An Army of Normal Folks - The 50-Year Old Version

Episode Date: July 4, 2025

For Shop Talk, we feature Army member Erik Lokkesmoe's reflections on what he wishes someone had told him when he was 30 or 40 years old. Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, it's Bill Courtney with An Army of Normal Folks. Shop Talk Number 59. Welcome into the shop. Hey Alex. Does anyone have any interesting numbers for 59? What do you mean? Like any football players or? Remember we talked about this?

Trying to come up with numbers. Heinz 57. Yeah. We talked about this trying to come up with numbers Heinz 57. Yeah 59 can't even think of a famous 59 any player or anything else. So You know not really a good lead-in Alex. Thanks. Yeah, sorry. I got nothing, you know, it's just us Oh, yes people can start suggesting Oh coming ones coming up. You got 66 points We'll say that we'll say that we'll remind them at the end of the episode we what what does the number 63 456 and 7 mean that's right okay everybody shop talk number 59 is a is a second part if you listen last week shop talk number 58 this is the second week that we are featuring the writing

of an Army member named Eric Laxman. Eric has a sub stack titled Some Assembly Required, and the second piece is titled The 50-Year-Old Virgin. Not Virgin. 50-Year-Old Virgin was a funny movie. This is the 50 old version some assembly required There's a family appropriate show bill. Well Nothing wall. That's a PG movie that came out. There's not a PG movie

13 or something. There's some lines in there. I remember that we cannot say on the air that are hilarious what we can't know Okay, so Eric has a sub-stack titled Some Assembly Required, the second piece. Last week we featured and Eric read for us, narrated for us for all the 50 year old men who. This week we're doing the 50 year old version. Eric recorded a performance of this and we'll hear it right after these brief messages from our dinner sponsors. In 2012, 16-year-old Brian Herrera was gunned down in broad daylight on his way to do homework. No suspects, no witnesses, no justice. The call was horrible. I replayed over in my head all the time. For years, Brian's family kept asking questions, while a culture of silence kept the case cold.

Snitches get stitches. Everybody knows it. Still, they refused to give up. I would ask my husband, do you want me to just let this go? He said, no, keep fighting. I told her I would never give up on this case. And then after a decade of waiting, a breakthrough. We received a phone call that was bittersweet because it's a call that we've been waiting for for a very long time.

I'm Enrique Santos. This is Cold Case Files Miami, a podcast about justice, persistence and the families who never stopped fighting. Listen to Cold Case Files Miami as part of the My Kultura podcast network available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. American history is full of wise people. Well, women said something like, you know, 99.99% of war is diarrhea and 1% is gory.

Those founding fathers were gossipy AF and they loved to cut each other down. I'm Bob Crawford, host of American History Hotline, the show where you send us your questions about American history and I find the answers, including the nuggets of wisdom our history has to offer. Hamilton pauses and then he says, the greatest man that ever lived was Julius Caesar. And Jefferson writes in his diary, this proves that Hamilton is for a dictator based on corruption. My favorite line was what Neil Armstrong said.

It would have been harder to fake it than to do it. Listen to American History Hotline on the iHeartRad app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. From iHeart podcasts, before social media, before the internet, before cable news, there was Alan Berg. You dig what I do. You have a need. Unfortunately, you have no sense of humor. That's why you can't ever enjoy this show, and that's why you're a loser." He was the first and the original shock shot. That scratchy, irreverent kind of way of talking to people. You're as dumb as the rest. I can't take anyone.

I don't agree with you all the time. I don't want you to. I hope that you pick me apart. His voice changed media. His death shocked the nation. And it makes me so angry that he got himself killed because he had a big mouth. KOA morning talk show host Alan Berg reportedly was shot and killed tonight in downtown Denver. He pointed to the Denver phone book and said,

well, there are probably two million suspects. This guy aggravated everybody. From iHeart Podcasts, this is Live Wire, the loud life and shocking murder of Alan Berg. Listen on the iHeart Podcasts, this is Live Wire, the loud life and shocking murder of Alan Berg. Listen on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A murder happens. The case goes cold. Then, over a hundred years later, we take a second look.

I'm Paul Holes, a retired cold case investigator. And I'm Kate Winkler-Dawson, a journalist and historian. On our podcast, Buried Bones, we reexamine historical true crime cases. Using modern forensic techniques, we dig into what the original investigators may have missed. Growing up on a farm when I heard a gunshot, I did not immediately think murder. Unless this person went out to shoot squirrels, they're not choosing a 22 to go hunting out there. These cases may be old, but the questions are still relevant and often chilling.

I know this chauffeur is not of concern. You know, it's like, well, he's the last one who saw our life. So how did they eliminate him? Join us as we take you back to the cold cases that haunt us to this day. New episodes every Wednesday on the Exactly Right Network. Listen to Buried Bones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What happens when we come face to face with death? My truck was blown up by a 20 pound anti-tank mine.

My parachute did not deploy. I was kidnapped by a drug cartel. I just remember everything getting dark. I'm dying. When we step beyond the edge of what we know... ...to open our consciousness to something more than just what's in that western box. ...and return. I clinically died.

The heart stopped beating, which I was dead for 11.5 minutes. My name is Dan Bush. My mission is simple. To find, explore, and share these stories. I'm not a victim, I'm a survivor. You're strongest when you're the most vulnerable. To remind us what it means to be alive. Not just that I was the guy that cut his arm off, but I'm the guy who is smiling when he cut his arm off.

Alive Again, a podcast about the fragility of life, the strength of the human spirit, and what it means to truly live. Listen to Alive Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Hey everybody, Shop Talk 59. We are back with Eric Loxmo and his narration from his substacks, some assembly required, the 50 year old version. And now here's Eric Loxmo performing

the 50 year old version. More than 15,000 people read a spontaneous essay I wrote one afternoon. The title of it was, For all the 50 year old men who... It was a letter, a kind of tribute, a collection of thoughts for the boys like me who were told, grow up, be a man, get over it, stop crying, stop daydreaming, make mom proud, be the hero and fight back, and above all, never show your true self. And what happened next surprised me. The responses flooded in. Emails, texts, comments,

stories I didn't expect, emotions I didn't see coming. It was clear there's a deep hunger out there, a silent ache, a longing to know, am I the only man who feels this way? And it got me thinking, what do I wish someone had taught me when I was 20 or 30 or 40? Yes, I could have avoided some hard falls, some broken relationships, some wasted energy,

and a whole lot of unnecessary striving. But here I am at 50, a bit wrinkled, scarred, certainly grateful because along the way I gained wisdom, deep friendships and a deeper resolve to live all in and all out until I cross that finish line. So I put together a bit of a field guide, a map. Isn't comprehensive, but it's a start. Some lessons and learnings.

For the version of me I'm still learning to become, and maybe for the version of you, you're becoming too. This is the 50 year old version. Here's a few to think about on the topics of life and art and politics and purpose. Do not despise the small. The sacred usually starts there. You're a steward, not the star.

Return things better than you found them. Weird is a virtue. Peculiar things point to purpose. Finish what you start. Starting is sexy. Finishing is sacred. You don't need permission. Begin anyway.

Joy is in the process. Outcomes lie. The work doesn't. Walk in the unforced rhythms of grace as it's been said. Smallness is greater than bigness. Some of the greatest impact is unscalable. Contentment is revolutionary. Want what you already have. And trust. Trust is the bedrock for marriages, for media, for making. Without it everything cracks.. In politics, politics is downstream.

Culture makes the weather. Principle of a party. Loyalty belongs to truth, not tribes. The middle space is mission ground. That no-fly zone is where change happens. Listen longer, talk slower. Persuasion starts with curiosity. Surprise people, especially your opponents. Try being more conservative than any conservative, and also more liberal than any liberal. Transcend the labels. Create before you criticize. We need more builders, not barkers. more liberal than illiberal. Transcend the labels.

Create before you criticize. We need more builders, not barkers. Proximity changes everything. Get close to the mess. Movements are named in retrospect. Just do the work. And humility is strength. I don't know is a leadership superpower. In entertainment, the artist leads, the politician follows. Stories shape hearts long before policies

shape laws. Art should haunt. Don't answer everything. Leave room for mystery. Build soil. Create environments where others flourish. Don't just entertain. Make them better. Like Handel, aim higher. Question mark stories are greater than period stories. Raise questions. Don't just preach. Create for the future. Not for the charts or the likes, but for legacy. Don't chase the elites. Find your audience. Serve them well.

Popular doesn't mean profound, but sometimes it can be both. Hollywood isn't a town. It's a term. Make great work anywhere. And if you're on the inside, look with outsider eyes. Disrupt from within. On faith and purpose, remember to redeem the time, redeem the dream. Don't waste the ache.

You are a co-creator. Make all things new by making new things. Art is vocation. Sweep your street like Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel. Faith is found in the middle between the broken and the beautiful. Pray for the world, but move toward it. Love a yard from hell. Sacrifice is the strategy.

Always has been. Do it for the five, not the 500. You never know who's listening. Blessed are the outliers. They see what others miss. Trust the source. The river of culture still flows through God's land and ponder anew what the Almighty can do. This is the 50 year old version, not the final word, just one voice, but maybe it's one you

needed to hear today. So now on Chop Talk for the second week, we have heard Eric's voice with poignant thoughts and ideas and encouragements. I think the one I loved the most and again I'm paraphrasing is life's a mess run to it or something. Is that what he said? What was it? Proximity changes everything. Get close to the messy stuff. Yes. Proximity changes everything. Get close to the messy stuff. I mean, that is actually how this podcast started. Really look at the mess.

Someone else going to do about it. Get close to it and clean the mess. Not just a mess and mess you're afraid of. Yeah. All right. You don't want your flat tire breaking down there. Yeah. I mean, but people don't like messes typically. I guess when I hear it, I'm, I'm thinking he titled it here. So funny. Sorry. What on the mess fuel'm thinking he titled it. Here's something funny, sorry. What? On the mess, if you all don't like it. So do you know Pat Conroy? Random thought, but I don't think

we've talked about this on the podcast before. He's like a famous Southern writer. OK. And he's got like a really messed up family. Does he? Yeah. So he's given this book talk. It might have been for his book, The Great Santini.

I'm not a Pat Conroy expert, but I've heard this story. And someone comes up to him after his talk and says man your family is messed up and he says how far do we got to go down your family tree to find F-TOP. So it's it all us. None of us. We all got messed. Oh it's life is messy. It is. The other thing I think I find interesting listening to it is as I hear him, well, as you read it hard copy and then as you hear him narrate it and put his voice to the words he wrote, the title of the 50 year old version is interesting because what is the

perspective of all of those things from a 30 year old version, you know, and the point is, I think one, we continue to gain wisdom, but two, we continue to gain scars. We simultaneously gain wisdom. Oftentimes through many of the mistakes we made are the things that have beaten us up. So the 50 year old version is an appropriate and interesting title and I think somewhere in there he you know he's talking party before politics or something like that. But basically-

Principle over party. Principle over party and don't be something conservative and don't be something liberal. What was that? Yeah, be more conservative than conservatives and more liberal than liberals, transcend labels. Transcend labels. That was the bottom line, the transcend labels. And I think for an army of normal folks to be a successful

movement, we will have all of us have got to transcend labels and dive into the mouse. And I think that's what I got the most out of his words from. What about you? That was all good. I don't have anything specific to say besides a head of just a random thought of people want to do this too. Maybe some of listeners want to reflect on their lives. That's interesting. And send their wisdom that they can share with us and maybe we can feature too.

Absolutely love to hear about it. So once again, shop talk number 59 is Eric Loxmose, the 50 year old version from his sub stack titled, Some Assembly Required. Eric really appreciate you taking the time to narrate that for us so that we could share it on shop talk. Guys, if you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review it. Join the army at normalfolks.us. If you have ideas for Shop Talks, email me at bill at normalfolks.us or alex at army at normalfolks. What army at? Normalfolks.us.

At normalfolks.us. One other thing, that is Shop Talk number 59, meaning we'll be picking up 60. Oh yeah, I looked up 59. Well, there's really not much, I looked at the internet while we were doing that. Yeah, 59. Yeah, the only thing really to come up with is there's some song called the 59th Street Bridge. It might have been Simon Garfuckle or something. I don't know, I put my computer down.

But it did remind me of 59th Street, the beginning of Central Park. Well, I guess so. That's the most iconic thing I could think of, because I love the entrance of Central Park there on 59th Street. So y'all, Alex is really hung up on the numbers of Shop Talk, having an interesting little side note about the number. So please email me something to do with 69th through 70th so I can say it. I'm shop talk. So our producer here, I'm not hung up on it.

I don't even believe in horoscopes or any of that weird stuff. I just thought this could be fun. Just say it is fun. Yeah, it's fun. So y'all y'all said it. Okay. Bill Courtney army and normal folks that shop talk funder 59. We asked you to do all the stuff you're supposed to do.

So I guess that's it, isn't it? Until next time, do what you can. Until next time, do what you can. We'll see you next week. In 2012, 16-year-old Brian Herrera was gunned down in broad daylight on his way to do homework. No suspects, no witnesses, no justice. I would ask my husband, do you want me to stop?

He was like, no, keep fighting. After nearly a decade, a breakthrough changed everything. This is Cold Case Files Miami, stories of families who never stopped fighting. Listen to Cold Case Files Miami on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Bob Crawford, host of American History Hotline, a different type of podcast. You, the listener, ask the questions. Did George Washington really cut down on a charity? Were JFK and Marilyn Monroe having an affair? And I find the answers. I'm so glad you asked

me this question. This is such a ridiculous story You can listen to American history hotline on the I heart radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts From I heart podcast before social media before cable news. There was Alan Berg He was the first and the original shock chuck. That scratchy, irreverent kind of way, talking to people and telling them that you're an idiot and I'm going to hang up on you. This is Live Wire, the loud life and shocking murder of Alan Berg. And he pointed to the Denver phone book and said, well, there are probably two million

suspects. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Open AI is a financial abomination. A thing that should not be. An aberration, a symbol of rot at the heart of Silicon Valley. And I'm going to tell you why on my show Better Offline, the rudest show in the tech industry. Where we're breaking down why open AI, along with other AI companies, are dead set on lying

to your boss that they can take your job. I'm also going to be talking with the greatest minds in the industry about all the other ways the rich and powerful are ruining the computer. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, wherever you happen to get your podcasts. A body, a suspect, and a hundred years of silence. Buried Bones is a podcast about the forgotten crimes history tried to leave behind. A common misperception about serial predators is that every single time they commit a crime,

they commit it the same way. The past is a way of talking if you know what to listen for. New episodes every Wednesday on the Exactly Right Network. Listen to Buried Bones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.