Cameron Hanes - Keep Hammering Collective - KHC 057 - Dakota Meyer

Episode Date: February 5, 2024

Join us for a discussion with Dakota Meyer, Marine veteran, CEO and founder of Own the Dash Gym and Dash Hydrate. Dakota is also the host for You’re Human Podcast and has a mindset that will make you double think the way you may be living your life! Follow along: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cameronrhanes Twitter: https://twitter.com/cameronhanes Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/camhanes/ Website: https://www.cameronhanes.com Connect with Dakota: https://www.instagram.com/dakotameyer0317/  Thank you to our sponsors: Montana Knife Company: https://www.montanaknifecompany.com/  Black Rifle Coffee: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/ Use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% your first order MUD\WTR: https://mudwtr.com/cam use code Cam for 15% off  Blokes: https://blokes.com/cam use code CAM for 20% off labs Hoyt: http://bit.ly/3Zdamyv  Leupold: https://www.leupold.com/ Timestamps: 0:00:00 Intro: Shot Show & After-Dark Stories 0:04:47 Training for IronMan 0:07:10 Dakot’s Running Background 0:08:19 Dakota's Running Goals 0:12:24 Growth Comes From Being Uncomfortable 0:14:57 Lessons From Football 0:16:30 Becoming a Sniper for the Marines 0:22:20 Being a Sniper is All Mental 0:25:16 Construction to Receiving the Medal of Honor 0:32:33 Mental State After the Marines 0:39:12 Survivors Guilt & Helping Others 0:43:47 Submerged Vehicle Rescue 0:50:51 If You Have the Ability to Help People, You Should 0:52:47 Memories That Change Our Lives 0:56:47 The Cost of Being Held Back From a Mission 01:02:01 Being Held to a Standard 01:06:10 Dakota’s Upcoming Book Release: Why To What 01:07:25 Dakota’s Mentor: Jocko 01:13:16 Iron Sharpens Iron 01:20:40 Controlling How You Spend Your Time 01:26:56 Escaping The Miserable Mindset  01:32: 04 Living Off What You’ve Done, VS What You’re Doing 01:37:26 Past Decisions & the Emotions Connected to Them  01:40:22 Dakota’s Current Goals 01:46:26 Outro

Every step I take, I move my truth. Every time they tell me stop I use. Every comment hate that makes my feel, gather up my energy and boom. I hear them talking, saying the way that I'm moving so reckless. That is a part of my mind I've been blessed with. Giving my blood so I am relentless. We're here on the Keep Hammering Collective with Dakota Meyer. Man, what a day.

Dude. How, I mean, first of all, before we get into the day, it's the honor to be sitting across the table from you. I know of your story, your journey. your life, you know, I don't want to say your whole life, but from say 2011 on, I've known, I've watched YouTube videos, listen to your podcast, you know, you, when my son joined the army or before he was going to, or he did, you messaged him.

It's like, even though we haven't spent a lot of time together, you've been a big part of like how I think about things, how I think about you, of course, and the kind of impact you've had. And so, you know, to have you sitting here means a lot. Man, listen, same thing back. Like, I've like, you know, we met, we met in Vegas at Shot Show. I mean, you're actually probably the reason that I have my two daughters.

Really? I mean, I mean, you were there. Yeah. You know what I mean? So, like, you were not there whenever back off that. I wasn't watching. Well, you might have been. No, I'm just kidding.

No, you, you know, like, you were, that was the first day I met you. that shot show um and that like i started following you there and then the next year we i i ran into you in the gym yeah yeah we got like a little workout i know right that was fun and that was that was like 2016 that was yeah so the first time we went did you invite me to that party the cryptic party or no you were you were already there okay and um i had you know i had gone with uh sarah palin yeah and um We'd gone up there and then you were there, you know, everybody was up there at this cryptic party for Chris, for Tea Cowell. Right.

Yeah. And that's where I met you at. And, yeah, we, we talked there and then like, man, like, just watching your stuff. And the last probably year and a half, I mean, you've just like, it's almost like you're just gone to the next level. You know what I mean? Of, like, just creating this great content that's so you can watch it. you can get something from it and it doesn't have to make you emotionally bankrupt.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Like what would you watch that would make you feel that way? Any of the news stations. That's true. Or, I mean, a lot of the podcasts, a lot of the podcasts are like they have to, you know, I don't know, like they just, they have to, sometimes people feel like they, there has to be a conflict to get views or like there, like there has to be.

and you have to be against something. Right. Instead of just for something. Right. Right. And so, yeah, man, your stuff's been awesome. But yeah, we met out in Vegas. And then finally, here we are for All Circle.

Yeah. I get to hang out with you all day. Well, it's, like I said, it's been a huge honor and it's been a long time coming. Yeah, as I said, I followed followed along on everything you've done. And now today you came in, shared lift, run, shoot with me, which is my routine. the content you see you've been watching and it's like if it's imperfect for me because my goal with this show is to to have outliers on here that I can learn from or take their mindset and implement in my own life or people just like me because like I say I'm just like some regular

small town bow hunter so there's a lot of people who might be able to identify with with how I think about things so when I can talk to outliers and like almost translate it from You know, because I'm not an outlier, but all you people, all my guests, and you are like, like the pinnacle of outlier to me. And, you know, we can talk about the reasons why if you'd like, but it's to share that with, you know, people that might be similar to me. And that's, that's been my goal. And so it feels good to hear that you like it, you enjoy it.

It's not like, I'm not trying to be controversial, even though we have some good stories. We could tell that that might be. I mean, that's like, I had another guest, too, that shared me, shared with me stuff that we couldn't say on the podcast. So I thought about starting an after dark podcast. So maybe that's where we can share your stories. Yeah, what we could do is we could have like a paywall where we put those stories behind it. You know what I mean? Like, what would be an example for those stories?

You know. But man, like, you know, like I started running and, you know, I'm training for this Iron Man right now. And so I just like I thought about like I started probably last October. I don't know what hit me, but something came up. The conversation came up. Well, you know what? Actually, I'd signed up for a hundred mailer, the Brazos band 100maller. And what was, why did you sign up for that?

What was the inspiration behind that? Man, I was running this firefighter challenge. And have you seen those? So basically there's a, it's a firefighter challenge. When you come to Austin, I'm going to get, you're going to do that with me. Okay. So basically it's a, you go, you have to go up a, like five or six flights of stairs, right, with a high-rise pack. You're in full gear on air, and it's all timed.

So you go up that, then you do a hoist, like you pull up the, this hose pack or this hose bundle. And then you go back down as fast you can. And then you go into this Kaiser sled, hit it, and then you go through these delineators. And then you have a charged, fully charged hose. line that you have to go like 100 feet or something like that and then you have this dummy drag at the end of it of like a hundred and it's like 110 feet and it's timed so you're just gassed probably like it's they say it's the hardest two minutes in sports right okay and so i i got into that and we were sitting there one day training for it and one of the guys said they were running a hundred

mileer. And I was like, well, I'll run 100 miler. Not knowing anything about it. And I was just try to out-tuff it, basically. I mean, I just like, I don't know. I just don't know. Like, I just don't know. Like, I just don't know. I don't believe in the mindset of thinking that there's something I can't do if I want to do it. You know what I mean? Like the only difference between it is, is if I want to do it or not. You know what I mean? And I just, I don't know. I don't know what that means to want to do something and know you can't and think you can't do it.

Right. I don't know what that means. Yeah, you got to believe in yourself. Yeah, I mean, you know, like whether you think you can or you can't, you're right. Right. And so I was like, yeah, I'm going to sign up for this 100 mile. I did it that day. Signed up?

Yeah. Wow. And I didn't know anything about it. Had you, so what's your running history been like up to this point? You know, I ran a, so, I mean, I ran track in high school. I played football, all that. I mean, I wasn't anything great. And then obviously in the Marine Corps, you know what I mean?

We run a lot. And then I got out of the Marine Corps and I posted a picture the other day. I looked back at a picture of me the other day. And I was about 265 pounds. Like when was this after out of the Marines? Yeah, after I got out. You know, I was drinking every day and not living a good life. And then so then I did run a marathon one time.

I think it was in 2019, the Marine Corps Marathon. Yeah. I maybe ran five runs before that and showed up, ran the whole thing. Just, I mean, my goal was just to finish. Yeah. And that's really been it since, you know, and I've been running a little bit, you know, maybe once a month. And so my goal was probably 60,000. 60 days ago, well, the end of November, my goal was that there's this little five-mile run

was for me to finish that in under an hour. That was about 90 days ago at this point. Yeah. That was my goal 90 days ago, was to finish that, to be able to do that five miles and under an hour. Yeah, so under 12 minutes miles. Yeah. Yeah.

And so then I was training up for the, this 100-miler had no clue what I was about to do. I would just go out and just run for like I was basically just doing time on my feet just to get try to get my I read that that's yeah that's a key that's a key right so because I started training about 60 days out from this brazos spin which was supposed to be the first week in December they canceled so I did my long run everything up to it a week out they delayed it And I really wanted to do this Ironman. So I'm like, I'm not going to wait another 30 days. I'm going to start training Iron Man.

Right. Because I want to go to Kona. So just shift focus from the 100 Mile Ultra. Yeah. And you did a 50K somewhere. I did. I did the Austin Rattler. Okay.

Right? So I ran that. And I loved it. You know what I mean? Like I went out and I'm not really an emotional human being. Mm-hmm. And man, about mile 26. I mean, I felt emotion.

Like, I mean, I started getting into, like, your mind just goes to a place. And it was really, it was really humbling for me because, like, I got to this place to where I started hurting, right? My, my thighs were just, you know, they were just, they were hurting, right? And I just remember thinking to myself, like, why are you doing this? You know what I mean? Like, your mind just started. It started those.

Pushing itself, yeah. Those darts, right? And it's like, why are you doing this? You know what I mean? Nobody cares if you finish and nobody cares if you don't. Nope. Who cares? Yeah.

And it was like really, I hadn't faced that in a long, long time. Mm-hmm. And it was so good to like be there like on. Because, you know, at this point at the end of it, it's your spread out. Yeah. You might be by yourself at this point. Yeah. There's nobody cheering you on.

Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, there's nobody watching you. Like, it's all internal. It's all internal. Yeah. Right. And really, nobody cares.

Nobody cares how bad you hurt. Nobody cares if you stop. Nobody cares if you finish. Nobody cares what your time is. Yeah. It's like, and it really was like one of these moments that just made me, I'm like, I like this. I like this. You know, I need this.

Suffer fest. Suffer fest, right? And then at about mile 20, you know, mile 28, you're through it because you got two miles left. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. It's like those long, you know, and that is long.

I mean, you can say, yeah, there's longer races, but 30 miles is a long way. And you start doing these races. And the big thing with like the hundreds and the 200s and even, you know, a 50K is like there's some peaks and valleys. So once you, if you make it through those valleys, you don't last in the bottom of that valley forever. Just like you didn't. You were out of it by mile 28. But a lot of people get in that valley and they pull the rip cord. They're out.

They're like, I can't deal with it. And I always go back to the story that Courtney DeWalter in her first 100 miler, she quit at mile 60 because she was hurting so bad. She's like, there's no way I can keep going. And then she realized that, oh, that's part of this. Yeah. Just dealing with this self-doubt and this pain and this being in this valley. and once you push through and make it out,

you'll always come out. Not if you quit, though. Yeah. If you just keep going, you'll come out. So it's a great lesson that you learned too. And I'll tell you what's so, you know, for me, what I got back to was I had a buddy running with me. And he was crushing it.

I mean, this guy's just a, I mean, he's a beast. And, but the cool thing is, is like when you look at these runs, it's not like you're doing something, something. You're not, it's not like you're doing something that somebody hasn't done before. You know, so it's like people have done it. They've gotten through this.

They're humans too. Yeah. So if they can do it, you can do it. Right. And, you know, there's so much, there's so much to be said when you rely on that logical type of mindset instead of feeding into, you know, your pain, you're being uncomfortable, right? Yeah. Because, you know, resiliency is nothing more than, you know,

the ability to stay in suffering so that you can learn more of the lesson. You know, because you don't get better unless you're uncomfortable. Right. You don't grow. You don't, you don't move the needle any internally, emotionally, physically, or physically, emotionally, or mentally, unless you're suffering. And so. Where'd you learn this?

Man, I don't know. I mean, like, I don't know. I mean, I think it's just been part of my whole life. You know what I mean? Like, nothing's ever, the easy way was never the right way. You know, my dad is, you know, I grew up on a farm and, you know, everything is result-driven. It doesn't matter what you feel like, you know, especially on a farm, right? Like, you got all these animals relying on you.

And so. You guys have cows or what do you have? Yeah, so we had cows. And, you know, these cows. they, I mean, they rely on you to eat. They rely on you to take care of them, you know, and it doesn't matter what day it is. It doesn't matter if you feel like doing it.

It doesn't matter if it's cold outside. It doesn't matter if it's, you know, perfect weather. Like you have a responsibility because you have other, these animals relying on you. And, you know, it's part of your livelihood. And so, you know, I think growing up like that on a farm and just, you know, have being result-driven that that's how you know where I started learning that and then obviously in the

Marine Corps you learn that even more and then I think you know just just over and over when you start to really dissect things that that you start to learn that that piece of it right did uh so the farm and then you said you played football well how was that were you because football people don't know whatever football can be when you're young like a underclassman sucks. Yeah. For most young, you're getting lit up by the bigger guys. Did you take those lessons into football too? And then that, some of those lessons translated to the Marines or? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, look, I mean, I think, I think football is the game, the ultimate game of life. You know, I, because, you know, your physical, it's, like, you know what I mean? Like, it's, it's physical. It's, it's, it's, it's,

it's, you know, you're taking losses. It's about, you know, it's strategic. There's all these. It's all of it, right? Like, it's all these things. And so, you know, that was my primary sport throughout high school. What position? So I played running back, free safety.

Sometimes I would, on defense, on defense I would play. I could go in one series and I could go from free safety to nose guard, depending on what we needed. Yeah. So you're physical? Yeah. Yeah. And it was small school, real small school. I think there was at one point I was the punter, punt return, kicker, kick return.

You know what I mean? So that was cool. Time on the field. Yeah. Were you guys any good? No. No. But you got tough.

Yeah. Listen, you know, listen, if you're not going to be good, you got to be tough. Yeah. But yeah. And you say, he translates. I mean, you know, going to the Marine Corps, becoming a sniper, you know, all those things. How that happened? Like, did you go?

Is it, it's basic training? any or no, boot camp? Boot camp, yeah. And then do they, so you were, like, showed some shooting skill, I assume, and they noticed it, or did you say you wanted to be a sniper? No, like you, so I went to boot camp June 18th, 2006.

So Paris Island, beautiful place. I didn't even know that was supposed to be a joke twice like your face. So it sucks, I take it. Yeah, it's miserable. Oh. And so went to Paris Island. graduated boot camp and then turned around and went to

to school of infantry and then graduated there and then I went to my unit and... Where was all this at? Or was the school of infantry? In North Carolina. Okay. And then from there I went to Hawaii where I was going to be stationed the next four years at Conneauay Bay and got there. I checked into my unit, third battalion, third Marines and you know, really I loved it. I mean, you know, learning, you know, all these guys that we had are like the guys in charge of me.

I mean, they just came home from a rotation in Iraq, or in Iraq. You know, and they, I mean, the first thing that I did with them was a memorial for all the guys they lost, right? So they had seen, they knew, they knew the severity of combat and they knew we were going back. And so their drive to make us good was astronomical, right? And so we were, I was with a line company, like, an infantry platoon. And I remember like just seeing these guys run around base. And I was like, man, those guys looked like professionals.

So you were, so you were green coming in. These guys, you looked at them almost like war heroes probably. Because they'd been in the shit and they're coming back. And they, you know, lost teammates. And it's like, so as a young guy, yeah, that probably had a huge. profound impact. It did. It did. Like it had a huge impact, right? Like you just, you hear the stories of what these guys did and, you know, they were in the Haditha triad and it was, I mean, just the fighting that they had gone through. And so I mean, yeah, I mean, it was just, it was,

it was nuts. And then then there was these, like I said, these group of guys that would, you know, they were, you'd see them around. And they, you know, they always had their hair a little bit like really low and and uh i found out they were snipers. Hmm. What do you mean low? Like tight? So like they would have like they were always pushing the regs on. Oh, I see.

Yeah, you know what I mean? So they have a little longer hair? Yeah, they would try. They were always like going to the, the pushing the limits, right? Yeah, because they had a little more leeway because they were badasses. Well, they, they, they, they stayed within the standards, but like they just, their platoon, that's just what they did, right?

Um, it's kind of like their ammo. Um, and so we, I've seen those guys and I seen that they were having a, they do like what's, it's like a selection, you know, an assessment. So basically they put on this series. You come, you have to try out. And then you do this two or three days of whatever these tests are, you know, staying awake and all this.

And then they, you do an interview and then they decide who they want. And then you come into the platoon and you're there for 30 or 60 days on like a probationary period. to see if they like you or not and if you fit in and all this. And then, you know, you get to come to the platoon. And so I tried out for it, came, I was brought into the platoon and I was on that probationary period. And we were getting ready to go back to Iraq. And they asked, they said,

you can either go home on pre-deployment leave or you can go to sniper school. And to get a school at sniper school at this time was, I mean, unheard of, especially before you'd gone on deployment. Right. And so I had everything like all the qual as you needed to go. And so I was like, I'll skip out on going home pre-deployment leave. Like I want to go to the school. And so I went to the school and it was just, I mean, it was awesome. Like I... Well, I think that decision right there, that's a big difference. I think a lot of people would have taken that pre-deployment leave, right? And what home? Yeah. Do you think or did you see that or what did you see? I mean, I just think it's just like most people wouldn't even come. out for the selection assessment, right?

You know what I mean? I just think that like, look, I think people are where they're supposed to be. You know what I mean? Because of little decisions. Yeah, micro decisions. You know what I mean? Like, you know, the results when the conflict or whatever, when the test is thrown at us, the results are already decided by all those micro decisions before.

You can only sway what those results are going to be so much. because you can't overcompensate for all these micro decisions. They're going to add up at some point, right? You know, people that live by this mentality of that they're going to rise to the occasion is just a false insurance policy and, you know, of hope that they're not ever going to have to be in that situation because it's just not true. Right. You're going to always fall back to your lowest level of training and discipline, you know. So if you're always taking shortcuts or the easier route, you're never going to rise up very high. Yeah.

to rise that there's only a, your ceiling is pretty damn low. But if you're doing all these little things and making all these like sacrifices and like, no, this is my bigger goal. Then yeah, then that ceiling is fucking high. Yeah. Yeah. Everything becomes habitual. And so tell, yeah, tell me what happened then.

So, yeah, so I went to sniper school. It's kind of crazy. We were on the range. And, you know, probably only a small percentage of being a sniper shooting. You know, it's so much camouflage. It's the technology is patrolling. It's surveillance. Like there's so many other pieces to being a sniper.

It's, it's intel gathering. Like, there's so many other pieces to it, right? What makes you good at all those things, do you think? I don't know. I mean, I think like, just, I mean, you have to be, you've got to be multidimensional. You know, you've got to be able to think strategically. You got, you know, you got to use your head a lot more. more than just your emotions.

You know what I mean? Yeah. So I think like that's a big. More tactical. More tactical. Yeah. You know. I saw you shooting the bow today and it's like the way you shot, it doesn't, you know,

people say, I would think sniper is shooting. But like when I saw, you know, the herd bull going through your bow with you today and everything he said to do, you ended up doing perfectly. And what happened was the last group, you had five out of six. on the X. Yeah. I mean, you were like so precise in that that tactical part of, of archery. So it doesn't surprise me that you were good at being a sniper too, even though it's not just shooting. Yeah, but I mean, but that's the thing is like shooting is just the fundamentals. I mean, it's like when you look at, I mean, we're not, you know, we're not building their own rifles, right? Like, I mean,

these rifles are, I mean, they're submitted of angle. You know, like, you know, like, they out shoots you, this ammunition out shoots you like those bows that we're touching they out shoot our capabilities. Right. So we're just trying not to screw it up. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, what we're doing is trying to minimize our deficiencies so that we can help that bow do what it is 100% designed to do. Yeah. And so same thing with rifle. You know what I mean? And if you just listen to people,

I mean, that guy's an expert, you know, and everything he said is dialed in whether, you know, I had never heard, I've been shooting a bow. I've shot a bow my whole life. Mm-hmm.

90% of what he said I'd never heard before. Yeah. You know what I mean? Right. These little things and just watching how it just, it just tweaks it. Yeah, but you know, I've had people in there that heard the exact same things you heard and couldn't implement them. So it kind of goes to the point where you're saying, I don't know, I don't know how you said it. But it's like, it's not just hearing.

the information is putting into practice. Put into practice. And so that's probably why you were so good at that goal, of all those goals is because you're actually listening and implementing. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, I remember on that, I think it was a 60 Minutes interview that I watched with you. I think the guy said Dakota could shoot a squirrel from 750 yards.

So let me tell you a funny story. Okay. Do you remember that? Oh, yeah, David Martin. Yeah. But I'm about to tell you the backstory. So, you know, they come in 60 minutes. So first off, I go from being on a construction site one day, pouring concrete.

I saw you on a little bobcat. Yeah. Yeah. That was my job. Okay. Like Harley raking yards. You know what I mean? Get them prepped for grass seeds.

Yeah. And I go from that one day to having every news station. carrying what I say and what I do. I mean, it was... So you were on the Bobcat. This is after you are back. Yeah, so I came back. I got out of the Marine Corps, you know, for...

I was out for probably 18 months. Okay. And, yeah, one day, you know, I get... So I get this call from Head Corps's Marine Corps one day. And they're like... And you're doing landscaping at this time. Or like construction. Yeah.

So I get a call from Headquarters Marine Corps. one day. I didn't even know that place existed, right? I mean, it's like, and they call me and they're like, hey, you know, we need to, we need to verify your home address. And I was like, I'm not giving it to you. I was so nervous, man. Like, I was so nervous that, you know, at this time, you know, they're, you just didn't know, I didn't know why they're reaching out to me. And, like, did I do something wrong? Afghanistan. You know, this is at the point to where you come home like today and you have to worry about is somebody's opinion that sits behind a desk going to sit here and put you in prison for the rest of your life. Yeah. You know? And I was just so nervous that I did something wrong and, you know,

I just, honestly, I just didn't want, I didn't want to hear about it anymore. And so they sent this colonel in. I told them that I would meet him in Austin. Oh. At the, you know that there's at Hilton that's right outside the Austin airport. Yeah. I said, I'll meet him there. Okay. So he comes in and he opens up this binder and he's like, you're going to be receiving the Medal of Honor.

Whoa. And I was like, I think you got the wrong guy. Yeah. And he's like, no, the Secretary of Defense approved it today and he's walking it over to the President of the United States and the President's going to go off his recommendation. Wow. And he said, we need to. like what do we what like what like can they just mail it to me and he's like no we're going to be

planning this you know he said and he looked at me I'll never forget his name was his name was colonel auto rut and he said I just want you to know that your life is about to change and I said nobody decides if my life changes I decide that and um so we we went back and forth I didn't want to do a ceremony I didn't want the medal I begged them to break it down to Navy Cross or whatever. Why? Man, like, you know, I mean, I didn't do anything to deserve it. You know, like, you know, the, I just, I just did what anybody else would have done in that situation.

And so. Do you think that? I don't know if that's true. I mean, because we talked about it on the run. It's like you said you knew you were going to die. Yeah. I did. I don't.

Do you think everybody would? face that fate five times you know you went back wasn't it five times is that true yeah something like that yeah yeah but I don't know that seems very deserving to me because I just know humans people are very they're all about self-preservation yeah you know and when you work out people when they start to hurt they quit yeah so if you think about that they're the you thought you were going to die no doubt Man. But let me say this.

Yeah. You know, all that medal of honor represents is two things. And I truly, I truly believe this with every moral fiber of my being. What I did that day is something that every human being that walks his face to the planet is capable of doing. All that story is, it's not a story of heroism. it's not a story of a badass it's not a story it's none of that all that all that represents is what people are capable of if they believe in a cause that's bigger than them and they love people more than they love themselves that's it that's what you're capable of doing when you have those

two things like there was nothing awesome that I did that day I just my teammates were trapped there were good people who were suffering and I was willing to give my life for whether it was the Afghans in there, whether it was my teammates, it didn't matter. There were good people that were actively suffering and I was in a place where I could do something about it to try to make it better and I was going to do that. That's it. Yeah, that makes sense. It's still extraordinary, but I understand, I 100% understand what you're saying. I'm curious about, so in that 18 months you were out, because what you did hadn't changed,

you still did what you did. But during that 18 months, how were you reflecting on that then? Just like, I mean, you lost your teammates. So were you mourning that during that time? Were you trying to just move on? I mean, you know, you just, I'll say this, my generation got it wrong.

you know, you look at the repercussions of avoiding mental health. I mean, now my generation's legacy will be known as the suicide generation. I mean, you look at avoiding and ignoring mental health. And, you know, I mean, you see it all the time. Like the suicide is just to the roof, right? Right. And so, yeah, I mean, I didn't know what to do. I mean, nobody knew what to do.

what to do it this time. Nobody's asking, do you need to talk to somebody about what you've went through? Well, they are, but it's like, like, what am I going to talk about? Like, I, you know, I know what happened that day. Like, I don't, I don't need, I don't need to try to figure it out. You know what I mean? Right. And, and, you know, I'll never forget.

Like, every time I went to talk to a counselor, they would say, you know, because, because the reality isn't, and this, it doesn't feel good. Like, let me say this. It doesn't feel good. But the truth is that day, it's the biggest failure of my life. Now, let me say why. Look, just because a narrative doesn't feel good, doesn't, you don't get to change it. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Like, oh, well, you tried your best. Like, my teammates are still dead. Like, you can try your best. You can work hard. You could have, you know, well, you weren't the one that, like, you, you just try to find all these loopholes to. to take off the responsibility of the failure that you had. And it's like, no, no, I failed astronomically that day.

But I don't want that narrative to ever change because now that I faced it, now that I haven't tried to ignore it, now I can use it to give me the lessons of every part of my life today. It's the ability for me to be able to help others, you know? Yeah. I think that, but by saying you failed, I would think, I don't know if you were in control of that, though. You know, I mean, if you fail and you're in control, that's failing.

But I don't know if there was a way to win that because of the numbers, because of the situation. Could anybody ever have saved those guys? You know what I mean? But you don't get to, you like, let me understand. You don't get to, like, failing. Like, failing is nothing more than not getting the results you set out to get. Right. So, like, you know, the reality is we have, like, for some reason,

we have gotten this mentality that if we do everything right, and if we work hard and we want it back, like, and we want it, we're not going to fail. Right. And it's like, and we do the best that we can that we're not going to fail. It's just, it's not reality. I understand that, yeah. And so it's like.

So you did the best you can. Yeah. You did everything you could. Yeah. And you still failed is what you're saying. Yeah. And you know what it's awesome because it's been the biggest, it's been the biggest, it's the biggest piece of me today.

You know, when you talk about, like, I know what losing feels like. And I'm going to do everything I can to not have to feel like that again. But if I do, I can get through it. And guess what? When other people lose and when other people are down, I have this level of empathy for them because I know what it feels like to be in their position and now I can help them get through it. I can get on that level with them and try to help them get through that piece. Right.

And it's important. It's important to feel these things and to face this reality because the reality is, man, is if you don't face the reality, you can't ever get past it. You know what I did last night? I haven't told you this. It's kind of crazy because we scheduled this podcast. And right after that, my lieutenant, Lieutenant Johnson, his brother, Dan, identical twin brother, lives an hour and a half from here.

And in 15 years, I've never talked to him, never spoke to him. He wrote a message to me the same day that we scheduled this podcast. And for the first time in 15 years, I got to sit down with that man last night. And when was the last time you'd seen him? I've never seen him in my life. Oh. I'd never even spoke to him until that day. So this is a teammate that died?

Yeah, so in that day. Yeah, his brother, his brother, his brother was my teammate. His brother was my lieutenant. I see. And it's his twin brother. Gotcha. I see. And then did you, you, you,

met him. Yeah, I went, I got to go sit down with him and his family, his wife, and, yeah, and it was awesome. Like, and it was, it's his twin, so like, you walk in. Did he look like him? Oh, exactly. I mean, sounded like him. He's, his, his, it was, it was so awesome, though, you know, because, because, man, like, his brother was a good guy. And, um, you know, I, I don't, you know, I, it's, it's, it's terrible. It's horrible that they're gone. But I wouldn't be who I am. You know, they died so that we could be who we are.

You know what I mean? Yeah. The lessons of them and like how they lived and they're forever, I mean, they're forever heroes, you know? And it's just, it's important. You know what I mean? It's important. And to learn from it and to go out and,

become be better no matter what bad situation to leave out better than it was there right like right i have this level of accountability that that if i waste a day i waste their sacrifice does that help address you know there's a term survivor's guilt i wonder if that helps address that you know by by seeing and also was thinking about as you were saying that you know they talk about people who die serving our country is the ultimate sacrifice. So yes,

the sacrifice was for our country, but also I wonder if the sacrifice could be for like you. Like you, you couldn't help others unless you went through that pain and that loss.

And now you're in position to maybe help others. It's so big. Mm-hmm. It's, yeah, it's, it's like I think about it all the time of when I'm pushing that extra, you know,

if I'm in, I mean, the things like you just said here, you know, you've watched my stuff. It's made you think about things. I would have never been able to give that to you or anybody else without what happened to them. Right. And so like it's this complicated, not feeling good thing. But, but man, like, there's no telling. You know, I would give anything if my name would inspire.

Like if I could change the world as much as those guys change the world. You know what I mean? Right. Like their impact is astronomical, right? As long as you go use that hard time. I would never be able to do what I do today as far as a firefighter, as far as being empathetic, as far as being empathetic towards mental health, right? Like I would have never understood without the suffering that I went through what it's like to suffer.

And then how to get better from it. you know, I tell people all the time, you know, I'm not saying all, but I'm saying majority of PTSD, depression, anxiety, like it's, it's, it's, it's injuries, not terminal illnesses. Hmm. And we can, you can get better from it. You know what I mean? Like injury, like the PTSD is an injury?

Yeah, I mean, look, everybody, everybody after the age of 21 has some type of PTSD probably. You know what I mean? Like, there's, there's life. It's, yeah, it's PTSD. PTSD is L-I-F-E. Mm-hmm. You know? Yeah.

And it's like that the reality is, PTSD is usually the worst day of somebody's life, right? Mm-hmm. Have you ever had a worst day of your life? I have, yeah. You know what I mean? Like, and who's to say, well,

why is my, the worst day of my life more significant than the worst day of your life? Right. I understand. It doesn't matter. Mm-hmm. You know what matters? To that person.

It was the worst, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. To you, like, to that, you know, it's the worst day of their life. Who cares what it is or if you think it's significant or not? How about just give them a little bit of hope that they can get through it and it's going to be better, you know? Yeah, that was probably a powerful experience last night.

I mean, yeah, I can't imagine. But I'm glad that that opportunity came up after so long. So long. Like I've never been to Eugene. None of it. And man, like I'm telling you, right after we book. this podcast. He reached out and I called him and he's like, yeah, I live, I live in Oregon. I'm like, well, I'm actually going to be there. And I went by, sat down with his family. He's got three

beautiful kids. He's got a beautiful wife. And just a good guy. You know, and it's just, it's kind of crazy the way the world works, you know, and I used to, I used to be down about it all the time. You know, like I was down about it and, you know, I finally thought about and I looked at it and I was just, how would these guys, like if, if you or me died today, would we want anybody going through life being sad so to the point to where they didn't go out and live their lives? No. Absolutely not. Yeah. But you would actually want them to be the exact opposite. And so, you know, when you start getting your emotions out of it, you know,

you know and you start stops being about you and you start looking at what if you truly want to live for them then you better go get to living you know yeah yeah no that's i mean i can't imagine what you've been through i can't but what you're saying makes perfect sense and i have so much respect for it um hmm uh you also said another thing like what do you say you attract shit is that what you said? Yeah, man. I'm like a dark cloud, man. You know? No, because we were talking about you also were in another situation there in Texas where you saved somebody that was in a submerged vehicle, right? Yeah, we were on this, so I'm a firefighter out in Texas. I was full time for a couple years and during the COVID years. And I wanted to join, you know, I, I don't know, like I moved to this

new area during COVID and I started doing this volunteering. I was like, I want to volunteer. You know, I want to see what it's like and started doing that. And then I just, like, I fell in love with that. I found it in love with the ability to, to help people. You know, like, I mean, are you always, I mean, you're not always out there saving lives, right? Right. But I mean, when people dial 911, like, majority of them, they, they don't have anybody else to call. And so it's kind of a good feeling to be that person that people, people can call for help, right? And so I found it very rewarding, very fulfilling.

So I went and got my EMT, went and got my fire certs, and became a commissioned firefighter in Texas. And so then I got on with the department and started working more. And so now, so I have this, I'm at this volunteer station, and we get a call February 22nd of 22. And three of us were at the station, we get this call that says that there's a vehicle stuck on the side of the road or stuck on the side of this pond. And, you know, look, I mean, you can only take what the call, like what the call notes are only so far.

They're hardly ever accurate, right? And so. It's shorthand. Yeah. And then you've got this emotional person who, you know, you just never know where it's coming from. So, you know, we put on all of our bunker gear and, you know, I'm in the back of the engine. We're on our way there.

We pull up around where this pond is. And I just see this woman standing on the side of the bank of this pond. And I don't see any truck. So I was like, well, they probably got out. So I got out of the back of the truck and I told the two guys in the front, I said, hey, just going, you know, cut these locks. There was a gate. So they could get the engine out in the field in case we needed it, right?

Yeah. So I jumped this fence. And I'm in full bunker gear. Well, it's full bunker gear, like the heavy fire retardant stuff. Yeah, the heavy fire retardant stuff. You know, because usually we, I mean, first off, I had it on because I was cold. But second off, you know, usually like for a vehicle stuff, you know, you have that on so it protects you. There's a fire.

Or if like when you're cutting stuff, like you don't get cut on glass and all that, right? Yeah, gotcha. And so I jumped this fence and I start, you know, kind of jogging down there to her. and I hear her say my son, well, I don't see any male standing there. And she screams again, my son, my son. And so at this point, I'm running, I start running pretty fast. I get down there and she's like, my son,

and she's pointing out in the center of this pond. And I said, where's your son? And she said, he's in that truck. And so I look down and there is a, it just looks like a little white square. You know, the truck is so deep. How far down was it, do you think? 80 to 10 feet probably.

Okay. And it's a four-door Z-71. And the pond is, I mean, it's a pond. Yeah. It's nasty. Right. And so I said, your son's in there right now, and she said, yes. And so I call over the radio that we have one in traps submerged in the pond, one firefighter.

going in and I stripped down to my bunker to my pants to my station pants and my t-shirt. I mean, we don't have any swim stuff on that engine. So jumped in the water and swam out there. And I remember like the cold plunge, you know what I mean? I start swimming out there. And I remember like trying to get to the truck and I got close to it. And you know, and you're trying, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, up, your heart rate is sky high. And so I got out to where the truck was and I was going to dive down to it.

And I just remember being so nervous that, I mean, what if, what if he's hanging out, right? And he grabs me and holds me down there. Right. Like, it was really, you know, and so I swam down and I, I guess the truck had been left in drive. So the doors are locked and the windows were up. And so I think as I come back up, I can't get any of the windows open. them were open. And so I come back up and I, my window punch was in my bunker gear that's on the side of the pond. And so I'm like, man, what am I going to do? And then two other guys jumped in. This cop throws, she comes over and she's so awesome. She throws her baton out there. How we caught it. Yeah, really. I was wondering that. Yeah, I mean, how we caught it. I mean, just, we caught it. And then we kept going to

down and then my buddy Eric, he went down and he beat this window out. And I mean, I mean, first off, it's hard enough to beat a window out. Yeah. Try to do it underwater. I bet. So he beat this window out. And so then I went down and swam inside the truck. And I reached in the seats and I didn't feel anybody. And I'm like, where she, surely she's not lying to me. Yeah. And as I was coming back out of the truck, I felt up above me, he, he was floating against the top of the ceiling. And so I grabbed him by a shirt collar, fell out his head, and I grabbed him by a shirt collar, pulled him out, and man, got him out, and soon, we swam him to the shore. We gave him, we did CPR on him, and he, we had a pulse. And, I mean, the medics that we had that showed up, the whole team, like,

We had a really badass team out there and landed a helicopter, got him on the helicopter, he had a pulse. He was breathing on his own. And he walked out of the hospital four weeks later with no, no, nothing substantial, no long-term injuries. Wow. And you got, so you got the Texas medal. So we end up receiving the Medal of Valor for that day, yeah.

So that's, so anything that's bad, is happening you're around. Man, it seems like that. You know what I mean? It seems like a shit magnet, right? God. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, it's also like, you might say it that way. I say it as like, hey, when something needs to get done. Yeah. Who better to do it than you, I guess. Yeah. You know, I believe, I believe that if you have the ability to help people, you must. Because not everybody does. Right.

And so I just think that like, I mean, I think it's, it's everybody's own personal, personal decision. And, you know, it comes with risk, you know, like, I mean, I had people after that day, like, tell me how dumb I was for jumping in that water, you know. Like, well, you could have died, you know, you could have had, there could have been two people dead. Like, all this, this thought process behind it. And I'm going to use something from David Goggins. Yeah, you're right. If that's the way you think, we're not the same. Right.

Because let me say this. When I left my home that day, people think I'm a decent person. My kids, my kids knew that I loved them. And if I had died down there trying to give this guy another chance at dying a different way, that's fine with me. Because I was going to die in the things in my life. life were pretty good. People knew that I loved them.

The people that I care about knew how I felt about them. The, you know, I, I, I, I, I, I, I would have been just fine with giving my life in order to give somebody else a chance to die on different terms. You know, when I, when I hear you say that, I think of, it's on your shirt right now, own the dash. I mean, your whole, I don't, I mean, your whole approach to life. seems like, you know, the own the dash is like you're in control of from when you're born to when you die. And it's your actions that's owning the dash. And another thing that I, that struck me is

you remember these dates, which also to me ties back. Like you, I think you mentioned the date when you signed up for them for the Marines or left for the Marines and then you mentioned this date of you know, saving this guy out of the truck. Yeah. Is that, is that just how you think? You know, I think like every memory we have is memories that changed our lives. We changed it. Like we, we as a person changed. You know what I mean? Like when you think of...

This event had had an impact on you. Significant impact. One way or another. Yeah. Like, like think about, you know, you think about through your days of the dates that you remember, you know, it's because it had the most impact on you and it, and it forged something in you that probably changed you a little bit the way you think or the way you felt or you learned something, right?

So I think like these dates that you remember, they kind of were like milestones that were either test to where you grew a little bit or you lost a lot. And you know what I mean? Like they're just these moments that throughout your life, they changed you. I think that's what memories are. You know, memories play an effect on to who you are. and so, you know, I think, yeah, I think that that's what that is. And, you know, I get so much, I'm so fortunate, man, like, I get so much from so many other

people around me. I've been so fortunate to, you know, September 8, 2009, man, I got to, and one day, I got to watch the very best of human beings. I got to watch the very worst of what humans are capable of. I got to save people, I got to kill people. I felt sad. I felt every emotion that day. I lost everything that I cared about that day.

I also gained a ton from it. I got all that in one day. Most people go their whole life. I was also tested. Would I be who I say I would be? I got to prove that. and I got to see also the most, the most, you know, impactful thing that happened to me that day was I got to see what I'm capable of. And now that I know that, I know that no matter what the world throws at me, I'm going to figure it out, right?

And so I was fortunate to have that moment that day because most people, go their whole life wondering. Right. And I don't have to. Yeah. And I don't say that in a way of, of like, I, every time the occasion arises, I still have to re-up. Like you don't, there's never going to be. I can't rest on the, I don't want to say laurels. You can't. Because it's like minimizing what you went through. But you can't, you can't, this day define me forever. Yeah. Is what you're saying. That can't happen. So I don't wear my metal. So I don't wear it.

I don't go to any metal alarm conventions. I don't do anything with it because that's just one day. All that is is proof that I know what right looks like. And now I have a responsibility to replicate that every opportunity that I have to replicate that. The standards are higher for me. Right. I have to get it right because guess what I know what right looks like. I've done it.

Like, and so for me, it's just a, it's like, well, I was good one day, but I've got to replicate that every single day with everything that I do. Mm-hmm. You know, like, that's all that is. Did I, you know, talking about that day is, did I remember something like, did you get in trouble or something that you couldn't, like you had to stay back? Yeah. So isn't that crazy how.

tell me about why that happened, but would it have been a different scenario if you wouldn't have gotten in trouble? I mean, what happened with that? Yeah, so I had brought up a couple issues that I had with the mission. Concerns or what? Yeah, concerns of like the planning of it and this and that. And so basically the solution for them instead of to fix these things was to leave me at the trucks and they replaced me with the gunnery sarned Johnson and how far back were you or away i mean i don't need like a thread on reddit of them eating me apart but like um no i'm not i don't want that

no no no listen i'm just i love saying it kind of like you know you know how they are right yeah oh like it's it's like if i ask you how far you shot that deer oh right right like oh no it turned into Yeah, but I was probably a mile, mile, mile and a half maybe outside this valley. And so could you observe what was going on from where you were or just on the radio? I could hear it. Okay. You could hear it. And you could see like some of the explosions and stuff.

But like you couldn't really see the people, you know. And I didn't really know what we were getting into until we turned into that valley. And there were just like, there were bodies. everywhere. I mean, it was, I mean, they were just everywhere, you know, and you talk about the most helpless feeling. I just, I remember just watching people die and there's just nothing, like, there's nothing you could do to save them. And it was, especially when you want to, you want to be what somebody needs you to be when they need you to be it. And it's just like, there was nothing you could do to stop this suffering and this thing at that time.

And, I mean, it was, it was, I was scared to death. I mean, I was scared to death. I was scared for the people that I cared about. I was scared for myself. I mean, I never thought that I would ever make it home. You know what I mean? There were, there were guys getting hit left and right. And, you know, there's nothing you do about it.

You know, you just, the best thing you could do for all of them is just tried to get rid of the problem that was hurting more people. And it was so overwhelming. And, you know, it was, it was so scary. Yeah, because I remember that where you guys were calling for air support. And they were doing something else. So I wonder how I was thinking to myself, how often does that happen? And maybe just because it was so highlighted, maybe that gets a lot of attention,

were they doing something just as important that they couldn't, pull off of. Yeah, so, so, you know, but it still comes into the planning, right? Like, we should have never walked in this valley without air. I mean, on direct. Right. It just was stupid. Right. It was unnecessary, right? It's just a classic sign of complacency and incompetent leadership. But, yeah, the air was, so there's priorities of, for the air. where they go to, you know, because I mean, if you, you know, they can't go to everybody. Right. You know what I mean?

And so they were stuck on this other, this other mission. These, I think it was some seals or something. They were trying to get this high value target and I think they were in a tick. And so, yeah, I mean, they were just stuck over there and it just, I mean, it happens. Yeah. You know, but just, it just, yeah, it just was a wrong time on this one. Yeah. And I will say this, like, they, I don't know that the picture of how severe the situation was painted.

It was a little bit longer than it should have been probably, you know, the severity. Just like, you know, we had, we had, you know, four U.S. missing. And so when you say, I don't care where you're at, when you say you've got four U.S. missing, I mean, you're going to have assets for days. Yeah. Like, let me say this. They're going to support you. If you say you got four U.S. missing, they are going to send you everything. Everything they got.

Yeah. And, but again, like, there was too much, well, maybe we'll find them or they'll show up. You know what I mean? Like, it's like, if you don't know where they're at, like, you need to go ahead and get shit moving this way. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah. But again, it's leadership who's worried about.

they don't want to look bad. They don't want to have to answer the questions later on. Right. You know, and they, you know, they'd made it work before that. Right.

Yeah. Yeah. Every time I, you know, hear you talk about it or watch about it, it's like, man, I can't imagine what that was like or what that felt like.

Yeah. I mean, it was, you know, it took me a long time to, to get, to get better for it, right?

Like, I mean, I suffered, I mean, I just, I didn't deal with. I didn't face it for a long time. And, you know, having my daughter, Sailor, that really helped me a lot. But yeah, man, it took me a long time to come to grips with it, right? And time does heal.

Yeah. Time is a powerful thing. Yes, definitely. It's, you know, I understand what you're saying about how, you know, you don't go to the ceremonies or you don't wear your medal or whatever. And it's like, you know, I don't know how you feel about that, but it's, you know, you didn't lobby to get it. No. You know, you were given and then that created all this other.

And you didn't ask for it. No. Like I was doing, as you said, you're doing your job, what you're supposed to do. And now they, it's, it's supposed to be a big honor and it should be a big honor. Yeah. But it's not, it's not something you asked for. No. And then all of a sudden you're held to this.

standard now. Yeah, like this unrealistic standard, you know, and yeah, but you know what, like, it's fine. It's fine. Because you know what? The higher the standards you hold me to, man. You're going to rise up. Yeah, you know what? That's fine. If that's what, if this, if you need me to be close to perfect, I'm going to damn sure strive to be it. I represent whether I like it or not, you know, when I mess up, I make Marines look bad. When I say something stupid, I make Marines look bad.

I care about Marines. I love Marines. I love anybody that serves. I believe in good. I believe in people. And anytime that I say something stupid or anytime I mess up or I make a mistake, I represent more than just myself. And it took me a long time to embrace that.

To be okay with that. to be okay with that because like for a long time I just I was like ah you know that shit doesn't matter I don't care I didn't ask for it so you know fuck them fuck them exactly yeah and and then you know you cross this road of well do you want to be right or do you want to be impactful mm-hmm and most people want to be right and they're not thinking about that they don't co-exist they don't coexist. Right. You know what I mean? Like, man, like, I might have my opinion on some of these things, but if my opinion isn't moving, if like, how many times do we have conversations or do we say things with no intention of gaining anything or with any thought of what we're trying to

achieve by saying this? It's, it's, it's, it's, unproductive conversations and words. It's just conflict-driven. Right. And it's so stupid, right? And I, I, listen, I'm very opinionated. I'm very, like, I'm very, you know, I'm very set in my beliefs and all these things. But at the end of the day, like, I don't care if people believe the way I do. I want to help people.

I want people to believe in themselves again. I want to provide hope. And the only way you do that is by saying things that provide. hope, you know, and- Not tearing things down. Not tearing things down. That's what we're messing up right now. We're messing up because we're, we're just telling people what we're against.

Right. But we don't even know what the hell we're for. That's pretty profound. That's true. Right. Like, I hear people all the time. Like, I've got this book coming out in this fall, and it's called Why to what. And the whole concept and premise around this book is, is changing your, your,

you're questioning, your mindset, your vocabulary, taking why out of it and replacing why was what. So for so long, I couldn't, I couldn't get past what had happened. Why did this happen? Why did this happen? Why was I in that situation? You're never going to know. Like, honestly, it's irrelevant. it. Yeah. What situation was I in? What about it bothers me?

And what can I do with it now? Like all those are objective instead of subjective, right? And just the faster I can get past like, you know, like this person said this to me. Okay. We can sit here and try to articulate why. It doesn't matter why. What did they say and what can I do to help? make that situation better.

It's a real simple way, you know? Yeah. No, it makes sense. Did somebody help you, like, with your mindset or with, or with, I don't know, coming to grips with everything you've been through? Did you have a mentor at all? Man, I got a lot of good people around me. I would say, man, I'd say the guy that changed my life the most.

was, um, was jocco willing. Hmm. You know, I, I flew into do his podcast one day. And it was probably the first time I ran into somebody that I looked at and said,

that's a guy I want to be like. You know, like this is a guy that he's humble, kind, strong. He's, man, he is. he is he's a good guy he's a real deal honest honest you know truthful and and and and he he man just selfless

you know what I mean like just you look at all these things like when you talk about you talk about a good person good and strong it's hard to find that yeah am I am I like you know a good person that's selfless strong mean, and you're like, it's rare. It's rare. And, um, man, I think it was the first person that I had met that I felt like believed in Dakota Meyer that seen the potential. And man, he didn't say that. He didn't say he believed in you, but you're just saying his actions. Yeah. Made you feel that way. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, you know, Jaco Willink. picks me up from the airport. I mean, you're like, man, you know, and just how he carries himself.

And, and, you know, there's so many things about him. Like, he's an example of what we should strive to be. And, yeah, man. And then, like, I think, like, when I heard him tell somebody that I was his friend, that was the moment that my life changed. Like, the fact that I got to be Jocko Will. Lillings friend. And I'm not saying this by any means of like, you know, like I'm,

Jocko changed my life. And, and man, his, his, straight to the point, you call him for a question. Yeah. You're going to get the answer in about as few words as you need to and it's going to be about as clear as it needs to be. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah.

Yeah. There's, he just has this way to articulate what he means. He's concise. Yeah. Very concise. No nonsense. No fluff. Nope.

Yeah. And. And you believe it. Whatever he's saying, you believe it. Yeah. Yeah. Because you trust him that much. Mm-hmm.

And, man, I just never wanted to let that guy down. Mm-hmm. You know what I mean? Like, I just never want to, like, and, you know, he, man, he just, he did that for me. He changed my life the day that I met him to do the podcast. and I'd never had anybody have that level of impact on me, not one single person. And, man, it was just, it was an honor to be his friend.

And I never wanted to let him down. And, you know, he, he just, man, he changed, he, he, he, he changed my life. Did, uh, did that podcast your discussion with him? Did it have an impact also? It did. It did. And like, you know, you know, I mean, you know, like you know when you go interview with people who are just doing it. I think that's what's unique about like your platform as well is you're not just like you're doing this.

You can genuinely tell how authentic you are. I mean, we spend the whole day together. We didn't just show up at this podcast. Dude, we went and suffered together. Right. We sweat together. I mean, we had conversations going up to dismount. I mean, like, we talked everything from religion to everything.

You know what I mean? And like, you genuinely care. You genuinely want to be around people and learn. And to share these moments. And Jocko is, you know, we were on that podcast and it was the first time that I had ever laid the story out that way. He helped me get through it. he I don't know if you remember in that podcast like there was some like um pauses and it was because both of us were trying not to have tears come out I mean it was a long

podcast yeah it's like three hours or something wasn't it yeah and it it just man he cared yeah like this guy like and why why why you know because he's that good of a guy and he's he's he's He's been through it, too. I mean, not exactly your situation, but, you know, I mean, he's served our country for a long time. He's lost men, too. Yeah, and he's been in a lot of fights. And he's, you know, and I respect him so much because he just, he, he, he's not done either. You know, I, I, he's impacting.

You know what I care about people? I don't care how you do it. I don't care. I don't care how you believe. Are you making the world a better place? Are you having an impact on people? Are you helping people look in the mirror and believe in themselves again? I mean, that's all I care about.

You know, whether you're doing it, Jocco's way, David Goggins way, Tony Robbins way, whoever, right? The Cam Haynes way, right? Whatever it is, like, are you having a, impact on good and people and that's what matters and man jaco like he just we had lunch at day and he just he was he was probably the first person to believe in dakota mire again yeah that's powerful yeah he was such a he's he is i mean he's such a good guy did uh i can't remember so this this iron sharp sharp sharpens iron to me it's it's almost that it's like so the

type of person you want to be is the type of person jaco is the type of person who he's he's having an impact he's or spending time you know we talked about this on the run today too is like you're not trying to spend time with people who don't push you and make you better yeah we're trying to we're trying to get better right yeah man like i mean that's what that's what it's about you know i i mean the sheer fact that i mean i don't know how many times today that i just thought about man I'm running with Cameron Haynes. And I know that sounds, for you it sounds crazy. But for me, man, like, I'm getting to spend time shooting bows and running with Cameron Haynes.

It's crazy, right? I get to do this. And so, you know, these are the best in the world. I mean, when you talk about, you know, whether it's Jocko, whether it's in leadership, you know, whether it's it's tim Kennedy you know m-ma fighter you know whether it's whoever it is you know Lance Armstrong I mean

you surround yourself by people you want to be like right you know let me tell you what cam Haynes ain't doing cam Haynes ain't wasting his damn time on a bunch of dumb stuff because he's out there getting after he's busy he's got goals you know the jocco ain't wasting his time like you know and the more you get around people that

that have stuff they want to achieve you know I can't I'm just the epitome, or I am the, I'm the results of the people I'm surrounded by. Product. I'm just a product of it. Yeah. I'm so, man. I think everybody is though.

Well, right? 100%. You know, when I start getting off the path and I start looking in the mirror and I start, or I catch myself talking more negative, or I catch myself in the mirror, you know, I don't like who I see. Or I just start, you know, just having bad. When I start having bad days, the first thing I do is I look who I'm surrounded by. And I'll write it down. I'll write it down.

You know, what is the most valuable thing we all have in life? Time. Time. So think about this. Let's talk money, because people look at money as valuable. If you gave me $5 every day, expecting that I was going to return that to you. and every time you came to me when you needed money I'm like man it's all gone

tapped out would you keep giving me money probably not so isn't the same thing with time if you keep going to people that make you you know give you anxiety or that you're always having to worry about their bullshit or that they don't make you better or if you're not ending up and looking in the mirror who you want to be like and you don't like who you are

well look at the people around you and see if you like who they are. If you can't look at the people you spend majority of your time with and say, I want to be like them. Yeah, you're wasting your time. It's exactly. Yeah, that's a good analogy. Exactly. It's like you're wasting your time. It's the same thing with, I mean, listen, you know very well nutrition. Nutrition is more than just what you eat. It's what you consume. It's the people that you're around. It's all these things. They all have astronomical effects. on people, on you and your body. And so, man, like, you know what I do is, like, if I'm looking,

I do it probably once a week. If I'm scrolling through Instagram and I see something that makes me feel a way that I didn't want to feel, and I'm not saying like avoiding, but like if it fires me up over something that truly I don't give a shit about, gone. Yeah. Gone. That's a good approach.

Right? Yeah. A lot of people, you know, and you can talk about feeding into the algorithm. So they'll watch things that upset them, and then they see more things that upset them, and then pretty much everything is upsetting them because they didn't eliminate it. Exactly. Yeah. You know, and it's like, man, I just look around and I'm like, look, people, it's not, you don't just end up successful.

You don't just end up with a good life. You don't just end up having good days. you don't just end up loving life. They're all choices. You got to cultivate that shit. Yeah, man, I think we all wake up every day depressed. And our decisions that we make decide if we stay depressed or if we end up happy. Why do you think we would wake up depressed?

I mean, who wants to get out of bed in the mornings? I mean, I mean, really. Well, who wants to? You know, you know when I want to? Yeah. It's days like today. I could not sleep. And I woke up 100 times.

I'm like, okay, I got to get, I mean, what are we going to run? What are we going to do? I'm pumped to hang out with Dakota. So it's like, today I didn't wake up depressed. I wake up fired up. But I get what you're saying normally, unless you set, set yourself up for what do I have to look forward to? Yeah. Yeah, but either way, like, yeah, we look forward to it.

Mm-hmm. But you know as well as I do. You know, yeah, I mean, listen, I was standing outside the hotel ready to go, man, because I was like so excited. But, but man, like, it's still, majority of the time, you're not, I mean, look, when you go to Disneyland, like, you know, people are ready to go, right? Yeah, you can't go to Disneyland every day. No, it's not reality, right? And so the majority of the days, you're going to wake up and you're going to want to hit that snooze button. You're going to want to find a reason not to go get that run in, that lift in, that.

that you know you're going to find like you're going to have all these things that are going to challenge that you don't have time or whatever it is yeah yeah and man it's like have you ever stayed home not felt good and just sat on the couch all day and felt better when you went to bed no never never but have you ever gone into a workout that you didn't want to do and then regret it after you did it no that's excellent point yeah that's excellent Excellent point. So what do you say to people who, you know, we're lucky. I mean, I've built this excuse for hanging out with badasses. So it's like not everybody can hang out with a Jocko or a Dakota Meyer or a Goggins. So what do you say to the people who are just in their normal

life in Kentucky? How do you, you know, how does iron sharpen iron in that situation? Man, the reality is, is we're all just people just like everybody else. You know, there's thousands of us everywhere. Yeah. You know. Thousands better than James over there. I know that. Yeah.

Man, find people who are getting after it. You know, go find people who are in the gym. Like, there's great people everywhere. I mean, dude, I don't get to hang out with. like look I mean if it was up to me I mean I'd hang out with these people every day I mean I'd move out here to me and my kids would be you know living out here and Eugene and we'd be being you'd be beating at the trail every day let's do it um but it's just not reality and you don't get to do that either no and most my training is by myself 95% of the time yeah yeah but but man

like we we I have like you know I got I mean I've got law Lauren who, you know, my fiance, who is, you know, so supportive, you know, I've got Andrea, who is, you know, worked for me. She's also my coach, you know, on the Iron Man stuff. You know, I've got, I've got, I've got, um, Keegan. I mean, I've got, I've got all these people who hold me accountable. It's not just a feel good session. It's an accountability session, but the session. But the reality is, man, I come out here and run with you. And it's like, I'm going to come back out here. So guess what? The next time that I come out here, like, I know where I need to be at. So guess what I'm going to be doing when I go home? Right. I'm getting ready because guess what?

I'm going to get another opportunity to spend time with you. And listen, I'm going to, I'm going to go back and I'm going to dial my bow in. Like, I'm going to go and I'm going to do these things so that when I do get that opportunity, we can enjoy it the most. But like, you know, it's not all fun and games. So what I tell these people is, man, first off, what you can control the most is where you spend your time. Right? So there's people, there's places, and there's things. What you can control, the majority is, is where you spend your time.

if you hate your job, if you hate your job, find another one, right? I understand it's not that simple. Right. But start moving towards finding another one. You know, most people hate their job, but they can't identify what would make, what job they would want. You know, so first off, start putting some thought into that. Start spending time more places that do make you better.

Not that, like, are fun, but places. that make you better, right? A bar is probably more fun than a gym. Right. But what results are you trying to get? It challenges you, yeah, to grow. To grow. We're trying to grow, get better.

Yeah. Like, you're not going to get the same results from spending majority of time in a bar as you are spending half that time in a gym. Right. So start there, where you spend your time. The next thing is, is who you spend. your time with. If you're spending time with people who are always negative, man, I got to tell you,

go ahead and cut them out. Go ahead and cut them out. Like, you know what misery loves? Company. Company. And it's contagious. It's contagious. Yeah. Cut it out. You know, either start trying to change the conversation, but if you can't change a conversation, like if somebody is just negative all the time, cut them out. Cut them out. Watch how much better your life gets when you don't have somebody else telling you what you should be miserable about. Yeah, it's true. And then things, you know, like, whether it's Instagram, it's, look, turn the news off and watch and see what problems you really have. You know what I mean? Like, like, like, avoid these things. Now, it's not about avoiding it, and it's not about saying, well, I just don't do things I don't like. No, it's about doing things

that, that don't, that aren't helping you be a better person so that you can be where you want to be in life. Right. Not constructive. It's not constructive. Yeah. It, because that's one thing with social media and the news is like you're subjected to, you know, as we know, negativity cells. Yeah. So we're subjected to all this negative energy or stories or whatever you want from all over the world. It could just be solid negative. How are you supposed to be a positive person if that's what you're exposed to every day? Well, think about this, right? Like, you see all these veterans that come home and people talk about like the adrenaline rush they're always chasing. right so whether it's conflict you know you because you get you know look whether whether you're in combat

or you're watching something that that fires you up on tv like it's the same release of emotions it's this i mean it's a dopamine rush right right and and so so many people this negativity they feed off of it it's become this dopamine rush for them they get addicted to it that's why they got to watch reality tv and they watch all this dumb stuff and then they they you know then they just complain with their friends and all this stuff, right? It becomes their fix of it's addicting. Right. You know what I mean?

And so, man, like, I used to be that way. I mean, I listened to some of my podcasts from back in the day. And I was just so miserable. I was such a miserable human being. And, you know, I finally just had to look in the mirror and say, life's not miserable. you're just miserable. Your attitude. Your attitude is miserable. Did you realize that yourself?

Or did somebody point it out? Or how that happened? Because I think a lot of people fall into that category. Yeah. And they don't really know why. They don't really know how to get out of it. But you just summed it up and said, I'm just going to not subject myself to this thinking anymore.

Yeah, you know, I did. I remember where it clicked for me. I went on this call and I had, it was a cardiac arrest call. And it wasn't like one of the bad calls like that you would think would bother you. But I went on this call and I was the first one on scene. I brought this guy out. He was in a shower. I've never forget, him and his wife were going to go.

His wife had told us that he was taking a shower so that they could go on a date. He lived in this nice house. And he was in cardiac arrest, pulled him out of the shower, pulled him into the bedroom, and we started a CPR on him. And, man, the wife, I'll never forget, she crawled up on the bed.

dead that was right by us. And she just laid there watching just, I've never seen somebody want this person back so bad. And we did all of our CPR, we did everything. You know, we got, we have badass medics, man. Like these paramedics that are in, in the field, man, you talk about incredible human beings.

Next level. And did everything we could. And, you know, we pronounced them. and, you know, this woman, like, crawled up on his body, like, crawled up on him and laid there with him until, uh, woman we all left. And, um, man, I went home that day and I walked in my house and, you know, my, my girls, it was, it was in the summer. And so they were, like, they were at home and, and they're, you know, they always want to know what the call was, right? They hear it goes off. And I, I just, I couldn't talk to them. And I just said, I'll, I'll just, I'll just, I'll just, I'll just, I'll just,

I need a minute. So I went in my room and I just got in the shower man. I just, like, cried. Like, I just, I cried and cried and cried. And I was like, you know, my brain, like that mental piece started hitting me and was like, why are you doing this? Like, why are you subjecting yourself to this again? Right?

Like, why are you doing this? And I know I want to serve people. I love people. And, you know, like I just, it was this all about me. why, why, why? And it was like, man, how awesome is it that that guy had somebody that cared about him that much? How nobody, everybody wants to be there when you're born.

Nobody wants to be there with you when you die. And it's like, man, like if I can go and I can let people be there for people when they're in their worst moments and provide them hope that not only like that we can help them sometimes we can't but we're there to help them and that people care about them like how and even the families the families

it does something for them when they know that everything was done to help right there's like this closure that everything was done to do everything that we could do and to be able to be that for somebody man And like, it's a cool thing to do. But, you know, it was in that moment that I knew that no matter what, I had to find the good, even in the bad. Because if you can't, life's going to suck.

Yeah. Life is going to suck, man. You know, like, how often does anything go as planned for you? Not that often. Right. And so if you only are going to be happy when happiness is handed to you, dude, you're going to be miserable. Right.

If you're only going to be, if you're only going to be happy when everything's perfect. When everything's perfect. Yeah. Dude, you got a long life. Yeah. I think it's, I think it's your attitude is pretty remarkable because you've subjected subjected yourself to a lot of death, you know? From service to what you're doing now and what you've done.

And most people, that wouldn't be their choice. But as you've said, and I don't want to put, you didn't say this exactly, but built different, but you're prepared. And if you're prepared for it and you can handle it, it's almost your obligation to do it. Because if not, then it's somebody else who maybe isn't as prepared. You know, the question for you is, and this is something that I think everybody has to answer. I don't know the answer to this.

I struggle with this all the time, but how long do you get to live off of what you've done? Not what you're doing. Right. It shouldn't be that long. You know what I mean? Yeah, you should continually be proving yourself in my eyes. You should. Yeah.

Right. Tim Kennedy says it best. You know, he talks about your sword. Mm-hmm. You know, don't put your sword down. you know don't put it down because as soon as you put it down the next generation's going to pick it up you know and don't put it down until until you're gone you know what that reminds me of is of course i mentioned gladiator earlier today too so i'll mention it again yeah but remember when the guy's sword was stuck in his scabbard because uh the frost or something like that he put

he had his sword put away and it ended up. He couldn't get it out. So don't put it away. Right. Keeping your hand. Yeah, that was an analogy I was thinking of there. But yeah, I mean, it's such an incredible mindset for you to have because I can't think of anybody.

I know there's been people who've been subjected to a lot of things, but like I don't know them. I know you. And that is, man, it's just powerful to hear how you approach that and how you think that. and how you think that, you know, you serve this world. Yeah, man. I mean, I just, again, like, I have, I just, I simplify life. And I want to be a good person.

I want to be the best that I can be. I want to, I want to help as many people as I can. And, I mean, I love people. Like, again, like, I love people. I don't, you know, I don't, I don't care what you believe. I don't care what God you pray to. I don't, these, these, these, these, These things are all things I don't, like I only care one, like you're either one or two.

There's only two types of people in this world to me. Good and evil. Yeah. But it's weird hearing you say this because you said before you used to like listen to your old podcast and that you just sounded miserable. Yeah. And now you're like saying how much you love people is. Yeah.

I mean, I think there was like, you know, what helped me clear, you know, majority of the time how we look at the world, there's. so many pieces that were auto programmed into us. Mm-hmm. You know, like... Like how? I mean, how... First off, like, how you were raised.

Mm-hmm. You know, like, were you raised, what you were exposed to. I mean, all these things make you, they formulate how you see people or your, you know, your experiences with people and all these, you know, there's all these factors to it, right? And so, you know, I, man, I, I, I, I love life and life is hard. It's good. And, you know, I just, I don't know, man. Like when I see struggle, I see opportunity.

When I see conflict, I see opportunity. When I see, you know, when I see failure, I see opportunity. And not opportunity to take advantage of somebody, but opportunity to help somebody. but opportunity to help somebody. And if helping somebody is what you love doing, I mean, we all want to be needed. Yeah. We all want to matter.

You know what I mean? We all want to matter. Yeah. Anybody who says that they're lying if they say anything different. A hundred percent. Yeah. A hundred percent. Like they're just, they're, they're, and if they believe that,

they're only lying to themselves. Mm-hmm. And, like, we all want to be that. You know what I mean? Like, and so, man, like, I believe that the world's great. I mean, I'm not, dude, I don't cover it up with roses like, oh, it's, you know, everything's perfect. No, but I mean, the problems that we have today, our grandparents were praying that they had.

Yeah, we have it pretty good these days. You know what I mean? If you want to be miserable, usually you got to kind of try. You have to try. Yeah. And so, you know, man, I've got to do a lot of things in life, you know. I've got to meet a lot of incredible people, you know. And so, man, I get to wake up every day.

I get to work hard. And, I mean, look, if you're looking for an easy life, you're going to have a miserable life. Yeah, I agree with that. You're going to be miserable. If you're looking for an easy life and you're only doing things so that life gets easier, dude, like at the point that you start choosing easy, you will become more miserable. Yeah.

That's a good point. You know, I was like, I was thinking as we were talking and, you know, the two dates, I was thinking about, God, do I remember any dates in my life? And what I remember is October 4th, 2015 when Roy died and July 5th, 2010 when my dad died. Yeah. And those days. What does that mean to you? I don't know.

I mean, I just, I don't know. It just, it feels like those dates, everything changed the different, for different reasons. Yeah. And, uh, I don't know. Those are the only two dates that come to mind. And it's like it was such a, because I was thinking about when you said that, that on that day, for you, everything changed.

Yeah. You know, and it's like, if it didn't change you, then the deaths would have been in vain, essentially. Such in vain. And so you have to be altered by that. Yeah, you know, the scariest thing for me, man, is to look back at decisions that I made in the past and to have not wish I could do them again

to handle them in a different way because it means you haven't grown. You know what I mean? I'm not saying that like in that time I made the best decision I could. Yeah. But man, if I knew what I knew now, I would do it different.

Right. And if you never look at a decision like that, You did, like it was a wasted. Yeah. A wasted moment in time. Yeah. I hear a lot of people say that they have no regrets. Yeah.

I can look back on my life and I'm like, well, I don't know about you, but I got a shitload of regrets. Yeah. That's part of growing, I think. It is. I just think that like they've tied such an emotional thing around regret. Mm-hmm. Like people tie regret around guilty. Mm-hmm.

Right. Like, oh, you know, I did something intentional to hurt somebody is what people tie regret around. Right. Right. I don't, like, I, majority of decisions I've made, like, if I knew then what I know now, I would have done shit totally different. Yeah. You know what I mean? I would have, if I knew then what I know now, I would have done my whole life different, right? I wouldn't have cared about the dumb shit that I cared about in high school, right? You know what I mean? I would have put more work and effort into being, you know what I mean? like all these things

I don't I don't know I don't regret because without those losses you can't grow I wouldn't have learned it right it's this complex ball it is of it turns

and man like I'm just so fortunate man like I wake up every single day now I'm not like let me let me take this off and clear this up I'm not saying I don't have bad moments I have bad moments I might have a bad morning

I may have a bad evening. I may have a bad night. But I don't have a bad day. Right. Because that's a conscious choice. Right. I don't have a bad day. My kids are healthy.

Mm-hmm. Like, I'm healthy. Everybody that care about's healthy. So the rest of it is what matters. What else matters? Is there anything that's going to happen to you? As long as your family's healthy, as long as you're healthy, that you can't figure out?

No. Oh, I'm good. I'm, yeah, I totally get what you're saying. So what's, I mean, what's your goals now? So I, obviously I'm running this Iron Man. Yeah. You know, when I got out of the Marine Corps, the whole, like, the whole backstory behind it really is,

is when I got out of the Marine Corps, you know, I mean, I always struggling, man. Like, I was drinking and probably a handle a crown a day. you know attempted suicide right and uh when when was that how long after it was in september of 2010 um right after i got out okay and you got home and then yeah i was just like i was driving down the road this one this night drunk i mean you know back in kentucky yeah back in kentucky and i remember coming home i had shot this pistol that that night I had this Glock 40.

I don't know, man. Like, I just, I seen the fear that I put in people. Like, people were scared of me. I just, man, I was an asshole. Like, the burden I was putting on everybody was just astronomical. And I was sleeping on my dad's couch. I mean, my dad wouldn't even, my dad would, in his own home, wouldn't even, he didn't even feel safe, like walking down the stairs.

to come and deliver because I was there. Because I mean, I was sleeping with a gun on my chest. And it was horrible. And for everybody around me, not, I mean, it is what it is for me, but like I was really just making everybody miserable. And so what I started doing is I had this buddy Toby and Schmitty from my hometown. And they ride bicycles. You know, they were riding bikes.

And I was like, man, I'm going to start riding with you guys. and like we just went riding and it was just like a therapy session you know what I mean like it's amazing how if you go out and you do hard shit yeah you feel better you feel better right and um so I started riding with them and then they started doing Iron Man and I was like I'm never doing that right just it was just so there was a point in time my life to where it was just so out of realm for me to think that I could ever do that because I was so out of shape and um So they wanted to go to Kona because they've been doing this legacy. Like there's this legacy program, right?

You do so many. And then, you know, you get to go to Kona. Qualified, yeah. So they've done like 10 or 12. Okay. Because they want to go to Kona, you know. Yeah. And so this is their year to go.

And I just thought, like, how cool would it be if, you know, they were the ones who really put into me, you know, back in my work. moments, how cool would it be if I could go to Kona with them? It's going to be their last Iron Man they run. If I could qualify for Kona to go and kind of this. This year, they're going to be there. So it's like, I don't have much time. And it's a long shot. I mean, it's a, it's, it's a long shot. But, but, you know, I'm putting in the work. I'm training, you know, I've got the best coaches coaching me. You can run. You ran great today. Yeah, well. I was not. I was I got to get a little faster. I called my coach already and told her.

She said, did she's like, did Cam drop you? I'm like, hell yeah, he dropped me. He gave in on me, you know, he let me get in the truck, you know. But, but yeah, man, I really want to, I'm going to try for Iron Man, Texas, you know, April 27th. And, you know, a goal is under 10 hours. A dream is around 930. and I'm going to do everything I can to get there. You know what I mean?

Because I want to go to Kona. Like I want to finish this up with them. Yeah. You know, because they, man, you know, they've done so much for me. And so to be able to like finish it with them. That would be like just a whole. It's just a, it's just crazy how far you can go in 10 years. Yeah.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. So that when you were laying on the couch with the gun on your. chest. Was that when you were 265 pounds? Yeah. Yeah. Have you not seen that picture? I don't think so. Yeah, it was trying. James. Yeah. Could you go get his bow for me? You got to see this picture. Yeah. Man, this picture is, uh, I didn't know it until somebody sent it to me the other day and it like really embarrassed me. Um, but man, like, it, it just, man, I was just in a terrible spot, you know? And, um,

yeah when I show you this you're going to die man you are going to you're going to fall over are you ready for this yeah I want to see it oh my god dude yeah that isn't going to look like you yeah it doesn't even look like you yeah yeah I understand you wouldn't feel great I mean that's that's I'm so glad you're at and what year was that man that was 20s 14. Okay. Man. It wasn't much off from that, you know, 2015, 2014, yeah.

What a difference. Yeah, could you bring here? Thank you. Yeah, so today, though, today you were not 245 pounds. Yeah. You were freaking crushing the mountain. And, you know, I do like that, you know, we saw those, you know, Ben and the other runners

up there on top of the mountain and it's like that, the iron shop, sharpens iron. That's one of the big benefits to living here, is because so many great runners. It's like, so I could never think I'm a good runner because there's Olympians running around here. But it's a, I just love this environment. And that's why I'm like, I wanted to share this with you.

As I said, I've looked up to you for a long time. I've, you know, been, you know, I would, I don't know, I don't know, I just have your, your story has had an impact on me. And so it meant, meant a lot to come and or have you come and share my lift run shoot day and then to meet Wayne and to shoot this boat so well. But, um, and then lift weights also. We can't forget our way lifting. That was awesome. We got, we got the pump on. Hopefully our picture like, we got to put that pump filter on there. Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, man, you're like, we're going to,

yeah, we're going to do a hundred. I'm like a hundred of what, like, all together of everything. You're like, no, no, no, that's just bench. And I'm like, what? Like, what is wrong with you? That's the only lift I do is bit, what is wrong with you? Curls. Yeah.

It's not normal. No, it was great, though. But so, yeah, my philosophy is if I can run that mountain, if I can shoot my bone, if I can lift weights every day. Yeah. That's going to get me in the right direction, right? So, and we also talk today about you haven't killed an elk.

I haven't. Are we going to make that happen? Man, I give, like, I would give anything. Yeah. So this September, we're going to go get a big elk. So here's what I, my goals for you are crush Iron Man, Texas. Yeah. Get to Kona and let's kill a bull with the bow. Man, if you would, if you would let me join you to go, go kill a bull, I'm 100% in. Dude, that would be, that would be my dream.

Man, that would be awesome. Yeah. So that's, I mean, that's the goal we're going to set out. But you know what we're going to do before that? We're going to eat elk chili. Oh, man. Elk meat chili. How about that? Man, that sounds good.

That sounds so good. I really, I want you to know, like, you know, this is awesome, man. Like, I came out here and this was, I knew it was going to be great, but, but man, just like what you've got out of here, the people, like being able to see, you know, going up on that hill and not only running with you, but then seeing, like, you know, his name was Ben, right? Ben Blankenship. Ben Blankenship, come up there and just, you know, just,

I mean, it's so, there's just levels, right? Like, you can always be better. Yeah, definitely. And, you know, it's like, man, that's what it's about. That's what keep hammering is about. It's what Own the Dash is about.

It's all the same. Yeah. It's all about getting better and about doing what you can. It's a mindset. It's a way of life. You know what I mean? Mm-hmm.

And so, man, I appreciate you having me out here. Wow. It's the biggest thing that I love in doing this with an outlier like Dakota Meyer is saying, here's your new Hoyt Bo. Thanks, man. And you shot it like a freaking, like the sniper you are today. So that's it.

Awesome. Thank you, Dakota. Let's go eat some elk chili. Let's do it, man. Thank you. All right. Keep hammering, guys.