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April 24, 2024

Episode 3: Tel Aviv, (My first deployment as a government contractor)

Episode 3: Tel Aviv, (My first deployment as a government contractor)
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Subscribe to our youtube channel, The CrossFit Pittsburgh Podcast. There is an eposide dropping soon about my time in Gaza. Having a bounty put on us by Hamas, losing team mates to those cowards, facing them daily, and where we are now.

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Chapters

00:01 - Life Stories and Career Paths

09:28 - Friend's Journey to the Navy

13:07 - Aviation Officer Candidate School Experience

20:36 - Naval Aviation Cadet Program Experiences

26:06 - Navigating Navy Aviation Contracts and Expectations

37:23 - Navy Aviation and Career Transitions

48:55 - Private Security and Mentor Stories

01:01:20 - Shipping Home, Buying a Corvette

Transcript
WEBVTT

00:00:01.221 --> 00:00:02.603
All right, good afternoon.

00:00:02.603 --> 00:00:06.910
It is Tuesday, the 23rd of April 2024.

00:00:06.910 --> 00:00:10.736
We're here in the loft before the 530 class gets underway.

00:00:10.736 --> 00:00:16.772
I thought I would do a little well an episode that's been a long, long way in the making here.

00:00:16.772 --> 00:00:28.905
So with me today is Frane, and he's one of our coaches here at the Box, and he's one of our coaches here at the box, and when I got the idea of starting a podcast, I asked a few people.

00:00:28.905 --> 00:00:34.527
One of the things I've noticed, I guess you try to get opinions on something.

00:00:34.527 --> 00:00:37.348
If you ask too many people, you're never going to do it.

00:00:37.348 --> 00:00:44.290
Because you ask too many people, you will talk yourself in a complete 360, right back to the I'm not going to do it.

00:00:44.851 --> 00:00:48.972
But I only asked a few people whose opinions I felt you know I wanted.

00:00:48.972 --> 00:00:57.837
And I thought one of the funny things when I asked you, you were like yeah yeah, I think it's a good idea, but and I'm like, oh man, but what?

00:00:57.837 --> 00:01:00.817
And you were like, but I'd like to hear your other stories.

00:01:00.817 --> 00:01:06.272
So that's why we're here, that's why we're here today.

00:01:06.272 --> 00:01:06.915
So fire away.

00:01:08.281 --> 00:01:11.971
Okay, well, I know I've heard many of your stories segments.

00:01:11.971 --> 00:01:21.948
They can hear about getting from point A to point B, the beginning to the end or at least let's say the end, or at least the current day.

00:01:21.948 --> 00:01:22.951
There may be more.

00:01:23.561 --> 00:01:24.003
I hope so.

00:01:24.022 --> 00:01:25.248
How the world goes.

00:01:25.248 --> 00:01:34.371
So I know you were in contracting, but let's just get a background of how you ended up as a contractor.

00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:52.381
So I did my undergrad at Pitt, right here in Pittsburgh, and probably from freshman year in high school, I had my sights set on law school and I was like I'm going to be a lawyer, that's what I'm going to be.

00:01:52.381 --> 00:02:00.126
I'm going to be a lawyer and I, as a kid, like I didn't even have these like, well, I'm going to be a cowboy or I'm going to be a policeman or I'm going to be.

00:02:00.126 --> 00:02:02.990
I mean, I didn't keep changing, and not that there's anything wrong with that.

00:02:02.990 --> 00:02:08.341
I just, you know, and neither neither did I wear like little suits on the playground and say like I'm going to be a lawyer.

00:02:08.341 --> 00:02:21.751
I just, you know, by the time I was a freshman, um, uh, one of my cousins is a, is a, is a very successful attorney, and uh, I just thought, you know, I thought that was something that I could do, that I would be pretty good at.

00:02:22.671 --> 00:02:25.116
And freshman year in high school, that was my sights were set on that.

00:02:25.116 --> 00:02:26.645
Freshman year in college, same thing.

00:02:26.645 --> 00:02:36.768
I even, you know, not having like a dedicated pre-law curriculum, I was like, well, you know, find something broad-based, versatile, but potentially useful.

00:02:36.768 --> 00:02:47.424
So I majored in psychology, which I thought would give me a little bit more insight, you know, and a good broad-based education, and it was probably my sophomore year in college.

00:02:47.424 --> 00:02:50.331
I don't know what the draw was.

00:02:50.331 --> 00:02:57.709
I mean, if this was San Diego or Virginia Beach, I would understand the draw to the Navy, but it's Pittsburgh.

00:02:57.709 --> 00:03:00.954
I mean, it's not we got rivers.

00:03:01.319 --> 00:03:13.147
You know we've got rivers, we don't have the ocean, but there was just something about the Navy just started to draw me and I will never forget that conversation with my mom and dad.

00:03:13.147 --> 00:03:15.689
It did not go well, I did not go.

00:03:15.689 --> 00:03:17.431
My father was a police officer.

00:03:17.431 --> 00:03:31.631
He had served in the Korean War and you know, it was interesting character because only when I was a lot older and had been around, he shared with me he's like, you know, one of the things that used to always rub me the wrong way.

00:03:31.631 --> 00:03:33.725
He was like I'd run into guys over the years.

00:03:33.725 --> 00:03:35.151
Oh, I was in Korea.

00:03:35.151 --> 00:03:38.143
And my dad was like, oh, cool, like he'd never talk about it.

00:03:38.143 --> 00:03:41.623
He's like, all right, yeah, where were you, where were you stationed?

00:03:41.743 --> 00:04:13.027
And my dad's like, uh, korea, you know, he'd give a couple different locations where he had been, but like he had, he was in armored division, he was in uh tanks and he had been in a few major, major battles and as he described them and again, this wasn't as a kid, because I think, looking back, there was nothing to tell a kid, you know and when he shared it with me later on, because I brought it up, I was like man, you know, a couple times I'd have a sit down with him when I was home and I'm like Dad, have you ever seen anything like this?

00:04:13.661 --> 00:04:26.848
And you know, we would kind of trade stories and it was much more conventional on his end, but you know he had been in it and he was dry too, you know, and he was dry too, you know he had a good sense of humor but he'd go yeah, he goes.

00:04:26.848 --> 00:04:28.509
You know, really rubbed me the wrong way.

00:04:28.509 --> 00:04:36.146
The guy would be like, oh yeah, I was in Korea and I'd say, oh yeah, right, well, you know, where were you Germany?

00:04:36.146 --> 00:04:52.615
Oh, okay, so you were on active duty during the Korean conflict, but your unit was stationed, and which is nothing wrong with that at all, but at the same time, I guess, you know, from dad's perspective was more like, yeah, I know where I've been and what I did and the losses and whatnot.

00:04:52.615 --> 00:04:54.406
Like I need to reminisce over that.

00:04:54.406 --> 00:04:59.331
You know, I really, really thought he would have more of an understanding.

00:05:00.040 --> 00:05:02.490
Oh no, no, no, it was the exact opposite.

00:05:02.490 --> 00:05:04.987
I mean, he was, he was I.

00:05:04.987 --> 00:05:08.055
Yeah, I don't think I ever pissed him off that badly.

00:05:08.055 --> 00:05:09.461
Oh, yeah, he was.

00:05:09.461 --> 00:05:14.091
He was like upset, he thought it was the worst decision that I could have possibly made.

00:05:14.091 --> 00:05:18.350
And I was like, wow, dad, you know, sophomore year, I never didn't bring it up again.

00:05:18.959 --> 00:05:29.682
All right, so graduated and then I started the process for officer candidate school, and again not knowing anything about the recruiting process, and this was even.

00:05:29.682 --> 00:05:36.346
This was before the internet, so you couldn't get on and go what programs are available and how should I do this, this, this?

00:05:36.346 --> 00:05:40.165
It was all done through the recruiters and I don't know how they are today.

00:05:40.165 --> 00:05:41.410
Well, that's not true.

00:05:41.410 --> 00:05:53.002
I've actually helped a couple guys through different pipelines that they were interested in and I was very fortunate to be in a position that I could reach out Just recently.

00:05:53.002 --> 00:06:00.031
You know two young men that I was friends with well, one was a boyfriend of a classmate of my daughter in college.

00:06:00.031 --> 00:06:03.781
Right Was working on a SEAL contract for the Navy.

00:06:03.781 --> 00:06:11.569
I was very pleased that I was able to put him in touch with a good friend of mine who is, um, a retired seal team member.

00:06:12.771 --> 00:06:14.762
Another guy, a dear friend of ours, matt.

00:06:14.762 --> 00:06:17.531
Uh, if you remember him, he trained with us for a while.

00:06:17.531 --> 00:06:20.403
Guy's a beast, I mean, he's just, he is.

00:06:20.403 --> 00:06:23.507
I I don't like to name, you know last names.

00:06:23.507 --> 00:06:26.593
I think it's bad form, particularly because you never know somebody is going to.

00:06:26.593 --> 00:06:41.029
You know, take it, I don't mean the person I'm talking about, because he's a good guy, but anyway, we were moving from one gym to another Right, I think, from our last one to this one, and we had his pickup truck, we had my truck.

00:06:41.899 --> 00:06:46.841
I don't remember who was with us, but there was a third player, so two of us were up here.

00:06:46.841 --> 00:06:52.071
Matt looks at me and he goes and I know this is a divergence, but it's.

00:06:52.071 --> 00:06:54.644
This is just the, this is the mindset, this is.

00:06:54.644 --> 00:06:55.084
You know.

00:06:55.084 --> 00:06:58.057
He said um, he's a what else can?

00:06:58.057 --> 00:06:59.540
He's like I don't have a whole lot of time today.

00:06:59.540 --> 00:07:00.884
He's like what else can I bring up?

00:07:00.884 --> 00:07:04.675
And I was like well, I'll tell you what I said um, now, we didn't get that, the rubber flooring.

00:07:04.675 --> 00:07:05.853
I said, now, we didn't get that, the rubber flooring.

00:07:05.853 --> 00:07:07.675
We have now those panels.

00:07:07.675 --> 00:07:11.324
We didn't get that until we were here At the old space.

00:07:11.324 --> 00:07:17.451
We had the rolled rubber and I don't remember the thickness, but it's heavy.

00:07:18.321 --> 00:07:27.245
I mean it's rolled you know, so if you take the weight per square foot or yard or whatever and you roll that up, it's exponential, right.

00:07:27.245 --> 00:07:29.180
And I said you know what I said.

00:07:29.180 --> 00:07:31.810
If you don't mind, why don't you go back, grab some of the plyo boxes?

00:07:31.810 --> 00:07:35.269
I said I've got to bring he goes well, what all needs to be brought up.

00:07:35.269 --> 00:07:37.507
And I was like, well, actually, matt, everything.

00:07:37.507 --> 00:07:41.081
But for right now I'm thinking two men, three men, one man.

00:07:41.081 --> 00:07:42.521
I was like you know what?

00:07:42.521 --> 00:07:44.524
I said we'll have to worry about that another day.

00:07:44.524 --> 00:07:46.745
I said if you just go grab the boxes, that'd be a big help.

00:07:46.745 --> 00:07:49.446
He's like check Out the door, he goes.

00:07:49.446 --> 00:07:52.767
He's gone for a while and this kid is no slacker.

00:07:52.767 --> 00:07:56.009
I mean, he's like first one done with a workout, first one to show up to help.

00:07:56.069 --> 00:08:01.312
I'm like man, I hope nothing happened, you know like what could happen, but I hope nothing did right.

00:08:01.312 --> 00:08:06.194
Next thing, you know, I hear a vehicle pull up outside.

00:08:06.194 --> 00:08:11.216
He comes walking through the door and we're like, hey, man, you okay he goes.

00:08:11.216 --> 00:08:13.117
Yeah, yeah, he's like, you want to help me unload?

00:08:13.117 --> 00:08:21.569
We said, sure, we walk out, and the boxes are in the truck, but they're all stacked on top of rolled rubber and I'm like, how did you get that?

00:08:21.569 --> 00:08:23.572
And I'm wondering how did you get that?

00:08:23.572 --> 00:08:25.314
And I'm wondering did somebody happen by?

00:08:25.314 --> 00:08:26.879
Because that you know it was on Washington Boulevard.

00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:28.526
People would drive by all the time.

00:08:28.605 --> 00:08:32.206
Some of the members of oh hey, I saw the door open, you know, thought I'd give you a hand.

00:08:32.206 --> 00:08:39.486
You know people we knew are members of ours or whatever, and he's like, but now he's like, so matter of fact, he goes.

00:08:39.486 --> 00:08:44.210
Well, he was, the smaller ones weren't small, right, he goes.

00:08:44.210 --> 00:08:45.393
Oh, the smaller ones weren't that bad.

00:08:45.393 --> 00:08:46.725
He's like, you know, I made a workout out of it.

00:08:46.725 --> 00:08:54.688
He rolled them up and basically like snatched them, Snatched them, carried them to the truck and set them down.

00:08:54.688 --> 00:08:58.330
I think he might have used like Gorilla Tape to keep them from unraveling.

00:08:58.330 --> 00:09:00.988
And he's like yeah, the big one was a bitch.

00:09:00.988 --> 00:09:21.783
I'm like I'll bet he took some nylon rigging that I had sewn together to drag the sleds, yeah, and he devised like a sling on both ends, like he looped it on both ends and then he stood like so and then basically lifted it up, spun it around and hoisted it up to his back and carried it out the door.

00:09:21.783 --> 00:09:23.525
He was a bull.

00:09:23.525 --> 00:09:28.892
He still is, but he was working so hard on a Bud's contract and same thing.

00:09:28.892 --> 00:09:31.775
I was able to reach out to the same friend of mine, put him in touch.

00:09:31.775 --> 00:09:47.110
He actually did get the Bud's contract and just sailed through boot camp at Great Lakes and then he was in like a holding company waiting pre-Buds and he called me.

00:09:47.110 --> 00:09:47.932
I'll never forget this.

00:09:47.932 --> 00:09:52.206
He calls me one day and he's just really, really out of it and he's like man, he goes.

00:09:52.245 --> 00:09:53.129
I went to medical today.

00:09:53.129 --> 00:10:05.267
He's like at first they thought like he had a deep abdominal tear and then they thought he had a double hernia and again it was one of those things that was.

00:10:05.267 --> 00:10:13.028
So I said, well, okay, well, I said what happened and he was like, well, they're asking me if I want something else and I'm like, what did you tell him?

00:10:13.028 --> 00:10:14.625
He's like, well, I didn't tell him anything.

00:10:14.625 --> 00:10:16.888
Yet I was like, okay, thank God, right.

00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:33.163
And I'm like, listen, you know, long story short, due to all sorts of ins and outs he had, he was medically, uh, discharged and then, um, you know, good guy, unstoppable, and he went and, um, I'm not, I don't, I think it's a guard unit, an army national guard unit.

00:10:33.163 --> 00:10:35.808
So you know, he just he stayed in the, in the system.

00:10:35.808 --> 00:10:53.369
But you know, I mean that that kind of thing to me, like I'd have that back then, probably makes me more like maniacal about helping people now if they, if they want it Interesting, you know, but yeah, it took my dad a little while, like it wasn't like he stopped talking to me, or you know disowned me or anything like that, you know.

00:10:54.110 --> 00:10:55.293
but he was not happy.

00:10:55.293 --> 00:11:05.903
So I finished my undergrad and he had a construction company at the time, so I worked for him for a while while I was processing, you know, with the Navy, and I'll never forget, you know, with the navy, and I'll never forget.

00:11:05.903 --> 00:11:14.052
I'm, you know, waiting and waiting and waiting, and that tests went fine, the physical tests, the written exams and all that and the next, thing.

00:11:14.091 --> 00:11:25.607
I know you have exams for entrance into the navy, so I oh yeah, I'm you know a complete civilian in this no, I got you, you know, I got you obvious questions so sure so your dad was not pleased with you joining the Navy.

00:11:25.649 --> 00:11:27.091
Correct, was he in the Army?

00:11:27.331 --> 00:11:29.062
He was oh no, it wasn't one of those.

00:11:29.464 --> 00:11:36.556
It wasn't, it was not, I got to ask you sort of alluded to it already, but random.

00:11:36.556 --> 00:11:42.471
So the Navy, was there anything more in Pittsburgh, like you said?

00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:48.259
You know, and this is interesting I'm, we're in Pittsburgh, like you said you know it's interesting, I'm just curious.

00:11:48.321 --> 00:11:52.537
I love the water so do I I do.

00:11:52.537 --> 00:12:14.351
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, might as well be Iowa you have probably more water there but I didn't know very much at all about the seals, didn't know very much at all about the SEALs, didn't know much about them at all Other than it was well, I mean, maybe that was most of the allure was didn't know anything about them.

00:12:14.351 --> 00:12:16.784
You know, very, very unknown at that time.

00:12:16.784 --> 00:12:26.349
This is like like the mid 80s, you know, like 85, 86, you know, and I just really felt like you know to me.

00:12:26.349 --> 00:12:31.905
I always liked to test myself and I'm sure everybody says that at some point.

00:12:31.905 --> 00:12:38.677
But I was like, okay, you want to talk about the unknown and the unknowable, I know anything other than it is extremely hard.

00:12:38.677 --> 00:12:41.442
They're waterborne commandos and this is you know.

00:12:41.442 --> 00:12:50.788
And any books I could get at the time there was and this is you know, and any books I could get at the time there was, I'll say it was Seal Team One was the book was a paperback.

00:12:50.788 --> 00:12:53.230
I read that probably like three times, you know.

00:12:53.230 --> 00:12:59.414
But the stories back then were all more focused on like Vietnam era and riverine warfare and that type of thing.

00:12:59.414 --> 00:13:06.649
So you know, really that was my focus, that was my primary focus, but not knowing anything about the community.

00:13:07.460 --> 00:13:13.471
Now, special warfare is its own line right.

00:13:13.471 --> 00:13:21.152
Back then it wasn't, it was all voluntary, right, but back then you as an enlisted sailor, you had to have a rate.

00:13:21.152 --> 00:13:30.227
So, you know, bosun's mate, torpedo man, whatever, whatever your specialty was officers largely, largely officers came from surface warfare.

00:13:30.227 --> 00:13:36.970
You would do a tour, you'd get your warfare device and then you would volunteer for buds.

00:13:36.970 --> 00:13:41.846
If you were selected, you know you would go through and if you made it, you know you're welcome to the teams, right.

00:13:42.706 --> 00:13:57.447
So here I am, like I don't know any of this, and my recruiter and I don't, you know again, I don't know if he sold me a bad bill of goods or maybe, listen, I have no regrets, I really don't.

00:13:57.447 --> 00:14:08.701
Well, anyway, we test and apply and we try.

00:14:08.701 --> 00:14:09.802
I mean we tried every, you know.

00:14:09.802 --> 00:14:11.846
Hey, well, surface warfare, that's the biggest, biggest line in the Navy.

00:14:11.846 --> 00:14:13.991
Um, unrestricted line officer.

00:14:13.991 --> 00:14:16.363
You know, surface warfare is huge.

00:14:16.363 --> 00:14:21.072
There were zero vacancies in that in that fiscal year, that timeframe.

00:14:21.072 --> 00:14:22.961
So I was like, okay, great.

00:14:22.961 --> 00:14:24.043
So what are my other options?

00:14:24.043 --> 00:14:29.532
Well, you know, you can apply for I think I think I did surface warfare, naval intelligence.

00:14:29.532 --> 00:14:32.302
I don't know you're supposed to pick three.

00:14:32.302 --> 00:14:33.283
I might have only picked two.

00:14:33.705 --> 00:14:43.705
I don't know um didn't get it, didn't get it, so I'm at work one day and and and one of the interesting little little things you can retest uh, and I passed every time I mean better and better, like my pt scores were good, they started.

00:14:43.705 --> 00:14:46.206
And one of the interesting little things you can retest and I passed every time.

00:14:46.206 --> 00:14:50.850
I mean better and better, like my PT scores were good, they started off good and they just got better and better.

00:14:50.850 --> 00:14:54.634
You can retest every six months or reapply every six months.

00:14:54.634 --> 00:14:58.956
So my point was I was like, well, if I'm going to reapply, I'm going to retest.

00:14:58.956 --> 00:15:07.722
Why would I not, you know, make the most of it?

00:15:07.722 --> 00:15:11.157
So I remember I get a call from him one afternoon and he was like, hey, this is, you know, lieutenant Schmuckatelli.

00:15:11.157 --> 00:15:13.481
And I'm like, hey, sir, how are you?

00:15:13.481 --> 00:15:19.173
He's like good, he's like I've got an idea and I'm like I'm all ears.

00:15:19.173 --> 00:15:21.922
He was like, well, right now, the Navy needs aviators faster than they can get them.

00:15:21.922 --> 00:15:24.404
He was like, well, right now, the Navy needs aviators faster than they can get them.

00:15:25.365 --> 00:15:33.416
And, honest to God, the first thought that crossed my mind is okay, I wish them luck, you know, I hope they get them.

00:15:33.416 --> 00:15:43.164
It never crossed my mind, never entered my mind, and I mean no disrespect to anyone, because some of my best friends are aviators, you know, but it just wasn't.

00:15:43.164 --> 00:15:45.394
I think maybe that's the draw is like something's pulling me toward trying, you know, and, but it just wasn't.

00:15:45.394 --> 00:15:57.081
I think maybe that's the draw is like something's pulling me toward trying, you know, trying to out for special warfare, where other guys, you know the live and breathe, like, oh, if I, you know, if I don't make flight school, I don't know what I'll do.

00:15:57.081 --> 00:16:01.009
I'm like I that was foreign to me.

00:16:01.910 --> 00:16:03.433
So I said okay, what, what, what, how does that?

00:16:03.433 --> 00:16:04.535
He's like well, hear me out.

00:16:04.535 --> 00:16:05.980
I said again, you know, we'll send it.

00:16:05.980 --> 00:16:16.586
He was like right now there's a, there's a six month backlog from the date you get your commission until you start flight school.

00:16:16.586 --> 00:16:28.254
I said okay, and he was like I think what's happening is you're applying contingent upon acceptance, you're applying to OCS, contingent upon acceptance, to a follow-on program.

00:16:28.254 --> 00:16:31.524
He's like I think what we ought to do is this we apply to AOCS.

00:16:31.524 --> 00:16:36.030
Ocs at the time was in Newport, rhode Island, had been there forever.

00:16:36.030 --> 00:16:39.210
Very prestigious naval officer candidate school.

00:16:39.900 --> 00:16:41.105
Okay, officer candidate school.

00:16:41.125 --> 00:16:41.505
Correct.

00:16:41.527 --> 00:16:44.643
That's my question, yep, I know the military they love their acronyms.

00:16:44.942 --> 00:16:51.373
Now, pensacola had AOCS Aviation Officer Candidate School.

00:16:51.373 --> 00:16:53.195
What's his name?

00:16:53.195 --> 00:16:55.495
Richard Gere made Officer and a Gentleman.

00:16:55.495 --> 00:16:58.467
Okay, that was based on Pensacola.

00:16:58.467 --> 00:17:04.688
But the Navy, they're like we're not going to shut down training for a motion picture, you can use another naval base.

00:17:04.688 --> 00:17:09.320
Where are they Navy?

00:17:09.320 --> 00:17:10.786
They're like we're not going to shut down training for a motion picture.

00:17:10.786 --> 00:17:12.109
You know you can use another naval base and you know where?

00:17:12.109 --> 00:17:13.354
They like Puget Sound, washington State, I think it was.

00:17:13.354 --> 00:17:14.277
There was never an OCS there, so it was.

00:17:14.277 --> 00:17:17.942
But Marine Corps drill instructors you know the climate.

00:17:17.942 --> 00:17:19.786
It was similar.

00:17:19.786 --> 00:17:20.846
I didn't have.

00:17:20.846 --> 00:17:25.854
I had no Deborah Winger in my time at AOCS.

00:17:25.854 --> 00:17:31.230
I did not, but that was what it was based on, right?

00:17:32.260 --> 00:17:33.042
So one thing and another.

00:17:33.042 --> 00:17:34.006
I'm like I'm still not.

00:17:34.006 --> 00:17:35.931
I'm confused at this point.

00:17:35.931 --> 00:17:43.425
I'm glad I'm on the phone with him instead of in person, because he'd be like I'm not sure you're what we're looking for, son, you know, follow the dots.

00:17:43.425 --> 00:17:46.034
So I said, okay, sure, you're what we're looking for, son, you know, follow the dots.

00:17:46.034 --> 00:17:47.121
So, um, I said okay, one thing and another.

00:17:47.963 --> 00:17:51.394
His plan was he's like you get accepted to aocs.

00:17:51.394 --> 00:17:54.104
He's like all you've got to do, you don't even have to take the physical again.

00:17:54.104 --> 00:17:58.097
Because the physical you took for buds was harder.

00:17:58.097 --> 00:18:02.848
You know there was a swim and there were times where the tolerances were, you know, more stringent.

00:18:02.848 --> 00:18:09.067
So I was like, okay, great, and take the aviation aptitude portion of the written test.

00:18:09.067 --> 00:18:11.432
If you pass that, your scores are great.

00:18:11.432 --> 00:18:13.965
We'll send the application, we'll submit your application.

00:18:13.965 --> 00:18:20.282
He's like, and the logic is this aocs has a very high attrition rate.

00:18:20.282 --> 00:18:23.473
It's physically challenging a very high attrition rate.

00:18:23.473 --> 00:18:26.102
Bud's has the highest attrition rate in the Navy.

00:18:26.102 --> 00:18:33.260
Aocs at the time was like second in attrition and he was like you get through that.

00:18:33.260 --> 00:18:37.555
You've got six months until your flight school date.

00:18:37.555 --> 00:18:42.662
He's like we have a big district here in Pittsburgh so we can do what's called an officer home to OHARP officer hometown recruiting program.

00:18:42.662 --> 00:18:44.864
He's like you'll come OHARP officer hometown recruiting program.

00:18:44.864 --> 00:18:47.786
He's like you'll come back here to help with the recruiting initiative.

00:18:47.786 --> 00:18:52.308
He's like the day you get back we submit a request for a designator change.

00:18:52.308 --> 00:18:57.152
He's like now you're applying as an officer, got a better chance of making it.

00:18:58.333 --> 00:19:01.855
I was like let's do it, so I go down first available opportunity.

00:19:01.855 --> 00:19:04.156
I take the aviation aptitude test.

00:19:04.156 --> 00:19:08.505
I pass, I get my orders for Pensacola.

00:19:08.505 --> 00:19:11.290
Oh, wow, you know what?

00:19:11.290 --> 00:19:14.967
April 17th, yeah, april 17th, 89.

00:19:14.967 --> 00:19:16.184
So it was about a week ago.

00:19:16.184 --> 00:19:18.488
It was my anniversary date.

00:19:18.488 --> 00:19:24.772
So all the guys I was in class 1889, aviation Officer Candidate School, pensacola, florida.

00:19:24.772 --> 00:19:26.785
Happy anniversary boys.

00:19:26.785 --> 00:19:35.650
But yeah, so I get there, I go through the program and there were times, honest to God, I felt like a spy, you know.

00:19:36.340 --> 00:19:45.446
I mean there are guys like man, if I couldn't fly and I'm not making fun, it's just where your heart is, where your heart's bringing you, man, if I couldn't fly, I don't know what I would do.

00:19:45.446 --> 00:19:51.935
And I'm like me too, you know, and and and I mean I I'm not.

00:19:51.935 --> 00:20:02.431
You know, it is kind of funny, but it was a shame because there were a lot of guys who got dropped from the program for things that were just out of their control.

00:20:02.431 --> 00:20:04.217
You know there was a they had this thing too at the time.

00:20:04.217 --> 00:20:08.989
And, and I should say, aviation officer candidate school is long gone, it no longer exists.

00:20:09.509 --> 00:20:28.627
The Navy, in a budget, cut um, assimilated all officer candidate programs to Newport ROTC programs or reserve officer training, core um while you're in college, right, so you do your military training along with your core curriculum, and AOCS is like no, you've already gotten your degree.

00:20:28.627 --> 00:20:30.471
Now it's a condensed course.

00:20:30.471 --> 00:20:35.111
You know military training, only to get you to the next phase, you know flight school.

00:20:35.111 --> 00:20:35.511
What have you?

00:20:35.511 --> 00:20:57.773
But at the time, and for a long, long time, one of the things that the Navy had was it was called the NAVCAD program, the Naval Aviation Cadet Program, and one of the things that the NAVCADs used to always say their little thing was twice the pilot, half the pay, because your status, you had to have a certain amount of college credits to qualify for that program, but you didn't need a degree.

00:20:57.773 --> 00:21:00.528
You'd go through the program.

00:21:00.528 --> 00:21:02.226
We'd all go through together.

00:21:02.226 --> 00:21:06.528
On the date of graduation, we get our rank.

00:21:06.528 --> 00:21:09.374
They don't, they're still a cadet.

00:21:09.374 --> 00:21:11.465
Now we start flight training.

00:21:11.465 --> 00:21:22.209
So we're going through flight training as an ensign, or our counterparts in the Marine Corps would come to us from their commissioning source as second lieutenants and would all go through flight training together, navy and Marine Corps.

00:21:22.209 --> 00:21:26.210
And the NAVCADs would still be a Naval Aviation Cadet.

00:21:26.210 --> 00:21:36.292
They were basically on and this is I'm laughing because it's funny you had to be there, but they'd get half an ensign's pay until they got their wings.

00:21:36.292 --> 00:21:38.224
So the day they got their wings.

00:21:38.224 --> 00:21:39.829
Now they get commissioned.

00:21:39.829 --> 00:21:44.291
Now they're an ensign, you know, with all rank and pay and privilege.

00:21:45.721 --> 00:22:04.987
But one of the things that I'll never forget hearing was like you'd always get like a knickknack and it wasn't your call sign but the senior candidates who ran your first like in-doc week, you know, based on I don't know appearance or traits or personality, like you'd get a you'd Papagano.

00:22:04.987 --> 00:22:08.765
Papagano was mine because, like Patrick Allen was, you know.

00:22:08.765 --> 00:22:11.730
I guess they figured it'd be rude to call me a Dago.

00:22:11.730 --> 00:22:14.500
You know, papagano.

00:22:14.500 --> 00:22:20.473
I'm like, yes, here present, you know, but a good, good friend of ours, and he was a kid.

00:22:20.473 --> 00:22:22.176
Compared to us, we were a little bit older.

00:22:22.176 --> 00:22:23.106
I'll never forget it.

00:22:23.106 --> 00:22:25.922
Jim was his first name, was a kid compared to us, we were a little bit older.

00:22:25.922 --> 00:22:26.763
I'll never forget it.

00:22:26.763 --> 00:22:35.589
Jim was his first name, he was a NAVCAD and one of the candidate officers said to him one evening we're online and he was like candidate Schmuckatelli or NAVCAD Schmuckatelli.

00:22:35.589 --> 00:22:36.672
You know, candidate Schmuckatelli.

00:22:37.940 --> 00:22:39.461
Oh, you're here on the NAVCAD program.

00:22:39.520 --> 00:22:42.083
He's like yes, sir, how many college credits do you have?

00:22:42.083 --> 00:22:43.104
Why don't you just graduate?

00:22:43.104 --> 00:22:52.530
And in like a flustered, frustrated panic, the kid goes this candidate does not know, sir, that's all the candidate officer had to hear.

00:22:52.530 --> 00:22:53.791
He's like you don't know.

00:22:53.791 --> 00:22:55.512
You don't know how many college credits you have.

00:22:55.512 --> 00:22:58.796
Okay, poopy idiot NAVCAD, just take my money.

00:22:58.796 --> 00:23:01.396
He's like you probably have three degrees.

00:23:01.396 --> 00:23:12.342
You probably graduated years ago and you're too stupid to know.

00:23:12.342 --> 00:23:13.442
You just keep writing them checks.

00:23:13.442 --> 00:23:13.643
You know.

00:23:13.643 --> 00:23:14.564
But good guy, really really good guy.

00:23:14.564 --> 00:23:30.096
And early on in the process you constantly go into NAMI, Naval, Naval Aviation, Medical Indoctrination, I think NAMI, and, as you can imagine, you know, oh man, the NAMI whammy.

00:23:31.011 --> 00:23:34.017
A lot of like hey, something came up and your vision changed.

00:23:34.017 --> 00:23:35.996
Right, you're out.

00:23:35.996 --> 00:23:41.035
In his case he was able it's called Valsalva as a swimmer, you probably know.

00:23:41.035 --> 00:23:49.236
Like when you pop your ears, right, well, if you can't do that as a diver or an aviator, you're fucked.

00:23:49.236 --> 00:23:51.480
You know, I mean that's you will.

00:23:51.480 --> 00:23:53.571
You will rupture, blow an eardrum and it's.

00:23:53.833 --> 00:23:55.978
A lot of guys were lost from the programs.

00:23:55.978 --> 00:24:10.077
Maybe it's just a bad day, maybe it was a sinus infection or something, but at this particular day Jim made it through his flight physical, made it to Pensacola, made it through the first NAMI exam that we all had when we got there.

00:24:10.077 --> 00:24:11.981
So, was it a fluke?

00:24:11.981 --> 00:24:12.442
Was it?

00:24:12.442 --> 00:24:14.715
Or the times that he was able to clear?

00:24:14.715 --> 00:24:15.657
Was that the fluke?

00:24:15.657 --> 00:24:16.361
You know, who knows?

00:24:16.361 --> 00:24:22.262
But one day he's there, next day after medical and that was another thing too, man, you know.

00:24:22.262 --> 00:24:25.618
Later on I would know that sometimes it was referred to as the black helicopter.

00:24:25.618 --> 00:24:31.974
They're like, oh, yeah, man, black helicopters landing and basically what happens is like we go through a physical.

00:24:31.974 --> 00:24:34.199
Next thing, you know, nobody sees frame.

00:24:34.199 --> 00:24:35.982
Yeah, where is he?

00:24:35.982 --> 00:24:39.878
Like literally, and you're not at liberty to be like, okay, catch up with you later.

00:24:39.878 --> 00:24:44.275
No, you know you're locked on and you're being marched to the next evolution or class or whatever.

00:24:44.275 --> 00:24:52.090
And you know, next, know, next thing, you know it's like you know you're taken aside and they're like, hey, sorry, candidate, you know you're going to be processed, but it's just a story.

00:24:52.090 --> 00:25:04.964
At the bus station, I mean, you know, a couple of candidate officers would go clean out your gear, put in your sea bag and you'd be taken to another barracks with other folks awaiting, like what's their next point in the process?

00:25:04.964 --> 00:25:06.145
You know like that.

00:25:06.145 --> 00:25:07.673
So, yeah, I mean it was, uh.

00:25:07.673 --> 00:25:14.401
But you know, here I am and I tell you this I made some dear, dear friends there wouldn't have traded that for anything.

00:25:14.401 --> 00:25:23.664
You know, uh, and I think, interestingly enough, like you play the hand, you're dealt, because once there's that much, and so the six months, you know backlog, right, I get my commission.

00:25:23.684 --> 00:25:24.105
I graduate on.

00:25:24.105 --> 00:25:27.296
You know, backlog, right, I get my commission, I graduate on August 25th.

00:25:27.296 --> 00:25:35.941
I get my orders for flight school and I'm like, all right, and here we go, because I'm going back home and I'm gonna submit a designate and I don't even know if that's possible.

00:25:35.941 --> 00:25:41.221
To be honest with you, probably not knowing what I know now, I'd be like okay, you wanted to do that.

00:25:41.221 --> 00:25:43.211
Well, I wanted to play Major League Baseball.

00:25:43.211 --> 00:25:46.736
So you, you know you're going, so I get my orders.

00:25:46.736 --> 00:25:54.205
Well, like a lot of backlogs in the pipeline for training, sometimes they get worse and you get a longer delay.

00:25:54.205 --> 00:25:58.097
Other times they get better, so that log jam can move forward or backwards.

00:25:58.097 --> 00:26:02.013
Right, I get my orders August 25th.

00:26:02.013 --> 00:26:03.378
I get my commission.

00:26:03.378 --> 00:26:05.935
I start flight training on September 5th.

00:26:06.980 --> 00:26:11.103
I'm like it's not a long time, like what happened to six months?

00:26:11.103 --> 00:26:12.828
What happened to a designator change?

00:26:12.828 --> 00:26:15.555
What happened to trying out for buds?

00:26:15.555 --> 00:26:15.974
Like what's?

00:26:15.974 --> 00:26:19.422
You know you're in it, it's okay.

00:26:19.521 --> 00:26:24.155
So, um, and I don't I didn't tell very many people this story, but, um, I get to my first.

00:26:24.155 --> 00:26:28.263
I mean I'm still on Sherman Field, pensacola Naval Air Station, right?

00:26:28.263 --> 00:26:32.099
So it's a Friday afternoon and we haven't gone live yet.

00:26:32.099 --> 00:26:34.878
We haven't done even simulated instruction yet.

00:26:34.878 --> 00:26:38.078
I mean, we're new, we just got our in-briefing a couple days prior, right.

00:26:38.078 --> 00:26:47.773
So I'm like, okay, commanding officer, I will never forget I'm going to say this last name too, because who cares at this point in the game?

00:26:48.055 --> 00:26:51.942
Bill Hobgood, commander Hobgood, he's a good guy, I have nothing against him.

00:26:51.942 --> 00:27:03.305
Good man, he's standing up there welcoming us all aboard and he says Gentlemen, one of the things you learn in the Navy is you play the hand, you're dealt.

00:27:03.305 --> 00:27:11.361
And he said I just want to make sure you all feel welcome and realize and know that I have an open door.

00:27:11.361 --> 00:27:12.184
Anything you ever want, anytime pop in.

00:27:12.184 --> 00:27:16.673
He's like if my door is open, you just want to say hi, just come on in, it's open, check.

00:27:17.355 --> 00:27:30.019
So it's a Friday and I already know that I'm headed to the officer's club after dinner because that's what we do, and back then you could still have fun, like you could still have fun at the officer's club without too many.

00:27:30.019 --> 00:27:44.057
So I'm a little bit emboldened by the Friday afternoon adrenaline rush and I'm like you know what, if I, in my logic I thought was sound, I'm like they haven't spent a dime on me yet.

00:27:44.057 --> 00:27:44.919
I haven't had a simulator.

00:27:44.919 --> 00:27:46.991
I haven't had a simulator, I haven't had a flight.

00:27:46.991 --> 00:27:53.222
If I'm going to make a break, it's got to be now Super duper.

00:27:53.584 --> 00:27:56.096
So I walked down the hall and I his door's open.

00:27:56.096 --> 00:28:03.134
I turned into his outer office and his secretary's there very nice, older lady and I could hear him in his office with someone else.

00:28:03.134 --> 00:28:04.315
The door's slightly open.

00:28:04.315 --> 00:28:05.276
I could hear voices.

00:28:05.276 --> 00:28:07.758
And she was like, hey, can I help you?

00:28:07.758 --> 00:28:10.400
And I said yes.

00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:13.102
I said, ma'am, I just was wondering if the skipper was available.

00:28:13.102 --> 00:28:16.925
And she was like, well, he's in there right now with someone else, but y'all can have a seat.

00:28:16.925 --> 00:28:18.826
And that's exactly how she talked too.

00:28:18.826 --> 00:28:28.170
It's Pensac conversation.

00:28:28.170 --> 00:28:36.361
I know who's in there with him, because this was a guy that I graduated with, similar story to my own, only he was a business major.

00:28:36.361 --> 00:28:49.615
He desperately wanted supply corps and he felt that it would be a great place to get started and then work on his master's degree, achieve a master's degree with world experience.

00:28:49.615 --> 00:28:54.094
I mean, supply chain in the military is pretty impressive, as you can imagine right.

00:28:54.094 --> 00:29:00.595
So now, like I don't want to eavesdrop, but I'm like I'm like I'm so excited.

00:29:00.654 --> 00:29:04.280
I'm like, yes, yes, maybe he'll write both of us orders today.

00:29:04.280 --> 00:29:06.310
You know what an ass I mean.

00:29:06.310 --> 00:29:08.117
I'm delusional at that age, right.

00:29:08.117 --> 00:29:11.238
So but I do believe this.

00:29:11.238 --> 00:29:24.279
I do believe that God, like, takes charge sometimes when you're headed down the wrong path, even if it's simple, even if it's like I was out on my way to a date one sidebar.

00:29:24.279 --> 00:29:25.372
I'm out on my way to a date one sidebar.

00:29:25.372 --> 00:29:27.939
I'm out on my way to a date and she was just a horrible person and you know, I had an auto accident.

00:29:27.939 --> 00:29:31.034
No, just made that shit up I made that up completely.

00:29:31.955 --> 00:29:35.112
but you get what I'm saying right, like, oh, I got a flat tire, never made it.

00:29:35.112 --> 00:29:37.579
Oh yeah, that place was raided and everybody went to jail.

00:29:37.579 --> 00:29:39.830
So you know, not, that didn't happen.

00:29:39.830 --> 00:29:50.138
But but I do think there are times when it's kind of like, hey, I was there in that moment to save myself a blunder, because there's no reset button, no matter what.

00:29:50.138 --> 00:29:53.980
Hey, no offense, but let's just forget that ever happened Bullshit.

00:29:53.980 --> 00:29:55.455
You're not going to forget it didn't happen.

00:29:55.829 --> 00:29:59.315
I hold a grudge about guys I had a beef with in Little League.

00:29:59.315 --> 00:30:01.597
You know what I mean and you know who you are.

00:30:01.597 --> 00:30:06.263
I wasn't out, but anyway, yeah.

00:30:06.263 --> 00:30:14.971
So I'm sitting there and I'm like, here we go, here we go, here we go.

00:30:14.971 --> 00:30:15.953
And I give, I kid you not.

00:30:15.973 --> 00:30:20.442
I hear the skipper's voice, clear as a bell, and he says well, sam, I'm sorry you feel that way, but let me tell you how it is.

00:30:20.442 --> 00:30:26.058
And I'm like oh God, get small, get small and get out the door, right.

00:30:26.058 --> 00:30:30.152
He says with no ifs, ands or buts.

00:30:30.152 --> 00:30:32.357
He's like right now, the Navy needs aviators.

00:30:32.357 --> 00:30:35.635
And he was like you are here on an aviation contract.

00:30:35.635 --> 00:30:44.239
If you do not wish to be an aviator, you can separate from active duty and we'll have you out of here by Monday, like out of here, and you're going home.

00:30:44.239 --> 00:30:48.874
And I'm like there's a publication in the Navy.

00:30:48.874 --> 00:30:50.419
It's called the All Hands Magazine.

00:30:50.419 --> 00:30:53.054
I think it's Navy and Marine Corps, but the All Hands Magazine, right.

00:30:53.615 --> 00:30:56.962
And I pick it up and I'm leafing through it.

00:30:56.962 --> 00:31:06.845
So I hear this and I go, I set it on the coffee table in front of me, I get up and I oh, you always get up and check your tuck, right.

00:31:06.845 --> 00:31:13.462
So I get up, I check my shirt tuck and now this sweet older woman at the desk here.

00:31:13.462 --> 00:31:15.455
She's like doing her thing, whatever, whatever.

00:31:15.455 --> 00:31:19.459
And I'm thinking I'm a ninja, I'm just going to slide the doors right here, right.

00:31:20.171 --> 00:31:26.849
So I get up and I turn and she goes oh, he won't be much longer.

00:31:26.849 --> 00:31:36.563
And I'm like, and as I turn to say, oh, that's OK, you know, as I turn to say something, the door opens further.

00:31:36.563 --> 00:31:38.313
Sam comes out.

00:31:38.313 --> 00:31:40.098
The skipper's got his hand on his shoulder.

00:31:40.098 --> 00:31:42.478
He goes OK, sam, he's like I appreciate you coming to see me.

00:31:42.478 --> 00:31:47.781
So Sam's not pleased, but he's not, you know, he's got bearing, he's a good dude.

00:31:47.781 --> 00:31:58.522
So he walks past me and he goes and I'm like, hey, sam, you know, now I'm standing there like a deer in the headlights and Skipper looks at me and he goes how can I help?

00:31:58.583 --> 00:32:05.019
you and you know, of course now the secretary's like oh, this young man just wanted to see you and he's like well, come on in.

00:32:05.019 --> 00:32:08.444
And I'm like, so I walk in, I sit down.

00:32:08.444 --> 00:32:10.702
He walks around, sits down at his desk.

00:32:10.702 --> 00:32:11.816
He's like what can I help you with?

00:32:11.816 --> 00:32:13.377
And I was like sir.

00:32:13.377 --> 00:32:17.884
I said I'm really sorry, I didn't know you had somebody in your office.

00:32:17.884 --> 00:32:23.250
And I said I was just on my way out, you know, just on my way home, and I said saw your door was open.

00:32:23.250 --> 00:32:29.236
Remembered.

00:32:29.236 --> 00:32:31.840
You said hey, if you see the door open, come on in and say hi.

00:32:31.840 --> 00:32:34.366
Honest to God, I was like just wanted to come in and say glad to be here, look forward to it.

00:32:34.366 --> 00:32:35.328
I said this is awesome.

00:32:35.328 --> 00:32:39.798
And he looks right, goes.

00:32:39.798 --> 00:32:41.722
I can't tell you how glad I am to hear you say that.

00:32:42.064 --> 00:32:51.511
And then and he didn't, I will give him credit for this and to this day that's why I'm said his last name, to this day I still hold to this he didn't talk trash.

00:32:51.511 --> 00:32:55.218
He didn't say a word about why Sam was in there at all.

00:32:55.218 --> 00:33:03.626
Didn't make the assumption that I overheard it, but what he did was he kind of shared with me like I can't tell you how glad I about why Sam was in there at all.

00:33:03.626 --> 00:33:05.028
Didn't even make the assumption that I overheard it.

00:33:05.028 --> 00:33:07.451
But what he did was he kind of shared with me like I can't tell you how glad I am to hear you say that.

00:33:07.451 --> 00:33:10.394
And then he kind of sits back and he's like you know again, play the hand, you're dealt.

00:33:10.394 --> 00:33:11.515
He's like you don't always get what you want.

00:33:11.515 --> 00:33:18.327
And he said and you're going to see that in aviation he said you know, you start in primary, we all start in the same aircraft, and then you go to intermediate, and we all start in the same aircraft.

00:33:18.327 --> 00:33:25.881
Then you go to advanced and he's like but as the pipeline, the further down you go, separations are made Like, well, no, that's not entirely true.

00:33:25.881 --> 00:33:28.256
You go through basic At the end of basic.

00:33:28.256 --> 00:33:31.679
That's where they make the first separation.

00:33:31.699 --> 00:33:39.506
I'm pretty sure yeah, and that's due to who's going to go rotary wing, like helicopters, and then who's going to go fixed wing.

00:33:39.506 --> 00:33:41.227
So that's your first split right.

00:33:41.227 --> 00:33:50.234
And in each one of those I mean, my God, at the time the Navy used helicopters for minesweeping, they used helicopters for search and rescue, I mean for a lot of different things.

00:33:50.234 --> 00:33:53.744
Fixed wing is everything that's not helos.

00:33:53.744 --> 00:34:07.656
So, from you know, transport, to airborne, early warning to, to, and now the fighter attack role has been assumed by the f-18, fna 18, hornet, um, but back then the tomcats and the intruders.

00:34:07.656 --> 00:34:10.387
You know a fighter and a bomber, and so it just kept going.

00:34:10.387 --> 00:34:11.934
You know, and so many different.

00:34:12.074 --> 00:34:16.362
You know, so many choices but how old were you in that I?

00:34:16.402 --> 00:34:18.045
was like 24, 25.

00:34:18.045 --> 00:34:21.896
And looking back, we were a little bit older.

00:34:21.896 --> 00:34:25.123
We were a little bit older because we didn't go right out of college.

00:34:25.123 --> 00:34:29.228
I had some classmates at AOCS who did come right out of college, so they're like 22.

00:34:29.228 --> 00:34:33.822
And I remember a friend of mine telling me this once he goes, man, we shouldn't even be driving.

00:34:33.822 --> 00:34:36.612
You understand that he's like like some of us are idiots.

00:34:36.612 --> 00:34:44.737
Like you know, you drive a, you know, and again too, you look out in a parking lot at any flight school, I guess an air force is the same, I don't know.

00:34:44.737 --> 00:34:47.724
But look out at any of the parking lots.

00:34:47.724 --> 00:34:50.317
I mean, all you see are fast cars and motorcycles.

00:34:50.317 --> 00:35:03.574
You know, and I'm like, because we don't have enough risk right, looking back, I should have just had, like I, I don't know like a bubble mobile or something you know, a little pedibike or something.

00:35:03.655 --> 00:35:06.159
It's always a scary thought though Tanks, aircraft.

00:35:06.159 --> 00:35:10.969
You're thinking man, there's a 23-year-old, some young kid who yeah.

00:35:11.534 --> 00:35:22.981
But I also, I also think this, though I think that with that, with that age or lack of it, also comes, like that sense of invincibility you know where.

00:35:23.001 --> 00:35:24.766
You're kind of like no, I mean, how'd you do that?

00:35:24.766 --> 00:35:25.996
Well, you just didn't know any better.

00:35:25.996 --> 00:35:27.940
You know, you didn't know that it's unlikely.

00:35:27.940 --> 00:35:36.083
You know, or or like, okay, you know, but I I will say this, looking back, you know like what, if, what, if?

00:35:36.083 --> 00:35:39.548
And I didn't get my first choice, and you know high, high attrition rate.

00:35:39.548 --> 00:35:46.608
I mean guys far smarter and more fit than me ring out of buds.

00:35:46.608 --> 00:35:54.561
You know, I'd like to think that I would have never quit the guys that I knew who went and didn't make it.

00:35:54.561 --> 00:35:57.909
None of them quit, not one of them.

00:35:58.817 --> 00:35:59.882
It was unavoidable.

00:35:59.882 --> 00:36:11.336
You know, one of our buddies from the CrossFit community I don't remember how many times, the maximum amount of times you could be taken out of an evolution due to, like severe hypothermia, and it wasn't.

00:36:11.336 --> 00:36:14.440
I mean, there's one thing like oh, I'm cold, you know, as a swimmer.

00:36:14.440 --> 00:36:17.141
You're like, oh, I'm cold, you're cold but you're not hypothermic.

00:36:17.141 --> 00:36:19.923
You know you're cold but you're not like about to black out.

00:36:19.923 --> 00:36:25.628
You know Um and and again, I mean different tolerances.

00:36:25.628 --> 00:36:29.072
You know, uh, another one of our friends had um.

00:36:29.072 --> 00:36:31.873
Well, like I said, matt, they couldn't figure out what was wrong with him.

00:36:31.873 --> 00:36:45.518
They're like he's either got a severe lower abdominal tear, or in that case I will say this and I've had my my shoulder, to this day, is completely fucked because of a Navy doctor who probably should have been on a golf course instead of in an exam room.

00:36:45.518 --> 00:36:47.103
You know how's that feel.

00:36:47.103 --> 00:36:48.306
I'm like how's it feel.

00:36:48.306 --> 00:36:49.335
Well, you tell me I can't.

00:36:49.335 --> 00:36:51.260
You know I can't hold it up.

00:36:51.260 --> 00:36:52.422
Could I raise my arm?

00:36:52.422 --> 00:36:53.827
And he asked me can I raise my arm?

00:36:53.867 --> 00:37:12.221
and I'm like, yep, you know, like like here, right oh, here, 800 milligrams of Motrin and some kind of I don't know potent like painkiller, so an anti-inflammatory, a painkiller writes me a light duty chit, I get rolled out of my class and I have to wait till the class behind me gets up to where I was and hope my shoulders healed by then.

00:37:12.221 --> 00:37:13.043
That was it.

00:37:13.043 --> 00:37:23.438
Come back and see me when you feel better.

00:37:23.438 --> 00:37:23.878
I can still see him.

00:37:23.878 --> 00:37:24.822
He looked like a little pimp in a navy uniform.

00:37:24.822 --> 00:37:25.103
He really did.

00:37:25.103 --> 00:37:25.664
He's got like a big gold.

00:37:25.664 --> 00:37:26.067
Watch his big gold.

00:37:26.067 --> 00:37:27.130
Like you know, um, like chain link, a gold id bracelet.

00:37:27.150 --> 00:37:29.317
You know, I swear to god, he looked like, um, he looked like a b-movie actor.

00:37:29.317 --> 00:37:31.503
You know, it's like real slick hair.

00:37:31.503 --> 00:37:33.076
He's like come back and see me when you feel better.

00:37:33.076 --> 00:37:36.387
I'm like listen, doc, I'm into that age.

00:37:36.387 --> 00:37:39.458
You know I'm gonna lunge across the table and choke you with my left arm.

00:37:39.458 --> 00:37:40.280
You know what I mean.

00:37:40.280 --> 00:37:48.012
But he was, yeah, he's kind of a douche, but um, point being, you know, with with matt, I mean that was heartbreaking because you know.

00:37:48.012 --> 00:37:54.487
But now I say that on the one hand then I've seen some flight surgeons in in the community that are outstanding.

00:37:54.487 --> 00:38:02.344
You know some navy corpsmen who are like, if you get hurt, go see doc because whatever's wrong with you he'll fix it, you know.

00:38:02.344 --> 00:38:03.896
So I mean it's it's just luck of the draw.

00:38:04.177 --> 00:38:08.835
I guess at that at that time, but looking back, I would not have traded that for anything.

00:38:08.835 --> 00:38:13.447
I mean, it was, it was, you know to be able to, to be able to say why didn't get my first choice?

00:38:13.447 --> 00:38:14.818
Oh, that's too bad.

00:38:14.818 --> 00:38:16.061
You know what were you like?

00:38:16.061 --> 00:38:17.384
A ship's company?

00:38:17.384 --> 00:38:20.760
Or you know I was, you know, a naval aviator.

00:38:20.760 --> 00:38:24.152
You know I flew a6 intruders, which you know was decommissioned.

00:38:24.152 --> 00:38:29.027
I was a vietnam air aircraft, but it's a hell of a ride, you know, and I met some really good dudes.

00:38:29.175 --> 00:38:32.083
And when you were, when you knew you were going to be an aviator.

00:38:32.083 --> 00:38:33.407
You know what planes you were.

00:38:33.407 --> 00:38:34.659
You have a plane in mind?

00:38:34.739 --> 00:38:37.849
no, no yeah, it was buzz.

00:38:37.849 --> 00:38:46.375
I was like, yeah, whatever they're gonna do, whatever we're jumping out of right you know, um, but uh, what what was again was was timing.

00:38:46.635 --> 00:38:47.519
Right was timing so?

00:38:47.519 --> 00:38:50.775
Um, fast forward about like 93.

00:38:50.775 --> 00:39:05.065
We get word one day and the intruder was already on the chopping block, it was decommissioning faster than originally anticipated, but there was also an aircraft in design that was supposed to replace it.

00:39:05.065 --> 00:39:10.686
I want to say it was Grumman, I think it was the A-12?

00:39:10.686 --> 00:39:16.945
A-12 Avenger, I think it was, but anyway, it looked like all the mock-ups that we had seen looked like a Dorito.

00:39:16.945 --> 00:39:18.179
It just looked like this.

00:39:18.179 --> 00:39:36.967
You know, and come to find out it was probably one of the biggest farces ever perpetrated on the American public, because it wasn't even—the updates that they were showing to the Navy brass were falsified and they were so far behind in production they just kept pushing, pushing, pushing further back.

00:39:36.967 --> 00:39:41.976
Finally, the Navy was like all right, you know what, we're decommissioning the intruders a lot faster than we thought.

00:39:41.976 --> 00:39:47.956
We'll have the Hornet replace it as the fighter attack or the attack platform.

00:39:47.956 --> 00:39:55.922
Shortly after that, the Tomcats were phased out and then the Hornet just took the dual role and as they're working on other platforms.

00:39:55.963 --> 00:40:05.083
I've been so removed from the naval aviation community for so long, but what I remember vividly was this I had a really good rapport with my commanding officer.

00:40:05.083 --> 00:40:13.923
I mean, he was a good, good guy and because he was such a good guy Dan Franken was his name and he and I got along very well.

00:40:13.923 --> 00:40:19.840
I was fortunate to fly with him a few times as a two-man aircraft and I remember going to see him one day and I got along very well.

00:40:19.840 --> 00:40:22.851
I was fortunate to fly with him a few times as a two-man aircraft and I remember going to see him one day and I was like, man, I'm doing it.

00:40:22.851 --> 00:40:23.112
This is now.

00:40:23.112 --> 00:40:24.275
This is now right Again.

00:40:24.275 --> 00:40:25.217
Divine intervention.

00:40:25.217 --> 00:40:28.726
You know, god's got the path for you right.

00:40:28.726 --> 00:40:31.657
So I go to see him and I'm like, skipper, I got to run something by you.

00:40:31.657 --> 00:40:32.619
He's like yeah, what's on your mind?

00:40:32.619 --> 00:40:36.425
And I said I know how busy you are trying to find communities for us to go to.

00:40:36.425 --> 00:40:37.168
Same thing.

00:40:37.168 --> 00:40:38.309
You pick the top three.

00:40:38.309 --> 00:40:40.440
You're not going to be an intruder anymore.

00:40:40.440 --> 00:40:40.922
What do you want?

00:40:40.922 --> 00:40:43.523
So you'd pick choice one, choice two, choice three.

00:40:44.615 --> 00:40:48.972
So I hadn't handed mine in yet and I went to see him and I was like, listen, before you think this is a joke.

00:40:48.972 --> 00:40:50.835
I wanted to talk to you about my selection.

00:40:50.835 --> 00:40:59.523
He's like yeah, I never told very many people this, but I said the only reason I chose the Navy in the first place was I wanted to be a SEAL.

00:40:59.523 --> 00:41:03.806
And I said, you know, now, my understanding is, you know, a lot of the guys come from surface warfare.

00:41:03.806 --> 00:41:06.547
But I mean, what do you learn in surface warfare?

00:41:06.547 --> 00:41:08.148
You know, you learn navigation.

00:41:08.148 --> 00:41:10.751
You learn engineering aviation.

00:41:10.751 --> 00:41:12.552
We learn navigation engineering.

00:41:12.552 --> 00:41:17.815
I mean got a warfare specialty.

00:41:17.815 --> 00:41:19.496
You know unrestricted line officer.

00:41:19.496 --> 00:41:21.458
I mean, what's the difference?

00:41:21.458 --> 00:41:24.460
Right, he was like huh, he's like you know, he's like yeah, he goes.

00:41:24.460 --> 00:41:26.141
Like okay, all right, he's like how can I help?

00:41:26.141 --> 00:41:35.427
And I was like, well, I know there's a selection process and I'd have to go before a board and you know, with your endorsement we can get it started.

00:41:35.427 --> 00:41:36.708
So he did, he gave me the endorsement.

00:41:36.728 --> 00:41:42.432
Then he sent me down to operations because our operations officer had a friend up at Little Creek, like right on.

00:41:42.432 --> 00:41:47.106
Well, his friend was in, he was his counterpart in operations.

00:41:47.106 --> 00:41:49.994
But it wasn't special warfare, it was special operations.

00:41:49.994 --> 00:41:54.364
He was at EOD Mobile Unit 2, explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 2.

00:41:54.364 --> 00:41:56.068
I was like right on.

00:41:59.454 --> 00:42:00.536
So my last year of active duty I got to spend up there.

00:42:00.536 --> 00:42:12.755
I was on temporary orders assigned to that community with the plan that as soon as there's a vacancy, I would slide in, I'd be part of the community, do a designator change and then I would have.

00:42:12.755 --> 00:42:32.789
And usually what happens is you get the designator first and you go to like in that case I would have gone to EOD tech school, learned all the technical sophistication of explosive ordnance right Dive school, jump school, in whatever order that would have happened based on availability.

00:42:32.789 --> 00:42:38.067
And then you get assigned to a detachment at the mobile unit.

00:42:38.067 --> 00:42:40.342
Then you start all your in-house training.

00:42:40.342 --> 00:42:50.710
Well, what they did with me was they reversed it and they were like okay, you're going to be assigned to this detachment, whatever the training cadre has lined up, get on it.

00:42:50.710 --> 00:42:51.715
You know, get on the roster.

00:42:51.934 --> 00:42:57.807
So my first week at Little Creek with the mobile unit, we're at the tower.

00:42:57.807 --> 00:42:59.360
One day we're doing fast rope and rappel.

00:42:59.360 --> 00:43:08.525
The next day we're at LZ Green Landing Zone, green on Little Creek and Little Creek's right between Norfolk and Oceana, where I was stationed.

00:43:08.525 --> 00:43:13.086
So it was, like you know, lived in the same house, just drove a couple more minutes up the beach, you know.

00:43:13.086 --> 00:43:16.605
But yeah, first week I'm rappelling off the tower, fast, roping off the tower.

00:43:16.605 --> 00:43:24.452
The next day we're coming out of a helicopter.

00:43:24.452 --> 00:43:25.840
I'm like, dude, this is, this is cool, like this is cool.

00:43:25.840 --> 00:43:26.750
It was a great ride, it was a great experience.

00:43:26.677 --> 00:43:37.152
I wouldn't have traded it, for the world met some really, really good guys there too, and unfortunately, what ends up happening is it coincides with the height of the Clinton administration's budget cuts.

00:43:37.152 --> 00:43:47.175
So now I don't have a designator.

00:43:47.175 --> 00:43:47.737
That's critical anymore.

00:43:47.737 --> 00:44:00.248
I went I, you know I didn't lose your wings because you transitioned, but instead of being like, say, like a 1325 was a naval flight officer, I was a 1305, now a general aviation officer.

00:44:00.248 --> 00:44:05.581
So it's like you know you're in the aviation community, but you don't have a squadron, you don't have a plane, right.

00:44:05.581 --> 00:44:19.297
So that was one of the communities that was on the chopping block and I was able to dodge that bullet a couple of times and get an extension until the board convened to make their decision and then, just like time ran out.

00:44:19.297 --> 00:44:31.844
I guess what they were looking at from the detailer's end was like on the big whiteboard it's like, okay, this is when the board convenes, but there are no fiscal vacancies for the next like one or two fiscal years at the time.

00:44:32.454 --> 00:44:39.927
Yeah, so I separated from active duty in 93, affiliated with a reserve unit, and did that.

00:44:39.927 --> 00:44:40.416
Then I.

00:44:40.416 --> 00:44:51.867
Then I went to work for a private security company and did a lot of traveling, executive protection, and that made it because again, like nowadays with online courses and things like that, it would.

00:44:51.867 --> 00:44:52.467
It would work.

00:44:52.467 --> 00:44:57.806
But back then, you know, you kind of had to be in person or you could do mail-in correspondence courses.

00:44:57.806 --> 00:45:04.721
So that just fell by the wayside after a couple longer assignments, longer projects, and that was it.

00:45:04.721 --> 00:45:09.621
So I stayed with that company for a few years and then 9-11 happened.

00:45:09.621 --> 00:45:12.199
Actually I was working for them in.

00:45:12.199 --> 00:45:15.967
Well, I was in Northern Virginia, the DC area.

00:45:15.967 --> 00:45:18.583
I was on an assignment there on September 11th.

00:45:20.458 --> 00:45:22.918
So I woke up the next morning we had been out with a client.

00:45:22.918 --> 00:45:26.521
Actually it was kind of a dick, but we were out with him all night.

00:45:26.521 --> 00:45:34.206
And so we get back to our apartment complex and I dropped him off at his house in McLean I think he lived.

00:45:34.206 --> 00:45:37.030
We drive back, I go to sleep.

00:45:37.030 --> 00:45:37.757
I'm like you know what?

00:45:37.757 --> 00:45:39.737
It's a long night, we've been going too long.

00:45:39.737 --> 00:45:40.601
I turned off my phone.

00:45:40.601 --> 00:45:43.237
I'm like he's not going to be up until this afternoon.

00:45:43.237 --> 00:45:47.244
So I'm sleeping, woke up.

00:45:47.244 --> 00:45:48.487
I remember this, like it was yesterday.

00:45:48.487 --> 00:45:49.255
It was so wild.

00:45:50.237 --> 00:45:57.969
I got up, came out of the bedroom, walked into the kitchen, started the coffee and back then we had these like little Motorola.

00:45:57.969 --> 00:45:59.405
I think they were called the Motorola Razr.

00:45:59.405 --> 00:46:01.121
It was like a little flip phone, you know.

00:46:01.121 --> 00:46:07.519
So I picked that up, I flip it open and I had all these missed calls from home and I'm like, oh my God, something's wrong.

00:46:07.519 --> 00:46:08.543
Something's wrong.

00:46:08.543 --> 00:46:10.543
You know, like Alexandra was born already.

00:46:10.543 --> 00:46:21.637
She's a baby and you knowen's home with her and everything.

00:46:21.637 --> 00:46:22.699
And I'm like, oh my god, something happened at home.

00:46:22.699 --> 00:46:23.402
You know, something happened home.

00:46:23.402 --> 00:46:24.606
Either my daughter or you know parents, something like that.

00:46:24.626 --> 00:46:41.159
So you know, simultaneously, like I grab a coffee, I get the phone, I sit down on the sofa in front of the television and all at the same time take a sip of my coffee, set it down, phone's ringing, I turn the TV on right as Jen answers and she's like, oh my God, where are you?

00:46:41.159 --> 00:46:44.585
And I'm like, oh, it's like unreal.

00:46:44.585 --> 00:46:47.782
You know, like, like literally, I'm watching this happen.

00:46:47.782 --> 00:46:48.666
I'm talking.

00:46:48.666 --> 00:46:49.630
I'm like, is everybody okay?

00:46:49.630 --> 00:46:50.416
She goes, are you okay?

00:46:50.416 --> 00:46:51.539
I've been calling you for hours.

00:46:51.539 --> 00:47:26.295
You know what's going on and I explained it to her no-transcript that was.

00:47:26.295 --> 00:47:28.563
You know, that was my, there was no other way.

00:47:28.563 --> 00:47:29.806
Like that's where I was going.

00:47:38.135 --> 00:47:46.864
And again, you know, divine intervention right Within, like well, before they got back to me and they got back to me in the next day or so before they got back to me, a friend of mine from the company that I had been working with he had already moved on to government service.

00:47:46.864 --> 00:47:53.807
So he contacts me and he is like hey, um, you know, how are you?

00:47:53.807 --> 00:47:55.440
I get everybody's checking in on everybody.

00:47:55.440 --> 00:47:55.961
How are you?

00:47:55.961 --> 00:47:56.583
You know this and this?

00:47:56.583 --> 00:47:57.217
And I'll never forget.

00:47:57.217 --> 00:47:58.442
He was like you know everybody's checking in on everybody.

00:47:58.442 --> 00:47:58.682
How are you?

00:47:58.682 --> 00:47:59.204
You know this and this?

00:47:59.204 --> 00:47:59.666
And I'll never forget.

00:47:59.666 --> 00:48:00.188
He was like you know what?

00:48:00.188 --> 00:48:00.891
We're looking for people?

00:48:00.891 --> 00:48:06.876
He's like there's a project about to launch in Israel and he said there's a team, two teams that are already there, but they need two more.

00:48:06.876 --> 00:48:09.077
And he was like you know, are you interested?

00:48:09.077 --> 00:48:10.139
You'd like to come to work with us?

00:48:10.139 --> 00:48:12.059
And I was like yeah, yeah, I would.

00:48:12.059 --> 00:48:14.822
And so that was that, you know.

00:48:15.182 --> 00:48:22.349
And in hindsight, what was really interesting was I mean, I wanted to go back to the Navy because that's where I came from, but in a status like I had.

00:48:22.349 --> 00:48:32.536
It's like well, where you know you're not an aviator anymore and if you were, you know, too bad because that aircraft is no longer around, you know.

00:48:32.536 --> 00:48:39.563
But as it turned out, I mean I, you know I made the right decision because it was just an incredible experience, you know.

00:48:39.563 --> 00:48:42.885
So that's, that's how I ended up in government.

00:48:42.885 --> 00:48:45.427
So you were, how long were you in the military for when you were in the Navy?

00:48:45.427 --> 00:48:48.911
I was only active, active duty for four years.

00:48:48.911 --> 00:48:58.543
And then, you know, I just found my reserve discharge when I moved some stuff around here.

00:48:58.543 --> 00:49:06.447
I found all these old folders I think it was another 10 in the inactive IRR, inactive ready reserve.

00:49:06.447 --> 00:49:12.106
So they have the option to recall you if need be, but didn't.

00:49:12.407 --> 00:49:16.371
And you did that, and so when you were IRR, you were also doing the private security.

00:49:16.391 --> 00:49:17.516
Correct, correct, correct.

00:49:17.516 --> 00:49:33.054
Yeah, and that's why it was the inactive side, because I think, because of, if I remember it correctly, it's been a minute, but I think because of the aviation specialty, they have the prerogative to recall you for a window of like 10 years after discharge.

00:49:33.054 --> 00:49:42.077
Right now, my status was a little bit odd because, you know, when I affiliated with them I'll tell you this if they had called me back and said, hey, you know you had temporary orders to.

00:49:42.077 --> 00:49:52.427
You know, eod mobile unit would like you back for that, I would have gone, not knowing that the other side you know that the contracting, the government side, would have been an option.

00:49:52.427 --> 00:49:59.568
I would have gone had that offer been dropped, you know, because leaving that community, that was awesome.

00:49:59.568 --> 00:50:02.623
I mean, I really felt at home there, you know.

00:50:02.623 --> 00:50:06.753
But that's just how it worked out, you know.

00:50:06.753 --> 00:50:06.994
Okay.

00:50:07.434 --> 00:50:11.563
Now I'm curious whether or not I mean without getting you you know, I know you like to.

00:50:11.563 --> 00:50:13.326
You're a talkative individual.

00:50:13.827 --> 00:50:14.407
Loquacious.

00:50:14.407 --> 00:50:18.601
Loquacious, that means talkative.

00:50:18.601 --> 00:50:24.085
Well, no, no shit, fran, I know what it means did you have any interesting?

00:50:24.465 --> 00:50:32.496
I mean, I'm sure you had interesting stories, but were there any crazy stories when you were doing private security, or is that more benign than you know what it was interesting.

00:50:32.755 --> 00:50:50.235
It really was interesting because some of it was very, very like you, you know, you realize you're there as a preemptive measure, you know, and oftentimes, you know, and I think that was the thing too we would lose a lot of guys, younger guys just with maybe a lack of maturity.

00:50:50.235 --> 00:51:31.052
I was really, really fortunate because when I went to work for that company, there was a gentleman and again, you know I'm I violated this rule three times so far Well, twice with my commanding officers this other gentleman, clive Marine, and then he was in their SA or SBS Special Boat Squadrons and just a really like a gentleman through and through, you know, and I was very, very fortunate that on like my first assignment, I met him and very cool, you know, very, very composed and the kind of guy that was perfect for that line of work.

00:51:31.052 --> 00:51:38.317
And then, probably what made him a great commando was like if you look across a room in any environment, he would blend right in.

00:51:38.317 --> 00:52:01.599
I mean, he, he, he knew the dress, he knew for whichever where you were supposed to be on time, dressed to blend like the gray man, like you wouldn't even see him coming, you know, but very, very capable and it's one of the things that he kind of took me under his wing and just really brought me along.

00:52:01.599 --> 00:52:10.782
You know, as a mentor and I'll never forget that, because I think sometimes, you know, you get guys in there who are like this is bullshit.

00:52:10.782 --> 00:52:11.565
You know, this is bullshit.

00:52:11.565 --> 00:52:13.277
I'm like what part of this is bullshit?

00:52:13.277 --> 00:52:14.293
This is the assignment.

00:52:14.293 --> 00:52:15.471
You drew One.

00:52:15.471 --> 00:52:21.202
You have no experience and I know you're a badass and you taught Steven Seagal how to fight and all that other shit.

00:52:21.202 --> 00:52:43.108
But the truth of it is this is an entry-level position and oftentimes in executive protection, entry-level position is like well, I'll tell you, my first assignment was for the Saudi royal family at the time and there was a matriarch of the family who had an organ transplant and she was in Paradise Valley, arizona, recovering.

00:52:43.108 --> 00:52:57.458
So the whole family, extended family and all their entourage moved into this enclave and, um, what the hell, it was paradise valley.

00:52:57.458 --> 00:53:08.744
I don't know that the community itself had a name separate from that where it was located, but like each corner in this big four square grid, each corner had a cul-de-sac.

00:53:08.744 --> 00:53:12.777
So you would enter the plan here and I'll never forget this.

00:53:13.331 --> 00:53:19.599
The actress Daryl Hannah lived like right here, used to harass me all the time.

00:53:19.599 --> 00:53:22.978
I don't want to get into it.

00:53:22.978 --> 00:53:24.737
My wife might see this.

00:53:24.737 --> 00:53:26.849
No, I never saw her Pretend I knew who that is.

00:53:26.849 --> 00:53:26.990
Oh my God, daryl Hannah.

00:53:26.990 --> 00:53:27.528
Oh listen, in the 80s she my wife, might see this.

00:53:27.528 --> 00:53:28.548
No, I never saw her pretend I knew who that is.

00:53:28.548 --> 00:53:29.434
Oh my god, you, daryl hannah.

00:53:29.434 --> 00:53:34.523
Oh listen, in the 80s she was, she was hot, but then so was I.

00:53:34.523 --> 00:53:38.338
So 80s were a great decade, no, but so that was like you know.

00:53:38.338 --> 00:53:42.492
So she lived there right um, for what?

00:53:42.492 --> 00:53:44.954
I don't even know why that's relevant, but stevie nicks.

00:53:45.155 --> 00:53:53.306
Stevie nicks lived nearby too now you know who stevie nicks is legendary, right, but um, so it was very, very like a suburb of um.

00:53:53.306 --> 00:54:00.614
What would be the phoenix would have been probably the major city nearby phoenix, scottsdale, you know, paradise valley was this little, very, very affluent community.

00:54:00.614 --> 00:54:06.253
So you'd enter the plan, make a right straight down the next corner the cul-de-sac.

00:54:06.253 --> 00:54:08.143
There we had one, two, we had three estates there, corner the cul-de-sac.

00:54:08.143 --> 00:54:11.675
There we had one, two, we had three estates there, like on the cul-de-sac.

00:54:11.675 --> 00:54:14.742
And I remember, like it was yesterday, gold.

00:54:14.742 --> 00:54:19.898
Gold was the big one and that's where, like, the former, queen lived right.

00:54:19.898 --> 00:54:23.152
She had a full medical staff, 24-7 security medical.

00:54:23.152 --> 00:54:26.137
The house next to it was Ruby, that's where the staff lived.

00:54:26.137 --> 00:54:29.481
The house across the cul-de-sac was diamond.

00:54:29.481 --> 00:54:30.884
That's where her daughter stayed.

00:54:30.884 --> 00:54:32.186
She was in town most of the time.

00:54:32.186 --> 00:54:37.139
Down the block to the next cul-de-sac, silver and bronze.

00:54:37.139 --> 00:54:43.461
Usually those were empty when the other sons would come into town.

00:54:43.461 --> 00:54:45.510
One lived at bronze, one lived at silver, right.

00:54:46.313 --> 00:55:19.074
My first assignment was at gold as part of I don't know how many person you know security element and literally you would stand in the yard somewhere and every hour you would come around the corner and you would push me to the next post and I would get there and then that person would move to the next and literally I tick, tick, tick, tick 12 hours a day, seven days a week, 7 pm to 7 am for, like I don't know what are like 60, 90, 120 days.

00:55:19.074 --> 00:55:19.835
It was like.

00:55:19.835 --> 00:55:21.820
It was like seer school, with no beatings.

00:55:21.820 --> 00:55:28.639
It was horrible, but it, you know, the money wasn't bad and that's like paying your dues.

00:55:28.639 --> 00:55:38.375
How I met clive was he had just come off of a detail, more active, more you know, and this was something like hey, you know, this is what we've got right now.

00:55:38.375 --> 00:55:39.398
You know, do you want it?

00:55:39.398 --> 00:55:51.775
We could use you, sure, so a guy like that, coming off something that was faster paced, slides into an opening, kind of just relaxes for a little bit, right, but I think that was the thing, because he was like, you know, mike, you get it.

00:55:51.775 --> 00:55:57.699
He's like this is not glamorous and he was like but it's the guys that will complain, you know, they don't.

00:55:57.699 --> 00:55:59.202
They don't recognize my talent.

00:55:59.202 --> 00:56:01.155
I'm like and what talent do you think you have?

00:56:01.155 --> 00:56:09.943
That these other guys who went through the same train up, by the way, you know, um, but it was% of the time was boring as all get out.

00:56:09.943 --> 00:56:19.876
But at the same time, you know, you realize that, you know a case like that it's possibility of a problem, not probability.

00:56:20.398 --> 00:56:32.275
You know other times we would do like work celebrities, other times corporate executives you know that type of thing and you know, every once in a while it would be interesting.

00:56:32.275 --> 00:56:36.072
You know, other times it would be, and I guess too, one of the things that we learn fast.

00:56:36.072 --> 00:56:37.297
I learned this from Clive.

00:56:37.297 --> 00:56:37.617
He's like.

00:56:37.617 --> 00:56:41.980
You know, there's really no measure for what we stopped from happening.

00:56:41.980 --> 00:56:52.369
Right, I mean, if you're doing your job properly and you're being surveilled by a good opposition, they're going to look for the telltale signs.

00:56:52.369 --> 00:56:53.092
They're going to real.

00:56:53.152 --> 00:56:57.181
Now, conversely, you get these guys who are bullshit.

00:56:57.181 --> 00:56:58.030
This is bullshit.

00:56:58.030 --> 00:57:08.751
I can't tell you how many guys got bounced for like they find a little nook and cranny corner of their post and they'd like prop themselves up and go to sleep like nobody's going to find them post.

00:57:08.751 --> 00:57:11.280
And they'd like prop themselves up and go to sleep like nobody's going to find them.

00:57:11.280 --> 00:57:13.186
You know it always get caught every time and they get bounced.

00:57:13.186 --> 00:57:18.442
And then you know, I mean like it's just silly, but you know it, at times it could be boring, at other times.

00:57:18.442 --> 00:57:24.496
You know, we went to a um a corporate executive in decatur, illinois, of all things.

00:57:24.496 --> 00:57:25.498
I'll never forget this.

00:57:25.498 --> 00:57:33.164
Archer Daniels Midland was the corporation and their big thing you learn some weird, obscure stuff.

00:57:33.164 --> 00:57:40.409
Their big thing is soybeans and everything you can produce from soybeans right Ink for newspapers, for example.

00:57:40.469 --> 00:57:40.911
I didn't know.

00:57:40.911 --> 00:57:47.297
What I did know was this we flew into Chicago, got a commuter from Chicago to a little puddle jumper from Chicago to Decatur.

00:57:47.297 --> 00:57:50.052
We landed, the doors of the aircraft opened.

00:57:50.052 --> 00:57:51.498
I stepped outside.

00:57:51.498 --> 00:57:52.641
It was a warm day.

00:57:54.411 --> 00:57:56.840
I never smelled anything so bad in my life.

00:57:56.840 --> 00:58:03.561
Evidently that little municipal airport is close to the fields where they dry the mash.

00:58:03.561 --> 00:58:07.018
When they process soybeans.

00:58:07.018 --> 00:58:17.079
They'll mash them into like whatever and they like they're just soybean fields, not where they grow them but where this like byproduct and I don't even know the process.

00:58:17.079 --> 00:58:18.985
It was true, it was horrible.

00:58:18.985 --> 00:58:20.289
It was horrible.

00:58:20.289 --> 00:58:30.271
I smelled bathrooms in municipal buildings in afghanistan, better than that, and that stuff could knock a buzzard off a shit wagon, you know.

00:58:30.271 --> 00:58:37.295
So, yeah, bad, bad, but we're supposed to be there for a shareholders meeting, all right, and the smell you get used to it.

00:58:37.295 --> 00:58:55.681
You know it goes away after a while, but we're supposed to be there for literally a couple days for a shareholders meeting, in case, you know, people get unruly because there was some controversy going on at the time with allegations of price fixing between ADM and their Japanese counterparts.

00:58:56.851 --> 00:59:01.317
So it was my first exposure to corporate espionage and I'll tell you a fun fact.

00:59:01.317 --> 00:59:03.012
Fun fact what's his name?

00:59:03.012 --> 00:59:04.496
Jason Bourne.

00:59:04.496 --> 00:59:13.891
There's a movie what the hell is?

00:59:13.891 --> 00:59:14.413
It called the insider.

00:59:14.413 --> 00:59:15.295
But there was a movie made about this.

00:59:15.356 --> 00:59:24.460
Honest to god, right, I'm not in it, but there was a movie made about this and it was like yeah, there was a guy in the ranks of adm who fancied himself.

00:59:24.460 --> 00:59:27.896
Do you remember you're probably too young to remember this it was in every shopping mall.

00:59:27.896 --> 00:59:34.414
And then when the internet came along, they had the spy store.

00:59:34.414 --> 00:59:35.655
It was called the spy store.

00:59:35.655 --> 00:59:41.425
Well, I put picture like the sharper image, only like worse, and that's not fair.

00:59:41.425 --> 00:59:44.771
Sharper image is actually kind of cool.

00:59:44.771 --> 00:59:49.496
The spy store was literally that Like oh, you see this pen, right, it's a camera, you know.

00:59:49.496 --> 00:59:50.956
See these sunglasses?

00:59:50.956 --> 00:59:51.557
Oh, I can.

00:59:51.557 --> 01:00:02.226
Oh Well, this guy was like that, you know, and I guess he approached the FBI and he's like oh, I got information and he's thinking he's some super, you know, secret agent.

01:00:02.226 --> 01:00:13.420
But yeah, there was a movie made about it and know, I mean, I know firsthand, you know, working close with the family, um, they're, they're nice folks, they really were nice.

01:00:13.579 --> 01:00:23.672
But the point being that two or three day shareholders meeting, we're there for over a year, like over a year, and I'm like holy smokes.

01:00:23.672 --> 01:00:27.001
I talk about like being part of the community, you know.

01:00:27.001 --> 01:00:36.952
But yeah, yeah, and as jobs like that go, hey, you're only gonna be here for a couple of weeks or a couple of days, hey, can you extend, hey, can you extend, hey, can you extend.

01:00:36.952 --> 01:00:48.443
So we extended, and then I, clive Clive was our team leader on that project and we're like, man, this is, you know, this is going long term.

01:00:48.443 --> 01:00:53.681
He gets called into a meeting and, as I recall, they're like yep, you know no end in sight.

01:00:53.681 --> 01:00:54.672
How's everybody doing?

01:00:54.672 --> 01:00:57.804
All the guys seem to be okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, super duper.

01:00:57.804 --> 01:01:01.856
Within 24 hours they call him back Clive.

01:01:01.856 --> 01:01:03.179
It was right before the 4th of July.

01:01:03.179 --> 01:01:04.181
I'll never forget that.

01:01:04.181 --> 01:01:11.320
Right before, you know, they call him back in.

01:01:11.320 --> 01:01:12.969
They're like how fast can the guys be out of here?

01:01:12.969 --> 01:01:15.237
Like you know, change of mind.

01:01:15.237 --> 01:01:17.103
You know the board's decided, you know we got to go Roger that.

01:01:20.530 --> 01:01:24.936
So the next thing, you know, we stand everything down, we pack everything up, we take it to the post office, ship it home.

01:01:24.936 --> 01:01:31.773
And yeah, I had actually bought this was kind of funny while I was jennifer and I are planning our wedding, you know, and we're just she's oh my god, I love her.

01:01:31.773 --> 01:01:32.755
She's.

01:01:32.755 --> 01:01:34.099
That woman's got the patience of a saint.

01:01:34.099 --> 01:01:38.036
I will tell you that I bought for shits and giggles.

01:01:38.036 --> 01:01:41.826
I bought a 1968 corvette convertible, yeah.

01:01:43.027 --> 01:01:44.931
So we packed everything up, shipped it all home.

01:01:44.931 --> 01:01:52.063
I got in that bad boy and drove it home and she's like what the hell is wrong with you?

01:01:52.063 --> 01:02:03.510
And I'm like, oh, for starters I'd say a lot, but well, looking at the clock, this is going to take an extra episode, I think At least.

01:02:03.510 --> 01:02:05.797
Yeah, so why don't we put a pin in it now?

01:02:05.797 --> 01:02:09.903
We'll get on downstairs and get some work done, get some training done.

01:02:09.903 --> 01:02:15.376
Sounds good, all right, man, I hope I answered your questions well, so far, we got through one.

01:02:15.376 --> 01:02:19.143
All right, my friend, what are we talking?

01:02:19.143 --> 01:02:22.039
Oh, my, one hour two minutes 20 seconds.

01:02:22.039 --> 01:02:26.150
This is going to take a couple more episodes, right, certainly A couple more All.