a firefighter, listen 00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:08.680 to episode 1163 with Marcus Edwards. And if you 00:02:08.680 --> 00:02:11.979 want to book a demo or learn more, go to stationwise 00:02:11.979 --> 00:02:16.080 .com. Welcome to the Behind the Shield podcast. 00:02:16.219 --> 00:02:18.180 As always, my name is James Geering and this 00:02:18.180 --> 00:02:20.180 week it is my absolute honor to welcome on the 00:02:20.180 --> 00:02:24.639 show French Foreign Legion veteran and aviator 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:28.919 Ty Miller. Now in this conversation we discuss 00:02:28.919 --> 00:02:32.180 a host of topics. From Ty's original journey 00:02:32.180 --> 00:02:35.599 into the American military, how his color vision 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:39.139 made him ineligible, his journey into the French 00:02:39.139 --> 00:02:43.340 Foreign Legion, their history, his deployments 00:02:43.340 --> 00:02:48.259 to Chad and Bosnia, his transition out, his journey 00:02:48.259 --> 00:02:52.039 into aviation, and so much more. Now, before 00:02:52.039 --> 00:02:54.139 we get to this incredible conversation, as I 00:02:54.139 --> 00:02:57.479 say every week, please just take a moment. Go 00:02:57.479 --> 00:03:00.180 to whichever app you listen to this on, subscribe 00:03:00.180 --> 00:03:04.039 to the show, leave feedback, and leave a rating. 00:03:04.659 --> 00:03:08.039 Every single five -star rating truly does elevate 00:03:08.039 --> 00:03:10.740 this podcast, therefore making it easier for 00:03:10.740 --> 00:03:14.360 others to find. And this is a free library of 00:03:14.360 --> 00:03:19.219 almost 1 ,200 episodes now. So all I ask in return 00:03:19.219 --> 00:03:22.340 is that you help share these incredible men and 00:03:22.340 --> 00:03:25.539 women's stories so I can get them to every single 00:03:25.539 --> 00:03:28.400 person on planet Earth who needs to hear them. 00:03:28.979 --> 00:03:33.219 So with that being said, I introduce to you Ty 00:03:33.219 --> 00:03:56.370 Miller. Enjoy. Well, Ty, I want to start by saying 00:03:56.370 --> 00:03:58.849 two things. Firstly, thank you to our mutual 00:03:58.849 --> 00:04:01.669 friend, Dave Prechera Best, for making this introduction. 00:04:02.129 --> 00:04:04.789 And secondly, I want to welcome you onto the 00:04:04.789 --> 00:04:07.610 Behind the Shield podcast today. Thank you very 00:04:07.610 --> 00:04:10.349 much, James. I appreciate being on. Now, is Ty 00:04:10.349 --> 00:04:14.330 short for anything or is it just Ty? Haha, good 00:04:14.330 --> 00:04:18.490 question. Ty is a part of my middle name. So 00:04:18.490 --> 00:04:23.290 my full name is Walter Tyrone Miller. Tyrone, 00:04:23.490 --> 00:04:25.990 usually people hear the word Tyrone and they're 00:04:25.990 --> 00:04:28.350 thinking someone's a little bit bigger and maybe 00:04:28.350 --> 00:04:33.310 a different color than me. Yes. But so the short 00:04:33.310 --> 00:04:35.970 story behind that is, so my father is a cowboy 00:04:35.970 --> 00:04:40.610 and he had a favorite horse when I was born and 00:04:40.610 --> 00:04:43.670 his horse's name was Ty. So I was named after 00:04:43.670 --> 00:04:46.490 my father's horse and my mother said, well, it 00:04:46.490 --> 00:04:48.430 can't be just Ty. It has to be a little bit longer. 00:04:48.529 --> 00:04:51.920 So she added the Roan, which is also a. color 00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:55.160 of horse so but my sister and i both go by our 00:04:55.160 --> 00:04:57.819 middle names so that's where ty comes from i'm 00:04:57.819 --> 00:05:00.480 so glad i asked that the reason i did my son 00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:03.879 is ty t -a -i and i and rather than make it short 00:05:03.879 --> 00:05:08.120 for something because i had a a um a co -counselor 00:05:08.120 --> 00:05:10.540 when i was a counselor on summer camps and his 00:05:10.540 --> 00:05:13.560 name was ty and it was short for tyrone But he 00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:15.819 was an African -American gentleman from Atlanta 00:05:15.819 --> 00:05:19.040 that dressed in all hip hop stuff and had dreads. 00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:21.459 And we were just this great kind of like good 00:05:21.459 --> 00:05:24.779 cop, bad cop combo for these wealthy children 00:05:24.779 --> 00:05:27.439 that we got to take care of for a few months. 00:05:27.800 --> 00:05:30.319 But yeah, that was the inspiration of my son's 00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:32.399 name. But it was the reverse because I didn't 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:35.240 want it to be, you know, shortened of something. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:38.040 I just made it Thai, T -A -I. So there we go. 00:05:38.139 --> 00:05:43.009 Interesting stories about names. All right. Well, 00:05:43.110 --> 00:05:44.990 very first question, where on planet Earth are 00:05:44.990 --> 00:05:49.269 we finding you today? I am in Vancouver, Canada, 00:05:49.509 --> 00:05:53.269 right downtown. My wife and I live in a very 00:05:53.269 --> 00:05:58.449 nice apartment on English Bay. And it's as typical 00:05:58.449 --> 00:06:02.550 for Vancouver in any month that is not kind of 00:06:02.550 --> 00:06:08.290 May through August. It's a little chilly and 00:06:08.290 --> 00:06:13.370 wet and rainy here. Sometimes we often like it 00:06:13.370 --> 00:06:15.189 that way because it keeps the city from getting 00:06:15.189 --> 00:06:19.670 too busy. Sadly, when I think of Vancouver, I 00:06:19.670 --> 00:06:23.310 think of, if I've got the right city, I think 00:06:23.310 --> 00:06:29.370 of Gabon Mate and the opioid crisis and the homelessness. 00:06:30.670 --> 00:06:32.910 That's a shame that that's the first thing that 00:06:32.910 --> 00:06:35.949 comes into my mind. Is that an issue still? Are 00:06:35.949 --> 00:06:37.670 you seeing that a lot in your city? Have you 00:06:37.670 --> 00:06:41.300 seen kind of an evolution of that problem? Boy, 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:43.500 whether I've seen an evolution or not, I'm not 00:06:43.500 --> 00:06:48.560 sure. But when I first, so growing up as an American, 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:52.680 Canada is this kind of nebulous place to the 00:06:52.680 --> 00:06:54.519 north and people don't really pay much attention 00:06:54.519 --> 00:06:57.579 to it because nothing happens in Canada, quote 00:06:57.579 --> 00:07:01.620 unquote. Americans are more familiar with pretty 00:07:01.620 --> 00:07:03.120 much every other part of the world than their 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:06.579 next door neighbor. So when I actually first 00:07:06.579 --> 00:07:11.949 came to Canada. during my graduate school studies, 00:07:12.129 --> 00:07:14.410 because I had a case competition, an MBA case 00:07:14.410 --> 00:07:17.290 competition in Montreal. And so Eastern Canada, 00:07:17.449 --> 00:07:19.930 I knew a little bit about, I didn't know anything 00:07:19.930 --> 00:07:22.250 about Western Canada, even though I grew up in 00:07:22.250 --> 00:07:25.170 Arizona and Colorado. But when I started working 00:07:25.170 --> 00:07:28.250 for the software company, Crystal Decisions, 00:07:28.370 --> 00:07:31.829 is the first time I came to Vancouver. And I 00:07:31.829 --> 00:07:34.490 thought, wow, this is a pretty neat place. But 00:07:34.490 --> 00:07:38.259 when I, the thing that struck me, equally as 00:07:38.259 --> 00:07:40.060 much about Vancouver in addition to its beauty 00:07:40.060 --> 00:07:43.899 was how much homelessness there is here. When 00:07:43.899 --> 00:07:46.740 I first came to Vancouver and I was kind of walking 00:07:46.740 --> 00:07:51.060 downtown and I saw homelessness everywhere and 00:07:51.060 --> 00:07:53.639 it really took me by surprise. I was almost shocked 00:07:53.639 --> 00:07:57.600 by it. And a lot of that homelessness is because 00:07:57.600 --> 00:08:02.350 people are... Born into challenged families, 00:08:02.589 --> 00:08:05.470 they have gotten into drugs, but some way or 00:08:05.470 --> 00:08:08.990 another. There wasn't, I don't think, an opioid 00:08:08.990 --> 00:08:12.050 crisis at the time that I first came here in 00:08:12.050 --> 00:08:14.709 the 2000s. But that may be just because I wasn't 00:08:14.709 --> 00:08:16.910 as familiar with opioids in general. But there 00:08:16.910 --> 00:08:20.730 were a lot of challenges. And so whether that 00:08:20.730 --> 00:08:23.610 has changed or progressed since then to now, 00:08:23.750 --> 00:08:28.680 I really don't know. that attuned to it. My wife 00:08:28.680 --> 00:08:31.160 is much more involved with people that are in 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:33.159 challenged situations and she's volunteered for 00:08:33.159 --> 00:08:37.000 organizations to help families and young mothers 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:41.080 with things like that. But again, I'm just not 00:08:41.080 --> 00:08:43.500 as familiar with it. I see it, but I've only 00:08:43.500 --> 00:08:46.470 become numb to it at this point. Yeah, no, it's 00:08:46.470 --> 00:08:48.649 a shame. It just seems to be on the radar a lot 00:08:48.649 --> 00:08:50.570 when we talk about homelessness and addiction 00:08:50.570 --> 00:08:54.070 in Canada specifically. Actually, hopefully I've 00:08:54.070 --> 00:08:56.850 got Gabor Marte coming on early next year now. 00:08:56.990 --> 00:08:59.909 So that'd be amazing. So we'll get to find out 00:08:59.909 --> 00:09:02.850 how they're actually doing. All right, well then 00:09:02.850 --> 00:09:04.769 let's start at the very beginning of your timeline 00:09:04.769 --> 00:09:06.769 then. You mentioned obviously the States. Tell 00:09:06.769 --> 00:09:08.889 me where you were born and tell me a little bit 00:09:08.889 --> 00:09:10.750 about your family dynamic, what your parents 00:09:10.750 --> 00:09:15.870 did, how many siblings. I was born in Montana. 00:09:16.889 --> 00:09:23.649 My father grew up in Iowa. I was on a farm. When 00:09:23.649 --> 00:09:28.090 he was 16 or 17 years old, he basically ran away 00:09:28.090 --> 00:09:32.370 from home. He always wanted to be a cowboy. He 00:09:32.370 --> 00:09:37.250 liked the farm, but he liked it when his family 00:09:37.250 --> 00:09:39.730 were farming with traditional livestock, like 00:09:39.730 --> 00:09:44.870 pulling the plow with oxen type of thing. moved 00:09:44.870 --> 00:09:47.190 into the mechanized environment. And my dad really 00:09:47.190 --> 00:09:49.970 lost interest. If he had interest in farming, 00:09:50.070 --> 00:09:52.070 he really wanted to be a cowboy. So he basically 00:09:52.070 --> 00:09:58.649 ran away. And he was a hunting guide and a guide 00:09:58.649 --> 00:10:00.970 for pack trips in Montana at the time that my 00:10:00.970 --> 00:10:03.870 mother came out. She grew up in the East coast 00:10:03.870 --> 00:10:08.830 in New Jersey. A fairly well -to -do, I'd say 00:10:08.830 --> 00:10:11.230 upper middle class family. My grandfather was 00:10:11.230 --> 00:10:13.570 an industrialist, but he really liked the outdoors. 00:10:13.809 --> 00:10:16.909 And so they would go to Montana on these pack 00:10:16.909 --> 00:10:19.889 trips in the summer. And that's where my mother 00:10:19.889 --> 00:10:23.870 met my dad. And so it ultimately became kind 00:10:23.870 --> 00:10:27.230 of the quintessential cowboy school teacher pair. 00:10:27.970 --> 00:10:32.590 So they were married. They have their eight years 00:10:32.590 --> 00:10:36.860 difference in. My dad's eight years older. And 00:10:36.860 --> 00:10:39.879 they had me first, again, born in Montana. And 00:10:39.879 --> 00:10:43.700 about two weeks later, they moved me against 00:10:43.700 --> 00:10:49.059 my will to Arizona. And that's where they tried 00:10:49.059 --> 00:10:52.399 to start a life leading pack tricks themselves 00:10:52.399 --> 00:10:57.980 based on a mining claim in the middle of the 00:10:57.980 --> 00:11:00.919 Tonto National Forest. Mining claim from the 00:11:00.919 --> 00:11:04.330 1800s, basically on the side of a mountain. And 00:11:04.330 --> 00:11:07.649 that's where they set up camp. So no electricity, 00:11:07.889 --> 00:11:11.049 no running water. My mother raised and my mother 00:11:11.049 --> 00:11:15.210 then had a second daughter, my sister Sloan. 00:11:15.409 --> 00:11:17.710 And that's where she raised us for eight years. 00:11:18.649 --> 00:11:21.889 But after those eight years, she was kind of 00:11:21.889 --> 00:11:25.549 ready to get back to civilization. I imagine 00:11:25.549 --> 00:11:27.309 it would have been pretty tough as a mother raising 00:11:27.309 --> 00:11:31.000 your kids in that type of an environment. After 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:33.919 eight years, they separated. She moved into the 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:36.200 nearest town, which is about 45 minutes away, 00:11:36.299 --> 00:11:38.659 most of it by four -wheel drive, or I'd say half 00:11:38.659 --> 00:11:41.279 of it by four -wheel drive to get out of where 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:45.299 we were living. And then a year or so after that, 00:11:45.379 --> 00:11:52.529 they actually divorced. Interesting story. My 00:11:52.529 --> 00:11:55.889 mother remarried and she moved with the kids 00:11:55.889 --> 00:11:59.029 and my stepfather then up to Colorado, which 00:11:59.029 --> 00:12:00.789 is where I spent the rest of my childhood through 00:12:00.789 --> 00:12:06.029 high school. My dad also remarried years later. 00:12:06.690 --> 00:12:09.990 And that marriage lasted for like a year or two. 00:12:10.110 --> 00:12:12.950 And it was kind of a disaster. He can be challenged 00:12:12.950 --> 00:12:15.409 to live with because of his lifestyle. He's, 00:12:15.409 --> 00:12:18.580 again, very off the grid, very rustic. He's still 00:12:18.580 --> 00:12:22.580 a cowboy. He'll never not be a cowboy. But then 00:12:22.580 --> 00:12:28.460 after 23 years of having been divorced from each 00:12:28.460 --> 00:12:30.299 other and remarried to other people and then 00:12:30.299 --> 00:12:33.200 divorced again, my parents remarried each other. 00:12:33.700 --> 00:12:37.720 Wow. And they've been married now for, I don't 00:12:37.720 --> 00:12:41.299 know, close to 20 years maybe. But it works because 00:12:41.299 --> 00:12:46.779 they live in separate states. The secret to a 00:12:46.779 --> 00:12:49.860 happy marriage is. Yeah, that's right. So my 00:12:49.860 --> 00:12:52.139 mom still lives in Fort Collins, Colorado. And 00:12:52.139 --> 00:12:55.419 my dad lives between the towns of Bisbee and 00:12:55.419 --> 00:12:58.980 Tombstone, Arizona. Tombstone being the famed 00:12:58.980 --> 00:13:01.879 gunfight at the OK Corral place. But he still 00:13:01.879 --> 00:13:05.220 lives off the grid. And they see each other once 00:13:05.220 --> 00:13:08.019 or twice a year. Usually the whole family descends 00:13:08.019 --> 00:13:11.620 upon my father in Arizona just after Christmas. 00:13:11.659 --> 00:13:14.779 And he puts us all to work. fixing fence, moving 00:13:14.779 --> 00:13:17.639 rocks, digging holes, whatever, doing manual 00:13:17.639 --> 00:13:22.919 labor. So they have a good relationship. But 00:13:22.919 --> 00:13:27.340 it's a totally different relationship. They're 00:13:27.340 --> 00:13:30.580 different people than what they were. My sister 00:13:30.580 --> 00:13:33.940 always wanted to be a doctor. So she became a 00:13:33.940 --> 00:13:37.899 radiologist and she just retired, I guess, technically 00:13:37.899 --> 00:13:41.279 this year. And she lives in Washington state. 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:45.570 So all of my family are American. They live in 00:13:45.570 --> 00:13:49.710 the US. I actually renounced my US citizenship 00:13:49.710 --> 00:13:53.730 two years ago after having lived in Canada now 00:13:53.730 --> 00:14:00.210 since 2000 or 2001 for multiple reasons. One, 00:14:00.370 --> 00:14:04.029 just I wanted to simplify my life. And two, I 00:14:04.029 --> 00:14:06.629 was getting tired of being taxed more than my 00:14:06.629 --> 00:14:09.759 fair share. by the US and Canadian government. 00:14:09.940 --> 00:14:11.899 So there is an income tax treaty between the 00:14:11.899 --> 00:14:13.620 US and Canada, but there are all these other 00:14:13.620 --> 00:14:16.080 taxes that people don't talk about. Things like 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:19.100 we have a tax -free savings account here. There 00:14:19.100 --> 00:14:21.399 are excise taxes, small business taxes, lots 00:14:21.399 --> 00:14:23.419 of different taxes that aren't included in that 00:14:23.419 --> 00:14:25.379 treaty. So I decided, okay, I'm just going to 00:14:25.379 --> 00:14:28.220 simplify everything. And I kind of identified 00:14:28.220 --> 00:14:31.919 now more as a Canadian than as an American. There 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:34.519 have been lots of changes in the US over the 00:14:34.519 --> 00:14:38.500 past couple of decades. um so so that's where 00:14:38.500 --> 00:14:41.740 we that's where i am now amazing yeah i i have 00:14:41.740 --> 00:14:44.779 dual citizenship but there's no issue as far 00:14:44.779 --> 00:14:46.480 as incomes or anything because i've been out 00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:51.840 here now for 20 23 years wow um so yeah so my 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:54.720 my whole income and career has been in america 00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:56.539 so i'm able to keep that but what's interesting 00:14:56.539 --> 00:14:59.799 is the british recognize my dual citizenship 00:14:59.799 --> 00:15:03.559 but the americans don't so i'm in america i'm 00:15:03.559 --> 00:15:05.769 just an american supposedly i mean they I've 00:15:05.769 --> 00:15:07.289 got two passports, so they're obviously just 00:15:07.289 --> 00:15:10.409 ignoring what is actually a fact. But it's bizarre 00:15:10.409 --> 00:15:13.429 that it would be one way, you know, by the British 00:15:13.429 --> 00:15:16.090 and a different way by the Americans. Yeah, well, 00:15:16.169 --> 00:15:19.269 in a way, the U .S. can still kind of get away 00:15:19.269 --> 00:15:21.210 with that because it's kind of the Pax Americana. 00:15:21.409 --> 00:15:24.330 When you are still the world's superpower, economically, 00:15:24.570 --> 00:15:29.250 militarily, etc., they're able to kind of set... 00:15:29.480 --> 00:15:32.620 in some ways, their own rules. The U .S., from 00:15:32.620 --> 00:15:34.379 the tax perspective, the U .S. is one of only 00:15:34.379 --> 00:15:37.679 two countries that taxes their citizens, regardless 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:41.620 of whether that person even ever set foot in 00:15:41.620 --> 00:15:43.440 the U .S. Like there are many people that have 00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:45.320 been born American simply because their parents 00:15:45.320 --> 00:15:47.419 are American, but they've never actually been 00:15:47.419 --> 00:15:51.899 to the U .S., but they are still liable for taxes. 00:15:52.600 --> 00:15:56.019 The only other country that does that is apparently 00:15:56.019 --> 00:16:01.080 Eritrea in Eastern Africa. Are you talking about 00:16:01.080 --> 00:16:06.840 taxation without representation? I think there 00:16:06.840 --> 00:16:10.519 is some of that in there. How ironic, as Alanis 00:16:10.519 --> 00:16:13.279 Morissette would say. Yeah, that's right. That's 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:17.340 right. All right. Well, when you were in the 00:16:17.340 --> 00:16:20.480 school age and obviously your childhood navigated, 00:16:20.500 --> 00:16:23.840 excuse me, spanned several different states by 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:26.179 this point, what were you playing and doing as 00:16:26.179 --> 00:16:30.740 far as exercise and sports? Ah, yeah. So I played 00:16:30.740 --> 00:16:34.080 lots of soccer or football. I refer to it as 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:37.980 football now. So lots of soccer. That's what 00:16:37.980 --> 00:16:41.019 it's called. Yeah, football, you use your foot 00:16:41.019 --> 00:16:43.879 and it is a ball, unlike North American football. 00:16:44.299 --> 00:16:47.639 The egg -throwing contest, I call it. Yeah, exactly. 00:16:49.220 --> 00:16:52.620 I was always involved. I love playing pretty 00:16:52.620 --> 00:16:56.600 much all sports. I would say I'm an average to 00:16:56.600 --> 00:17:02.240 above average. in most sports. I played a little 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:05.140 basketball, but I have white man's disease. I 00:17:05.140 --> 00:17:08.660 can't jump. I played a little contact North American 00:17:08.660 --> 00:17:10.640 football, but I didn't really get big enough 00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:12.579 by the time high school came around to continue 00:17:12.579 --> 00:17:18.140 with that. Growing up in Colorado, it's kind 00:17:18.140 --> 00:17:22.359 of the ski capital of the U .S., but with my 00:17:22.359 --> 00:17:24.460 mom being a schoolteacher and my stepfather, 00:17:24.539 --> 00:17:27.200 he was a bartender. Didn't really have that much 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:30.200 money, so I never got really good at skiing, 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:32.220 so I didn't get to go that often. When I did 00:17:32.220 --> 00:17:34.640 go, it was usually because I would go with some 00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:37.259 of my friends and we would do what's called snowpacking, 00:17:37.299 --> 00:17:41.180 where for half the day, the ski resort would 00:17:41.180 --> 00:17:44.819 have us hike up the sides of the runs, usually 00:17:44.819 --> 00:17:47.740 on the steeper runs and the black diamond runs, 00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:51.140 so to prevent avalanches. And then we would get 00:17:51.140 --> 00:17:53.299 to ski for free the second half of the day and 00:17:53.299 --> 00:17:56.369 the day following. That was really good exercise, 00:17:56.630 --> 00:18:00.990 I'll tell you. That's how I got some of my skiing 00:18:00.990 --> 00:18:08.930 in, but I was not great at it. I did as well 00:18:08.930 --> 00:18:11.789 cross -country. I'm pretty good at long distance 00:18:11.789 --> 00:18:16.910 running. Again, if there was something that got 00:18:16.910 --> 00:18:19.829 me active and outside, I was usually playing 00:18:19.829 --> 00:18:21.529 it. I never played baseball because I was never 00:18:21.529 --> 00:18:23.809 home during the summers. I was usually going 00:18:24.440 --> 00:18:26.940 to spend time with my dad in Arizona. So never 00:18:26.940 --> 00:18:32.299 did that. Was involved in some horsemanship activities 00:18:32.299 --> 00:18:37.240 when I was with my dad, doing like roping, but 00:18:37.240 --> 00:18:40.519 just for practice and stuff like that. So yeah, 00:18:40.660 --> 00:18:42.400 pretty active as a kid. Always riding a bike, 00:18:42.519 --> 00:18:46.200 dirt bikes. What about career aspirations? When 00:18:46.200 --> 00:18:47.660 you were in the high school age, what were you 00:18:47.660 --> 00:18:51.440 dreaming of becoming? When I was high school, 00:18:51.500 --> 00:18:54.700 I was always reading business magazines. So I 00:18:54.700 --> 00:18:59.539 was reading Businessweek and Fortune and for 00:18:59.539 --> 00:19:02.859 some reason, I just had an interest in an inclination 00:19:02.859 --> 00:19:07.440 towards business. I didn't know it very generically 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:09.960 speaking, but I was the only kid that always 00:19:09.960 --> 00:19:12.339 had a Businessweek magazine that I was reading. 00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:15.619 And I thought that I wanted to be in finance. 00:19:17.319 --> 00:19:19.359 I was never really great at math. I love the 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:23.900 idea of math and statistics and financial algorithms, 00:19:24.059 --> 00:19:26.460 et cetera, but I was never really good at it. 00:19:26.519 --> 00:19:29.240 So why I thought I would be good at it and wanted 00:19:29.240 --> 00:19:32.359 to be in finance, I'm not sure. But that's what 00:19:32.359 --> 00:19:34.779 I thought. I wanted to be like a stockbroker 00:19:34.779 --> 00:19:36.359 or an analyst or something when I was in high 00:19:36.359 --> 00:19:41.599 school. And I was an okay student. I was never 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:44.789 a straight A student, but I got decent. decent 00:19:44.789 --> 00:19:47.289 grades, A's and B's. I was always jealous of 00:19:47.289 --> 00:19:48.869 my sister because she was a straight A student. 00:19:49.269 --> 00:19:52.150 In our family, whenever we got a report card, 00:19:52.269 --> 00:19:55.329 if we got straight A's, then my parents would 00:19:55.329 --> 00:19:58.369 take us out to dinner. My sister got to go to 00:19:58.369 --> 00:20:00.109 whatever restaurant she wanted every quarter. 00:20:00.869 --> 00:20:06.910 I did once. I was never a fantastic student, 00:20:07.009 --> 00:20:13.000 but I was decent. Finished high school and I 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:16.799 knew I had to go to university because that was 00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:19.400 the expectation that my mother in particular 00:20:19.400 --> 00:20:24.000 had. So she was as much involved in filling out 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:26.680 the applications to apply for schools as I was. 00:20:27.380 --> 00:20:30.619 And we actually visited a number of schools around 00:20:30.619 --> 00:20:33.740 the US that were potential candidates for me 00:20:33.740 --> 00:20:37.420 to go to. And I finally chose Bentley University. 00:20:38.349 --> 00:20:41.670 which is a private school outside of Boston, 00:20:41.809 --> 00:20:46.970 Massachusetts. And so while my mother and her 00:20:46.970 --> 00:20:49.289 salary and my stepfather and his salary were 00:20:49.289 --> 00:20:53.170 not significant, I was lucky in that my grandfather 00:20:53.170 --> 00:20:57.569 had had his own business, did very well. And 00:20:57.569 --> 00:21:00.809 my mother was good at creating trust funds for 00:21:00.809 --> 00:21:04.670 my sister and I. So I got to attend a really 00:21:04.670 --> 00:21:08.460 good but expensive private university. back east 00:21:08.460 --> 00:21:10.759 and that so that was benley university that i 00:21:10.759 --> 00:21:14.180 went to so walk me through then the first occupation 00:21:14.180 --> 00:21:18.099 you found yourself in well so that would that 00:21:18.099 --> 00:21:21.299 include like summer jobs at uh in high school 00:21:21.299 --> 00:21:23.980 or just just whatever career you initially found 00:21:23.980 --> 00:21:27.859 yourself my first well my first career would 00:21:27.859 --> 00:21:30.640 have been the french foreign legion yeah military 00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:32.940 career so let's fill the gap then how did you 00:21:32.940 --> 00:21:36.539 go from wanting to be in finance to coming outside 00:21:36.539 --> 00:21:41.670 a french gate Yeah, exactly. So, well, where 00:21:41.670 --> 00:21:44.349 would that begin? So I got my degree, undergraduate 00:21:44.349 --> 00:21:46.910 degree in economics, and I got that degree in 00:21:46.910 --> 00:21:50.589 economics because by that time I felt that economics 00:21:50.589 --> 00:21:54.529 was a broad enough discipline where it wouldn't 00:21:54.529 --> 00:21:59.410 limit me to a career. I'll call it a traditional 00:21:59.410 --> 00:22:06.329 career in a white collar. Whether that was finance 00:22:06.329 --> 00:22:10.609 or software or operations management, you name 00:22:10.609 --> 00:22:14.470 it. But I realized about halfway through university 00:22:14.470 --> 00:22:18.609 that when I graduated university, I didn't actually 00:22:18.609 --> 00:22:22.789 want to be stuck behind a desk in an office doing 00:22:22.789 --> 00:22:26.890 whatever. I didn't know exactly what I wanted 00:22:26.890 --> 00:22:28.450 to do, but I knew it had to be something that 00:22:28.450 --> 00:22:34.559 had some adventure, had some risk. I didn't know 00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:37.039 pretty much anything about the military because 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:39.799 I don't come from a military background. My family 00:22:39.799 --> 00:22:43.099 history is not in the military. No one in my 00:22:43.099 --> 00:22:47.319 family has been in the military other than apparently 00:22:47.319 --> 00:22:51.680 on my mother's side, I had an ancestor that was 00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:54.539 in the Spanish -American War that was a mail 00:22:54.539 --> 00:22:57.920 carrier. So that was the extent of my understanding 00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:00.880 of military. But as a kid, I was always fascinated 00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:03.460 with military hardware. I was always drawing 00:23:03.460 --> 00:23:08.420 ships and tanks and planes. But the idea of being 00:23:08.420 --> 00:23:11.559 a soldier never really occurred to me. It never 00:23:11.559 --> 00:23:18.019 entered my mind. But again, halfway through university, 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:20.180 I decided, you know what? I think I want to do 00:23:20.180 --> 00:23:22.039 this. I want to go do something. I want to serve. 00:23:22.180 --> 00:23:23.859 It was both for the adventure and I also wanted 00:23:23.859 --> 00:23:25.940 to serve my country. I wanted to serve the US. 00:23:26.779 --> 00:23:29.559 And so being halfway through university, I knew 00:23:29.559 --> 00:23:32.960 that I had an opportunity to attend one of the 00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:36.160 military academies, whether that was the U .S. 00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:39.000 Army Academy at West Point or the Naval Academy 00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:42.980 or the Air Force Academy. And so I was starting 00:23:42.980 --> 00:23:47.380 to look into the Naval Academy. And I liked the 00:23:47.380 --> 00:23:50.079 idea of becoming a pilot. But I learned pretty 00:23:50.079 --> 00:23:53.720 quickly that because I was colorblind, that was 00:23:53.720 --> 00:23:59.910 not an option. And I knew I was colorblind. I 00:23:59.910 --> 00:24:03.349 didn't know that that would be a limiting kind 00:24:03.349 --> 00:24:09.509 of theme, I guess, in my life, actually. And 00:24:09.509 --> 00:24:11.849 it turned out that not only could I not join 00:24:11.849 --> 00:24:15.069 the Naval Academy, I couldn't join the Army, 00:24:15.230 --> 00:24:18.069 Navy, or Air Force being colorblind at the time. 00:24:18.789 --> 00:24:21.910 And I thought, wow, this is really – this sucks. 00:24:22.630 --> 00:24:25.970 What am I going to do now? So the Marine Corps 00:24:25.970 --> 00:24:29.069 – They did accept people that were colorblind. 00:24:29.230 --> 00:24:32.430 And that was actually fine for me because the 00:24:32.430 --> 00:24:37.789 Marine Corps had the kind of atmosphere of a 00:24:37.789 --> 00:24:39.329 tough outfit. And that's what I was looking for. 00:24:39.369 --> 00:24:40.990 I wanted something to test myself physically, 00:24:41.170 --> 00:24:43.869 mentally. And the Marine Corps was like, okay, 00:24:43.910 --> 00:24:45.430 great. I'll do the Marine Corps. So I went to, 00:24:45.470 --> 00:24:48.930 I applied for the officer candidate school while 00:24:48.930 --> 00:24:52.170 I was in my third year university. And I did 00:24:52.170 --> 00:24:56.450 great on all the tests. I did. I got 99 % on 00:24:56.450 --> 00:24:58.710 the physical fitness test with like a three -mile 00:24:58.710 --> 00:25:04.569 run, pull -ups, sit -ups, et cetera. The physical, 00:25:04.730 --> 00:25:07.970 the medical test is what got me. And it wasn't 00:25:07.970 --> 00:25:11.609 because I was colorblind, but I played soccer, 00:25:11.750 --> 00:25:14.670 football for my university, an NCAA Division 00:25:14.670 --> 00:25:19.269 II school. And in one game in my third year season, 00:25:19.470 --> 00:25:20.910 I was in a one -on -one. I was a goalkeeper. 00:25:21.349 --> 00:25:24.809 And basically the guy, that I had the one -on 00:25:24.809 --> 00:25:28.049 -one with, he came in cleat first and severed 00:25:28.049 --> 00:25:31.349 my posterior cruciate ligament. I was out for 00:25:31.349 --> 00:25:36.589 the rest of the season. My knee was scoped, but 00:25:36.589 --> 00:25:39.210 they decided not to repair it. They just cleaned 00:25:39.210 --> 00:25:42.730 it up and they felt that the muscles around that 00:25:42.730 --> 00:25:45.289 would compensate. For the most part, it did. 00:25:46.410 --> 00:25:51.589 When I went to the Marine Corps medical exam, 00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:54.519 there were these signs that said, if you don't 00:25:54.519 --> 00:25:56.779 tell us everything, then you could risk being 00:25:56.779 --> 00:25:59.480 in jail for five years and pay a $10 ,000 fine. 00:26:00.299 --> 00:26:03.200 And again, because I didn't have any history 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:06.240 of military service in my family, I didn't have 00:26:06.240 --> 00:26:08.640 anyone to tell me what really you had to say 00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:10.819 and what you kind of could keep to the side. 00:26:11.359 --> 00:26:14.400 So I told them. And so they laser focused on 00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:17.279 that, my knee, and they were testing my knee. 00:26:17.420 --> 00:26:21.170 And they said, you know what? we can't take you 00:26:21.170 --> 00:26:24.430 because of your knee for insurance reasons. We 00:26:24.430 --> 00:26:26.789 can't, we can't accept you. And I was like, oh 00:26:26.789 --> 00:26:29.269 man. So there's no one else in the U S no other 00:26:29.269 --> 00:26:31.349 serve branch of the U S military that I could 00:26:31.349 --> 00:26:34.109 try. And so I had the attending surgeon that 00:26:34.109 --> 00:26:37.049 did the surgery. I had the physical therapists 00:26:37.049 --> 00:26:39.309 that I went to afterward to rehabilitate myself. 00:26:39.450 --> 00:26:42.069 And I played soccer again, my senior year for 00:26:42.069 --> 00:26:47.019 university. So it was fine for that. I had. my 00:26:47.019 --> 00:26:49.880 senator of my state of Colorado write a letter 00:26:49.880 --> 00:26:52.299 on my behalf requesting a waiver for me. And 00:26:52.299 --> 00:26:54.420 this is just to enlist at this point in the Marine 00:26:54.420 --> 00:26:59.680 Corps. I wrote a letter to the chief surgeon 00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:04.220 of the Navy asking for a waiver. I tried to enlist 00:27:04.220 --> 00:27:06.160 through three different states, Massachusetts, 00:27:06.240 --> 00:27:11.779 Colorado, and Nebraska. And it was a major in 00:27:11.779 --> 00:27:14.099 Colorado that was trying to figure out how to 00:27:14.099 --> 00:27:17.779 get, how to, enable me to enlist through this 00:27:17.779 --> 00:27:19.619 third state because he couldn't believe that 00:27:19.619 --> 00:27:22.640 the government wasn't letting me join just for 00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:26.799 my knee. But ultimately, my last step would have 00:27:26.799 --> 00:27:28.460 been to write to the President of the United 00:27:28.460 --> 00:27:31.099 States asking for a waiver. And that was President 00:27:31.099 --> 00:27:34.759 Clinton at the time. But by that time, I was 00:27:34.759 --> 00:27:37.319 like, you know what? If you guys don't want me 00:27:37.319 --> 00:27:43.039 that badly, I'll figure out something else. At 00:27:43.039 --> 00:27:44.940 the time, the internet wasn't really a thing 00:27:44.940 --> 00:27:50.079 yet. This is 1992. I went to the library and 00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:53.359 just started researching what kind of interesting 00:27:53.359 --> 00:27:56.640 careers and adventurous things you could do as 00:27:56.640 --> 00:28:01.240 a 22 -year -old, 23 -year -old, actually. And 00:28:01.240 --> 00:28:03.279 that's when I stumbled upon the French Foreign 00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:05.480 Legion, just the idea of the French Foreign Legion. 00:28:05.500 --> 00:28:07.180 I thought, oh, interesting. This looks kind of 00:28:07.180 --> 00:28:12.059 cool. I read a few books by some people that 00:28:12.059 --> 00:28:15.220 had been in the Legion, including Simon Murray, 00:28:15.380 --> 00:28:18.240 who was a famous Brit that had served in the 00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:21.059 Legion and had become a very successful businessman, 00:28:21.339 --> 00:28:26.579 I think, in Hong Kong after a while. And then 00:28:26.579 --> 00:28:29.819 I also read a book by an author by the name of 00:28:29.819 --> 00:28:33.279 Douglas Porch, who was a professor at the Naval 00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:37.339 War College. And at the U .S. Naval Postgraduate 00:28:37.339 --> 00:28:41.539 School, he was a professor at the Citadel. So 00:28:41.539 --> 00:28:44.940 we had a correspondence. And I read his book 00:28:44.940 --> 00:28:46.759 and we had a correspondence and I asked him about 00:28:46.759 --> 00:28:48.559 the Legion. And he actually tried to persuade 00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:52.420 me not to join the French Foreign Legion. He 00:28:52.420 --> 00:28:56.500 basically said that having finished university, 00:28:57.519 --> 00:29:00.480 My peers, I would kind of fall behind my peers. 00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:02.500 They would have gotten careers and they would 00:29:02.500 --> 00:29:07.039 have families and they would have houses. And 00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:10.819 when I went to the Legion, if I didn't make a 00:29:10.819 --> 00:29:13.440 lifetime career out of it, when I came back, 00:29:13.539 --> 00:29:16.859 all of my peers would be kind of off, had done 00:29:16.859 --> 00:29:19.400 their thing. And I was like, well, that's exactly 00:29:19.400 --> 00:29:22.059 what I don't want to do. I want to do something 00:29:22.059 --> 00:29:24.900 different and challenge myself in different ways. 00:29:27.019 --> 00:29:30.799 I also contacted the FBI because the other thing 00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:32.759 that I learned was that as an American, if you 00:29:32.759 --> 00:29:35.180 serve in a foreign military, you risk losing 00:29:35.180 --> 00:29:38.960 your U .S. citizenship, except for the Israeli 00:29:38.960 --> 00:29:41.460 military. As an American citizen, you can serve 00:29:41.460 --> 00:29:43.640 in the Israeli military, and there's some type 00:29:43.640 --> 00:29:46.259 of deal between Israel and the U .S. where that's 00:29:46.259 --> 00:29:49.799 fine. It's pretty current these days. Yes, exactly. 00:29:50.099 --> 00:29:54.480 So I contacted the FBI, and they said, you know 00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:57.019 what? If you don't tell us, we don't really care. 00:29:57.400 --> 00:29:59.359 So I was like, okay, that's it. That's all I 00:29:59.359 --> 00:30:04.259 need to know. So it was a month or two later. 00:30:04.920 --> 00:30:14.799 It was April of 93 by this time. And I still 00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:17.380 remember the day. So my mother and my father 00:30:17.380 --> 00:30:20.660 knew at this point that I was going to go off 00:30:20.660 --> 00:30:22.900 and do this Legion thing. I don't know if they 00:30:22.900 --> 00:30:25.839 really believed it or not. I remember my mother 00:30:25.839 --> 00:30:29.500 taking me to the airport shuttle in Fort Collins, 00:30:29.640 --> 00:30:34.000 Colorado. And I remember saying goodbye and taking 00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:36.460 the shuttle then to the airport in Denver to 00:30:36.460 --> 00:30:41.119 fly to Paris. And I didn't realize until months 00:30:41.119 --> 00:30:46.180 after that that day was April Fool's Day. And 00:30:46.180 --> 00:30:49.019 so I still wonder to this day if my mother realized 00:30:49.019 --> 00:30:50.660 that as well and thought it was some type of 00:30:50.660 --> 00:30:55.160 cruel joke that I was playing on her. But I arrived 00:30:55.160 --> 00:30:59.180 in Paris, took a train from Paris to Marseille. 00:31:00.359 --> 00:31:02.920 And then from Marseille, took like a commuter 00:31:02.920 --> 00:31:06.799 train to the town or the suburb of Marseille 00:31:06.799 --> 00:31:09.200 called Aubagne, which is the headquarters of 00:31:09.200 --> 00:31:11.980 the French Foreign Legion. And by the time I 00:31:11.980 --> 00:31:17.539 got to the front gate, it was late night, early 00:31:17.539 --> 00:31:19.660 morning. It was like, I don't know, two or three 00:31:19.660 --> 00:31:23.859 in the morning. And it was, so it was dark. chilly 00:31:23.859 --> 00:31:28.500 it was it was rainy uh and i got to the the front 00:31:28.500 --> 00:31:31.519 gate and so everyone in the legion does guard 00:31:31.519 --> 00:31:35.839 duty and so the the guard at the front gate was 00:31:35.839 --> 00:31:40.220 there and i i asked i said i i'd like to join 00:31:40.220 --> 00:31:42.279 the french foreign legion and i said it in my 00:31:42.279 --> 00:31:46.000 broken french i had learned like many americans 00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:48.079 that learned quote unquote a foreign language 00:31:48.079 --> 00:31:52.160 learned i spoke it very brokenly a little bit. 00:31:52.200 --> 00:31:54.619 I knew some phrases. And so I was able to get 00:31:54.619 --> 00:31:56.640 enough out just for him to understand that I 00:31:56.640 --> 00:31:59.299 wanted to join the French Foreign Legion. So 00:31:59.299 --> 00:32:02.079 he basically said, okay, just a minute. And he 00:32:02.079 --> 00:32:05.759 went back and got his sergeant on duty at the 00:32:05.759 --> 00:32:08.140 time. And he came out and asked me a few questions. 00:32:08.440 --> 00:32:10.619 I can't remember if we were speaking in French 00:32:10.619 --> 00:32:12.740 or some type of English or what. And I can't 00:32:12.740 --> 00:32:14.779 remember what the questions were, but ultimately 00:32:14.779 --> 00:32:16.619 they understood that I was wanting to join. So 00:32:16.619 --> 00:32:22.430 they brought me in. The sergeant got then another 00:32:22.430 --> 00:32:25.170 – I think he was a corporal or premier first 00:32:25.170 --> 00:32:30.029 class who was a Brit and to walk me to then the 00:32:30.029 --> 00:32:34.109 barracks where they held guys that were volunteering. 00:32:34.710 --> 00:32:38.769 And as we were walking to the barracks, I learned 00:32:38.769 --> 00:32:43.710 that he was there at that regiment convalescing 00:32:43.710 --> 00:32:47.250 from having broken both ankles jumping out of 00:32:47.250 --> 00:32:49.960 an airplane. for a parachute jump. And I thought, 00:32:50.019 --> 00:32:53.500 yeah, that's what I want to do. That was the 00:32:53.500 --> 00:32:55.559 second foreign parachute regiment. So I was like, 00:32:55.579 --> 00:32:57.160 that's exactly what I want to do. That's where 00:32:57.160 --> 00:33:03.259 I want to go. So I was in Albania for about two 00:33:03.259 --> 00:33:06.859 weeks. That's where all the initial volunteers 00:33:06.859 --> 00:33:09.779 go. And that's where the French military and 00:33:09.779 --> 00:33:13.359 government does their background tests. You do 00:33:13.359 --> 00:33:15.539 physical fitness tests, you do medical tests, 00:33:15.740 --> 00:33:19.019 psychological tests, intelligence tests. They 00:33:19.019 --> 00:33:22.880 do background checks. It's a combination of Interpol 00:33:22.880 --> 00:33:27.500 and the French Foreign Service and military intelligence 00:33:27.500 --> 00:33:30.759 just to make sure that... So it used to be in 00:33:30.759 --> 00:33:33.119 the Legion you could join regardless of what 00:33:33.119 --> 00:33:36.039 you did in your past. And so a number of people 00:33:36.039 --> 00:33:38.660 at different points in time joined the Legion 00:33:38.660 --> 00:33:44.230 to escape something. And in the past, those somethings 00:33:44.230 --> 00:33:47.609 could be even, I guess, potentially murder and 00:33:47.609 --> 00:33:50.890 rape and stuff like that. The Legion, at the 00:33:50.890 --> 00:33:54.990 time that I joined and now, they do still take 00:33:54.990 --> 00:33:57.470 in people that are escaping some type of a crime 00:33:57.470 --> 00:33:59.690 or escaping some type of past that they want 00:33:59.690 --> 00:34:01.730 to get away from, but not if it's a blood crime. 00:34:02.710 --> 00:34:05.069 And it actually turned out that because I didn't 00:34:05.069 --> 00:34:08.719 have... Anything that I was running from to join 00:34:08.719 --> 00:34:10.579 the Legion, I couldn't even change my name. So 00:34:10.579 --> 00:34:12.320 I was looking forward to getting a Gnome Daguerre. 00:34:13.199 --> 00:34:15.440 And I had actually researched names that I thought 00:34:15.440 --> 00:34:18.139 would be cool to have, like Skylax, who was a 00:34:18.139 --> 00:34:20.840 Greek adventurer, or Scipio or something like 00:34:20.840 --> 00:34:24.340 that. But no, I didn't even get to change my 00:34:24.340 --> 00:34:28.760 name. I had to keep my name. So after those two 00:34:28.760 --> 00:34:33.340 weeks, they considered me apt to then go to the 00:34:33.340 --> 00:34:37.059 initial training. which was four months in another 00:34:37.059 --> 00:34:40.000 regiment, the 4th Regiment in Kastanolderi, which 00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.000 is near Toulouse. And yeah, so I was there for 00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:47.440 four months. A month of that training is done 00:34:47.440 --> 00:34:52.559 in these remote farms near the Pyrenees. And 00:34:52.559 --> 00:34:56.739 so that's where we do more basic training, hand 00:34:56.739 --> 00:35:02.119 -to -hand combat, weapons training, some limited 00:35:02.119 --> 00:35:07.679 survival training. And actually, I actually got 00:35:07.679 --> 00:35:13.820 to march or parade in the 14th of July Bastille 00:35:13.820 --> 00:35:16.880 parade in Paris during those four months, which 00:35:16.880 --> 00:35:19.039 was really unusual because we were just a training 00:35:19.039 --> 00:35:23.739 regiment. That was quite, I mean, when I was 00:35:23.739 --> 00:35:25.579 there, I was like, wow, just five months earlier, 00:35:25.659 --> 00:35:27.880 I was just home in Fort Collins, Colorado, trying 00:35:27.880 --> 00:35:29.599 to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. 00:35:29.639 --> 00:35:31.119 And now here I am marching down the middle of 00:35:31.119 --> 00:35:38.860 the Champs -Élysées in Paris. I loved what I 00:35:38.860 --> 00:35:42.260 was doing. I loved the unknown, not knowing what 00:35:42.260 --> 00:35:46.300 was coming next. I liked the idea that I was 00:35:46.300 --> 00:35:50.699 away from everyone else and what a quote -unquote 00:35:50.699 --> 00:35:56.320 normal life was. I didn't have homesickness. 00:35:56.320 --> 00:35:59.099 I didn't really miss, even though I have been 00:35:59.099 --> 00:36:01.239 and still am close to my family, my sister and 00:36:01.239 --> 00:36:04.809 my parents. I wasn't missing them. I felt kind 00:36:04.809 --> 00:36:06.829 of badly for my mother still because I knew she 00:36:06.829 --> 00:36:09.610 was worried. But I didn't have contact with them 00:36:09.610 --> 00:36:13.170 for almost a year because the Legion doesn't 00:36:13.170 --> 00:36:15.230 let you have contact with the outside world basically 00:36:15.230 --> 00:36:19.050 for that first year. But I thoroughly enjoyed 00:36:19.050 --> 00:36:27.090 it. Humans have a challenge of remembering some 00:36:27.090 --> 00:36:31.349 of the bad things in the past. And so I know 00:36:31.349 --> 00:36:33.150 that's some of what I have with the Legion. I 00:36:33.150 --> 00:36:36.150 remember all the great things that I experienced 00:36:36.150 --> 00:36:38.510 and did during the Legion. There were some times 00:36:38.510 --> 00:36:41.889 that were not so fun as well, but I wouldn't 00:36:41.889 --> 00:36:43.590 pass up those five years that I spent in the 00:36:43.590 --> 00:36:45.110 Legion for anything. It was some of the best 00:36:45.110 --> 00:36:48.610 five years of my life. What is the history of 00:36:48.610 --> 00:36:53.210 the Legion? Is it pre -World War II? It is, yeah. 00:36:53.789 --> 00:36:58.860 So the Legion started in the 1830s by... King 00:36:58.860 --> 00:37:04.199 Louis Philippe. And it was, I think it was in 00:37:04.199 --> 00:37:08.619 Mexico, actually. So France had a colonial presence 00:37:08.619 --> 00:37:14.719 in Mexico. And it was in 1863, actually. I think 00:37:14.719 --> 00:37:19.500 it was 1863 that there's kind of the most famous 00:37:19.500 --> 00:37:26.610 battle and what is now celebrated day. in the 00:37:26.610 --> 00:37:28.250 French Foreign Legion, which is the Battle of 00:37:28.250 --> 00:37:32.429 Cameroon. And this is where, I don't know, it 00:37:32.429 --> 00:37:35.449 was something like 40 or 50 legionnaires were 00:37:35.449 --> 00:37:40.150 held up against an army of hundreds or thousands 00:37:40.150 --> 00:37:43.090 of Mexicans. And they fought to the last man, 00:37:43.269 --> 00:37:48.090 and they all died. And the Capitaine Danjou, 00:37:48.269 --> 00:37:52.570 like... Before ultimately being killed, he had 00:37:52.570 --> 00:37:55.670 lost an arm, and so he's fighting with one arm. 00:37:56.469 --> 00:38:01.070 It was essentially, as with many, if not most, 00:38:01.170 --> 00:38:04.949 European militaries of the time, a mercenary 00:38:04.949 --> 00:38:10.110 force. As my understanding of military history 00:38:10.110 --> 00:38:13.849 in Europe anyway, most militaries were hired 00:38:13.849 --> 00:38:19.449 by the aristocracy or the nobility at the time 00:38:19.449 --> 00:38:21.570 to fight. the wars that were being fought in 00:38:21.570 --> 00:38:24.389 Europe. So that was no different with the French 00:38:24.389 --> 00:38:28.789 Foreign Legion. But it's the only force that 00:38:28.789 --> 00:38:32.590 has remained as a hired military to this day 00:38:32.590 --> 00:38:36.090 that is still a part of a government organization. 00:38:37.170 --> 00:38:42.289 And so it has had many... chapters in its history. 00:38:42.809 --> 00:38:45.909 You mentioned World War II. So there were lots 00:38:45.909 --> 00:38:48.710 of Germans that joined the French Foreign Legion 00:38:48.710 --> 00:38:53.030 after the end of World War II. And there's a 00:38:53.030 --> 00:38:54.869 lot of those guys that would have fought then 00:38:54.869 --> 00:38:58.969 in Indochina when France was still in Vietnam 00:38:58.969 --> 00:39:01.329 and they were in then therefore Dien Bien Phu. 00:39:01.690 --> 00:39:05.170 They were often in North Africa, in Morocco and 00:39:05.170 --> 00:39:09.829 Algeria. And so the Legion is still there today. 00:39:09.949 --> 00:39:12.250 It's still made up of people from around the 00:39:12.250 --> 00:39:17.570 world that want to be in an elite force and want 00:39:17.570 --> 00:39:20.269 some of the, I guess, adventure that they feel 00:39:20.269 --> 00:39:22.469 that they may not be able to get in their own 00:39:22.469 --> 00:39:25.349 country or they just want to try something different. 00:39:26.349 --> 00:39:32.010 When I joined the Legion, it was a lot of upheaval 00:39:32.010 --> 00:39:35.630 in Central and Eastern Europe. So politically, 00:39:35.829 --> 00:39:40.329 economically, in the early 90s and mid -90s, 00:39:40.329 --> 00:39:43.849 it was when the Berlin Wall had fallen, the USSR 00:39:43.849 --> 00:39:48.429 had kind of broken apart, become the 15 different 00:39:48.429 --> 00:39:51.929 republics. And it was a challenge, as I understood 00:39:51.929 --> 00:39:54.150 it, living in those areas in that time. So there 00:39:54.150 --> 00:39:58.130 were lots of Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, Czechs, 00:39:58.130 --> 00:40:02.119 Hungarians. In the Legion that were trying to 00:40:02.119 --> 00:40:04.400 join Legion, they were looking for a better life, 00:40:04.480 --> 00:40:07.840 really. And almost all of them had had previous 00:40:07.840 --> 00:40:10.059 military experience already with their countries. 00:40:11.480 --> 00:40:15.420 In my training platoon, there was a Russian submarine 00:40:15.420 --> 00:40:20.360 captain. There was a mathematician from Mexico. 00:40:21.699 --> 00:40:26.139 There was a bricklayer from Italy, like all walks 00:40:26.139 --> 00:40:28.760 of life. People often talk about the U .S. being 00:40:28.760 --> 00:40:32.690 a melting pot. of ethnicities and backgrounds. 00:40:33.969 --> 00:40:36.690 I referred to the French Foreign Legion as a 00:40:36.690 --> 00:40:42.489 tossed salad. It was really just a mix of everyone 00:40:42.489 --> 00:40:44.309 that you could think of and from all over the 00:40:44.309 --> 00:40:46.110 world. There was someone from Japan in my training 00:40:46.110 --> 00:40:49.369 platoon. There were a number of Brits, Irish, 00:40:49.690 --> 00:40:53.889 Welsh, Scottish, English, and there were cliques 00:40:53.889 --> 00:40:57.329 in the Legion. There were the Anglophones, so 00:40:57.329 --> 00:40:59.820 people that had English as a native language, 00:40:59.940 --> 00:41:01.599 whether they're from Australia or New Zealand, 00:41:01.760 --> 00:41:05.840 US and Canada. There were very few people from 00:41:05.840 --> 00:41:08.400 the US and Canada. I was the only North American 00:41:08.400 --> 00:41:14.539 in my training platoon. When I got to the second 00:41:14.539 --> 00:41:19.519 foreign parachute regiment, there were, I think, 00:41:19.559 --> 00:41:23.599 three other Americans. There was one Canadian. 00:41:25.019 --> 00:41:28.030 There were quite a few brits there were quite 00:41:28.030 --> 00:41:31.650 a few english and and scott and welsh and irish 00:41:31.650 --> 00:41:35.949 uh guys uh and there were a number of of new 00:41:35.949 --> 00:41:38.409 zealanders kiwis and australians as well so clicks 00:41:38.409 --> 00:41:42.190 of anglophones you had clicks of eastern europeans 00:41:42.190 --> 00:41:45.949 um and the poles and the russians and ukrainians 00:41:45.949 --> 00:41:48.409 they all seem to be able to speak enough of the 00:41:48.409 --> 00:41:51.869 same language to be able to get along um but 00:41:51.869 --> 00:41:54.539 those were kind of the two big Sometimes referred 00:41:54.539 --> 00:41:58.000 to them as mafias in the Legion is those cliques. 00:42:00.420 --> 00:42:03.579 So yeah, four months in the training regiment. 00:42:05.280 --> 00:42:10.840 One of the first things that they told us in 00:42:10.840 --> 00:42:12.260 the training regiment was that if you finished 00:42:12.260 --> 00:42:15.519 first, you would get your pick of regiment that 00:42:15.519 --> 00:42:19.840 you wanted to go to. And there were and are still 00:42:19.840 --> 00:42:22.320 10 regiments basically that make up the French 00:42:22.320 --> 00:42:25.900 Foreign Legion. installed mostly in Southern 00:42:25.900 --> 00:42:29.059 France. One, the parachute regiment is in Corsica. 00:42:29.519 --> 00:42:32.800 There's one in South America. There's one in 00:42:32.800 --> 00:42:36.739 Djibouti in Eastern Africa. There's one in Mayotte, 00:42:36.940 --> 00:42:39.579 which is an island in the South Pacific. But 00:42:39.579 --> 00:42:43.019 the second parachute regiment, it was the best. 00:42:43.059 --> 00:42:44.980 It was the best of the best. And I knew that 00:42:44.980 --> 00:42:48.219 that's where I wanted to go. And so I worked 00:42:48.219 --> 00:42:52.039 hard in that training for the four years. And 00:42:52.039 --> 00:42:55.019 I finished first. And so I was like, awesome, 00:42:55.159 --> 00:42:57.679 I'm going to the parachute regiment. And that's 00:42:57.679 --> 00:43:01.980 where things are really going to happen. I remember 00:43:01.980 --> 00:43:06.239 the day when we finished the training, we would 00:43:06.239 --> 00:43:10.539 go and present ourselves to the captain of the 00:43:10.539 --> 00:43:14.059 training company. And the captain would tell 00:43:14.059 --> 00:43:16.719 you where you're going. But I thought, I'm finishing 00:43:16.719 --> 00:43:19.059 first. I'm going to be able to let him know where 00:43:19.059 --> 00:43:22.840 I want to go. So I said, okay, I want to go. 00:43:23.260 --> 00:43:27.559 parachute regiment and he said i'm sorry you 00:43:27.559 --> 00:43:30.320 can't go to the parachute regiment because you're 00:43:30.320 --> 00:43:35.199 colorblind and i just like this wave of like 00:43:35.199 --> 00:43:41.860 holy crap i my colorblindness again is getting 00:43:41.860 --> 00:43:46.699 the best of me and i was really i was just i 00:43:46.699 --> 00:43:48.219 couldn't i couldn't believe what was happening 00:43:48.219 --> 00:43:52.869 and i was like man um i am i When I left the 00:43:52.869 --> 00:43:54.329 building, I was actually crying because I was 00:43:54.329 --> 00:43:57.230 so upset. I couldn't believe this was happening. 00:43:57.989 --> 00:44:01.190 And I told them, I was like, if I can't go to 00:44:01.190 --> 00:44:04.750 the parachute regiment, I'm leaving. I'm deserting. 00:44:05.710 --> 00:44:10.130 And I'm not a quitter. I will keep knocking on 00:44:10.130 --> 00:44:13.510 that wall for as long as it takes. But that was 00:44:13.510 --> 00:44:19.510 tough. The next day or two days after, I can't 00:44:19.510 --> 00:44:22.139 remember what it was. They said, okay, we're 00:44:22.139 --> 00:44:25.300 going to send you to the military hospital and 00:44:25.300 --> 00:44:28.139 you're going to get another checkup. And they 00:44:28.139 --> 00:44:32.079 sent me with an envelope in my hand that I was 00:44:32.079 --> 00:44:35.199 to present at the military hospital in La Veram, 00:44:35.280 --> 00:44:38.159 which is just in Albania, outside of the headquarters 00:44:38.159 --> 00:44:41.440 regiment. And I don't know to this day what was 00:44:41.440 --> 00:44:44.800 in that envelope, but I left the hospital eligible 00:44:44.800 --> 00:44:48.940 to go to the parachute regiment. So I was a happy 00:44:48.940 --> 00:44:53.329 camper. That's right, yeah. It's so crazy. We 00:44:53.329 --> 00:44:55.070 talked, obviously, a few weeks ago about this, 00:44:55.150 --> 00:44:57.510 but that was the origin story of why I'm not 00:44:57.510 --> 00:44:59.989 a British firefighter. When I was in school, 00:45:00.170 --> 00:45:04.590 we did the annual medicals, and they told me 00:45:04.590 --> 00:45:07.369 with the little book, oh, you can't see colors, 00:45:07.409 --> 00:45:08.610 you're colored by them. They literally said, 00:45:08.650 --> 00:45:11.289 you can't be a pilot, you can't be a firefighter, 00:45:11.289 --> 00:45:14.610 and everything that I wanted to be, almost everything, 00:45:14.789 --> 00:45:18.309 was literally taken off the table. And then years 00:45:18.309 --> 00:45:20.190 and years and years and years later, shortening 00:45:20.190 --> 00:45:23.329 the story incredibly, I find myself wanting to 00:45:23.329 --> 00:45:26.349 be a firefighter in America and say, there's 00:45:26.349 --> 00:45:28.789 no way I can see colors. What are they talking 00:45:28.789 --> 00:45:31.849 about? And so I ended up challenging the test 00:45:31.849 --> 00:45:33.789 and told them, tell me anything in this room, 00:45:33.829 --> 00:45:35.690 I'll tell you what color it is. And lo and behold, 00:45:35.769 --> 00:45:38.489 I passed. And what it was is that, and my wife's 00:45:38.489 --> 00:45:40.869 an optometrist now, so she's in that world. And 00:45:40.869 --> 00:45:42.369 she said, yeah, that just gives you an indication 00:45:42.369 --> 00:45:45.070 that there's a deficiency. And then you do deeper 00:45:45.070 --> 00:45:47.889 tests to see like what level it is. And I just 00:45:47.889 --> 00:45:50.309 have a red, green deficiency. I'm not colorblind. 00:45:50.809 --> 00:45:54.469 You know, it's like not being 2020, being 2040 00:45:54.469 --> 00:45:56.530 and then telling you, yeah, you're blind. No, 00:45:56.570 --> 00:45:58.269 you're not blind. You're just not, you can't 00:45:58.269 --> 00:46:02.190 see as well. So what level did you end up discovering 00:46:02.190 --> 00:46:05.539 your kind of color deficiency was? You know, 00:46:05.559 --> 00:46:10.280 I'm not sure what level it is. I know that the 00:46:10.280 --> 00:46:14.039 tests, so in French, what they say I have is 00:46:14.039 --> 00:46:19.559 a Deltonian deficiency. I probably should research 00:46:19.559 --> 00:46:22.639 what that actually means, but it is a red, green, 00:46:22.820 --> 00:46:27.179 colorblind deficiency. So whether it's technically 00:46:27.179 --> 00:46:30.559 colorblindness or not, I don't know. Clearly, 00:46:30.579 --> 00:46:34.880 I know now it is not colorblindness. to a degree 00:46:34.880 --> 00:46:37.840 that doesn't let me fly, because that will be 00:46:37.840 --> 00:46:40.719 another story that I'll mention in a bit here. 00:46:42.519 --> 00:46:46.539 What I do know is that I confuse shades of colors. 00:46:46.719 --> 00:46:50.519 So I confuse blues and purples, greens and browns, 00:46:50.519 --> 00:46:56.119 greens and reds. And like my first year of university, 00:46:56.320 --> 00:46:58.639 my mother got me this great backpack. My mother's 00:46:58.639 --> 00:47:00.840 colorblind as well, by the way. And apparently 00:47:00.840 --> 00:47:04.159 like... It's only 1 % of the colorblind population 00:47:04.159 --> 00:47:09.340 is female. But it is, they are the carriers. 00:47:09.440 --> 00:47:12.079 So I can't be too upset with my mother because 00:47:12.079 --> 00:47:14.199 she's colorblind herself and she's really colorblind. 00:47:14.300 --> 00:47:16.980 Like she can see colors, but they're really messed 00:47:16.980 --> 00:47:19.320 up. So she's much more colorblind than I am. 00:47:20.179 --> 00:47:22.300 But she had gotten me a backpack for my first 00:47:22.300 --> 00:47:25.019 year of university. I thought, oh, awesome. This 00:47:25.019 --> 00:47:29.219 is a really nice blue backpack. And my friends 00:47:29.219 --> 00:47:31.000 were all kind of looking at me like, you know, 00:47:31.019 --> 00:47:34.250 that's like, brilliant purple right i was like 00:47:34.250 --> 00:47:38.150 oh no but oh well it's good enough for me um 00:47:38.150 --> 00:47:43.650 what i learned is that uh i can read like the 00:47:43.650 --> 00:47:46.670 first couple pages in those books that have the 00:47:46.670 --> 00:47:49.429 dots and the numbers that are in those dots but 00:47:49.429 --> 00:47:52.610 after the first couple pages i can't see any 00:47:52.610 --> 00:47:55.829 of the numbers um i when i was in the legion 00:47:55.829 --> 00:48:03.460 uh i memorized most of the pages of that book 00:48:03.460 --> 00:48:08.340 in order to participate in some of the training 00:48:08.340 --> 00:48:13.599 that I wanted to do. But I've forgotten what 00:48:13.599 --> 00:48:15.159 those pages are now, what the numbers are in 00:48:15.159 --> 00:48:19.659 those pages. And now for flying as a helicopter 00:48:19.659 --> 00:48:22.340 pilot, I've learned that there's a test called 00:48:22.340 --> 00:48:26.159 the Farnsworth test that I can take. And basically 00:48:26.159 --> 00:48:31.659 you're lining up these chips uh in an order based 00:48:31.659 --> 00:48:34.940 upon their shades of from purple to green to 00:48:34.940 --> 00:48:38.519 blue um and i'm able i'm able to pass that i'm 00:48:38.519 --> 00:48:42.159 able to pass that pretty well actually um that 00:48:42.159 --> 00:48:44.960 didn't prevent me the first time from cheating 00:48:44.960 --> 00:48:48.780 on that test either uh i took because the first 00:48:48.780 --> 00:48:53.480 time i took that test uh it was when i was starting 00:48:53.480 --> 00:48:57.510 my my helicopter flight training And I hadn't 00:48:57.510 --> 00:49:01.409 been approved by Transport Canada yet to get 00:49:01.409 --> 00:49:03.889 the highest medical certificate you need to actually 00:49:03.889 --> 00:49:06.369 then become a commercial helicopter pilot. And 00:49:06.369 --> 00:49:08.929 I was really nervous that I wouldn't be able 00:49:08.929 --> 00:49:11.650 to pass this test, even though I had tried it 00:49:11.650 --> 00:49:17.269 online and I was doing fine. But this was during 00:49:17.269 --> 00:49:20.510 COVID when you had to wear a mask. And I wear 00:49:20.510 --> 00:49:22.769 glasses now for reading. So when you wear a mask, 00:49:22.929 --> 00:49:27.460 the lenses get fogged up. Uh, and the, the, the 00:49:27.460 --> 00:49:30.320 assistant to the optometrist was telling me I 00:49:30.320 --> 00:49:33.159 had to do this test one eye at a time. And I 00:49:33.159 --> 00:49:34.599 knew that wasn't the case. And I actually had 00:49:34.599 --> 00:49:38.019 them call, uh, transport Canada and had them 00:49:38.019 --> 00:49:40.179 talk to each other so they could realize they 00:49:40.179 --> 00:49:42.639 didn't have to do that. Um, and they also wouldn't 00:49:42.639 --> 00:49:44.800 let me initially, they wouldn't let me take off 00:49:44.800 --> 00:49:47.539 my mask. So I wouldn't fog up my glasses, uh, 00:49:47.659 --> 00:49:50.940 but I got them to go be okay with that. And I 00:49:50.940 --> 00:49:53.280 was just, I was so kind of worked up by that 00:49:53.280 --> 00:49:56.440 point. I was like, man, if I fail this test, 00:49:56.559 --> 00:49:59.500 it's like the end of the beginning of my helicopter 00:49:59.500 --> 00:50:04.380 pilot attempt at a career. But the nurse had 00:50:04.380 --> 00:50:07.099 left the room during the time that I was doing 00:50:07.099 --> 00:50:10.380 this test. And so I surreptitiously did flip 00:50:10.380 --> 00:50:14.780 a couple of the chips, and they were numbered 00:50:14.780 --> 00:50:17.340 or something. I can't remember. And I only had 00:50:17.340 --> 00:50:20.719 to swap two of them to make sure I got – I can't 00:50:20.719 --> 00:50:23.179 remember if I got a perfect score or not. I passed 00:50:23.179 --> 00:50:26.679 it with flying colors, no pun intended. And I 00:50:26.679 --> 00:50:29.940 take the test each six months now that I get 00:50:29.940 --> 00:50:32.780 renewed for my medical and I'm able to do it 00:50:32.780 --> 00:50:35.099 now. I can put them in the order they're needed. 00:50:35.460 --> 00:50:37.659 But that first time that I took that Farnsworth 00:50:37.659 --> 00:50:40.579 test, there were just so many things that were 00:50:40.579 --> 00:50:43.579 coming up that were being blockers for whatever 00:50:43.579 --> 00:50:47.599 reason. But when I passed that test, I was like, 00:50:47.619 --> 00:50:50.679 oh God, like beads of sweat, wipe them off. And 00:50:50.679 --> 00:50:55.960 then it wasn't until, Four months later, Transport 00:50:55.960 --> 00:50:57.960 Canada, which is kind of the equivalent of the 00:50:57.960 --> 00:51:03.099 FAA in the U .S., sent me my medical certificate 00:51:03.099 --> 00:51:06.539 showing that I had passed all the medical requirements 00:51:06.539 --> 00:51:11.780 to become a helicopter pilot. That piece of paper, 00:51:11.960 --> 00:51:17.199 the wave of joy that was passing through me when 00:51:17.199 --> 00:51:20.929 I realized that I had passed the medical... especially 00:51:20.929 --> 00:51:24.210 the color test and the color blindness that had 00:51:24.210 --> 00:51:27.349 held me back from so many different things. I 00:51:27.349 --> 00:51:31.210 was on cloud nine and it was just an amazing 00:51:31.210 --> 00:51:33.210 feeling. And it was just a simple piece of paper 00:51:33.210 --> 00:51:35.389 saying, yeah, you've got your category one medical. 00:51:36.449 --> 00:51:38.989 It was just an amazing feeling. It's such an 00:51:38.989 --> 00:51:41.570 important conversation though, because, you know, 00:51:41.570 --> 00:51:43.750 when you were trying to get into the military, 00:51:43.750 --> 00:51:45.989 it was a hard no. And I'm the same with you with 00:51:45.989 --> 00:51:47.969 the books, you know, the first few pages, yes. 00:51:48.090 --> 00:51:50.159 And then after that. nothing it's just a bunch 00:51:50.159 --> 00:51:52.179 of dots you can see there's kind of a part of 00:51:52.179 --> 00:51:53.800 a number there but you can't see the whole thing 00:51:53.800 --> 00:51:56.880 but then you get into the profession you're trying 00:51:56.880 --> 00:51:59.059 to get into and no one says oh you know if there's 00:51:59.059 --> 00:52:02.239 a fire then you'll see an aquamarine light no 00:52:02.239 --> 00:52:06.659 you can't see a red pretty damn obvious you know 00:52:06.659 --> 00:52:08.679 what do you need to see and you can see him so 00:52:08.679 --> 00:52:11.269 unless it's like a bizarre shade of car that 00:52:11.269 --> 00:52:14.050 you're trying to find in some, then maybe that's 00:52:14.050 --> 00:52:15.969 a little bit more challenging. But usually the 00:52:15.969 --> 00:52:17.789 one with the dead person hanging out is the one 00:52:17.789 --> 00:52:19.750 that you're trying to go to. You know what I 00:52:19.750 --> 00:52:24.809 mean? And two other things have happened since 00:52:24.809 --> 00:52:30.429 then related to the colorblindness. One, I learned 00:52:30.429 --> 00:52:33.849 that my instructor during my initial flight training 00:52:33.849 --> 00:52:35.650 to get my commercial helicopter pilot license, 00:52:35.869 --> 00:52:39.219 he is... Colorblind, color deficient, whichever 00:52:39.219 --> 00:52:43.340 word we want to use. And Dave Precera Best is 00:52:43.340 --> 00:52:47.780 colorblind. And he went through some similar 00:52:47.780 --> 00:52:52.440 challenges, both flying helicopters in the British 00:52:52.440 --> 00:52:54.940 military, but also, and I think even more so, 00:52:54.960 --> 00:52:59.320 flying in the Canadian military. And it was him 00:52:59.320 --> 00:53:04.170 being persistent and saying, look. I need to 00:53:04.170 --> 00:53:06.210 take the Farnsworth test because I can pass that 00:53:06.210 --> 00:53:11.809 and then I can fly in Canada. So it was kind 00:53:11.809 --> 00:53:15.389 of welcome news to see these other pilots that 00:53:15.389 --> 00:53:18.010 were also color deficient and doing just fine. 00:53:18.730 --> 00:53:21.550 So for people listening, when these hurdles are 00:53:21.550 --> 00:53:23.070 being put up, even I'm going to tell you that 00:53:23.070 --> 00:53:27.630 the psych test, another one, the MMPI we have 00:53:27.630 --> 00:53:30.389 here, which is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality 00:53:30.389 --> 00:53:34.530 Interview. When I started this podcast and started 00:53:34.530 --> 00:53:36.349 getting all these people on from psychology, 00:53:36.489 --> 00:53:38.750 psychiatry, they told me that was never meant 00:53:38.750 --> 00:53:41.230 to be used as a standalone test. It's part of 00:53:41.230 --> 00:53:44.309 forensic psychology where you do a gamut of tests 00:53:44.309 --> 00:53:46.769 and it gives you an overall view of this person. 00:53:47.329 --> 00:53:49.590 So we've taken this test and said, oh, this is 00:53:49.590 --> 00:53:51.829 what you've got to pass. The polygraph. I mean, 00:53:51.889 --> 00:53:54.610 complete smoke and mirrors. I mean, it really 00:53:54.610 --> 00:53:57.329 is. I've got someone coming on from the, what 00:53:57.329 --> 00:54:00.800 is he in? FBI or Secret Service, I think it's 00:54:00.800 --> 00:54:04.139 Secret Service. And that was his world. And even 00:54:04.139 --> 00:54:06.099 then at that much higher level, there's still 00:54:06.099 --> 00:54:07.639 an element of, yeah, really, you're just trying 00:54:07.639 --> 00:54:11.019 to get someone to confess to something. So you 00:54:11.019 --> 00:54:12.840 look at these barriers, these hurdles that are 00:54:12.840 --> 00:54:14.920 put in front of first responders and military, 00:54:15.119 --> 00:54:19.019 and it can be decimating. They've wanted to be 00:54:19.019 --> 00:54:20.980 this thing for their whole life. They've trained, 00:54:21.059 --> 00:54:22.579 they've studied, they've kept their grades up, 00:54:22.639 --> 00:54:24.820 they've kept their fitness up. And then, boom, 00:54:24.880 --> 00:54:28.019 you hit it because of this test that really doesn't 00:54:28.019 --> 00:54:31.579 even have any foundation in truly dictating whether 00:54:31.579 --> 00:54:34.619 you are the right kind of candidate or not. So 00:54:34.619 --> 00:54:37.340 I think these stories are important to just always 00:54:37.340 --> 00:54:40.320 question. And if something is stopping you, find 00:54:40.320 --> 00:54:43.039 someone who got around it. Find someone who navigated 00:54:43.039 --> 00:54:45.719 that. and then go you know either just learn 00:54:45.719 --> 00:54:47.400 from them and do the thing or even reach out 00:54:47.400 --> 00:54:50.480 to them because i was obviously not destined 00:54:50.480 --> 00:54:52.760 to be a firefighter in the uk you know i had 00:54:52.760 --> 00:54:55.219 this bizarre journey that took me to the states 00:54:55.219 --> 00:54:58.460 and then out the fire service but you know if 00:54:58.460 --> 00:55:00.659 that's stopping someone from doing what they've 00:55:00.659 --> 00:55:02.420 always wanted to do whatever profession you're 00:55:02.420 --> 00:55:05.179 in question it first you know there might be 00:55:05.179 --> 00:55:07.119 a point where yeah you can't physically or mentally 00:55:07.119 --> 00:55:09.679 do that particular thing i would not be a high 00:55:09.679 --> 00:55:11.320 level mathematician i can tell you that right 00:55:11.320 --> 00:55:15.739 now But if it's just some of these blocks that 00:55:15.739 --> 00:55:19.000 have been artificially created, that doesn't 00:55:19.000 --> 00:55:20.840 have to be the end of your journey. There are 00:55:20.840 --> 00:55:24.880 ways around it. Absolutely. Yeah. Never give 00:55:24.880 --> 00:55:29.260 up. Persevere. I like to tell people that I'm 00:55:29.260 --> 00:55:33.239 nothing if not determined. And you could have 00:55:33.239 --> 00:55:37.780 all of the intelligence, all of the natural innate 00:55:37.780 --> 00:55:41.389 ability. to do a lot of different things. But 00:55:41.389 --> 00:55:45.550 if you're not willing to persevere and be determined 00:55:45.550 --> 00:55:48.670 to achieve something, I think it's those people 00:55:48.670 --> 00:55:53.610 that will go farther in life than others. I have 00:55:53.610 --> 00:55:56.969 a question for you. Have you ever felt like or 00:55:56.969 --> 00:55:59.769 thought of yourself as having a disability because 00:55:59.769 --> 00:56:02.710 of your colorblindness? No, not at all. It's 00:56:02.710 --> 00:56:11.460 unique. I hadn't either. In my last company in 00:56:11.460 --> 00:56:17.139 software, at some point we were filling out a 00:56:17.139 --> 00:56:19.539 survey. And I can't remember exactly what the 00:56:19.539 --> 00:56:22.960 survey was for or what. But one of the questions 00:56:22.960 --> 00:56:27.599 was, do you have a disability? And it listed 00:56:27.599 --> 00:56:30.340 all the different types of disabilities that 00:56:30.340 --> 00:56:34.239 could be considered a disability. And colorblindness 00:56:34.239 --> 00:56:37.559 was on the list. And I thought, oh, my goodness. 00:56:38.409 --> 00:56:43.750 do I have a disability? It was just so weird. 00:56:44.050 --> 00:56:46.130 You mean I could have been parking close to the 00:56:46.130 --> 00:56:48.590 grocery store this whole time? Yeah, exactly. 00:56:51.449 --> 00:56:54.670 Yeah, that was kind of an eye -opener. I mean, 00:56:54.690 --> 00:56:57.130 I get it, though. If you are in a profession 00:56:57.130 --> 00:56:59.730 where, I've always said, I couldn't be a great 00:56:59.730 --> 00:57:01.829 fashion designer, probably, if I'm not really 00:57:01.829 --> 00:57:04.409 seeing the nuances of shades, maybe in the same 00:57:04.409 --> 00:57:08.559 visual arts world. But, you know, it's only a 00:57:08.559 --> 00:57:12.659 disability in certain areas, I suppose. But, 00:57:12.739 --> 00:57:14.980 you know, I mean, how many amputees do we have 00:57:14.980 --> 00:57:17.059 that are thriving in certain areas, physical 00:57:17.059 --> 00:57:19.619 areas, you know, with their prosthesis? So is 00:57:19.619 --> 00:57:22.059 it technically a disability? Not really. They 00:57:22.059 --> 00:57:24.340 found a way of turning what was perceived as 00:57:24.340 --> 00:57:27.199 a weakness into a strength. So, yeah, and I think 00:57:27.199 --> 00:57:29.320 it really is kind of in the eye of the beholder 00:57:29.320 --> 00:57:32.360 a little bit. Fully agree. Yeah, great point. 00:57:33.349 --> 00:57:35.530 Circling around to a comment you made, and then 00:57:35.530 --> 00:57:37.530 we'll kind of walk through some of your deployments 00:57:37.530 --> 00:57:43.510 in the Legion, saying that they were the militia 00:57:43.510 --> 00:57:46.349 that were hired by aristocracy, or that was kind 00:57:46.349 --> 00:57:48.849 of the model back in the day. It's funny how 00:57:48.849 --> 00:57:51.010 we've come full circle, because I've made this 00:57:51.010 --> 00:57:56.010 point recently with the way that we are now forced 00:57:56.010 --> 00:57:59.829 to choose from people who are candidates for 00:57:59.829 --> 00:58:02.690 the President of the United States. Who have 00:58:02.690 --> 00:58:05.210 only succeeded because they, A, are extremely 00:58:05.210 --> 00:58:08.690 wealthy and B, have zero ethics. And I say that 00:58:08.690 --> 00:58:10.809 because to become the president, you have to 00:58:10.809 --> 00:58:13.809 take money from lobbyists of military, you know, 00:58:13.829 --> 00:58:17.170 weapons making companies and pharmaceutical companies 00:58:17.170 --> 00:58:19.630 and tobacco companies and all these things. That's 00:58:19.630 --> 00:58:23.429 how you got there. So if you think about it, 00:58:23.489 --> 00:58:26.969 it's a demistocracy. It's not democracy. It's 00:58:26.969 --> 00:58:29.429 aristocracy with the kind of facade of democracy. 00:58:30.409 --> 00:58:32.289 And we need to get back to democracy. Don't get 00:58:32.289 --> 00:58:34.010 me wrong. I think democracy is an incredible, 00:58:34.190 --> 00:58:36.909 you know, political system, but we found ourselves 00:58:36.909 --> 00:58:40.769 straying. And just to illustrate the point, our, 00:58:40.909 --> 00:58:44.210 you know, young children, men and women in the 00:58:44.210 --> 00:58:47.030 military in the States have been sent to fight 00:58:47.030 --> 00:58:49.369 wars that we had no business fighting for. And 00:58:49.369 --> 00:58:50.929 there's a lot of people that come on the show. 00:58:51.579 --> 00:58:54.059 that were sent because of you know post 9 11 00:58:54.059 --> 00:58:56.940 knee jerk and rightly so in some areas completely 00:58:56.940 --> 00:58:58.940 wrongly in other areas where it's a completely 00:58:58.940 --> 00:59:01.780 different country so many of them are reflecting 00:59:01.780 --> 00:59:05.079 back now knowing that they did good in those 00:59:05.079 --> 00:59:08.159 places where they went you know um at a micro 00:59:08.159 --> 00:59:11.019 level but macro they're like what was this for 00:59:11.550 --> 00:59:14.170 And I think that we found ourselves almost full 00:59:14.170 --> 00:59:17.230 circle again where a lot of our men and women 00:59:17.230 --> 00:59:20.130 that sign up for all the right reasons are being 00:59:20.130 --> 00:59:24.630 used as pawns for political and financial gain, 00:59:24.750 --> 00:59:29.090 not for doing the right thing. Yeah, boy, that's 00:59:29.090 --> 00:59:34.309 a – it's one of the reasons why I identify more 00:59:34.309 --> 00:59:38.179 now as a Canadian than as – an american and it's 00:59:38.179 --> 00:59:41.059 not because of americans it's because of the 00:59:41.059 --> 00:59:46.780 political situation in this in the us um and 00:59:46.780 --> 00:59:49.219 i there are probably i know that there are multiple 00:59:49.219 --> 00:59:54.079 reasons and scenarios why things are becoming 00:59:54.079 --> 00:59:57.840 and have become the way they are one of them 00:59:57.840 --> 01:00:01.920 being i think that there isn't as much of a shared 01:00:01.920 --> 01:00:07.380 sense of what it is to be an american Because 01:00:07.380 --> 01:00:11.360 I know if you look at the statistics of the number 01:00:11.360 --> 01:00:16.739 of people in government that have done service, 01:00:16.880 --> 01:00:20.980 military service, it is a fraction of what it 01:00:20.980 --> 01:00:25.000 used to be. And so you don't have that shared 01:00:25.000 --> 01:00:30.519 kind of innate trust of your fellow American. 01:00:30.760 --> 01:00:34.820 And I mean, the black and white of it is the... 01:00:35.000 --> 01:00:37.820 the red and blue of Republicans and Democrats, 01:00:38.159 --> 01:00:42.340 the separation that seems to keep on happening 01:00:42.340 --> 01:00:48.500 between the two major political parties, a lot 01:00:48.500 --> 01:00:50.460 of that seems to be because they simply don't 01:00:50.460 --> 01:00:53.199 understand each other. And when you don't understand 01:00:53.199 --> 01:00:57.820 each other, that's often what leads to not just 01:00:57.820 --> 01:01:02.940 understanding or misunderstanding, but distrust. 01:01:03.099 --> 01:01:06.409 And when you don't have an opportunity when you're 01:01:06.409 --> 01:01:10.010 younger to experience an environment where you 01:01:10.010 --> 01:01:13.650 have to trust the person next to you. I feel 01:01:13.650 --> 01:01:18.050 like that is at least part of what leads to what 01:01:18.050 --> 01:01:20.710 we're seeing in the US right now and in other 01:01:20.710 --> 01:01:22.630 countries as well. And I think that that happens 01:01:22.630 --> 01:01:28.530 in just about every country. I mean, countries, 01:01:28.789 --> 01:01:33.409 the US is an example. America started because 01:01:34.510 --> 01:01:39.989 It needed to get away from the governments of 01:01:39.989 --> 01:01:42.989 Europe that were run by the aristocracies, the 01:01:42.989 --> 01:01:48.690 privileged classes that were running those parts 01:01:48.690 --> 01:01:52.269 of the continent. And so the people that got 01:01:52.269 --> 01:01:57.329 out from under that yoke, they started a country 01:01:57.329 --> 01:02:02.349 with an idea that was an amazing idea, the idea 01:02:02.349 --> 01:02:07.300 of democracy, that people can, People, the government 01:02:07.300 --> 01:02:11.880 of the people can rule themselves and make just 01:02:11.880 --> 01:02:18.179 laws for themselves. And that has worked for 01:02:18.179 --> 01:02:23.820 hundreds of years. But human nature, I think, 01:02:23.860 --> 01:02:29.719 is such that individuals can't help in most cases, 01:02:29.739 --> 01:02:33.440 but accumulate. power and wealth because they 01:02:33.440 --> 01:02:40.280 want to feel secure. And what people's definition 01:02:40.280 --> 01:02:44.400 of security differs from person to person and 01:02:44.400 --> 01:02:48.139 people's ability to create that sense of security, 01:02:48.320 --> 01:02:51.320 whether it's through money or power or whatever, 01:02:51.480 --> 01:02:55.780 is different as well. And so ultimately, I think 01:02:55.780 --> 01:02:57.360 what we're seeing now in the States is you're 01:02:57.360 --> 01:03:01.230 getting A class of people that are wanting to 01:03:01.230 --> 01:03:04.469 feel more and more secure. And by doing that, 01:03:04.550 --> 01:03:07.070 they're creating more and more of a divide politically 01:03:07.070 --> 01:03:10.030 and economically. So it just antagonizes the 01:03:10.030 --> 01:03:13.710 whole situation where things and people and ideas 01:03:13.710 --> 01:03:16.929 are becoming more and more polarized. At some 01:03:16.929 --> 01:03:19.150 point, things are going to break down in the 01:03:19.150 --> 01:03:22.170 U .S. I remember reading not long ago that the 01:03:22.170 --> 01:03:26.750 upward mobility capability in Europe is better 01:03:26.750 --> 01:03:29.969 now than in the U .S. 250 years ago, that was 01:03:29.969 --> 01:03:31.489 why the U .S. was created, was because there 01:03:31.489 --> 01:03:34.710 was no upward mobility in Europe. The U .S. was 01:03:34.710 --> 01:03:36.690 able to create that with a new government and 01:03:36.690 --> 01:03:43.050 a new democracy, but now it's flipped. I wish 01:03:43.050 --> 01:03:49.230 I could kind of go back in time and get a sense 01:03:49.230 --> 01:03:51.130 of what it was like either during the American 01:03:51.130 --> 01:03:54.070 Civil War or during the American Revolutionary 01:03:54.070 --> 01:03:58.039 War to see if there's any... how much, if at 01:03:58.039 --> 01:04:02.320 all similar, our society today is in the U .S. 01:04:02.340 --> 01:04:05.360 to what it was like in those periods and those 01:04:05.360 --> 01:04:08.300 periods leading to an ultimate break with the 01:04:08.300 --> 01:04:14.280 status quo and something being renewed. I don't 01:04:14.280 --> 01:04:18.219 like to be a fear monger, but in some ways it 01:04:18.219 --> 01:04:20.260 feels like things are getting close to the breaking 01:04:20.260 --> 01:04:26.289 point in the U .S. I'm an eternal yet angry optimist, 01:04:26.309 --> 01:04:29.309 I always say, because I truly believe in the 01:04:29.309 --> 01:04:34.989 good in people. And I hope that the cracks that 01:04:34.989 --> 01:04:38.389 are forming in this system, because, I mean, 01:04:38.429 --> 01:04:41.849 you can go back, let's say, worst, worst case, 01:04:42.010 --> 01:04:45.030 nine years to see the absolute crumbling of, 01:04:45.050 --> 01:04:47.869 you know, I don't even want to use the word leadership, 01:04:47.949 --> 01:04:52.139 people that are put in DC. i mean it's just been 01:04:52.139 --> 01:04:54.800 an absolute debacle and it's been a such a deliberate 01:04:54.800 --> 01:04:57.260 wedge driven through you know through this country 01:04:57.260 --> 01:04:59.460 and you can see you know you can request the 01:04:59.460 --> 01:05:01.940 statistics on the few people that are making 01:05:01.940 --> 01:05:03.659 billions and billions and billions and billions 01:05:03.659 --> 01:05:06.940 of dollars while you know addiction school safety 01:05:06.940 --> 01:05:09.980 obesity i mean all these things that are no one 01:05:09.980 --> 01:05:12.980 can refute the ill health of the american people 01:05:12.980 --> 01:05:17.219 gets worse and worse and worse so i i don't think 01:05:17.219 --> 01:05:19.989 you know people worried about like a a revolution, 01:05:20.250 --> 01:05:22.469 a war. I don't think it needs to be that way. 01:05:22.590 --> 01:05:26.510 I think it just needs to be an awakening of what 01:05:26.510 --> 01:05:28.389 America is supposed to be. And I had a guest 01:05:28.389 --> 01:05:30.909 on the other day. I think it was Johnny Miller 01:05:30.909 --> 01:05:35.630 was talking about this, I think. I forget who 01:05:35.630 --> 01:05:37.510 it was. Anyway, regardless. And they said that 01:05:37.510 --> 01:05:41.269 you've got civilians and you've got citizens. 01:05:41.949 --> 01:05:44.010 And he said a civilian is just someone who's 01:05:44.010 --> 01:05:46.809 in that country. And they get to reap the benefits 01:05:46.809 --> 01:05:50.389 of all things America in this case. And you've 01:05:50.389 --> 01:05:53.630 got a citizen who actually invests in that country. 01:05:53.730 --> 01:05:56.610 So the soldier, the firefighter, those kind of 01:05:56.610 --> 01:05:59.050 people, teachers would be great examples of that 01:05:59.050 --> 01:06:01.309 kind of person. And then everyone else that just 01:06:01.309 --> 01:06:04.269 does good in their community, volunteers, whatever 01:06:04.269 --> 01:06:07.449 it is. And the problem is that we haven't had 01:06:07.449 --> 01:06:10.610 a citizen as a president for quite a while now. 01:06:11.289 --> 01:06:13.610 Therein lies the problem. It's just take, take, 01:06:13.690 --> 01:06:16.190 take. And the people that pay are the Americans. 01:06:16.389 --> 01:06:18.429 I'll give you a perfect example. I just had Rick 01:06:18.429 --> 01:06:21.230 Mountcastle on the show, who was the lawyer that 01:06:21.230 --> 01:06:23.010 brought down, well, not brought down, but got 01:06:23.010 --> 01:06:25.829 to at least bring to trial Purdue Pharma and 01:06:25.829 --> 01:06:28.510 the predatory actions of OxyContin that caused 01:06:28.510 --> 01:06:30.610 the opioid crisis that we're suffering from even 01:06:30.610 --> 01:06:33.849 to this day. And you listen to the government 01:06:33.849 --> 01:06:37.969 corruption with that. You listen to the FDA approving 01:06:37.969 --> 01:06:41.460 that and all the back... room deals that were 01:06:41.460 --> 01:06:44.039 going on there. He also talks about nursing homes. 01:06:44.139 --> 01:06:46.179 And again, same thing. I've had Doug Orchard 01:06:46.179 --> 01:06:50.000 talking about our pensions and how private equity 01:06:50.000 --> 01:06:52.519 firms have been allowed to just take, take, take 01:06:52.519 --> 01:06:55.019 from those government pensions. Again, first 01:06:55.019 --> 01:06:57.420 responders and teachers and all these people. 01:06:57.659 --> 01:07:01.780 So it is the same exact thing. A few people are 01:07:01.780 --> 01:07:04.739 preying on the masses for, as you alluded to, 01:07:04.860 --> 01:07:08.760 greed and power. And it's going to take a national 01:07:08.760 --> 01:07:12.159 awakening, an international awakening for the 01:07:12.159 --> 01:07:15.480 people. No one person is any more important than 01:07:15.480 --> 01:07:17.320 another. I don't give a shit if you're the president 01:07:17.320 --> 01:07:20.059 or the queen or whoever. We were all born the 01:07:20.059 --> 01:07:23.400 same way, cried the same way as babies. And we 01:07:23.400 --> 01:07:26.940 have equal opportunity to have a good life, the 01:07:26.940 --> 01:07:29.860 same as everyone else. But you get born into 01:07:29.860 --> 01:07:31.699 a system and you're told, oh, no, you're just 01:07:31.699 --> 01:07:35.429 a. coal miner, whatever the thing is. No, no, 01:07:35.449 --> 01:07:37.750 no. You're here. Just go to work, make money, 01:07:37.909 --> 01:07:40.949 pay your taxes. And meanwhile, these organizations 01:07:40.949 --> 01:07:44.550 are preying on your health is being ruined, all 01:07:44.550 --> 01:07:47.969 these things. And they are the ones that are 01:07:47.969 --> 01:07:50.050 gaining. They don't go to war. They start wars, 01:07:50.110 --> 01:07:52.309 but they don't send their children to war. So 01:07:52.309 --> 01:07:54.510 I think that's how we have the great American 01:07:54.510 --> 01:07:58.949 revolution of 2026 is by people realizing that 01:07:58.949 --> 01:08:01.550 the enemy of this whole disease that's going 01:08:01.550 --> 01:08:05.880 on, is coming together and being one people once 01:08:05.880 --> 01:08:11.579 again? I'm very curious to see what happens in 01:08:11.579 --> 01:08:19.140 2026 and 2028. A great awakening can take the 01:08:19.140 --> 01:08:22.939 form of many different things. I obviously hope 01:08:22.939 --> 01:08:27.720 that the one is a great awakening and that two, 01:08:27.939 --> 01:08:35.039 that it is a peaceful great awakening. It's an 01:08:35.039 --> 01:08:37.460 interesting time to be alive and to see what's 01:08:37.460 --> 01:08:40.220 happening in the world. I can't imagine being 01:08:40.220 --> 01:08:44.020 a World War II veteran, having given so much 01:08:44.020 --> 01:08:48.199 and seeing this spoiled child mentality that 01:08:48.199 --> 01:08:52.659 is celebrated in 2025. And I think if we really 01:08:52.659 --> 01:08:56.439 want to truly pay homage to the men and women 01:08:56.439 --> 01:08:58.640 that paved the path for us to be where we are 01:08:58.640 --> 01:09:01.760 today, we have to turn this thing around. I totally 01:09:01.760 --> 01:09:04.640 agree. There's dudes everywhere with this don't 01:09:04.640 --> 01:09:08.180 tread on me snake flag. Dude, you're being trodden 01:09:08.180 --> 01:09:10.579 on constantly. When are you going to step up? 01:09:10.640 --> 01:09:14.340 Not with your gun, with your mind. When are you 01:09:14.340 --> 01:09:17.199 going to step up, realize this is a game, read 01:09:17.199 --> 01:09:20.539 a few George Orwell books, and then have this 01:09:20.539 --> 01:09:23.840 coming together. As you talked about in the Legion, 01:09:24.079 --> 01:09:27.380 the tossed salad, which sends two images in my 01:09:27.380 --> 01:09:32.439 mind simultaneously. This is this melting pot 01:09:32.439 --> 01:09:36.340 of humans. And as I'm sure you were talking about, 01:09:36.479 --> 01:09:39.260 Ukrainians and Russians and whoever the other 01:09:39.260 --> 01:09:41.880 people were, in their homeland, they were told 01:09:41.880 --> 01:09:44.420 they were enemies. In the Legion, they were men 01:09:44.420 --> 01:09:46.460 fighting side by side. And that is the point. 01:09:46.619 --> 01:09:52.079 We are human first. Yep. Fully agree. All right. 01:09:52.079 --> 01:09:53.800 Well, good little rabbit hole to go down there. 01:09:53.939 --> 01:09:57.039 Let's get back on track now. So back to the Legion. 01:09:57.899 --> 01:10:00.159 where was it that you first found yourself deployed 01:10:00.159 --> 01:10:03.000 once you kind of got this green light you navigated 01:10:03.000 --> 01:10:05.079 your training with airborne where did you find 01:10:05.079 --> 01:10:09.199 yourself uh first yeah so uh so i was i went 01:10:09.199 --> 01:10:11.359 to the parachute regiment and that regiment is 01:10:11.359 --> 01:10:14.739 based in calvi corsica and it's there that we 01:10:14.739 --> 01:10:19.340 did our uh tap troop aeroport day so basically 01:10:19.340 --> 01:10:22.680 um airborne troop training and i was assigned 01:10:22.680 --> 01:10:26.750 to the fourth company and that Each of the four 01:10:26.750 --> 01:10:29.409 companies in the parachute regiment, they're 01:10:29.409 --> 01:10:32.649 kind of modeled after the SAS actually, where 01:10:32.649 --> 01:10:34.569 the fourth company was focused on explosives 01:10:34.569 --> 01:10:40.130 and sniping. I'm not a great shot. I'm okay with 01:10:40.130 --> 01:10:43.029 a pistol, not with a rifle. And I didn't have 01:10:43.029 --> 01:10:45.850 my 20 -20 eyesight, so I didn't do sniping. I 01:10:45.850 --> 01:10:49.750 invested my time in explosives. The third company 01:10:49.750 --> 01:10:52.859 was the amphibious company. Second company. was 01:10:52.859 --> 01:10:54.840 the mountain company and the first company was 01:10:54.840 --> 01:10:59.520 the urban combat specialization. So I was in 01:10:59.520 --> 01:11:03.199 the fourth company and it was, so that would 01:11:03.199 --> 01:11:07.539 have been April, May, June, July, summer of 93. 01:11:09.220 --> 01:11:16.199 And it was in the winter of 94 that I was first 01:11:16.199 --> 01:11:21.430 deployed to Chad, Northern Africa. So Northern 01:11:21.430 --> 01:11:25.970 and Central Africa at the time, and still for 01:11:25.970 --> 01:11:27.710 the most part today, is kind of like France's 01:11:27.710 --> 01:11:31.310 colonial backyard still. They're all obviously 01:11:31.310 --> 01:11:33.829 independent countries, but France has a lot of 01:11:33.829 --> 01:11:37.670 military, economic, and political investments 01:11:37.670 --> 01:11:43.970 in those areas. And so Chad is one of them. And 01:11:43.970 --> 01:11:47.449 so they have rotating regiments going into... 01:11:48.079 --> 01:11:51.680 Multiple countries, Chad being one. And so my 01:11:51.680 --> 01:11:55.640 company was assigned to go to Chad. And there 01:11:55.640 --> 01:12:01.659 are basically two places or head bases in Chad 01:12:01.659 --> 01:12:06.699 that France has bases in. And that is Ngemena, 01:12:06.760 --> 01:12:09.899 which is the capital. And then Abache, which 01:12:09.899 --> 01:12:14.180 is this, I guess technically it is a city, but 01:12:14.180 --> 01:12:17.770 it's... For the most part, I would say it's kind 01:12:17.770 --> 01:12:21.890 of like mud huts, houses. There is an airstrip 01:12:21.890 --> 01:12:26.430 at the French military outpost there. And I think 01:12:26.430 --> 01:12:30.109 that's the reason why it exists for the French 01:12:30.109 --> 01:12:35.930 and for why a French company or was it a platoon 01:12:35.930 --> 01:12:37.489 or a company that we'd always go out there as? 01:12:37.590 --> 01:12:40.409 I think it was just a platoon. So my platoon 01:12:40.409 --> 01:12:44.880 rotated out to Abaché. It felt kind of like the 01:12:44.880 --> 01:12:48.500 quintessential Legion outpost that you might 01:12:48.500 --> 01:12:50.739 see a picture of a Legionnaire with a white kepi 01:12:50.739 --> 01:12:53.140 and a long robe and a rifle standing in the middle 01:12:53.140 --> 01:13:00.520 of the desert. That was Abishay. And we were 01:13:00.520 --> 01:13:05.100 there in Abishay for a month. And we were always 01:13:05.100 --> 01:13:09.699 going on tours, kind of going out into the bush. 01:13:10.800 --> 01:13:14.579 doing patrols for days at a time in vehicles. 01:13:15.260 --> 01:13:19.960 I know at least once, if not more than a couple 01:13:19.960 --> 01:13:22.880 times, we actually crossed the border into Libya 01:13:22.880 --> 01:13:27.439 just to kind of check out what was going on. 01:13:28.300 --> 01:13:33.239 And it was there that I dug my first hole as 01:13:33.239 --> 01:13:36.439 a legionnaire because I wasn't sleeping with 01:13:36.439 --> 01:13:40.779 my rifle in my sleeping bag. Uh, and so for punishment, 01:13:40.960 --> 01:13:43.979 uh, from like two or three in the morning until, 01:13:44.020 --> 01:13:46.659 until daybreak, I had to dig a hole in the sand. 01:13:46.960 --> 01:13:49.659 Uh, I got a great photo of it with, it was, it 01:13:49.659 --> 01:13:51.399 ended up being like, I don't know, seven, eight 01:13:51.399 --> 01:13:55.859 feet deep. Um, and, but it was a great, it was, 01:13:55.880 --> 01:13:59.000 again, it was a great experience just being there, 01:13:59.079 --> 01:14:02.779 doing that, having now colleagues from around 01:14:02.779 --> 01:14:08.039 the world, um, learning about different. parts 01:14:08.039 --> 01:14:12.159 of the world and people and life that I never 01:14:12.159 --> 01:14:19.859 would have thought I would. And I was enjoying 01:14:19.859 --> 01:14:24.260 being young. Now that I look back on it, I was 01:14:24.260 --> 01:14:27.319 having the time of my life experiencing that. 01:14:28.199 --> 01:14:31.659 And so we were there for four months in Chad, 01:14:31.800 --> 01:14:36.060 rotated back to the capital of the country. But 01:14:36.060 --> 01:14:38.520 there was... There was kind of little things 01:14:38.520 --> 01:14:42.420 going on in North and Central Africa, sometimes 01:14:42.420 --> 01:14:45.479 big things like Sudan right now. And Sudan at 01:14:45.479 --> 01:14:49.979 the time was calm. Sudan is immediately to the 01:14:49.979 --> 01:14:53.779 east of Chad. And Abashe is just a few hours' 01:14:53.939 --> 01:14:57.439 drive from the border of Sudan, but there was 01:14:57.439 --> 01:14:59.960 nothing going on at the time. So it was fairly 01:14:59.960 --> 01:15:08.060 low -key in Chad, nothing big happening. um so 01:15:08.060 --> 01:15:13.199 that tour ended uh went back then after that 01:15:13.199 --> 01:15:16.960 tour is when i got my first leave so it was that 01:15:16.960 --> 01:15:20.800 would have been um over a year since i had joined 01:15:20.800 --> 01:15:23.619 the legion and i got my first leave where it 01:15:23.619 --> 01:15:26.039 was the first time that i got to put on civilian 01:15:26.039 --> 01:15:30.220 clothing again and that that just putting on 01:15:30.220 --> 01:15:33.699 a pair of levi's felt strange um i was starting 01:15:33.699 --> 01:15:38.260 to Just a few weeks before leaving Africa and 01:15:38.260 --> 01:15:41.100 knowing that we were going to leave, I started 01:15:41.100 --> 01:15:46.319 dreaming about McDonald's Big Macs and the foods 01:15:46.319 --> 01:15:48.460 that I was going to eat and the things that I 01:15:48.460 --> 01:15:51.420 was going to do and just the clothes that I was 01:15:51.420 --> 01:15:54.800 going to wear. It all felt so foreign. When I 01:15:54.800 --> 01:16:00.319 went on leave, I understood finally at least 01:16:00.319 --> 01:16:03.180 an inkling of what it might have been like for... 01:16:03.659 --> 01:16:05.920 for people that had been in Vietnam or different 01:16:05.920 --> 01:16:09.840 conflicts. And when they go on leave or they 01:16:09.840 --> 01:16:13.319 finish their service and how life just doesn't 01:16:13.319 --> 01:16:16.100 feel the same, that it is different or that people 01:16:16.100 --> 01:16:19.300 don't understand or whatever. I didn't have it 01:16:19.300 --> 01:16:21.579 nearly to that same degree because I didn't have 01:16:21.579 --> 01:16:26.819 the same, anywhere near that same level of challenge, 01:16:27.659 --> 01:16:32.380 I guess, just being in Chad. But it was like, 01:16:32.600 --> 01:16:34.399 I got an inkling of what the feeling was like. 01:16:35.119 --> 01:16:39.319 And my mother and sister actually came to France 01:16:39.319 --> 01:16:42.939 to spend time with me on my leave. So I didn't 01:16:42.939 --> 01:16:44.380 actually leave the country. I just stayed in 01:16:44.380 --> 01:16:47.399 France. And for a week, we kind of roamed around 01:16:47.399 --> 01:16:51.619 the country. So that was fun. Then went back 01:16:51.619 --> 01:16:56.300 after leave. And that was when, so that would 01:16:56.300 --> 01:17:01.109 have been 94, 94. That was when we went on our 01:17:01.109 --> 01:17:05.430 first commando training school in the Pyrenees. 01:17:05.930 --> 01:17:08.710 So there's a national commando training center 01:17:08.710 --> 01:17:12.449 in two locations in the Pyrenees. One is in Couliour, 01:17:12.529 --> 01:17:15.989 which is right on the coast of the Mediterranean. 01:17:16.289 --> 01:17:18.569 And then the Pyrenees start basically right up 01:17:18.569 --> 01:17:21.409 there, splitting Spain and France. And the other 01:17:21.409 --> 01:17:25.529 part of the training was in a fort area called... 01:17:25.760 --> 01:17:29.060 uh mont louis um there are a string of forts 01:17:29.060 --> 01:17:33.119 all along the pyrenees that were developed uh 01:17:33.119 --> 01:17:37.039 in like the 15 or 1600s by a famous military 01:17:37.039 --> 01:17:40.680 architect called vauban he was like the most 01:17:40.680 --> 01:17:43.619 famous military architect of the time and so 01:17:43.619 --> 01:17:47.640 one of these forts has been turned into a commando 01:17:47.640 --> 01:17:51.840 training center and uh so did that for i want 01:17:51.840 --> 01:17:54.340 to say three weeks maybe three or four weeks 01:17:54.340 --> 01:17:59.720 um that was great fun that was i mean learned 01:17:59.720 --> 01:18:02.579 survival training and advanced hand -to -hand 01:18:02.579 --> 01:18:08.460 combat and foreign weapons instruction um had 01:18:08.460 --> 01:18:10.720 like obstacle courses of all different types 01:18:10.720 --> 01:18:14.180 all over the place and i just i loved it it was 01:18:14.180 --> 01:18:18.539 being tested physically um and did i did pretty 01:18:18.539 --> 01:18:21.479 well in that course as well and doing like uh 01:18:21.479 --> 01:18:26.899 multiple uh night long marches like 75 kilometers 01:18:26.899 --> 01:18:32.380 in three nights um and being fed things that 01:18:32.380 --> 01:18:37.199 you wouldn't believe you could eat um it was 01:18:37.199 --> 01:18:41.079 yeah loved it the whole time i mean now that 01:18:41.079 --> 01:18:43.319 i think back on it i'm like wow that was just 01:18:43.319 --> 01:18:46.659 so awesome i love that i'm sure as the example 01:18:46.659 --> 01:18:49.359 what in the middle of it i was like man this 01:18:49.359 --> 01:18:53.430 really is hard this sucks what was the worst 01:18:53.430 --> 01:19:01.250 thing you had to eat um live fish uh so when 01:19:01.250 --> 01:19:05.189 we were in coleor uh which is on again on the 01:19:05.189 --> 01:19:08.670 coast right at the base of the pyrenees um we 01:19:08.670 --> 01:19:10.930 were given a bucket i don't know if they were 01:19:10.930 --> 01:19:15.210 mackerel or i don't know what they were but uh 01:19:16.000 --> 01:19:19.600 That was the meal for the day was a bucket of 01:19:19.600 --> 01:19:22.720 these, I don't know, like six or eight inch long 01:19:22.720 --> 01:19:26.979 fish that were kind of flapping around. And for 01:19:26.979 --> 01:19:31.060 me, it wasn't that bad. It actually wasn't bad 01:19:31.060 --> 01:19:35.020 at all. One of the things that I did in the Legion 01:19:35.020 --> 01:19:41.600 was I didn't want people to be fully confident 01:19:41.600 --> 01:19:46.750 or secure on who I was. Um, so I, and so one 01:19:46.750 --> 01:19:49.689 of the things that I did was I would eat random 01:19:49.689 --> 01:19:53.130 things that people be like, why, what are you 01:19:53.130 --> 01:19:55.710 doing? And that's like gross. And I eat lizards 01:19:55.710 --> 01:19:59.670 and frogs and, and worms, um, that were always 01:19:59.670 --> 01:20:03.310 live, but, uh, just to kind of keep people on 01:20:03.310 --> 01:20:07.210 their toes a little bit. Um, but the, yeah, the, 01:20:07.310 --> 01:20:11.550 the flapping fish that were, uh, a pretty decent 01:20:11.550 --> 01:20:14.180 size that you couldn't just swallow whole. that 01:20:14.180 --> 01:20:19.579 took a little getting used to. So what about 01:20:19.579 --> 01:20:21.659 Bosnia? How did you find yourself there and what 01:20:21.659 --> 01:20:27.640 was your experience? Yeah, Bosnia was a mess. 01:20:29.619 --> 01:20:35.279 So when I finished my jump training in the rep 01:20:35.279 --> 01:20:39.680 and was assigned to the fourth company, that 01:20:39.680 --> 01:20:44.449 company had just gotten back from, Bosnia in 01:20:44.449 --> 01:20:49.270 1993. And they were based primarily in Sarajevo. 01:20:49.729 --> 01:20:53.630 And it was when the Civil War was kind of at 01:20:53.630 --> 01:20:57.430 its height. Whether they were there as a part 01:20:57.430 --> 01:21:01.750 of the UN or not, I'm not sure. But it was apparently 01:21:01.750 --> 01:21:09.020 pretty darn hairy. Serbs and the Croats and the 01:21:09.020 --> 01:21:11.539 Bosnian Muslims and just the whole mix. They 01:21:11.539 --> 01:21:15.520 were all fighting each other. And you had the 01:21:15.520 --> 01:21:18.680 Legion trying to insert itself to keep them from 01:21:18.680 --> 01:21:21.159 killing each other. But instead, oftentimes they 01:21:21.159 --> 01:21:23.760 just killed the Legionnaires that were there 01:21:23.760 --> 01:21:26.340 because they were in the way, basically. And 01:21:26.340 --> 01:21:30.279 so it was the first time I met some guys that 01:21:30.279 --> 01:21:34.619 had some physical scars from being there. I had 01:21:34.619 --> 01:21:37.310 learned that some of the guys, did not come back 01:21:37.310 --> 01:21:40.930 from there um and that's when i really felt like 01:21:40.930 --> 01:21:44.010 okay i'm really a newbie here i'm really just 01:21:44.010 --> 01:21:49.430 i don't know anything um and so it was after 01:21:49.430 --> 01:21:52.329 my first tour to africa that we went back to 01:21:52.329 --> 01:22:01.390 bosnia in 96 i think um from november 95 to the 01:22:01.390 --> 01:22:05.239 spring of 96 so we were there it was cold Let 01:22:05.239 --> 01:22:07.460 me put it that way. I mean, the Winter Olympics 01:22:07.460 --> 01:22:10.899 were in Sarajevo for a reason and that they get 01:22:10.899 --> 01:22:14.859 a fair amount of snow. And so while I don't, 01:22:14.859 --> 01:22:18.800 I can't say because I wasn't there in 93, I don't 01:22:18.800 --> 01:22:23.979 think that things were as hot in 95, 96 as they 01:22:23.979 --> 01:22:28.279 were in 93. One, because there was more of a 01:22:28.279 --> 01:22:34.020 UN presence there by that time in 95, 96. And 01:22:34.020 --> 01:22:37.220 two, there was more, I think that there was more 01:22:37.220 --> 01:22:39.739 tension from the world on what was happening 01:22:39.739 --> 01:22:43.899 in Yugoslavia. So while the Kurats and the Bosnians 01:22:43.899 --> 01:22:47.180 and the Bosnian Muslims and Serbs were still 01:22:47.180 --> 01:22:50.539 fighting each other, it wasn't as active. They 01:22:50.539 --> 01:22:53.560 still were. And there were still some kind of 01:22:53.560 --> 01:22:57.960 dicey situations. And it still sometimes felt 01:22:57.960 --> 01:23:00.939 like we were kind of in the middle of something 01:23:00.939 --> 01:23:05.520 and we shouldn't be there. But then you also 01:23:05.520 --> 01:23:08.100 had other influences that were starting to come 01:23:08.100 --> 01:23:11.520 in that Western countries were concerned about. 01:23:11.640 --> 01:23:15.079 So, for example, Iran was getting more involved 01:23:15.079 --> 01:23:20.979 in supporting Bosnian Muslims. I don't know how 01:23:20.979 --> 01:23:26.600 much or if Russia was supporting the Serbs or 01:23:26.600 --> 01:23:32.289 not. The thing that I remember most about Bosnia 01:23:32.289 --> 01:23:37.510 was just the cold and sleeping sometimes, waking 01:23:37.510 --> 01:23:43.350 up under snow in a sleeping bag and just being 01:23:43.350 --> 01:23:46.390 freezing. And I don't do well with the cold. 01:23:46.909 --> 01:23:49.989 When I finished grad school, my only job criteria 01:23:49.989 --> 01:23:51.909 was that I had to live and work somewhere below 01:23:51.909 --> 01:23:55.109 the 35th parallel, which is like Florida, Southern 01:23:55.109 --> 01:23:59.479 California, Texas or something. So here I was 01:23:59.479 --> 01:24:01.880 in Bosnia in the middle of winter without shelter. 01:24:03.060 --> 01:24:07.600 And so for me, that was more difficult. That 01:24:07.600 --> 01:24:11.060 was more tough than pretty much anything that 01:24:11.060 --> 01:24:14.340 I had experienced in the Legion. I don't know 01:24:14.340 --> 01:24:16.840 if you saw, I'm pretty sure it was Sarajevo. 01:24:16.899 --> 01:24:20.039 Almost certain it was that conflict. But a news 01:24:20.039 --> 01:24:22.479 story just broke that apparently there was almost 01:24:22.479 --> 01:24:26.279 like this human hunting thing that was going 01:24:26.279 --> 01:24:29.659 on where... People from other countries were 01:24:29.659 --> 01:24:34.279 supposedly going to that war zone and being allowed 01:24:34.279 --> 01:24:37.239 to snipe. I forget which side it was now, but 01:24:37.239 --> 01:24:39.260 probably that kind of sniper alley type thing 01:24:39.260 --> 01:24:41.600 where, you know, literally like some of the Hollywood 01:24:41.600 --> 01:24:43.659 movies have portrayed in the past, but you were 01:24:43.659 --> 01:24:48.340 basically hunting humans. Wow. I didn't know 01:24:48.340 --> 01:24:51.699 that. I can't say I personally experienced that 01:24:51.699 --> 01:24:55.399 there, but I wouldn't be surprised because they 01:24:55.399 --> 01:24:59.579 were. All three sides, they were also determined. 01:24:59.979 --> 01:25:04.140 I remember on one of our patrols, we were on 01:25:04.140 --> 01:25:10.439 patrol specifically to find and destroy sniper 01:25:10.439 --> 01:25:15.779 positions on the side of some hill somewhere. 01:25:17.300 --> 01:25:23.060 And I remember seeing how much time and effort 01:25:23.060 --> 01:25:26.090 and resources. And I can't remember who it was, 01:25:26.109 --> 01:25:28.270 whether it was the Serbs or the Croats or the 01:25:28.270 --> 01:25:33.630 Bosnian Muslims had put into creating these different 01:25:33.630 --> 01:25:38.609 bivouacs and tunnels and barricaded places on 01:25:38.609 --> 01:25:42.090 the side of this mountain. But it was impressive. 01:25:42.529 --> 01:25:45.710 And the trenches that they had going between 01:25:45.710 --> 01:25:50.130 them, I couldn't believe that they had actually 01:25:50.130 --> 01:25:53.770 left these positions because they seemed so well. 01:25:54.499 --> 01:25:57.479 fortified um but it was great i have to say it 01:25:57.479 --> 01:26:00.739 was fun kind of blowing them all up uh and and 01:26:00.739 --> 01:26:04.659 eliminating them um but yeah they were all three 01:26:04.659 --> 01:26:08.319 sides they were pretty darn determined so what 01:26:08.319 --> 01:26:10.899 made you finally decide to transition out of 01:26:10.899 --> 01:26:14.100 the foreign legion and then which kind of uh 01:26:14.100 --> 01:26:19.439 career path did you take after that yeah i knew 01:26:19.439 --> 01:26:22.060 when i went to the legion that it wasn't going 01:26:22.060 --> 01:26:27.930 to be a lifelong career. Um, the, I knew it had, 01:26:27.970 --> 01:26:29.970 it had to be at least five years, five years 01:26:29.970 --> 01:26:34.090 is the minimum initial contract. Um, and I was 01:26:34.090 --> 01:26:36.630 fairly confident that I would do that minimum 01:26:36.630 --> 01:26:40.550 five years and no more, and then go back to a 01:26:40.550 --> 01:26:43.210 normal career, what that career would be. I didn't 01:26:43.210 --> 01:26:48.489 know at the time. Um, and, but I do remember, 01:26:48.609 --> 01:26:54.020 so in my third tour, when I was in, the Central 01:26:54.020 --> 01:26:56.199 African Republic, we actually, we actually did 01:26:56.199 --> 01:27:00.199 go on. So we went on tour, a second tour to Chad. 01:27:00.399 --> 01:27:02.479 And when we were on tour in Chad, that's when 01:27:02.479 --> 01:27:04.920 we were called up to go from Chad to the Central 01:27:04.920 --> 01:27:06.859 African Republic, because there was basically 01:27:06.859 --> 01:27:13.020 a coup d 'etat was in progress. And so we were 01:27:13.020 --> 01:27:19.550 sent, so this was in 97. And I remember I, I 01:27:19.550 --> 01:27:21.770 had started to think about, okay, I've got a 01:27:21.770 --> 01:27:24.210 year and something left before I'm done with 01:27:24.210 --> 01:27:28.189 my five years. What do I want to do next? And 01:27:28.189 --> 01:27:30.189 I decided I wanted to go to graduate school. 01:27:30.350 --> 01:27:32.850 So I wanted to get a joint degree. I wanted to 01:27:32.850 --> 01:27:36.609 get an MBA and a Juris Doctorate, so a law degree. 01:27:37.430 --> 01:27:42.250 So I started to study for the entrance examinations 01:27:42.250 --> 01:27:44.029 for both of those. So there's something called 01:27:44.029 --> 01:27:46.989 the GMAT, which is what you take to get into 01:27:47.789 --> 01:27:50.949 a graduate school for a master's or uh an mba 01:27:50.949 --> 01:27:53.329 and then there's the lsat which is the entrance 01:27:53.329 --> 01:27:55.689 exam you take to get into law school so i had 01:27:55.689 --> 01:27:59.789 like books uh that i had brought with me uh to 01:27:59.789 --> 01:28:03.189 chad and that there then came with me to central 01:28:03.189 --> 01:28:06.270 african republic um even though it was kind of 01:28:06.270 --> 01:28:10.310 a hot zone at that point and i remember i remember 01:28:10.310 --> 01:28:16.100 so we we would set up bivouacs or or just sites 01:28:16.100 --> 01:28:20.060 for my squad and then our platoon in random places 01:28:20.060 --> 01:28:23.380 throughout the city, whether that was a totally 01:28:23.380 --> 01:28:26.359 rundown building that had been bombed for whatever 01:28:26.359 --> 01:28:28.659 reason, or a half -built building, or in one 01:28:28.659 --> 01:28:34.420 case we had taken over part of a Catholic convent. 01:28:35.119 --> 01:28:39.420 And I still remember we were in a room and I 01:28:39.420 --> 01:28:43.260 had my cot set up with mosquito netting and a 01:28:43.260 --> 01:28:45.779 flashlight. and I was studying for the GMAT. 01:28:46.279 --> 01:28:49.779 I was thinking, I bet there aren't many people 01:28:49.779 --> 01:28:51.279 that have studied for their entrance examination 01:28:51.279 --> 01:28:56.739 in a place like this. Again, because I was getting 01:28:56.739 --> 01:29:00.300 close to the end of my career with Legion, I 01:29:00.300 --> 01:29:03.020 knew I wanted to go back to school. I was again 01:29:03.020 --> 01:29:05.760 thinking maybe finance, even though I wasn't, 01:29:05.760 --> 01:29:11.819 again, that great with numbers. When I did finish 01:29:11.819 --> 01:29:16.069 the Legion, got accepted to the George Washington 01:29:16.069 --> 01:29:20.189 University, which is in Washington, D .C. I was 01:29:20.189 --> 01:29:24.069 not accepted into their law school, but I was 01:29:24.069 --> 01:29:27.470 accepted into their international affairs program. 01:29:27.890 --> 01:29:32.210 I was able to pursue an MBA in international 01:29:32.210 --> 01:29:34.970 business and then a master's in international 01:29:34.970 --> 01:29:37.850 affairs. What allowed me to do the international 01:29:37.850 --> 01:29:42.770 affairs was now being able to speak French. because 01:29:42.770 --> 01:29:46.310 of having been in the Legion. What I really wanted 01:29:46.310 --> 01:29:48.909 to do with either of those two degrees, I didn't 01:29:48.909 --> 01:29:52.930 even know then. What I realized, though, was 01:29:52.930 --> 01:29:57.550 that I was really going back to school to network, 01:29:57.729 --> 01:30:02.670 to find out about what there was in the world 01:30:02.670 --> 01:30:05.609 that I could do as a more traditional career. 01:30:07.149 --> 01:30:10.729 And it was where I realized... I actually realized, 01:30:10.890 --> 01:30:15.069 again, I knew this in undergrad, that I really 01:30:15.069 --> 01:30:18.510 like technology. I love computers, love software. 01:30:18.770 --> 01:30:22.350 I'm good at it. And so even though I got degrees 01:30:22.350 --> 01:30:27.369 in areas that are not specific to technology, 01:30:27.630 --> 01:30:31.329 I figured that I like technology so much I can 01:30:31.329 --> 01:30:33.930 learn it on my own. And that's essentially what 01:30:33.930 --> 01:30:39.810 I did. So this was the dot -com era. So the 2000s. 01:30:40.949 --> 01:30:45.829 And after graduate school, I got a job with a 01:30:45.829 --> 01:30:48.869 technology company called MicroStrategy, and 01:30:48.869 --> 01:30:53.310 they did analytics. So basically, data mining, 01:30:53.409 --> 01:31:00.210 the precursor of data cleansing and data quality. 01:31:02.250 --> 01:31:04.829 data analytics, like algorithms and statistics 01:31:04.829 --> 01:31:08.270 and machine learning, and now called artificial 01:31:08.270 --> 01:31:10.569 intelligence that you have today. But it was 01:31:10.569 --> 01:31:15.930 in that area. And so I was hired by this company 01:31:15.930 --> 01:31:18.810 called MicroStrategy. And they were the high 01:31:18.810 --> 01:31:21.789 flyers at the time for this area of software. 01:31:22.250 --> 01:31:25.739 Their stock had skyrocketed to 300. as a share. 01:31:26.579 --> 01:31:33.140 They were hiring as fast as they could. My primary 01:31:33.140 --> 01:31:35.739 job criteria was that I live and work somewhere 01:31:35.739 --> 01:31:39.640 below the 35th parallel. They hired me to work 01:31:39.640 --> 01:31:44.739 out of their Southern California office. Finishing 01:31:44.739 --> 01:31:47.600 my two degrees, I was driving from Washington, 01:31:47.819 --> 01:31:53.640 D .C. to basically El Segundo, California, which 01:31:53.640 --> 01:31:57.899 is just south of Los Angeles, and stopping to 01:31:57.899 --> 01:31:59.960 see my parents in Colorado and Arizona on the 01:31:59.960 --> 01:32:03.859 way. It was when I was in Colorado that I saw 01:32:03.859 --> 01:32:07.359 on the news that this company that I had just 01:32:07.359 --> 01:32:10.560 been hired by, their stock price had fallen from 01:32:10.560 --> 01:32:16.199 $300 to $30. I can't remember why it happened, 01:32:16.319 --> 01:32:19.359 something dramatic, drastic, I don't know. But 01:32:19.359 --> 01:32:21.500 I basically learned through the news that they 01:32:21.500 --> 01:32:25.500 were letting go of a boatload of people. And 01:32:25.500 --> 01:32:27.340 I thought, oh, I wonder if I'm one of those people. 01:32:27.760 --> 01:32:32.020 So I basically contacted my company. They said, 01:32:32.119 --> 01:32:35.880 oh, yeah, you no longer have a job waiting for 01:32:35.880 --> 01:32:40.600 you in California. I was like, oh, okay. But 01:32:40.600 --> 01:32:42.699 you get to keep your signing bonus, your moving 01:32:42.699 --> 01:32:46.380 bonus, and you get severance. This is for a company 01:32:46.380 --> 01:32:48.760 that I had not worked a minute for. I had not 01:32:48.760 --> 01:32:53.520 even started my job. But they also gave me a 01:32:53.520 --> 01:32:57.579 spreadsheet with like, I don't know, 100, 200 01:32:57.579 --> 01:33:02.180 contacts of companies and recruiters around the 01:33:02.180 --> 01:33:07.079 U .S., even their competitors, that I could start. 01:33:08.010 --> 01:33:12.449 contacting to see to find another job well compared 01:33:12.449 --> 01:33:14.949 to what you hear of a lot of companies you know 01:33:14.949 --> 01:33:17.010 I was really impressed and have been impressed 01:33:17.010 --> 01:33:19.829 to this day by that company for having done that 01:33:19.829 --> 01:33:22.850 yeah they didn't they obviously didn't have to 01:33:22.850 --> 01:33:27.310 do that but they did and so I was yeah again 01:33:27.310 --> 01:33:32.510 I I was impressed not only that but it was like 01:33:32.510 --> 01:33:35.079 two years later after I had been working for 01:33:35.079 --> 01:33:38.819 this other company, that I received a letter 01:33:38.819 --> 01:33:42.800 from this original company, MicroStrategy. And 01:33:42.800 --> 01:33:46.260 it was an additional check because they said 01:33:46.260 --> 01:33:48.899 they had taken too much taxes out of the severance 01:33:48.899 --> 01:33:53.819 that they had given me. So I was like, all right, 01:33:53.920 --> 01:33:58.520 I wish I could find more jobs like this. But 01:33:58.520 --> 01:34:01.699 the company they ultimately then worked for, 01:34:03.720 --> 01:34:08.039 Crystal Decisions was headquartered in Vancouver, 01:34:08.340 --> 01:34:12.020 Canada. Is that below that latitude line you're 01:34:12.020 --> 01:34:15.439 talking about? Oh, it's way above it. It's like, 01:34:15.600 --> 01:34:19.640 well, Canada -US parallel is 49th parallel. So 01:34:19.640 --> 01:34:22.500 yeah, I definitely did not meet my primary job 01:34:22.500 --> 01:34:28.079 criteria. So I started working for them out of 01:34:28.079 --> 01:34:30.439 Colorado because that happened to be where my 01:34:30.439 --> 01:34:32.840 mother was living and where I grew up. And so 01:34:32.840 --> 01:34:38.750 I worked... out of Colorado for a year. All of 01:34:38.750 --> 01:34:42.050 their new hires came to Vancouver for the initial 01:34:42.050 --> 01:34:45.850 company training. There was a week of company 01:34:45.850 --> 01:34:48.569 training. Then if you were in a technical software 01:34:48.569 --> 01:34:50.550 role, which is what I was in, you would take 01:34:50.550 --> 01:34:53.550 technical training as well. It just so happened 01:34:53.550 --> 01:34:56.310 that my future wife was the technical trainer. 01:34:57.329 --> 01:35:01.789 Either I was a good student or I needed remedial 01:35:01.789 --> 01:35:05.109 training. one of the two but we hit it off uh 01:35:05.109 --> 01:35:09.050 and coming this march we will have been together 01:35:09.050 --> 01:35:12.909 for 25 years uh and and so that's how i ended 01:35:12.909 --> 01:35:17.170 up in vancouver amazing so you're in this kind 01:35:17.170 --> 01:35:20.850 of corporate space for a long long time what 01:35:20.850 --> 01:35:23.750 where does the itch to get into aviation come 01:35:23.750 --> 01:35:25.949 from and it's going to walk through that journey 01:35:25.949 --> 01:35:30.149 yeah so uh so i had this company that i started 01:35:30.149 --> 01:35:32.840 with crystal decisions it was acquired twice 01:35:32.840 --> 01:35:37.340 and ultimately became what is today sap which 01:35:37.340 --> 01:35:41.060 is a multinational software company headquarters 01:35:41.060 --> 01:35:44.420 in germany it's kind of germany's microsoft like 01:35:44.420 --> 01:35:47.880 70 of the world's commerce goes through an sap 01:35:47.880 --> 01:35:51.199 system at some point or another and i had a really 01:35:51.199 --> 01:35:56.239 great career with with sap 19 years started off 01:35:56.239 --> 01:35:59.159 as a kind of a junior technical consultant and 01:35:59.159 --> 01:36:02.600 finished as a vice president of our analytics 01:36:02.600 --> 01:36:08.439 organization. And then I was starting to get 01:36:08.439 --> 01:36:13.119 burnt out with the industry, not just the industry, 01:36:13.279 --> 01:36:19.399 but white collar work. But there was an opportunity 01:36:19.399 --> 01:36:23.460 to join a smaller startup slash growth company 01:36:23.460 --> 01:36:25.560 that had actually been started by executives 01:36:25.560 --> 01:36:29.479 from SAP. So I gave that a go for It was almost 01:36:29.479 --> 01:36:37.159 four years. And in February of 2023, the company 01:36:37.159 --> 01:36:39.960 had a reduction in force. So they let some people 01:36:39.960 --> 01:36:43.199 go. And for the first time in my life, I was 01:36:43.199 --> 01:36:48.159 someone that was let go from a job. And at first, 01:36:48.300 --> 01:36:52.880 I was like, my self -confidence was like down 01:36:52.880 --> 01:36:54.399 the tubes. I thought, wow, I'm being let go. 01:36:54.479 --> 01:36:56.539 I guess I'm not needed or not wanted or something. 01:36:57.930 --> 01:37:01.649 But it was literally just a few minutes after 01:37:01.649 --> 01:37:05.510 I was having the conversation with both HR and 01:37:05.510 --> 01:37:07.229 my boss, who I'm still really good friends with, 01:37:07.350 --> 01:37:11.470 that I realized this is actually great because 01:37:11.470 --> 01:37:14.449 I had been feeling for since before coming to 01:37:14.449 --> 01:37:16.390 that company that I was kind of stuck. I wasn't 01:37:16.390 --> 01:37:19.449 challenged. I was more going through the motions 01:37:19.449 --> 01:37:24.850 of this job. And so it was a blessing in disguise 01:37:24.850 --> 01:37:30.880 that I was let go. Again, with severance. I had 01:37:30.880 --> 01:37:34.579 invested as well. I've always been interested 01:37:34.579 --> 01:37:37.260 in the stock market. When I was in the Legion, 01:37:37.479 --> 01:37:42.720 when most of my comrades, they were spending 01:37:42.720 --> 01:37:46.680 their money on wine, women, and booze, as a famous 01:37:46.680 --> 01:37:49.739 Tom T. Hall song goes, I was actually sending 01:37:49.739 --> 01:37:53.359 international money orders back to the U .S. 01:37:53.359 --> 01:37:55.319 with Fidelity Investments and investing in the 01:37:55.319 --> 01:38:00.659 stock market. And so that investing has really 01:38:00.659 --> 01:38:02.600 served me well. And so that's what allowed me 01:38:02.600 --> 01:38:08.420 in February 2023 to decide I could either just 01:38:08.420 --> 01:38:13.399 retire at 53 years old or I could do something 01:38:13.399 --> 01:38:19.119 totally different. And so I was told it was still 01:38:19.119 --> 01:38:24.119 COVID time in the winter of 2023, February 2023. 01:38:25.160 --> 01:38:27.640 But people were just starting to go back to the 01:38:27.640 --> 01:38:32.140 office that wanted to. And I was one that I functioned 01:38:32.140 --> 01:38:35.699 better in the office than at home to do work. 01:38:36.079 --> 01:38:37.840 And so I was there in the office. It was like 01:38:37.840 --> 01:38:39.819 8 .30 in the morning. No one else was there. 01:38:40.159 --> 01:38:44.720 But I see my boss and the head of HR coming down 01:38:44.720 --> 01:38:46.319 the hallway. And they're coming toward my desk. 01:38:46.420 --> 01:38:47.800 And there's no one else around on the whole floor. 01:38:48.279 --> 01:38:50.199 And I'm thinking, oh, I wonder if they just come 01:38:50.199 --> 01:38:55.069 to chat. And they get to my desk. And I'm sitting 01:38:55.069 --> 01:38:57.909 there looking up at them and they say, can we 01:38:57.909 --> 01:39:01.369 have a conversation? I was like, oh, okay, yeah. 01:39:02.109 --> 01:39:05.489 So we went into this little conference room and 01:39:05.489 --> 01:39:08.569 started letting me know that I was being let 01:39:08.569 --> 01:39:14.130 go. And so after that, it was mid -morning and 01:39:14.130 --> 01:39:17.069 I'm walking home and I get home and it's like 01:39:17.069 --> 01:39:18.949 10 in the morning, walk through the door. My 01:39:18.949 --> 01:39:21.149 wife's working from home and she looks at me 01:39:21.149 --> 01:39:22.770 and she's on a conference call and she's like, 01:39:23.119 --> 01:39:27.239 Got a puzzled look. And so she hangs up and she's 01:39:27.239 --> 01:39:30.119 like, have you been let go from work? She could 01:39:30.119 --> 01:39:32.500 feel it. She knew. And I was like, yeah. And 01:39:32.500 --> 01:39:36.500 I was like, and I feel great. That walk, the 01:39:36.500 --> 01:39:38.439 walk home from the office, it was like a 40 minute 01:39:38.439 --> 01:39:41.369 walk. It just. It was becoming more and more 01:39:41.369 --> 01:39:43.909 evident to me that I was being let go. I was 01:39:43.909 --> 01:39:48.250 being let go in that I was being set free because 01:39:48.250 --> 01:39:51.409 I had these golden handcuffs of the security 01:39:51.409 --> 01:39:54.390 of the salary I was making, the bonuses that 01:39:54.390 --> 01:39:56.930 I would get and all that stuff. But it's not 01:39:56.930 --> 01:39:59.750 what I needed in life. I needed to be challenged 01:39:59.750 --> 01:40:04.869 again. I went back out from home and decided 01:40:04.869 --> 01:40:07.869 there's a famous walk in Vancouver called the 01:40:07.869 --> 01:40:10.470 Seawall. And it's basically Vancouver's on a 01:40:10.470 --> 01:40:12.590 peninsula and you can walk around the seawall. 01:40:12.909 --> 01:40:16.289 And it was kind of like today. It was a gray, 01:40:16.329 --> 01:40:20.130 chilly, wet morning. And I'm walking around the 01:40:20.130 --> 01:40:24.310 seawall and I hear a helicopter flying overhead. 01:40:24.930 --> 01:40:28.010 And I look up and it was the sleek blue and white 01:40:28.010 --> 01:40:32.390 helicopter. Now I know it's a Sikorsky S -76, 01:40:32.670 --> 01:40:35.430 but it looks like an executive helicopter. They 01:40:35.430 --> 01:40:37.510 don't have the skids. The wheels retract up into 01:40:37.510 --> 01:40:40.609 the body. And it was just cruising along overhead, 01:40:40.829 --> 01:40:43.090 going over Stanley Park. And I was like, that's 01:40:43.090 --> 01:40:45.989 pretty cool. Maybe I should look again into becoming 01:40:45.989 --> 01:40:49.010 a helicopter pilot or a pilot of some sort. And 01:40:49.010 --> 01:40:53.409 so a few days later, so I'm researching all this. 01:40:53.510 --> 01:40:55.630 And the first thing I was worried about was my 01:40:55.630 --> 01:40:58.890 eyesight, my colorblindness. And that's when 01:40:58.890 --> 01:41:01.250 I started reading about how you can be color 01:41:01.250 --> 01:41:03.890 deficient or have some levels of colorblindness, 01:41:03.930 --> 01:41:09.979 but you can still fly. exactly type of colorblindness 01:41:09.979 --> 01:41:13.220 I had or how bad it was, if it was too bad to 01:41:13.220 --> 01:41:17.720 fly. But I went and got an aviation medical exam. 01:41:18.479 --> 01:41:21.779 It was fine for everything except for the color 01:41:21.779 --> 01:41:29.500 dot book test. And the physician, he was an airplane 01:41:29.500 --> 01:41:32.119 pilot. And he was asking me why I wanted to become 01:41:32.119 --> 01:41:35.960 a helicopter pilot, one, at my age, 53, and two, 01:41:36.159 --> 01:41:38.000 why helicopters? Aren't they more dangerous? 01:41:38.260 --> 01:41:41.640 What happens if you lose an engine in a helicopter? 01:41:41.899 --> 01:41:44.880 Because now I know differently. But he thought 01:41:44.880 --> 01:41:46.880 if a helicopter loses an engine, it just kind 01:41:46.880 --> 01:41:48.600 of falls to the ground like a rock, unlike a 01:41:48.600 --> 01:41:52.079 plane that can glide. And I thought, well, that's 01:41:52.079 --> 01:41:53.500 part of why I want to do this. It's more dangerous. 01:41:53.579 --> 01:41:55.420 I want the challenge. Now I learned that if a 01:41:55.420 --> 01:41:57.600 helicopter loses an engine, it can glide to the 01:41:57.600 --> 01:42:00.079 ground. as well actually better than an airplane 01:42:00.079 --> 01:42:03.960 but anyway um so i failed the the color test 01:42:03.960 --> 01:42:08.439 and i said i understand that there's an additional 01:42:08.439 --> 01:42:10.420 color test that i can take called the farnsworth 01:42:10.420 --> 01:42:13.560 test and so they booked me for an appointment 01:42:13.560 --> 01:42:17.720 with this an optometrist or ophthalmologist specialist 01:42:17.720 --> 01:42:19.560 to be able to take this test and that's what 01:42:19.560 --> 01:42:25.420 i did then and at the same time i was then researching 01:42:26.010 --> 01:42:28.390 uh aviation schools in the area so helicopter 01:42:28.390 --> 01:42:31.989 schools um and that's when i ultimately landed 01:42:31.989 --> 01:42:35.029 on the school that i got my license from called 01:42:35.029 --> 01:42:38.050 chinook helicopters uh they were able to take 01:42:38.050 --> 01:42:41.909 me in like a month and a half after i inquired 01:42:41.909 --> 01:42:45.289 and got my initial flight uh in in a helicopter 01:42:45.289 --> 01:42:48.090 they give you a first flight just to see if you 01:42:48.090 --> 01:42:50.010 would actually would like to do something like 01:42:50.010 --> 01:42:54.500 that and i loved it When you do that first flight, 01:42:54.579 --> 01:42:56.659 they give you the controls as much as they can 01:42:56.659 --> 01:43:00.720 or that you can handle. I learned pretty quickly 01:43:00.720 --> 01:43:04.460 that it was going to take me a while to learn 01:43:04.460 --> 01:43:06.380 the cyclic and the collective and the pedals 01:43:06.380 --> 01:43:08.260 and just be able to hover. Hover is actually 01:43:08.260 --> 01:43:10.800 quite hard in a helicopter already, but when 01:43:10.800 --> 01:43:15.619 you're 53 years old and your brain doesn't make 01:43:15.619 --> 01:43:18.000 these new connections as quickly as it did when 01:43:18.000 --> 01:43:22.649 you were 23 years old, things take longer. So 01:43:22.649 --> 01:43:28.109 I learned pretty quickly that while you can teach 01:43:28.109 --> 01:43:31.770 an old dog new tricks, it just takes longer. 01:43:32.609 --> 01:43:35.750 And so it took me about twice as long as the 01:43:35.750 --> 01:43:39.109 guys, the people that were half my age to get 01:43:39.109 --> 01:43:42.689 through the school. So from May 23 to December 01:43:42.689 --> 01:43:46.729 23, I was full time learning how to fly helicopters 01:43:46.729 --> 01:43:53.619 and learning all of the The ground school portion, 01:43:53.739 --> 01:43:56.840 the theoretical part from aerodynamics to weather 01:43:56.840 --> 01:44:00.220 to there's lots of legal parameters that you 01:44:00.220 --> 01:44:02.680 have to learn about flying anywhere in the world. 01:44:03.180 --> 01:44:05.460 It's basically like going to university again. 01:44:05.579 --> 01:44:08.180 It's like getting a university degree, but for 01:44:08.180 --> 01:44:11.560 flying. But I was loving every minute of it. 01:44:11.840 --> 01:44:15.359 No, I shouldn't say that. It's recent enough 01:44:15.359 --> 01:44:19.159 memory so that I know I wasn't loving every minute 01:44:19.159 --> 01:44:24.460 of it. many days where i was so frustrated with 01:44:24.460 --> 01:44:27.800 myself because it was taking me so long to learn 01:44:27.800 --> 01:44:31.439 some of these things and not to learn the theoretical 01:44:31.439 --> 01:44:36.159 pieces but to get my brain and my body to work 01:44:36.159 --> 01:44:39.619 together to learn just the art and the science 01:44:39.619 --> 01:44:42.720 of flying to get my hands and my feet and my 01:44:42.720 --> 01:44:47.020 brain to get those new pathways in my brain to 01:44:47.020 --> 01:44:50.539 be created, to learn this stuff. And it was so 01:44:50.539 --> 01:44:54.359 frustrating so many times. And there were several 01:44:54.359 --> 01:44:57.779 times where I thought, man, am I going to be 01:44:57.779 --> 01:44:59.659 able to get this? Or am I just throwing money 01:44:59.659 --> 01:45:03.199 down the drain? And I asked multiple times my 01:45:03.199 --> 01:45:06.060 instructor and other instructors at the school, 01:45:06.520 --> 01:45:09.579 like, is there a point where you know that you 01:45:09.579 --> 01:45:14.590 just can't be a pilot? And for the most part, 01:45:14.670 --> 01:45:16.949 they were like, yeah, you haven't gotten there 01:45:16.949 --> 01:45:21.829 yet. Keep pushing for it. And at one point, I 01:45:21.829 --> 01:45:23.630 was even, are they just saying this because I'm 01:45:23.630 --> 01:45:25.970 giving them – I'm fairly well off. I can just 01:45:25.970 --> 01:45:28.350 keep on paying them to try to teach me how to 01:45:28.350 --> 01:45:33.449 fly a helicopter. But ultimately, I got it, and 01:45:33.449 --> 01:45:39.789 I passed my flight test with great – it was like 01:45:39.789 --> 01:45:44.920 flying colors, pun intended. And since then, 01:45:45.039 --> 01:45:48.720 I've gotten endorsements on multiple types of 01:45:48.720 --> 01:45:51.220 helicopters. I've gotten my night rating. I just 01:45:51.220 --> 01:45:54.699 finished my instrument flight rules rating, which 01:45:54.699 --> 01:45:56.659 is what will allow me to fly for the company 01:45:56.659 --> 01:45:59.819 I work for now, Helijet, which is the first helicopter 01:45:59.819 --> 01:46:04.889 that I saw flying overhead two years ago. and 01:46:04.889 --> 01:46:08.310 flying to the helicopter pad in the middle of 01:46:08.310 --> 01:46:11.390 the city where I now work doing groundwork for 01:46:11.390 --> 01:46:15.689 this company, Helijet. And it really gave me 01:46:15.689 --> 01:46:19.449 a new lease on life. I feel 20 years younger. 01:46:19.890 --> 01:46:22.470 I'm challenged again. I'm excited to go to work 01:46:22.470 --> 01:46:24.729 in the morning. If someone would have told me 01:46:24.729 --> 01:46:27.930 a few years ago that when you're 55 years old, 01:46:27.989 --> 01:46:31.329 you'll be working outside in the rain, making 01:46:31.329 --> 01:46:35.159 less than a living wage. uh i would have thought 01:46:35.159 --> 01:46:40.060 are you crazy but i love going to work i love 01:46:40.060 --> 01:46:43.680 working with people that are half my age i like 01:46:43.680 --> 01:46:45.640 the fact that i've learned a new skill and that 01:46:45.640 --> 01:46:50.399 soon i will be flying and being paid to fly rather 01:46:50.399 --> 01:46:54.479 than paying to fly just to underline that point 01:46:54.479 --> 01:46:57.800 at the moment you're providing the ground services 01:46:57.800 --> 01:47:00.479 for the pilots is that right so that's just to 01:47:00.479 --> 01:47:03.260 kind of show the determination and getting to 01:47:03.260 --> 01:47:05.739 this point, you have the humility to do the jobs 01:47:05.739 --> 01:47:08.640 that are supporting the pilot. That's absolutely 01:47:08.640 --> 01:47:13.659 right. And not only that, like I vacuum the floors, 01:47:13.680 --> 01:47:18.439 I clean the bathrooms, I get things, I load people's 01:47:18.439 --> 01:47:22.119 suitcases, I clean the helicopters, I refuel 01:47:22.119 --> 01:47:25.279 the helicopters. I'm not even... being paid to 01:47:25.279 --> 01:47:29.119 fly yet. I have gotten to the point where I can 01:47:29.119 --> 01:47:32.659 fly without having to pay to fly. So Helijet 01:47:32.659 --> 01:47:34.460 will let me fly their helicopters if there are 01:47:34.460 --> 01:47:40.539 no passengers on it. And I'll either be flying 01:47:40.539 --> 01:47:44.439 for Helijet sometime soon, or I'm looking at 01:47:44.439 --> 01:47:46.779 another company as well where it's actually another. 01:47:47.199 --> 01:47:49.140 potential chapter on my adventure. I might be 01:47:49.140 --> 01:47:51.680 flying for a company called Custom Helicopters 01:47:51.680 --> 01:47:56.380 in Manitoba, flying near the Arctic Circle, either 01:47:56.380 --> 01:48:01.079 flying emergency medical helicopters or flying 01:48:01.079 --> 01:48:04.760 another type of helicopter to provide supplies 01:48:04.760 --> 01:48:09.180 and ferrying people and medical equipment for 01:48:09.180 --> 01:48:12.479 indigenous populations that you can't get to 01:48:12.479 --> 01:48:16.949 easily. So there are lots of opportunities. looking 01:48:16.949 --> 01:48:20.789 at now for this but i like to say the world's 01:48:20.789 --> 01:48:23.430 my oyster uh and this is what i've chosen to 01:48:23.430 --> 01:48:26.029 do in it now that sounds amazing especially the 01:48:26.029 --> 01:48:29.010 second one really does how did you and dave cross 01:48:29.010 --> 01:48:33.029 paths then was it in the sim uh no not so he's 01:48:33.029 --> 01:48:36.909 doing the sim work now our paths crossed when 01:48:36.909 --> 01:48:40.090 so helijet does recurring ground school training 01:48:40.090 --> 01:48:43.949 for all of its pilots um and for people and so 01:48:44.479 --> 01:48:47.060 The chief pilot at Helijet, his name is Mike 01:48:47.060 --> 01:48:49.560 Garland. He was also a pilot in the British military. 01:48:50.680 --> 01:48:57.380 Just a great guy. And basically his mantra is 01:48:57.380 --> 01:49:01.380 that anyone that is a pilot at Helijet, regardless 01:49:01.380 --> 01:49:04.579 of the work they're doing at Helijet, they are 01:49:04.579 --> 01:49:07.899 pilots in his eyes. So even those of us that 01:49:07.899 --> 01:49:09.800 are pilots but that are still doing groundwork. 01:49:11.100 --> 01:49:14.340 He lets us participate in the ground school recurrent 01:49:14.340 --> 01:49:17.479 training with the helijet pilots. And that's 01:49:17.479 --> 01:49:19.779 where I met Dave Becerra -Best first. He was 01:49:19.779 --> 01:49:24.579 an instructor in the ground school. And he had 01:49:24.579 --> 01:49:32.279 heard about me through Mike Garland. And so we'd 01:49:32.279 --> 01:49:34.340 had a few conversations back and forth about 01:49:34.340 --> 01:49:38.760 our experiences in the military. And I got to 01:49:38.760 --> 01:49:42.899 fly with. uh dave uh he there was a point in 01:49:42.899 --> 01:49:45.159 time where he there were no passengers on his 01:49:45.159 --> 01:49:47.659 flight so he let me fly the helicopter from vancouver 01:49:47.659 --> 01:49:53.479 to uh victoria or vancouver to um downtown to 01:49:53.479 --> 01:49:56.500 the international airport which is where helijet 01:49:56.500 --> 01:50:00.380 bases most of its helicopters at night um and 01:50:00.380 --> 01:50:03.159 then we just we hit it off from there and and 01:50:03.159 --> 01:50:07.300 so in the last couple weeks before he was leaving 01:50:07.300 --> 01:50:13.619 helijet to go do his new simulator career. We 01:50:13.619 --> 01:50:15.819 were just chatting more and more about different 01:50:15.819 --> 01:50:17.779 things. And that's when I learned that he was 01:50:17.779 --> 01:50:20.460 colorblind. And that's where he learned that 01:50:20.460 --> 01:50:22.279 I was colorblind and some of the challenges that 01:50:22.279 --> 01:50:24.500 I had gone through to actually serve in the military. 01:50:24.920 --> 01:50:26.960 And he, and that's when he said, you know, you 01:50:26.960 --> 01:50:30.359 really should talk to James. And I was like, 01:50:32.750 --> 01:50:35.250 I don't have that colorful of a history like 01:50:35.250 --> 01:50:38.630 yours. I listened to the podcast that you two 01:50:38.630 --> 01:50:40.189 did and I thought, wow, that was really cool. 01:50:41.109 --> 01:50:48.029 He'd also had a British documentary series on 01:50:48.029 --> 01:50:54.090 first responders. But in particular, not the 01:50:54.090 --> 01:50:56.810 Coast Guard, but I can't remember what it used 01:50:56.810 --> 01:50:58.390 to be called in the British military. It used 01:50:58.390 --> 01:51:00.250 to be the British military that provided first 01:51:00.250 --> 01:51:03.090 responder services. And now I think it's a private 01:51:03.090 --> 01:51:06.430 organization. But he flew Pumas for a regiment, 01:51:06.710 --> 01:51:11.069 multiple regiments in the RAF for first responders. 01:51:11.229 --> 01:51:15.270 And I know he flew with Prince William. And so 01:51:15.270 --> 01:51:17.930 watching those episodes was really cool. So that's 01:51:17.930 --> 01:51:22.289 how I got to know Dave. Fantastic. Well, I want 01:51:22.289 --> 01:51:23.909 to be mindful of your time, so I'm going to throw 01:51:23.909 --> 01:51:25.710 some quick closing questions at you, if that's 01:51:25.710 --> 01:51:29.229 okay. Yeah, sure. First one I love to ask, is 01:51:29.229 --> 01:51:31.250 there a book or are there books that you love 01:51:31.250 --> 01:51:33.550 to recommend? It can be related to our discussion 01:51:33.550 --> 01:51:38.470 today or completely unrelated. That is a good 01:51:38.470 --> 01:51:40.970 question. Well, right now I'm reading Cosmos 01:51:40.970 --> 01:51:45.810 by Carl Sagan, and I have a very eclectic taste. 01:51:46.359 --> 01:51:50.439 in books and music um so i'm reading cosmos now 01:51:50.439 --> 01:51:55.159 uh i just finished the underground railroad by 01:51:55.159 --> 01:52:03.199 author's name escapes me um the biographies of 01:52:03.199 --> 01:52:08.800 george washington and franklin um i like science 01:52:08.800 --> 01:52:13.000 fiction i like fantasy um but if there's yeah 01:52:13.000 --> 01:52:16.659 if there's any one particular book That sticks 01:52:16.659 --> 01:52:22.300 with me more than any other. You might laugh 01:52:22.300 --> 01:52:25.199 at this, but it is probably Gone with the Wind. 01:52:26.760 --> 01:52:30.039 Which is about the U .S. about it's a historical 01:52:30.039 --> 01:52:35.000 fiction U .S. Civil War. And I just I'm fascinated 01:52:35.000 --> 01:52:38.100 by the American Civil War for reasons I can't 01:52:38.100 --> 01:52:41.899 explain. And I have a romantic nostalgia for 01:52:41.899 --> 01:52:45.029 the South, even though I didn't believe in. pretty 01:52:45.029 --> 01:52:46.750 much any of the reasons why they were fighting. 01:52:48.329 --> 01:52:52.710 When I was reading Gone with the Wind, it was 01:52:52.710 --> 01:52:55.109 just before I decided to leave for the Legion. 01:52:55.329 --> 01:52:59.109 I was doing different things just to explore 01:52:59.109 --> 01:53:02.350 the world or test myself. I was fasting for three 01:53:02.350 --> 01:53:06.649 days. On the second day of my fasting is when 01:53:06.649 --> 01:53:08.409 I started reading this book Gone with the Wind. 01:53:08.949 --> 01:53:11.649 The first couple of chapters of this book are 01:53:11.649 --> 01:53:17.579 the author describing these amazing feasts of 01:53:17.579 --> 01:53:21.619 Southern food being cooked and eaten. And I'm 01:53:21.619 --> 01:53:23.659 on my second day of fasting and I'm thinking, 01:53:23.699 --> 01:53:28.920 how is this happening? How is this? But the book 01:53:28.920 --> 01:53:32.520 itself is a fantastic story. So I would probably 01:53:32.520 --> 01:53:36.619 go to the book Gone with the Wind. Ken Burns 01:53:36.619 --> 01:53:40.520 just released a documentary on the American revolution. 01:53:40.640 --> 01:53:43.260 I think it just came on PBS. Oh, you are. Yeah. 01:53:43.340 --> 01:53:44.960 I haven't hit play yet, but I'm looking forward 01:53:44.960 --> 01:53:47.340 to finding some time for that. Yeah. It's really 01:53:47.340 --> 01:53:49.380 good. All right. Well, speaking of that, then 01:53:49.380 --> 01:53:52.039 what about television film documentaries that 01:53:52.039 --> 01:53:58.479 you love? The, I would say the, if I had to choose 01:53:58.479 --> 01:54:03.600 only one film that. I could have experienced 01:54:03.600 --> 01:54:07.300 or that I could recommend to someone. Well, there 01:54:07.300 --> 01:54:09.119 are two, but the one that I think is probably 01:54:09.119 --> 01:54:14.479 more important is The Mission with the music 01:54:14.479 --> 01:54:19.979 by N .U. Morricone and directed by, I can't remember 01:54:19.979 --> 01:54:22.399 the director. He's a British director, but it's 01:54:22.399 --> 01:54:28.479 about 16th century South America and the Spanish 01:54:28.479 --> 01:54:32.340 and the Portuguese. They're fighting over territory 01:54:32.340 --> 01:54:38.060 and how they basically completely mistreat and 01:54:38.060 --> 01:54:42.979 subjugate the indigenous peoples there. And where 01:54:42.979 --> 01:54:46.539 the Catholic religion has the opportunity to, 01:54:46.659 --> 01:54:53.539 what's the word I want? They're trying to do 01:54:53.539 --> 01:54:59.640 good things, but they're caught between the, 01:55:00.430 --> 01:55:06.729 nobilities of Spain and Portugal. And essentially, 01:55:06.850 --> 01:55:11.630 in order to keep the peace in Europe, the Catholic 01:55:11.630 --> 01:55:16.250 Church decides that the Portuguese win this argument, 01:55:16.369 --> 01:55:20.409 which means that the indigenous peoples are further 01:55:20.409 --> 01:55:25.029 subjugated and enslaved. And it's a heartbreaking 01:55:25.029 --> 01:55:28.350 story, but it's also a beautiful story because 01:55:28.840 --> 01:55:32.680 Robert De Niro is in it and he starts off as 01:55:32.680 --> 01:55:36.420 a slave runner, but basically kills his brother 01:55:36.420 --> 01:55:41.000 for various reasons, becomes a Jesuit priest 01:55:41.000 --> 01:55:46.960 trying to be a better person, but ultimately 01:55:46.960 --> 01:55:51.560 ends up becoming a... fighter again to fight 01:55:51.560 --> 01:55:54.239 off the portuguese but because he's doing that 01:55:54.239 --> 01:55:57.100 he's excommunicated from the jesuit order uh 01:55:57.100 --> 01:56:00.260 and it's not a happy ending in this movie but 01:56:00.260 --> 01:56:03.939 it it's just beautifully uh written and acted 01:56:03.939 --> 01:56:07.420 and the music is is beautiful as well so the 01:56:07.420 --> 01:56:12.479 mission um second movie star wars yeah i was 01:56:12.479 --> 01:56:14.579 seven years old when star wars came out and i 01:56:14.579 --> 01:56:16.579 still remember my grandfather taking me to star 01:56:16.579 --> 01:56:20.579 wars i've always been a star wars fan It's interesting 01:56:20.579 --> 01:56:23.039 what you're saying about the mission. My mom 01:56:23.039 --> 01:56:25.380 and my brother moved to Portugal. So I've got 01:56:25.380 --> 01:56:28.399 to really kind of experience it, not only visiting, 01:56:28.399 --> 01:56:31.520 but also from them living there now. And they 01:56:31.520 --> 01:56:36.699 now in modern society are a very, very well connected 01:56:36.699 --> 01:56:41.020 communal. kind society where a lot of the things 01:56:41.020 --> 01:56:43.659 that the Portuguese leaders do are for the betterment 01:56:43.659 --> 01:56:45.960 of the Portuguese people. So they're kind of 01:56:45.960 --> 01:56:48.140 looked down on by a lot of European nations, 01:56:48.239 --> 01:56:50.619 I think, because they're not as developed or 01:56:50.619 --> 01:56:53.079 whatever you want to call it, but they do a lot 01:56:53.079 --> 01:56:55.380 of things so well. And then even with the Catholic 01:56:55.380 --> 01:56:57.859 Church, of course, there are some very dark chapters 01:56:57.859 --> 01:57:00.399 of that specific part of the religion too in 01:57:00.399 --> 01:57:02.960 the history. But the Catholic Church is being 01:57:02.960 --> 01:57:05.020 the loudest voice when it comes to some of the 01:57:05.020 --> 01:57:06.680 atrocities that are happening around the world 01:57:06.680 --> 01:57:09.960 and them opposing it. So it just goes to show 01:57:09.960 --> 01:57:13.079 you can have a bad past like the British and, 01:57:13.140 --> 01:57:18.060 you know, hopefully do better things. Or you 01:57:18.060 --> 01:57:21.720 can not stand up against the tyranny in your 01:57:21.720 --> 01:57:24.640 own country and watch your country start to spiral 01:57:24.640 --> 01:57:27.479 towards those atrocities. So caution retail. 01:57:28.430 --> 01:57:31.970 Yeah, that is a great point. It shows as well 01:57:31.970 --> 01:57:35.750 that we are all human. No one's perfect. There's 01:57:35.750 --> 01:57:39.170 always a chance for redemption, whether you're 01:57:39.170 --> 01:57:45.409 an individual or an entire country. I'm an optimist 01:57:45.409 --> 01:57:48.010 by nature as well. I like to say that optimism 01:57:48.010 --> 01:57:53.930 is a free resource. I'm optimistic that we, as 01:57:53.930 --> 01:57:56.149 a human species, we will still find our way and 01:57:56.149 --> 01:57:59.250 ultimately be better. in the future than we have 01:57:59.250 --> 01:58:02.170 been in the past. I agree. Because I think if 01:58:02.170 --> 01:58:04.869 you look at a lot of the ancient wisdom, if you 01:58:04.869 --> 01:58:08.350 look at the core of a lot of the religious texts, 01:58:08.630 --> 01:58:11.710 they are about kindness, compassion, empathy, 01:58:12.050 --> 01:58:15.010 service. And the reason why those have lasted 01:58:15.010 --> 01:58:17.189 for so long is because our ancestors are telling 01:58:17.189 --> 01:58:19.949 us, look, don't do the war thing. Don't do the 01:58:19.949 --> 01:58:22.829 torture and enslavement thing. Do the kindness, 01:58:22.869 --> 01:58:25.550 compassion, love thing. So it wouldn't have stood 01:58:25.550 --> 01:58:28.380 the test of time if the future of humanity was 01:58:28.380 --> 01:58:30.340 just for us to kill each other you know it makes 01:58:30.340 --> 01:58:33.279 no sense so we can turn our heads away from history 01:58:33.279 --> 01:58:35.579 or we can lean into it and say all right it's 01:58:35.579 --> 01:58:38.539 time for us to start learning now yeah absolutely 01:58:38.539 --> 01:58:41.659 i wonder like i'm a believer that there is extraterrestrial 01:58:41.659 --> 01:58:45.319 life um and i am i'm a believer that when we 01:58:45.319 --> 01:58:50.239 find extraterrestrial life that hopefully it 01:58:50.239 --> 01:58:51.720 will not be too late i don't think it will be 01:58:51.720 --> 01:58:57.500 that will be one of the major things that make 01:58:57.500 --> 01:59:02.180 us realize that we're all in this together and 01:59:02.180 --> 01:59:05.100 that we will realize that we need to help each 01:59:05.100 --> 01:59:10.239 other and that we do understand each other and 01:59:10.239 --> 01:59:14.100 that we have a core set of beliefs that we all 01:59:14.100 --> 01:59:20.180 can operate by and that are centered around all 01:59:20.180 --> 01:59:23.319 those words that you just used. If they come 01:59:23.319 --> 01:59:25.539 bearing anal probes, I've got a list of who they 01:59:25.539 --> 01:59:30.600 should hit first. Yeah. Nice. All right. Well, 01:59:30.619 --> 01:59:33.279 the next question, is there a person that you 01:59:33.279 --> 01:59:35.840 recommend to come on this podcast as a guest 01:59:35.840 --> 01:59:39.659 to speak to the first responders, military, and 01:59:39.659 --> 01:59:42.600 associated professions of the world? There would 01:59:42.600 --> 01:59:48.340 be. So a fellow legionnaire and Canadian whose 01:59:48.340 --> 01:59:54.460 name is Joel Struthers. He is also a helicopter 01:59:54.460 --> 01:59:58.420 pilot. He became a helicopter pilot pretty much 01:59:58.420 --> 02:00:00.600 right after he left the Legion. So he's been 02:00:00.600 --> 02:00:05.079 a helicopter pilot for a long time. And he had 02:00:05.079 --> 02:00:07.840 a very colorful career in the Legion. And he 02:00:07.840 --> 02:00:13.640 actually wrote several books, one book specifically 02:00:13.640 --> 02:00:17.239 about his time in the Legion. And I will text 02:00:17.239 --> 02:00:21.100 that to you. But I think he would be an excellent 02:00:21.100 --> 02:00:24.359 pilot. person for you to have on your show. Beautiful. 02:00:24.500 --> 02:00:27.199 He sounds amazing. So thank you. All right. Well, 02:00:27.260 --> 02:00:28.939 the very last question before we make sure everyone 02:00:28.939 --> 02:00:31.920 knows where to find you, what do you do to decompress? 02:00:34.279 --> 02:00:38.380 So I do woodworking for a hobby. I've made all 02:00:38.380 --> 02:00:43.460 of the wood furniture in my home and I have a 02:00:43.460 --> 02:00:46.560 wood shop. So this hobby started like 12, 13 02:00:46.560 --> 02:00:50.390 years ago. just going to a local community center, 02:00:50.430 --> 02:00:53.390 learning how to do some woodworking. And that 02:00:53.390 --> 02:00:57.670 evolved into me purchasing a commercial property 02:00:57.670 --> 02:01:00.710 where I have my wood chop and I lease the upper 02:01:00.710 --> 02:01:03.310 floor to an architect. And at the time, my wife 02:01:03.310 --> 02:01:06.689 said, your hobby is getting expensive. But it 02:01:06.689 --> 02:01:11.310 has been a very good purchase since then, both 02:01:11.310 --> 02:01:14.510 financially and mentally, because that is where 02:01:14.510 --> 02:01:17.689 I go to decompress. I go to my... my workshop, 02:01:17.750 --> 02:01:20.630 and there's no one else there. There's just my 02:01:20.630 --> 02:01:22.829 tools and machines. And some of the tools come 02:01:22.829 --> 02:01:26.810 from my wife's great grandfather who built houses 02:01:26.810 --> 02:01:29.869 in Vancouver. And I use them and I almost kind 02:01:29.869 --> 02:01:32.810 of feel his presence when I'm using his chisels 02:01:32.810 --> 02:01:36.109 and hand planes. But that's where I go to get 02:01:36.109 --> 02:01:38.430 away from everyone and everything and decompress. 02:01:39.329 --> 02:01:42.859 Beautiful. For people listening then. If they 02:01:42.859 --> 02:01:44.939 want to reach out to you, learn more about you, 02:01:45.020 --> 02:01:46.739 where are the best places online to do that? 02:01:48.840 --> 02:01:53.119 I'm not very good at social media and social 02:01:53.119 --> 02:01:56.539 sites, but LinkedIn is probably the place where 02:01:56.539 --> 02:02:00.220 I have anything that is about me or that I kind 02:02:00.220 --> 02:02:02.079 of pay attention to to some degree would be on 02:02:02.079 --> 02:02:04.659 LinkedIn. I'm clearly not very good at social 02:02:04.659 --> 02:02:06.720 media either because Instagram shut my page down 02:02:06.720 --> 02:02:10.020 for the second time. So it doesn't seem to like 02:02:10.020 --> 02:02:12.600 kindness, compassion, unity, that kind of thing. 02:02:12.659 --> 02:02:14.659 But if I was divisive, I'm sure I'd probably 02:02:14.659 --> 02:02:19.359 have a million followers. Right, right. All right. 02:02:19.380 --> 02:02:21.420 Well, Ty, I want to thank you so much. Thank 02:02:21.420 --> 02:02:23.960 you to Dave again for connecting us. But thank 02:02:23.960 --> 02:02:26.119 you. It's been such an interesting conversation. 02:02:26.279 --> 02:02:29.460 So different than so many on here. And for the 02:02:29.460 --> 02:02:31.260 first time on this show, at least an insight 02:02:31.260 --> 02:02:36.180 into. this incredibly kind of mystical unit known 02:02:36.180 --> 02:02:38.140 as the Foreign Legion. And then, you know, your 02:02:38.140 --> 02:02:41.520 journey in and then again, the humility to at 02:02:41.520 --> 02:02:45.159 53 years old say, I'm going to do something else. 02:02:45.359 --> 02:02:48.000 So I want to thank you so, so much for being 02:02:48.000 --> 02:02:50.239 so generous with your time today and coming on 02:02:50.239 --> 02:02:53.439 the Behind the Shield podcast. Well, James, thank 02:02:53.439 --> 02:02:56.880 you very much for having me on. I am very thankful 02:02:56.880 --> 02:03:00.399 and honored to be on it. So appreciate it.