The Daily Stoic - Jo Ellis Served Her Country. Then They Made Her A Target.

Episode Date: July 1, 2026

Jo Ellis spent years serving her country as an Army National Guard aviator and Black Hawk helicopter pilot. She wanted to fly, serve, and be part of something bigger than herself. Then, after a deadly aircraft collision over the Potomac, a false rumor spread online claiming Jo was responsible. She was not involved. She was not even there. But because she was a trans service member, the internet turned her into a target.In this episode, Ryan talks with Jo about service, identity, courage, and what it feels like to have your life turned upside down by a lie. They talk about her path from helicopter mechanic to pilot, the SERE training experience that forced her to confront the truth about herself, the cost of being publicly scapegoated, and why one of the most Stoic things we can do is resist the urge to have an opinion about everything.Follow Jo Ellis on Instagram | @JoEllisReallyWatch Jo Ellis on Kill Tony | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WYC-flN8Nc🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here |  https://www.dailystoiclive.com/🎙️ AD-FREE | Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/🎥 VIDEO EPISODES| Watch the video episodes on The Daily Stoic YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyStoic/videos✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemailSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world. Hey, it's Ryan. Welcome to another episode of The Daily Stoic Podcast. There's an old joke on the internet that says every day there's a trending topic on Twitter. And your goal is to never be that topic, right? You might think you want everyone to be talking about you. You might think you want the whole eyes.

the world on you. But if they are, it's almost certainly because something really bad has happened. Or you screwed up in some huge way. Or things are about to get real bad, real fast. Like, imagine going to sleep and you wake up and you're trending nationwide. But it's because everyone thinks you're dead. People are total strangers or posting your photo. They're tying you to this tragedy. They're politicizing. You. and your identity. They're telling stories and lies about you that aren't true. They're incredibly angry. Imagine it's so extreme, so crazy that you have to record a proof of life video just to make sure the world knows you're still alive. And in the process, try desperately to defend your name.

And that actually happened to the person that I'm talking to today. Joe Ellis is a Black Hawk helicopter pilot. She was in the Virginia Army National Guard for many, many years when she was suddenly, falsely accused in January of 2025 of being responsible when that tragic, terrible airliner crash happened over Washington, D.C., right? A Black Hawk helicopter crashed into a commercial airliner over D.C. and 67 people lost their lives. And shortly after this happened, Ellis, who is transgender, was accused of being that pilot. And she was accused of this for no other reason than bigotry and sort of rage profiteering. People wanted to somehow take this tragedy and lay it at the feet of a minority. And then specifically the feat of a person, a veteran, hardworking member of our armed forces.

They wanted to put it on that person, to score internet points, to put. to prove a point, I don't know. But anyways, this rumor spreads all over the internet. She becomes this trending topic. She starts getting hate messages and death threats. Imagine you get death threats after you are falsely accused of being dead. There's a whole bunch more to the story as we're going to get into the episode. This is not really about this current event.

It's about this incredible and fascinating woman who was also forced out of the armed forces as a result of what happened. That's only a facet of this fascinating life. She sort of goes into hiding, handles a bunch of stuff in her personal life, but then reemerges as a stand-up comic. Lo and behold, it turns out she's hilarious if you saw her on Kill Tony. My interest is getting long, so I won't play it. But it was really, really funny. And you should definitely check it. I'll link to it in today's show notes.

So in this episode, Joe and I are talking about this crazy experience. I was fascinated to ask her a bunch of questions about sear training. that's survive, evade, resist, escape, which is the training that Stockdale went through, which I'm writing in my book right now, what it means to come to your breaking point, how you come to a realization about your identity. We talk about our experience being a trans person, being a trans person in the military. What happens when your private life becomes a public debate and what service means when you are suddenly a headline?

I think you're going to really like this episode. You can follow her on Instagram at Joe Ellis. really go see her perform stand-up, enjoy this episode, and follow Joe. She's a fascinating person to be tracking. So did you always want to be a helicopter pilot? Yes, I wanted to be a pilot. I wasn't sure about helicopters, but definitely when I was little looking up at the sky, seeing planes fly over, very much wanted to be involved in flight.

What took you to helicopters then? Black Hawk Down, the film. So the Ridley Scott film was just not that I wanted to crash them. But, you know. Yeah, that's the opposite. But just seeing them and seeing that movie, and that came out around the same time that I was, like, 13. So, like, it was kind of, like, that formative years of just, like,

I want to be a part of something greater and I want to fly, and those machines just looked incredible. And so you started as a mechanic, though, right? I did. I did. Yeah. So I started as a helicopter mechanic. My recruiter told me that's the best way to become a pilot is to learn everything about the helicopter.

Not sure if that was entirely accurate. Yeah, I was going to say that's all. Sounds like something you would tell, like, an 18-year-old who doesn't know anything because you're trying to meet a recruiting quota. For sure. I mean, it's definitely easier to recruit someone as a mechanic enlisted than it is to recruit them straight into flight. But there was a pathway to go straight to flight. I just didn't know it. But it worked out for the best because I did get a good understanding of the helicopter and a lot of experiences. And I ended up getting rejected from applying for flight school. I think I applied three times. I got rejected twice. So third time is when they finally accepted me. When you were in high school, did you always plan to join the military?

Was that, like, your career path? Was that common in your family? It was, like, definitely in my mind. Like, service, you know, is in my blood, and my great uncle fought in the Battle of the Bulge. And my grandfather was in the Navy during World War II. My cousin is Admiral Jim Ellis, who is now at the Hooper Institution. So, like, huge line of history and just always wanted to serve, but wasn't sure how. Yeah.

My brother served in Iraq and 03 as a day. tank driver, he was active duty. And so that kind of taught me like, oh, I don't think I want to be active duty. I don't know if I want to do that all the time. And so that's when the National Guard came up as an option and I was 19 years old and, you know, struggling to pay for college and always wanted to serve and just driving down Interstate 64 seeing Blackhawks fly over me and just like, yeah, I think I want to do that. Like I want to fly. I want to be a part of something greater. and it all just kind of hit at the same time. So what did becoming a mechanic look like?

What was that path? So I was like 15 weeks at Fort Eustace in Newport News, Virginia, and learning just how to work on them. So I started as a structural mechanic, learning how to, like, shoot rivets and bend metal and make fabricate parts and patch holes and things like that, lots of composites and stuff. And as soon as I got out of school,

I immediately got deployed with my unit to Iraq. Yeah. And they asked for volunteers to be doorgunners. Right. So I was like, sure, I'll do that because that'll put me in the aircraft. A little more exciting. Yeah, it'll put me in the aircraft. That's closer to the front seat.

Right. Right. So my whole idea is like, how can I get closer? And I mean, what 19, 20-year-old doesn't want to operate a machine gun out of a helicopter while it flies, you know? So that's what I did. And that was a blast. And, you know, flying eight-hour days, you know, just over the desert, doing that whole life.

But you're doing two jobs in the same? Yeah, so one day I would fly. The next day I would work on helicopters and the hangars. And then the next day I might be on the flight schedule again. I would fly. So kind of leading to two different jobs at the same time. And you're probably just starting to know this machine like inside and out. Inside and out, yeah.

All at the same time. And in the meantime, I'm still maintaining a civilian career because your guard. Right. You're part time. So I fell into E and just started. started doing like technical support, like help desk and started climbing that ladder too. I originally wanted to be a video game designer. Yeah.

So I went to ITT Tech, which is funny because that school doesn't even exist anymore. Yeah, I remember all the commercials as a kid. Yeah, yeah, and they're like, video game design degree. And I'm like, yeah. So I learned a lot about like Adobe Creative Suite and just like graphic design type stuff. And dropped out of that pretty quickly just because it wasn't going to jump me into like a paying career. Right. But tech support did.

So here I am fixing computers one day, the next day I'm flying in a helicopter, and the next day I'm repairing helicopters. And then what's the path to actually getting to fly? So the path to flight is you have to put together a flight packet, which is like a huge application process. You have to get recommendations from people, and then submit that to the military, and then you sit for a board and they interview you,

and then if they give you the blessing, then you get to move on to flight school. So I did that twice. got rejected two times, ended up going for another military specialty, which is like another specialty on the Blackhawk, learning that job, and made it to Staff Sergeant, which is an E6, and I was like around 12 years of service. I was like, you know, I think I'm going to get out. Like, I never made it to flight. I didn't think it was going to be in the cards for me. And then on a whim, I decided to throw my packet together one more time, submit it, and then they

accepted me. So I was like, oh, I guess I'm staying in this for a long term. going to go to flight school. And that's 18 months of training. Yeah. And lower Alabama at Fort Rucker. And that involves Warren Officer School, which is kind of like basic training again, but also with college level courses. So like a lot of military history courses, things like that, military writing. And then once you do that, you move on to Sear training, which is a very brutal three weeks of training. And then after that, you go to primary flight training. So once you do all that, then you can actually start flying the helicopters. And you start out in a smaller aircraft, the Lakota, which is a UH-72-Erocopter frame,

and then you move on to what they call go-to-war aircraft, which for me, because I was guard, I already knew what I was going to fly. There was no selection process for that. I just knew I was going to fly Blackhawks because Virginia only has Blackhawks, so that's the only thing I can fly. And so then I went to Blackhawk course and then finished that. So about 18 months later, I was a pilot. And this was like around 31 years old, 32 years old. How many hours do you think you have in a Blackhawk?

Not a whole lot because I finished flight school in 2022. And then I flew for about a year with my unit. So I've got about 300 hours total as a pilot, about 100 as a crew member before. And then. Oh, right, because you're National Guard. So you're not in it every day. Yeah, 100 hours a year is typical. Yeah.

Even for active duty, like 100 hours a year. You know, it's like your standard minimums for hours. And it's not like you can just have one at home that you practice with. Right. They don't let me take it home. Unfortunately. But yeah, so unfortunately, it was cut short because of the military ban and everything. And so, so like, yeah, I couldn't fly anymore. I've been actually reading a bunch about sear training.

It's fascinating. Because Stockdale, I'm writing about Stockdale, and he obviously, you know, I just went through. It was like a formative experience in his life. But it sounds like it was for you. Oh, it's, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know how much you dug into.

my story, but Sear Training was a huge part of my life. Tell people what it is, because I don't think most people know. Yeah, so it's survive, evade, resist, escape. Yeah. And it's a classified school, well, parts of the school is classified, so there's only certain things I can discuss. But, like, there's a lot of classroom, there's a lot of how to make a shelter, like, Boy Scout type stuff. Yeah. Which is all unclassified, which is fine. Like what you would do if you crashed? Yeah, if you crashed, like, how are you going to get water? How are you going to make sure it's drinkable, like, what kind of plants can you eat? Like, very basic type stuff that's good to know.

But then there's other aspects of it, too. There's, like, a POW aspect of it and learning how to resist when you're in capture. And then, of course, some of the more dangerous parts can be the escape part or the rescue, right? And so it's learning how to, if you're going to escape, how you're going to do that? And then if you're going to be rescued, like, how do you not get shot during the rescue process, like, because things are going down. And so good stuff, like really good stuff. I would never want to do that school again. But it was probably the best school ever.

That's also where I had my epiphany that I was suffering from gender dysphoria. There's a point in that training and you are placed in like sensory deprivation. Put you in a box, right? Yeah, a box. Yeah. It's more like a closet. So ironically, it's like I came out of the closet in the closet. Yeah.

But no, it's like you could like do like this, you know, like there's enough room to like squat and move around. But anyway, you're in there. It's probably to what mimic like being in an isolation. In a cell. In a cell. Yeah. And so you're in there eight-ish hours, 12 hours. You're not sure.

You know, you know, you're standing up most of the time. They're blasting Yoko Ono of the speaker, which is some form of torture, you know. They're trying to break you, right? In a way, like, I don't know exactly what they're trying to do. do, but- Or mimic what someone who's trying to break you would do so you can be familiar with that if that were to ever happen. So stress inoculation training is another way they define it. And there's psychologists like blended into the role play watching, you know,

like it's very controlled so they're not like just messing with people. Yeah. But it has to be one of the most interesting like points of data the Army has is everyone who goes through the school and what kind of data they might gather from that, right? Right. But yeah, so I was in there and like I think what had happened, my best way to describe it is you're very tired and very hungry by the time you get to this process. You know, and so once you're in there, it's like you have no defense mechanisms mentally, physically. Like you're kind of just depleted. Yeah.

And I think it took that much to be in a position where I wouldn't just push this away or or say what it wasn't. justified that it couldn't be me, that I couldn't really be having these things. And I describe it like an old, you know, slideshow, like just images like flipping through, zipping through of all these things in my life of gender dysphoria and just like running from it and in all of those things. And it just, it's where I had my epiphany that like, oh, that's what this thing has been this whole time, my whole life that I've been like struggling with, that I didn't want to, I didn't want to name it. I didn't want to face it.

And I wasn't even sure what it was because I grew up in an environment where, you know, very conservative Christians. So it's like I didn't even have language around it. I didn't know what gender dysphoria was at the time. So I guess they broke me in a different way. Well, that was going to ask you that. I have a bunch of questions about this. I've been thinking a lot about it.

But like, I guess that would be one sort of critical read on it was, it would be like the training was, dramatic and it caused some sort of break in some way. And that's what the training is supposed to reveal. Do you know what I mean? Like, did you consider like, hey, maybe I didn't discover something about myself. Something went sideways. I did think that at first, because when I got out of the training and you eat a nice meal, like I went to Chick-fil-A afterwards, that's where I went. You can't deny the Lord's chicken, you know? So I went to Chick-fil-A and just like had a milkshake and chicken

nuggets and just like sat with it. And I was like, you know, that was just some crazy episode, you know, because I was also like in the woods at one point before getting into the PWA situation. Like, you're so tired that like you can start hallucinating, right? Because it's dark and there's shadows and it was raining and lightning one night. And I was just like, did I just see somebody? And, you know, there's all these jokes about, oh, when you're in Sierra, you'll see like, you know, the ghosts of the forest and like all these things. And so I was trying to, once again, once I had kind of come to my senses trying to chalk it up to this thing that they can't be. Right.

And a few weeks went by and it was still festering. And so I went for the first time, I went to see a therapist about it. And I said, hey, look, this is this thing that happened. But then here's all these things that I thought of during that time that, like, feels like true. Yeah. And they said, yeah, that's gender dysphoria. And I was like, really? They're like, yeah.

But I'm successful. Like, I've done this. This is your VA doctor, right? This is not a VA. This is private. Yeah. So as pilots, you learn not to do certain things medically. You know, when you're just asking certain questions, then you're not quite sure.

Oh, interesting. Because of the impact it can have on your flight physical. And so since this wasn't like a formal diagnosis or anything, it was just like a counseling session. But that's where I kind of started exploring it. And then once I realized that's what it was because I was in the middle of flight school, I was like, well, I definitely can't get a formal diagnosis right now. I can't go get it treated because then I'll be pulled from training immediately. And I don't even know if this is really what it is.

I still hadn't really accepted it. And then I told my wife immediately after. And, yeah, it was rough. Yeah. I still managed to get like 90s and above on my flight evals and graduate. I was really good at compartmentalizing. And flight training is so demanding of you entirely that it was actually a break. I would go to class or I'd go and fly with my instructor.

And I couldn't think about anything else. But that was kind of a way to manage processing it. So were you actually alone in the, like you're obviously alone in the box. But when what I was reading about the person I was researching is that they would put them in the box and then they're sort of like shouting things at them while they're in the box. Like they're trying to help you sort of learn how. So he remembered they were shouting like, get your head out of the box over and over again. What he took that to mean is like you have to sort of physically be there. But mentally you can be wherever you want.

And so they like one of the ways they'd worked him through dealing with this long hours of being, you know, in isolation was like to go on these sort of mental journeys. And they had him like like walk yourself, like pretend you're, you know, eight years old. and you're walking to elementary school. And like you would go on this sort of mental journey. It sounds like you went on quite a mental journey. I went on a ride, yeah, for sure. I've heard people say psychedelics are similar, like the type of state I was in.

Yeah. Because it wasn't scary, like having that epiphany. It was like as if puzzles were clicking. Like, it was just like, oh, like, gosh, that makes sense, but that can't be at the same time. What were the pieces that you're thinking about? Like, because I do think people, people think that we have epiphanies in life and it's like you just get struck by lightning.

Yeah, not quite. Because what it usually is, and this is also, I think people think like scientific discovery is again, like lightning striking. What it usually is is you had all these pieces for a long time and you just didn't know what they meant or how they fit together. And then the epiphany or the moment is where suddenly you see it or you see a glimpse of what it is and then you know the work you have to do to put the pieces together. Right.

It's like if you take a bunch of clues and you scatter them and then reassemble them and then all of a sudden it's like oh and now it all makes sense right like I guess old like mysteries you know and so yeah that's basically what it is like the pieces where dressing up in my my sister's clothes at five years old or being very envious of of women and and not realizing confusing it with attraction so attraction and envy is sometimes very similar and so it's not understanding that but then also like all throughout the years like you know just Having these moments were trying to blend in with whatever I thought I was supposed to be as a man. Yeah.

And trying to emulate that and realizing like even other people could see it wasn't authentic. And it would come off as like, oh, you're being awkward or oh, you're this or that. Or being accused of being gay, even though I never was interested in men. So it's like people were seeing something that I wasn't seeing. Right. Right. And then also internally having this, these feelings that like, oh, but the only example I know of that is like Buffalo Bill and Silence of the Lambs or like these terrible depiction. Well, I'm not that.

So it can't be this. And then, of course, my moral compass was very much based in scripture, which is these are sinful, terrible things that you're thinking of or wishing to be or. Even though that's not actually in the scripture. Sure. Right. But just whatever the people that you defer to to tell you what was supposed to be. Yeah, that it must be sin, right? Like, it must be sin to somehow I'm broken.

Yes. To be thinking these things and other people don't think these things because I'd never met anyone who ever said some other things. But then like even other things, I remember like as a teenager like planning a birthday party with my best friend. And I was like, oh, it would be really cool to do like karaoke and like all the guys can sing girls songs. and all the girls can sing guy's songs, and he like, deadpan looked at me in the face and said, why would we do that? Right.

And in my head, I'm like, why wouldn't anyone want to do that? Sure. Why wouldn't anyone want to? And then, yeah. So it's stuff like that, like, over the years. And that kind of stuff just came flooding back to you in that box? Yes. Like all these images and feelings and phrases and things that people had said

and things that I had said, you know, very much would just be like, surely everyone wishes they could be the opposite. sex, like that's a normal thing. And maybe some people like entertain that thought for a second, like out of curiosity, but I would dwell on it. I would obsess over the idea of it, like, how cool would that be, you know, to be this other thing that I feel more closely aligned to. Yeah. We're traveling internationally this summer and some of those places like in Europe, You know, you can't just go dress like you're slobby American. You've got to dress up a little bit.

Can't show their shoulders. Can't wear shorts. So I'm going to take some of the stuff I bought from Quince because it holds up well, looks good, it's fancy without being uncomfortable. I'm going to try to pack clothes that are light, airing uncomfortable. I can use them in multiple settings. You've certainly seen me in some of these things. If you've ever watched the Daily Sto of video or seen me talk live, I want something that looks good on stage that I'm not going to sweat through. That's not going to get super wrinkled.

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I love going to new places. The thing I don't like about it, though, is I don't get to sleep in my bed at home, which I like, not just because it's home, but because I have an eight sleep on my bed. I've had an eight sleep on my bed, I don't know, five years. I love it. My wife loves it. We love it because it cools the mattress. It heats the mattress.

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TrueMed is for qualified customers. HSA and FSA tax savings may vary. It's sort of like your world gets rocked in there. Yeah. And then you're like, I should probably talk to someone about this. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And of course, as we're leaving that school, there's a psychiatrist, psychologist there like, oh, if you ever need to speak with them,

this is the person you talk to, and that's the last person I wanted to talk to about it. Because it's like, if, the fear was, if I say these things, then I will be immediately pulled out of training. I'll be immediately, like, which probably wasn't true, right? But it's the fear and it's the story.

Every pilot tells you is like, well, whatever you do, don't tell the doctor. Right. Which is not great for aviation safety and its own, but at the same time, it's archaic and they disqualify really good pilots for no reason. And historically have disqualified people for a bunch of...

A bunch of stuff, right? Like, that's not that big of a deal, right? And so, yeah, it's, it's tough to kind of go it alone knowing, like, I can't really talk to my family about this. Like, the only person I told was my wife, and that was rough in itself. Yeah, that feels like a tough conversation. Yeah. Yeah. Have you ever told your wife?

No, not yet. Yeah. Yeah, that was a hard process. At first it was very much, you know, like you did this to me, you tricked me, like, you know, like betrayal. And of course, justified. Had you guys been together a long time? Yeah, yeah, about 10 years. And then after a while of me telling myself that I'll just keep living life this way, I've done it for this many years, I can keep doing it.

At least I know what it is now. And I can treat it without having to transition and things like that. And about a year or so, in a couple years into that, she pulled me to the side and said, hey, look, I can see this affecting you. And you need to do whatever it is you need to do for you, for your health. Wow, what a gift. Yeah.

And she said, you're not worry about me. Like, I'll still be there for you in every way I can. Maybe not in the same way, but I won't forsake you. And I say that she didn't give me permission, but she set me free. Right. Because there's no way I would have chosen to do that to her. I would have just suffered. Yeah.

And the dark side of gender dysphoria that's untreated is the indifference to living. What do you mean by that? I knew that I wouldn't kill myself, but I was totally okay if something killed me. That's not a great attitude for a pilot, probably. No. And it was never other people's lives at stake. So it was always one of those things where, like, no, like, I need to do this for them. And never occurred to me.

But at the same time, like, I'm in the car by myself driving. And it's like, oh, if someone pulled out in front of me, like, that wouldn't be so terrible. Right. But I would never seek it. It's not like I would ever do it. But it was one of those things where, like, I had accepted in a darker way that if I'm dead, I'm dead. And that was tough to get through. Because that's like taking the soldiers' acceptance of death

and pushing it to a point of being, like I said, indifferent. Indifferent to life. The soldier's indifference to death is in service of something or someone. Exactly. What you're describing is more like... In service of myself. Yeah. Or resignation.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, not giving up, but like, I'm like, oh, this kills me. Like, there's an upside to that. Yeah. Maybe. Well, because it resolves an irresolvable conflict in your life without you having to do anything.

Well, who doesn't like that, right? Yeah, it's the ultimate lazy approach, I guess. But it was also one of those things like, even though it wasn't my wife's fault that I wasn't transitioning at the time or treating it, it was building resentment. Just generally. Like at her, at the world, like, they won't accept me and now I have to suffer because of that. it's weird how something, how long something can lay inside you, and then as soon as you put a name on it or think about it, it becomes something you have to deal with. Yeah.

When you just realize that's what the mind and the body must be doing as some form of self-protection. Right. Well, before it was pursuit of achievement. So it was whatever this thing is, if I just get a degree, if I just go to flight school, if I just have a house and a wife and a dog and all of that thing and a kid, you know, that's the, I guess, productive version of dealing with whatever it is, is a way of pushing it away. You need something to pursue in hopes that this will be the thing that fixes whatever this is. Yeah.

And I think on top of that, flight school is kind of like my last big thing to do. And then afterwards, I would just try to be an expert pilot. And so there might have been some timing and correlation to that as well of like, I've done everything else. Well, you've eliminated all the other things that could possibly be the source of whatever, the discontent, confusion, yes. Yeah, like I was playing in the church band. You know, my wife had a daughter. So, like, you know, I was helping raise her in the home and from 5 to 18. And, you know, it's just like one of those things.

Like, you're like, but there's still something else. But you're busy, so you can't think about it that much. Well, yeah, if you're busy, you won't think about it. Yeah. Yeah, you just think about the next thing. Yeah. But you get locked in a box for a while and you're not busy for a second. There's nothing else but to think about it.

Yeah. And you can't even, you don't even have the energy to think about something else. Right. Because all of that is gone because you're depleted. Yeah. You're left with what your mind wants to think about. Right. even against your own bill.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, at hour one, I was singing songs to myself, you know. Yeah, how many hours into it is this? Eight-ish, 12-ish, I don't know. It was probably like three-quarters the way through, I've already guessed. But you know what's weird? Like, you know, like, you think you're dreaming, like, the whole time you're asleep,

and then actually it's, like, two seconds. You know, like, the dream could be the last, like, millisecond as you're waking up, because it's all in your mind. That is the weird thing about those sensory deprivation experiences is just how much it reveals. Like, I remember I was in a sensory deprivation take one time and I had this experience that I was like spinning around that I was floating in a circle.

And then they turned the lights on later and I was like, oh, that's physically impossible. Like I couldn't have done that. Like I was obviously just here laying in the exact same position. But when you just lose your bearing, and all the things that sort of tied you down to how you thought things had to be and were. Right. And so, yeah, this all could have been in the first 20 minutes.

You don't know, I guess, right? Yeah, like, I know other things happened before and after. Yeah. Yeah. But no one was there coaching me in there or anything. Interesting. Yeah. The only interaction was negative if there was interaction with anybody else.

Are there other people in different cells near you? Or are you the old, like, how does it even work? You're aware of other people around. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, because it's kind of classified. I don't want to give too many details, but yeah. Have you talked to other people who had similar awakenings in there?

No. I mean, other people had, like, things, but, you know, men. They don't like talking about stuff like that. They're not going to say that they had epiphanies of all sorts of wild stuff. Maybe if they're really open, but they tend to not be so much, at least military men. Yeah, I guess. Yeah, that's interesting.

But obviously, leading up to the training, people who've been through it, like, oh, enjoy the box. It's a common thing. But everyone I asked, like, hey, like, of course they say no. Like, no, like, I was just really tired of hunger or I thought I saw a ghost. You know, it's like very, like, surface level. But I wonder if some of them had some other things that they explored, but maybe too embarrassed to talk about. Not necessarily like identity or anything like that, but even other like crazy fever dreams or whatever. Yeah. And then how quickly we push those things back down where they

belong, of course. Or where we think they belong. Yeah. Right. Yeah. If it's anyone's fault, it's the Army's fault. You know, I should get disability for what they did. Well, if they, if they're claiming it makes you unfit to serve and it happened there, I don't think that's that. It's funny. I made it. Yeah, because of it, I'm unfit to serve, but it's not a medical condition I can claim in the VA for disability. Right.

But it's disqualifying for service. Right. So that's kind of a fun one. Yeah, where it's somehow a choice, but it means you're unfixably broken because you made the choice. It doesn't... I mean, we all know that if it was really,

because of a medical condition, they wouldn't have put animus language in the memo of being inherently inconsistent with an honorable and disciplined and truthful lifestyle. because that's verbiage that was actually in there. And so if it was truly a medical thing, they would just say it's because it's a medical condition.

But they wanted to make it sting a little bit as well. Yeah, I don't get why people care so much. That's always been the weirdest part about it to me. I know why a lot of people tell me they care, and it's all the things that the Army had controlled for to allow us to keep serving. So like case-by-case basis, if you're not deployable, you can't serve, doesn't matter what you have.

If, you know, you have these complications or whatever it is. And it's like, oh, well, the cost. It's like, well, the Army spends more on Viagra than they do gender affirming care. So it's like, what's really the problem here? It's like, hey, we're just uncomfortable with people. Yeah. Yeah. Because it is uncomfortable.

I can, it's funny, too. Like, I find it hilarious, like, this life I lead because it's just, I never thought I'd be leading it. Yeah. You know? And so I can, I come from the conservative. Christian world. So I understand what this looks like and what this seems like to people. And so I just I just want to build those bridges, though.

Like, I don't know. I think I can make a difference. Before we get to that, so you become the pilot and then the new administration comes in, your status looks like it's going to change. But then there's other adding absurdity on top of absurdity. Yeah. So I'm worried that I'm going to be kicked out because the election happens. and that's what he said he was going to do.

But also he said that in his first term, and there was an exception clause. So they were grandfathered and anyone who had already transitioned while serving. And that was part of my reasoning under Biden, why I went ahead and jumped in and did it, because I was like, well, this might be my only opportunity because they might close the door on it later. And so in 2023, that's when I started that process.

And so come inauguration time, 2025, January, in the first week or so, the executive order comes out, that they're going to ban all trans people from serving, and that it's likely going to be a full purge as well, where they're going to kick out anyone who has ever had a history of gender dysphoria or ever attempted a transition,

which I don't know how you define that. They put on a wig one time? Right, yeah, yeah, right? Yeah, yeah. Who knows, right? Like, they painted their nails. Oh, crap. That's half of California, right?

Yeah. So, but no, and so like, that was a lot. Yeah. And in the same time frame, there was a terrible tragedy over the Potomac near Reagan Airport, where a Black Hawk collided with a airliner, killing everyone involved all 607 people. That was January of last year? Yeah. And so around the same time, so like I had been asked by someone I worked for, Michael Smirconnish,

who has a serious XM show. He'd asked me because he knew me personally. hey, would you ever want to write kind of like a reflection on being trans in the military as a way to humanize this story? Because I don't think people understand you're the person that's being kicked out. They think it's these kind of cartoon characters that, you know, blue hair and like undeployable and just, you know, sucking off the government's teeth type people. And I said, you know, like, let me think about it. Like, because I knew the risk of being public and being targeted by anti-trans.

people plus I was still technically serving and I didn't want to risk my service for maybe someone misconstruing that I'm speaking ill about the administration and I figured well this this is my chance to actually be brave and be all these army values I've been taught and religious values and speak about it and so I wrote this essay and just said it was basically a love letter to service like I want to keep serving and I will serve until they won't have me. Like I didn't speak ill about the administration, just talked about my personal journey and how important service was. And coincidentally, that was published the same day the crash happened. Oh. And so somebody found that essay and twisted it to say it was a suicide manifesto,

and that I was the one who flew the Black Hawk intentionally into the airliner because it was such a non-deviation flying straight. Everyone was like, oh, this must have been intentional. And then on top of that, there was an unnamed female pilot that the administration had held from releasing for a few extra days. And the president had made a bunch of, well, we know it's DEI. We know DEI was involved. And so between all of that, someone had put together with my essay and pictures of me that I must be this unnamed pilot. and I intentionally caused the crash. And I'm another example of being a trans terrorist. Yeah.

And that happened on X or Twitter. And I didn't even have an account on there. And so I wake up to text messages of people asking, am I dead or friends asking, do you see what they're saying about you online? Like, are you okay? And then I received a phone call from the Daily Mail, which I'd never talked to the Daily Mail before. And there's a British guy there and going,

I'm surprised you answered. You know what's being said about you online. Yeah. And I... Even though that by nature of you answering the phone is disproving the rumor that you died in a plane crash. Right. Yeah. Well, no big media outlets were running with it.

They were just running with the rumor that was happening, right? Right. And so I Googled myself, which is a weird thing to do as a private individual, and saw all sorts of stuff being said about me. And so see your training, right? Proof-life video. I'm going to put a video out that hopefully I'm going to say it in a way that can't be turned into more propaganda, right? All this training immediately came to light. Sure.

And I record this video as clear as day as I can that I have not involved and this is terrible that you're doing this. Like it's insulting to the victims of the crash to try to tie me up into some conspiracy theory. And that went viral, the video itself. And then, of course, I had a wave of direct messages and things about how I'm, a plant and I'm taking the fall for someone else and I was actually supposed to be dead, but I spoke too soon and they didn't have time to kill me. And wild stuff. On top of that death threats, you know, like the fact that like, oh, you are a person that actually

exists and you are alive, well, we don't like that. Like, you know, very much messages like, I can't wait to spit on your grave and, you know, things like that. It's just like, it's a lot for still trying to make coffee in the morning, you know, on a Friday morning. So when you've done literally nothing wrong. I did nothing. Yes.

I did nothing. And so, you know, the next morning I was on CNN live telling the story. And in between that time, I hid my family. Like, we all went to separate locations. I packed bags. I armed all my firearms. I concealed carry. Like, my fear was that. Again, you're having to do all of your training. All my training came to light. In the most, like, you expect to get shot down and, or you expect to be in a war. But here I am at my home in Virginia having all this happen. And my, private employer saw everything happening and reached out and said, hey, look, we can hire security for you because we do this all the time when there's like C-suite people that like, you know, I said that would be great because I'm scared to death that something's going to happen, not to me, but to my family or to people who are associated with me. I mean, I had friends that own bars in Amsterdam calling me saying they were seeing it on the news. Right. It's like a global story. It was a big story. And I think a lot of people, when I tell the story, they're like, oh, but you were

alive, so there's nothing there. I'm like, no, you don't understand. Like, now I'm a trans Blackhawk pilot that's alive. Yes. People didn't know existed, right? They didn't think that there was a trans Blackhawk pilot in the world, right? And now I exist. And I'm not the only one. And it's just like, and then they found out that over the course of my transition, I was also converting to Judaism, which added to the rumors, right? Now I'm like the DEI wet dream. I'm like trans, Jewish, you know, like all these things. A conspiracy bingo. Yeah. So that was an intense weekend, to say the least, and life hasn't been in the same sense. When I've got to imagine, not just like as a trans person going through life generally,

but a trans person trying to not get kicked out of the military, the whole point is that you're just trying to not draw attention to yourself. Exactly. And here the whole world is looking at me. And then the perversion of it is like, you're trying to fly under the radar, and then they're like, why are you shoving this in our faces? Why can't it just be normal? And you're like, I am being normal.

I was just living my life. Yeah. Until you put this on me. Yeah. I had many people say, like, oh, you're making trans, like your identity. It's all about being trans. And I'm like, no, it's just that's the story. Yeah.

Someone said it was a trans person that has weight to it because Elon Musk loosened a lot of controls on Twitter after he bought it. And it became very common that in the first minutes of any tragedy, any shooting, it was a trans person. Right. Because he also has a personal vendetta against the woke mind virus, as he calls it. Yeah. Because his child, one of his children is trans, and he believes that they were corrupted by this woke mind virus. So he has an especially like a sensitivity to trans issues. Yeah.

And so stuff was flying on X, like no big deal. And so there was, it created a, like a very fertile ground for something like this to happen. Yeah. And for it to go so far, because so many other examples had happened, and it kind of just created this machine that something happens, tie it to a trans person, get all the clicks, get all the outrage, and then maybe it will be true. If not, we'll just delete it. Yeah.

And so when that happened to me, which is one of the reasons why I was hesitant to even publish the essay, I said, okay, well, I'm going to fight back. Yeah, the instinct when something bad happens to think, about what's a minority group I can blame this on or how can how can the presumption be that it's a black pilot or a Jewish person or a trans person is is such an insidious and dark form of racism and bigotry that we just kind of accepted as a society is like somehow like a normal political talking point and it's not it's like it's amazing isn't it insanely dark well it comes

from the idea that what they're doing is they're saying well it's not because that they're black, it's because these DEI policies put unqualified black or trans people in these positions. And if they had used the normal meritocracy system, then we wouldn't be questioning their skill set because they're black. Right. Even though by assuming that the, you're also inserting the person into, you have no idea who it actually was. But exactly, yeah. By presuming that because it was a woman or it was this race or that race or this orientation or that orientation, that they are, if they exist, one of the unqualified token recipients of the promotion instead of one that earned it. That is the race.

That's what we're talking about. Right. Right. It could be that in one specific case that some woefully unqualified person slipped through. And if that was what the evidence happened to be, then you'd be like, okay, this is why we don't do that. But like, what you're doing is presuming that happened because that person looks like. like a person who could be that thing, which is racism. It's at all just at the end, it's just, you could make it as complicated as you want.

You're being a bigot. I don't know what to tell you. It's, it's wild because I never got any DEI beneficiary. Like, it's not like I was in flight school passing the same evaluations everyone else was by the same instructors that, because I went through as a guy. I wasn't, I didn't transition. Sure. So it's like, what are you talking about? Like, it was no DEI for me.

Yeah. Like, I went through as a straight white male. If anything, that was the advantage. Yes. Like, I had a female stick buddy is what they call when you put in Paris in flight school. And they call them your stick buddy because you fly together and you do everything together. And I had a female partner, stick buddy. And she had an instructor tell her to her face, women shouldn't be pilots in 2021, in flight school.

Right. So where is the, like, advantage she's getting? when she would get all the hard questions, and I would get the softballs, whenever they would sit down and do like some, like, just knowledge, like, oral, like, back and forth. It's like, oh, tell me about this, tell me that, that. And, like, I could just, like, confidently and BS my way through it.

And then, like, they would just grill her for no reason. It's rare, but it still exists. Like, especially in aviation. Like, that's such an old school, like, good old boy circle. And thankfully, it's changing and it has changed in a lot of ways. But, you know, those 50s. 60-year-old, 70-year-old instructors, like, they haven't changed that much. Sure.

And so they still have their biases, that whatever they were taught growing up, and it comes out. And you see it, and you're like, yeah, that's, but I was a straight-wide male. Like, what was I going to do? Right. How you experienced that as the person's partner then probably lands a little bit differently now. Yeah. Because I have to imagine she could have had a whole life like that, not just that instance, right? And in my mind, it was just happening there because of that environment.

And so you have a whole different appreciation when you are, when the eye of Sauron's on you. Yes. Right? Sure. And so that's just, it's crazy because I still am conditioned as a guy in a lot of the ways. So like in business meetings or whatever, people will sometimes try to, I guess, treat me like a lady. and like I it bounces off because I'm like I just say it I'm just like why are you talking to me like this? Yeah.

Like no, I should get this race. Like I wasn't conditioned to make myself small in that example, right? Yeah. And so it's it's weird living on both sides of it. You know what's weird to me about the trans thing in the military? Is it like it seems like the definition of a don't ask don't tell situation in that like who get like how does this affect anyone but. that person when they go home at night? Well, they're reviewing women in combat effectiveness now.

Right. So it wasn't just trans people in their medical condition. Now it's, well, maybe women aren't effective doing these jobs they've been doing for a decade, right? Right. So it's almost like Project 2025 was exactly what they wanted to do. Which they said they wanted to do. And then people were like, no, no, no, no. It's like, oh, all these people very close to the president wrote it.

It's like, yeah, but that's not. That's not what they're going to do. And it's like they're slowly implementing every piece of it. Yeah. And I don't know. Like there's, they've kicked out about 6,000 or so. Well, well-trained trans people that I think are going to make a very interesting resistance to it. Well, I was going to ask you, yeah.

So how many trans people do they think are in the armed forces? Between 6 and 10-ish. They don't know because, believe it or not, the Department of Defense doesn't track it. Sure. Because it's a note in your medical file. It's not a status that anyone can see anywhere in the system. And so they needed us to out ourselves in order to kick ourselves out. Yes.

And the 6,000 out of how many people are we talking about? Oh, I don't know. Like, gosh. I don't know what the current. But a very, I mean, an incredibly small. Yeah. And of course, when I tell people that, they said, well, they kicked 6,000 out because they wouldn't take the COVID backs. Yeah.

And I said, yeah, and that was stupid too. Sure. Like, if you didn't like that, why are you okay with this? Oh, because it's not about what it is. It's about retaliation. It's about punishment. It's about the idea of, I didn't like your side, quote, unquote, and now my side is doing things that I'm,

it's like they're glad that there's some bullying happening, like on a meta level. Like, they want someone who will bully back because they felt like they were bullied. That's my best guess when we're talking about them. Sure. Yeah. Yeah.

No, it is just weird how enormous a political issue it is for something that is... Well, it wins right now. Yeah. And it wins because of, you know, the things that I get in trouble with when it comes to, like, trans organizations. It's like, it wins because gender in care for children is, you know, very controversial. And then, of course, trans women and women sports. Yeah. Which, shocker, they do generally have an advantage.

Yes. But again, it affects such a miniscule amount of people. But that becomes the wedge issue, right? That becomes trans people represent this very small edge case of a thing that is not great. And I mean, even like on ships like women and children first, right? That's who we protect. And so what is the trans issue? It's mostly women and children, right?

We don't want mutilation of kids. And on top of that, we don't want men coming in and stealing trophies from our women. Yeah. And so it falls, I think, on more of that more core consciousness of, like, being an American is, like, protecting women and children. I don't know. I don't know. I think it's more like, this thing makes me uncomfortable. And I can't just say this thing makes me uncomfortable.

So what can I, where can I find one or two edge cases where it makes a lot of people uncomfortable, or there actually is some. legal or, you know, health thing to be concerned about. So then I can say, oh, no, no, it's really just this. And so it makes an illegitimate thing seem legitimate. Does that make sense? Like, I think that's more what it is. I think when you're talking like political operatives, yes. But when you talk to people who get the result of all that messaging, they don't think

that way. They're thinking this is an issue. Yeah. Because they're being told it is. and because the biggest issue is that most people don't know a trans person. Right. And so when people ask me, like,

oh, why are you doing all these engagements, speaking and comedy, like, being so public after everything, it's like, because it's like no one else is telling the story. Every time you look at your phone, there's another chaotic headline. You almost feel like you have to be glued to your screen to keep up. But saving for your future doesn't have to be this hard because Wealthfront helps you tune out the noise

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already building long-term wealth with confidence. Start earning up to 4.3% variable API today by heading over to wealthfront.com slash doic terms and conditions apply. This has been a paid testimonial from a current wealth front client, which creates a conflict of interest. Client experiences will vary. Wealthfront brokerage is not a bank, and the base APIY is as of January 30th, 2026, and subject to change. For more information, please see the episode description. There's two things there. So most people probably do know a trans person, which is the whole fucking point, right? You do, and you don't know it, which is how it, not just should be, but which is the point, which is it's somebody else's thing, somebody else's life, it's somebody,

it's what somebody else has beneath their clothes or deals with with their doctor, and that's all that it is, which is to say no concern of yours, right? Like, like, and so I think there's that. And then, yes, there is something, I, I, do think really important about meeting and knowing some representation is so important because then you go, oh, okay, again, it's nothing. Like it's, again, it's normal like all things are normal. Exactly. Yeah. And I keep going into these traditionally red circles for that reason, right? Like, I, it's a soldier, you run towards the front. Yeah. You know, you don't, I don't want to be in the, the liberal circles, the glad, you know, rooms, because you already agree with me. Yes.

right? I mean, my parents voted for Trump each time. And it's like, I want to win them over. And maybe that's like a weird piece of this. It's like you're trying to win back your family. Yeah. Yeah. And in some way. How's that going? It's going great everywhere except them. You know, I meet people all the time. Exact inverse of how it should be. It's very much like, I never realize that this is what this is. You know, that you're a trans person. Like you're not anything like. the things I thought. Right. Right. I mean, other than, like, a few other prominent trans people, like, there's still not a

whole lot of examples. And I don't think we should be given spotlight just because we're trans. And that's one of the things after the crash rumor is, like, I don't want to be known for something that I didn't do. Right. Right. Right. And so I'm on this journey of figuring out how to become known for something I did do.

Yeah. And not waste something that while it was a tragedy and, the sense of the crash itself, but also a tragedy in like how it turned my life upside down, but also like, you know, making lemonade out of limits. When my wife and I moved out here to the country, we bought this ranch and we were both from California and the suburbs had zero experience. Our neighbors were these two women and one of them was trans. And her name was Vivian. She's amazing. She's the one that showed us how to use a tractor. She's the one that showed us how to fix things our farm. Actually, we were so helpless

that afterwards she started a charity that helps, like, basically city slickers do what we did, right? Oh, that's amazing. But, like, she showed me how to do all this stuff that, by the way, my dad never showed me how to do. Right. She worked on oil rigs. She was a vet. Also, she lives in Colorado now. She was running for, I think, State Senate there.

But, like, we would not have survived, like, literally and figuratively without this person. And I think about it all the time because, like, I don't know. if we ever talked about it, which is kind of the point. Like, you're just like, you know, maybe you can tell, maybe you can't. Maybe somebody told me, I don't remember how, like, I don't remember how it came up. But then you're just like, that's a fact about this person. Yeah. Amongst many other facts.

And then you choose whether that's going to be the thing that you let define them, or you choose whether that's a significant fact to you or not. Right. And to me, the way more significant facts, not that. this is insignificant or significant. It's just like the things that matter to me about this person is all the things that they did and the kindness that they showed us and the friendship that they showed us and that they were fun to hang out with. So you have those experiences. And so it was sad one day to wake up when she was running for office. She's on the front page of libs of TikTok, you know, that account. Oh, yeah. Yeah, they posted that rumor too. Yeah. And so what I think is really important

is not just meeting this person and you become friends with them. And then you go, then when someone decides to treat them shitty, there's a human face on that too. You're like, you, a person whose only job is posting random bullshit videos and rumors on the internet had decided to take this person who's been incredible to me and to make them into some sort of predatory monster or some sort of degenerate. It's like, no, that's not going to work for me. I think that's what needs to happen more. Sure.

Well, it's like I tell most people, like, I'm all these things, like, Black Hawk Pilot, now a comedian, like, used to be a Level 2 CrossFit trainer. Like, all these things, I just happened to be trans. Right. Like, and that's how I wanted to be. Like, when I came out to my unit, it was kind of like, oh, cool. Like, it was a non-event. Sure.

Like, everyone I came out to, I mean, other than my parents, of course it was an event. Like, my wife, of course it was an event. But most of my friends became. came closer. Like, people I worked with, my private job, I came out. They're like, okay, like, no big deal. Like, because why would it be a big deal? The only people that made a big deal about it was current administration who made it a winning campaign issue. Right. And, you know, and of course, everyone who likes to feed off of that and, like, lives of TikTok who just makes a living, you know, getting retweeted by Elon because

he owns the platform. So it's just, I don't know. And that's a tragic in itself because Elon's got so much to offer to the world. You know, it's just like, God. Who has the mind virus? Yeah, it's interesting because, yeah, like, we're all susceptible to the toxicity and the corruption that is being popular. Yeah, and you would think, though,

when something like that happens to one of your children, there's very few things that your children should do where your impulses like anger and judgment and especially when this is happening in public? Well, they don't reflect the parent. Like they're their own person. Yeah. Like especially when they're an adult.

But also it's like, yeah, like you, like my parents, I applaud them because they didn't react that way. Sure. Like, they still tell me they love me. They don't understand. They think I'm inherently on the wrong path based on their belief in Christianity. And that's, I can respect that because I understand where it's coming from. It's not coming from hate or anger, like towards me personally.

They want the best for me. They just think the best for me is this other thing, but they still love me. And I just, I don't understand why I have a daughter. Like, even if she, like, you know, like, whatever I can think of that she could do, I can't imagine reacting that way. Yes. You know, it has to be ego, right? It has to be some form of ego. Yeah, it's like, you're like, I don't want to lose my child, so I'm going to push them away really, really hard. It doesn't make any sense. But it happens in history, right? So like, what is that instinct? Like, how is love not the first instinct in this world? Like, I just don't understand it with so many

people claiming religion, especially Christianity or whatever, like the first principle of all this is love. And love shouldn't make you angry. Yes, love, understanding, curiosity, acceptance. It also just seems like a much better way to go through life. Like even if it was a choice, even if it was harmful, even if like people do lots of crazy shit. Exactly. You know what I mean? People smoke cigarettes, people do all sorts of things that may not be great for them or with people around them. Yes. Right? And it's weird that some of those things are just so much bigger to them than others, right?

And how we hold those things in society even is like we hold the trans issue so much higher than what is killing children. And we're worried about this very small subset of children that might have got some care that was risky or dangerous or maybe not appropriate even for them. but yet the number one killer of children, I think, was firearms or something like that. Many, many, many times. Yeah, like guns. Yes. Which you could actually do something about right now. Which you can't restrict at all, even in a lot of circles.

So it's just strange to me, like the things that we go after and it's, you know, you always fear what you don't understand, right? Like, that's part of it, too. Well, I think the child one is another one, too. It's like one of the things I've learned having kids who, who are, I guess you'd say neurodivergent, is like you have a lot of opinions about things before you have kids, and then before you have your kind of kid, like whatever your kid is, right?

Like, we all have opinions about like, why don't parents just do this? Or, you know, the solution to that is this. And then what I think happens is God gives you something that challenges that very assumption. And in that moment, you realize you had no idea what the fuck you were talking about, right? And if it was only so easy or as,

simple as you thought it was. And if you've met any parents who have children who have gender dysphoria or curious or whatever, what you realize is like they, like you, are totally overwhelmed, are trying to do the absolute best thing that they can for their kid, and that they're having a hard time. And are there some parents, as there are in all facets of life, who are doing totally fucked up things, you know, parents who are using their kids. kids to do this or that, sure. But the vast, vast, vast majority are trying to do the best thing they can for their family and are getting the best advice they can and are not sure. Like, I remember my wife and I were talking to someone about like, I know, should we set our kids at

this kind of school or this kind of school. And he said, you know, I haven't met any parent who's like, we figured it out, you know, that we are sending our kid to that perfect school. He's like, every parent is questioning their choices. And when you realize that, you go, I just honestly, I don't have any time or authority to think about what you're doing at your house or what those parents are doing in that state because like I'm underwater over here. Yeah. If you're really doing the work. Yeah. Yeah. Then it's difficult and it's a journey. It's not a one and done anything. You could do everything right and it still end up wrong, you know, or different. The greatest contradiction to the, when it comes to generatives for you for youth is in the UK,

they banned it after having it. And then they said, actually, we're going to do a study now. And the people who were against it because there wasn't conclusive studies are also against the study. Sure. Because now you're experimenting on kids again. And it's like, well, we're trying to get the data that you say doesn't exist to justify it. And now you're saying we can't even do that. So I don't know. People just, they got too much time on their hands. There's other stuff to do. People spend a lot of time thinking about other people's genitals. And that's, I think, our main problem is. Chronically online, right? Like that is, the woke mind virus is that. It's being chronically online. And, you know, it's very freeing to just not hold an opinion about stuff.

Yes. Right? Like, you know, this is actually one of the core ideas of stoicism. I was going to say, this is from Marcus Crillies, right? Like, there's power in not having an opinion. Well, no, he says, you have the power to have no opinion. Yes, right. Yeah.

And there's power in that. Totally. And a lot of us are like, no, no, no, no, I got to make up an opinion about a thing that I just heard about. You know why, right? It's because when you scroll, each thing you see is asking you for your opinion. Yes. in either an overt or subvert way, it's asking you to form an opinion.

Because you read it and you're like, what do I think about this? Yes. Even you're asking yourself, your opinion on it. And it's exhausting, right? By the time you're scrolling for an hour, you've had to decide and come up with your thoughts on so many things that doesn't pay your bills,

doesn't feed you, doesn't help your kid. Like, you're just wearing yourself out. There are things that, for the most part, you wouldn't have known existed if you were not. And then also we're specifically and algorithmically filtered for you to elicit strong, positive or negative opinions. Right. So on top of just that mechanism, now it's also plotting against you.

Yes. Yes, to basically make you a judgmental sort of like intolerant asshole. Yeah. And then you put it down and you walk outside and your kids doing something you don't like and your reaction is completely different. Yeah, sure. Because you're amped up, you're something, right? And it's just, it's just nuts to me. And people don't, they don't understand like you're literally playing with something toxic every day when you're scrolling and doing these things.

Well, it's toxic for you. But then also, I think what your experience is a reminder of is that it also has toxic effects for the other people that you've turned. into a video game. Right, but it also changes how you interact with people in real life. Yeah. Right. They're like, oh, it's just online. It's not real life, but it's so much is, right?

And it's tough because, like, I think in productivity, like, they talk about, like, decision fatigue. Mm-hmm. And you have to make so many decisions. And the best way to, like, kind of orient your life and the way you want it is to, is to have many things already decided, like, whether that's what you wear or what you're going to eat, if you don't have a lot of options, and you know. narrow it, then it's not a decision you have to make, so you get to save that energy. And so when you

crack open social media, you're just, you're spending all of that. Yes. You're spending all of that on passing the time. So when it comes to when you need to have those resources, you're spent, whether it's your child or your parent or a job or whatever it is you're doing or you're driving, and now all of a sudden you're angry at everybody. It's like, I've already wore myself out for the day and I hadn't got out of bed yet. Because you wake up and you just start scrolling, right? Sure. So it's wild.

I'm a big fan of, like, Cal Newport, like digital minimalism and, like, a lot of his books, but in general, like, stuff like that. And of course, Atomic Habits was huge to me and understanding that. And just I try to example, live that example, because I don't know any other way to show people, like, this is really healthy and a good way to kind of, not that I get it perfect, but you know, you see people that are just chronically online and like, once again, I lead with love. It's like I feel for them because I've been that person before. Sure.

I know what it's like and I know how easy it is and, you know, people are capable of so much great things and beautiful things. And, you know, most of us are just, you know, getting an IV drip of toxicity. On a lighter note, what tree did want to do comedy? It seems about as opposite as being a helicopter door gunner as there is. I wanted to change people's minds. So maybe not as light as you think. I was telling my story about the crash and the trans-military band so many times because I wanted to speak out that it was becoming kind of like a dry for myself.

And I said, well, how can I like change this up or whatever? And a huge fan of comedy, like, you know, many, many years, just growing up and going to see comedians, just love everything about stand-up comedy. And I decided to try to put some jokes in one of my talks, and I got laughs, and it was addicting. I was like, oh, this is exciting. I got a whole room of liberals to cheer when I said,

we need to buy more guns. Like, we need more liberals with guns. And when they all were, like, applauding, I was like, interesting. Yeah. And then on top of that, the power that comedians have been given with podcasting, in the current political landscape. And so I said, well, what's the best way to do it?

Like, write my five minutes and where am I going to go tell my jokes? Austin is the home of Joe Rogan's new comedy club, because I listened to Rogan for a decade, like a big fan. And I know that it has this show through Tony Hinchcliff called Kill Tony. And I was like, well, I can go down to Austin and sign up, and maybe I'll get picked. And so I, for four weeks, I went to open mics trying to learn how to do it. And then flew down to Austin and June and signed up and got picked the first time I signed up out of a random bucket of, you know, 300 people and told my story in a funny way to a sold-out room in Austin, Texas.

And how terrifying was that? Well, I'd already been accused of murder. So it's like, you know, it's tough, right? Like, you don't know what to expect, and you hear all the things about how far right everybody is, and they're not really. You know, it's like they're very friendly and kind, but, you know, I knew everyone would be waiting to jump on any sign of being a woke snowflake. Right. And so it was thrilling. I was hooked.

I was like, oh, I think I want to do this longer term. And so I've been spending a lot of time in Austin, just building my material and producing a show soon. like going and getting spots at different clubs and, you know, infiltrating the comedy scene. You know, I called it jokingly before I came down the first time. I was like, I'm going to call this like Operation Conservative Sciop. You know, I'm going to go down there. I'm going to get into this world and it's going to be considered like admirable

because I didn't just come in and like browbeat them. I came in, learned Rogan's craft. Yeah. Did it on his stage. And maybe that will be, even though it's very unorthodox, Maybe that's what people need to see of a trans person to help shift, you know, change minds. Yeah, there is something, it is interesting to watch that clip because people spent a lot of time making fun of something or then sort of forced to interact with it as something real and not just. Well, especially, yeah, and comedy in these circles here, because there's not many trans comedians.

Yes. And there's just a few of us. Right. And a lot of sets, if not every set, has a jab at trans people. Funny or not, and some of them are great. Like, I love trans jokes. Like, I tell them myself. And I think anyone can tell a joke if it's funny.

Like, I'm not into that. But it's very low effort, a lot of them. Because it's easy when it's a room that you assume there aren't any trans people in. Right. It'd be the equivalent of making, like, the most low effort black joke, right? Yeah. Like, it's kind of hacky. Mm-hmm.

And what I learned is going to these sold-out shows sitting in the front row and making myself known to them that it forces them to elevate. Like it forces them to write better trans jokes. Yeah. Because now it's not just this thing that you can kind of like this punching bag in the corner. Now it's the person in the front row who paid to see you. Right. And oh, now it's the person who's up next, right? Or now it's the person who you're following after they open the show for you.

Yeah. And so it does give a whole new world. And oh, by the way, it's this person that, like, rolls with the punches and, like, kind of has thick skin and we'll make the first trans joke in a room and isn't going to, like, you know, come down with all these, like, liberal, woke ideas or tell you you're wrong, right? I'm just going to lead by example. Right. And so that's, it's been very rewarding to be operating like that in this world. Well, that's very exciting. Yeah. Going up on stage is a scary thing.

But it's exhilarating. Yeah. Probably not unlike flying. Yeah. Yeah. I mean... It only feels like you're going to die. You're not literally going to die, but there is that feeling. Well, and like part of my set is like, yeah, I was flying Blackhawks until last summer and now I'm here telling dick jokes. Yeah. Because if you don't let us do what we're cut out to do, like, what are we supposed to do? You know, and it goes back to like the tropes of like trans people being sex workers.

It's like, well, give them an opportunity to do something else, right? Like, if you're restricting them for military service after, in my case, 16 years, deployments, medals, it's just a misallocation of resources. You know, like, I cost a million dollars to train. Probably more than that. Well, yeah, but definitely a million dollars for flight training. I thought Doge was all about saving money. You know, it's like there's so many contradictions to it. And it's like, I think me choosing to tell jokes on stage is been the most.

most effective form of advocacy because it's not it's not pushing advocacy first it's let me tell you some jokes let me throw some things out there and that will that will soften you to to be open to considering things differently right i'm not telling you how to think but it's it's been so rewarding i get so many messages from people like especially have to kill tony like you're the kind of representation we need or like i never thought about it this way or i can't believe you're not getting your retirement for the military. Like, I can't believe they're screwing you. I didn't realize this would happen. And these are a lot of people that voted for Trump. Yeah. You know, and so it's, it's, in that sense, it's rewarding. And as long as people will let me keep telling my story, I'll keep

telling it, you know, and so I just actually started writing a memoir, which is another, I love learning. Yeah. So this is a whole other process. Seems like you like challenges. Yeah. Like being way and over your head and doing something you don't know how to do. Well, the obstacle is the way, right? Yeah. Yeah. Well, I've got some books I'll give you that'll help. You want to go check them out? Yeah, I would love to. All right, let's do it.