Unsubscribe Podcast - 218 - There's Soldiers On The Moon - US Army 250th Birthday Celebration | Unsubscribe Podcast Ep 218

Episode Date: June 23, 2025

Go to https://surfshark.com/unsubscribe and use code unsubscribe at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN! Welcome to the Unsub Army 250th special! In this HUGE episode we are joined by very special guests General George, Secretary Dan Driscoll, SMA Mike Weimer, Maryland Governor Wes Moore & our boy Chef Rush! ENJOY!! https://drinkechelon.com/collections/energy-drinks Watch this episode ad-free and uncensored on Pepperbox! https://www.pepperbox.tv/ MERCH: https://www.bunkerbranding.com/collections/unsubscribe-podcast ------------------------------ THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS! FUM Head to https://www.tryfum.com/UNSUB and use promo code UNSUB to get your free gift with purchase and start the Good Habit today! CASHAPP Download Cash App Today: UNSUB10 #CashAppPod *Referral Reward Disclaimer: As a Cash App partner, I may earn a commission when you sign up for a Cash App account. GHOSTBED Get an extra 10% off when you use code UNSUBSCRIBE at checkout. Go to http://GhostBed.com/unsubscribe to get started. SURFSHARK Go to https://surfshark.com/unsubscribe and use code unsubscribe at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN! ------------------------------ FOLLOW OUR SOCIALS! Unsubscribe Podcast https://www.instagram.com/unsubscribepodcast https://www.tiktok.com/@unsubscribepodcast https://x.com/unsubscribecast Eli Doubletap https://www.instagram.com/eli_doubletap/ https://x.com/Eli_Doubletap https://www.youtube.com/c/EliDoubletap Brandon Herrera https://www.youtube.com/@BrandonHerrera https://x.com/TheAKGuy https://www.instagram.com/realbrandonherrera Donut Operator https://www.youtube.com/@DonutOperator https://x.com/DonutOperator https://www.instagram.com/donutoperator The Fat Electrician https://www.youtube.com/@the_fat_electrician https://thefatelectrician.com/ https://www.instagram.com/the_fat_electrician https://www.tiktok.com/@the_fat_electrician ------------------------------ unsubscribe pod podcast episode ep unsub funny comedy military army comedian texas podcasts #podcast #comedy #funnypodcast Chapters: 0:00 Welcome To Unsub 2:08 General George Is Here! 4:18 General George Talks About His Army Experience 6:16 Clint Romesha 7:02 Army 250th Birthday 10:08 General George’s House 14:18 A Message From General George 15:59 Dan Driscoll Is Here! 17:30 Dan Talks About His Army Experience & Going To Yale 20:10 Dan Discusses The ATF 23:49 The Age Of Drones 27:54 Improving The Army Based On Soliders’ Feedback 33:47 There’s Soldiers On The Moon?? 36:13 Mike Weimer Is Here! 36:36 Mike Discusses His Experience In The Army 42:46 The Weimer Family Portrait 45:10 Mike’s Transition To SMA 48:09 Mike Talks About His Purple Hearts 49:32 Mike’s Inspirations For Joining The Army 55:41 Rich Makes A Pitch 57:18 The Boys’ Experiences In DC 58:27 Humanizing The Army & Making Meaningful Changes 1:03:58 Governor Wes Moore Joins Us! 1:05:01 Wes Talks About His Military Experiences 1:17:54 Wes Talks About Getting Into Politics 1:24:57 Politics Vs The Military 1:30:54 Divisiveness Vs Conversations 1:37:04 Chef Rush Is Here! 1:43:33 Chef Rush Talks About His Social Media Career 1:50:53 Chef Rush Talks About His Experience With Celebrities & Working On TV Shows Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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This is an organization to help save my life, man. This is our friend John C. Ward. Yeah, John C. Ward. Mr. Ward is here. And he was called old iron tits because he wore two hand grenades on his load-bearing equipment. Man's prepared. You never know.

I have 24-inch biceps. No. As do we all, Chef. As do we all. We took a family photo at your desk. Yeah, I know. I don't even want to know what else you did that you didn't take photos of. Say hi to Eli.

He's racially ambiguous and random. His hair is fucking fabulous and doughnut. A dark, dope disposition. And there's a fat electrician. Welcome to Unsubscribe. Aw, the secret echelon on sub flavors that are coming out next. But just a quick massive, massive thank you to everyone.

We sold out the killer apple in a day. We did not expect that. So we got a lot of responses like, no! So starting today, when you get this, Saturday, you guys can run and grab another case. We just did another limited supply and then that is it. We just wanted all of you to have a chance to get some. Actually on this episode, that's what the individuals have been drinking. We are super stoked is it. We just wanted all of you to have a chance to get some. Actually on this episode,

that's what the individuals have been drinking. We are super stoked with it. It's an awesome partnership and the flavor is so good. We are proud of it. The guys are proud of it. So head over to echelon.com and go check out Killer Apple. And we have a couple of new flavors in the works that will be permanent.

And we're excited for those ones too. Go grab a case of Killer Apple and seriously thank you from the bottom of all our hearts. Also what we just got an interview the general and the sergeant major of the army. We started out in Cody's living room. What? All thanks to all of you. Seriously love all y'all. Thank you so freaking much.

Cheers. Ready? On three two two, one. There's no hiss. There's no hiss. That was disappointing. I had to carry these five miles in luggage. Okay, calm down. But your drink is tasty. Yeah, a strong boy. A good echelon flavor.

Bizarre. Oh, is it because it says unsubscribe at the top? You know what? I didn't think that's why why before but that might have something to do with it. It does help the taste. Oh man. Well hi everyone. Welcome to the unsubscribe podcast of the Army 250. I'm joined today by Eli, double tap, fat electrician, Brandon Herrera, my self-toning operator.

Thank you so much for being here. And if you can't tell Eli's a little stressy. Just a smidge, everything's been little stressy. Just a smidge. Everything's been changing on the fly just up until today. It's been an authentic Army experience. Oh my god. Oh, you guys missed the best part. Like, five minutes before you got here,

they were like, hey, we need you guys to pick all this shit up and move it to the other tent. And we're like, we just got it set up. They're like, yep, move it. That's Army, yes. And then we unplugged everything. They started moving. And they're like, move it that's that's army we unplugged everything they started moving they're like no never mind never mind put it back I looked at I was like I'm just gonna go pick up rocks out of the grass

ready for ready for general George get in here brother get in here we are our first guest all right. Private Journal... Oh my god, introduce yourself, sir. I'm General Randy George, Chief of Staff of the Army. Great to be here with you guys. Do I get to crack my drink? Absolutely, if you'd like to. I might need the caffeine.

It's all you. And Beta Alan E. It's gonna be a long day. Just a little bit, though. You sir's gonna be pumped after that drink how your party was amazing Thank you so much for that. Appreciate it. You guys being there. It was a great evening. That was a blast I was like, oh man, this is well, you got to see your beautiful home again, and then The sheer amount of people but also a lot of friends that I did not know where he was gonna be there I was like, oh all of us knew a lot of people that I did not know were gonna be there. I was like, oh, all of us knew a lot of people there.

Yeah. Yeah. It was a good crowd. It went late for me. What time did you go to bed? A lot later than I normally go to bed. I will tell you that. Late to late or early to bed and early to rise.

So anyway, it was fun. Thank you guys for being there. Oh, good time. Eli, you know my favorite part of being at General George's house was last night as E4 E4 mafia having officers serve me beer. How does it guys again? That was that was pretty cool We'll have to do it again sometime Some of us took fake it till you make it to an extreme

We really appreciate you guys being here. Just over at the PT competition. I don't know if you guys get a chance to go over there. So our sergeant major of the army was going through there. He had Brigadier General Ross. We had one of our brand new direct commission lieutenant colonels that were going through that. And obviously we got units from across the army that put their best squads in there.

But it's a rough competition so you guys need to go check that out. Yeah we saw them there were some studs out there some big old boys. Oh yeah UFC has a team out there. Oh my god. So I think the NFL is out here so anyway they're finding out how tough it is to do soldier stuff. I got a little too close and they they started telling me they started handing me paperwork and telling me I needed to cut my hair and all sorts of stuff. We got a barber shop right around here I can take you guys. Ain't happening sir. So you tricked me once. When did you join the military? I joined the army in 1982 and listed right

out of high school. No doubt. Dating myself, been in a while. Yeah, I've been in a while. And you actually went and listed first. I did. And then how long did you do that before going? I did it for two years. It was actually my platoon sergeant

that took me down and told me to take the test and said I might want to go to West Point was actually what he what he took me down there for so anyway forever thankful for him sergeant Cortez who did that drove me down there so have you talked to him since it's been a while so I'm in touch with last night it was neat the SEC army had a bunch of his old teammates that were here that he deployed to so you know through the years that you keep keep in touch with a lot of those guys a lot of the folks that I've been deployed with back and forth to Iraq and Afghanistan probably

a lot closer to that you know to that group just because of what you know some of the shared hardships and everything. It's gonna be a point of pride for him being like called it. Yeah I don't know about that. You kind of made it to a decent position in the military. Did okay. You did okay. Now with this guy, I might have a future. Did you ever see your, in your career getting to the level you are now?

Was that always the mission? No, I think I always talk about it. I think a lot of people, you know, you're in for a couple years, you're walking all night with your rucksack on and you say, Hey, I'm going to get out, you know, after this, I think everybody has been, you know, been through that. I've done that countless times where I've said, Hey, I'm gonna, I'm going to get out. And then usually just comes back to you get cleaned up and hang out with your teammates and it's kept me in.

So it's just been the people I've been around that's kept me in all these years. You have so many people speak so highly of you. Romeshay, he was one of your soldiers during that entire thing. And he speaks so highly of you. He actually, he was like, tell Jorge I said hi. He loves calling you Jorge.

Yeah. I was just talking, we were just up at West Point getting ready to talk, all the 1,000 cadets that were getting ready to commission. And I use him as an example. That guy is an absolute professional, was a war fighter, trained his people and you know what he went through over there.

And I told everybody, hey, and you're a lieutenant, you were gonna have NCOs like that, and you were gonna have to up your game to be ready for that kind of NCO leadership that's out there in our Army. That is wild. That was, now we're celebrating the Army 250. Yep.

And this has been in the works for I mean 250 years, but Actually doing a celebration. It's been a year in the planning, right? Yeah, we talked about it You know, we talked about it with you guys Shoot last fall early last fall last summer. So you're only 250 once this is This is a bit is a deal, older than our country. So we're excited. I love it that everybody gets to come out and see all of our equipment. I'm most excited that everybody gets an opportunity to meet all of our soldiers that are here. Yesterday we were out visiting with all of our troopers and 95% of them probably have never been to D.C.

So it was neat that they got that they get this experience and get to come in. They've been running around the mall, you know, hanging out. I think the only complaint I got was somebody spent 15 dollars on a beer. Yeah, that was right. Yeah, that was pretty steep. You get the full D.C. experience, you get to see the the beautiful landmarks, the historic buildings, you get stabbed in Uptown. It's a great time. Yeah, well I hope none of that happens. So, they got, they're also, you know, it's interesting talking to people, they're gonna be driving Bradleys and tanks and, you know, all of that.

I mean, they were so fired up, it was just, I love watching them get everything ready. You know, they were talking about telling their families back home that they're going to be on there. There's a lot of families that are coming, you know, from folks that aren't too far away. One soldier said he's from Pennsylvania. His family, his whole family is coming down, you know, and going to be along the parade route. So it's really neat. We're excited. That is awesome. That's why we were kind of late. We were stopping at every helicopter and tank

and every gun we saw. We were like, ooh, just little boys. It's neat having that out here. Yeah, we kind of take it for granted. We're around it. You guys have been around it so you know it. You know, you can walk by and know what it is. But a lot of people don't get to see, you know,

some of this stuff up front. But I always tell everybody, look at the equipment. And then when they normally talk to our troopers, that's when I think that they realize this can be a great team to join. So I think it's great that we're doing this here, right in our nation's capital. John, we ran into some really cool soldiers over there.

Brandon got the coolest thing. I haven't showed you guys this yet either. But one of the armories, they handed me the probably coolest challenge coin I've ever seen, which is a flattened mini ball like a musket ball that they pound their company logo into. That's awesome. That is really cool. Rad.

Yeah. Oh, that's dope. As far as challenge coins go, I'm like That's awesome. That is really cool. Rad. Yeah. Oh, that's dope. As far as challenge coins go, I'm like, that one's pretty, that's pretty cool. That's up there. That's up there. So I don't know. I got a general question about your house.

I mean, the Joint Chiefs house is you're basically living in a museum, living in a museum. Functionally, it's like, if you don't know, it's like the White House, but for your job, it's not quite the White House Well, you know like it when I saw you move out when you leave this position And the next guy moves in and everybody's lived in that same house. It's very historic. They've got all the pictures on the wall Yeah, what was like the oh shit moment when you were moving in when you realize like what a big deal that was looking at? all the other Legends and enormous names. Yeah, I mean I think you know, when I go in and there's,

uh, you turn right and there's a picture of, uh, general Eisenhower, former president Eisenhower, um, general Pershing. I mean, I could go down the list. Omar Bradley, general Marshall, there's a Marshall room. So, um, I think, you know, I, uh, Patty and I, my wife have a lot of conversations on that. I just think it reminds you that, you know, I, Patty and I, my wife have a lot of conversations on that. I just think it reminds you that, you know, that you got a job to do and, you know, stay focused on it and making sure we're doing everything we can to take care of the Army and make sure we're transforming for the future.

So we love, we love that old house. I will tell you the heating and the cooling, it's like a little bit, you know, that's the only thing about an old house, but it's a unique experience and I'm grateful for it that's cool. While we have you can you tell us your your favorite story of your favorite general on the wall and why they called him that? Okay my favorite general all right Nick knows the answer to this. So I'm gonna let you tell it. So my favorite and I've hung it know, right in that one hallway where everybody can see it. It's of Matthew Ridgway, he commanded the 82nd Airborne

in the jump in World War II. His nickname by his troops was Old Iron Tips. So that was his nickname. So I don't know how many of them called him that to his face, but that was his nickname, Old Iron Tits. And he was called Old Iron Tits because he had two hand grenades on his load-bearing equipment and he always wore.

So I mean, I've got pictures of him where he's in the hospital visiting his wounded troopers and he's leaning over and talking to them. There's two hand grenades hanging from his uniform. He was always ready. So keep that thing on you as the kids say. I wonder how he felt about that nickname. I'm sure he knew stuff like that.

So that's awesome. Yeah. Man, I don't know how to follow that one up on my old iron tits it's tough to beat yeah it is what do you have any nicknames did the troops any of your soldiers give you any nicknames throughout your career that you know about not that I know about I'm sure I got plenty but not that honestly I know about I'll work on it all, you guys let me know find something Something yeah, I wanted to be a thing if we can't find one we'll start one I didn't realize you had a star. Yeah

You you were in 173rd. No He's a general. What are you? No, no Cib oh general what are you talking about? No, no, on the CIB. Oh yeah, CIB. No, I didn't realize he had that. He had two. And in a while. Yeah, yeah, I'd say so. I mean you're the only, I usually am the old one in the group because, which is awesome. And you used to love running the most. I know Romache hated that about you. He said you loved long distance running. Yeah, I used to love running. I don't do as much running as I used to.

So now I'm more into lifting and doing other body weight exercises. But Clint Romache is fit. so he never had any issue. No, but he's He has a little more fun and leisure now You have to run him back out here. Oh, I have to bring him back out here He wanted I was just gonna say I'm like the guy, you know, the guy earned it He deserves it. Yeah, you like not get his ass back Get that haircut going.

You'd be like, ugh. Any message to anyone that wants to join or soldiers that are actually active right now? Yeah, I mean, I would to all of our troopers out there, everybody who's serving, I would just say how proud I am of all of them. You know, what they're doing around the world. We always talk about the most important thing in our Army is our people.

I mean that really is. Everybody gets really fixated on equipment or technology. And right now we're going through a significant transformation and all that's being led from the bottom up. It's our soldiers that are out there helping us to figure out how we should move forward. And they are just innovative, gritty and tough. And so I would thank all of them. And then for everybody else, I think whether you, you don't have to come in and stay 40

years like I did, but I do. And I think you guys know this. I think the, you know, the Army is a great place to start. You can do anything in the army and what you are gonna i think everybody that i've talked to even you've just spent a couple of years the teammates you meet the experiences that you have the people you get to know um you know that'll last you the rest of your life and that's that's been my experience with everybody that i've interacted with in the army so it really creates a unique experience and a brotherhood and a bond that you will not get anywhere else.

It's unique. It's unique. I agree with that. I appreciate you guys being here. No, dude, we had a great time. A whole bunch. We appreciate that. Your time has been an honor. We'll have another gathering. So another time that somebody can get you guys a drink or two.

Sounds good. Well, sir, it has been an absolute pleasure. Thank you for your time, seriously. Thank you very much. I'm taking my drink with me. Steal that thing. Thank you. It's an honor. Thank you. Do you ever have any bad habits?

Yeah, I've had bad habits. What are we doing it now? Yeah. Okay. Sorry. If you're part of the 50% of people who try to quit vaping each year, well, you're gonna have to equip yourself with the right tools for the job. Right, Cody? Is it fume? Eli, can you tell me about fume? Well, one thing is it has zero nicotine.

You can fidget with it. Give it to me, let me fidget. Fidget. Twisty barrel. Twisty barrel. There's no better tool to break that bad habit other than this episode's sponsor. Fume, the award-winning flavored air device used by half a million people.

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I'm a minty person so I found the Chris Mint light and refreshing. I like grapefruit. Eli, how do we start our guilt-free journey with the good habit? By using code unsub to get a free gift with any purchase and finally begin that overdue breakup. Just go to tryfume.com slash unsub. That's t-r-y-f-u-m dot com slash unsub. And use code unsub to start a good habit today. Clicky barrelrel. Yes! Code UNSUB!

Head over there now. Dang, we're going to have all the coins this time. I like it. Yeah, so this is a unsubscribe limited edition just for the Army's 250th. Hold on. He spits it. It's shit. It was hauled several miles here in luggage on cobblestone sidewalks by me, so it might

be a little funky on the carbonation. It's amazing. Yes, you're such a good liar. It's good. It's good. Introduce yourself, Dan. I'm Dan Driscoll, 22nd Secretary of the United States Army. Excited to be here with you guys.

It's a pleasure to have you, man. Let's do it. Only 22nd? 26. Did I say 22nd? Wow, this is off to a rough start. 26. Even 20 seems low This is a young country. Well, so it when they created the sec death position

Basically that took over some of the second. I gotcha used to be Secretary of War, which is a badass title Yeah, but I know I never I tweeted I was like can we go back to the war? Yeah, no, I want it. Yeah, that's a dope title. That would be a dope title. On a jacket? On a coin? Yeah. If we don't want to go backwards, we could always go the Department of Offense. Okay. That's a way cooler tone.

I say the Army is a killing machine offense, so it could be the Department of Killing. I mean, when's the last time we played defense? Eli, this is our friend John C. Ward. Mr. Ward is here. Mr. War. John C. War is here. Mr. War. What? The United States of War? It's like, wow, they switched the army's name completely.

It's a little on the nose, but I like it. Dude, reading your bio, so you went officer first, and then you're like, now I'm going to go to Yale? So applied while I was in the army, got in like a month after we got to Iraq. I was actually with some of the guys I deployed with last night and my driver's dude, Bo Clark, and he was like, Hey sir, do you remember the day you got into law school? And I was like, yeah, I think so.

And he was like, do you remember what I told you? And I was like, not really. He was like, I told you to get your fucking head in the game and not get us killed that day. I like Dan, Dan's good people. Dan's very beautiful. In Iraq, when you got the email or the notification that you got into Yale. So I had applied the year before and not gotten in because it was less compelling.

I was just kind of like average, but when you say, hey, I'm applying from a war zone, that kind of uplift average but when you say hey, I'm applying from a war zone that kind of helped lifted my application So you took the nearest Southwest flight immediately back? The essay portion gets a boost When the return address is from an ad Iraq yeah, yeah in the essay I said who sorry I have to pause this We're getting incoming I have to pause this. We're getting incoming. And then I so I call my my then girlfriend. So we grew up in the mountains, North Carolina together.

I had asked her out. So I was a rising junior. She was a rising freshman. I'm only 18 months older. That sounds a little creepy. But I called her and we've been together forever. And I said, oh, man, I just got into law school up in Connecticut. I can't wait to go.

And her first words were, well, I'm not moving up there unless we're married. And so the first week came back from deployment. I flew up to the mountains, North Carolina proposed and we were married like three months later, getting that BAH. There you go. Yeah. Yeah. You know, any, I'm surprised you didn't do before deployment.

Also saying Yale is some college in Connecticut. Now playing a little bit. Right. Well, so the best part of it is in the 60s, the students there had a sit in protest that is kind of famous among students because they thought grades were unfair. And so they got rid of essentially grading in the 60s so the key to going to Yale Law School is once you were in you are going to graduate in the top like 90% there are a couple of ways to distinguish yourself for the top 10 but then you're in the bottom 90 and so I figured that out like day three and I was like well alright this is gonna be a fantastic three years. That's what I did in my military career.

It's the bottom 90. Yeah. And look at you. You're doing great. The bottom 90 is a great podcast. That's actually very funny. Well, something I don't I don't even know if you know this, Eli or Nick. This is not only a privilege just because, you know, obviously your position with the Army and whatnot, but also ATF. It was the first time we've had a director of the ATF on the podcast.

There you go. Yeah, two roles, one guy. Which was, dude, I didn't know that. I was like, holy shit, I wonder if Brandon knows this. Because Brandon's... I keep up to date. Social media was calling for him to be. They were like, he should do it, he should do it. And then congratulations on I mean both Yeah, both positions. Are you coming for me right now Brandon? Oh, yeah Create my scandal to take me out of both jobs

I'm actually excited to see what what you guys can do with it. Yes, what what's that been like? Because you've obviously got two very important roles now What's that been like the process of like getting integrated with very important roles now. What's that been like, the process of getting integrated with the ATF and figuring out what you guys are going to try to do? Because there's obviously a lot that needs to be fixed. Yeah, the ATF has a complicated past. It is one of the kind of harder agencies to be at because,

and I talk to them about this regularly, and I love the people I work with, their gun regulation portion of what they do is through these guys, these IOIs, who will go into, they'll both come up with regulations for gun stores and then enforce them. And so when democratic administrations come in, they don't think they're doing enough, and they do more. And then when republicans come in, they think they're doing too much and they do less. And they are hated all the time. And I don't know if you've seen the bumper stickers, but there are some derogatory ATF bumper stickers out there.

I've never seen any personally. I'm not quoting any of them. Oh, I will. There's a... No. But so basically what we're trying to do is focus on the violent crime portion of what they do, which they're uniquely good at. And so we're thinking about doing something like maybe rebranding it the Bureau of Violent Crime and carving off that gun regulation and putting it somewhere else. And if you think of the threats in the world right now with what's happening with drones and just

the ability for humans to kill each other at scale, that threat exists outside the continental United States where the army will take care of it. And it also exists in our stadiums and with the Olympics coming up in the World Cup. And so the ATF is perfectly positioned with the silo need there. It's actually ATF for explosives to kind of take on that mission. And so we're working with them to try to do that. Because even on, on my end of things, because I would love to see nothing more than the, you know, obviously the agency disbanded, but it does do good. Like there are roles that are, I guess the

ATF is responsible for that are important, like the arson investigations, explosives investigations, cartel trafficking, when they're not the ones doing the trafficking. There are important roles that I think, you know, could be handled by other agencies, but for right now, I think like, if you're going to have a certain budget and allocation of agents, I mean, that's the place to put it, is, you know, cartel ops and all sorts of the actual real crime. Totally. It's exciting to see. And that's what that's what the agents actually want. If you talk to the agents on the street or you talk to U.S.

attorneys who build these cases against the cartels, the ATF are the most badass law enforcement. Like they just have these two very discreet functions that oddly sit in one agency. And so we are actively trying to both functionally rebuild and rebrand it and carve off that function and put it somewhere else perhaps to allow the agents to do what they're so good at, right? May I suggest the garbage?

I don't know where to put it. The federal government garbage I just want to call that the Navy I'm just kidding I'm just kidding has there been because like I've it's just one of those things where it's like I've known this is coming if it hasn't already happened but has has there been any like high profile use of like drones in the civilian world for crimes that, cause I mean, I don't know, it's wild seeing what's going on in Ukraine and then like, you can just go to Best Buy and buy the same thing. Yeah.

Crazy to me. So this is fundamentally what you're hitting on is the threat of our lifetime. Um, when, when president Trump talks about golden dome, what he's acknowledging and rightly telling us is we as a nation have to invest in is this idea that our skies are unprotected against these very cheap threats that can carry munitions into places that we just are not well suited as a nation to defend ourselves. And so General George and I were on record, then the last couple

of weeks testifying and saying, we think the United States Army should be the lead on this and on behalf of the Pentagon should basically be the innovation engine So that we take down this threat sink it in with Golden Dome and then pass our learnings to the broader law enforcement community That's it is terrifying. I mean You were in Iraq. So you want to make that element? We didn't have that we like our fear was at leaving. It was a was a B or H beds were just getting implemented. And I was rolling out. So the idea of drones being used against troops, I was like,

no, that is absolutely terrifying. Eli finding out the IED is fly now. They fly now. Oh, no. They're airborne. Because they started putting them in trees too. And we're like, god dang it. I don't know if you ever experienced any of that shit.

We dealt with it more because we were outside Baghdad. And so like near the eastern side of the Diyala. Wait, Mokdadiya? No, we were cop four corners. No shit. We had four corners. And then we were the Diala River. Oh yeah. That river smelled like **** Yes, it did. I mean, not like you cannot forget that smell. There is nothing in the entire world

that is rancid and stinky as the Diala River. When it would get hot, I mean, you just it got inside your lungs. It was absolutely terrible and then we warned them there's gonna be a drought and it was like stop washing your cars and your sidewalks. And then the drought happened. We're like, here's water. Well, so and with the drones, what's so cool as an army is, and I credit General George and the team for it.

I mean, we're now taking like our basic training guys who've been in and men and women who've been in for five weeks are running their lanes with drones up. And then in their after action review, they're actually watching what they look like from a drone. And it's remarkable how quickly they're learning. And then this is the craziest thing is people who've been in for five weeks,

the way they do drill sergeants now, I don't know if you know this, but they actually are the squad leader. So instead of just sitting on the side and yelling at them, the drill sergeant is modeling what leadership looks like. And so the drill sergeants are learning each rotation

and getting better at it. And then those lessons from soldiers who've been in like five weeks, it's trickling no bullshit up to the Pentagon. So like we're learning and changing our TTPs from these 18 to 23 year olds who just have different ideas

for how to like lower their signature. It's wild. Super cool. Are you guys going to start implementing like ski shooting in actually basic with as taking as a measurement like shooting drones? It's actually not. It's a really interesting question. No one until this exact moment that I never crossed my mind. I didn't even know where you're going with it, but it's not a bad idea. It is a skill set. We currently don't train against that would make lot of sense. Because you get like ski shoots when you have a drone and I mean a lot of country boys will know how to do it out the gate but it does come in handy when you're like

uh drone's coming out for sure everyone has a shotgun with them. It is a great idea. Yeah there you go we'll name it after you if we do it. Congratulations Eli you are now responsible for what for many people will be the worst part of basic Yay! I did that! Uh oh No! No! What is your worst military story? I'm ready, yeah I got it I'm ready, yeah I got it Perfect!

And this enrages me and like, I think if you think of like, I don't know if you guys feel the same way, but I think if you talk to some of the younger veterans in the administration, like the Vice President Vance or Secretary of Defense Hegset, I think they're all kind of open and on record with this idea that these, our experiences in Iraq have informed our cautious questioning when we see orders come down in that people need to explain their logic so the absolute worst memory and this I promise we'll tie back in I hope is we were going out on an ID factory raid which just sounds so cool they flew in like cameraman they filmed this it was two platoons I was leading it we'd like drew the stuff out for the maps and we laid out our cordon and our plan and we rolled out of the gate and we get there and we set up the cordon.

There we have work like military dogs and we go up to this thing to do an IED factory raid. And there is a lock on the door that is like my six, seven year old daughter's gym locker lock at the middle school. Like the ones that are on the little diaries. Yeah. It might have actually been pink. It might have been pink.

And we get there, we have the bolt cutters, we're calling up to go and headquarters calls back down that the rules of engagement had changed and you were no longer allowed to cut locks. And I was like apoplectic. Like, wait a second, you sent us out on these like IED laden roads to go do an IED factory search. And if they just lock up at night, we can't go in anymore. Swiper no swiping works. It was just infuriating.

And so we like say anything about hitting logs. We weren't, we were not allowed to go back in. So we got back in the Humvees. We drove back to the base and ever since then it has like planted in me this seed and this concept that like despite the patriotism and best intent of a lot of leaders, the preposterousness of the Pentagon and its decision making by the time it trickles down to the actual soldiers that have to risk their lives can have these preposterous outcomes that even to this day makes me just want to like flip the table over. But then there's the way that war fighters get around stuff like that, such as you know, 50 calibers being anti-material only rifles.

And of course chins traps being material. Yeah, yeah. Guys find, life finds a way. Life finds a way. I'm still more amazed it's like, lock up, it's like, hey there's a lock. You can't cut it. Foiled again! Time to leave! Man, their TTPs are really in breed.

They lock up at night. Horse, you Taliban? That's wild. That's like the videos where the cops are like, why don't you come outside? No. Dang it. And they leave. Like what?

You sure? Dude, it's tag rules when you're in your house You traveled across an ocean through an IED highway you got stopped by a padlock It's insane It's you know wow and I can so I can actually compare and contrast how ATF does raids versus some of our like Probably the raids you guys would do if you went to clear a house And some of our like I was down with one of our units at brag

watching them in a shoot house. I'll hold the dog jokes for now. Okay, all right. So when when ATF does it, it's kind of the wildest thing in the world. They go in the door. So they set a cordon, they go in the door and they hold and then they bring in drones and they bring in dogs. And they basically from inside the building, clear everything out as much as they possibly can, which takes like 15 minutes. And so you're watching the building, clear everything out as much as they possibly can, which takes like 15 minutes.

And so you're watching the footage and they're just kind of holding this like stronghold and they clear out the building versus like some of our units that movies have been done about where they, I mean, they go in and they clear this thing and the violence of action and the speed is like, I mean, it's sheer and utter chaos watching down on it but they're done in like, I mean,

they'll clear 25 rooms in five minutes I mean, it's just it's we're doing something dumb, but you do it fast. There's less time to fuck it up That's just science Good to go dude Dan any final words you want to say to anyone looking to join the military or active soldiers right now? Yeah, absolutely. So I'm incredibly glad you guys are here. The Army's 250th. Like, if you think about this entity and this being that is the United States Army, we exist before the country was even formed. And that's very deliberate, because it is soldiers that built the country. They sacrificed, they together went over hills,

they bled for this nation and built it from scratch. And what that means practically to anybody thinking of joining is, as part of this celebration at General George's house last night, I got to have, we probably had 20 men in our cavalry squadron platoon that we deployed with, like 17 of them came to town. I hadn't seen most of them in 15, 16, 16 17 years And we got to spend last night together. They came over to my porch We sat drinking beers until 1 a.m Which I regretted this morning, but it's like this bond between us and the people we serve with I think you would echo I mean that they truly are the most formidable and remarkable and meaningful Relationships of my life my seven-year-old daughter, Lila,

is named after my then E5's daughter, who's now 15, Lila. He's now working in the Pentagon. My old driver is working in the Pentagon with us. He's on the team. And it's like, it's the joy of my life to get to spend time with these guys. And so if you're sitting at home and you're listening to this and you haven't quite figured out

what you wanna do with your life, I guess my encouragement would be check out the Army. We'd love to have you if you can kind of pass our standards of excellence, come join an amazing set of ranks and you'll make lifelong friends. Dude, speaking of lifelong friends, I saw a lot of Cav Hats in the room last night. Those are the guys. Yep. Yeah, those are them.

A bunch of they got out at E3 to E5, E6 and it was just kind of remarkable to see where they had spent their last 15 years. Yeah, that's awesome, man. Absolute play. I do want to, you can, we can cut this part, I don't know. Dude, the, did you see the conspiracy theories you started, brother? Dude, you, like, they're like, told you, there's soldiers on the moon right now. We know it. We knew it. The now. Yeah, we know it we knew it The what yeah, so I can I I can take this one. Okay, so we walk off the interview and like one of my biggest curses is

My supreme confidence and one of my blessings is my supreme confidence. So I finished this Fox and Friends interview I walk up and I was like I fucking crushed it and I walk over and the the comms guy walks up He was like, hey sir, you didn't talk to somebody on the moon. I was like the moon He's like you talked to somebody on the International Space Station. I was like, what did I say? He said the moon I said up. Okay, so the first day goes by and I was like, oh, I guess nobody noticed Second day goes by and like 15 million people have seen this thing and it has unlocked all of these theories That soldiers are on the moon. But so from our perspective we then have to take one of two approaches. Either we take the

well it's classified we can't answer the question approach or we say simple misspeak and so as of now what we've decided is let it linger and decide whether we want to admit that it's actually perhaps true later or just keep saying that it was a misspeak? Official misspeak. The professional way of saying, Motherfucker, maybe. You're like, one question. Does China think we have someone on the moon? Just one specialist on the moon by himself.

He hates his job. He's like, He's sweeping lunar ice. Yeah, he's sweeping it. Oh my god. Sending e-force to the moon is right up there with Armageddon. Like we can train oil riggers to be astronauts easier than we can train astronauts to drill a hole.

It's perfect. So in conclusion, we definitely have a soldier on the International Space Station and we maybe have a soldier on the moon. Oh I love it. And on that? And we'll never know. Now we'll just cut out we definitely have a soldier on the moon. Just edit it like that. No! Dan has been an absolute pleasure thank you so much. Hey thank you for having me I'm grateful for you. Thank you for having us. I don't know what to call you I'll just... Dan is sufficient. Okay good good. Hey Brandon do you have Cash App? Brandon, I asked you a f***ing question.

No, Eli, what's that? Do you have Cash App, Brandon? How did you do that? Brandon, anything's possible when you use Cash App. Ugh, okay. Moving money should be easy, Brandon. That's why there's Cash App. Wow, this is really easy to use.

I have it now. Don't hit me again. Cash App is fast, safe, and way more personalized than the other apps out there. This is really easy to use. I have it now. Don't hit me again. Ketch up is fast, safe, and way more personalized than the other apps out there. No extra hoops to jump through, no extra stress. All the tools are right there to help you cash in. Plus, sending money through cash app actually feels safe and secure. If something seems sketchy or there's like red flags that you might be sending your money to a scammer, they let you know.

They'll give you a warning and make you think twice before hitting send It's like having a bodyguard for your cash send your bunny some money with the eggplant emoji my favorite make his friends Think twice Brandon. What are these three drops of water and an eggplant mean? It's a tip for good service I like tips just a just just the tip And for whatever reason if you don't have Cash App, just head over to your phone app store and download it today and use code unsub10. And if you send $5 to a friend,

you get $10 deposited in your account just for getting started. Send Brandon $5. His number is three. No, no, no, no, no. New Cash App users can use our exclusive code to earn some additional cash. Legit for reals?

No catch. Just download Cash App and use our code UNSUB10. Send $5 to a friend within 14 days, and you'll get 10 bucks dropped right into your account. That's money, that's Cash App. Hey, let's go live without him. We're already there. Is it still recording right now?

We don't need these guys, do we? Yeah. Sweet. How we doing, America? We fired them all. Just pull it up and get it close to your face. Oh. How we doing America? We fired them all. Just pull it up and get it close to your face. You gotta get close. You gotta get like two inches away from it.

You gotta get super close. Yeah, super close to it. Is this my spot? Well, once you start talking in the mic, it will be. Perfect. There you go. You're gonna be the center of attention just like you wanted it to be. Absolutely.

That's why you became Sergeant Major, isn't it? Yeah. No. Are you sure? I am positive. I didn't know what theant major of the army was till Dan Daly showed up in Iraq one time and Got in the way. He's like what do you mean this visits happening? Who is this guy? We were focused on the mission. You've been in for how long now you with 31 31. Yeah 31 which is Maths not my specialty. So that's why we joined the army. Yeah, my wife knows exactly. She's my data analytics person.

So I think it's 31 and some change, something like that. Okay, where did you first start? Because I know my beginnings were Fort Pike, North Carolina Civil Affairs. So I mean, I'm an off the street soft guy. So I watched Mogadishu happen and I left ROTC at The Ohio State University. The. Enlisted. Yep, The. Drives my XL crazy. He's a Michigan guy. But that's where I started my journey.

At MEP Station in Columbus, Ohio and you know went straight in and boom Fort Bragg. So you went straight in and you already had a college degree or some college time? No, I had about 110 credit hours from Ohio State. I didn't have anything completed. Why enlisted and not officer? Well, I knew when I was at ROTC there was tension there. My father was an officer, my grandfather was an officer.

And I just took advice of senior people that had done things and accomplished, you know, been successful. But deep down, there was always this tension in me about I wanted to be an NCO. Okay. And so when I watched Mogadishu go down, that was it. I was like, all right, I'm out. And I went down and figured out the fastest way to get in the Army.

And that was back then it's called a Rep 63 program. Nowadays, we know it as the 18 X-ray program. Yes. Yep. So you said your father and your grandfather are both officers? Yeah. Tell me more about that.

Yeah, so my dad did like, I think it's 27 years. Forgive me, Pop, if I got a year off there. And then my grandfather, I think was 36. At both active or? Oh yeah, both active. Yep, yep. My grandfather commissioned out of Princeton, you know, landed in North Africa and came home when Berlin fell.

My dad went to college first, then enlisted and went to OCS. How long was he in? My father? 26, 27 years. So he was, and he probably started in what, like the late 50s? My father? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. 60s.

60s. He retired in 95. So he was, I assume that he went over to Vietnam then? Oh, yeah. Yeah, he was a Vietnam. He did a year in Thailand, I think, and a year in Vietnam. Did he go, like, soft? Well, I mean.

No, he was a quartermaster officer. OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He was a quartermaster officer. Probably why I have such a big heart for the sustainment community is because I learned through my father's service, the importance of PhD level war fight and happens in the sustainment community. Okay. If you can win in the first 24 hours, you might not you might be all right with crappy sustainment. But

that's that's not the type of fight we're preparing for sustainments, everything. I kind of Yeah, I don't know if it's the same purpose correlated in any way but watching Russia pushing through Ukraine and then seeing that break down within like the first couple months. Yeah. Oh Yeah, it's everything. Yeah, I mean I'm Yet to see any of the predictions come to fruition where it's gonna be a quick short conflict Mm-hmm, they seem to going to be a quick short conflict. They seem to continue to be long and drawn out. And so, you know, protection, sustainment,

organic industrial based, all those things are going to matter. Yeah. So when you saw Mogadishu, we were like, oh, Ranger Regiment, Delta guys, I have to go soft or did you just see it go? No, I just I just couldn't so I struggled at Ohio State to watch Desert Storm. So I was already I already had this tension. What do you mean you struggled? I watched it because I was a college student you know and and I was like man I want to be in the service right now I don't want to be at school. But you know I got past that I pushed past that I think I was a freshman when that happened I can't remember exactly but anyway when Mogadishu went down and again that was one of the first ones where it was But you know, I got past that, I pushed past that. I think I was a freshman when that happened. I can't remember exactly.

But anyway, when Mogadishu went down, and again, that was one of the first ones where it was like on television, right? Like you're living it. You were watching it. The war was in your living room. And I was like, okay, I'm done. I'm done, I gotta get out of here.

I gotta get in the service. The soft thing comes from, oh man, if my mom was here, she'd tell you, she knew I was gonna be a Green Beret when I was probably about eighth grade But as I used to just lay on the living room floor and read read the old Southeast Asia Mac V saw guess if you know novels and nonfiction books. Mm-hmm And you know, my mother was just happy I was reading

But I was addicted to The mission I was addicted the mission was one of the favorite books that you read I've read five Years or not. Five Years to Freedom. Oh, man. And I forget the author of it. He's like one of the fathers of like soft forces. Yeah.

And then he got ambushed in the Philippines. I got a few of these. Oh, you're talking about he's the father of the Sears School. Sears School. That's what it was. Not banks. Oh, man. My SF history.

People are going to ding me for this one You're on the spot Colonel He was killed in an ambush in the Philippines in the Philippines. Yeah on Let me stop thinking about I'll come back to it. But what I fell in love with Be honest with you was the SF ODA mission with Mountain Yards What do you well, I don't know what mine yards is So the Mountain Yards were an indigenous people in Southeast Asia, like the Hmong or different little bit. Yes. Yes. And they would go in and they would have to build rapport. And then you would literally turn them into a fighting force. And I thought that I mean, you're alone and afraid you have very little support. Oh, here we go. We're busy.. Oh I thought you guys all quit. I thought you quit We don't quit nothing. How's everybody doing? Oh, we're doing good. How about you? Yeah

I was watching you guys are the secretary. Yeah, how'd we do? Yeah, he's pretty He's pretty cool, isn't he? Yeah, yeah, he's uh Yeah, he's about as patriotic as you get, man. And he's got a neat history, right? I mean, he's actually, you know, he's done it. Served, he's deployed. Yeah, special.

Special to have him right now. Yeah, he is. Quite the history. And so do you. Don't downplay yourself. You have a crazy military story. I tried. You're very humble for everything you've done.

Yeah, we broke into your office when we went to the Pentagon. Yeah, I know. I tried story tried you're very humble for everything you've done You know we broke into your office when we went to the Pentagon. Yeah, I know Wow, this is a lot of awards Fend you want to put up that photo real quick right here. We took a family photo at your desk Yeah, I know is the pinnacle of my e4 career Do that complete? I don't even know what else you did that you didn't take photos of This are who's this? career. I don't even want to know what else you did that you didn't take photos of. Who's the Sgt. Major next to you? Uh, what do you, oh right next to me that's my ex-O, Sgt. Major Wilson. Sgt. Major Wilson. Yeah, Joe Wilson. We were in the same deployment. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a small army, I'll tell you. It is. And get I swear it's it's it's not actually shrinking our end strength we're actually trying to get bigger but

I swear it's getting smaller from how many people you know he's thirsty this guy what are we drinking energy drink if you need one I'll try it no alcohol it's the unsub cleaner That's what worries me. If it was straight bourbon, it's clean. I know what it is. I'm greedy at one bourbon. Cheers. A man after my own heart.

I will have one tonight when this is all over with. And it might be a double. I'm going to have one in like 30 minutes. Smart man. Smart man. So you just wrapped the just wrapped the fitness competition? Yeah, we, we started it off. I'm not gonna lie to you.

I was a little, I was a little concerned. I'm not exactly a spring chicken I used to be, but, but I can't help myself. I think I drive my wife crazy. I still, I like to compete. I like to push through stuff. And so I said, screw it. I'm going to, I'm going to enter the team. I snatched up Tim because I knew Tim can carry heavy stuff

Tim Kennedy can still carry heavy stuff. That's for sure And then grab some really good teammates Brigadier General Ross who who I've known since he was one of my students Rob Haney came out of 25th. He was on he was on he was on a episode with you guys And then Kyle, Kevin, we wheel one of our new lieutenant colonels. Oh shit, that we broke in properly. He loved it. He loved it. He's not broken. We didn't break him. We'll find out soon. Find it rich. We kind of jumped right on in but do you want to give a brief introduction

of who you are? No. That's easy. We'll see you guys next time. Sure. I mean, I'm Mike Weimer. I'm the SARD Major of the Army, the 17th SARD Major of the Army. Still sounds weird to even say that. But yeah, it is an honor though. And I don't think I fully understood that until, you know, the decision was made and

we started the six month kind kind of transition into you know What does it mean to be the sergeant major of the United States Army and but I started to quickly like wow, okay? This is this is heavy right? There's a lot. You know we're a big army You know nine hundred and fifty thousand ish. You know just in uniform, but then you know we're a profession that counts families like I don't know I won't mention other companies by name, but then, you know, we're a profession that counts families. Like I don't know, I won't mention other companies by name, but take your Fortune 100s and they're not really worried about families like we are with, you know, their housing, their childcare, their, you know, their healthcare.

It's a lot. Yeah, it's a lot. But anyway, pretty cool. I've been soft most of my life, so I had a lot of big army stuff to learn You know watching your podcast watching, you know fat electrician. I probably learned some stuff there about the big army Oh, that's weird for me. Yeah Yeah, your history teachers proud of you though. I educated the sergeant major the army All right fan dual casinos exclusive live dealer studio has your chance at the number one feeling,

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connectsontario.ca. Please play responsibly. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Feels good? With humor. It's okay. Eli, scooch over. My ego needs room. Eli, leave the podcast. This is my podcast now. Eli, you're in my ego seat. Move. Eli, quick. Bully him. Yeah.. He's like, move. Eli, quick. Bully him. Yeah. But no, seriously, I mean, I had a lot to learn.

But I'm an inquisitive guy. I love to read. I love to study. And the Army, god, we got so much shit going on. I mean, people have no idea what the Army does for the nation, whether it's organic industrial base, it's the Corps of Engineer and all civil works for locks and dams and waterways. And I mean, it's crazy what the Army does for this nation,

which is why we're here for the 250th, make a big deal out of it. It's crazy that level. When did you take over as our major of the Army? Four, four August 23, four August 23. Four August, this August will be two years. No doubt, and was that, as you were saying, it was just a lot where you're like,

oh I have a lot. It was heavy. I've done some pretty cool stuff in my career, but this is like the heaviest rucksack I've ever carried for the Army, I mean it's a lot. You're basically the Army's dad. Or the Big Toe. You know the reference?

Yeah, yeah. You know the reference. The Big Toe. I have been called that. The Big Toe is such a good nickname. I mean, if you know the movie reference, then you know what I'm talking about. But that's why I wanted to compete today. Because I wanted to lead from the front and show all these youngsters at a 53 old dude with fake hips and

Rebuilt other joints can can I might be slower, but you can still get after it I think you represent that your entire career shows that you have how many purple's of hearts you have two or three? two two and as ID gunshot. I know I made a joke you know they're both shrapnel both of them both of them are shrapnel one super minor one you know more more effective than the first one yeah that's the second one took me out for a little while took me about six months to recover no shit you know maybe a little bit longer than that,

but I was able to climb the rope and kit to deploy in six months, so that's all that mattered. I went to the wrong aid station. I didn't even have a day off when I got shot. I literally went to the wrong aid station, so I was on a mission the next day. That's a good aid station in my opinion. No, it's not!

I don't understand. I don't understand what you want me to do right now. They fixed you in a day? That sounds really good. I like't understand what you want me to do right now. They fixed you in a day? That sounds really good. I like...there's a lot of other things I want to tell you right now, but I won't do that. Oh, do it. Here, Eli, have some ibuprofen walking out. It's literally...I was like, okay. Oh, I'm back on mission. Okay, this is it. This is what I'll do.

Before, when you guys left to go take a photo, I stole the Sergeant Major because I wanted to just get some one-on-one time with him because I'm selfish. And we started talking about his early days and his motivation for coming in and being a soft soldier. There's Mogadishu. And before the guys came in, you were talking to me about some of the books that you read when you were a child and the things that motivated you.

And we left off on the Hmong. But that wasn't the group of people you were talking about from the book. Yeah, the Hmong Yards in Southeast Asia in the late 50s, early 60s. That was really like, my mom was just happy. I wasn't like in the eighth grade laying on the floor reading. We'll just go with reading.

We didn't have all this back then. But it was really what Soph was doing in Southeast Asia late 50s through the 60s. If she was here, she tell you by eighth grade, she knew I was going to be a Green Beret. Yeah. I mean, and I don't, you know, I'm being dead serious with that. I mean, I knew that's what I'm going to go do for a living. You know, and it's morphed and changed over the years. You know, there was a period where I was, you know,

a true SF Green Beret. And then there's a period where I did other stuff for 20 years. And then, then I went back to my you know roots as a green bray at U.S.A. Sock and then once you end up at you know more senior nominative level then you're you're whatever the army needs you to be. You just did normal infantry and then how long did it take for you to actually make team for the first time? No so I didn't so like I was at Ohio State my dad was an

officer, my grandfather was an officer, so obviously I got pushed into that. Hey you should go be an officer. And I was like, I'm kind of a blue-collar guy, you know. I like calluses and you know I like to get dirty, but I listened, you know. They served for 27 and 36 years. So I was like, okay. So I was at Ohio State, but I was already didn't want to really be an ROTC, the Ohio State, just make sure I get that out there. And then Mogadishu happened.

And when Mogadishu happened, you know, cause that was one of the first things you can actually watch on TV. Like that was kind of crazy watching that on the news. I was like, all right, I gotta get out of here. I gotta get on the news. I was like, all right, I got to get out of here. I got to get in the army. So my roommate was in 11th Special Forces, which was a reserve unit.

And they had a thing called the Rep 63 program, which was one of the original 18 X-ray programs. So I enlisted straight into SF and came right off the street, went straight through everything. And that's my journey. Yeah, I'm 31 years of soft. That's why I had so much of the Army to learn. That's why when I was telling you...

The only person I've ever met that actually enlisted is like the 11 X-Ray thing. And made it straight through. Yeah, it's called a Rep 63, 18 X-Ray now. That is why you were literally the first person I think. That was always how people got him for five years. I thought that was a marketing scam the entire time. I didn't know anybody actually did it. It's done.

And I wasn't the only one. I ain't going to lie. It was a lesson. If you know what it takes to be Sergeant Major of the Army, maybe you could make it through 11X-ray on the first try. It was tough. And believe it or not, back then, depending on what you signed up for, if you were an 18 Echo,

then you actually went to Fort Jackson, and you went to Fort Gordon at the time, and you became a 31 Series, a communicator. If you were an 18 Charlie, then you went to go be a 12. Oh, interesting. So it wasn't until the 18 X-ray program came in in GWOT that they all went down to OSIT. So I didn't actually even go to OSIT. So to be honest with you, I would say it was even a little harder to go straight through. But I wasn't alone.

You know, my buddy Frankie and Alan and there's four of us that all kind of linked up when we went to pre-sfas out in Camp Williams, Utah which I think might actually been harder than SFAS which is why we probably had fun at SFAS but we we we made it all straight through nutrition rate was ridiculous and to this day at least my buddy Frankie Frank Rossi we're still tight we still to this day keep in touch no doubt At least my buddy Frank Rossi. We're still tight. We still to this day keep in touch. No doubt.

That's cool. What was the attrition rate? Like what was... Oh, I don't know. But I mean the attrition rate, I don't know. I'd be a liar if I told you I had knew the stats. I mean the attrition rate today is still wicked hard. You know, back then we were surrounded by, you know, 75 plus percent

active duty guys. So I learned from them in the course, you know what I mean? The E-5s and E-6s that were coming from, you know, the Ranger Regiment, you know, the 101st, 10th, I mean, they were old hats, they all had Ranger tabs, like they were just coming to work, to be honest with you, and they were fit. And so I had the fitness part down so I could pay attention and learn, listen. Thank God I was a fast learner. Trust me, it wasn't my IQ. It wasn't my IQ. It's hard work. I'm a product of hard work, not high IQ.

Determination. Grit, man. I tell everybody grit will go a long way. Work harder, not smarter. Yeah. You talking about my military career? What I tell everybody now is like, no, I want you to work smarter, but I need you to have grit because we've kind of pivoted to where it's like, oh, I'm uncomfortable. Take a knee. I must be doing something wrong

I'm like, no, you're doing exactly what you should be shut up and push through that But I do need you to be Thinking that's why the tack and where we're going with all the with all the innovation stuff, but that hasn't replaced grit It will never replace grit or will It's like a helicopter. You're taking the worst way to the sky, but just beating the air into submission. You literally kick the air's ass into submission. That is literally how a helicopter works.

And I got a lot of time in helicopters. Not some fun times either. I was going to say how many times you fall out of one. Yeah. On purpose or on accident? Did you fall out of one on purpose? No, no, no, no. Fast roped a lot of a lot of them

and had some interesting landings in a lot of helicopters, done some long flights, pissing in a bottle to get to where we needed to go to do bad things to bad people. But it is beating the air into submission. I thought for sure when he singled you out and had you alone he was trying to pitch his new idea for the new army position that he wants. So hear me out Sergeant Major. There's an NCO or the NCO of the year.

There's the highest ranking NCO of the army, Sergeant Major of the army. I think we need to have a drill sergeant of the army. Just saying, just the standard bearer for all basic training land. I didn't expect him to actually have a pitch. It's all right. I'm very smart. That's all right. Not all ideas are great ones. But the loud ones work. It's an idea that has it's an idea that has grit. It's an idea that has grit.

Wait, we said we want you thinking. It's okay. Rich, you heard it. okay rich you Jordan push through this I'm gonna beat the air into submission until it sounds like a yes Sergeant Major the army's very intelligent. He knows what he sees looks like a duck I don't know. I don't know we have to look at it. It's the first heard You know first shots. I don't know just saying saying you're welcome already Okay, I don't know. Just saying you're welcome already. Okay. Oh, I love Rich so much. Yeah.

You didn't prep that, so you deserve that one. I didn't know that was coming. No, I thought about that for like three days. Good. As soon as that goes through, we'll have the E4 of the army too. I like how the actual E4 mafia boss is designated. I'm not touching that one that's why you had the E4 the army do it we're getting here

he's like oh my god what did I sign up for so what do you guys think about this this is awesome right I'm looking forward to it. It's uh, it's it's just a privilege I mean, we're kind of in the the boat where it's just wild to be here wild to be invited. So we're on here I'm having a blast every uber I get that guy's having a panic attack cuz 98% of all the roads are closed You know, it's a good time It is a wild experience for, I mean, like even probably for Rich, it's meeting all of you and you're amazing people, but coming out at an E4 in 2008, never talked to anyone of high rank ever.

I met one general. Yeah, I hope one of the takeaways is that, you know, the nation starts to see that we're pretty damn normal people. Honest to God. I mean, I go out of my way to, uh, I know it catches some people off guard, but like, this is pretty normal. Like my wife and daughters would be like, he's like that all the time. We, he drives us crazy. I can, I can, I can vouch for that.

Cause I think I was in the same room hanging out with you for two hours before I realized who you were. Perfect! That's perfect, man. Eli told me after the fact and I was like, well, I wish you would have told me before. I probably would have made some of those jokes, but they all landed, so everything worked out. That was perfect. Yeah. No, seriously, you know, from the chief, if the vice was here, you'd see the same thing. I don't know if you got to talk to the Vice last night, but we've really gone out of our way to humanize the damn army. Now, we had standards, and what we do is fricking hard,

but it doesn't mean that you have to take that whole being a human being thing and leave it at the fricking MEP station. That's a lie. And I just don't think we've ever really kind of gone out of our way to show that, let alone have the technology technology to kind of do it. And you guys are I think you guys are helping us with that.

And so are the other influence. I mean, I truly believe you look at the comments and the responses from the Pentagon episode and then the last episode when Butler was on. And it's so much positivity. Oh, Colonel Butler. Colonel Butler. But, Colonel Butler. But it is- Little Colonel Geneva Suggestions Butler.

You know, I've known him since he was a young major. No doubt. I got Butler stories for days. We've got time. Most of them are not PG-13 for here. Perfect. We're rated R-Chop. His podcast isn't PG-13.

Go ahead. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it is when I'm in this. No, I will say one thing about Colonel Butler. Let me stay official here. One thing he is not, he is not afraid to push the envelope when it's something that's righteous. And he has been that way since I met him in, oh my gosh, what year was that? I was the squadron operations sergeant major so that's gotta be 2012? 2012 when I met him as a brand new a brand new major in our organization and he's been that way that's why he is where he is today because he's got to, we gotta push the envelope

that it's not business as usual. It's amazing. That sounds like a very official way of saying he got in a lot of fucking trouble. We always usually would get in trouble. But if you're not getting in a little bit of trouble, then you're probably not pushing anything. Yeah. It doesn't work. Like you can't, you can't just sit back and be happy with the status quo

or be scared of your own shadow. You've got gotta push it. And then if you're doing it for the right reasons, right? The purpose is righteous, then it's a coachable moment. You'll be like, well, rein that shit in a little bit. Like we used to say for operators, when we were training operators, if I gotta coddle you out the door, come on little buddy, it'll be okay. They're not shooting at you that much.

You're not the right person for this profession. I'm looking for people that I gotta keep tension on the reins a little bit, and I let off a little bit when I need you to be more aggressive and I tighten it up a little bit more when I need you to. That's the war fighter mentality that we need in our army. Yeah. And then the balance of staying legal, moral and ethical, you know, kind of swim lanes. Like you hold them back to 80% and then you let them lose and they go 100% when you need them to.

If you're bold all the time and you're flat with all your teammates, then you got checks and balances. But if you're not bold all the time, then you catch somebody off guard and then that's when the system doesn't have the checks and balances and then maybe you go too far. The goal is for all of us to be bold and then the system is keeping up with the aggressive kind of you know mentality. That's what we're trying to do right now in the army. Get the whole damn system to be bold and aggressive or the Chinese are gonna kick our ass. I'm like you guys are crushing I will say I think we've all talked about it's like seeing the actual change and then it's kind of removing that yellow red tape it's like hey let's push the envelope let's actually make change and

making it happen faster even you guys sitting down with this and showing it's like oh they're just kick-ass dudes to hang out with drink with when they're out of uniform but but also uniform pretty normal But we love the we love this profession and we're completely committed with all capital letters so but and and we want to surround ourselves with people that are like-minded and you you guys Actually give a shit. So that's why we wanted to start the relationship with you. Yeah We have a reputation. We have a reputation.

We know. That's OK. We all have a reputation. If you're looking for clean and perfection and looking in the wrong place, because that's not my 31 years of service, I've got some glitches there. I was a specialist once. Somebody saw something in me and didn't quit on me

let's hear it let's hear the best specialist story that you could tell whoo whoo nah nah we're not going there I didn't get married I was almost 30 you could tell we're not yeah I didn't remember I was 30 there was no internet there was no internet when I was a specialist so there's no internet there's no internet when I was a specialist. So there's no internet. There's no evidence when I did it that I'm not going to make some. I feel for youngsters these days, man. I mean, with ubiquitous cities and everything else, it's really hard to have coachable moments.

It's tough. But no, the only thing I would say is thanks, guys. Really appreciate you. You can't lose your sense of humor. I'm being dead serious. The profession's serious. What we got going on is serious, but damn, nowhere have I ever read

that you can't have fun along the way and be a normal human being. That's just complete bullshit. So thanks, thanks for coming alongside us, and happy birthday, Army. Absolutely, thank you. Sergeant Major The Army Wimer, thank you so much for coming out brother truly a pleasure

You bet Eli. Hey Brandon, you ever wake up in your bed feeling like you just fought in the war Yeah, what do you ask you ever wake up and feel like you slept in a sauna Yeah, I believe that's called night sweats means you got trash Mattress Brandon. Are we talking like macho man Randy Savage? Cuz they were talking about her premiere sponsorship Ghostbend.com ghost bed mattresses built with cooling technology So you're not sweating through your sheets like some street ball. You stay cool Comfortable most importantly you sleep through your night. I got you for three minutes, but I got ghost bed all night.

You know what's longer than three minutes, Brandon? Any sexual experience I've ever had. Ghost bed's 20 to 25 year warranty. And you've got a 101 night free trial to test it out. Oh yeah! And you know what brother, they don't just sell mattresses. They have bases, pillows, sheets, the whole empanada. Just pick your mattress and grab a bundle.

And right now Goosebed's giving you 50% off everything! Just use unsubscribe at checkout and say 50% Head over to GhostBed.com slash unsubscribe That's GhostBed.com slash unsubscribe Use code unsubscribe I'll show up under your bed and make ghost noises until you do Go now I'll show up under your bed and make ghost noises until you do I just want to reiterate none of this was in the script

And we're back on this chaos that is Unsub we had to move tents as you notice now, so I think this is our third move so far this is true yeah literally our third move we have not stayed stationary it's like okay they're good no actually you have to move no unplug everything no okay go back we're like we sounds like military operations pretty much one point I just said I'm gonna go pick up rocks out of the grass be like we're fully immersed in Army culture today. Move that now. Move that now. Okay. No, I'm just kidding.

Move it back. Wes, introduce yourself, brother. What's going on, guys? I'm Wes Moore. I'm the 63rd governor of the state of Maryland, but I'm also a very, very proud Army veteran. I joined the Army when I was 17 years old, served the 82nd Airborne Division. We're in Afghanistan, 05 and 06. So I'm proud to celebrate the Army 250th.

We appreciate you coming out here. You actually went to military school because you were a troublemaker. Oh, yeah, man. I got some shit. I got I got I got sent. So here's the thing. My mother was actually threatening to send me since I was eight years old. And she would like send me like she'd give me brochures to show me she wasn't playing around. I look at the brochures, but she could never really.

She could never afford it. And then finally, when I was when I was 14 years old, I actually she said I'm going to send you to military school and I was like, I know a lot. And she's like, no, you're going next week. And she sent me to a place called Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania. And I remember, you know, when I first got there, I ran away five times in the first four days of that school. I couldn't stand that place.

How'd they get? Wait, how far did you make it? And how'd they catch you? Probably about a quarter mile each time. They called me because the school's in the middle of the woods. And so they always told us there was this train station out there in Wayne, Pennsylvania. So I was always going to try and find this train station.

And in fact, so it's true story. The last time I tried to run away, second last time I tried to run away, they actually drew me a map on how to get to the train station. And I was like, it's just pathetic that I kept on getting lost. And they're like- You fell for it? I know, I kept on getting lost. And they're like, I know.

So they came to my room and they told my roommate to leave. They're like, you know, they told me, like, we got to attention and they told my roommate, they said, get out. We're going to talk to more. And and I was like, all right, well, you know, what I was about to go down now is going to be bad because they don't want witnesses. Right. So I'm standing there today. Tell me to take a seat.

And I'll never forget his name is his name was Sergeant, Sergeant Austin. His first name was Dallas and I thought that was hilarious. But he was my squad leader. He sits down and he's like, listen, it's obvious you don't want to be here. And quite honestly, we really don't want you here. So I've drawn your map on how to get to the train station. So he gives me this map and it has like handwritten instructions. It has a pace count. It has landmarks. And I'm literally like tearing up because I'm so happy. And I tell this dude, I'm like, listen, I'm never going to forget you. Well, you know, when you get out, let me know.

We'll grab lunch. So and he's just like, just get out of there. So that night I had this whole big great escape. I follow this map into the middle woods and I'm just going deeper and deeper and deeper into the woods. And you often understand. So like I I knew cities until that point in my life. I don't know anything about the woods.

And so the only thing I know about the woods, like in horror movies, this is where folks go and don't come out of. So eventually I just sit down and I start crying because I'm terrified. And then I started hearing footsteps. And I thought it was just like bears or gorillas or whatever is chasing me in the suburbs of Philadelphia. And then I hear laughter. And it was my chain of command because they followed me out.

The map was completely fake. They just enjoyed watching my flashlight making circles in the middle of the woods. And and finally, they let me come when they brought they brought me back to campus. And they told me they said, you're allowed to make one phone call. They said, I don't care who you call, but you got five minutes to make a phone call. And I called the only number that I knew, which was my mom. And I was complaining and tell her how I want to go home and

all kind of stuff. And finally, she said to me, she's like, too many people have sacrificed in order for you to be there. And she's like, and are proud of you. And you got to give it a shot. And so after a pretty tumultuous few days, I finally gave it a shot and ended up working out for me. Your mom saved up, though, to put you through that school. It was crazy. I mean, she saved up for Christmas.

Your mom's like, bye. But you know what's crazy is that, you know, and my mother's not a person who like makes empty threats. Like when my mom makes a threat, she's like she's not playing. She literally couldn't afford it. And so she was asking around like people she went to church with and saying, like, I really want to sell my son. And people are giving what they could a couple of hundred dollars here. But she was going to be thousands of dollars short.

So it was my grandparents who actually immigrated to this country. My grandfather was was born in South Carolina, but was run out when he was just a just a child. My grandmother was born in Cuba and immigrated to this country. And my grandfather was a minister. My my grandmother was a a child. My grandmother was born in Cuba and immigrated to this country. And my grandfather was a minister. My grandmother was a school teacher. And they had this little home in the Bronx.

And when they realized my mom was once again going to be short, they ended up taking money out of their home. I actually get emotional thinking about it. They took money out of their home to give it to my mom so she could have a couple thousand extra dollars to send me away to military school. So I'm very lucky and it seems to have worked out. It worked out man. But you know what's sad is that I mean I was when I was you know 14 years old I had no idea how much people were sacrificing for me.

You know what I'm saying? And like I'm being this jackass, you know, trying to get kicked out of school without realizing like your family is like giving up a part of their American dream. So you could have an opportunity. Right. And so I always think about that kind of like, you know, the, you know, listen, when you're a kid, you do a lot of selfish stuff, but, um, but I, I'm really thankful for them that they, that they invested me like that. Thank God they didn't have cell phones, right?

Thank God none of us had cell phones back then. You're the second person today. Google maps. That's not TrainStation. Yeah. Exactly. Like, we grew up in that perfect era. We sure did. We were like the last perfect era.

The last perfect era. That's right, man. That's right. What made you go to the officer route when you did decide to join? Well, you know what's interesting was that I first joined at 17. So I was still too young to sign the paperwork.

My mother had to sign the paperwork for me. And the thing that I knew was that I was like, I want to lead soldiers. I was trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. Sorry, when did you come to that decision? So you tried to run away at first at military school. When did you start to like it and then decide you actually wanted to do this? I would say by the end of my by the end of my first year of military school,

because my mother told me that this had to be a one year thing. And so at the end of the year, if I wanted to go back to school, like my mother at that time had was now moving back to Maryland. And so she was like, you can go to school in Baltimore. My sister went to school. We went back to school in Baltimore. And I was kind of like, you. And so she was like, you can go to school in Baltimore. My sister went to school, we went back to school in Baltimore. And I was kind of like, you know, if it's okay,

I'd actually like to stay. Because I felt like for the first time, you know, that I could ever remember, I actually felt at home somewhere. That, you know, I, you know, I could play sports because I wasn't on probation anymore. And, you know, I was, I, they, you. And one of the great things I love about the military was that they put you in charge of something really early.

And you guys know, it's like the first thing they're gonna put you in charge of something small. They're gonna say, all right, is the hallway clean? You're in charge of the hallway. And if the hallway has stuff in it, I'm like, hey, pick it up because I'm in charge. I'm not gonna get in trouble because you can't find a trash can.

And they noticed that and they're like, all right, well, now we're going to promote them. And so by the end of my first year, I was getting ready to be a squad leader. Oh, shit. So I have five people in charge. And that was a big deal to me. And I was like, I got five people that I'm now responsible for. And I think that at the end of that first year, when my mother was like, all right, you know, you did what you had to do. Your grades are, you know, weren't great, but better. She's like, what do you want to do?

And I said, I like to sit tight. And so I went to high school there. I finished high school there. And when I was getting ready to finish high school, I started thinking to myself, like, what am I, what am I good at? And what I want to do. And there was one thing that was pretty consistent was like, I feel like I'm pretty good at leading at leading cadets. I'm pretty good at leading at leading cadets

I'm pretty good at the leadership thing and and so that's when I was like I think I'm gonna I want to join the army because I want to make that part of my you know part of my future and That's that's that was probably one of the first times and people said what do you want to do with your life? That I could give them an answer and my answer was you know I'd like to have a career in the United States Army, because most of the people in my life who I actually admired, they had, and particularly, frankly, a lot of the men, they had one thing in common, they all wore the uniform in this country. And so

I was like, then that's what I that's what I'm gonna do. So I made the decision 17 years old. That's amazing. And you went to hop, john Hopkins? Yes. So actually, I went to a two-year college first. So that's just funny because- Save money. I'm probably, save money. And I tell people all the time, like, listen,

you do not have to do the four-year college thing. And even if you do, you don't have to do it at first. You don't. So I will say I'm like, I'm probably the most improbable governor in America, where I think I'm the only governor in this country that actually graduated from a two-year college. And the army helped to pay for all that stuff. And so, yeah country that actually graduated from a two-year college. And the Army helped to pay for all that stuff.

And so, so, yes, I went to a two-year college. I got commissioned as an officer. And and then I transferred to Johns Hopkins University to finish up my education. So it was a it was a great experience. Great experience. No doubt. And then you were infantry when you like you went 82nd and then you were at a line company. That's right. Yeah. So so after I got my commission, I when I was at Johns Hopkins, And then you were infantry when you do it like you went 82nd and then you were at a line company. That's right.

Yeah. So so after I got my commission, I when I was at Johns Hopkins, I was with the reserves while I was finishing my undergrad degree. And when I got my undergrad degree, I ended up getting a Rhodes Scholarship right out in my senior year of college. And so then at that point, I went off to Oxford. But what was really interesting was we left for Oxford, I think it was like September 24th or something like that, 2001. So literally we're talking like days after 9-11.

Wow. So it was really, I mean it was a complicated time because a lot of the people who I had trained up with and done jump school with and all this kind of stuff were now like getting ready to they were moving and I'm getting ready to go off to England on a scholarship and I remember even having conversations with with the military and conversations my unit and saying like should I go through with this X Y and Z and then and their answer was pretty simple they're like listen we we know where to find you they're like go honor your scholarship go finish your work up and they said but but listen, we know where to find you. They're like, go honor your scholarship. Go finish your work up.

And they said, but trust me, we know where to find you. And you know where to find us. And so when I finished up at Oxford, finished my degree, was working in finance for a little while. And that's when I then decided I was going to go and rejoin our folks. That's when I went back to the 82nd Airborne. So 82nd, you would have been, were you based in Fort Bragg then?

We were based in Fort Bragg, but we deployed out of Benning, interestingly. Oh no shit, okay. I spent like 25 years in Fort Bragg, so now I gotta ask. It's an amazing place. Well, really. Amazing, well. Good training. Which is where is Baltimore, Fayetteville, or Afghanistan? I don't know which I'd feel safer. Baltimore, Baltimore definitely. Baltimore you feel safest, better food, all that kind of stuff.

Baltimore, we're having our renaissance right now in Baltimore. But Fayetteville, Fayetteville is fascinating because, and I tell you one of the things I love about the military is I got a chance to see the country in a way I would have never gotten a chance to see otherwise. Yeah, you know, like I would have what I would have never had a reason to be in Columbus, Georgia. I would have never had a reason to be in pay. I never had a reason to be in in Fort Lewis and never had a big reason to be in, you know, Leonard would

you're Lewis? Yeah, I loose yeah I did I did my best camp in Lewis oh no shit how long were you there for I was there for how long's advanced camp eight weeks ten weeks something like that I actually have a great Lewis story where um the Swiss if you went you went to the bars yes oh yeah the Swiss the schooners yeah like I don't remember the schooners chopsticks no bars as you go to hang out with you all my friends are to the same ones even afterwards like meeting new people like you you Swiss or chopsticks I'm like Swiss oh fuck yeah is it still there yeah no all of them are closed all more close all of them are closed. All of them are closed. All of them are closed. Yeah. They're Joe bars. I remember one night we did,

we were doing a night exercise. And so, you know, you're taking turns on who's sleeping and all that kind of stuff. And I went up and they told us not to lean against, and I don't know if you had the same experience, not leaning against these trees because of the ants. The red ants? Yeah, the red ants.

So I was tired. So I'm leaning up against a tree. And when I woke up, my hand was like this big. I mean, it's the size of like my forearm. Bro, these ant files and they are this tall from the ground. They will get that big. It's just an ant mound that tall. Like they are the size of a f***ing tree. Yeah. Or they'll be blended in a tree and you'll lean on it and then they... That's right. That's right. So my ha-

Oh, yours was ridiculous. Yeah, that's crazy. It's like every military base has its own like environmental threat. Yes. Leonardwood, the snakes, the snakes at Leonardwood were ridiculous. Anything in the Midwest is the mosquitoes. Camp Ripley in Minnesota. They're fucking hummingbirds.

They're everywhere. Awful. So you did military. What made you get into politics? So, you know, it's I finished the military and I'm actually when we got back from Afghanistan I did a White House I did something called the White House Fellowship which is uh I had a chance to work as a as a senior advisor to that time Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice which was amazing experience because when you get a chance

to spend a year seeing how policy is implemented and then you come back and spend the next year seeing how policy is made. You just realize how different those worlds are. And just the oftentimes just like the disconnects between the policy being made and like when you end up being the frontline Joe and the one having to actually execute the stuff. And so it was something that I think I got an appreciation for how that world worked. But I knew even after doing the White House fellowship that I wanted to, I wanted for how that world worked but I knew even after doing the White House fellowship that I wanted to I wanted to leave and get out of it so I went back to I went to the business world for a while I went to I worked in finance for like four years five years I started a technology

platform in Baltimore that helped students who were first-generation students make it to and through college and then I ran one of the largest poverty-fighting organizations in this country. Um, and I think the thing that made me want to get into, into the world of, of, of politics is, you know, I always tell people, it's like, I never, people said, well, major one again, the politics. I was like, I didn't, I wanted to be the governor because a governor is really a different kind of role. Like we don't do the politics stuff. We don't do that.

Like, you know, the, the yelling at each other and a yay, nay, like, as a governor, you're the chief executive of your state. And I knew the big issues that I wanted to work on, like I knew I was obsessed with dealing with the issue of child poverty. I just don't know how a civilized society allows so many children to grow up in poverty. And we're talking urban, rural, suburban,

where kids, literally, their futures are being determined before they even have a say. And I remember working with, now, a former governor, on this thing that they could have done around child poverty called the Child Tax Credit, and I remember telling him, you should talk about your state of the state address and all that kind of stuff, and I got an advanced copy of the state of the state address,

and there was nothing in there about the child tax credit and nothing in there about child poverty, so I was pissed. So I call up the head of public policy for the organization I was running and I was ranting. And finally, when I breathed, he told me, he said, we work for six months to try to get them to include a line in the speech. And he said, but what if you could write the whole speech?

And that was kind of the point that I could keep on sitting there and like screaming and telling these people that they need to pay attention to things that matter to like real human beings and real people and people who are struggling and suffering. Or it's like, or you can actually make the policies yourself. And so when I decided to run for governor, I was running against statewide elected officials, I was running against Obama cabinet secretaries. I ran against the head of the head of the Democratic Party was literally ran for governor and then me, a guy who would never run for office in my life,

a guy who was never a really political guy. But that's why I always say like the party didn't make me the governor. The people made me the governor because I was I was never the party's choice. That's very rare. Yeah, because like one thing I didn't know before I did a little dabble. I ran for Congress last cycle. And almost took out an incumbent. But we the one thing I didn't realize is that deciding to run for office is not you. It's not really the norm. Usually people get recruited

for either like a higher office, people come to them and they're like, hey, I think you would be great for X-Roll, and here's $3 million to do it. We'll back you the whole way. Here's your advisors. Here's your staff. Correct.

Just a normal guy deciding this is what I want to do. I didn't realize that just doesn't happen. No. And that's the thing. It's like oftentimes when people are recruited, like you said, there's a whole infrastructure that comes along with it. I didn't have an infrastructure. And so in many ways, what we try to do when we come on board is I said, like, listen, the party didn't make me

the governor. So I'm not trying, I'm not going to turn into something that I never was before. What do you think set you apart from everybody else in the race? A, I think I just we beat the brakes off them in terms of how hard we work. Like I think people just realized our motor is just different. Um, and I think we were trained that way. And honestly it's one of the great things that I think I've, you know, we were trained to basically say like there's nothing that ever makes us flinch anymore. And I think that mattered. The other thing is that honestly it's like, I think we're authentic.

And I think that matters to people. I mean, I remember your story. There was something and it was on it was a July 4th celebration, whatever. And they invited all the people running for governor in Maryland, like all 30 of them, whatever it was. And everyone they said it was a chance for people to get together and they said each one of you are going to have a few minutes to talk to the people. And so they're all out there and like suits and all that kind of stuff. And I showed up in a polo and shorts. And you know, and people were kind of like, you know, he's not taking it seriously.

And it's nice. Like, it's not that I'm not taking it seriously. I'm hot. And I'm not wearing a freaking suit when it's 100 degrees outside. Look at his take up. This is formal. So I'm like, so I'm not so I'm not I'm not doing that. And so I remember the the Maryland speaker of the house called me up and she'm like, so I'm not, so I'm not, I'm not doing that. And so I remember the Maryland speaker of the house

called me up and she's like, have you heard the brouhaha about your attire? And I said, yes ma'am, I have. And she said, I am the state's chairman, and we represent the medal of honor recipient. Wow. Yeah. That's good shit. I like it.

So you won that one. So she calls me up. That's awesome, by the way. So she calls me up and she's like, have you heard this whole brouhaha about your attire? And I say, yes, ma'am, I have. And she said, I just have one piece of advice. She said, don't spend a second trying to be like them. She said, make them try to be like you.

And if you do that, you actually might have a shot at winning this thing. And, you know, long story short, that's kind of how we rolled. And I ended up winning with more individual votes than anyone who'd ever run for governor in the history of the state of Maryland. No kidding. So just, I guess the answer is, you know, just,

you know, I'm never, I've always said, I will spend, I have no problem spending all day introducing myself to people who don't know me. I will never I have no problem spending all day introducing myself to people who don't know me I will never spend a second reintroducing myself to people who do know me so I'm not trying to be something that I'm not that's cool that is amazing alright so you're an officer you've led men in the military yeah now you're a governor you essentially you know lead the American people which is harder because I feel like it's governor,

because at least with the military, everybody was there that volunteered. Governor is just kind of like, well, this was your spawn point, now I'm in charge. So I mean, which one's harder to lead, and what's the difference there between trying to lead civilians versus military members? That's a really interesting question.

It's a good question. So I would say, I love love leading soldiers and I miss it. I really do. I mean, I don't miss everything about the military. Trust me. Military is the best shitty time you'll ever have. It's a bitch. Like, I don't miss everything about it, but there's a whole lot that I do.

You know, in fact, earlier today, you know, I started my day actually with the members of the Maryland National Guard. As you know, I spent time with our guard, I spent time with our emergency operations center just in preparation for everything going on. And I was watching them go through our training and spending time with our soldiers. And I just, every time you get around soldiers, you just realize, like man that was that was a pretty amazing time of life and and it's an honor being their commander-in-chief now so I'd say there's a lot that I miss about the military you know one thing I think I would say why politics is a little bit

harder is it is really frustrating how politics is infused so much in this work. Everything. I mean, it's like, listen, when I when I led soldiers, I never once asked any of them, what's your political party? Right? It didn't matter. Yeah, you know, I'm saying like, we had a mission, we had a job, my job was to lead each and every one of them. And I don't care about your background. I don't care where you're from. I don't care how you voted.

I don't, you know what I mean? Like we had a singular mission. And I tried to do the same thing. Like one thing that people have noticed about us is like, we go everywhere in our state, Western Maryland, Eastern shore, and we go a lot of places. People are like, there's not a lot of Democrats here. And I'm like, yeah, but there's a lot of Marylanders

and I'm their governor too. And I love that. But it's amazing to me how much like politics gets infused in this stuff. And it's really frustrating. So in some ways, I love the fact that as governor, you really do kind of help to control a conversation and control the agenda and control a budget. I do love that. I just wish that politics. Yeah. Yeah. That's fair. It says swing and it sucks. That's probably the most difficult part than it is the polar opposites.

And you're like, let's find a common ground and then discuss it from there. And then we can make decisions based off of that. Correct. Because then you're making decisions based on the information you have, the data you have, but it's clear. And honestly, so for example, one of the first things that I did when I making decisions based on the information you have the data you have, but it's clear. And honestly, so for example, one of the first things that I did when I became the governor was we made Maryland the first state in this country that now has a service year option

for all of our high school graduates. So every high school graduate has a chance to have a year of service in the state of Maryland and they can choose however the hell they want to do it. They can they can they can work with veterans, they can work in the environment, they can work with young people, it doesn't matter. My only thing is tell me what makes your heart beat a little bit faster. And we're going to give you an opportunity to do it. And a lot of that was based on my time in the military, where I tell people that, you know, that I had people who came and campaign

for me when I was running for governor, right? Many of them who I serve within Afghanistan, many of them were not Marylanders, many of them were not Marylanders, many of them were not Democrats, but they literally came and door knocked on my behalf and was like, let me just tell you about the guy that I served with. And so I'm just a big believer that it's time in time, this like political divisiveness and political vitriol that that service will save us. And that's why I just want more people to have that experience because like the people

who I serve with, those are my brothers and sisters for life. I'll do anything for them. And I want as many young people in my state as possible to have in which however they want to get it, but I want them to have a similar type of experience and similar type of exposure. So that's smart. Good. That's the way to do it. I mean, everyone should have to do a year in my opinion, because then it's a wake up call. Yes. You do the military for a year, you're going to have a lot of different opinions. Like, you know what?

Well, I mean, that's how you also get people to go hating each other. Like, there's no way to stop hating or not understanding different groups of people. Then be like, hey, here's one person from every state in the country. Go figure out how to live three inches from them for the next nine months. There you go. Like, okay, well, we're going to figure it out. every state in the country, go figure out how to live three inches from them for the next nine months. There you go. Like, okay, well, we're going to figure it out. We'll figure it out.

That's the only thing you can do at that point. Everyone will just learn to embrace the suck together. When you go through suck together, you actually come out like a very tight knit group. Everybody has at least one common thing. You know what I mean? Like, hey, we've at least gone through this together. We have that in common. And just enforce people to get out of there get out of these

corners man I mean like it's it's just amazing to me how many people they they're very very comfortable living in their corner and only getting a certain piece of information or only exposing themselves to a certain piece of thing but like again one of the best and one thing I loved about the military is I got a chance to meet people I would have never had a chance to meet. I would have had no reason to. I got a chance to explore the country and, you know, and some explore the world going places that I would have never had.

I would never had a reason to go to these places. But I'm a better person because of it. I think about the world differently because of it. I think about this country different because of it. And I just want everybody to be able to have that, you know have that exposure. So So yeah, I'm we are I was clear. I mean I want Maryland to be the state that serves and and and the big reason is because I just really do believe that Service is sticky and those who serve together Generally have a have a habit of sticking together too.

That's cool. I'm beautifully sad. I know it's hard because like we this is there is a good common ground right now. It is because we do have differing views on like I think your team is like hey the 2A space is where we have like slightly differing but you're you're like let's talk about it. That's it. That's what I was like that's actually really dope you come down and sit down and actually talk cuz like Brandon's huge into the 2a space and like all of us are like oh

yeah we like we love our firearms and everything and you're like hey well here's my thought process on it and then it did you take any that from just childhood to military or where did you start adapting your policy well you know you know and what's interesting is that you, and I say this as a person who owns firearms, you know what I'm saying? But like I also, the way I also approach it and the way I viewed it was also saying like, you know, I also come from communities that have been so ripped by gun violence, just constantly. I mean, Baltimore City, for the

eight years before I became the governor, Baltimore City went eight straight years of 300 plus homicides. And I was just like, yo, I refuse to be a governor that is just going to spend my time attending funerals and giving eulogies. And so now the thing that I know, and again, I am not, I'm not a person who's like this is my views

and I'm and I'm not I'm not moving on it you know what I'm saying that's what I love about it so far I'm like listening it's like you're all on that yeah cuz I what we were talking about earlier is just the idea that you're willing to go into like you said in the politically divisive time go into the the lion's den with us one of those like oh we don't agree on a lot of shit but like what is interesting is it all gets brought together again by us being here for the common purpose of we're celebrating the army you know armies 250 every it's it's the thing that it's a thread that brings a lot of people here

together and I think that's really cool and honestly and and I and I it's the again it's the thing that I I really appreciate about the army and what the army has always done with me is that the army has also helped me to become somewhere again. I'm not a political animal in any stretch of the imagination. Like I said, I'm two and a half years into this stuff. But what I do is I really appreciate the fact that the army has given me a sense of exposure to the world and to issues and to thoughts where I feel like every single one of us we come to the decisions we come to because of our histories right because of our experiences um what the army was able to give me it helped me to broaden my

histories and broaden my experiences so the only thing i'm so if the only thing i'm coming to is what i knew, the fact that I now know a lot of different things and a lot of people, a lot of perspectives, actually makes me a more critical thinker. And that's, and that's cool. And I think that's kind of the way I've just tried to approach, you know, approach a lot of this stuff, I guess. You have to come down to Texas and hang out with us sometime. Dude, I'd love to. We'll go shoot together. Exactly. We'll have some fun, man.

I know that this is actually I have to say, I don't know if y'all I don't know if y'all are hunters. There's some great hunting in Maryland, by the way. What do you guys typically hunt in Maryland? Well, I mean, I generally like waterfowl more only because I just think I mean, and I say this respectfully, if any of y'all are deer hunters, I think deer hunters is deeply boring yeah I'm not against you against it but it's just like deers are just really smart animals you know I mean so

like you know if you move if you breathe like they're gone and you're not gonna see him for the rest of the day waterfowl are just not smart like I'm sitting there smoking a cigar I'm hanging out I'm telling jokes and they're still flying and you're like ah Kevin and then you go back smoking your cigar so I'm hanging out. I'm telling jokes and they're still flying And then you go back smoking your cigar So it's like I kind of I like the social aspect on so any any hunting that makes me sitting in a blind by myself Quiet quiet can't eat can't nothing. I'm like I find a better way to spend my time Let's go shoot some access in Texas. That's what we'll do access Let's go shoot some Axis in Texas. That's what we'll do. Axis. You'll like pigs. There you go.

Pigs, you can smoke your cigar, you can tell jokes. Exactly. And then they'll try to kill you. And then you kill them. It's great. It's awesome. I'm down with that. I'm down with that. I'm down with that. I just can't. The deer just... It's just way too quiet. Way too... Boring. Boring. You come out to Iowa, I'll show you how to push deer with an ATV. It'll be good. Yeah. Oh, yeah I go on one side of the wood line have your buddy drive through with an ATV You're on the other side of the wood line. It's very severe when we're running right at you Yeah for legal reasons as a joke

Man West it has been an absolute, we got your teams like three minutes, so we'll get you guys closer for you. You guys are great. But thank you so, so much for coming on. This has been a true pleasure. And listen man, happy birthday to the Army. This is an organization that helped save my life, man.

So I'm, and, and, and I, I'll say that, I know y'all gotta run but I'll say this um when I was with our soldiers earlier on today I said listen um it's a beautiful thing that people have a chance to go out and express their First Amendment right and people have a chance to go out there and right to assembly and everything like that it's also really important that people understand that the reason they have those rights is because people were willing to fight for them. The reason that people, the reason that you do have the right to assembly, the reason you do

have the right to free speech, the reason you do have the right, it's all I'm saying, is because there were people who were willing to sacrifice their lives in order for you to have those rights. And it means that there are people who right now as we are speaking, like the members of the Maryland National Guard, like our folks in the EOC, who are out there running drills, training, and giving up their weekends so we could enjoy ours. And so I just think it's really important that when we talk about a chance to celebrate, that's great. Let's also remember the sacrifice that was required in order for that celebration

to take place in the first place. So. Well said, man. I appreciate it, bro. Thank you so much. God bless you, man. You're truly appreciated. I'm gonna get out there and do some Hawks.

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I'm joined today by Eli double tap bad electrician chef rush my favorite chef in the world Brandon Herrera myself don't operator Thank you so much for being here and your biceps are here, too Three chairs one for each arm. OK. OK. I feel like I have to compensate. I need to, uh, Ben, make me bigger in the edit. You're just fat.

He just makes me wide. Grab that warp thing that all the Instagram models put on their ass. Put it on my biceps. Dude, tell the, tell, tell. Yeah. Tell the audience about yourself. About me? Yeah. I'm this shit.

No, I'm joking. You're joking. Walks away, really. Kind of, sort of. But no, I'm Chef Rush. Everybody knows me as a White House chef. I'm a decorated combat veteran. Actually, being here at the 250 is one of the biggest honors

I could ever have. I do a lot of TV shows, Gordon Ramsay Ramsay my shows. I have 24 inch biceps. I do 2222 push-ups a day except for Saturday and Sunday now for suicide awareness and mental health and I still do them so I do expect for you guys to do one push-up with me sometime today I've got a way a day long does that take you takes an hour to have 125 at a 17.75 A day, how can you go now without break 125? When you max that PT score real quick, yeah, I used to. That is. All right, I'm curious.

How's your cardio? My cardio is amazing. Yeah? You running to it? I'm an endurance trainer. OK. I'm an endurance trainer. So even though I'm a big guy, I gain and lose weight really quick.

So I'm at like 280 right now. I was just at like 270, and I was at 260. I did a TV show. I was a zombie when I was at 310. And so I just go back and forth But my body can handle it because that's why I trained I was bigger than you then I was still bigger than you Then I was still bigger than you Fucking bigger than you I lost one of you

I got all the way down to 260 what I Mean I I barely made weight for heavy weight in the UFC That is wild. This is the hot seat over here So how did you first go viral cuz I think I was there for it Somebody just snapped a picture of you working and it went ape shit on the internet It was that was when you couldn't bring that mic a little bit closer bring it up in them lips so pick up lines with Eli. Now look at me. Suss with Eli. He just breaks me. He throws me away. That's okay, it's okay. So the first time I went viral, which I actually have been viral many times, but the very first time was when it was hard to come viral, was when it was Twitter was out.

And I never had any social media. And it was when I was in the White House and I did a Ramadan dinner and I hated the media. They were stalking me and they actually took a picture that I didn't know. And I went to the, the podos came out, out talking to them they came back out and a lady came up to me a reporter and she said Kate Bennett she came to me I was outside and she says I'm gonna make you famous and I said to her I'm already famous and she laughs like no no she said look at your Twitter I said I don't have Twitter said do you have Instagram I said no I don't have anything. She said, do you have Instagram? I said, no, I don't have anything. And then the guys showed me.

It sounds like she's hitting on you, dude. I'm going to make you famous. I tell girls that all the time. No. I do. I say that to a lot of, never mind. That's another thing. But long story short, bro.

Hey, girl, do you want to be popular with autistic men in their 30s? That happened and then went inside the White House and it went eight shit. And I did the best thing that a man could do. I ran ahead. I literally ran ahead. I was like best thing that a man could do. I ran ahead. I literally ran ahead. I was like, I don't like this shit.

I hate it. Did you hide behind it? Okay. I said, that was a punch line. But eventually what I said was if I want to make a difference, I need to be a difference, right? Become a difference I need to be a difference right become a difference and I let everything die down which was a terrible thing to do and then when I did decide it I did it from scratch like I had a whole account that got like 700,000 I deleted it got rid of it you

deleted I deleted it I didn't want anything to do with social media. Nothing at all. Bang. Nothing whatsoever. Right, I was okay in my own little shell, doing my own little thing. And then I went and did the other logical thing that I could possibly do.

I got on the phone and I called my mama. Who had no idea about social media, but she believed in God and faith and everything else. And she's like, maybe this is what you need to do. Like maybe this is what he's trying to tell you to do and when I did that He took care of me and it just went One viral after one viral at the one viral at the one viral and and when I really decided started do it I went from a hundred and a hundred and fifty thousand

in the first week to Five million on my platform a million on YouTube a million on Facebook a million on Instagram in the first week to five million on my platform. A million on YouTube, a million on Facebook, a million on Instagram in the first week. And then it went to six million, seven million. And then I was like, oh shit, I'm doing all this by myself. So I'm doing all this editing, all the other things. And then it went up to like 14 million. I was like, okay, I got to stop. I got to regroup because I'm a speaker also. I'm doing TV shows. shows I'm like doing everything I didn't want to just do social media and I still don't just do social media but I do a lot of social media with other guys which we get about you know 500 700 800 million views for

one of one of my videos yeah right which is a you know impressive because I like to see what other people do offer me not what I do for myself so it kind of gauges what my engagement is with other people's audience. Along with my own. Well, what's what's your favorite collaboration you've done? It'll be the one with you when you invite. Oh, OK. He's coming on. Let him cook. You're going to come on. Yeah, dude.

Oh, I want to break your table. I saw you break the shit out of that. Honestly, that would be the best. Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. I was like, I was like, I'm always like, I have to think about it. Okay, uh, no, you know what? I've done some really amazing collabs. I mean, with some extraordinary people, uh, celebrities, influencers, um, I mean, from, I just left Japan, I just left Korea, uh, one of the guys from Chile, one of Asia and and I'm taking so many pictures out here because I pay attention to each and every

audience in every country. I'm a country person, I like diversity, I like culture. So I'm super popular over in Japan, I'm super popular over in Korea, in Brazil, Argentina, India, I mean and I'll go to those countries because of that fact. I don't just like, oh okay I got fans over there, I want to and I'll go to those countries because of that fact. I don't just like, oh, okay, I got fans over there. I want to go there and see them. Right? That's how you solidify yourself. You want to put yourself in that spot.

And from that part of it, it becomes very dynamic because I teach a lot of the guys how to do social media, but not only social media. My superpower is my biggest social media that I have out there. know 20 days. I have 8 million on YouTube. I have 3 million 3 million 4 million and the biggest one I have is my most the lowest the world's might have is my most Popular one, you know what it is. Thank God. Hmm. What is it? Hey LinkedIn? Oh Really? LinkedIn 37,000 38 thousand. It is my bread and butter. Really? Bread and butter. I tell you. Why is that? You know why?

Because on LinkedIn people say oh my god it's for old people, it's for these people, it's so boring, it's so boring. You know what content I put on LinkedIn? What? My own. But here's the difference from it. I turn it into a strategic matter. Here's my numbers. How did I get, stop, look at this post. Stop. How did I get this post get 500 million views in one week and the audience is X, Y, and Z, which are hitting this, this, this, this, this, and I explained to them how it happened and why it happens which is how I became a consultant because they want to know how to get those younger demographics and those younger audiences so you got to understand that it's a it's a it's a science to it you can't just think of

social media is one way now don't get me wrong all my guys they can make hundreds of hundreds of thousand dollars off of social media a month and that's easy and I could do it also but that's not my point I want to get in where I'm doing my TV shows I have what seven TV shows out YouTube I mean all the Netflix Ramsey Disney this this this and then I want to go into speaking then I'm gonna go to consultancy then I want to go to my business go an AI I want to encompass everything social media is a small part of it because now all these kids out here, I have about 57% young audience.

And so now when I get young kids, I get their parents. You get it? Yeah. So that's the whole part of it. So people don't think clearly when they think about social media, just trying to get numbers. I don't wanna get numbers, I wanna get everything.

Yeah, all the generations. Exactly. Really exactly especially on LinkedIn's a really smart choice because you're you stand out in that crowd I guarantee it like and then that's where the people with That is where CEOs and all of them are hanging out. And so the one thing I'll tell you about Um, I said it earlier on the podcast. Well, I'll hear was worth and value on LinkedIn. You don't have to negotiate. People see you for your worth and value. They don't say, Oh, Jeff, do this for, you know, 30,000 or do this for 40,000. I'm like, no, no, that's not my price. I'm just use a number.

I'd probably make $10. So, but if it was that in LinkedIn, they will say you're worth it. Here's what we want you to do, chef. And this has way to do right. I'm just, I'm worried about the invoice. You're going to send us after this podcast. Here's what we want you to do, chef. And this is what we're gonna do. Right? I'm just, I'm worried about the invoice you're gonna send us after this podcast. Oh, it's happening. You don't know it yet. Wow. I'm about to let him cook in for you. Unranded. Nah. You know, you know, the funny thing about it is it's important that we talk about this and people say why are you telling this knowledge? It's because I don't fear about not telling it.

A lot of the guys they want to keep everything to themselves, especially on social media. Nobody wants to share anything. You know, it's a whole different world. You know, I'm in the fitness world, I'm in the military world, I'm in the cooking world, I'm in the mental health world, I'm in the women's, I'm in the kids, I'm in the pets, I'm doing all these different worlds. And people try to act like a keeper of the key. If there's no reason to be, if you feel that insecure,

not to tell someone that you're doing to give it to somebody else, then something's wrong with you. Because in my world now, where I hang around a bunch of celebrities, around these people, we just share everything. Everything. It's an open pot.

It's not like, I'm gonna give you a little bit and not tell you the rest of it So it's a big difference. Do you want to hear how wild the early days of YouTube were? No one wanted to collaborate with each other because they thought they were stealing each other's It's the weirdest thing and it's gone away. Thankfully for the most part But it's like that a lot those and then they're getting to it because the algorithm push it out where you need to collab It made it it made it acceptable because like, oh, you can do a collab with two people. Now three, now four. So like, okay, if they're

saying it's okay now, but even then it's so hard. But even with that part of it, I found out on YouTube, when I started doing I went viral with a lot of people. And I felt like, you know, I mean, when I say viral, I'm talking about long form where it was like, you know, three, five, 10, 20, 12 million, 13, 30 million for a 22 million video. I didn't know that was money. I'm just thinking as you know what it is.

You can make money off your initial viral stuff. Wait, you guys are getting paid? I don't actually. You know, and it was funny because you're right about that. People kept thinking like, okay, if I share something or share their story or tag them even, they're going to get my audience. And I still have people like that today, but luckily it's only 99% of people I deal with, they don't do that. And if I do get that 1%, they out. I don't do that. That's so crazy because cross pollination is the best thing that we can have. It's like I think Tiktok did a really good job

because you can collab with like Logan and a lot of like the Chitwood and those guys. And Tiktok really does a lot of cross-pollination. That's I've never seen it to the level. YouTube is now getting it. I like I think this community really started it where it's like, hey, look, we can all grow together if we work together. Not this is mine. It's like being in an open field grow together if we work together or not this is mine

it's like being in an open field you're like hey bro you're hogging my sunlight exactly people are just on their fucking phone all day like there's enough attention to go around it's really not hard no you're right about that though i i like i love youtube because they started doing it tiktok was the first one i don't think they wanted to i don't even think that was their intention they just wanted to open it up because if you open it up, you get everybody. They had no intentions. I mean, that was from China.

They just said, let everybody, everybody became TikTok famous. It don't matter if you were one person that had this, this, but they just stayed on TikTok because they couldn't do it on Instagram, YouTube, you know, Facebook. So they were just TikTok famous. Yeah, exactly. We say TikTok numbers don't matter yeah it's a you know unfortunately it's a true

statement you have 40 million and still like okay what are you doing yeah yeah better what so you were are you allowed to talk about you who you the dinner you missed out with going to Korea. Are you allowed to discuss that? Yeah, I can talk about that. So, you know, I get to do a lot of things, and that's what I say to people, is like, I only show about 8% of what I do on social media, and I do fun videos, I'm crazy, I'll slam shit,

I'll do all this crazy stuff, and reality is, you know, people will call me influencer. I'm like that's okay I'm not influenced. I'm influential. You know they say you know is a creator. I said no. I'm not a creator I create I do shit like that not just earning anything or just creating thing But if you give me a title as such you put me in the same category everybody else right there are different types of influencers and different Type of people are doing different things I do stuff where I want to get everybody's attention. For instance, Denzel Washington. So he called me up to do Othello.

So I was a consultant for Othello, for him. So I came in with Jake Gyllenhaal and I was a person that sat there in front of all of them and told them direction because Othello, an army movie, you know, Real Range, had PTSD. PTSD and that was Denzel Washington. Hello Army movie, you know, we arranged a happy TSD PTSD and that was just there watching him. And so I needed to put them in that whole perspective of it. Like all like us, I have PTSD and I openly admitted it and what it went through and how I felt about it. And it was some very dark roads.

So that happened. And then I went to the premiere. I went to a couple of weeks ago, I went to his show. And then this past Sunday Sunday he did the last show. It was a show and it was an after party. It was better than dinner. It was an after party.

The after party was all of everybody from all over the celebrity world in New York, LA that went to the after party. I didn't go. I was invited because I had obligations in Korea. The government wanted me to come over and help them put a product in the US. Even though they paid me, even though I could have got out of it, I'm still a loyal person. I mean, if I would have went with De Zare... Which Korean government? Did Kim think you were Dennis Rodman? A little bit. he thought I was the short version of it.

I got Nick with that one. You did. Sorry to derail. Please continue. You know, I was invited there. Really? No shit. I was invited there. I'm pretty popular in Korea. There's a couple of people I've heard of getting invited to work for you. I was invited there. Really? No shit. I was invited there. I'm pretty popular in Korea. There's a couple of people I've heard of getting invited to Korea. I was invited there. No shit. Yeah, yeah, I was invited there.

I do a lot over in Korea. I've done two Netflix shows, three Netflix shows there. I've done... No shit. I've done a lot of stuff there. Like really popular viral shows. Like viral shows to get viral in the US. So Korea is very smart.

They do shows that's Korean based, but they target the US. So Korea is very smart. They do shows that's Korean based, but they target the US. For instance, Squid Games. Like I would just, Nick just asked me to do a video with Squid Games where I had to come and do something else. Oh hell yeah. And then what's the other show? Physical 100. Physical 100 is a popular show. Black and White, which I did culinary wars a zombie verse I played multiple roles on the zombie verse I actually played my first role there and I was I was one of the people that was Korea's very different I mean they worked they asses off like you don't get hurt in Korea what show did you say I'm

sorry I can't hear culinary culinary wars okay was was the culinary show which had all the top chefs in Korea okay, when Super viral whole part of it, they called it black and white. I was on that show I'm doing the second season for it. Then I did a show called zombie verse Which is a reality show with all so what Korea does is they get all the kpop stars They're entertainers and they make them the stars and they make it a reality show So I was on a reality show and I had to get there I had to get killed off. They killed me off and then I went back to the US and LA

and they called me right back and said, Chef, you did an amazing job. We want you to come back as a boss zombie. So they made a roll up for me to be a zombie to kill my friends. Jesus, you're the most frightening zombie ever. I was. You're a fast zombie too, right? You're not one of the walkers.

You know what crazy was? The Koreans didn't know I came back. The guys were on the show, because a lot of them just speak English. So they hit me and they put me in his creepiest shit. You got to see it, right? They put in a thing and then when they unveiled me, they were terrified.

So when I came at them, they literally thought that I was going to kill them. So you weren't like a walker zombie. You're a fast zombie, right? I was a fast one. I't like a walker zombie. You're a fast Like you gotta go through all the sous chefs and stuff and then he's in the kitchen with a fucking meat cleaver Whole part of it they had me tied up to a 400 pound tire That popped my damn Hamstring it was crazy tied up to a 400 pound tire that popped my damn hamstring.

It was crazy. Had you tied to a tire? Yeah. Holy moly. Still scary. Yeah. Dude, you just got time for, your time is up. What time is it? I like they're like, you have to go.

No you don't. 2.35? Oh, 2.35, oh, I gotta go over to, I'm doing a thing at three, yeah. We gotta go have a picture at least before you go. Yeah, most definitely, most definitely. That was fun, man was fun, man. Yeah, where do we find you? Where do the people find you at? He can find me right here chef rush real chef rush everywhere In and on LinkedIn most definitely Massive following there and then we would love to have you on let him cook

We know about it multiple times after this so that my explanation after this. So that'll be fine. Dude, that would be a blast. That would be a... Amazing. Let him cook. Thank you so much for coming out, brother. Always be a pleasure, brother. Thank you, brother. Pleasure. Appreciate you guys. Hey, guys. I hope you enjoyed the Army 250.

Now we're back. It's loud still. It's been fucking hectic all day. We've... We made it, though. thank you for chase dear god you have to edit this I picked up rocks out of the grass I couldn't hear anything I'm just reading lips down here I'm like yes I hope it doesn't come across on the the governor more podcast I was doing this yeah we hope you like, yay, hey! We hope you all enjoyed it. Kody, you wanna do the thing?

Bye everyone. Thank you for coming to the Unsubscribe Podcast. I was joined today by Eli Double Tap, Fat Electrician, Brandon Herrera, myself, Donut Operator. We love you. We love you. Come on.

Goodbye. Bye guys. I gotta take a shit. Black Bang Out! We'll see each other again You know my