Cleared Hot - Powered By BRCC - Full Auto Friday - Round 113

Episode Date: July 8, 2022

Rapid Fire Q and A to finish off the week: 1. How the hell do I get over my divorce 2. Can a "Never Quit" mindset be taken to far 3. Are former SEALs better suited to be politicians 4. Can I get over my skydiving anxiety and grow to love the sport Enjoy

Well, we're back again. It's Friday so you know it's going to be Q&A. Follow to Friday number 113, which is brought to you by Black Rifle Coffee. If you want coffee that doesn't suck, coffee that tastes good, copy that supports an amazing brand, founded by amazing people, then check out Black Rifle Coffee.com. And whatever you do, don't make it in a French press because that means that you're a terrible person and that you have. hate yourself. Yeah, that's what it means. It doesn't mean you're a terrible person. It means you hate yourself because you like, for whatever reason, getting cowboy coffee grits on your teeth, and I don't understand that. But you should buy it from black rival coffee.com. And on that note,

let's get into Fallout Friday, number 113. Okay, coffee, west of the smoke. I'm looking at danger close now. Here we go, question one, long time listener, and finally I have a question or two that I feel is worthwhile to take the time to type out and send in. So I am just about finished with the long and painful process of being hired by a sheriff's department as a patrol deputy. I did four years in the army and that process of joining was a pain in the ass with all the paperwork and background checks to ensure I'm not a typical Florida man psychopath, in parentheses, which is completely fair. I appreciate this. I assume when I post the vast majority of people riding motorcycles in flip flops with no

homelets and board shorts and no shirts that that's happening somewhere in Florida. 99% of the time I'm right. I digress. My question is, where do you think the misinformation about it's too easy for people to become a cop comes from? My process is not yet finished. And while I have been scheduled to meet with the sheriff for what I believe is the official offer of employment, it's been an extremely thorough process.

They asked for information such as my neighbor's physical address, emails, their phone numbers, my ex-wife's email, number, or current location, credit check and a list of every address I have lived since I was 15, currently 29. After all that, a detective proceeded to interview my neighbors and my ex-wife to see what they had to say about me, which is nerve-wracking since she generally was the bad guy in our relationship. I understand being thorough is important, but it does seem excessive compared to the military, in my opinion. So again, it is not exactly easy to become a cop.

So where do you think that the talking point of departments hiring just anybody comes from? I believe that that talking point comes from the exact same place that almost every talking point comes from when people are talking about things that they have no understanding of. And that is directly from up their ass. It's really easy to sit back and say, well, you know what? I saw something on the news where there was this dumbass cop and he did something stupid. And you know what? They'll just hire anybody. And I'm literally repeating things that I'm.

I have heard people say. I'm not saying everybody is like that, but those comments are not incredibly uncommon. It should be really difficult to become a police officer, right? We are empowering you as citizens. We are empowering you with arrest authorities and the ability to take life if necessary. I hope that they would have all of these things in place. You know, and let's talk about what it takes to actually join the military. Joining the military isn't that much, but You want to talk about getting a security clearance up in the TS, maybe the TS-S-S-CI levels, and everything that you described is completely accurate. Other than with every address that you have lived at, you're going to have probably three to five

references of people that an investigator is going to go talk to all the way back to your high school teachers, to your high school friends. They're going to look deeply into your finances. So, you know, getting into the military not incredibly difficult. getting into the higher levels of the military where there is more autonomy, there is more decision-making, you have more access to sensitive information, is much, much more thorough. Sounds like I'm almost describing the process that you are going through, which it should be much more thorough.

Now, I answer this question, you know, through the lens of knowing some sheriff deputies in town, and oftentimes they are working by themselves. There are very few of them that are actually on duty. they are empowered to make very broad decisions that could have very, very lethal consequences. They have arrest authority. You know, they have a lot of authorities that have to be treated with the utmost respect. And we absolutely have to make sure that the right people have those authorities and that the wrong don't. And when the wrong people are identified, in my opinion, at least, they need to be shit-canned, but only after they have an example made of them.

And actually in talking with all of my law enforcement friends, they feel the same way. Good cops fucking hate bad cops. I'm not aware of, I shouldn't say that. It's not that I'm not aware. I don't know if most people actually know that. But the police officers that I know that live up to every ounce of what people would want a law enforcement officer to be cannot stand the ones that don't tow the line. So where does the talking point that people are hiring just about anybody come from? I would say it largely comes from influential people who talk a lot about things that they really don't know anything about.

And for most people, and I am guilty of this from time to time as well, instead of actually doing the research on your own or going and talking to an officer and asking them over a cup of coffee, like, what does it take to actually become a police officer? It was the process you had to go through. they take it at face value and that can be very dangerous so it's just like any other misconception people hear something and for whatever reason it can burrow in like a tick and then at a cocktail party they have the opportunity to repeat that like a real ass hat and they do like i have done many times and uh yeah then you look like a dumb ass at the end so i wouldn't sweat it too much and i actually really appreciate that you're having to go through what you went through because like i said you're going to be empowered to do a lot of things that a lot of people have really no understanding

of. And that's it. Question two. My name is Jerry. And I have a question for you regarding the never quit mindset. So that so many preach, especially in the special operations community. But first, my family and I thank you for your service and personal sacrifices you have made on our behalf. Let me just tell you, Jerry, you don't owe me a thanks at all. It was a decision on my part. It was probably one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life. And I enjoyed the absolute vast majority of it, except for a few things. But I do appreciate the sentiment. My question is regarding the death of Kyle Mullen,

who passed away after completing the Hell Week evolution of Bud's training. From what I have read, Mr. Mullen's autopsy states the cause of death as toxic shock caused by pneumonia. My question is, do you feel the never-quit attitude takes things too far? I'm asking this because I too have suffered from toxic shock brought on by pneumonia, being a business owner. I could have closed up shop when I wasn't feeling well, but I chose to go on, which about cost me my life. So three months in the ICU and two months in rehab in a rehab hospital later, I'm asking you, where do you draw the line between never ringing the bell? And maybe I should sit this one out. Well, that's a good question. And I'm going to talk a little bit first about

Kyle Mullen, who I did not know. And all of the information that I have is coming from open source media outlets. I don't have like an inside phone number to the buds compound to try to figure out what happened. But recently, there was a student. It was after Hellweek, I believe, two students were taken to the hospital. I believe one of them expired, and that was Mr. Mullen. I don't know exactly when they expired. And I just read an article where his mother was interviewed. And his mother was extremely upset and even using terms like charging the instructors with murder. And I can understand her anger. And I can understand why she feels that way. unfortunately, I don't think she has a very good understanding of the actual pipeline that her son was involved in.

It's really hard. Last week's Fuller Friday, I was talking about training for the standards. It was an email from a woman asking how to train for buds from the perspective of being a woman. And you can go back and listen to my answer to that. The point being is I spent a lot of time talking about the standards and how they need to be blind. the vast majority of people who go through training don't make it through. Most of them, it's not because of injury. It's because they self-select, and by that I mean that they choose to quit.

But your question is a valid one. You know, where do you draw the line between never ringing the bell and maybe I should sit this one out? I would say to specifically answer your question, you have to juxtapose that against what it is that you're trying to do. You know, you are a business owner and you chose to push through pneumonia where I know nothing about you or nothing about your business, but I suspect there was a way that you could have either taught somebody, empowered somebody, enabled somebody. Maybe they could have come in and tasks shared a little bit so you could have gotten the rest that you needed. So in that situation, you know, the risk versus reward, maybe I should sit this one out is probably where I would land in your. a situation. For somebody who is in a training pipeline, who is trying to become a seal, the mentality that you have to have to be successful is that there is nothing that anybody can do to me that is going to make me quit. Does that mean you're going to tolerate an immense amount of pain? Yes, it absolutely does. Are you going to be more tired than you've ever been

in your life? Yes, more hungry than you've ever been in your life. Are there going to be point in time or points in time during these evolutions where you're going to be in physical danger. Yes, there absolutely is going to be specifically in the diving tests. And Hellweek is a great example. You are awake for about five days, pushing your body to the absolute limit of what is humanly possible. Now, why do about 80% of the class quit historically? About 80% of the class is going to quit in Hellweek and 20% will continue on. physiologically, most of the students are nearly identical, right? And so they all will tell you that

there's nothing that anybody can do that would get them to quit, that they're never going to ring the bell. And that's easy to say when you're surrounded by your peers. It's hard to live when you're in some of the lowest moments of your life. You got to look at the job that they are trying to achieve. And it's not a job that's defined by safety. It's not a job that's defined by certainty. It's not a normal job. You know, it's not incredibly abnormal. I mean, it's certainly atypical. But those demands of training, they match the world that you're going to get into afterwards. They're actually not as hard as some of the challenges that you're going to get into afterwards. So the training has to be that difficult. In the process of training people

for an environment that has consequences that is that severe, there is the, chance that somebody is going to push it too far and they are going to die. And that happens at buds. I would say historically at least once every 10 years, probably more than that. Before the student died after completing Hell Week, I believe the death previous to that was an aspiration of vomit underwater on an evolution in first phase. And I've said this before in the podcast, I'm going to say it again. I don't want anybody to die, period. We're all going to, spoiler alert. I don't want anybody to die in training.

But if nobody ever died in Bud's training, it wouldn't be hard enough and it wouldn't replicate the environment that those students are training for. Now, what the students don't know and what the mother probably doesn't know, and I can only speak from my experience as being an instructor back in 2006 and 2007,

is that the safety net for students is robust. In Hellweek, there are more instructors there than the students think. There's more medical staff there than the students think. There are eyeballs all over these kids. They go through medical checks. They're getting fed. They are under constant observation. Some people really have the ability to suffer in silence, and some people are a little bit more vocal about it. Oftentimes, the squeaky wheel is going to get the grease, but at the end of the day, you still have to meet the criteria for the program. What happened to Kyle Mullen is incredibly tragic.

And I couldn't feel worse for the family of Mr. Mullen. But I don't think that Bud's training should be changed because of it. So you're asking me, where do you draw the line between never ringing the bell and maybe I should sit this one out? I would say when the end state involves life, limmer eyesight, you should probably push it as far as humanly possible up to and including. the risk of life. And when it's not consequential like that, I think it's a lot easier and more reasonable to say, hey, maybe I should sit this one out. Business, your personal business, again, I know nothing about it. You know, is there a risk to life, limmer eyesight? Maybe. I don't know, but I would say the consequences are probably less on a day to day than they would be in the

seal community. So there's a difference when you're balancing out those scales. And I'm not putting a judgment of any kind of that one is better than the other. I'm just saying that they are different. So for me, that line, where I draw the line, is when you're training for or attempting to prepare for an environment where your life is going to be in jeopardy versus one where there is not. And maybe that's not as precise an answer as you were looking for, but that for me is at least where my head lands on those particular issues. Question three. I have always been a a supporter of military veterans who seek political office. I believe veterans have a strong sense of patriotism and loyalty, leadership experience, and a worldview perspective that benefits them as

politicians. Besides current Texas representative Dan Crenshaw, there are currently nine prior Navy SEALs pursuing political office. I'm going to read these out and then this is his order or not mine. Number one, Ryan Zinke here in my home state of Montana, Eli Crane, Arizona, Bradley Duke, Florida, Bill Irwin, Missouri, Morgan LaTrell, Texas, Adam Schwarz. Minnesota, I hope I said that right. Ed Thalander, Maine, Derek Van Orden, Wisconsin, and Eric Grishens, Missouri. What makes this generation of Navy SEALs turn politicians better suited to hold political office? Question mark. Does the celebrity status of seal culture simply aid in campaign fundraising as compared to other military veteran candidates? Question mark. Would you, Andy Stumpf,

ever consider running for political office? Question mark. The last one's easiest, and anybody who listens to this podcast knows my stance on this. Fuck no. So there's a hard pass on that bottom one. What makes this generation of Navy SEAL's turn politicians better suited to hold political office? Why do you assume that they are? I have always been a supporter of military veterans as well, not necessarily the ones that seek political office, because I'll tell you why. Some veterans have a strong sense of patriotism and loyalty. Some veterans have leadership experience. some veterans have a worldview perspective that benefits them as politicians but not all of them i served with the most amazing men that i have ever been around in my life and i served with people who although

they earned their trident through their physical prowess and ability in the pipeline they were the worst representation of humanity that i've ever fucking seen and to the outsider they both were the same uniform. To the insiders, people inside of that community, trust me, they could point exactly to those individuals and tell you why they don't belong. And I think that's the best way to put it. So I know only a couple of the people. Actually, let me see here. I don't know. I know Eli peripherally. I just ran into him at an event in Wyoming. The rest of them, I don't know at all. And what I would tell anybody who is looking at a political candidate, don't lean heavily on their military experience and background. You need to listen to them and what it is that they stand for.

Military service is great. I've said this so many times. And I don't care how you serve in the military or what capacity you served in. It's not a fucking free pass. So it's a great thing. Combat arms, non-combat arms. I think you can learn some amazing lessons from that military service. are some of them applicable to the outside world? Absolutely. Does it necessarily position you

to be a good politician? Absolutely not. So what makes this generation maybe Seel's term politicians better suited to hold political office? The answer to that is nothing. What I'm going to tell you is that there is an individual on that list. And at this point in time, I am not ready to say that particular name, but he's full of shit. And his background is not what he claims it to be. And I'm going to leave it at that. Does the celebrity status of seal culture simply aid in campaign fundraising as compared to other military veteran candidates? Probably the seal star is high up in the air. And people may not want to hear that or believe it, but it's true. The status of being a seal was elevated many years ago, and I can't tell. I don't think it's on the ascent. I'm not so sure

it's on a rapid descent. I think it fluctuates a little bit, depending on the good news or the bad news cycle. But yeah, it's more visible than other military veteran candidates in their backgrounds, and that's unfortunate because just because you're in the SEAL community, it doesn't mean you did anything spectacular. Yeah, the training pipeline was difficult, but I'm pretty sure I could teach a monkey actually how to get through buds. And I'm not joking when I say that. And I definitely could teach a monkey how to do everything that I did in the SEAL teams, or maybe an orangutan. I think they're slightly smarter than a monkey. I'm not going to teach like a racist monkey how to shoot a saw, even though that would be pretty sweet. And I think I saw a video of that on the internet,

but it was an AK. And I'm pretty sure it was fake, but it was still entertaining. So just because you're a seal, it's a great achievement. I'm not going to take that away from anybody. It's one of the things that I'm the most proud of in my life. But don't think for a second that all of a sudden makes you perfect for politics. Like I said, some veterans have a strong sense of patriotism and loyalty. Some veterans have leadership experience. And some veterans have a world perspective that benefits them as politicians. Some of them just want to use it as a resume bullet and do everything that they can to climb into a position of power.

And they will step on every fucking head they can along the way. Take people as individuals. They are not necessarily representative of the overall community. Listen to what they say. Watch what they do and make your decision based off of that, not a previous career. Last question. I have a question that nobody I know can answer. So here it goes.

Tell me more. I'm 41 years old and went tandem skydiving for the first time a month ago. I've always been a calculator risk taker in my life. I like trying new things, quitting an engineering job to open a jitzy school, and just like to push my limits. The problem is with jumping, the problem I have with jumping is I had an extreme anxiety, as I had extreme anxiety, but I also love the experience at the same time. It's bittersweet because I know I would really enjoy this so much more if I wasn't so anxiety inducing or it wasn't so anxiety inducing. The question is, is skydiving for me? Is this something I can work through?

Appreciate all you do. I believe Jock would call this a dichotomy. It's exciting, but anxiety inducing at the same. same time. Or maybe, I don't know. Maybe I use that word probably. Maybe I didn't. I don't know. Moving on. Maybe I'll edit that out. I'm not going to. But can you get through the anxiety of skydiving. Yes, you absolutely can. Guess who is anxious, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very anxious the first time they went jumping. That's right. That would be me. But I really enjoyed it. And it doesn't surprise me that I was anxious because I had been in planes plenty of times before.

I had never been in a plane that had an open door, though. And I had certainly never thought about exiting the aircraft in flight. So it's a totally new experience. It's one of the most challenging learning and teaching environments that I've ever been in because you get about 60 seconds for some pretty, I mean, it's gross motor skills, but let's call it sensation overload for your first few jumps. Like I remember my first jump, I remember I had an altimeter on. I don't know if I could have told anybody for a million dollars what it said, but I was aware that it was on my wrist. And now, after jumping for over 20 years, it's a totally different experience. I don't get anxiety before I jump. I'm aware of the risks and I work my way through by having protocols

that I follow from everything, how I lay my gear out at the drops on, how I put it on, the checks in the aircraft, the things I'm thinking about when I'm jumping as my canopy is opening, my emergency procedures, all of those things. It all comes from experience. Experience takes time. So the cool thing is you went and you already tried it. Tandem jumping is by far the easiest way to expose people to skydiving because you're strapped to somebody who's actually a professional skydiver and it is their job to shepherd you through the experience and really i mean there's a pretty robust brief you can give to your tandem passengers but here are the two things that i actually need from my tandem pasture number one smile number two relax that's it the second one is harder than the first

naturally they most almost everybody smiles but that's really it everything else is my job and i've taken about 1500 people for their first jump and i love doing it because of what you are describing here They loved it. But what do they do next? What I tell you is go find a drop zone that has an AFF program. Accelerated Freefall is what they used to call it. I'm pretty sure it's what they still call it. Probably be somewhere between seven to eight jumps,

and you can do one of those jumps or you could do all eight. So you could dip your toes into this kitty pond to the degree that you want to. And at jump number four, if you realize it's not for you, you know what? Hang it up and move on and find something else. It's that easy. and it'll save you, it'll save you money. And a lot of times I've seen schools they want to charge up front for a bulk AFF program or you can pay by jump.

If you are really hesitant and you're not sure, I'd recommend paying by jump. If you're really sure you want to explore this more, I'd pay for the whole thing. Probably save you a couple hundred bucks. But what I'll tell you is the anxiety that comes from exiting an airplane in flight is 100% something you can work your way through. It may not be 50 jumps. it may not be 500. And you know what?

Maybe it'll never completely go away, but maybe a little bit of anxiety is good. Maybe that means you're aware of the risk. Maybe that means you're aware that you need to pay attention. And it's your body telling you that you're doing something that has consequence. So treat it accordingly. You can work your way through it. In my own personal experience, working my way through that anxiety and becoming comfortable in that activity was so worth the risk.

the reward that I have had from doing it for over two decades. Now, the people that I have met, the places that I have been, when this episode comes out, I'm going to be in Iceland skydiving with Mike Sorrily. We were doing 16 jumps. Each of us were able to pick eight fallen soldiers. I pick people that were directly, that my life directly touched or that I knew personally. And Mike will be able to explain his, but each one of the jumps that we're going to do, We're going to dedicate to one of those people.

And the ability to combine those things in a new area that's been on my bucket list. Like, it's just, there's so many cool things that have come from it. It'll take you a little bit to get over that hurdle. But once you do, I can promise you that you won't be looking back and you will appreciate it. So I'd say, get out there, at least give it another try, explore AFF a little bit, and then shoot me an email and let me know how it goes. That's it.