The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Saturday Special- Colin speaks with Nate Boyer, former United States Army Green Beret and Texas long snapper

Episode Date: June 13, 2020

Colin talks with Nate Boyer, former United States Army Green Beret and Texas long snapper about the changes brought on by Colin Kaepernick since he convinced him to kneel starting back in 2016. They talk about the protests, Kaepernick's future and how many military members were angry with him for supporting Kaepernick Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen to learn the hard way on the AHA Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. He's a former U.S. Army Green Beret. He served in Iraq, two tours in Afghanistan.

He's got a football connection. Texas Longhorn's Long Snapper taught himself, by the way. Former Seahawk Long Snapper in camp in 2015. and Nate Boyer advised Colin Kaepernick to take a knee during the national anthem rather than sit in the 2016 NFL preseason game. You follow him on Twitter at Nate Boyer 37 and he is joining us on our Saturday podcast today.

You know, it's interesting. Your life's become very, very public. I see you in a lot of places. You're a guy that taught yourself how to play football. Being a U.S. Army Green Beret is not a public life generally. So let's start with that. You seem to me to be very comfortable in not only a public life, but a public life of sparring often with people who disagree with you. So you're comfortable with it.

I don't know if I'm comfortable with it, but it's probably not the healthiest thing in the world sometimes to let some of the stuff get me fired up, get me ignited. But at the same time, I feel like it's often important for me to sort of engage with people and at least, try to do it somewhat with a bit of education behind it, but also like playing devil's advocate to whatever side they're on. Typically, the people that are that are coming out on me on social or whatever are people that have a pretty strong opinion, you know, one way or the other. And it's kind of a, it's often what I call like a sort of an all or nothing, you know, proposition. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And I don't know. I mean, I think, I think a lot of that from the military, especially being in the special forces, one of our, you know, what they call us in

I guess one of our nicknames is like the warrior diplomat. Right. So our whole goal with everything that we do, most of our missions are done through unconventional warfare and foreign internal defense. So we are working alongside training, living with, and fighting alongside people from other countries that have completely different customs, things that will never, never fully maybe relate to and understand, but we have to respect and we have to learn to work together and kind of put our differences aside. So I was like, I mean, especially in Iraq and

Afghanistan, places like that where it's just, it's just very, very different. Like, there's no getting around it. You have to sort of let things go and just listen to them as human beings. And then once you sort of get past the minutia of things that are, different about us i mean at the end of the day it's human beings we all basically want the same stuff you laugh about the same stuff i want what's best for our family um you know and and and that's what it gets down to for me so it's like i understand that like going into these things that like just because somebody has a different opinion than me and all that doesn't mean they're just wrong or evil and they want to just destroy everything and and you know a lot of people i guess don't really see that or they don't

want to see that right now well as somebody who served has an army green beret Iraq, two tours in Afghanistan. And you had people saying, you didn't understand the flag. You're not a patriot, which had to be infuriating, with your relationship with Colin Kaepernick. Why do you think the knee at its core bothered so many people? Have you ever sat down, talked to Colin about this? Like, why? I mean, Vin Scully was deep.

bothered by it. Education levels often didn't matter. Vin Scully is one of the most literate broadcasters of my life. It bothered him deeply. That's the name that always jumped out to me. It didn't bother me as deeply. My dad had served, but I was not in your traditional military family. Did it make me less of a patriot? Why at its core do you think the knee bothered people? And were you surprised by the reaction as, as, I mean, it hurt television ratings. It had that much impact. in the country. I think, you know, the narrative about why was so, first of all, it wasn't correct, the one that was widely shared, widely spread. The narrative about why was so attached to the act. I don't think it would have mattered what he did. He could have stood,

I feel like he could have stood at that point, he could have stood with his hand on his heart and, like, bowed his head down or did something like that. They would have been, like, traitor, unpatriotic, hates America, blah, blah, blah, because, you know, he, I mean, he did say, there's a quote, he did say, I'm not going to stand for the flag of a country that oppresses black people and people of color. So like, but then he further explains, you know, why he's protesting, what he's doing. It's about police brutality. It's about social justice, racial inequality, all of these things. But it turned into, no, he just, he, he, he doesn't, he hates America. He won't stand for the flag in America. He's unpatriotic. He's disrespectful.

You know, it was never, it was never the narrative of, well, he chose this time, first of all, because it is a controversial time. It's an uncomfortable time during the anthem when, you know, it is something that a lot of people see as a very uniting moment. But at the same time, if he's not only standing, because he doesn't feel that way, or he's standing for others that don't feel that way, they don't feel like they count equally. They don't feel united. under that flag, as I do, as Drew Brees does, as a lot of people do, people of color too, you know, people that serve in the military and people that don't serve in the military. A lot of them do feel that way.

You're entitled to that feeling. But it doesn't mean just because he doesn't feel that way that he hates the country or that he's just, you know, utterly disrespectful and doesn't care. Like he obviously, well, I don't know what I say obviously. To me, he obviously cares enough to do that and enough to sort of stick to that. and a lot of people agree with them, obviously, because there's quite an outpouring of support. Yeah, only 32% of Americans now are offended by it. I ask you the question, having an answer myself, I believe that when the flag represents our quality of life and our values, and he was disrespecting those.

But if you're black, you see the world differently and you've seen injustice. so it was the kind of protest that our Constitution has allowed, which is a peaceful protest to say you're not completely happy with the way people of color are being treated. My takeaway has always been, wouldn't you rather have a peaceful protest, which creates dialogue and context? That's what America's about. I've watched revolutions and protests in other countries on CNN, and it's

not peaceful. It is chaotic and mayhem. Ninety-nine percent of our current protests, I'd say even higher than 99 percent, have been overwhelmingly peaceful. And so I think there's a lot of people that thought, many with police or military backgrounds, he was discounting or devaluing the American quality of life, which for a person of color in America is not the same. There are certain privileges to those who are not black. I mean, that was always my kind of base, simple evaluation of the situation. Make any sense? Yeah.

You know, but I wonder with that 32%, if that number is shifted quite dramatically, maybe even just in the last two weeks, not to mention the last three and a half years. You know, when there's a little more, when people are looking at it more in retrospect and, you know, compared to what some of the stuff we're seeing in the massive. today and also like how many people i'd be i'd be willing to bet not that many well a lot of people probably didn't realize how much support he maybe had and how much many people in the country were willing to are now willing to you know kind of step up and say something which it is a little more comfortable now of course at the time when he first started i mean it was two months before probably the most divisive election at least in my lifetime the most divisive elections in a pretty divisive time.

And so it was seen and kind of taken as a divisive stance or me or whatever you want to call. Nate, let's be honest. As a U.S. Army Green Beret, did people reach out to you that you had served with and were upset with you? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, well, and that was another, like, narrative that was not nearly as popular as, like, you know, what Colin was doing, but there was this, people thought, oh, I reached out to call him and told him to protest. Or I, who knows what, you know, or I said, hey, man, you should, you know, you should take a knee because America sucks or whatever.

There's some crazy ones out there that have, like, some crazy narratives in the whole story. And yes, I got a ton of, and I still do. And it's all good. Like, you know what? You said it earlier, talking about freedom of speech and rights. At the end of the day, in the military, no matter what you did the military, you know, if you were in special forces or any other job, you took the same oath, and that was to defend the Constitution, which includes the First Amendment, freedom of speech, freedom of expression. And so I also defend to the death, those that absolutely abhorred the fact that I even had a conversation with Colin Kaepernick. You know what I mean?

It's their right to feel that way. all I can do is try to help them understand why, not only why he was doing, but why I felt like it was my duty to at least listen to him, you know, have a conversation. When he asked me a question, like, hey, do you think there's something else I could do besides sit that's not going to offend people in the military? And by the way, my answer was no, like there's nothing you can do that's not going to offend some people. I mean, everybody, military, we're just, we're just as individual and diverse as the rest of the, well, probably more than the rest of the country. I mean, we are every color, religion, belief, political stance you can imagine. And we train together, we fight together, we're willing to take a vote for one another. But off the field, off the battlefield, like we're very different, much like a football locker room, we're very different.

We don't always like each other. But we can put that stuff aside and like figure things out, solve problems together, like Colin and I were trying to do in that when it comes to just the situation or just the question of what's, more respectful protest-wise, gesture-wise, or what's more of a uniting symbol or, you know, how are people taking this? I mean, he cared enough to ask that. And that's gotten lost quite a bit, too. And so I just want people to understand that from his standpoint. It was definitely not easy what he was doing. But I think it was also difficult, especially in how quick that timeline all went down. I mean, from him protesting a week or two earlier to all of a sudden, we're sitting down having a conversation.

He's asking me, hey, man, like, I care enough to, like, I don't want to offend people in the military. I don't want to offend you. What do you think? And I gave a suggestion, and he did it, you know? I mean, that's kind of a, that's a pretty big move, I think. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

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You talk to him, obviously, on a regular basis. I know you did at some point. Where's his mind at right now? Many believe I'm one of them. He's going to get a tryout. And teams now are going to take three. quarterbacks, according to some reports, because of the virus and the concern that somebody could get COVID, he'll make the NFL if that's the case. When's the last time you talked to him? Did you talk football at all?

I have, honestly, I haven't talked to him in a couple years. And so it was three and a half years ago when we met. We talked through that season, into the next season a bit. All always, you know, very respectful, positive. There's never like, there's never, there's no reason we don't, we don't speak, you know. It's just a matter of that he'd get hit up from all directions, especially times like this. It's really hard. But even before that, you know, it's like different paths. We're doing different things. I'm working a lot in the veteran community.

He's doing his thing. But, you know, nothing but respect. And to speak on that, yeah, I mean, it just comes down to me. Like, and people will argue with me in there like, of course he wants to play. You know, he did that workout, whatever, several months ago, you know, down in Atlanta. And, and I was like, yeah, I, but the matter is, the fact of the matter is to me is, if he's definitely a starter, it's a different conversation. And if it's any other position where everybody plays, except for, you know, in quarterback,

the only position where only one guy plays every week, every other position, people cycle in, rotate in, everybody gets, you know, play some. If he's not a starter, is it worth it to him? And it's like, is that not going to be a little bit odd? and and, you know, where does he go? What team does he go to? And then you've got a situation where maybe they're in training camp and they're competing and maybe he's, you know, just as good or better in some ways than he had been towards

the end of his career. And it's like competing for the starting job. Like there's going to be politics involved with that, I would wonder, I would think. And then, or say he starts his season as a backup. And then the starter maybe he has a couple of things. good games, then a couple bad games, then all of a sudden there's clamoring of like, why isn't he playing? And it turns into this whole thing. Like, does he want to be in the middle of that? I don't know. I honestly don't know because he's done so much more off the

field for, for the world, you know, for the country, for, for a cause that many people believe in. He's been a spokesperson for that. So does that person, you know, is that person a backup quarterback ever? Is there even a scenario for that? I don't know. What do you think? Well, yeah, I've said this. I said we should probably ask him. I think three and a half years of inactivity, and he wasn't playing particularly well the last time he played.

It's just a long time. Michael Vic missed a couple of years, came back, sat for a year, struggled to beat out Kevin Cobb, and Michael Vic was great. So, you know, I think if you have three quarterbacks in a league per team, he's in, and I still think he probably wins a job somewhere, but the quality of quarterback play's never been better in my life. And the quality of backup quarterback play is pretty darn good. And I think it's very difficult to be out of a professional sport

when you were kind of a marginal player for three and a half years. Michael Jordan took 18 months off and acknowledged, I'm not the same player. And he's the best basketball player most believe ever easily. So we'll see. You know what? I'm here for it. I'm in the interesting business.

You know, at the point of the point with you and Capri, a couple years ago. Was there ever a moment where you thought, man, people are just never going to get this? They're just never going to quite understand what Collins's about. Were you ever at that point? I mean, I still am when it comes to certain people. And I think I've realized more or at least accepted that some people just don't want to. They just don't want it. It doesn't matter what you say. It doesn't matter. It'll never be enough or it'll never be something they'll reason with. And that's That's okay. That's just some people are like that. And I definitely had moments, I think, especially over that first year he was out.

So I would say that's 20, so 2017, that's easy. It was like, you know, just a year off of when we met, you know, his first year out of the league. And it was obviously that was when we started hearing a lot of conversations about collusion and all this stuff. And then, yeah, there was just, there was just certain people that it doesn't matter. It didn't matter how many times it would explain the way. why, you know, the narrative of why. Like I said earlier, police brutality, social justice, racial inequality.

It didn't matter. They were like, it doesn't matter. He's disrespecting my country because this, because the flag means X, Y, and Z, not A, B, and C. And it's like, well, yeah, it means that to you. It means that to you. It means that to you. And you could say it a million times.

And they just never would. But to look at where we're at now, and I've had a ton of people, so I can't even imagine how many feel this way that didn't reach out to me. I'd have a ton of people who reach out to me. And honestly from both sides of this argument, you know, that I've said either, and I'd say more so on the kind of conservative side, I guess, they said, hey, look, you know what? I was really offended and it still hurts me when I see this. But I finally understand, I think, why, and I'm listening to that.

And you know what? I respect you, Nate, for at least having the conversation. And I absolutely respect his right to do that. And I don't, you know, I don't have to like it. And that's okay. That's what America is supposed to be all about. That's right. That feels great.

to me when I see that and hear that, especially from, and some of those people have been guys that that MF me from the jump that I served with. You know what I mean? And so like that really, man, it's good to, it's good to feel that. And that's why that's going back to your first question. That's why sometimes I do feel responsibility to engage, not in a combative way, but with all these guys, but just in explaining, no matter what they say to me, just like, hey, look, man, or whoever you are, I understand you feel this way and you have every right to feel this way. This is why I did it. This is how I feel because, I mean, I want Colin and everybody to stand, but I want them to stand because they feel like I do or these some semblance of that. I want them to feel pride in their country.

I don't want them to stand or do anything out of obligation. That's not American to me. So, you know, there has been, there has been that. And that's a good thing. That's a really positive thing that I'm glad for, you know. And it's a crazy year, though, Colin. I'll say that. 2020 nuts.

Former U.S. Army Green Beret served in Iraq two tours. in Afghanistan, Nate Boyer is joining us. You know, I thought I'd ask you, you've got a military background. What is the endgame or a realistic solution for you for a systemic reform among police departments and the force used? When you watch that story developing and the changes, what is a realistic solution? We need police protection, but it is too often brutal and punitive and harsh. What's the end game? What's the solution or or an idea for one? Yeah. Well, I think one of the major things, and this is something that, you know, this movement's been pushing for for a long time is accountability for law enforcement members. You know, when stuff like this happens and it's

very clear, it's a very clear wrongdoing. It's not a paid leave situation. That's something Colin said way back in 2016 and more and more. I mean, even myself at first, I was like, and often would say, yeah, but it's, it's nuanced. I mean, this job's hard. Trust me, I know I was in the military. It's not that simple. And it isn't that simple. The job is hard.

But there's still, to a point, there's just absolutely no excuse for acting a certain way, having a certain mentality behind that badge, you know, when you go out the door. It doesn't matter where you're patrolling. It doesn't matter what your background, who you are. So that's got to be a very specific part of the training. and a very specific part of, you know, evaluations for people that are joining the force, people that have been on for a long time, because we can't have that mentality. But then when things like this happen, there's got to be, there's got to be major repercussions,

major, you know, or it's not going to change. You have to have that feeling of risk, like, okay, if I do something that, you know, I can't just get away with it and say, well, you know, I felt threatened. It's like, okay, you know, the job is threatening. It's a tough job. And I know it doesn't pay well, and I know it's going to be really hard for us to find good cops at this point. That's something we need to focus on as well. But that's got to be, you know, you're volunteering to do this.

You're stepping up, and we're grateful for that because we need police officers. We need law enforcement, like you said. But there's, you know, there's a level of integrity you have to maintain because you have to have that in the military. I mean, if you, you know, if you go overseas and you treat people, you know, the wrong way, and you do something to, you know, to civilians or even the situation against bad guys that aren't arms, you know, we have rules of specific rules of engagement. There's repercussions. There's major repercussions for that. And, like, we need to have those same standards in the police force because the next step moving forward for me, well, not the next step, but one of the next steps, one of the most important steps is, like bringing honor back to what it is to wear that badge, you know, so young people of all colors are like, oh, wow, cool, police officer, you know.

Thank you. You serve and protect me. Like, we've got to get that feeling back, which means we've got to see that on the streets and feel like that's what they're actually doing so that we have the right people taking that oath, you know what I mean, joining those departments. I mean, we have to have great. We have to have the right people from a lot of them, probably more of them from those neighborhoods to take pride in it. And we've got to take pride in it as well. So that's going to definitely take time with where it's at right now, the way that they're viewed. but you know just this to me the the abolishment is just like I mean the anything super extreme it just doesn't make it doesn't make sense there's got to be a

middle ground here yeah I've never had a yeah I've never had an extreme position honestly in my life I mean I think my DNA my genetics my parents were moderates and so yeah I mean I I usually don't like absolutes and extremes and I I can understand um that we change and fundamentally the way police departments operate needs to be changed. But I do think police protection is vital. You're a world traveler. You're a guy that goes all over the world. When you watch police departments globally, do you sense more aggressive nature from our domestic police force than you do in other parts of the world?

I do. I do. And I'm saying that about countries that are fully. developed because it is very different situation when you're in some of these very undeveloped countries. There's a lot of corruption and all that stuff. Not that there's not corruption probably in our department at some level

but it's I'm comparing it to countries that are sort of on our you know on the tier of like a first you know something you'd say a first world country. Right. Yes and I think there's a bit of reason behind that too. I mean we are

so diverse, so diverse and we do have a lot of internal problems as well. And, yeah, so that's part of it. But it is, you know, but I don't know what exactly, you know, central about that. Part of that is, and people, people, I've learned this through this process that, you know, the actual, the actual, you know, police forces that, that, you know, we have today, they were, they were, a lot of them were started during, you know,

slavery and they were essentially slave catchers. So it was like, that's what a lot of that was born out of. And I'm not saying it in any way that that is what these people exactly are doing today. People might argue with me on that and say that they are. But, you know, it's sort of born out of that. So it was like it's less of, originally, you know, originally it was less of, I guess, of this idea of sort of, you know, protecting the herd, looking after the flock, making sure it's pure protection. And more like, you know, we've got to get, we've got to get people, get them behind bars. And, you know, we've got to get the bad guys.

You got to get the bad guys. And the bad guys, you know, look a certain way. And so there's, I think there's still, there's elements of that. Absolutely. And it's, it's kind of crazy. And like I said, I'm just learning about that. I mean, I'm just trying to, like, get caught up and understand because I'm a, you know, I'm a white guy that was never involved or even really interested, admittedly, in social justice until I met with Colin.

Until 2016, and I was just frustrated with my country being divided. and I wanted to figure out a way to get people to calm down and listen. And then it's like I've had to do a lot of learning myself. And I still have a lot to do. But so there's that. I mean, it's just with our past, we're a very young country, but with our past and for many people in this country, you know, ancestral, looking back, you know, with how they were brought here, a lot of, you know, obviously black people, people from Africa, how they were brought here. the opportunity or lack thereof that they've had for years and years and years.

And like, yes, slavery was abolished. Yes, we had the civil rights movement. But there's a lot of lingering effects. And there's a lot of people that were born into a place where they felt like they didn't have hope. They didn't have opportunity. They didn't have equal rights. And that still exists. That's not gone.

Just because we don't have, you know, legal segregation, it doesn't mean that segregation doesn't mean that, you know, racial inequality, racism, and bias, even within our law enforcement, doesn't still exist. And so it's something we have to just keep working towards and keep rooting out. And I think over the last couple of weeks, we're seeing such an outcry from so many that maybe now is going to be a pretty dramatic shift in the way that that's done, finally. And even when it's done, and even when all these, the training changes and the rules change. and, you know, policing is different. It's not going to just be solved. It's not just going to be fixed.

We have to continue to work towards it and, like, maintain it. And that's just, I mean, that's how things are in general. You can't, you can't, you can't just tweak a few things in the manual. And all of a sudden the problem is fixed. Like, we have to have incredible oversight. And, you know, we've got to, like I said earlier, find a way to bring back that honor to the badge so that we have the right people signing up. You know, seeing that billboard when they're driving down the 110 that says join our law enforcement

and think, like, you know what? I want to do that. I want to help protect my community. But I also feel like that's a, you know, that's a cool job. That's a good job. And right now, you'll be hard for us to find a lot of people, especially people of color, I would imagine, that feel that way. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending. Opinions are flying. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines.

We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaders to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action. with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife-Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jett. And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so. They're finishing that sentence.

I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark.

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and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clifford Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee.

We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

He co-founded MVP, merging vets and players with Jay Glazer. It empowers combat veterans and former professional athletes by connecting them after the uniform comes off. Uniform comes off. You know, our president called in the National Guard during these protests. I don't know if it was necessary. I don't have a strong conviction either way. How did that land for you? You know, that's a tough one. I mean, I think most of those men and women in uniform probably don't want to be out there police. or protecting their own streets. You know, they don't want to be doing. That's not why they joined.

I was in the National Guard when I was in college at Texas, you know, and then Austin has experienced, you know, they've had protests. Most of them, to my knowledge, have been very, very peaceful. But still, they call, I think they had Guard members that were called in. So there's a possibility I would be called in. And I can't imagine having to be in that situation and feeling like, I don't even disagree with what these people are protesting about. But to them, they maybe see me as like someone that's not there to protect their right to do that, which I'm supposed to be, but someone that's there to oppose it, you know, or to protect against them being potentially dangerous.

And, of course, you're armed and you're in camouflage and, like, you have all these things going on. So there's going to be stereotypes and generalizations made about who you are behind that unit. And that's happening with cops, too, which isn't, which isn't fair. And I'm not defending people that have, that have done the wrong thing. There's plenty of people in the military that have done the wrong thing, you know, use force when not needed. And at this point in our, in our nation's history, we call them all heroes. You know, everybody in the military, oh, you're a hero, you're a hero. But it's like, okay, well, what if I told you that there was people like that, you know, in the uniform that have done things like these police officers has done overseas?

You know, would you say the same thing? Would you feel the same way? just because you can't see it on your own land, you know, on your own television screen at home. So that all being said, like, they're in a tough spot of the National Guard members, and there's no doubt been ones that have done some things they probably shouldn't have done just in these last two weeks, you know. But that is, that's a difficult position. I mean, I can only imagine, like, it being 2013, 2014, I'm still on the Longhorns, you know, maybe somebody recognized me in that uniform, the camouflage, you know, and they're just like,

that's the guy that plays, that's the long snapper for the long ones. What the hell is he doing on that side? You know, and it's just like, no, no, no, no, no. It shouldn't be about sides, especially when you're there to serve and protect. You know, you're there just serve and protect those rights. You know, when done peacefully, especially that First Amendment right is a very American one. And that's what we all took the oath to defend in the military. and I think in law enforcement as well.

So that's a sticky position. And I feel for a lot of those men and women because most of them probably don't want to be there in that situation. Nate, you've obviously flourished as a former member of the U.S. Army. When people come back from multiple tours, do they generally flourish? Do you feel like the exception? Is it the kind of career that is elevating people?

or do you worry that it's not? It absolutely is a type of career that's elevating people. One of the big problems is, and you touched on it, you mentioned MVP, which stands for merging vets and players. So we bring together combat vets, former professional athletes, help them find purpose and mission and that team again when the uniform comes off. We also help them remember who they were and sort of like reignite that human beings, that person that was willing to sacrifice so much to be elite, that person with all those skills,

those warrior diplomats, as I mentioned earlier. So it does elevate people, you know, most of the time. And you develop so much grit, you know, an ability to survive, adapt, overcome, all those things we talk about, improvise, we problem solved. And like I talked about earlier, that sense of team, and that willingness to, regardless of our differences, put that stuff aside and work together with others toward the common goals, right? But it's so easy to forget, especially when that career ends in your 20s and 30s,

and you feel like I'll never be great again. I peaked, you know what I mean? I'll never have that rush I had inside when I was over there in Iraq, in Afghanistan, wherever in the world, protecting these people, literally fighting to free the oppressed, which the special forces motto is they oppressor Libre, which means to free be oppressed.

But that's what everybody's doing in our military in a lot of these places. You have that elevated sense of purpose, you know, that's really hard to match. Then you come back home, I was really lucky. And you talked about, you talked about, you know, how I've been able to sort of transition. I was really lucky not even knowing it that I had football,

like my American dream to chase when I came home. And I started training for that when I was in Iraq. So I came home and I really, I kind of rolled right into that. I never thought about that transition. I never had that moment of like, well, now I'm just a civilian. I got to figure it out. I had a team that I kind of went right into.

I had another mission to goal trying to go into going to college. And it was very different. I mean, I was 10 years older than the other freshmen. But I had something that definitely occupied, you know, my mind, it was challenging. And a lot of people, they don't have that. And then so when I felt my first, when I really felt that transition struggle was when football ended when I got cut from the Seahawks. And I was out of, I'd gotten out of the military just a couple months before that.

All of a sudden, I got neither. And that's why we started MVP, because I had that, had that feeling and it scared me. And I knew a lot of other people, both in sports, but especially in the military, felt that same way. And I know also what we're capable of, you know, I mean, I think we're the types of, we're the group of people, the professional athletes, military vets, maybe more than any other groups in the country that will help bring us back together, help solve a lot of these problems. that we've been talking about on this podcast. And, you know, fight for those that can't fight for themselves. Continue to do that for our country.

Well, you're not only uniting us, but solving all these problems. Because they are real issues. They're not just first world problems. They're real world problems. And we've got to fix them. But we need that type of leadership. And we need that background. We need people that have developed that grid, that know how to overcome, but don't know how to quit.

We need those people now more than ever. Nate Boyer. at Nate Boyer 37's his social media Twitter account thanks for joining our Saturday podcast Nate Thank you Colin I appreciate you brother Thanks for having me out

Thanks for being moderate That's all Just be reasonable Last night A blown call changed a game This morning the internet lost its mind And nobody's telling you Exactly what happened

That's where sports slice comes in I'm Timbo And every episode We're cutting through the noise Breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment,

and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman, help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 is big to me.

I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a hear. unpack what went down and try to make sense of how we survived it with our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. It was a wild year. It was a wild year.

I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest. conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the

world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to, listen to learn the hard way on the IHard radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human.