Cleared Hot - Powered By BRCC - The Cusp of WW3, or Not...

Episode Date: February 9, 2024

Are we headed towards WW3? Is America about to crumble onto itself? Today, we are talking about an all too common narrative, that impending feeling that our world is teetering on the brink of chaos. With headlines screaming of global conflict and social upheaval, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and pessimistic about the future. But is this narrative of an impending World War III rooted in reality, or is it a byproduct of the relentless stream of negative information we're exposed to? In the second half of the episode, we shift gears to a more personal issue raised by a listener. After a decade of dedication to a full-time SWAT team, our listener has transitioned to an administrative role within his unit for the noble purpose of spending more time with his family. This change, while beneficial in many aspects, has led to a struggle with a sense of purpose and identity. The transition from an operational to a support role has yielded a professional void, despite the gains in work/life balance and personal well-being. Wolf 21- Check out what they have to offer for the best sleep of your life: https://www.thewolf21.com Use Code: "clearedhot" for 30% off of your 1st order The Speed of War Comic Series: https://www.thespeedofwar.com/ Check out the newest Cleared Hot Gear here: https://shop.clearedhotpodcast.com/  

Well, hello, everybody. It's Friday. You know we're going to do a Q&A. Before we start, though, if you live in the Flathead Valley, if you can make it to the Flathead Valley, February 25th is the grand opening, not the grand opening, what am I talking about? The one-year anniversary of the grand opening. See what I did there? I tied it in. Of Black Raffle Coffee, Calispell. We're going to be doing a pretty cool event. Now, all weekend, the 24th, which is a Saturday, and the 25th, which is a Sunday, free drip coffee for anybody who wants to come in the door. Of course, you can order any type of coffee if you want, but come sample some of the drip coffee we have on. Sunday, the 25th, some brands have pitched in some stuff, and it's pretty cool. And we're going to do some giveaways. First, when we opened, we had 50 Yetis that netted people free drip coffee for a year. Those are no longer going to be valid, but we have 25 metal VIP gift cards, I guess we'll call them, a VIP card, not a gift card, because that's not what it is. If you have one of those, where you get one of those, it's free drip coffee for another year. Vortex kicked in with some variable power scopes, a red dot site for your pistol, t-shirts,

hats, some stickers too, I believe. Montana Knife Company might have something that you could poke or stab yourself with by accident. Cloud Defensive, things that turn darkness into light, flashlights, right? And Casey Hildreth, from Cloud Defensive, who's been a guest on the podcast, is going to be there, demonstrating their product, and I'm going to let him get. give some away. What else? Gator sunglasses, my all-time favorites, my daily drivers. We're not only going to start having them for sale in the store, but we're going to be doing some giveaways on the 25th. So if you can make it, swing over to the Black Rifle Coffee, Callis Bell, social

media page. It has all the details. And hopefully I'll see you there. I'll probably be there Saturday for a little bit, but Sunday I'll definitely be there. And with that, let's dive in to this Friday. And the one question and I'll call it thoughts I have. to round out the week. Here we go. The red smoke. To the smoke. I'm looking at danger close now. All right, ladies and gentlemen, I think this is going to be a little bit of a shorter one. And I know. I've said that many times. And then 45 minutes down the road, I'm rambling my ass off.

But I'm really going to do my best today because I have one question in front of me that I'm going to answer. And before that, though, a consistent and constant narrative that I have. have been encountering. Not in person, but I've been seeing it online. And I've been getting some questions about these. To speak broadly and encapsulate the sentiment of what I've been hearing over and over again. It goes like this. Are we about to enter into World War III, comma, is the United States about to crumble onto itself? Question mark. And before I say anything, I'm going to say this. Sebastian Younger has a quote that I love. The role of the media is not to tell people what to think. It is to tell people what to think about. And I love that so much. I don't consider myself to be media because I guess for me I look at traditional media sources as broadcast TV. I understand that things have evolved. Maybe for some people, God, I would hope I'm not a source of media because I don't really cover current or breaking events.

I know that there are people who do so. I don't have a desire to do that. But I love the guiding principle of not pushing a particular thought down people's throats, regardless of what the motivation may be and where that thought comes from. Maybe you have the best of intentions in the world. I don't think that you should tell people how to think. But I love the idea of illuminating areas where they could spend time and hopefully develop and then answer questions for themselves. So are we on the brink of World War III? Is the United States about to end and crumble onto itself? I don't want to tell people what to think about that because I see so many people on

mine who are already doing so. This is what you need to do. This is where you need to look. This is how you need to prepare. Do all of these things or you're fucked. And again, I'm painting with a broom there a little bit. I understand it can be a little bit broader than that. But that's not what I want to do and that's not who I want to be. So I'm going to work my way through my thoughts on this and hopefully just leave people with questions and maybe questions that they can go answer on their own time and maybe develop an interest and then they can leave themselves down their own path, wherever that may want to lay. I understand why people think we're on the brink of World War III. We keep getting told that we are. I understand why people

think that the United States might be opening a trapdoor on itself and will be starting the second Civil War because we're constantly being told that that's the case. So this morning, because I had been thinking about this, and I had some suspicions about the type of information that most people are exposed to. And I'm going to pick two media outlets, and I'm only going to use these two, and I'm not saying that they speak exclusively for either side of the political aisle. But I think the two examples that I'm going to use, it is fair to say they are so dissociated, one with the left-hand side of the political spectrum and one with the right. Of course, they're one of many. I'm not saying that they are a beacon or a lighthouse in and of themselves. But I think for most people in the modern era could associate CNN with a more left or liberal ideology and Fox News with a more right or conservative ideology. And I say that with no

judgment whatsoever. It just seems to be the case. I logged on to both this morning. Not because I wanted to read the articles on either one. I just wanted to take a look at the type of information that was presented. And I did a simple tally, a positive story versus a negative story. And this should shock nobody, unless you're not paying attention to the input that you receive, which of course informs the output, which could be your thought process, your attitude, your behavior, your sense of doom or threat or anxiety. Just saying, maybe they're connected. I saw things talking about border patrol bill, the most current border patrol bill, which, of course, in it had a Ukrainian aid package, where I think it actually might have been a Ukrainian aid package that was wrapped in the veil of the Border Patrol bill. Again, that's a topic for a different day, a single bill voting system that doesn't allow people to stuff that type of bullshit in there.

there was articles on and of course the border bill is in direct relationship to how the situation of the border is being described from either the left or the right-hand side a recent assault on the new york police department officers by illegal aliens that then fled new york a couple of them did at least stories about ukraine stories about israel and palestine and of course and this is unavoidable probably for at least the next ten months the 2024 election cycle. The negative versus positive ratio in both of those outlets was about 80-20. And I wish I could say it was 80% positive, 20% negative.

But we all know it was the inverse of that. It was 20% positive and 80% negative, meaning the vast majority of information, regardless of which outlet you went to, was slanted. negatively. A threat, whether it be exigent threat or existential threat, a threat to our country, a threat to our way of life, a threat to you as an individual, a threat to going outside, a threat to your thoughts, threats after threats after threats, or risk, or pick whatever word that you would want to. The articles are sticky with their titles. They're designed to get you to click on them for sure, because that's what their business model is. The more time you spend on their site, the more hope that they have, you're going to click

on an ad, which is, again, that's a conversation for another day. I started thinking about this 80-20 ratio, and I started thinking about my own life. And a question I have for anybody who listens to this or watches this, do any of you in your day-to-day interactions have an 80 to 20? ratio in your day-to-day life. And I started thinking about it. For me, it's nowhere near like that. My day-to-day life is almost never, if not pretty much damn always never, 80% negative, 20% positive. It's usually 95, 5, maybe even a higher ratio. Of course, we all have shitty days. I'm as susceptible to them as anybody else. And of course, fate and chance and shit happens.

I mean, there's a reason that's a bumper sticker because it does happen. And sometimes it splatters all over you and other people. But it's not at that ratio. But why doesn't that match up with the information that we are constantly being bombarded with? And if our objective reality doesn't match the reality that we are largely viewing through our electronic devices, whether it's the size of an iPhone or a computer or iPad, whatever it may be, why does the influence of things that don't align with our own life, why does it have so much power? And who benefits?

Who would benefit from presenting and portraying information in that manner? And I'm not saying that the things that were reported aren't true. I'm not saying that they didn't happen. why is the ratio so high for negative over positive? Again, who benefits? You could say the media company. There's a reason why they say things like if it bleeds, it leads. Are we as human beings designed to seek out the negative feedback?

Maybe it's like a defense mechanism. We have to look for things that are threats so we can educate ourselves to threats and prepare ourselves for the world around us. I think that that would work if we were only presented with things that directly impacted our life where we live. I'm not so sure how that works when we have these devices that are connected to almost every square inch on the planet and we can be bombarded with negative news stories that have almost nothing to do with where we live.

I don't know if our brains are capable of processing that. And it can go even deeper. And I'm not a conspiracy theorist, anybody who's listened to the podcast. would be able to tell you that. I mean, I'll entertain them from time to time because I think they're interesting to discuss and why people hook on to them so deeply. And of course, I would be the first to tell you that some of them are actually true. And that's the deal with conspiracy theories and why they're so sticky because you can point to the ones that are true, but that's not justifications for everyone of them being true. But who else could it benefit?

If you can get a group of people, and by that I mean the American public, angry, and scared and squared up red versus blue or white versus blue, whatever, whatever color you would want to associate with it, and get them infighting and get them angry and get them shouting and get them paying attention to anything but what is actually operating behind the curtain. I think there's a lot of people who benefit, but I don't think the people that people that that are angry do, that are yelling and screaming at their neighbor, who are worried that World War III is imminent or that the collapse of American society is imminent. Let me be clear on this. There are societal issues that I think do threaten the fabric of who we are in this country.

But I also think that many of those issues are portrayed as if they are the norm. where they are actually the anomaly. Very, very loud, very, very public minority groups monopolizing the airwaves to make it seem as if they are the majority. And again, why? Who benefits? Well, what I can say is this. And I'm not an expert on anything. Politics, society, any of that stuff.

From a tactical perspective, why do you ambush somebody? Well, you have the tactical advantage. You want to surprise them. And you can do a simple ambush where you just get on a line and you wait until they walk into your field of fire and you start shooting at them. But if you really want to make it spicy for somebody on the receiving end, you hit them with a complex ambush, something like an L. Right. So they'd be in the middle for those of you watching of my thumb and my index finger and the web in between. And you have interlacking fields of fire and they don't know where it's coming from and they don't know where to move. And you have the ability to maneuver. and have largely tactical advantage and control over that situation. Well, why do we do that? We do it because it sucks for the person on the inside of that ambush. The world I come from, we use bullets, or rockets or grenades, if you know what I'm talking about, or all those things in combination. Sometimes, I actually can't think of a good time when we would use the javelin.

Even though I would love to have been in an ambush where javelin was utilized. I'm sure it's happened, just not with me, unfortunately. Life goal, not unlocked. But you hit them from both sides to get them into a place where they have paralysis by analysis. They're afraid to move in any direction because if they think that they move in any direction, they're going to be destroyed. And maybe they're going to be. But while they sit there paralyzed in fear, that gives you the ability to maneuver. And because they are unwilling to, the advantage turns more and more and more into your favor.

And I worry that the people in power, some people in power, I don't believe that the entire political. system is corrupt. But I worry and I wonder, because again, I don't want to tell people what to think. But I think about the people, whether it be politicians or those at the news organizations or the tie between the two, is it accidental? Do you think that the way that we are presented information is accidental? Do you think that the way that our government operates, and let's use an example of the bill that was either portrayed as a border bill or Ukrainian aid package that had border funding in it or the border bill that was positioned as that to address issues at the southern border that had Ukrainian aid packaged in it.

Is that an accident? It's not for me to answer. I know how I think about that, but I'd rather leave you with that question. And if it's not an accident and the news media and the way that they portray information, is not an accident. Why do we as citizens allow that to be the norm? Why do we allow our government to operate in this way? And what would it take for us to do something about it? I don't think, personally, that we are headed towards World War III or the collapse of American society or America as we know it, unless people lift their head up a little bit and try to determine whether

or not they are in the inside of an ambush. That's step number one. Step number two would be doing something about it. And again, that's a podcast for a later day. Burying our heads in the sand, I personally think would be the fastest way to end up in World War III in the collapse of American society. And I don't want it to get that way. And again, I'm not going to tell people what to think, what they should do, but I hope that people can think about those things. Think about the information, think about the government, ask the question that I think is the most valuable, which is why. Why is it like this? Why do they present it like that? Why do they operate in that way? And then once you can identify that for yourself, start talking about it. Talk to your family, friends,

neighbors, whatever it may be. But it all starts with, for me, that single question. So those are my thoughts on those two topics. Let me dive in on one question here and then we're going to get off into the weekend. I've been listening to your podcast about six months now and is hoping to get some perspective on my current situation. I'm 40. I'm married to a great wife and I have two great kids. I've been on a full-time SWAT team for the last 10 years, but have recently taken an administrative job within my unit in order to spend more time with my family by no longer working nights shifts, by working night shifts in weekends. Since making the move, I've picked my kids up from school every day, slept in my own bed every night, and I've even managed to

restart Jujitsu. I feel healthier. I have more energy and the work-life balance is great. However, when it comes to the job itself, I'm struggling with a sense of purpose. and, if I'm being honest, personal identity. While the move from an operational role to support role has brought with it a ton of benefits for which I am truly grateful, I also feel a sense of professional emptiness. I took pride in my previous job and felt I was making somewhat of an impact on the world around me, whereas now the highlight of my day is deciding what color to make the cells on an Excel spreadsheet. The people in my office are perfectly nice, but I miss the camaraderie,

the shit talking and the fulfillment that comes with being on a high performing specialist team. Could you share any advice, experience, or perspective on how to navigate this transition? Appreciate you taking the time to read this and thanks in advance for any help that you can give. I like this question. I picked it because it kind of speaks to me and how I have felt before and a little bit about the world that I came from, just the dynamic and the way that it was set up. So let's start with this. God, and this is the one that sucks the most.

Here's the hard truth. Your SWAT team is fine without you. They didn't even notice that you're gone. And that sucks to hear. And in back of your mind, you know, when you leave a team like this, you're like, oh, man, it's like you don't want the team to fail, but you kind of want it to hurt maybe a little bit that you're not there with them anymore because we want to have this sense of like, hey, I was good at my job. I had an important job. I did my job well. And part of the reason that we were successful is because I was there.

And all of that can be true. And your team is going to be just fine without you. Just like the SEAL community. They're very good at, not like it at a doctrinal level. Like, you know, don't leave. If you leave, the team is going to suffer. But there's kind of that there. And as soon as you leave, they will find a heartbeat.

And they're going to be okay. And the team is going to move on. and they are going to forget about you because you will be replaced with somebody else and they will be tasked with doing things and continuing on in their occupation. And that is easy for them and hard for you, just like it was hard for me. So I totally get it. That's the hard one to swallow. Like, fuck, they didn't actually need me.

But that's okay. Let's look at your operational career as a SWAT team and where you're doing right now. So you move from an operational role to an administrative or something. support role. One of the things that I hate about the way special operations are portrayed is that is always things that are blowing up or being shot at or bangs and bullets, you know, essentially. What is never highlighted are the massive amount of individuals and organizations that are all required to do their job for special operation soldiers to even get on target. whether it's aircrew or people that are just loading gas or ordering equipment,

fucking lithium batteries for your NVGs or the lasers on your rifle, the equipment that you're wearing, the radio, I mean, all of it, all of the things that you're wearing on target, all of the things that you use on target, all of the things that you may ride to get to target or off a target, the medical support personnel, the administrative staff that are taking care of your military records because if any other community is like the SEAL community, we might be good at bang and boom, but we suck at admin because we don't fucking pay attention to it. And I'm not an

Intel specialist. I'm not an N5 specialist or any of these other things or a weatherman. It takes, you know, maybe an aircraft carrier is a great example. A vessel that can hold like 5,000 people. But what makes the highlight real, an FATN going off the deck. All of those people on that ship, enable that F-18 to take off. Just like in the special operations community, without the support staff and personnel, we couldn't do shit. And that's the role that you're in right now.

So think back on your operational career about all the awesome shit that you were able to do and then realize one of the reasons and really one of the most important reasons that you were able to do those things is because of all the people that you had supporting you. and now you're in that role. So yes, you are not on a tactical team anymore, but you still have direct impact on those tactical teams. It is not like you have been just discarded to the side.

You have a different role that terminates on getting that team on target, on time, doing what it is that they need to do. And that can be a tough jump for people to mentally make. And I get it. It's nowhere near as exciting, but nothing exciting is ever going to happen. without the support role. And that can never be forgotten and should never be forgotten. And it almost always first is. So there's that when it comes to thinking about your new role in occupation right now. Or not occupation, your new role. I mean, you said it perfectly here. I feel healthier. You have more energy and your work-life balance is great because you finally have a work-life balance. What I think you probably had before was a work-work balance. And I bet you were doing your

work day with the people you worked with and then you're off time with the people that you worked with because that's what I did right fuck work life balance let's do work with the people we work with and then spend every second of time with people that we didn't work or that I did work with as well and what we would do in our off time is we would just talk about the shit that we did in our on time so basically you're on and I think that can be destructive destructive in the sense that it can really tie your sense of identity directly to what you do you can start confusing what you do occupationalally with who you are as a human being. And I don't want that for anybody, because every job has an expiration date, except for maybe parent, but that one ends when you die.

So even that has an expiration date. So one piece of advice for people earlier in their journey that I highly recommend, and I don't care what you do, but let's just say in a tactical world or a very team-centric occupation, I would highly recommend developing a social circle that has nothing to do with the people that you work with. It is a healthy step. And being able to detach from your occupation and spend time with people who don't give a shit about it and you can actually develop yourself as a human being, is super, super healthy. So you're in a better place right now. You're healthier. You have more energy and your work life balance is great. You've picked up your kids from school every day, right? You're getting to recover better. You're in your own bed every

night. You have time now and an interest to restart Jiu-Jitsu. The only thing that you have lost, in your own words here, I'm trying to find it here. The camaraderie, the shit-talking, the fulfillment that comes of being on a high-performing specialist team. We'll get to the specialist team here in a second. Comradtery, shit-talking, and fulfillment, you can find those in a variety of ways. You might find that on the Jiu-sets, depending on what type of school that you go to. Find a hobby. a team sport, if you will. Jiu-jitsu is an individual team sport.

Obviously, you need training partners if you want to progress beyond like a very rote or basic understanding of the sport. All of those things are replaceable. The high-performing specialist team, that's a little bit of a tougher one. But you can find a sense of fulfillment by spending some time with yourself and figuring out things that challenge you as a person. A high-performing specialist team. What does that mean? A small group of people that were highly trained and that were asked to do things that most people either would not want to are not capable of doing.

Now, the asked to do things that people would not want to in the policing capacity, what the SWAT team does, probably most people don't want to do those things. I totally get that. But every other challenge in that, you can find outside of military service and outside of police service as well, or fire or EMS or whatever it may be. But only you can answer that for yourself. And maybe that means you need to set a goal for yourself, a physical goal, an activity goal that you don't think that you can achieve. And you need to work towards that. And if you do achieve it, let me tell you right now what you're going to find, a sense of fulfillment in that. And then what you need to do is set another goal for yourself. So put your mind, if you can, into this headspace that there is no arrival.

There is no end state. Once you achieve something and you find a level of fulfillment, look for the next. and it doesn't have to be like these galactic hopscotch from the surface of the earth to the surface of the moon or anything like a broad jump the grad canyon or anything like that. Maybe it's run a marathon, do a Spartan race, enter a powerlifting competition, enter a jiu-jitsu competition, learn how to play pickleball. I don't know what the fuck it is, but you do. Everybody listening to this knows who they are as a person. And you could set a goal for yourself that you know would be hard, that you know would challenge you, that you know that you likely wouldn't be able to succeed doing. and if you go do those things, you will find a sense of fulfillment that is hard for me to

describe in words. Is it going to be exactly like it was on the SWAT team? No, but maybe you'll be a better person for putting the SWAT team down. Maybe you'll be a better father. Maybe you'll be a better husband. Maybe you'll actually have a much better work-life balance. So that is my advice to you. Embrace your new role and understand the role that you have now and how it relates to the role you used to have. They're very intrinsically tied. And two, spend some time with just yourself. Find that fulfillment in goals that you set for yourself as opposed to a goal that an

organization or a tactical environment sets for you. That's all I got. See you guys Monday.