Cleared Hot - Powered By BRCC - Full Auto Friday - Round 17

Episode Date: September 4, 2020

Rapid-fire Q and A solicited from listeners. Any and all topics are. on the table, five-minute time cap (sort of.) 1. Following in your father's footsteps 2. Enlisted or Officer, Degree or no degree 3. What about "right-wing" organizations, are you still willing to "come off the bench?" 4. Exercise sucks, tips for motivation Enjoy

Okay, got the red smoke. Okay, gun runs north and south. West of the smoke. West of the smoke. Okay, copy, west of the smoke. I'm looking at danger close now. Come on winter, baby. Can't be clear not.

Good afternoon, everybody. Full Auto Friday is back again. Round 17. I actually cannot believe I've been doing this for 17 weeks. Four questions for today. I'm going to go traditional format, but probably not pay an incredible amount of attention to the time. But I'm also not going to try to be here forever because it is Labor Day weekend coming up. Get out and enjoy the labor that you put in.

I hope that you are getting to do something awesome. Got some plans. Hopefully they're not going to suck. Let's get into this. As I said, four questions. Two of these are a little bit long, so bear with me. And as I have said before, I do my best. to pick topics that are, A, not repetitive, but also be common in the amount of times that I am asked them.

So here we go. This one, this first one is about following in your father's footsteps. And the reader says, or writes and say anything, they wrote me an email. I'm wondering your thoughts about following in a father's footsteps. I come from a very proud police family. It has always been that way, and I said from a young age I'd follow in my father's career path. I love the LEO community and culture and what it represents to be there for people on their worst day and facing evil, so others will not have to. But growing up, being a child to a parent with a job so dangerous, especially knowing what his job entailed of him was extremely hard for me.

my dad is a sergeant in an SRT unit i am assuming that is something uh approximate to swat it's a specialized unit of some kind if i'm positioning that as something that it is not i apologize the stories i overheard at a young age still bring chills to my core of the worst evil the world has to offer my dad knows the risk and still continues to go out of that door every day and be a role model for young officers and to his children He's close to retirement age and still continues to go out on the streets and set the example, even after desperate pleas from me to stay behind a desk. He loves his job and nothing can change that, even with all the craziness in the world nowadays.

I have a fiancé and two kids of my own now and a relatively comfortable job. And then he says, at the company who made your truck, I helped develop your year's truck. I drive a Ford, so awesome. Sounds like you got a good job. But I still have this urge to serve my community and follow my father's footsteps. But being a child to someone in the LEO community, and I'm sure military is extremely tough and does leave scars, I do not want my children to feel like I did, like I ever did, watching my father leave the dinner table to head to the office for a call or to hug their dad when he drops you off at school, not knowing if that was the last hug ever. Missing family functions and holidays. I have seen the long police processions.

I've seen families saying goodbye to their father, husband, sons, to an officer who fell in the line of duty. It was and still is in the back of my head that that could be my family at any moment. When I ask my father why he does what he does, his response is and always was to keep the bad guys away from you, your brother, sister, and mom. Am I only thinking of the cons of this career path? If I do go down this path, can I explain it deferentially or differently than my father did?

Damn. Okay. Hell of a question. Where to begin on this? I would say, in my opinion, that some occupations are not right for everybody. The military and law enforcement I would put at the top of that list. the things that you described experiencing as the child of somebody who served in that capacity are very real. And I am fortunate, and I didn't realize how fortunate I was at the time, that my kids were so young when I was on active duty that I don't think that they remember any of that.

My oldest may, but my daughter the last time I went on to deployment was in a crib. I kissed her goodbye. She didn't even wake up. So I hope that that stamp is not on my kids, but it is obviously very real for you and the legacy of your family. I would be surprised if your father didn't feel the same way about his dad or grandfather, whoever it may have been that he's continuing that legacy for. It's not for everybody. The military law enforcement first responder world, you are going to be exposed to some things. that are very heavy, and I'm not talking about a weight in your arms. I am talking about at a moral level, even if it's just you responding to the things that you spoke about, the worst evil, or,

you know, scenes of damage and destruction and death. It's going to happen. If you don't feel a calling to do that, I would highly reconsider any choice that you would make to pursue that career path, especially since you seem to be established in whatever career path or the automotive industry, you have a fiancé, you have two young kids, and you don't want your kids to feel that way. If you go down that path, they are very likely going to experience the same things that you did. So you are willingly and knowingly putting them in that situation. And it comes down to what does that occupation mean to you? Or in general, what does it mean to follow in your father's footsteps?

My dad was a brick mason. My dad's dad was a brick mason. My dad's dad's dad was a brick mason. There was a legacy of being in the trades in my family. And I loved working for my dad. I have tiled the floors in houses that I've owned because of the skills that I learned working for him. Side note, terrified of electricity and plumbing, so I don't mess with that at all. And I can do really shitty carpentry.

But I never felt. a connection to working in the trades. I enjoyed it. I learned from it, but it is not what I wanted to do. At a core level, I always wanted to be a seal and I pursued that path. And I look at my own kids. And I'm very glad that they have not expressed a desire to continue the path that I set in front of them because I wouldn't want for them, A, to do. do the things that I have done and B, to deal with the things that you described in your email. So although family legacies, I do believe, are important. What is more important is taking an objective look at yourself and determining why it is you actually want to do something. And if the only reason for it is, well, the people in my, the share of my last name did it before me,

that's not a good answer. That's not going to serve you well in moments where you need to be able to shelve stress and emotion and make objective decisions in a tactical environment. If you are a type of person that is not capable of doing that, and trust me, there are people who are not capable of doing that regardless of the amount of training, or you are just, you know, perhaps you're far too gentle of a person. And having said that, I think empathy is one of the most important traits for a special operation soldier, a law enforcement officer, a firefighter. I think you have to have that, but it can go too far.

Anything can go to the extreme. And if you are the type of person that is at that extreme, you're probably not well suited for the job. And at that point, I don't think it becomes about following in your father's footsteps. I think it becomes about navigating, hammering into the mountainside your own path, because that is what is right for you. And I think that is what is the most important. I can't, you know, you could of course explain it differently to your own children, but that's not going to remove the reality. You know, you can paint the picture in green and tell somebody it's red. It doesn't change what they are seeing or feeling or experienced. So you have a hard decision to make. You're going to be at the, you know, if you have a fiancé and two kids on the way and a comfortable job, you've probably been at that job for a while. Obviously, you would start at the bottom of a police academy. At the

bottom of the force, the new guy on the job. Economic choices have to be made as well. And the best advice that I can give you is spend some time with yourself and determine exactly why it is that you want to go either of those paths and make the decision absent of what your father did or what his father did. Think about it from what would be the best thing for you to do. because if you feel compelled to serve because that is a calling for you, then you're probably going to do great at that job.

If you feel compelled to serve because your dad did, you're a junior and he's a senior and that's what he did, so that's what I have to do. That is not the best qualification for some jobs. And hopefully that helps and doesn't confuse the situation. Question two comes from Albert. I'm a 17-year-old young adult living in British Columbia, Canada and about to start. my 12th grade year of high school. I've wanted to join the Canadian Special Forces, either CSOR or JTF2, since I was in the sixth grade. My two scientist parents want me to go to the Canadian Royal Military

College, which is pretty much West Point, the Naval Academy, and Air Force Academy all in one. I, on the other hand, want to enlist into the infantry and then go to Special Forces and get a degree later. I have seen benefits or C benefits to both plans and I'm torn between my two options. What would your advice be if you were advising one of your kids or in this situation yourself? I love this question because it captures like five different versions of this. One of the main ones I get often, do I have experience working with JTF2 or the CSOR up in Canada? And I don't. And that's why I don't talk about it on the podcast. It's not that I avoid certain questions. It is that I have no, you usable information that I could potentially talk about in any meaningful capacity. So I have,

I taught CrossFit seminars, and I'm sure those people attended while we were in Canada, but zero operational experience with them. For those of you asking about that, I'm sorry, I have nothing to offer. What I will say is this. I have heard nothing but amazing things about those two organizations are the Canadian military in general, so I hold them in the highest regard. Okay, but now, this is, you know, the officer versus enlisted. Do I get the degree first or do I charge headlong into the military? Albert, I have a question for you. You want to enlist in the imagery and then go to special forces and get a degree later on. My question to you is why? What is it that makes you want to go into the infantry now and then special forces now and then get a degree later? If I had to guess, it would be you want to get into the game as soon as possible.

And you're worried if you spend an additional four years in school, you will miss out on fill in the blank. And I say that because I hear people expressing that quite often. There is a desire to get in there now. I can take care of the rest of it later. And there's an argument that can be made for that. If that's truly what you want to do and you feel that's the way, that you were put on this earth to be a soldier and get into the fight, the path that you described is in fact the path that will get you there first. You will probably have a chance to get a degree

later. And I'm not 100% certain on how the Canadian military works, but in the U.S. military, you could probably, if this were the U.S. military, you could enlist and then get your degree while you are in later, and commissioning would become an option for you. Having said that, A desire to get into the fight now does not guarantee that you were going to. I know some really unhappy people who did what I call chase the dragon around the seal community for years. They would be at a West Coast command and an East Coast command would come back or be in the middle of a six or a 10 or a 12 month extremely kinetic deployment in a war zone that was very mature and had a lot of action. So I've seen people decide, fuck this. I'm getting out of the West Coast.

I'm going to the next East Coast SEAL team because they're next in the pipeline. And so they get there and then they get assigned to a task unit that ends up going to the Philippines. Or their entire job is going to be forward stage and train with partner forces. And they see no combat. And these people get so frustrated. So what they do is they go to the next one because they got to get it in the game. The next one and the next one and the next one. And when you're chasing the dragon, the only thing you ever see is the tail.

There's a lot of people who have a degree, or not a degree, I'm looking at your question, a desire to get into that fight really fast. Just remember, it's not a guarantee that you will. Just like it's not a guarantee that if you take the time to get your degree now, that you'll miss anything because nobody knows what the future holds. You could go the route that your parents want you to go, and I suspect they want you to go that route, because then regardless of what your military experience becomes, at the very end of it, boom, instantaneously you already. have your degree as opposed to being at the end of it or towards the tail end of it and just working on your degree, they probably feel like you'd have more options. And you might, depending on how long you served. I'm assuming if it's a combination of West Point, the Naval Academy, and the Air Force Academy, you're going to get a hell of an education and some

great experience. I will also assume that you come out of that an officer, not an enlisted soldier. If I'm wrong about that, I'm wrong about that. But your career path will be different. if you're an officer versus an enlisted, at least it is in the United States military, or specifically the SEAL community. Their operational career is much shorter because the number of operational billets that they can get as they ascend the chain of command ladder is fewer in number, whereas for an enlisted seal, you can stay with your boots on the battlefield for a lot longer. So your career could be different both in timing and the type of jobs that you have and the execution of those jobs.

The reality is you have two good options in front of you. You have what it sounds like to be supportive parents. They're not trying to talk you out of the military. They are advising you to get your education first. An argument can be made for that. And an argument can be made for what you want to do. So sit down and decide what it is that is motivating you, what it is that you want from military service. That is the number one thing that I tell people or I ask of them when they want to join the military of any kind in any country.

What do you as the individual want to achieve from your service? You need to have that answer because if you do not, you will become a heartbeat in an organization that is looking for heartbeats. You're going to do what the military needs you to do versus being able to navigate, sometimes to a microscopic degree, your own fate. So decide that. And if it truly is, I just need to get into the fight now because I was born and bred and built for this. Then, you know, there is a path that I've already discussed for that. The only thing that I will add is, regardless which route you go, make sure that you get your education before you get out. If your parents' route, it will lead that way.

If you go your route, I want you to make sure that you have a plan to get your education while you are still in and then set a reasonable expectation of what your career is going to look like. If you're just looking for combat, nobody knows the future. The world can shift on its head in a minute and you might find yourself somewhere doing something. that you may have thought was a great idea. And in reality, in an execution, might not be what you want it to be, or you might not get to do anything. So just keep both those in the back of your mind.

So hopefully that helps you outworked. Two more. Here we go. This one ties back into Full Auto Friday, 16, which, by the way, inflamed a little bit of the Internet. And by a little bit of the Internet, I mean the entire thing. Everybody needs to take a wrap off. All right, I'm going to explain that a little bit in this.

This comes from Germain. I'm going to apologize in advance if I'm not articulate as I need to be for this question. I'm a lowly blue belt, which I don't know what that has to do with anything. I am a blue belt as well. Bluebelt lives matter. Stop talking about us negatively, all right? We're people too. Blue belts are people too.

We're also known as the black belts of quitters. Because from my understanding, almost everybody who gets a blue belt quits. And I don't understand why. me, jiu-jitsu just seems more and more awesome every single day. I digress. When you were speaking with Brian Bishop in Full Auto Friday, around 16, you guys had talked about being prepared to engage kinetically with protesters if things turned violent and Americans were being killed by other Americans. On the flip side, our country has also experienced an increase in acts of violence and murders from white supremacists associated individuals in recent years. Are there any discussions in

the active military veteran or the active slash active military slash veteran communities with trying to address these acts of violence because from my perspective it seems fairly one-sided with which people military personnel are willing to engage with. Thank you for such a great podcast. It is always entertaining and informative and often changes my worldview. Well, you're very welcome. Okay. Get back to this question in a second. I got this email, a version of this quite a bit. we were talking about specifically, in my opinion at least, the Black Lives Matter movement, the Antifa movement, and what I think we both agreed was the hijacking of those movements and therefore the blurriness of the narrative for those who are out there who are trying to incite violence. The reason that we were talking about specifically those two organizations is because we were asked specifically about those two organizations. is because we were asked specifically about those two organizations.

I cannot speak for Brian. I don't live in Brian's head. And if he disagrees with what I'm going to say next, he can clarify that on his own. But in my opinion, it was not an attempt to not speak about organizations that would fall into the right-wing category, the white supremacist category. It was an attempt to answer the question that was in front of us. I feel very uncomfortable the closer I get to extremes. When I see protesting, that does not make me uncomfortable. When I see people throwing bricks and homemade Molotov cocktails, I put that in the category of extreme, and it makes me extremely uncomfortable.

I value the First Amendment. I don't have the vocabulary to describe how much I value the First Amendment. And having said that, I value each and every other one of the amendments to the Constitution and the Constitution itself in exactly the same manner. I do not believe that you can frame an argument or I do not believe that you should frame an argument based off of or a justification for that, picking one amendment to the disregard of the rest of them. If you are going to frame your argument and your actions based on one of the amendments,

you do not get to sweep away the others. It's either all of them or none of them. Now, back to this question. White supremacy, the right-wing organizations. Are there any discussion in the active military or veteran community? The only honest answer that I can give you is that I have no idea. I don't know what active military people are talking about, and I'm not actually a part of veteran communities.

I have veteran friends, but I'm not part of a group of people that gets together and discusses topics often. But what I will say is talking with Bishop, for example, there's no love lost on the right side of the argument as opposed to the left. I'm less concerned with people's beliefs than I am with their actions. if you are at a protest and you are screaming in my face something that I don't believe, first off, I'm going to leave because I'm not going to sit there and argue with you because I believe in your ability to express your First Amendment right. I have no problem with somebody who is verbally expressing to me an opinion that is different than my own.

You're not my enemy because you have a different opinion than me. Because at the end of the day, we are in this together. We are Americans. Republican and Democrat, we're not left and right, we're Americans, in my opinion. So you sit there and you voice an opinion different than me, awesome. I am not going to sit there and try to change your mind. You're not my enemy. You pick up a brick and you throw it at me or you get a skateboard and you try to hit me over the head with it.

It's not about your belief. It's about your action. And then the second that you do that, you put my life in risk or the life of other people at risk, you are my enemy. And those, that is exactly how I feel when it comes to any organization. on the left or the right. Now, in your email, you said that there were an increase in acts of violence and murders from white supremacists associated individuals in recent years. I'm looking carefully at your verbiage, and you are talking about individuals.

There are individuals at the movements that Brian and I were talking about, but they are working as groups, and I think that has to be, we have to make this point, and I'm not trying to lesson or put a value judgment on either of those things. And I'll be totally honest. I am not up to speed. I had to do a little bit of research and have been doing research on the things that are leading the news right now, Antifa, the Black Lives Matter. I am, you know, you're saying that there is an increase in violence and murders from white supremacists associated individuals in recent years. What I would ask of you is, Jermaine, send me what it is that you're looking at. Because for me, I need to, one, I'm going to dive into this and see what I can find. But if it's just in an individual

acting, an individual acting alone, outside of a mob, outside of a riot, to me it's slightly different. Are they your enemy? Yes, they are. They're my enemy as well. And I don't think that an active duty or a veteran individual would respond any differently to a threat to them or their life. But for who were wondering my thoughts on anything that is a right-wing extreme movement, white supremacist movement, people sent me emails or what do you think about this organization or that one? Quite frankly, I hadn't heard of 99% of those. But I'll look into them and I will educate myself and I will revise my position if need be. But an individual who takes an action that makes them my enemy or an enemy of this country where they're literally taking up arms

against this country. And if you think that an individual trying to burn down a federal courthouse or throw bricks at law enforcement officers, those people are taking actions against what I believe to be the foundation of this country, then yes, they are an enemy of this country. And here's an important point that I have talked about with Brian and with certain people. When it comes to us coming off the bench, the term that people got extremely upset about, it's not a matter of targeting, in my opinion. Again, I can only speak for me. I'm not talking about putting together a targeting package and traveling outside of where I live. What I'm talking about is my willingness to defend myself, to offend my family and the people that I love. I will not go out

and seek an engagement. The reason for that is that's called vigilanteism. And veterans, both active duty, well veteran would be post military so active duty and veterans you have no authorities to go and be a vigilante you have no authorities to go and put together a target package on these individuals if that needs to be done there are agencies that will do it and if you are given authorities later on that is a different thing if you go out and you are a vigilante and you take action against an organization that expresses beliefs that are different than yours you belong in fucking prison because you are you are are not solving the problem. What you are doing is going outside of your rights as an American, in my opinion,

and you're doing exactly what I said. You are a vigilante. You have no authorities. You're not a sworn officer. And yes, I know right now that a lot of the sworn officers are being told to stand down. Okay, I understand that. And that's where, again, my line in the sand is a threat to myself, a threat to my family, a threat to my loved ones.

I am not going to go out and seek those things. but if they find me, if I am put into that situation, that I am going to act. And I know people will say, well, what about all these armed protesters and people that will go to rally? I don't know why rally to me is the one that sticks out, but picture after picture after armed protesters. Show me the destruction that those armed protesters were doing by standing there exercising their Second Amendment right. right and I'm not trying to justify the organization. I'm looking at their actions alone because again the second amendment is just as important as the first as a matter of fact the first is protected by the second. I hope that people understand that. Do I agree with people walking around open caring?

I know I look at these pictures and it's like I'm a veteran I'm here to you know I'm here to protect this that or the other and veterans a broad term all right half of these people have their shit on backwards what they are is they're fuck boys with guns all right. You're not helping the problem. I'm not going to sit here and say you shouldn't be doing it. But in my mind, you're flirting with irresponsibility. You're introducing guns into an environment that is emotionally charged. And I support your right to do it.

Do I necessarily agree with it? No, not necessarily. But I'm also not incredibly worried by a lot of those people either because they have the right to do it, just like the protesters have the right to protest. In between those two things, guess what? Is no room for rioting. Holy shit. I feel like I've been completely rambling.

At the end of the day, I don't care if the group falls in a traditional left or right category. I don't necessarily care about their belief. I care about their actions. It is the actions that they will take that will make them my enemy or an enemy of this country. And regardless of what side of the aisle they fall on, I believe they should be treated equally. Last one. And then we're going to Labor Day. Wesley, long-time listener, first-time writer.

I had a question for Fall Auto Friday. I spent 10 years in the National Guard artillery and have been in the fire service for eight years. I have never, and I want to make a point of emphasizing this, that word is all caps, never enjoyed exercising at all, ever, especially running or other forms of endurance cardio. You know what? I like you, Wesley, because I hate that shit, too. As you know, physical fitness is a huge part of both of the best. those professions. Of course it is. I exercise purely for the results, but from listening to you, Rogan Goggins and others, the main piece I gather is I need to enjoy the journey or struggle.

I would prefer to suffer honestly than fake it until I make it. Are there any techniques or advice you could give on how to enjoy the painful process and not just suffer and despair until you get the results you want? Thank you, sir. I love this question. Yeah, there's plenty of people who hate exercise. Wesley. There's plenty who do. I don't think you need to enjoy the journey or the struggle. You work in an occupation that requires physical readiness. It seems you have already accepted that. You are forcing yourself into that journey or struggle, not because you want to, but because you have to, because you know the importance of physical fitness on that job.

And I think that's very noble. Nobody says you have to enjoy exercise. And I don't know. I do I enjoy exercise? You know, I can't say I'm a huge, fan of it. I'm a fan of the fact that it provides me a physical and mental release, but I'm not like in the middle on a concept two rower of a 2K going, oh my God, I love my life right now. I'm doing another 2K. I'm not sitting there like smelling the roses as I'm

doing hill sprints at my house. Like that's not, I'm not enjoying it either. I think more people are probably on board with you than you may think. There are of course some huge, uh, profiles of people that really do a spouse enjoying the journey or the struggle. But, you know, a broad prescription is going to be very inaccurate, the broader it gets. I think for people, instead of focusing on the exercise, figure out why it is that you're exercising. If you want to look better naked, focus on the fact that every rep that you do, you're going to look a little bit better, you know, a little bit better. And if you want to look better in a swimsuit or, I'm trying to think of other good reasons why you would exercise. I mean,

Look good naked. One, some show muscles. I don't know. If you're a young dude and you want to try to pick up chicks with your chest tries and shoulders, which is the only muscle groups that I think adult male between the ages of 18 and 24 care about and maybe calf raises, I don't know. Maybe that one's a little bit weird. I'm going to do it for that. But if you identify the end state, I just think it makes the journey to use your words a little bit easier.

So I wouldn't sweat it. I don't really think there are people celebrating in the middle of exercise. I think you're right where you need to be. And the fact that you're doing it, even though you don't enjoy doing it, says a lot about you. So reconsider your motivation, define the end state, and do the best you can. You know you need to do it. So just do it. And then after you're done, go enjoy your Labor Day weekend for everybody.

See you Monday.