Cleared Hot - Powered By BRCC - Full Auto Friday - Round 21

Episode Date: October 2, 2020

Rapid Fire (sometimes) Q and A with questions being submitted from the listeners: 1. Is it better to focus on the "big" picture, or the small things you actually have an impact on? 2. Forgiveness 3. Has the media pushed a false narrative about police, what do I want to see from law enforcement. 4. I am never satisfied regardless of my accomplishments, what should I do? Enjoy Templar Medical

Well, hello, everybody. Here we are again. Another Friday. Another Full Auto Friday. Today's episode of Full Auto Friday is brought to you by Templar Medical. And if you listen to my episode with Mike Glover this Monday, I talked about them for the first time. They're awesome. And the reason that I say that they're awesome and the reason that I feel like they're so important is that I believe at a baseline level. as a human being, you should strive to be a value ad. Many people feel comfortable with carrying a gun and involving themselves or executing violence if they were called to. And many people don't. And if you don't feel comfortable with the former, you still have a choice. You can still be a value ad. Medical training, medical preparedness might actually be where I would start.

start people before picking up a gun because a gun can cause issues that you need to be able to fix enter templar medical they provide private and open enrollment training opportunities for civilian law enforcement medical personnel and the military there's going to be some new classes dropping on their website soon they are an n a emt national association of emergency medical technicians authorized training center they're also veteran owned they're located in virginia beach Virginia, and I actually briefly worked with the owner for a short period of time many years ago. What I focused on with the Glover episode and what I'm going to focus on again today is their trauma med kits. They have some new ones.

They come in black and in multicam. They also have Cat 7 turnicits and turnic kit pouches. These kits could not be easier. They have a pole handle, and when you pull that handle, the medical kit that is made in partnership with North American Rescue. and if you know anything about the emergency trauma medicine world, you're going to have heard of the name North American Rescue. Phenomenal brand. You pull on this handle and that kit comes out,

and there are multiple uses for this kit. You can use them on the range. You could have them on a gun belt or in a medical kit. I have multiple in my vehicles. If you're a hunter, you need to throw one of these things in your backpack. If you're a hiker or an outdoor person, it actually doesn't even matter what type of person that you are. Being prepared is one thing, having the tools to help you with your preparation is another.

I would describe these kits as one time, one incident, one person use. Not a bad idea to have multiple. I personally do. Be an asset to yourself and your family and your community and your country and your loved ones. Okay. If you want some more information, go to templarmedicaltraining.com. T-E-M-P-L-A-R-medical Training.com. And I'll put that in the show notes.

And that's actually it on the old business side of the house. So let's get into this full auto Friday. I think we're at round 21. I'm looking at danger close now. All right, here we go. I have three questions for today, relatively different genres. And I'll do my best to keep it short, clean, and concise. And if you've listened to the podcast, you likely know how that's going to go.

go. So I shall dive in. First, thank you very much for the content you share to us. I may not be your typical audience, but there are so many life lessons in each of the stories and of your guests. That is always a delight to listen to. Well, thank you for listening. I would love to have your take on two questions. The first one is titled, Keeping or Staying Involved. My husband and I have lived in a few remote places in countries that would not necessarily qualify as ClubMed holiday destinations. Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, and Indonesia. Having seen the lowest of human behavior, basically survival, and witness the greed and opportunistic behavior of the class in power that are here just to take the most for themselves and do not really think about the people, it is hard to keep

myself interested and involved into political decisions of my country or the world as I am slowly losing faith of the global change, but would rather focus on the little things on which you have an impact on. How to stay positive about the big picture, question mark. Probably every generation have asked himself the question and believe the end of the world was coming. I think you're right on that last part of the sentence. The last time my dad was in town, I asked him relatively the same thing. You know, does every generation face a challenge or some type of challenge that they think rises to the level where it's going to be catastrophic? He thought so, and I tend to agree. You know, in the context of the span of your life, I'm sure there will be incidents that will

stand out or situations or environments. And I certainly think that we are living through one right now that will stick out for the rest of my life. I do not believe it's going to be the destruction of our country. I do not believe that we are going to end up in a civil a war, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. I'm just hopeful that it won't. To your question, though, how to stay positive about the big picture. I think you actually nailed it in the question. I think one of the things missing right now, and perhaps it's not missing, but I don't hear

it talked about enough or as much as I would want to discuss it. And that is individual accountability and responsibility for everything that an individual touches or interfaces with. The small things that they have direct control over, their thought process, their behavior, their actions, their interactions, whether it be in person or on social media. I think the key to global change or country change or state change or community change actually starts with individual accountability and responsibility.

Because if you don't have that at a baseline level, I don't see how there's ever going to be change of any kind. And I think by focusing on the things that you can control, you can actually have a, I want to say palpable, but that's the wrong word. And people talk shit to me about how many times I use the word palpable. I think you can have an actual physical impact on the environment around you. I also struggle with the big picture.

I struggle with the thought that my vote doesn't matter or that it's not. not actually even going to count because I'm, you know, I'm one of hundreds of millions of people. And I think not being an expert in politics, shock are there for people who are listening, I actually think that our political system that I would describe right now is a shit show that's inside of a dumpster fire thrives on people thinking like that. It thrives on people not paying much attention, feeling overwhelmed because it plays to the established power base the two choices that we have, the environment that we are currently in. I don't know how to change that system other than raising amazing little people that grow

into amazing medium-sized people and then big people and then work their way through these systems and change them on their way. What I do understand and believe is that there's not a solution that you can just flip like a light switch and fix everything. It's going to take time, but I do believe that path starts. with individual accountability and responsibility. So I would say, pay attention to the big picture,

only to the degree where it starts negatively impacting the actual world around you and then dive back into the actual world around you. The small things that you describe that you would focus on, which you can actually have an impact on. And it's a balance between the two. I know plenty of people who are apt to scream at the TV because they're focusing on the big picture and they're ignoring everything in the world around them. They're not a value ad at all.

So start by being a value ad where your feet hit the ground. And then hopefully that will set the example for the people next to you and next to you and the community will grow and the states will grow and the country will grow. And we will get ourselves reoriented. We'll grab a hold of the steering wheel and push it back in the right direction. But that's just my opinion. Second part of your question is on a topic that I personally struggle with. And that is forgiveness. You write, this question has been trotting in my head for a while since the podcast with Angel Cortez.

I grew up in not the best family environment. My parents are not bad people, but didn't really provide a loving, safe environment for their kids. Well, just like anybody else, they did their best with what they had. In my heart, I know that I haven't completely forgiven them. And with my firstborn coming very soon, in parentheses, a baby girl coming in November, congratulations. That's a month away. I am worried that I would create some unconscious mistakes with my kids because I haven't solved some with my parents. I have tried talking with them, but unfortunately talking and facing the problems is not a behavior of theirs.

I want to forgive them for myself to lift a weight, not for changing them or trying to get something that I lacked. And after the podcast with Angel, who had all the reasons in the world to be mad at his parents but somehow could forgive them, I was blown away. If he can do it with all the shit he got thrown at or got thrown at him, really I feel like a useless wanting bastard complaining about my childhood. But I would still be interested to know how to approach this. So I can give you my impression. I am not a professional. And as I started this question, that's where I'll start my answer. I struggle with this.

I struggle with forgiveness. I am probably a more sensitive person than people may realize. And when it gets cut, when I get cut, it cuts deep. And I have a very, very hard time letting go of that. And as I was thinking about my answer to this, I will often say to people or say, you know, let's look at this from the other side of the coin. I am not perfect by any stretch of imagination as a human being. I have been a shit show at times in my life. I have done things that I should not have done.

I have said things that I should not have said. I've treated people unkindly. So in viewing how I look at forgiveness and how hard it is for me to put the rock down and move past it, I realized that I don't want other people to hold on to the rock that tightly if I was the one who made the mistake. There has to be a path for redemption. I do believe that there is a path for redemption. And don't get me wrong. There's a difference between forgiving somebody for something that happened and

then forgiving somebody for something that happened and then allowing them to hurt you again. You can put the rock down and still keep people away from you or limit them inside of boundaries in your life, how much they're going to be able to interact. Just because you forgive somebody doesn't mean you have to give them carte blanche and their behavior again and their ability to impact you. But I think it's an incredibly important thing to do to be able to put down those feelings that hurt, that anger, that frustration, however you may define it. And this is something that I have been working on because, like I said, I realized that the way that I feel about forgiveness is not the way that I would want somebody to feel about me when I make mistakes because I do and I will and I'm not going to stop making mistakes.

And I want to be able to be forgiven as well. When it comes directly to your parents, this is a tough one. You described it well, though. They're not perfect. they did the best with what they had and sometimes let's be honest that's not good enough you have the choice though to forgive them absent saying a word to them so i'm going to lay out a relatively morbid scene and hopefully this doesn't happen but there is a potential because of the uncertainties of life that your parents could die tomorrow unexpectedly and you're never going to have the

conversations that you want to or the time to sit and work through any issues that you feel that you may need to, meaning that it's going to be completely left on your shoulders to put that rock down or to carry it with you for the rest of your life. I personally have carried things far too long for reasons that are so wildly insignificant because I'm an idiot and I don't want to see people repeat that. So what I would say is the step that you need to take or the one that could be the most valuable for you would be the decision to forgive your parents for whatever it is that you feel that they fell short, whether it is your upbringing or the course of your life. Forgive them and move forward. And again, that doesn't mean forgive them and allow them to

come into a place where they could hurt you again unless you want to. There is a protection mechanism, but in that act of putting it down, and I can say this in my own personal experience, sometimes it feels like a weight lifting off of your shoulders. And it's an amazing thing. Anger weighs a lot. Hate weighs a lot. Frustration weighs a lot. If you can put it down, put it down and move forward.

And don't rely on a conversation with somebody else before that happens. You have the power to do it. You just need to recognize that and then take that step if you want to. That would be the advice that I would give you. Question number two. Oh, and by the way, both of these next ones are relatively long. So, pardon the length of the question. You say, we're going to go first name only, Philip.

I would classify myself like you as an average guy among my peers, and usually I'm just the bumbling idiot in the group. I know exactly how that feels. I recently listened to your podcast with Shoresh Madhaven and really enjoyed the conversation you two had. I've been a police officer for almost five years and served, in the United States of Alabama. I'm going to guess National Guard.

You didn't finish the sentence. You fucked me there, okay? I'm mixed, black and white, 29 years old, adopted and grew up in an all-white family. Growing up in an all-white family and being the only brown guy in my family, I have experienced some bigotry

in my limited time on this planet. With that being said, it never made me want to burn my country to the ground. I also work for a predominantly white department of 85 officers. I have never felt to be at any disadvantage manage at my department based on ethnicity. Any hurdles I have faced have mainly been because of my

own arrogance. I see a lot of people condemning the police, but I have found that most of the officers I work with are solid, and I would classify myself as average among them. Our state now requires officers to have a college degree, which is great, but I don't necessarily think it makes a cop any better. Having a bachelor's degree myself from Troy University has been great personally, but didn't really help me on the job. That actually stands to reason or make sense. I'm starting to look into joining the SBG here, Jim here in Birmingham, Alabama. So stop thinking about that and join it. You will thank me. They have amazing coaches there. Because I see the importance of being able to control someone on the ground until backup can arrive.

I learned this lesson the hard way within my rookie year, which resulted in being in my first officer involved shooting. I know what I did that night was right, but wonder often if I had been train better in defensive tactics if the encounter would have gone differently, which would have resulted in the suspect leaving in handcuffs instead of a body bag. I look at this moment as a huge failure for me in my LEO career because it's not what I ever wanted to have to do. And I'm going to stop right here before the rest of the question and say, every officer that I have spoken to and spent time with has expressed to me some version of exactly what

you just said. These are not men and women who are patrolling the streets and looking for a reason to kill somebody. The less than 10%, and I would say probably less than 5% of police officers in the execution of a 20 year career are going to use their service weapon in the line of duty. That doesn't mean pull it out. That means pull it out and actually engage a human being with it. And they don't want to do that. So that's a very important piece of information that I think people need to wrap their heads around. It is a measure of last resort. Moving on with your question. While all that being said, I do not understand why people are trying to burn down this country, which in my opinion is still the best country on earth. You can call me biased if you like. I also believe all lives matter until they

don't. So my question is, what would you as a citizen like to see from us in law enforcement? Do you think the media has pushed out a false narrative about racist cops? How do you think the election will impact our country. Let's go backwards with this. I do not know how the election is going to impact our country. I do feel like right now we are very divided and we are very partisan and a lot of people, not everybody, but a lot of people have little to no tolerance for absorbing anything other than directly what they already believe.

And I think that's a dangerous place to be. I think regardless of the outcome, there will be a portion of the country. country that is going to be wildly upset. And I think there will be protests and riots regardless of who wins. And I don't know to the degree if one wins there will be more than the other. I don't know, but I am concerned for the time period. I'm not concerned. I'm hopeful. I'm cautiously optimistic that it will be a smooth election. But I do worry about. the days, weeks, and months afterwards. Do I think that the media has pushed out a false narrative about racist cops?

Partially, yes. I think the media is incredibly culpable in driving the firestorm that a minority of people in this country are rabidly attaching themselves to. They are reporting. And what is leading the news are statistically anomalous events. I do believe that there are racist cops. But the police community, the law enforcement community, is comprised of individuals. There are racist seals.

There are racist doctors, donut makers, mailmen, fill in the blank. Racism absolutely still exists. But because an individual wears a particular uniform and may be a racist or express racist actions, that doesn't mean that the entire community is defined by that. And what should happen to people who are racist and police officers or racist in positions power is that they should be immediately removed from that position and dipped into a deep fat friar. Now, that last part, I'm 31% joking and whatever percentage is left over serious because I can't understand or tolerate that type of bigotry or

or decision making just based off the color of your skin. It doesn't make any sense to me. I'm not going to tolerate it in my presence. And it absolutely has to be addressed. And I think it is being addressed. I do not believe that the police in the United States of America are systematically racist. I don't believe the laws are systematically racist. But when it's constantly being thrown in front of your face,

and that's the only thing that you see, and they're portraying these incidents in a manner that doesn't allow for the investigation or a trial by the jury of your peers to occur, we're setting ourselves up for failure. Because by the time the ashes settle and the real information comes out, nobody takes the time or the effort of the energy to explain, hey, this is actually what happened. We know what we first reported and everybody had an incredible emotional reaction because of it.

But oops, here's actually what happened. So, yeah, let's go back and rebuild the city. It doesn't work like that. And then your first question. What would I like to see as a citizen from you in law enforcement? What I'd like to see from the law enforcement community right now is just stay the course. I know that your community is the best term for what is happening to your community right now is you are being shit on. And it sucks because your community does not deserve it.

There has to be, there has to be an organization, or a community of people that enforce the laws of this country. And if you think that the world or our country is going to be some utopia without those individuals, do a little bit of research, even into current events in the Portland, Seattle area of what happens when law enforcement is removed, law and order is removed. They are essential cogs in the wheel of our society, and you're getting shit on. And all I can say, what I would like to see is, transparency, which I believe is already happening, and for you to stay the course.

Don't give up and think that there isn't a massive amount of support from the American public for what you do because there is. And I don't know if I was listening to, I think it was a podcast. It was a podcast with Joe. And the man he was interviewing or discussing with was talking about, you know, one of the best ways to have change is if the silent majority stops being silent. And I hope, and what I would like to see from the citizens is the silent majority of people who support law enforcement to be more open with that and be more supportive of that and call for time and space to allow for investigations, to allow for the transparency, to allow for the actual facts to come out before people emotionally lose their mind and try to burn shit to the fucking ground, which cannot just be reversed and undone. I also agree with you. I believe that all lives matter until they don't.

Nobody is in my enemy and I don't care about the color of your skin, your beliefs, your ethnicity, your upbringing, your sex, gender, however you want to describe it. I don't care about any of those things. Your life matters until you do something with the intent of taking my life or destroying this country. And then in my opinion, and then as only what it is, my opinion, that life no longer matters. And if you threaten me with those actions, I'm going to take action against you. last question

who i don't even know how long i've been going but i bet it's longer than five minutes per answer andy i don't consider myself to have accomplished anywhere near what you have what you and many of your guests have but i've done some things and have built a reputation that i should be quite proud of i served in the marine corps post nine eleven multiple deployments and currently serve in law enforcement i'm a swat team leader and everyone seems to think i'm a pretty good cop. I compete in BJJ, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and MMA, mixed martial arts, and powerlifting, and quite successfully. I know that I have the admiration of those around me. My problem is that I'm never satisfied, to the extent of disappointment in myself for not being slash doing more. I find

myself regretting not putting in for recon, which would be the special operations component of the Marine Corps, or not going to a larger department for a more active tactical unit. My strength and conditioning is far above my peers, but as soon as I find myself out of gas in the cage or on the mat, I'm mentally crushed. When people ask about my military service, current position in law enforcement, or anything fight related, I'm embarrassed and hesitant to answer because I'm not impressed with the answer myself. In your experience, have you seen this as a common trend with operators, fighters, etc.?

In your opinion, is it OCD or perfectionism or something more problematic like post-traumatic stress disorder or neurosis? In some ways, it motivates me to go out and get after it, but I think it's getting to the point where it's damaging to my mental health. It's certainly causing me relationship problems. You're probably going to say this is an issue to put in front of a counselor of some sort, and you're 100% right, but I don't feel like I can be honest with a stranger about this shit. In fact, the only reason I'm asking you, besides having a great respect for, you and your opinion is I can do it fairly anonymously hidden behind a laptop. How fucked up am I Andy? And I'm not even going to put a name on here because you asked for anonymity. How fucked up are you? I don't know. I'm not a professional. What I will say is I recognize

a lot of myself and a lot of the people that I used to work with in what you wrote. I don't know how many times I have heard the saying, you're only as good as your last target. You're only as good as your last day on the range. You're only as good as your last shot. You're only as good as fill in the blank. And just like you mentioned, it's a great way to be motivated to have this desire to constantly hone the blade, you know, pass after pass after pass over a stone to try to consistently move the needle in the right direction. But if you never have some point of arrival or some end state where you are at least happy with where you are, I'm not saying you should stop that journey, but where you can at least stop for a second, take a deep breath and smell

the metaphorical roses. I think it will lead you to a life of unhappiness. And you said it's already causing you relationship problems. Potentially, you're already a few steps down that path. I feel like you've identified the issue here. And, you know, what I'll say is on talking to a counselor and you said, I don't think I can be honest with a stranger. You're being honest with this stranger right now. I don't know you. And although you ask this through the anonymity of an email, that's actually the benefit of sitting down with somebody that you don't know.

Imagine trying to have this conversation with somebody that you deeply respected, you're a subordinate or a superior officer to you. I mean, you want to talk about difficult? That's what's going to be difficult. One of the things that I have enjoyed about therapy is you're talking to somebody that you interface with on an interval that can be set up whatever you want it to be, but then they're off doing other things. It's their job to help you understand you.

They don't do any work. You do all of the work, and they're to a degree a stranger. And it has allowed me to talk about things that I would be uncomfortable, at least initially, talking to people that I have a closer relationship with. So I'm not telling you to do that, but perhaps that explanation of the process and what it's done for me will be helpful for you. I don't think it's neurosis. I don't think it's post-traumatic stress disorder.

I don't think it's perfectionism. I don't think it's OCD. I think it's a common system of high achieving communities and environments. And I also think it will lead to burnout at some point. And that might be personally or professionally or the combination of the two. I am my harshest critic.

Hands down. The things that I say to myself, I would never say, well, the people who know me well might actually already be yelling at the however the device that they're listening to this through because they would say you say some fucked up stuff and i do but sarcasm is my primary weapon system and i don't actually mean most of the things that i say having said that i am my own worst critic i'm my own worst enemy and it sounds like you may be very similar to me you have to find a way to take a wrap off and it sounds like in the this, you did a little bit of comparativeness to your peers, which is totally normal. I would say make sure that's not your main metric for success. I would use a comparison of your former self. Put yourself on a trajectory of health and happiness versus how much time you can spend in the cage or on the mat. The shot timer on the range, the clock on the wall in the jiu-jitsu studio or in the ring.

Don't have that be your metric for success. I would highly recommend you find something for you personal to you. It can be a metric for success, health, and happiness. And I don't know how to find that for you because it's going to be individual to you. It could be based in relationships. I guess it could be based in an occupational achievement. But the issue with that being, if you're like me, you'll start looking for another one and another one and another one. and you're on a hamster wheel to being unsatisfied.

So I spend a little bit of time trying to find things that I was passionate about, find things that at the end of it, I felt refreshed instead of drained and find things that instead of measuring myself against other people, I was just measuring myself against myself. And actually, Jiu-Jitsu would be a great example of something that I found later in life. I've only been out of for two years now that has great success because I lose success in how it makes me feel. I lose all the time. So I have that mental struggle.

But at the end of it, I'm mentally and physically exhausted. And I can feel that I'm understanding it more, that I'm doing better, that I'm getting better. And that provides me that health and happiness, physically and mentally. And hopefully, that helps. And thank you for what you do. Thanks for your service in the military. And thanks for what you do now. Toe in the line as a law enforcement officer.

And that's all I got for this full out of Friday that I feel like I'm going to go look at it right now is about 45 minutes long. So I apologize for the length. See you guys on Monday.