Cleared Hot - Powered By BRCC - Full Auto Friday - Round 46

Episode Date: March 26, 2021

Rapid-fire Q and A submitted from the listeners! A variety of topics with a five-minute time cap per answer. 1. I'm an alcoholic, what should I do 2. I can't afford a mental health professional, do yo...u have any other recommendations 3. How can I be more supportive of my partner 4. How do you argue against the anti 2A crowd 5. Help dealing with anxiety Enjoy Stereo

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Starting point is 00:00:00 What is going on, everybody? This episode of Fall Out of Friday is brought to you by Benchmade Knives. Headquartered in Oregon City, Benchmade Knife Company has been manufacturing high-quality cutlery for over 30 years. They take pride on the fact that they manufacture an heirloom product with the potential of being passed down generation-to-generation with proper use and care. Each of their knives carries a limited lifetime warranty and free sharpening and maintenance throughout the life of the knife. A lot of people don't know that. You can send it back and they are going to tune that sucker up. The company puts a strong emphasis on family values and tradition, encompassing the people and products they create with a wide spectrum of product offerings.
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Starting point is 00:03:32 And that's it on the business side of the house. Let's dive in. Full auto Friday, 46. Okay, coffee. West of the smoke. I'm looking at danger close now. Good morning, everybody. Boys and girls.
Starting point is 00:03:59 Ladies and gentlemen, it's Friday. You know what that means. We're going to do a quick Q&A. And some people have been saying, hey, you need to do more than five. And maybe I'll get to that. But I just got back with my first trip with all three of my kids in almost two years. So I'm going to do just five and then go get some food because I don't have time to do more than five. But today, I have five for you.
Starting point is 00:04:23 Here we go. Fuller Friday. 46. Question number one. Looking for some advice. Long story short, I lost my father in November of 2016 due to brain cancer at the age of 15. I lost my mother in December of 2018 due to heart attack at the age of 60. And I lost my aunt, my mom's sister, 17 days after my mother, due to a heart attack.
Starting point is 00:04:46 On April 2nd, 2019, my birthday, I was involved in a high-speed rollover accident. I walked away with a scratch on my shin, you lucky bastard. Ever since my mother died, I have been a functioning alcoholic. I drink every night, three to six IPAs or a few vodka and mixers. I'm 5-8 pushing 220 to 225 at age 38 and soon to be 39. I have a wonderful wife and 5-year-old son. The traumatic events I've experienced have sent me down this path. I did speak to a counselor which helped on the mental aspect,
Starting point is 00:05:22 but the alcoholism is taking control. I can't seem to stop drinking, at a minimum during the week. Also, can't find the motivation to work out. If I stay on this course, it's likely it won't. won't end well. Any help is appreciated. Damn. First and foremost, I'm sorry for your loss. This situation sucks, but I'm going to change a few things hopefully about how you think. First and foremost, as you said in your email, the traumatic events that you've experienced have set me down this path. That is incorrect. You have sent yourself down this path via the choices that you
Starting point is 00:05:58 have made. For many people to include myself from time to time, alcohol can be a copious. mechanism. The problem is it's not actually a mechanism to cope with anything. It's a depressant and mental suppressant. I think anybody who's drank enough can let you know that. It doesn't make you feel any better when you wake up the next day. It might make you feel a little bit better or help you forget about things in that moment. But in the end, it doesn't do anything good for you. But let's be very clear. It's not the events, right? You have no control over the things that happen to you in your life. But you have absolute control over how you receive that. them and how you behave. And I'm not saying that with any judgment. I just want you to realize
Starting point is 00:06:39 that your behavior, when you're looking for the inception or origin of where it comes from, you need to go look into a mirror, not things that have happened in your past. And that's not a hard thing to do. That's amazing that you went and saw a counselor. I would hope that you spoke to a counselor more than once because that journey, at least in my experience, is not a one and done. It's not a six shooter where you pull it out of your hip and you blast through six times and then you're off and running. I think it can be later on once you have that foundation and baseline and especially relationship with somebody that you can speak to, but it takes time. Now, the alcoholism. That sucks. And some people are obviously genetically predisposed more than others to have an addictive
Starting point is 00:07:22 personality. I don't know where you fall in any of this. But what I do know is that there are programs and people out there who make a living helping people who are in the situation that you are in. So physically to me, you describe, it doesn't sound like you're, you're doing very well on that front. And it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to figure out where that may be coming from. So you're almost 40. Well, you're closer to 40 than you are 30. 225. Anybody says 220 to 225.
Starting point is 00:07:49 That means there are 225, if not 2.35. And you're pushing 5-8, which probably means 5, 6.5. Actually, I'll give you 5-8, but there's a chance you're shorter than that as well. So you are carrying some extra weight unless you are a professional bodybuilder and you're just chiseled, which I'm going to assume, again, based off your email, that you are not. So there's some health aspects here from a physical perspective and a mental health perspective. And once you get on that hamster wheel, they're going to mash each other up, just like being in a blender and you're not going to be able to tell which one is driving the car, which one has its hand on the wheel, whether it's the physical issues or the mental issues.
Starting point is 00:08:23 Again, there are people who make a living helping those in your situation. There are addiction specialists. There are places that you can go to detox if you feel it needs to be at that level. And if you can't find the motivation to do that, I would hope that you could, on your phone, let's assume it's an iPhone because it's 2021. one. On your phone, what I'd like you to do is scroll back to some pictures of your wonderful wife and your five-year-old son. And think about the behavior that you are modeling for them. What would you, what advice would you give your five-year-old son if, you know, years from now, he's in the same situation that you are? I'm pretty sure you would not tell him to just stay the
Starting point is 00:09:10 course and continue doing what you're doing. And whether or not you have the motivation to work out right now or do these things, that's, that's irrelevant because motivation is like the tide. It comes in and it goes out. What you need is the discipline to be a grown-ass man and go do the things that you need to do, not the things that you want to do, like drink three to six IPAs or a few vodka and mixers every night. And again, I know you feel like you're out of control right now, but if you're not seeking help for how you feel, then you're 100% in control of what you're doing. think about your daughter or sorry not your daughter i was looking at wife and then i said daughter think about your wife and then your five-year-old son and if that in and of itself doesn't give you
Starting point is 00:09:51 the motivation uh to go get that help i don't really know what to tell you because nobody's going to be able to do it for you and if you want to have a relationship with that wife and you want to make sure that she is still wonderful and with you in the years to come and a relationship with your son you better change that behavior now and i'll add this too that five-year-old any behavior you model now, he's taking note of. He may not remember exactly the lessons that he is learning, but I tell you right now, he is taking note of who you are and what you do. And you are setting the example for the man that he could potentially become. And that's the best motivation that I can give you. Question two. Within the last eight months, I have quit my job of being a police officer.
Starting point is 00:10:34 I was an officer for just over six years, three of which included being on the SWAT team, and one of those years I spent deploy to Afghanistan with my National Guard infantry unit. I performed well at my job. I was slotted to be the next team leader on the SWAT team and was being promoted to a patrol supervisor. Needless to say, I saw terrible evil things while on the job to make sure, and to make matters worse, one of my best friends and beat partners of four years decided to kill himself about three weeks after I left the department. While on the job, my department completely paid for any officer who needed mental health from a professional. I am not ashamed to admit, nor should anybody be, that I used this service a few times, and I thought it was great.
Starting point is 00:11:12 However, now that I am separated from the department and am currently on a student transitioning to becoming a firefighter with no health insurance, blue to red transition, there's people right now who are making jokes. I'm not going to be one of them, though. All right. I do find it absolutely hilarious how firefighters and police officers talk shit about each other, though. It's amazing. What I will say is firefighters have better, they have better mustaches. I don't know what the deal is, but you just need to accept that. So you're currently only a student with no health insurance.
Starting point is 00:11:42 I no longer have access and can't afford to see a mental health professional anymore. So my question is, do you have any other suggestions for people in my position that want to improve their mental health, but don't necessarily have access to a psychologist? Besides the obvious, like physical activity or focusing on a hobby, like you have mentioned in other podcasts. What about meditation, positive thinking, etc.? I hope that I, along with some of your other listeners, can benefit from your answers to this question. It's a great question. And again, anytime I talk about this, I'm opening with that I'm not a professional.
Starting point is 00:12:11 I can give you my advice and my opinion on this. But when it comes to mental health, my first answer is always going to be to seek guidance from somebody who was actually trained in this world, which I, shocker to everybody listening, am actually not. Meditation, positive thinking, those type of things. I would have to imagine that, yeah, they would have a benefit. I think that's why they are probably so popular in people do those things. I don't necessarily subscribe to a structured routine of doing either, so I can't speak to that,
Starting point is 00:12:41 but I don't think it could hurt. Absolutely explore that. Physical activity, yes, of course. For me specifically, it often seems like my mental state will follow my physical activity, no physical activity, lower, I would say mental state and functioning, actually. Higher physical activity, higher mental state, higher physical or mental functioning. And then you mentioned a hobby. Well, I don't know what your hobby is.
Starting point is 00:13:05 but let's say it's golf. Skip around a golf per month and find the money to speak to a professional. Or look at your finances. And if this is really something that you feel like you need to do, what I would say is I would reallocate some money and reallocate some priorities. So you have the ability to see a professional. And actually, the firefighter program that you are in, they may have something that you could resource or reference
Starting point is 00:13:35 off of. So don't even, you know, don't put that out of the realm of possible. But prioritize what's the most important thing that you can, which is you. You're not going to be a great firefighter if the baseline machine at the end of the day wearing the uniform is damaged, especially if you're damaged upstairs. So prioritize yourself, prioritize your own mental health above any other the hobbies. So I would definitely go to that approach. If none of that's going to work, you've tried the positive thinking meditation you cannot find the money to do it what i would recommend is find somebody that you trust perhaps a group of people they can get together at a regular interval over a cup of coffee and sit down and be open and honest and vulnerable and talk to that
Starting point is 00:14:23 group of people or that individual about the things that you feel you perhaps need to get off of your chest. I'm not saying that they are going to be filling the role of a psychiatrist or mental health professional, but in the absence of one, speaking again from my own experience, keeping stuff in and not having somebody that I feel comfortable talking to, it doesn't do anything good in my life. Even sometimes the act of just verbalizing what it is that is bothering me to somebody that I know is willing to listen, I can feel the weight coming off of my shoulders. So again, priority would be mental health professional, the physical activity, all the things that I talked about. In the absence of all of that, find a friend, develop a relationship
Starting point is 00:15:09 with somebody, perhaps, that you could feel that you'd have the ability to talk to. And then, you know what? The last thing I'll add to that is make sure that you have a group of friends or somebody that you could be available to to listen. You're not the only person who has these. issues. I think we all do. What I think we don't all have is somebody that we feel comfortable talking to. Work on your ability to listen because you're not the only person out there who needs somebody to talk to. And that's what I would recommend. Question number three. So my wife works for a three-letter federal agency, of which I used to work for. She is much higher ranked than I was and is having a lot of conflict with her coworkers and she can't handle it in the same way I did, which, by the way, involved being
Starting point is 00:16:01 aggressive and not using words. Anyways, my question is, as her partner, how can I help be more supportive and maybe be able to offer better support? This is an interesting dynamic, and I say that not because of her rank, but because you have experience in the same agency. So there's going to be a lot of things that, and again, I have no idea what agency this is. I'm going to assume that you guys can talk about things at a level because maybe you guys have the same security clearance, even though, of course, there's the need to know. Let's just say there's some shared common ground that you guys could navigate when you're talking these things, which should hopefully help.
Starting point is 00:16:38 She should be able to, hopefully, bring these issues to her. Yeah, being aggressive and not using words, not the best when it comes to an environment for long term and longevity and climbing the ladder, even though she sounds like she's on her way. up there. That's her choice to make, obviously, and how she wants to handle that. So, but you're asking specifically about how, as her partner, how can you help? I'm going to tie this into actually the last answer I gave from the previous question. Maybe one of the best things that you can do is just listen. Your wife may not actually be coming to you for suggestions on how she can be more effective or deal with these things at work. She may just be coming to you to vent. And it's important to people, to me, to everybody, I think, that they can feel heard. So perhaps just sit there
Starting point is 00:17:28 and be the sponge that absorbs the frustration that she is bringing home from work. And that sucks that she is bringing it home, but I think most people do in one way or the other. And unless she asks you for suggestions or advice, consider not giving it. Just sit there, perhaps have a nice glass of red wine. I would recommend, off the top of my head, I would say a 2017-2017- Caduceus Kitsunier. I would recommend that as a nice glass of wine to open. If you can get your hands on it, an 08 Judith, same vineyard caduceus. You're not going to be able to get that, though. Ha! Jokes on you. Amazing bottle of wine, but I've totally lost myself now in my passion for Vino, which is why I became a level eight Somalié, for those of you listening, that doesn't
Starting point is 00:18:20 exist. I'm just talking shit. I know nothing about wine, but I love it. Get a glass of wine, sit there, be her sounding board, be her pegboard she can jam pins into. And like I said, unless she asks for it, don't give her any advice. If she asks for a suggestion, perhaps give her one, but give her options. That's one thing I would recommend as well. Try to give two or three options. And if she asks for your opinion, I think oftentimes the best thing people can do is provide a different lens for somebody to view an issue through. Hey, have you thought about it from this person's perspective. Have you thought about it from this angle? What be the pros and cons of course of action number one versus course of action number two? But in all of that,
Starting point is 00:19:00 I truly think oftentimes the most important thing you can do is just sit there and listen and be a good partner and enjoy your glass of wine and each other's company. Question number four. Andy, due to recent public mass shootings, the calls from those on the left will get loud to control or ban guns. How would you argue against that to people in your life that shared those views that were close to you? I'm sort of left-leaning but strongly supporting the Second Amendment right. There's a lot of these anti-gun people in my circle. Sorry, I know you're a busy dude. I dig your podcast, though, as someone who has a different opinion on some things. You say you're not a smart dude, but your opinion at least comes across as having thought behind it. And that I can appreciate.
Starting point is 00:19:43 Well, I appreciate your message and I appreciate the fact that you still continue to listen, even though you don't agree with the things that I have to say all the time. Which, by the way, for people listening, I hope that's the case. I am completely and utterly open to being challenged on anything that I believe. I love having conversations with people that I don't see eye to eye with. I think that's how we grow as human beings and as a species. So I'm actually not looking for an echo chamber, and I hope that nobody else is either. I do hope from time to time that whatever device you listen to this podcast through,
Starting point is 00:20:14 whether you're driving in your car, you're yelling at the radio. you're like, hey, man, you're fucking idiot. Because guess what? I am most of the time. I do the best that I can. But to the question, how will you argue against, how would you argue against that to people in your life? The short answer that I'll give you is that I don't. Like I said at the beginning, I just got back from a trip, and I hear people talking about these issues.
Starting point is 00:20:39 A very timely question, obviously what just happened in Boulder. I hear people talking about it at the airport. I hear people talking about it in airplanes. I hear people talking about it at restaurants, on walks with their families. I hear people talking about it in my social circles, and I don't argue against it. One of the things that I have realized is it's generally impossible to change people's minds, especially if they are emotionally involved in what it is that they're talking about. You can hit people with facts, you can go into the statistics, and all of those things are important, I believe, for an informed opinion and position. But arguing, with people is, God, one of the most futile efforts that I may have undertaken in my life. So oftentimes what I'll do is I'll just listen to them. And if they ask me, hey, what do I think? I'll give them my experience with weapons and where I think weapons fall in our society and what they mean to us as a country. Anti-gun people in my circle. So there are people who are anti-gun. And when you write that and when I read that, I'm assuming you mean they literally want guns gone.
Starting point is 00:21:52 And that's a problem for me in logic because they're not really going to go anywhere. There are currently equal to, if not more, guns in circulation than there are human beings in the United States of America. They do exist. And that's not going to change regardless of the legislation that may or may not pass. So people who think that there should be no guns, they're living in a little bit of an alternate reality when it comes to their thought process. Now, there's a step closer to what I would say, the middle of being. And that's people who want, you know, when things like the Boulder Colorado incident happened at the grocery store and people lose their life, catastrophic loss
Starting point is 00:22:29 of life by every stretch of the imagination. And again, it's, there's more information coming out now. I think it's four or five days from when this happened as I'm recording this. I'm very hesitant when things like this happened to say anything really about it until much more or many more of the facts come out. But from a legislative perspective, a lot of the things that people would ask for, you know, a banning of assault rifles, which is a term that people, it's overuse and underdefined, you know, background checks and closing loopholes. A lot of the times when people say those things, they don't, I don't think they actually know what they're talking about. They're repeating things that they have heard said, which from an outside perspective makes sense. But I don't know if they
Starting point is 00:23:11 necessarily have an understanding of the current culture when it comes to what it actually takes to own and possess a firearm. What I can tell you is this. No amount of legislation is going to stop somebody who is hell-bent on doing what that individual did in Boulder, Colorado. I'm sorry, murder has been illegal for a really long time, and it still happens. And the weapon that was used, again, to the best of my knowledge and the information that has come out at the moment I'm recording this, The weapon that was used was in fact an AR, which does not stand for assault rife people. It stands for an armor light rifle. That's when you see an AR dash fill in the blank.
Starting point is 00:23:47 That's what it actually stands for. So it looks a lot like an M16 or an M4 that the military used, but it is not. It does not have selectable fire, meaning that it can go from safe to semi to fully automatic. It doesn't have a lot of the other things that those weapons have that are irrelevant to the point that I'm trying to make. but the legislation that people are talking about, you know, banning certain things, the things that largely are being called for, they already exist in Colorado. So that individual, though, was still able to source that weapon and use that weapon to take innocent life. And it's horrendous. And I understand why people want to have a knee-jerk reaction and talk about the tool that was used. And in my opinion,
Starting point is 00:24:32 and this is all that it is, the tool is the last thing that we should discuss. We need to discuss the human being that is holding that tool. I do not think that we have a gun problem in the United States, personally. I think we have a mental health problem. And again, people are, well, that's idiotic. You know, there's too many guns. Yeah, there are too many guns. But again, this is where I would point somebody back at the actual statistics.
Starting point is 00:24:56 When you look at actual guns, gun violence, and life's taken, homicide is the leading category of that. 80% of those homicides occur in gang-related activities. Then you need to take a look at how many of those are using handguns versus rifles. And what you're going to find, rifles, specifically the one used in Colorado, it's a single-digit percentage of all the deaths that occur through gun violence. Single-digit percentage, a small single-digit percentage, actually uses those rifles. But it leads the news.
Starting point is 00:25:27 It leads the narrative. They're again focusing on the tool, but they're not focusing on the number one tool that is used most often to take life, which is a pistol, which should make sense to people because they're more concealable, right? If, you know, you can probably carry more ammunition inconspicuously and the weapon itself when you're talking about pistols than you are with a rifle in the magazine size and all those things that go along with it. But sorry, I'm going down a little bit of a tangent in a rabbit hole here. But in these situations, and it's important to actually look at the math. People seem to operate under this impression that you can just buy a gun on the internet and it's going to show up at your house. And this is, again, to me, a misunderstanding of the ecosystem. You can buy a gun on the internet.
Starting point is 00:26:11 I've bought a gun on the internet, but it doesn't come to your house. It goes to an FFL where you go and complete the normal background check paperwork. You are handing over your identification. You're signing for the paperwork, depending on what state. that you live in, you don't have a waiting period to be determined by the state. It could be the same day, again, depending on where you're leaving. But it's not a wild, wild west where you just go on the internet and having things delivered to you. So the background check loophole, are there ways to buy a gun where you don't have to do a background check? Yes. Is that how the vast majority of
Starting point is 00:26:43 gun sales go? Absolutely not. Again, these things lead the news, though, when it comes to what needs to be changed. I'm going to fall back on again. There are tens of thousands of regulations already on the books when it comes to buying and possessing weapons. And no amount of legislation is going to prevent what happened in Boulder. I'm sorry. That's just my opinion and where I land on it. The amendments, the Second Amendment, you know, the Second Amendment right, you know, people have the right to say whatever they want to about the Second Amendment. Why? Because of the First Amendment. But I hope people realize that it is, in many ways, the Second Amendment that preserves the First. And for those in office, in public office, who take opportunities like Boulder to launch gun, I don't even know the proper word to use, to launch gun legislation into
Starting point is 00:27:47 the spotlight of the of the media i find it very ironic and hypocritical that those who are calling to remove and make very difficult the purchasing and possessing of weapons at least when they are executing their roles and responsibilities of their of their elected office they are at all times protected by those exact same guns so they want to take the right for an American citizen, a law-abiding American citizen, they want to remove the right for you to be able to purchase those guns, to have those guns for your self-defense. And let's be very clear, the number one way in the shortest period of time that I could increase your ability to defend yourself is to put an effective tool in your hand. I'm talking specifically about firearms. That's the number one way if I had a time-limited situation to increase drastically your ability to protect yourself, your loved ones, your property, things that you hold dear. By removing that from your hands, I am making you more dependent on other people coming to your rescue.
Starting point is 00:28:52 And again, I find it so incredibly hypocritical that those in office who are trying to do that are protected at all time by those same firearms. I highly recommend that people actually go and look at the data for themselves. Go find out the actual number of gun deaths per year. And when you find those statistics, what I want you to do first is determine whether or not the number of suicides is included in the total gun deaths because in my opinion at least they should be separated is it gun violence I suppose it is gun violence on a human being by the human being deciding to make the choice to end their life so suicide in somebody getting shot in a grocery store are two very separate issues for me but you will often see those statistics combined
Starting point is 00:29:38 why because it makes a more compelling argument but it's a compelling argument based off of intellectual dishonesty. So go look at the number of actual gun deaths in this country and then look at the tranches of those gun deaths, whether it's an accidental discharge, whether it is an actual homicide, whether it is a gang-related homicide, and then look at the number of pistol versus rifle, and it'll give you a much better perspective on where we actually sit as a nation. I would caution people against listening to what is consistently reported on mainstream media. Find the information out for yourself. And I hope in some way, shape, or form that I answered your question.
Starting point is 00:30:23 I think I open with most concisely, though, is I don't argue with people. But if they want to have an actual conversation based on factual data, I'm willing to do that. But I can't change anybody's mind. I can present for them information that they choose to look at or not. And maybe it changes their mind. made me to tell me to go fuck myself. And I'm completely and utterly open to either. Got a little off the down the rabbit hole on that one.
Starting point is 00:30:47 Here we go. Last question for the day. I've been in law enforcement for six years and on the SWAT team for three. I've got two SWAT guys email me today. Prior to that, I was in the Navy for six years. I've been through a divorce and I'm a father of an eight-year-old girl. A lot of your topics pertain to what I've been through my own life, which is why I think I have gravitated so strongly to your show.
Starting point is 00:31:05 Now that I've buttered you up, I'll get to my question. I recently underwent back surgery for two exploded discs. That sucks, I'm sorry. As a result of that, I have had to take about six weeks off of work. Since I have been out, I have missed some pretty serious calls for service. As an example, my previous squad just responded yesterday to a juvenile who committed suicide. My question is, since you have gotten out of the military has hearing stories of things happening to people you used to work with, giving you anxiety from not being there. It almost feels to me that by not being there, I am failing my team.
Starting point is 00:31:39 If the call is a fatal motor vehicle accident with children, I want to grieve with my team. If my team is in danger, I want to be there to defend them. I can't overcome this anxiety of not being able to be there. It keeps me up some nights, and I haven't yet been able to find an adequate method of dealing with it. The struggle is real in this one, and it took me a long time to come to grips and just really let this one go, which is not actually the advice that I'm going to give you. But that was the only choice that I have because it looks like you will be able to recover and go back to your job. When I left the military, I had to move on with my life. And guess what? The seal teams,
Starting point is 00:32:15 they moved on without me. They didn't stick, they didn't skip a beat. And you know what? The bicycle that was the seal teams, they may have been even trucking down the road more efficiently without me. Having said that, sometimes it's tough to sit there and hear stories of people that you used to work with doing awesome things. And not that the stuff that you necessarily described in this is awesome, but you're hearing people dealing with situations that you've trained for for a long time. And that feeling of being with a really highly performing team, I totally understand what it is that you're talking about. And then you are removed from that team for whatever reason, and it's tough. You know, the fear of missing out is a real thing. And like I said,
Starting point is 00:32:55 I totally can empathize and understand where you're coming from. I'm going to try to give you a different lens to look at this through. Hopefully, your team is. team is doing just fine without you at least to the level that they would be if you were there. And I say that because if they are, it means you've done an excellent job in preparing them. And that's what I had to wrap my head around with a little bit when I got out. The time for me had come and gone. But if the team you leave can continue without you, without having a hiccup, if they realize that there's a leadership void or a professional void and they step into it and
Starting point is 00:33:34 fill it in that off time until you come back, you've done everything that you need to to prepare that team. And it should make you feel proud that they are able to go to these situations and handle themselves appropriately absent your presence. Because like I said, again, you were part of a highly functioning team and they were trained well. I was always trained, hey, if there's a leadership void, you have to step into it. If there's a professional void, you need to step into it until that professional can come back. That is what a team does. They look to their left and their right and they look out for each other and they accomplish the goal regardless of the challenges that may be set in front of them. I think that's why when I look back on my career, my tour at Buds is the
Starting point is 00:34:17 one that I think was the most impactful. I shot exactly zero rounds downrange at an enemy combatant during my time there and focused my effort on trying to create individuals that I wanted to work with and give them the tools, even though I was teaching them diving, whether it be critical thinking or just the ability to be open and talk about topics and work their way through it, that they would be better at that than I ever possibly could be. Long-term success of the team, whether or not I am attached to it or even in the community. For you, though, you're on a medical leave. Two exploded discs, I don't even want to know how that happened. It sounds like it sucks. but maybe do the best you can to have an involvement at whatever level you can.
Starting point is 00:35:09 Obviously, that's a tactical level, but try to stay integrated with the team when it comes to debriefing. You know, see if you are able to, and I don't actually know what your officer organization would allow when it come to this front. But it's not a bad idea. You know, if your team is open to it, if they respond to a critical event, I would be there when they do the debrief because you can give them an objective, not a motion. attached or involved perspective, and it could potentially help them. You could ask them questions about their TTPs, their tactics, techniques, and procedures. And you could potentially refine them because, again, they're going to be talking to you from a perspective of somebody who was involved, and you could have that objective third-person view
Starting point is 00:35:47 from somebody who wasn't. And maybe you can refine them along the way. And then I would say slowly work yourself back into that team setting. You know, I don't, I'm not a doctor, but I don't think two exploded discs is anything to really shake a finger at. So I would take your time and try not to rush it because you might end up with even more time off and you'll find yourself back in the situation again where you have this fear of missing out. Actually, it's not fear of missing out. It's fear of not being involved or regret and not being involved.
Starting point is 00:36:19 And I'm glad that you described it the way that you did. You wanted to be able to agree with them or, you know, be involved in the things. that they are working their way through. That sounds to me like you care about very deeply, not only what you do for living the people that work to your left and right. And I don't have an easy answer for you on this one other than maybe just try to change the perspective of how you are viewing this. And these are the times, you know, when you have an injury, these are the times where you can go back and really help out from an administrative perspective, which will keep you involved in that team. Don't get me wrong, you're not going to love it. But it'll keep you at that
Starting point is 00:36:55 higher level of involvement. And then I would say, last but not least, focus on your recovery and do the best you can to not really think about it. Your team's going to be there when you get back. Sounds like they're doing a great job, which means you were doing a good job when you were on that team and get some rest. That's all I have for this Friday. Thank you again to the stereo app for sponsoring this episode of the podcast. If you want more, if you just liked listening to full out of Friday and maybe you want to ask me a question live Tuesdays and Thursdays. That's where you're going to find me, the stereo app. Follow the link. in the show notes or the link in my Instagram bio.
Starting point is 00:37:29 It's the easiest way that I know to direct you there, and you can follow along on the journey. Tuesdays and Thursdays, stereo app, see you there. Or maybe I won't. It's up to you. I understand the West been from the North. I've got... Ladies and gentlemen, thank you.
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