Unsubscribe Podcast - Special Forces Doctor Tells The Craziest Combat Medical Stories | Unsubscribe Podcast 263

Episode Date: May 10, 2026

This week we are joined by Army Special Forces medic Tyr Symank! Watch this episode ad-free and uncensored on Pepperbox! https://www.pepperbox.tv/joinunsubscribe WATCH THE AFTERSHOW & BTS ON PATREON! https://www.patreon.com/UnsubscribePodcast 👕 Merch & Shoes https://bunkerbranding.com/pages/unsubscribe-podcast 🔋 Energy Drinks https://drinkechelon.com P.O BOX: Unsubscribe Podcast 17503 La Cantera Pkwy Ste 104 Box 624 San Antonio TX 78257 ------------------------------ THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS! PONCHO OUTDOORS Go to https://ponchoutdoors.com/unsub and enter your email for $10 off your first order and free shipping. SHOPIFY Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at https://shopify.com/unsubpod FABLETICS Shop now at https://fabletics.com/unsub to get 70-80% off everything when you sign up as a new VIP—take the style quiz and select unsub to unlock this limited-time offer. ULTRA POUCHES New customers get 15% off Ultra Pouches with code UNSUB at https://takeultra.com! #UltraPouches #ad CASH APP Download Cash App Today: https://capl.onelink.me/vFut/5u7gm6rr #CashAppPod. Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App’s bank partner(s). Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. See terms and conditions at https://cash.app/legal/us/en-us/card-agreement. Cash App Green, overdraft coverage, borrow, cash back offers and promotions provided by Cash App, a Block, Inc. brand. Visit http://cash.app/legal/podcast for full disclosures. ------------------------------ 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! 2:53 Weird Afghanistan Stories 20:11 How Tyr Got Into Special Forces 43:47 Amputating A Leg In Afghanistan 1:20:26 Drunken Debrief & Weird Alcohol Laws 1:23:45 Tyr’s Military Promotions 1:30:18 Dubai Poop Girls 1:34:05 VA Claim Fraud Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Nespresso. Hear that? That's your next obsession. Every coffee, a new world. Every sip, a new taste. This is the new Nespresso. One touch, endless possibilities. Iced, flavored, long, short. Because some days call for that espresso kick.

And sometimes, a smooth, silky latte just wins. It's exceptional but effortless. Like actually effortless. Simply press, brew and explore. Nispresso, what else? Keep exploring at Nespresso.com. I dated a Marine Corps boxer. What was his name?

They looked at me like, you're gonna cut his leg off with Asazel? I'm like, yeah. Well, that's courting everywhere. I cast sexual trauma. One time I threw a crippled Afghani elder into a K-hole. K-holes and sex nightmares.

The tear story. It's not too far from the title of my memoir, actually. Say hi to Eli. He's racially ambiguous, Brandon. His hair is fucking fabulous. Don't I? A dark joke disposition. And there's a fat electrician.

We'll come to unsubscribe. A soldier on the go. Brandon hates veterans. All army guys are gay. I started a uniform out, friend. It's fairly decorated. It's pretty dope, right? The amount of shit that was given to us on the live tour was absurd.

I still get, like people still just walk up and give me, like they're family medals and I have to tell them like no please for the love of God that's an heirloom hold on wow he is more decor like John Kerry like you just walked up and gave you medals I don't know the story oh well hi everyone welcome to the unsubscribe podcast I'm joined a day by eli double tap tier Cymack Brandon Herrera myself donut operator thank you so much for being here what's up bitches we're going in hot tier's supposed to been on many times and then the scheduling never worked many times we're both very busy busy and divvy and I've known to here for eight years.

It's been longer than that, man. We had a real go wild on my channel. Oh, yeah, yeah. Like 1.2 mil. How long was that? Views. That was back in Unicorn Ranch, Salt Lake City days. So, like, 2014, 15.

I mean, we'd known him for like five years. The adaptive archery. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I'm glad your limbs grew back. That's good. That's super neat. Those guys can, it's not even close.

Those guys can shoot better than me. And I've got everything and there's no excuse. We're teaching Brandon how to shoot a boat. My buddy Caleb out in Arizona has no legs and can do like 10 times as many box jumps as I can. I don't know how that works. How does that work? I don't know. Lider, no arms.

Pure will, apparently. Yeah. Product placement owns Stick Sniper Archery shop out in Arizona. If you're interested in archery, go out there. Support a veteran with no legs who does box jumps. Do it. He's a green bray. Go.

He has no legs. See him do a... That's what I'm saying. How does that... I think it's just... Now I'm like... That's called a pull-up. It's a torso jump.

Bro. It's... Define gravity is what it is. That's what he's doing. Define gravity for reps. That's... A jumping bean. I don't know. Oh, geez.

There's the other guy. What's this guy's name? Caleb. Caleb Brewer. No shit. Yeah. Great. Here where...

Now you have a colorful military background. You did cool guy stuff. Did some cool guy stuff. Yeah. Yeah. I know a little. little bit about your background, which I want you to tell, like, hey, explain what you did.

I told all the cool stories at launch, so this is just going to be us just chatting. Should have been there. Should have been there. Yeah, where were you? I had a meeting for four hours? Two. Two hours, two hour meeting. Huh?

Yeah, right? Okay. Fine. You want to go on my phone? It's my back story line. I was like, these businesses run. There's a lot of things I don't want to go through and your phone is one of them. I'm good, brother.

Surprising docile now. I'll give you some wave tops And then if you want to dive deep into those waves We can do it because there's a lot, man 31 years of service in the Army I listed in 1995 Which is Before some of the people in this room were born

And I recognize that The year I was born There he is, yeah Yeah Wait, wait, 1995 I enlisted 95 May 4th May the 4th be with you

You've been in the Army longer Than I've been alive Yeah And Savannah My future wife you're yeah yeah so that is my back hurts like right now my back hurts um 25 of that was in special operations and previous to that i was in the first cavv but uh on paper i i i had a abram's driver's license is a 19 kilo but i actually rode horses for the army no shit fort hood texas yeah so that's what

i didn't know or wasn't sure is what made you how long did it take for you to go oh i want to do the special forces route. Well, see, what happened was I re-enlisted to go to Oklahoma Ferry College. Ferrier is, ferrier, it's multiple syllables, not to. That's the people that put the horses shoes on, shape the shoes, do all that stuff. They're foot doctors for horses. That's what that, okay. I thought it was sparkling water.

That's sparkling pony. Ah. Yeah. So, Eli got it. I was going to go to Oklahoma Ferryy College. that didn't happen and so I got upset and I threw a tantrum

and I went back to an armor unit You have to go to college to put on horseshoes? It's a good idea to get certified to do that. You gotta like dig the abscesses and shit out of their feet too and learn how to bandage them

It's a whole lot to it. Isn't like Oompeville? Like Caleb's dad's a ferrier I believe. I think so. Yeah. I mean that makes sense. It's a very difficult job

and it's very that is one of those AI on Facebook and it's actually going to pull up because it hits my cycles now. The algorithm is like, oh, Eli stops and watches this. Just make sure you spy it right, because Ferrier, it's with an A, F-A-R-R. Dude, what the fuck? Yeah, I was going to go to that and didn't happen.

So I went back to 2-8 Cav, and I realized that the regular army was not quite like what I'd been doing from E-1 to E-5 on horseback because everybody there was volunteer. and if you didn't want to be there if you didn't want the hard work dude that's that's in you back honestly man that's kind of my guilty pleasure is to watch the fairiers scrape the hoops and then get the abscesses out of them

so you're like pimple popper watcher yeah dude it's always one more it's always one more dude have you checked out the hoof GP it just popped up on my Facebook algorithm but yeah it's just satisfying watching them with that razor just scrape the layers of the hoof all

I'm weird That does nothing for me. It's, yeah, I don't know. I don't think that's weird. It's fucking scratches an inch somewhere in my brain. Apparently it smells like shit. It does. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And you get done to some thrush. If they've been standing in like, like, just shitty mud for a few weeks. Thrush. Yeah. It's basically athletes foot for horses. But it's got to be cut out.

Literally cut out with a with a pairing knife. Sometimes burned. That doesn't smell good either, by the way. So that's, I didn't even know about, well, and now that makes more sense of your journey into special forces because you chose the nothing easy route. I didn't. Well, nothing about special forces is all that easy, but I was playing rugby for the Fort Hood rugby team. My teammate was going to SF selection and said, hey, you should come along too.

And so I did. But I chose a different route in that way. My entire military career has been kind of like choose your own adventure type deal. It has been unconventional the whole way. I would like to think you just stayed as a ferrier and they just need like special forces like needed to drop you in. Fucking hell divers drop pod style. Like we need a ferrier now. So as a footnote there or whatever it's called in a book.

A footnote. Is that a pun? Ooh, that is good. That is a stinky footnote. There you go. I'm done. I promise. I'm going to my quota for shitty jokes already.

One of my teammates actually was a licensed failure between his time in Ranger battalion and special forces. He went to ferry college and was shoeing horses, like before he went to the Q-Course. When he deployed to Afghanistan, they found about that. He was actually taking care of a small herd of horses at Asadabad that the teams were using to go out and patrol with. So it is a thing. He wasn't airdroped there.

But yeah, it was a thing. No shit. It was definitely a military duty. Also crazy you guys used to actually do, like there's groups that went out on horseback. And there's that story. It's like the famous story. Yeah, the horse soldiers. Was it the 13 strong?

Five, well, was it? 12 strong. 12 strong, sorry. So that movie's not real? But Chris Hemsworth told me so. Yeah. So the thing is, which camera we need to do? This is important kids.

A special forces team does not revolve around the officer. It's the team sergeant who was notably absent from that movie plotline. And it doesn't matter if he looks like Thor or not. It's the team sergeant that keeps that team running. That's my PSA of that special forces. That's very important. It's very important.

That you got pissed. Yeah. It's good whiskey. Good dudes on that team. The thing with that movie is Hollywood said, hey, guys, we're going to make this movie with or without you. Do you want to be part of it? And that's kind of what happened.

with that. I have one of those, and this is, if you're watching this, sorry, I had one of those bottles that was signed by all the guys. Yeah. It was just really cool. Like to me, like that's, that's really special. It's kind of neat. I didn't even know about that. Yeah, the horse, horse soldier bourbon. Yeah. Yeah. It's SFO. Oh, shit. Yeah. It's like a bunch of the dudes that were there in that, that operation, whatnot. But they, I had the, the bottle that was signed by a bunch of the dudes that was on the team. And I let somebody, uh, house sit for me while I was away. Connor.

And the person that... I'm joking. Well, that's a fuck, I know. He said, I didn't do it. It was like the girl I was seeing at the time was like one of her friends or whatever house sit for me.

And basically like, oh, yeah, no, anything like me, Casa Sucasa, take anything you want, like shit off the bar. I don't care. And I didn't think that that would extend to an unopened, signed bottle of horse soldier, but they drank most of it. That's wild. Open some. Well, he did say. I did. I did not clarify, but that I was,

why is there marker on this? Unopen. Clearly, this is the tainted one. It's got scribbles all over. He doesn't want this. And a bunch of notes. So to this day, on my bar, there's, there's a quarter full bottle of horse soldier that's signed by the guys. Horse soldiers, if you could get a bottle out from Tampa to the house in San Antonio,

that'd be great. Thank you. Sign it. Sign it. Yeah. Yeah. You throw that up in the background. And then get one for Brandon. Yeah.

Two to five bottles, maybe case. Why stop there? Yeah. You owe us money now. We'll invoice you for this ad. So I did ride horses in Afghanistan, though. No shit. Metal Gear Solid 5.

Yeah. But it was not tactical. Yes, Eli. It's just like Metal Gear Solid 5. I get it. He had the box and everything. Yes, Jimmy. Just like your Game of Thrones.

Just like it. I was up in, my team was up in Mazar Shereef. and we were doing split team ops. So half the team was on one side of the city that was in the other way. I mean, we're out in the country, but we're on either sides of the city. And this is in 03, so still pretty early. Yes, super early. And still before some of you were born.

So, you know, whatever. But the guys on the east side had made friends with this local warlord named Comgar. And I'm really shitty with names. but his is easy to remember because it's also one of the two airlines in Afghanistan. So he was a local warlord, Andy owned one of the airlines. So Com Air is named after Comgar. Oh, he's a warlord Annie owned the airline? Yeah.

Yeah. He's doing good. Yeah. I mean, it's Afghanistan. It's kind of. John C. American Airlines. Yeah. My favorite.

John C. Delta. Yeah. Those are only stealth planes, though. Oh, well. Yeah. So they make friends with this, this warlord. And every Friday, Juma, the only day off in the Islamic world, they were playing this game called Buscashi,

which literally translates to goat dragging in Farsi. And so it's this ancient game that goes back to like the 1200s. It's super barbaric. It's full contact. It's like playing rugby and polo at the same time. It's the second worst thing that could happen to a goat in Afghanistan. Yeah. I got nothing for that. Workout.

I've seen some thermals. Everybody's got a story. It is a fucking story, that's for sure. So we come out there and we show up and, you know, we grip and grin with our teammates that we haven't seen in a week. And a couple of our dudes are on horseback and we're like, well, what are they doing? I'm like, oh, they're just hanging out. I used to ride horses for the army So obviously

I have to be on a horse So they get me a horse It's all saddled up I get on there I'm wearing I'm wearing like zip off fishing pants And some hiking boots And the black fleece that you guys

Used to get yelled at for wearing Because for some reason it's underwear Yeah So And a UO ball cap That's all torn up Because that's the school I dropped out of To join the army

and I'm just sitting there and I don't know how exactly I got wrapped up into the game because there's not a firm outer border to this thing but I got I ended up being a player in the game and how this how this game works is

there's a headless goat and it's got the feet cut off it's got the head cut off and it's it's that's the ball that is the ball so it is sitting in a circle yeah it's a torso okay

Yeah. It's sitting in the circle in the middle of the pitch. And the rugby part of this is like there's a scrum. Everybody's fighting to get to the center and pick this thing up while you're mounted. So you've got to like hook your boot over the candle to the saddle and lean over and grab this thing. Meanwhile, people are kicking, punching, pulling, bop it, twist it, pull it, all this stuff. And you're trying to pick this thing up. It's funny. I just recently learned there's actually teams. I didn't know. I was like a one-fitting. for all. I don't know. You come up with a game where it's like, okay, and we grab something. What? Do we have anything? Cut off those feather feet. A decapitated goat is easier to come across in Afghanistan than a soccer ball. So. There's a lot of soccer balls, too. There's a lot of soccer balls. Yeah. We did that. Yeah, you saw what happened to the goat. That was sweet. Soccer ball diplomacy. Yeah. It's like, oh, you don't drinking water or security. How about a soccer ball? All right. I hate how. See you that is.

See here. Braden, what shirt are you wearing? Well, I'm glad you asked Eli, I'm wearing my poncho shirt. It's not what a poncho looks like. It looks lightweight and breathable. It is lightweight and breathable. It's also fantastic for summer because, like said, it does breathe. It's very lightweight.

And it also offers SPF protection. You mean UPF? That's what I f-I-said. Oh, okay. Bad hearing. Legitimately, on the campaign trail, these ponchos were basically my everyday attire. It's just the perfect mix between looking professional, feeling good, and just being fairly casual.

Is that the Western style? I'm just guessing because of the pearls. It is. Once you go Pearl Snap, you never go back. The best promo for this, they weren't our sponsor. The guys and all of us wore them before. We sought them out as a sponsor. We were already in love with the shirts, and we were asking them,

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So I get in there and like the horses are rearing up like high o'clock style and and they're trained to do that. Like they're part of the contact of this of this game. I fought my way in there on horseback. I lean over. I get this thing and I wrapped. Where do you grab it from? So I grabbed one of the legs and I just muscled it up like.

I thought there were no. legs, right? No, they cut off the feet. Oh, the feet. Okay, got it. Yeah, it's got legs, no feet. So I hauled exactly. Same interesting distinction. And the head. I don't know why the feet are cut off. Honestly, I really don't. Maybe might run away. Yeah. Yeah, why not? Does that hurt the goat? Yeah. How does the goat feel about this? Did he died? So I wrap my leg around this thing. So it's, so it's nice and secure, is. And I've got like one leg across the saddle horn. And the next step is you've got to ride around a certain point.

In this case, it was you had to do basically a lap around the pitch. So I'm riding this loop around the pitch. And people are pulling on my horse and like whipping it on the ass with the crops, the crops. Pulling on the reins. But there's also a couple dudes like in Old Russia tank. helmets that are and wearing like cars eye jackets that are that are blocking for me. So you got like goalie sue? I didn't know it that I thought it was like everybody against everybody when I got in there.

But it turns out it's like teams. So the old Russian teammates. The old Russian tanker helmets and shit that reminds that that that that sounds like like old like Native American warriors wearing like conquistador. Yes, exactly. Like it's kind of cool. Yeah. Exactly like that.

And dude, I was just, I'm writing an article about this right. now for National Cutting Horse Association magazine. So I had to do, I did go back and do a bunch of resource. I subscribed to that actually, yeah. Oh, do you? Yeah. Yeah. I'm looking forward to reading the article. Yeah, same.

Are you bullshit? No, no, I'm completely bullshitting you, but. Well, I'll send you. I'll send you. I'd about that. I would read it. Yeah. You throw it away. It's telling me.

Aw. Tear did send it to me. So where was it? I'm doing a loop. I'm riding the loop. Russian tanker helmets, car's eye jackets are all blocking for me. And then you've got to drop it back in the circle. So I managed to do that entire that lap. And I get it in the circle. And this is where the awkward moment came up because I didn't know they were playing for cash. And at the time, 03, like three bucks a day was the average Afghan daily wage. So there's like the warlord's representative in a megaphone. And he's just walking on it. He's like, blah, la, la, la, la, la.

I'm like, yeah, he points at me, la la la la la, la. And then he hands me this wad of cash. I'm like, oh, well, that's awkward. So in special forces school, you know, the culminating exercise is Robin Sage. And it's all about linking up with your guerrilla force, building rapport, maintaining rapport,

getting the trust of the local government and everything else. And there's moments exactly like this built into the scenarios. us. Mine, I had to marry a local guerrilla medic. That's an entirely different story we can get into. So five. Five. Yeah.

Oh, sorry, Rebecca. I forgot to tell you about the one in training. I'm sure she'll love finding it out here. I might want to jump ahead of that on text. We've got to talk. We'll just cut that one out. So I just looked at the, I just found the nearest dude in the Karzai jacket with a tanker helmet that I knew blocked for me and was very obviously

a direct descendant of Genghis Khan like he had those features and I was like, oh yeah, yeah, wicked Asian and I just like and you know I kind of expected some back and forth like no no please fuck no he was just like he just grabbed it like inducted Miss Parsight Jacket and my man he's gonna love this I'm gonna get a giant thank you. out. Yeah. That's a weird sport. Yeah. Yeah. It was outlawed by the Taliban. I mean, how progressive. Right. Well, I mean, they're literally the fun police, right? So, they're like, what is this? Fun? No.

Ban everything. Ban it. Cites? No. Ban it. What? Cites. Cites. They banned kites. Yeah. Okay. Also, yes. Also banned. That too. Funny story. Not super popular. Not sure if you know anything about the history of the Middle East. What do you mean?

They're not friends. Jesus Christ. Is it awesome? Is it out in here? How's that campaign going? Great. a fucking hour ago. Well, I'll see you in the headline.

Yeah. Holy shit. I like to see, this is unsubtuity. It is. So why'd you go to the medic roll? This is me. There was this decapitated goat. No feet.

When I thought it had legs. Yeah, I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I went to selection. I just knew that my buddy was going. And I kind of had this feeling that if I didn't go, I'd always wonder if I could have made it. and my whole family was in construction. So I just kind of like fast forwarded this vision of 10 years. Same. Construction?

Yeah. Mud people. Mm. Mm. Mm. Is you drywallers? Is that what you're talking about? Generally.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I was talking about. I grew up on job sites. I get it.

Yeah. Yeah. So I just pictured myself being, you know, on a job site, like a decade later, talking about what could have been, you know, If I thought about going special forces, but, you know, whatever. And keep in mind, nothing's really going on at this time. This is pre-9-9-11. I went to selection of 99.

I didn't think about that, yeah. Yeah, it was different. The only thing was really going on that anybody knew about was Bosnia. You're probably more picky during that time, too, then since it was like no war. Yeah, so I didn't join for patriotic reasons either. I joined for college money and tri-care, and I just kept re-enlisting. So I thought I was going to be out in two years. And then, you know, every, your reenlistment window opens up really fast if you only have a two-year contract.

And that just kept happening. What was your vibe kind of after 9-11? Like, I'm sure that was a radical shift for the entire military at the time. It definitely was. So you have a whole story for that. I do. So we'll go really quick just what route did you go in the 18 series? because that's...

So when I finished selection, it was the hardest thing I'd ever done up to that point. And I'm riding this post-runner high with endorphins. I'm like, oh, that was hard. So let's pick the hardest M-O-S, 18 Delta, Special Forces Medic. Why not? It wasn't really an interest in medicine. I just knew it was the hardest one from talking to dudes there. So that's what I chose.

This adds an extra year, essentially, right? At least. That's if you pass the first time and most people don't. Yeah. Like, oh, this is going to take a normal... It's two years? It's like fast-row. Two years is, yeah, basically the fast route.

Yeah. Do you have to do basically a residency in a hospital and all sorts of things? So you do two road, two civilian residences. You do one for your paramedic or I don't know what it's like right now, to be honest. But when I went through, it was a month for monthlong residency to get your national registry paramedic, which is normally a two year program. We're six months into a medic course. Like six months ago, we were nothing. Within a week, we were EMTBs.

So were you here like Sam Houston, like BAMCC? No, they stopped doing that because we kept ruining all the medic students here. All right. Explain. Well, if you've got no special operations at a training base and all of a sudden you insert a bunch of meat eating special operations dudes in a training base, you kind of think it's kind of the same reason we don't go to DLI and Monterey. I heard. I don't understand.

it. Yeah. Me horned you. Yeah. Yeah. It's introducing too many alphas into the herd. So, yeah, so I chose medic. And then, so August, September of 2001, I'm doing my paramedic internship with FDNY. And then this weird thing happened, like a few days after we came back to Fort Bragg where some dudes got on a couple planes and threw them into buildings. What was that? That changed everything. What was it? I don't know.

It might have been remote control. Who knows? We're specifically told not to forget it. Yeah, I can't remember. I don't know. I will tell you this. But you said FDNY is in like, no shit.

Fire Department of New York. No shit. So like that was. Holy shit. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't even click that tell you. You just said it.

Yeah. Yeah. I used to say Fidney all the time, but I was on this other job with a guy that used to be NYPD. And he's like, Fidney. What's that? I'm like, aren't you?

FDNY, the fire department, the guys, you guys, that guy has a douchebag, doesn't matter. So it just like ships passing in the night, barely. Yeah, we'd been back for a few days. And we had this section called MilMed, military medicine. Basically, it was just throwing us into a three-day field problem to remind us that we were not street paramedics. We were Army medics. And it was just a beat down where I got this full thickness third degree burn. So we'll put a pin in that one.

That's funny. And we came out of the field. We went and did PT. And that first plane hit while we were in PT, showered, came into the classroom, and they had a live feed going up on the big screen. And you can see the first tower smoking. And nobody really knew it was going on at that point.

But we were in our seats and watching live when the second plane hit. And we sat alphabetically. And I remember turning my left. And the guy next to me was Kane Smith. myth. And I remember turning to Kane and going, we're going to war. And yeah, everything was different from that day on. Because prior to that, you know, I was, I'd gone to selection, basically just to see if I could. And then I went to the Q-course to see if I could. And my plan after that was to just go do missions, you know, training missions in Southeast Asia, maybe do

some remains recovery. Like, because that's a cool job. There's, there's still, People missing from World War II, Korea and Vietnam. They always have an SF medic attached to them. Did not know that. Yeah. So you know, I knew they were probably missing, but I didn't know that we were still, like, actively sending dudes out. Yeah, there's an office out of Hawaii that specializes remains recovering.

It's not all military. They've got, like, anthropologists and archaeologists with them and whatnot. That's still really cool to go above and beyond just to do that. It's like, hey, even if they died in World War II, we want to bring them home. Yeah. That's fucking dope. I didn't know about that. Not to bring it to like, you know,

modern day geopolitics, but that was like a lot of the shit that, like when we did that rescue operation for that pilot in Iran, where you had all these Europeans, like, this is such a waste of resources. Why go after one guy? It's like, dude, I don't know what to tell you.

Americans are built different. That's what we do, man. That's a big thing that sets, I've worked with a lot of militaries, a lot of militaries. And that's one thing that sets us apart from, not all of them, but many of them is that we know when we leave the wire, hell or high water will be returned to our families.

We don't leave anybody behind at all. That's the tweet that I saw in that regard was, you know, it was just retweeting like all the Europeans that were just saying. Like, oh, I can't believe they do this. You know, it's a terrible idea. The amount of equipment loss and this, this, whatever. It just said, yeah, this is why you can't become an American from just a piece of paper. Like, we're just, we're different. Yeah. I will say this about immigrants. So they're some of the best Americans I've ever met.

Especially like a lot of times the first gen. Like the people that are escaping somewhere where they know how bad it was. Bro, they have a they have a regard for it. I'm a big fan of, I mean, it's not that I don't, we won the lottery. Were you born here? Were you born here? You got questionable last names. I was on the record. I was. See. See. See. See. And what is it? I question Cody, though. Yeah, Garrett. Where is Gary?

My first name's Nordic and my last name's Czech Germans. He's like a Russian sleeper agent. Hello. It's me. John Smith. How are you healthy? Cowboys, USA. November.

Whiskey, 14. Kill John Lennon. Yeah. It's just, I was in a. an Uber in Nashville a couple years back. And the, when I, when I booked the Uber, it said, um, driver is hard of hearing. I was like, okay, cool. Well, my stepdad was a pastor at a deaf church.

So I kind of grew up around that community. So I'm like, oh, this is a shit. Interesting. I mean, I don't speak sign language other than, you know. Baseline. Yeah. And bullshit. Like, this is bullshit.

That's my favorite one. Yeah. But I was like, oh, this is interesting. But we get in, and he's obviously, in my experience, a fighting age male of Middle Eastern descent. But he has his radio on. So what it said on the report? That's what most of the reports say,

fighting age male of Middle Eastern descent. Weird last name. So he's got his radio on. I'm like, why would he have his radio on if he couldn't hear? So I started making conversation with him. And, you know, like, where are you from? And he's like, oh, you know, and he's being real cagey about it, which kind of piqued my, my intel background, especially with the fighting age male of Middle Eastern descent. Turns out the dude was a, he was a naturalized citizen born in Afghanistan, had been an interpreter for the Marines.

And we, we broed out, completely broed out by the end of that 15-minute Uber ride. He was a good dude, fine American. but he didn't like to say where he was from or anything like that because he'd had some good old boys give him the good news a couple of times yeah it was unfortunate you said it was in Nashville

I found that there's a huge Burmese population in Nashville Burmese yeah yeah it's massive like the one time I think it was for my fight me and Eli were Ubering around all over that city we had like I don't know eight different ubers and like seven of eight were all Burmese. Huh.

And I do not know why. But I think it's like a lot of it, I imagine, it's like church groups and things like that. Yeah. That's how my family got to Texas. No shit. Yeah. What's the background there? Late 1800s, there was a huge German immigration to Texas.

All immigrated, they came in through Port of Galveston. I watched 1877. And yeah, there you go. Yeah. 1883. Which one was it? I don't even remember which one is called. It's six years off.

You're fun. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of German towns, like Fredericksburg, Bernie. Like, there's a lot of German influence here. Yeah. So my family is from, from Coriel County and Bell County. So when I rode horses for the Army at Fort Hood, we did, we did demonstrations and parades and rodeos and whatnot in every little town in like a hundred mile radius of Fort Hood. And there would always be another sign at coming up.

Are you Robert Lewis's boy? I said, I'm my grandson. Oh, that's so good to meet you. We're your cousins of blah, blah, blah. And yeah, so there was a big old immigration in the late of 1000s. I think through all of our years in business on the internet, we've all used Shopify. I've used it for merch and my skate shop and a couple other businesses. I will actually agree 100% on that.

Everything we do is run through Shopify. Even bunkers run through Shopify. Our shoes, which is a separate company, is run through Shopify and they talk together because of Shopify. Shopify runs the world. Did you know Shopify will actually help you design a website also, Cody? I know I didn't know about starting an online store when I started my career online. Shopify just made it super, super easy for my dumb. Bring it what happens if people haven't heard about my brand, though.

That's actually easy, Eli. Shopify helps you find your customers with easy to use email and social media campaigns. Step Cody, what happens if I get stuck? Shopify is always around to share advice with their award-winning 24-7 customer service. Step support, bro, you got my back. And your front. Shopify helps millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e-commerce in the U.S. From household names like Mattel or Jim Shark to new brands just getting started.

On some shoes. Unsubmerch. Bunker. No shit. We've all been doing this for over a decade. Shopify is the easiest e-commerce platform we've ever used. I think every single one of us has used Shopify at one point. I think all our businesses right now are using Shopify.

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It's wild to see all those different jobs, like riding horses for the army is something. I mean, I thought being a boxer for the army, I was like, cool, you just box all the time. You box for the army? No, I didn't know. I wish. Those weird jobs, right? Yeah, like horse riding. Never in a million years of like, oh, you can get that as a job.

Because I know we've got that still at Sam Houston. We've got, but it's mostly like for ceremonial shit, right? Like, they've got like an actual, like, I don't know what you'd call it, like a horse core, essentially. The color yard probably. I think that is what it is. But they have like horse stables and everything on base, like specifically for that. And it's just a bunch of little odd jobs that you wouldn't think of. But you're like, oh, yeah, well, I guess the army does need that.

Some of the oldest stables in the Army are at Fort San Houston. We'd come down to Fort Sam for Fiesta every year. That was the trip to get on. That's why you fought to get on the road crew and the horse attached. So you could get to Fiesta for two weeks TDIY every year. Yeah, that was a good time. Cody, what's the weirdest job you think you know of in the Navy? Not weird, but I know the band was a very unique one.

We did have Navy boxers also. I don't know. I mean, it's about the weirdest thing I could think. I feel like it's time we bring back, not just the football game, but let's do, I don't know, this might be a thing, Army versus Navy.

Buscashi. That'd be cool. Well, boxing would be good, too. Go Army beat the shit out of Navy. Like that, come on, that would be cool. They have to still, I don't even know who the Army boxes. Like, is it, who boxes?

I dated a Marine Corps boxer. What was his name? He got the, I just said it right there. There's a ball right there. Mackey. Oh, they still do that. Like, 2022.

Army versus Navy boxing. So they still beat the shit out of each other. Why the fuck don't we know about that? That's the stuff I just don't think they understand. I would watch the shit out of that. Yeah, I would too. Like, did you have to do the goat, take care, keep a goat alive? The boost.

Oh, can we talk about that? I'm retired. What are they going to do? Fire you hard cut next week. He's a jump. Oh, that's on it. It really depends on when this airs. retiring in like the next few days.

Who got black bagged? Oh, do you guys know taking care of the goat? Yeah. Yeah. We probably shouldn't talk about that for PETA reasons, but... Oh, really? See, I always

wonder what... Jurassic Park? What's going to happen to the goat? Like, well... It's a very contentious issue, and it always has been, but mostly through Congress. Don't look at me. I'm not there? I'm just like, you know... Well, because to my understanding, that was something that from

stories that I've heard from people. That's something that we said that we stopped doing. I can honestly tell you that has been so long since I've recertified as an 18 Delta that I really don't know. I do know that there are companies out there with these robotic patient models that are supposed to, you know, it would make a Japanese dude jealous, have a lot. life like these things are. I know that. So you read into that how you will. Honestly, it's probably the other way around. We probably learned from their technology. There's a book out

there called a book, bombs, burgers, and p. And it's all about technological advances that came from essentially vices. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's true. Like, I mean, the, the, industry was really the leader behind what was it? I think was VHS. VHS. literally internet VHS VR all those that robotics now surprisingly enough is

like hey we got money to make let's fucking speed run this and then it's like fallout bha never changes yeah metal gear

that's the ghost stuff always made sense to me I understand it's like well it's bad but it's also that's how you're you're dealing with humans during war and especially body buddies, that makes sense.

It's like, hey, keep said goat alive. I am, I definitely used it. So 18 deltas are trained in, they're trained in basic radiology, dentistry, veterinary medicine, family medicine, tropical medicine, combat trauma, surgery, anesthesia. You do anesthesia too? Yeah. So it was pretty much anything on the battlefield other than open, like, what was the one thing you couldn't do essentially? Because this is what's crazy to me. I don't think there was something I couldn't do.

I mean, there's doing it and doing it well to quote the song. But I was the best doctor within a four-hour donkey ride around me in Norei, in Afghanistan. stand. And so, like, I would, I didn't have a full operating room suite. I didn't have a clinic or anything else. So, uh, Fob Bostic, which is famous for being in the space where, uh, like, Clint Ramosay and his crew was Evac 2. My team opened up that base. No shit. Yeah. And at that time, it was just a collat in a poppy field. Like, it was so new that when Chinooks would come in, it would blow over our Hescoes because they weren't filled up yet. We were, we were out they're flapping. So my, my, my, my, my, my, my clinic was just, it was just like our, our patio.

Like, I gave our weapons guy PTSD because, like, I know I gave it to him. Sorry, sorry, I know I gave it to him because I'd be doing some medevac or casavac and he'd be over there. We live off the local economy and I would see him over there just with this like thousand yard stair eating dinner like, like, uh, er, just like, like. eyes ahead, trying not to pay attention to whatever it was I was doing. Like, ah, just, I, and I was so busy out there with emergency medicine that other medics were asking for permission to come in, like, fly in and help me out from other fobs and and bases and whatnot.

No shit. So it was because did you tell them the cutting a leg off story? I did not. That's what this was leading into. Oh, okay. Like, this is the stuff where I didn't really. realize people would fly out to train with you, which makes sense when you hear these stories. They're like, home.

You're saving lives out there. He's doing it like this. So it was my team, eight SF dudes, one platoon of Marines from, from two eight, and then one platoon of our Afghan security forces. So if you go to the Special Operations Museum at Fort Bragg, back from the corner, there's, there's like a statue of one of these Afghan dudes and a weird helmet, which they never wore. I told the curator about that. But in the background, you'll see a picture of me with them.

No shit. Yeah. It's the famous one that circulates around every once in a while. There's like four dudes on a ridge line wearing UDTs and one's carrying an M24, another's got an M21. I'm the guy with the M24 in that photo. No shit. Actually, they don't wear those helmets? We probably pull that picture up.

It's out there. Yeah. Yeah. About once a year I have to go into comment sections. Like, no, that wasn't Delta Force. No, that wasn't the agency. That was actually 19th Special Forces group from the. the Washington National Guard.

I was just going to ask who you were attached to. It was ODA 931. It was a composite team that fell under the Utah National Guard, but it was all made up of Washington dudes. Interesting. Yeah. Some of them were fresh out of the Iraq invasion. And then a couple of us were in language school during the invasion and missed it.

So we jumped on the first thing we could. Which is even that, it's language while learning to be a doctor at the same time. And then it's all condensed into a year and a half? I was there like two and a half. But I also still. I need a little extra training on land nav and I broke my leg playing rugby. So I added about six months to my tenure. But the 18 Delta course, there's very few people that go through it all the way through

without recycling. So I didn't have any academic recycles in the medic course. So that was cool. No academic recycles. Well, I broke my leg. Well, that'll do it. Yeah. Yeah.

They, we were in a pretty academic heavy portion when I broke my leg. I actually broke my leg at the Citadel in a rugby tournament down there. No shit. Yeah. We were just there. Walked around on it for like six hours, did the bar crawl, went back to Bragg and my real friend. Like, you should go get an X-ray. Yeah.

Then I was in a boot. Actually, I was in a cast. Some cool pictures of that surgery. Every surgery I've had done on me, I have scrubbed in and performed that surgery on someone else. And I'm glad I did that after the fact because, man, especially like the deviated septum. That is a brutal surgery. Really? Oh, bro.

You do even like that level of surgery? I did that with an E&T surgery. Okay. Yeah, I didn't do that myself. He did it on a buddy. He's drunk one night. He's like, hey, I could fix that shit for you. The Marine PL that was at Norei with us offered me, I forget what he offered me, but he was trying to get me to do a vasectomy on him while we were out there.

No. That's a super simple procedure. I'm sure. Yeah, we can do her here. It's been about 20 years since I've done one. I'm good, personally. Volunteers? Weird.

The girls are raising hands. You might have a second to me. Scalple. It is super zumble. Yeah. I'm pretty sure I could do it, but it seems free. I could like you through it. Yeah.

It's what's at stake there, I think, is the beanie babies, dude. Toss them balls up on the table. Brandon, get up in there. Yeah. Do you got an ice pack and a couple of, couple moturn. We can make it happen. Why not? Some duct tape. I mean,

the old rubber band and twist method. That's for just taking your nuts off. Yeah, that's a whole different procedure. That's, yeah, they work on calves. It's still wild to be able to do that level of, just fucking, that's crazy to me. Like, going in the military

doing that, I learned how to put in an ivy and apply tourniquets. That's about it. Which honestly, we don't even do that. much that IVs not much anymore. Really? Why's that? Well, so it used to be, you'll appreciate this. I mean, in every armed conflict, there is a rapid advancement in trauma

medicine, everyone throughout history. And tourniquets actually go back to like Roman days, you know, like mechanical tourniquets. So it's weird that we had to be in the GWAT for civilian medicine to actually start accepting that again. But the, what was a question? I forgot. It's a TBI. No worries.

IVs. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I fucking lost it too. Yeah. So hypovolemic shock, meaning you got low volume, so we need to increase the volume. It was believed, and it was protocol when I first started the medic course that every trauma patient got two large borer IVs as soon as you can get them on so you could increase their blood pressure.

what we learned through, through, through war is that those fluids, they don't carry oxygen. So it doesn't really matter. So unless you're getting something that carries oxygen, like whole blood, then you're not, you're not doing that much for it. Basically, you just need more blood. You need more blood. You need the ability to, everything we do in, in emergency medicine is trying to preserve oxygen circulation throughout the body. after that it's all mechanics and how you do it. And if you can remember that, honestly,

pre-hospital medicine's not that hard as long as you don't throw up. It's helpful, I'm sure. Super easy stuff. So you went through all this and then I still want to hear the legs. I know. That's why I was going back.

Like it's tying in the legs start of. So, Marais, Afghanistan. My team, this is like our third location. on this deployment. So we open up, when I say we opened up this base, I mean, like, we signed the lease agreement. Like, we had a civilian government contractor with us when we initially signed this agreement. And when I was, we were riding back to the side of bed with this dude. I was like, so what do you, are you a, what do you, what do you normally do is like, this is the first time I've ever been in anything like this.

Like, what do you mean? He's like, I sign lease agreements in strip malls for recruiting stations. I'm like, oh, this is different. Yeah. So this was brand new to, like, there was one U.S. outpost that the, that another government agency had had prior to us about 13 clicks north of us. And they had abandoned it for whatever reason. We tried to get that same spot. The landowners were like, no, blah, blah, blah.

And there was also this weird geopolitical thing where, unless we were out of, actively chasing a bad dude, we could not be within five kilometers of Pakistan. But you've got these mountains and this giant river that kind of limit what you can do there. So we found this one geographical anomaly, like Depperdane. Geographical anomaly. At this place, geographical oddity. Where it was like this triangle of land across the river that jutted in in this valley between these peaks of these mountains. and that was exactly the space we needed.

Because otherwise, we were going to have to radio back to Boggham just to step outside our own perimeter, which was ridiculous. The whole thing was ridiculous. RBC Training Ground has discovered potential in over 20,000 Canadian athletes and counting. Your story could be next. If you've got the drive, they'll help you find your path to the Olympics.

Let's see what you've got. Sign up for free at rBC trainingground.ca. So we released this land. So now we're the northernmost outpost on the eastern front. And this is very early 04 because we had left Mez in our Bouscashi game just after Christmas. So we get up there. We open up this base. We've got empty Hescos.

Everything is we're doing like three-day foot patrols and doing base construction. We were really busy up there. The good thing is we are so busy. that between hiring every military age male and handing them a shovel to fill our heskos and being out on three-day patrols constantly, the bad dudes never really had a chance to pop their head up. You did three-day patrols?

Oh, yeah, three-day patrols. That's crazy to me. We were modeling it. So our Afghan Security Force model was modeled after, like, the Montanyards and the CIDG program in Vietnam. No shit. So we just took the small unit tactics that they were doing, we're like, let's apply it to this.

To you? How big were your back past, like, walking out on a three-day mission? Full ruck, dude. Jesus. Full ruck. Especially if you're carrying medical gear or commo gear. I think about, like, so you're walking out at minimum 40 pounds, right? Oh, yeah.

At minimum. And then you're going out for three days. So you have to bring food, water, everything for those three days, and you're sleeping wherever the fuck? Yeah. Beautiful stars. No light pollution out there. That's silver linings.

Yeah. Yeah. That's my favorite thing about Nauza is staring up at the sky. Oh, seriously. It's beautiful. Yeah. So, yeah, so we're out there flapping, man. And sometimes ring flights would come in. Sometimes they wouldn't. So the ring flight being like the resupply bird. And you'd know if it was coming. It was supposed to come every Saturday. But it didn't always happen. If they got shot at on the way up the valley, usually turn around and go back. Now that it's finally spring, I've been outside so much more than you have.

around, going for hikes, getting my exercise in. He does it for smoke breaks. What were you wearing? Funny you should ask, Nick. I was wearing fabletics. Does it smell like smoke? It smells like something. You take a whiff.

Smells fabulous. Thank you. Turns out he loves the smell of my . They're soft, breathable, and built to last. I think I did actually use fabletics shorts during my boxing match. Did you win? Yes.

Good, that's all that matters. It's because of fabletics. I want clothes that actually keep up with my heavily active lifestyle on my smoke breaks and that's why I signed up as a Fabletics VIP. The f*** does that do? Funny you should ask, Nick. It means you actually can get 80% off everything.

Doctor gave me that when I was born. May not be long, but at least it's thin. New VIPs unlock major savings on their first purchase. So trying new pieces feels even more doable. Which you can do right now if you go to fabletics.com, use the code unsub, and sign up as a VIP. They're gonna do a quick quiz for you and try to figure out your sense of style. If you're one of our audience members, you're

going to need help with that. But be sure to select unsub as the option when you're signing up for your VIP. It's going to get you 80% off. And it's a limited time offer, so don't wait. Go to fabletics.com slash unsub for 80% off. Again, that's fabletics.com slash unsub to get 80% off as a new VIP member. I think my balls would feel nice in these. I just, I love the idea where you're talking about there's this like civilian side, I guess real estate specialist that's helping you sign the least. I'm, I know I made the joke earlier about like the hell diver style deployment of a ferrier. But it's like, it's literally just, it's Peter from Deadpool to is the normal dude in the suit. It's like, we need a real estate agent. If you put big square glasses on that guy,

it would have been the spitting image of Peter on deadpick. No shit. Yeah. Oh, God. That's just a very fine. That US rank on a DCUs. Just being air dropped out of a C-130. Yeah. It's just like, Chris now. Yeah, it was fucking cool. So when I got up there and, you know, obviously all the locals know that we're there, even the ones on the other side of the mountain who were nice enough to bring us a puppy and ask us to stop putting mortars under their village. We were just trying to cite in.

One went a little too long. They brought us a puppy. Please stop bombing us. Accepted. Sorry. The fuck's his dog for us. Sorry. Can you stop this?

The boom booms? Did you guys keep the puppy? Oh, yeah. Yeah, he didn't come back to the States with this. We named him Buckley after the town that our company was in. A119 SF is in Buckley, Washington at the base of Mount Rainier, which its only other claim to fame is Black Sheep. I don't know how you do things up in Buckley Town,

but here we go with the speed limit. It's like Buckley PD. What was that from? Black Sheep, Chris Farley. Oh, man. It has been a long. Yeah, holy shit. Way back in.

Branden's probably never watched. Remember, I enlisted in 95. Yes. But Chris Farley, like, that is definitely in. Cody's watched it. Oh, yeah. Flexi. Tommy boy.

That old era. Yes. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. So you cut that in. So. Yeah.

I don't know anyone else has watched it. You know, the gray beards in the room. Yeah. So this guy, he comes up. He's a, Afghans don't know their birthdays traditionally. They just don't keep track of it. So, um, it is a weird holiday if you think about it. It kind of is. Just very foreign. It's like today you're born. Yeah. Then you've got to create there. Like is your birthday the day you were born or is it the first year? Oh yeah. They do that.

I forgot about that. Yeah. Yes, your people. Right. Like they know their age though. They know their age. No. No, no. Like, I had some dude that was clearly. in his 50s plus, he qualified for an AARP card, which is Afghan associated retired people. So I guess, I don't know what the ARP is. But he was clearly elderly, and he told me he was 16. I was like, I said leap years. And then my interpreter looked at me like,

Chris Hansen, let's take a seat. I was just trying to get a medical history. You're saying online that you were 16 years old. Yeah. Well, you know. You're trying to pick up other 16 years old. It's that one mean. They actually like a little younger than that there.

Unfortunately. How do you do fellow kids? Steve Boshimi? Yeah. So this dude comes in. He's on his nephew's back and he is old. Like he's an old man. And his foot, one foot was pointed 180 degrees

the wrong direction. Just kind of hang in there. And I didn't really need to ask what the problem was there because it was pretty evident. that he had foot in the wrong directionitis. So I brought him in and I'm talking to an interpreter and it turns out. So sometimes you get family members and it's always like an uncle that's bringing them out like, where's dad? Imagine being a cop and tracking him through the snow.

I'm imagining it's the spot on the ground where it looks like somebody rolled around a punch. Yeah, and for some reason it goes in a circle. Who's tracking who? Okay. So this dude, imagine it's where the screaming guys laying on the girl. He had been in a car accident on the one road that's there. He'd been in a car accident like six months earlier. It broken his leg in this car accident.

And the thing was just hanging. And I told the dude through Interpreter, I was like, I can't help you here. I don't have my radiology equipment. I don't have any of my ortho tools. You know, because we trained to like do X-fixes, external fixation, like put drill screws into bones and basically doing like an erector set to splint. You don't have any of that. You know, like you do. So I was like, you got to go to Pakistan, man.

I can't help you. And he had the patient, the old man actually hadn't said anything up to this point. it's just been all his nephew. And he speaks up and he's talking to this real hoarse, raspy voice. And I was like, what do he say? He's like, and the interpreter goes, he says, can't you just cut it off? I was like, yeah, I can do that. Come back next Saturday.

So I set it up, you know, my medical hire, there was an MD that was SF qualified in Nassadabad, like three hours south of us. And so I sent him up the case and he fires back. He's like, I agree with your prognosis and your care plan, doc. No pressure, but the record for a blown the amputation in the Civil War is three minutes. But again, no pressure. I was like, got it. Oh, no.

So, dude comes back next Saturday. Again, piggyback. I've requested the medical supplies to do this, you know, extra antibiotics, extra ketamine, extra versed. Because when I do the anesthesia on this guy, I'm going to pump it all through, through, I'm going to do all intravenous. Yeah. No, no passover, no gas, nothing like that. I'm also the only special forces medic at this camp. So I had three Navy corpsmen that were with 2-8 of varying degrees of capability.

You were in the Navy, you get that. So, and then I had my 18 Charlie, who was another guy in that famous photo. His name's Meg. He was a corpsman for force before he went SF. And he was, man, he was great. to have in the camp with these medevacs and everything medical I was doing. And man, he could stitch. That dude could do sutures.

It was beautiful. So what's going through your head, like in the day, at this point in your career, in the days leading up to a leg amputation, you've already scheduled for Saturday. My calendar had to cancel golf. Yeah. Are you just like, well, this is another fucking day? Or are you just like, oh, shit, I got to amputate somebody's fucking life? I will tell you in hindsight that I had, uh,

I had a massive amount of confidence in myself that I probably shouldn't have had. And that applies to a lot of situations and a lot of things I did, especially in that first trip to Afghanistan. And in the subsequent years in Iraq, just you got to fake it until you make it, I guess. But I truly believed I could do a lot of these things. And I did. And I did, Brandon. Well, I mean, as long as you did. It's like Christmas Day.

You just counting down to cut this dude's leg off. You're breaking off the little paper daisy chains or whatever. It can't sleep that night. He's like, ah. It's an amputee advent calendar. Like, ooh, it's the lake. So the guy comes back on Saturday and the ring flight hadn't come in. And I wasn't sure if it was going to because it was already late.

So I pointed to these two conventional medics that had come out to get their hands bloody. What did they call them back there? It was it was 63 whiskey or 91 whiskey. We need the electrician here for this. It was old, it is old unwise. Whatever the conventional medic was. So Nick was born before. Nick's younger than you, right?

He's a slightly older. Oh, okay. I was like. Yeah, but he was a medic in the Army, right? Yes. Yeah. He was a combat. So 63?

Whiskey? It changed. 63 sounds right. I think that's it. It started off as 91. Yeah, because it was 98. 68 whiskey. Thank you.

Thank you, drop. If it's not 18, I don't know it. So that's what you just. designation for special forces. So I pointed at these two, these two regular medics, and I said, go get the Sausal kit from Meg's 18 Charlie kit. 18 Charlie's an engineer. We had these DeWalt, like all-on-one, like five-on-one tool kits. I said, go get the Sausol and get the blades and put them in my autoclave. My autoclave, which is a thing to sterilize tools, was a plastic potato chip can filled with Betadine.

you know with nothing but high tech out here and they looked at me like you're going to cut his leg off with a saws. I'm like yeah. Why wouldn't I? Stupid question. No, I just brought it in here for no reason. So while they're going to do that. It's going to love this commercial.

Yes. That's the power of the home cheap of it. And do a lot's corn everywhere. So while they went to do that, I heard the bird come in and it landed and it brought like six months of mail that caught up to me and a big old box of medical supplies that I'd ordered. I, one of the things I ordered was I ordered this bone saw that is specifically, I mean, it looked like a survival saw. It's like a wire saw, but it's made for bone. I learned something about medical logistics that day. You can't just order the saw.

You have to order the handles with it. you think that'd be an implied thing. But it's not. Nothing is implied in the military or the government. God, how much do they be specific about that? So I had the saw that need. I had the saw, but I had no handles. But what I did have was like these thermobaric grenades that had big rings on them.

So I grabbed the Marine PL and I told all I was secured and like, hey, there's going to be a couple big booms. Don't go shooting off into the sky about this. like we will radio. So I grabbed this Marine PL and we went to the edge of the HESCO. I said, all right, listen, we're going to throw these over the wall on three. But we were keeping the rings. He's like, got it. I was like, sir, what are we keeping?

He said the rings. He's like, show me. Like this part. I'm like, okay, good. Three, two. And then, you know, I was like, wait, wait, wait, on three or after? No, we did. So we toss him over, boom, boom.

And our guard force did not go wild and shooting into the. mountains of the air. So called that success. I said, show me the ring. He's like, he's like, okay, good. So I get those back and I'm trying to, my, my team of medics are like doing patient prep at this point while I'm doing this. And I'm busting the sod. I'm like, I'm trying to get it on there. Like a key ring did not work. Fuck it. You like setting off thermobaric grenades to keep the ring. I just think of like a kid, like he gets an expensive Christmas present and just plays with the box. Yes. It's the same shit. It's exactly like that.

Yeah. Like that's what you went to that first, though. I mean, it's like not, does anybody have a key chain? Literally anything else. I just as soon as you said that like it didn't have the handles, the little like jingle from Home Depot started playing in my head. I'm like, and we're back to the saws all. Dude, it was a lot of MacGyvering.

So we've got this guy on the table. And at this point, I had done so many a minute. back that I was just kind of like pointing to people like okay like an attending dog like you do the IV you do that bandage you you start the nine line and I'm saying at the head of this patient and everybody has tried to get an IV on this guy keep in mind this is how I'm going to not only replace his fluids it's how I'm going to keep him in a surgical plane of anesthesia and nobody can get an IV on this dude because he's old he's dehydrated his veins are collapsed is was the was the goal to keep him unconscious the

entire time? Yes. Okay. So like, well, I figured like they were pumping them and they were pumping them

full of drugs. I just didn't know if they were going to knock him out. I was taking my leather belt off. I'm like, I hear of bite on this. I mean,

you would have done it. At that point, maybe, I don't know. I mean, he wouldn't have known. He doesn't have anything. So it's not like I was like, we're going to cut your leg off.

He's like, please cut my leg off. So, your honor. Yeah. He probably was surprised there was an anesthesia. or anything.

Maybe. I mean... Think about it. They're not going to know about that living out in the boondocks. It's like, oh.

This dude's pain threshold had to be through the roof at this point anyway. Just walked around like six months with that bone grinding on just... Did he ever say how his fucking leg got put backwards? Well, I mean,

it was a car accident. Oh, and it just... It was complete. So we call it a non-union, right? So the bone, it's not like the... It was partially fractured. It was...

completely fractured. So it was hanging. And then I think from the hanging, just the way feet are weighted, it just started turning backwards. But it'd been that way so long that you had like a crease in his skin from being turned the wrong direction for six months. So I don't know. Anything about the doctor. Yeah. So this guy's on the table and everybody's tried to get an IV. We can't get an IV. So I decided we're going to do I.O. Intraosius, which we just got, this was new tech. Like I just got initiated these two things called Fast Ones. Oh, is it the? Oh, yeah. The thing in the sternum.

And yeah, there's plenty of video of this out there. You can cut this in. So it's this big red handle. And when you take the cap off, it's got just a series of pressure sensitive needles. Yes. It looks like the ball from Fantasms. Like, ah, yeah. And in one spring loaded in the middle. And so I've got this Navy corpsman reading the instructions over my shoulder while I'm like,

okay, line it up at the sternal notch. Yep. Oh, this is your first time using it too? Yeah. It had just been issued to me. Yeah. So, yeah. This is about who.

It's a good. Yeah, that looks angry. Some of this was like rules of the range. Like, don't put your finger on the trigger until you're ready to shoot. You know, that kind of thing. Now you're backstop and beyond. So he's like, apply firm, even pressure until you heard an audible thunk. I'm like, um, thunk.

I'm like, ooh, that was audible. How many needles is this? Isn't it like nine? I don't know how many. It's a lot. And they're not, these aren't like. It's huge gauge. Yeah.

It's one needle that actually goes into the bone. I don't know how many of the pressure needles there are. And the reason it goes into the bone is because. Because that's where you're going to deliver whatever it is, your fluids, your medication, whatever. Have you ever woken up and felt the immediate need for a nicotine pouch slash and slash or a cup of coffee? I can't talk. It says no nick on the can. Yeah, no nick allowed. Be gone. How many pouches, cups of coffee, or energy drinks do you need throughout the day to stop from crashing?

Too many. Did those things cause anxiety or make you feel on edge? I love edging. Well, that's why using ultra pouches can be a game changer for your energy levels. Ultra is the ultimate guilt-free pouch. They deliver ultimate focus and energy that lasts one to two hours. all without nicotine or caffeine. Well, if they don't have nicotine, what's in them? Great question. Ultra partnered with leading neurosciences to develop these pouches, Cody. You mean they have neutropics and adaptogens in them?

I know you mispronounce neutropics, but yeah, they got those. Nutropics! And adaptogens! They use Infinity, all rights reserved, PX. Alpha GPC. Alphionine, a totally naturally occurring amino acid. And vitamin B6 and B12. New customers can use the code,

unsub to get 15% off take ultra.com. That's take ultra.com and use code unsub, un-sub, U-B. I can't spell, I hope you can. After your purchase, they're gonna ask you where you heard about them. Tell them unsub sends their regards. Please, for the love of God, show your support. So that is the one line we had going on for this patient.

So, and at this point, I'd already juiced him up with some ketamine. Okay, good. I am, like, because he was a pincushion at this point. point. So he's already, he's, he's, he's down for the count already. When I did this, we move them into the Marine PIL's room. I'd kick the Marine pill out of, out of his room in the clot. You've got to have the most interesting, you know, they play those stupid party games, like the two truths and a lie. Oh yeah, dude. It's like, yeah, one time I threw a crippled

Afghani elder into a K-hole. Bro. Yeah, it's, we got to line drinks up if we're doing, never have I ever. I'm like, eh. It's kind of like, like, I knick the paper. Is that Count? Yeah. Yeah, I've got Yeah, we could do 10 of these podcasts. Yeah. So that dude is He's in a, he's on The title of this episode.

Such a good title. And it's just an out Dude, he was gorked out. He's gorked out. He's got the rainbow road eye Like dilated pupils. There's just medics around with chemlights. You're holding the leg.

That actually did happen. I know exactly what video you're talking about, too. Yep. So we get in there. He's on a litter. I've got my surgical team with me. There's pictures of this on my Instagram, by the way. There's like dudes wearing rain ponchos and plastic trash bags instead of scraps.

I'm wearing mechanic coveralls and a bandana over my beard and a headlamp. And we go to, he's down, right? So I go to, I'd taken a surgical marker, like a Sharpie, and traced where my cut line was. I handed it to my assistant surgeon, and he traced his. And then I cut first, and I cut in, and he immediately screams out. And go, whoa, I'm like, that's, that's not good. Like, he shouldn't be feeling any pain. So.

Oh, you cut it in? He screamed. Yeah. So, but he wasn't like jumping off the table or anything. So ketamine's a disassociative. It's not necessarily a pain killer. It's a disassociative amnesiac. So his body is his body is not registered.

Like his mind isn't registering pain, but there's still some pain there. So I had my warrant officer who was running my anesthesia, hand me a syringe full of laticane. I juiced him up and that made things better. I had been told, and I've never actually gone in followed up on this, but I have been told that one of the side effects of ketamine in the elderly is sex nightmares. So I was kind of wondering like what's going through his mind. I cast sexual trauma. Kay holes in sex nightmares. The tear story.

Yeah, the tear story. The Afghani Khole. It's not too far from the title of my memoir, actually. So, how did they find that out? I don't know. How did they do any medical research? I don't know. Maybe through.

They just went through a nursing home with ketamine. Like, well, I mean, somebody had to report it at some point. Surprise. We're going to do science. And it's Ben Stiller. So I hand the scalpel to my A surge, my assistant surgeon. And I cut like this. It's called a shark bite technique.

The reason we cut like that is so you have something to close the wound with. Like wrap the round. The bones here, muscle, skin here. He cut straight down. And I went, no. He couldn't see that, though. I'm wearing a cravat over my face. And it's slow motion anyway.

So it's like, no. So we just got to roll with it. So we get back. We get through all the tissue. We're cotterizing things. It's another thing. New thing we had was an electric disposable cottery tool, some frying vessels,

and it smells exactly like barbecue chicken, which is really disturbing. It smells super good, and it's really fucked up. ID, dude, like when an asbest goes off, you just get hungry. Yeah, you haven't eaten in a while. You're like, ugh, that's disturbing.

So you're just like, any, like, anything that looks bleaty, you're, yeah, artery, veins, all that. Yeah. We tried tying it off at first, but we hadn't done this previously together. So the ligature kept slipping off. So fortunately, I had these electric cottery tools that we'd never used before.

There's probably like 200 people watching this episode that are very sensitive, this sort of shit that are like trying not to puke in their fucking car. Yeah, well, go to my Instagram and go in the way back feed. You can see video of this. For whatever reason, IG has not taken this down. It's been up there for like four or five years. Yeah. Wild.

Yeah. And this whole thing was used in the schoolhouse later. partially as a hey this happened and partially as I hey don't do it like this but it's up there so we get through all the vessels and we get to the bone and I've got that wire saw

I'm just like and on the video you I had a surgery mix from the schoolhouse like a surgery mixtape did you cut below knee above me okay yeah okay yeah it's a lot easier if it done AKA dibs on the indie band name surgery mixtape

surgery mixed tape pretty dope it was good man it was a good mix tape but The social distortion is playing in the background while I'm going on the video, while I'm going through this guy's bones like, it's like, children, oh,

talking through the bone. You see smoke coming up. You'd be calling for water. And we're squirted with IV fluid, trying to cool things down. I'm lucky I didn't break the saw. I know that now from a little more advanced training, but I did not break the saw.

We get through the leg. Now I've got leg here. Dudes stump here and a new set of problems. Like, what am I going to do with this? because I don't have enough tissue to cover up the stump. So while I'm sitting there trying to problems with my head and not stress to fuck out, because there's other thing.

I'm the, again, I'm the closest thing to any kind of doctor for a four hour donkey ride. And everybody in this camp trusts me and my abilities to save their lives. Like this is a morale issue as well. It's very important. I keep their confidence. So I'm looking at this stump wondering what the fuck I'm going to do now and Maybe my A-surge goes, what about that? And I said, what?

He points at the end of the litter. And there's that leg laying there. And I was like, hmm, let's try it out. So surgical sharpy drew out a cut line, took that scalpel, cut around it. And now I've got this flap of skin from from the dude's amputated. So we're just going to tack that on there, you know, no big deal like you do. I'm bringing it over and I'm like, don't fucking drop this. Do not drop this skin.

And I'm holding it super tight. Well, the thing about skin is it's got a fatty layer on the bottom. And if you hold it too tight, you get what happened to me. I'm bringing it over to size it up and I'm pulling it too tight. And that fat on the underside was slippery in my surgical gloves. And he went, oh, boom, on the ground. and everybody's like, oh, pizza tossing the skin flap. Five second rule.

That's exactly what happened. Oh, man. And I said it. I just blow it off. I said that. Germs don't have time to get on it. So there was a SMU medic a couple years, like two years later. I saw him in clothing and sales.

We knew each other in the schoolhouse. And he goes, he just looked at me and he goes, hey, three second rule. I said it was five. Could AI help you do more of what you love? Workday is the AI platform for HR and finance that actually knows your business. We help you handle the have-to-dos so you can focus on the can't-wait-to-dos. It's a new workday. The story had circulated.

So I said audibly to everybody in the room, five-second rule. And I picked it up and we washed it off. Oh, God. And some IV solution and then some beta dine. And I announced because I was already hungry. I was like, hey, this looks like terriaki chicken. He was going to be so mad when he watched this episode. So put that up on the stump.

Yeah. I tacked a corner. I threw a penrose drain in there. And I let everybody that was in there throw like a signature, two or three signature stitches in there. Well, you had everyone just come up and just do a stitch. It's like signing their name on something. Here's the real question.

What was your time? It wasn't three minutes. Yeah. I don't know. So here's the other thing about those fast one kits is there was a lot of them, especially in the early days, that the removal tool, was stripped. So it comes with this threaded removal till you just screw it in and then you pull it out of the sternum. Again, I wasn't school training this thing. So I've got this, I've only

have two of them. And so I'm trying to remove this needle from the dude's chest and I keep giving a little ketamine bumps. This is after everybody else is out and slapping hands and eating barbecue, cooked on Hesco wire for some reason. It's probably not good for you. So, And I'm up there like, and I'm trying to remove this. And Paul, my team leader, who's now a general, he goes, tear, you have to get him out of here. Like, it is, dark is approaching. Because we're, we are out in Indian country. We were not allowed to have.

It was just like camp rule. If they're not our, if they're not our indage, they are not in the camp after dark. You said you keep giving them a ketamine hats? So you're just like, sex nightmare, sex nightmare. It's a little bump. Uncle Rick, no. Whoa. Is he on your hands?

No, probably worse, frankly. Probably worse. Send him to the R. The R. Demention. The R. Demention. Am I?

There it is. That's me. Fuck. So. I opened up this. I finally opened up the second pack and there's another removal tool in there and it popped in. I screwed it in, popped it right out, sent it on it away. Oh yeah.

There's my surgical team. Rain ponchos. Oh, yeah. His foot is totally the wrong. Oh, yeah. That is gnarly. That looks like a fucking potato. Chase their friend put this up and then blur everything.

So you can't see any of what we're showing you. Yeah. Burst sausage. I know. That's pretty close. That's that cottery tool. Cool. Nice shit.

You can see my glint tape on the top of my hat there. That's real common in surgical sweets. That's gnarly. They look super sanitary. Just exposed two by four in the background. Literally. Okay. So what's he going to do?

Leave a negative Yelp review? He could. Yeah, in the form of an IED from his nephew, I guess. Gosh. He got some fucking. fucking homie needs to go to a get a petty

okay so where he's sitting right there in that litter that's our front porch that's where I would do all the medevacs his his fucked up foot looks like a potato yeah yeah oh yeah

I just love the Yelp review things like three of ten didn't even leave a chocolate on the pillow and that's the dimension no he's still that's

That's Afghan dimension. He wasn't down yet then. That's Afghan. That's how it came in. That's all natural. That's standard pain right there. Jesus Christ. Okay, so the windows you saw in the background,

so the pictures were he's laid out right there, that was like pre-surgery. That's where I did all my medevacs. That wasn't in the room. All the Marines from 2-8 were crowding around the windows right there and like moved the litter stands out of the way. And they're just staring in. And the reason there's photos is because now General Sellers had presence of mind to take some photo and video of this whole thing happening.

Which, thank you, Paul. So, but those Marines, they're all infantry. They're crowded around and they're just watching. I can't see them because they're behind me and behind the window. But I heard one of them say, this is after I cut the dude's leg off. I heard one of them say, dude, we should take that leg and feed it to the dude. dog. Remember cute little Buckley? Oh, no. He grew into a monster.

He's a taste for flesh. And so I didn't acknowledge that, but I grabbed one of the circuit team. After this is over, I said, hey, grab that leg, go out under the cover of darkness into the LZ, dig a hole that is, I buy regulation cat hole at least three feet deep and bury it. I do not want to see our dog walking around camp with a human leg in his mouth just gnaw on away. That'll make it to New York Times. Yeah, I'm sure. I'm surprised you didn't give it back. Bro.

So he came back, like, he came back the next day after. Well, how did you do you? So you finally got the needle out? Yeah, yeah. Yep. And then once that was out, you know, and he was also loaded up with enough antibiotics to kill anything. Cure anything. Yeah.

Yeah, it was probably antibiotics. It had never even been introduced to that country. So he could have been like. He crossed dresses. though. That's a... He's gay. That's a development.

He doesn't f*** anymore. He's Afghanistan's number one advocate for autism, you know. Oh,

gault is disgusting now. So he came back the next day and I took his drain out and came back every few days so I could check on it

and then two weeks, nothing. But the last time I'd seen him, there's pictures of this too. That flap that I'd thrown on there had turned

completely black. It wasn't stinky, it was not stinky meat. There's nothing rotting, but that flap that I'd sewn on there with that baseball stitch was completely black. And then I never saw him again. So fast forward several months. We rip out with a team from third group. I go back to Boggram, Seedosotov, and I'm talking to the Seagosotiv surgeon. And I'm given the whole case study and I'm worried about this. And I tell him I'm concerned about this and he goes who's he alive when you left when he last song? I said well yeah he goes

good job doc and I was in it that was that was the whole thing no idea what happened to him. Oh well yeah he's now he's probably 17 years old and just doing the thing in a Guinness did applying lipstick in the mirror

listening to goodbye horses meat flap I don't Like, on one foot though. Yeah. Nick, tell us about your cash app experiences, but keep it clean. I use it to send my sister money sometimes. That's pretty clean, yeah.

Kind of hoping you'd have a more interesting story, but no, that's cool. That's fine. I use cash app all the time, you know, genuinely, whether it's... Sometimes me and Brandon go out for dinner and drinks to have a great time. He doesn't consider it a date. He calls it friends hanging out. I consider it a date, and I take that a little bit personally. So when we leave, I bill him on cash app.

Which is weird because I pay for the bill anyway. Think of it like a fishing license. What? King Trout. Boy, am I the catch. Anyway, all of this is possible through Cash App. How interesting you bring up Cash App, Brandon. I have so many things to say about it.

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Just like, hobble? No, okay. Yeah, his nephew brought him back. Biggieback. Gangster. The walk home was way easier. So that guy's last words to me were, when do I get my wooden leg? And that's how I knew I was successful because he was asking for things again.

I said, I started the same way I started that case. Like, you got to go to Pakistan, buddy. We don't deal in wooden legs here. He was probably super disappointed. He'll definitely give me a prosthetic when I leave here. He was pain-free. I mean, that thing wasn't turned the wrong way anymore. Yeah, we suck at doing that for our own guys.

Fuck you. We should ask Clint Romishay if there was ever a ghost of a single leg just drifting by the LZ when he was in Fab Bostic. Are you going to text him? Just imagine just rolling over in the middle of the night. What the fuck? It's just those fucked up toes like tickling his ear. Usually so and you just.

A visit from the R-Dimension. I am sex nightmare Whoa I am sex nightmare is the new shirt The second Time for a visit from Uncle Touchy Uncle Touchy What if it just

like came up and like just like grabbed your toes with its toes. Oh, I don't like that. Oh. I just love like a pocket full of a fucking ketamine. Pocket trauma. Oh. Oh.

Kim lights and sex nightmares. Oh, it's such a good title. The tear story. It's a tear story. So I'm writing a memoir right now. I've been writing memoir, but I figured it'd be easier to publish once I was out, out instead of like gradually you know the whole s f sergeant major thing versus author plus i'm

not a seal so you know and kind of break a new ground here oh yeah you made it i have even that is a crazy story i remember when we did like drunken debrief and like hey sarah major of special forces wants to be on i was like ha i just started that shit that's right why the fuck does a green beret special, sorry, major one to be on this show. I remember some of that. Yeah. We still probably have the footage. What I really remember was, uh, because it was Utah, we had to, it was a,

there was a time crunch to get to like the state run liquor store so that we could load up on booze. You know, the 2% alcohol beers? Because I think we were going to film on a Sunday. Yes. Yeah. I forget, man. All those stupid rules.

Yeah. Dude. Yeah. Salt Lake is wild with that. Yeah. One beer. No shot. You have to do like one or the other, right?

Yeah. Well, not only that, but they've got, they legitimately water down their booze. Like their beer, I think, is like, isn't it specially made for like Utah? Take a 2.5. That's a good question. I didn't drink a lot of beer in Utah. The one night we sat around my first time up there. We were sitting around with best.

I think we each drank like 20 beers and we're still sitting there. Like, you guys, you guys feel like anything? Yeah. Everyone's good, right? There's one woman that walks by it. He's like, bro, I'm so buzz. Like, I feel hydrated. Like, what are we doing here?

Even the shop machines are measured. Yeah. They've got the little electric devices on it. It used to be, you probably remember this. It used to be they, in the bars and restaurants, they had to have like a cabinet or a curtain that went over, that hid the booze in case any children could see it. Because it would ruin them. I didn't remember that. The vision of alcohol bottles.

that's gone now. That is a weird thing. I just remember being like down there like on State Street at closing time and the bartenders like putting up cabinets over the business. I'm like, are you trying to tell us something? Like, no, no, you've still got some time. I'm just getting at it. Yeah, apparently anything over 5% ABV or 4% alcohol by weight can only be sold in state controlled liquor stores. Oh yeah, that's it.

You can't have beer anyway. So you can't buy beer. at gas stations less like the 2.5 Coors, right? It has to be under 4% alcohol by weight. So you can buy shitty beer at gas stations.

Everything else has to be bought at. Well, Utah beer is a maximum of 3.2 by weight. Excuse me. Wow. Yeah. This is what I was talking about. Just cars.

Are there rules? I wonder if there's ways around that because I thought Polygamy Porter was more than that. Like a core is light. It's too much. It's like Coors ultralight. the can just floats by. I forgot like,

with the ghost of a foot behind it. No caffeine, there's a whole bunch of rules there. But also, you're like, still, like going back to you, you paid Sartre major,

which is wild to be. That is wild. That's wild to a lot of people. I was like, what the fuck? Why would you want? You stayed in that long? Yeah,

I made it fast, too. Yeah, I pinned nine in 2014. And, yeah, so. You get under 20? Yeah. Way under 20.

So I think I did, seven took me a minute. I think I made seven in nine years and then eight. I was only an E8 for, I think, two years. And then I'd pin nine. But I was an E7 team sergeant. So I was already, you know, kind of running things above my pay grade. Doing all that. I'm fucking fuck off.

Oh, thank you. Bro. Looking in hindsight, I probably got promoted too fast. But it's also a lot of, attrition, like, if there's nobody else, you're going to get promoted. And guys were, you know, it's not out of the G-WAT. Guys are getting out. So you sabotaged your superiors?

My team, dude, my team was full of rock stars. Half of them either went to SMUs or the indigenous community. Yeah. Just the whole dimension. All right. Springled up with ketamine. And I left. No, I just, nay, like a good boy.

We had a rock solid team, though. We really did. I would have stacked him up against any team in the regiment. And a lot of that was because even though it was the guard, like half my dudes, over half my dudes were doing special operations in the civilian world and just coming back. That's how Evan and I know each other is because we were in the same guard SF unit. And Evan did a lot of shit before he started a company. And it was some pretty cool shit. And yeah, so we were just, we were, we'd come back from Iraq or Afghanistan or wherever it was we were to meet up, have a couple beers, do some training together.

Yeah, top of any governments lately? Exactly, right? Yeah, it was, 19th and 20th are probably the best kept secrets in the Army's arsenal. They really are. I mean, just chalk full of talent. It starts getting a little weird. easy. It starts getting a little weird

when you get like batine level and higher because then it's just admin stuff. But at the company level and lower, dude, there's a lot of talent on those teams. A lot of talent. Yeah. That's, yeah.

At that level, it's always wild because we were just in D.C. And I mean, how many generals did you interact with? And even at your level, because you're still, commands aren't major, but you probably didn't interact with generals on the daily. So truth by not omission, I never pinned CSM.

I turned it down a couple times, but I never pinned CSM. Yeah, shit. Yeah, just keeping that out there. I'm just a regular old special forces sergeant major. Commands aren't major says, we'll force this on you, just screw you. I was in a command position because I was a company. So you're not a command sergeant major. You were a commanding sergeant major.

Actually, that's a great way to put that. Yeah. So in special forces, the company, the senior enlisted leader in the company is an E9, but it's not a CSM position. It's a non-CSM position. It's an operations position, even though it's a command billet. So I had that position for five years, and I was really, really fucking busy as a company sergeant major. So I had a task force deployment in that time. We had teams in U-com doing the U-com thing.

We had teams in Southeast Asia. I took the company in the middle of a Thailand mission with Thai special forces. So I was concurrently a directorate sergeant major in Jason. I referenced to lunch. Oh, yeah. Oh, I just heard Thailand. I was laughing at that show. I can guess where that goes.

You don't have to get very inventive. Thai was my first trained language. I only speak it if I'm drunk and in Thailand. It's a difficult language to speak sober. For me. All the Thai you need to know. So I'll put this out there. This is important for anybody working in the Pacific Theater.

They're very, very good at gender reassignment. in plastic surgery in Southeast Asia. Thailand specifically. Very, very good at that. That is not something I was trying to do as an 18-Dalta, but I was impressed with their skill. And one thing I would tell new guys that came over to Southeast Asia,

especially if they came from Centcom originally. Is why you know how to do vasectomy. Yeah. It's just a vasectomy plus. There's a thing called the JMPI, primary jumpmaster inspection. So part of the JMPI is checking, you know, you check buckles, you check the pack strap, pack tray, all that stuff.

But one of the important things you want to check is make sure that they're not going to fall out of the parachute harness. And you do that by checking these two buckles, these two buckles, and the leg straps. And that is important part of the safety brief for anybody going to Southeast Asia for the first time is check those leg straps before you take anybody, anywhere. Just make sure there's no hanging Chad. No, nothing else. Hangin Chad is never that one before. That's a, that's a, that's an old election.

That's a little political joke there. A little political joke. Yeah. Make sure there's nothing. It's a dick. No bulge. Yeah. Look out for a dick.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. The other thing I would tell people is if it looks too good to be true, if, what do we say? If, if she looks too good to be true. He is. He is. Oh, that's actually really? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. There's some really attractive dudes over there. They will bamboozled, hoodwinked. That's the thing with Silicon Valley. It's like if you're a four and she's an eight, come on. Ooh, I ran into that in Dubai. We were talking a little bit about Dubai earlier.

Yeah. It's one of the areas that Allah cannot see. Cannot see you in Dubai. And they act accordingly, apparently. Yeah. It's like the Vegas of the Arab world. I did not. know this.

That's, I mean, you know, poo girls. Yeah. Oh, that, oh yeah. I forgot about those stories.

Yeah. Dubai. I feel like that needs a little bit of explanation. Yeah, I know. From Cody. Yeah. Yeah, me and Brandon,

we went with Heather one time down to Florida. That story starts off. To do a, me and Brandon one time. That sounds bad. We went to, he was for black rifle. Yeah,

for black rifle. She was doing a Mother's Day skit with, what's name of Corey Corey Chase? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, that, you know, I'm stuck in the dryer step, bro. Come f*** me out or whatever they do.

So we got to talking to her husband. We got to talk. We got to talk to her husband who's been making adult films with her for 20-something years since they met in the Air Force. And he was telling us... How long? Jesus. Yeah. Yeah, he said it was like 20 years.

Yeah. And he was telling us about... how a bunch of the girls in that industry, the industry, this is horrors, they would, they would go to Dubai and he was like, he was like, yeah, well, they, sorry, they would, they would pay them to shone them and we're like, what do you, what do you mean by that? Like the, like the girls would poop on like these, these princes, these Saudi princes. And they're like, no, no, no, they, the Saudi dudes, the oil barons and all those dudes loved to put on the pretty little white girls.

And so they'd throw them like 20, 30, 40 grand, and they would fly to Dubai, get on, and then come back, and they called them the poo girls. I'm just, as soon as you said that, I was picturing military-aged males of Middle Eastern descent, again, just in that squatting position, because they don't use toilets. They stand.

They do that. You got money. You use something else. Yeah. They don't use toilets or they use Russian girls. apparently, but just the like the rooster tails, I remember from being in Afghanistan, you know, we like, we burned down latrines instead of cleaning them a couple of times. Just like scorched dirt start over, put padlocks on them.

This is a U.S. only toilet. I'm picturing that, like, just like, just like squatting over. Just, just, just. Also, shout out to Cody. When was it last month, two months ago on Twitter? I see a girl comment in something. And your reply, shut up, whore. Oh, Jesus.

It was, it was, the opinions of prostitutes don't matter. That is more refined when you put it that way. He is, um. And I just see like a million, fucking likes on that. And everyone was just making fun of said whore. I was like, dear God. A man, a few words.

And then I threw ketamine at her. Sex nightmare. And now, so now you're doing. VA stuff you're trying to help veterans. Correct. Yeah, that's a great segue. This is a great segue. Yeah, great segue into my new corporate job. So there I was thinking I was just going to be retired. I just got my 100% P&T. My retirement's approved. And I'm looking for new property based off of 100% what? Permanent in total. So your VA claim. So P&T means you're not being re-evaluated. Unless you choose to reopen your claim for something, you're not going to be revaluated.

Which had 100% P&U, you would never do that. No, that'd be dumb. Yeah. It'd be real dumb. So he's off the hook forever. Yeah. Gotcha. Yeah.

There's a lot of scrutiny with it. Like, I mean, I've got a lot of time down range. And the VA will actually match up like your claims to your service records. And it's not just your military medical records. They're matching it to like, oh, you got a bronze star for service in Afghanistan here. and you're claiming that right here. Yeah, that makes sense. Oh, you've got a combat medic badge.

Oh, and you say you've got PTSD because you've seen a bunch of dead kids. Yeah, that makes sense. You know, there's that nexus, right? There's that service connection. So the VA does a very diligent, multi-level, multi-eyeballs job of looking at each claim that comes in. And so when I'm watching all these things like come through, like, oh, there's so much fraud in the system. And then I see other vets comment. I'm like, when, and it's always the same comments.

Like, guys, we all know somebody that has 100% that shouldn't have 100% and that shouldn't happen. And then I kind of come back and I'm like, what's your percentage? And like, oh, well, I actually have a couple years left. Like, that's what I thought. Well, I have to say, it's like I am that guy that does say that. So I can't be because I want, because I've watched. myself like I'm on the side I've seen that happen like many times when I'm like man I struggled to get to which is like whatever we'll delete the percentage but I struggle to get

there yeah like and mine is document document like hey per bar blah blah blah blah you got shot yeah but even then I got blown up three times I got fucking like that and then that's what I mean is like you have you have a very clear like yes I was blown up I did combat deployments. And then I go and then I hear it's like, oh, I'm at Hunter. I'm like, how? What the fuck? Because I went through three times.

And that's nuts, man. Honestly, for the fact that you've got a purple heart, I mean, that's, that elevates things right there. Zach and I, Zach Bell and I were talking about this a couple weeks ago. And he said, he goes, he said, your special forces privilege is showing. And I was like, what do you? And I thought about it, I'm like, okay, that kind of makes sense. Because I did, like when I went into these C&P exams, the exams that the VA orders for you.

So you put in, you file your claim and you list everything that you say is wrong with you. And then they order exams to decide whether it actually is through a medical opinion. And those are called C&P exams. I can't remember what C&P stands for. So when I'm going through these exams, when I when I and it's all contracted doctors. So I'd go in and I would see as soon as they like I'd sit down and we'd talk for half a second. But as soon as they realized or read that I was a green beret is like the demeanor completely changed because they at that point assumed that I was not faking whatever it is that I was claiming that I actually had been to combat.

And and I actually did see all the the bad shit that I saw. and which is great for me, but I feel bad for guys like you who are just little old infantry dudes. You know, just got blown up and got a purple heart and got shot. I think, dude, General George, when we went and had dinner with General George,

he knew, he was like, oh, you were with the strikers. You guys got fucked up, like, immediately at dinner. He was like, oh, yeah, you okay. You can't remember. Yeah. A lot of my career passed, you know, like the blood and guts of the

medic stuff. A lot of my career was avoiding conflict. Not like, oh, that's dangerous. I'm not going there, but like I was more on the intel side of thing. So if I was actively engaging the enemy, something had gone terribly wrong. So I do think one thing that did switch was I did this in 2008, 9, 10, ish area. And even when we were getting out, it was, hey, make sure you game the system. when you go talk to your doctor, they're going to try to pull it and hide it. They're going to drop a pin and they'll ask you to bend down and pick it up. Don't pick it up. Because that's them looking for ways to get out of paying you.

That's what we were told getting out in like 2008. So, oh, okay. That's wild. It was that early. That's still a thing. That's not entirely untrue. So nobody tried to trick me in anything, but I was told beforehand that so range of motion is how they estimate how how fucked up you are in terms of ortho injuries or musculoskeletal.

I got hurt on my right shoulder. They didn't write what shoulder got hurt over in Iraq. Guess what? They didn't document that. They said, well, it says a shoulder got injured. Right. So part of the problem is what you just did right there, slap my shoulder. They have way too much movement.

Obviously, you can use it. There's no problem. Yeah. Right? But I'm sure your shoulder hurts. You have shoulder pain. So the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, A coaching piece of this, which some people call fraud, absolutely is not fraud.

It's just the way the VA system works. What I had to be told was you've been pushing through pain for years, which is true, like, over a decade. What they're looking for in that range of motion is not how far you can bend. It's how far you can bend before you meet any kind of resistance, whether that's from the way your body moves or whether it's pain and you have to have to have to have to swallow your pride and not push through that or you you and not only you but your family is going to be penalized for it which is hard because what is the one thing they teach you and push through don't go to the don't go to the aid station don't do any of this that's the one thing I've said hey we need to switch that who says that our dude if you go to the

AID station, yeah. You're a . . . you go to the aid station. Yeah. Is that like institutional or is that just like peers? It's cultural. Okay. Yeah, it's cultural. I had fucking tonsillitis.

I didn't go to the aid station because, no, I'm getting trouble. When I became a company sergeant major and we were getting ready to head out the door, one thing I told everyone in the room. And I did it with their families in the room. So their wives would know as well. It's like, if you stub your toe, you make sure your medic writes that up. up because if it's not on paper, it did not happen. And I promise you that none of anything, none of what you're going to do on this trip is going to disqualify you from further service

or, or keep you from going to an SMU or anything else. You need to get that documented. And even if you just have a paper copy of it and it never gets put it input digitally, have that paper copy. You've got to have that record because it's got to be connected. And especially in the Guard and reserves, those claims are a nightmare because what the VA does is when you get your list of contentions, when you file your claim, they look at everything you claimed. And then they have to, a VSR has a veteran service representative or service rep, whatever it's called.

I don't know. VSR. That's what it's called. They have to go in and they have to look at everything you claimed and try to match it up to when you were on orders. So if you can't prove that it happened while you were on orders, it's not service-connected unless it's presumptive. So my initial sleep apnea claim, anybody that's been in the woods with me,

knows that there's either a bear attack or I'm sleeping in a tent next day. I've got sleep apnea like a motherfucker. And it is service-connected. But when I had a diagnosed, it was on the back end of a jump injury. So it was actually a civilian-dict. doctor that looked in she just looked at my last she said how long have got sleep apnea i said according to my three ex-girlfriends a while so but because it was it was done by a civilian

doctor and it wasn't on orders when it was diagnosed the VA the VA medical opinion was not service-connected you don't just go to drill and get sleep apnea all of a sudden right it's it's connected now it doesn't matter because i've got like 400% disability but i will be the the other guy on The side because I stand on that side where I see your side, but also that's where I'm like, yeah, I get. What I feel like we don't want to do is allow this room for negative press to impact the people that really need it. Like for like combat veterans who have issues, who have been injured, who have debilitating conditions, them getting their percentages cut, them getting their benefits cut. That's absolutely not what we want. And so I don't know.

I'm working on some stuff with Zach is one of the people I'm working with. I'm working with a lot of the veterans group to work on legislation to prevent that. And I think the only way to do it is to do it where it's non-retroactive. Like everybody who's got a rating right now is perfectly safe. But like moving forward in the future, like how do we make sure we prioritize people who have actually like, for example, either had combat deployments, like are actual combat veterans who have been wounded in the line of duty or people who are subject to like gross negligence on behalf of the military. Like people who, you know, you don't necessarily need to have been in combat to have something that the military should compensate.

That's very important because there's a lot of injuries in training. Right, exactly. Like my team sergeant that went to Delta at the time of his passing, he was the most decorated operator in the unit. But he burned in on a free fall accident. And, you know, that's obviously service connected. Right, right. So if you want the opinion of a 31-year. soft sergeant major, I think it actually goes back before it gets to the VA. The problem is really

at the DOD level or DOW, whatever you want to call it. Because I think the claims that come to the most scrutiny under public eye with our community and with guys like Caleb Hammer and everything else is when you've got somebody that washed out of basic or something like that and now they've got a VA rating. Now, if they blew out a knee, like I know, I had a kid in college when I taught ROTC. He's got 60%, but he blew out a knee and he was a semi-pro football player before he joined the guard. That makes sense, right? But if you got people that were just failure to adapt, it would be fun to have Rich on for this. Oh, dude. Because I'm sure he would be like, He'd be like,

they're, the easy button for, for the services is to kick them out early. But because they've got a DD-14, they're now eligible for veteran benefits. And that comes with VA disability. And if they couldn't find an administrative reason to get rid of them, they're going to find a medical reason to get rid of them.

And that pushes the problem down the road to the VA. And that, whoever that commander is or that doctor is or whoever it is, does that has to sign off on that, doesn't have to deal with that outside of, you know, with the financial burden of being a taxpayer. So that's really where a lot of that starts. Off camera, I've got some ideas. I like to pitch you just to, like, figure out your take on it.

Because I think it is something that definitely needs some movement, some motion, some would say. But because, I mean, it, we've talked about this at the gym. And it is the one thing, because it is that it's a difficult situation. You have me where I'm like, Okay, I've went through all this and I'm still struggling. And then it's like, well, it makes it easier, as you're saying. Well, people that have been to combat, why are they struggling? Well, others, you do see some of the people on Caleb Pam Oshund.

You're like, how the fuck that guy get 100%. And vice versa, you get it. So it's like if they ease it up, okay, then those guys get through. And then I'm still like, because I went through at a harder time, well, you didn't get past. You have to do it again. So it is a hard situation. There is no easy way to solve it. I mean, there's that initial entry part and the problem child part.

There's also the way that ratings are done. Like, I'm medically retired from the military. Thank you for your service. You're welcome. Even with everything I've done, it wasn't open and shut. Like, dude, I can't run anymore. I've got joints in my feet that don't work. I've got my back, my lumbar looks like a,

spider web under an MRI, right? But claiming those things, Army doctors looked at them like, no, you can still serve. But I was hospitalized for PTSD. And that's what was actually approved. No shit. Yeah. So the Army gave me 70% for PTSD. You need a minimum of 30 to medically retire. What blows my mind, like the thing that, and this is like where I very first started to conceptualize, like some of the issues with the VA disability rating system. I think it was 17. because in North Carolina I was living in Fort Bragg at the time. So yeah, sorry, I spent some time there too.

But it's a shit, it's a total shit hole. Thank you. I joke. I'm like, I never served, but I did a 25-year tour in Vietnam. Oh, man. Don't do that. Don't do that.

Don't, don't, don't. Don't do that. So in that state, in North Carolina, fuck you, dude. In North Carolina, I think in order to get a motorcycle endorsement before you turn 18, you need to take like the, you know,

DMV motorcycle safety course or whatever the And the dude I became friends with At that course, like there's just another young guy that was there I was an army guy We would like just like I'm fucking around like I'm 17 He's like 21 whatever

Like we would race to where we would do like The actual like parking lot You know motorcycle course part of it And you know we started like bullshit in a couple days later And like oh so what do he's like Well I'm like medically retired from the army Yeah I got like a I rolled an ankle on a combat jump and now I've got like 90% disability or whatever the f f f was.

Yeah. And like this is a guy that we're literally like still winded from having sprinted 700 yards to, I'm like in my head at the time like that doesn't make sense. Right. Like I feel like there's there's something wrong. Yeah. With that system a little bit. And it sucks because like there's a lot of people that do deserve it.

And like I would say more often than those cases where people get something they're not owed, there's people that are owed a lot that aren't getting it. There are. In fact, there are a lot of, and there are combat vets out there that have never filed. No, there's so, dude, so many. I was just on, I was teaching the Air Force Academy last week. There's like 84, mostly Green Beret vets, and this one ranger,

bro, he's been all over the world. He was in Panama, and he hadn't filed a claim. It was crazy. He was here, I'm working with him now. So. Most people, and it. they do not set you up on how to do it. No.

That's the hard. That's why I went with, hey, the paid route like. Yeah. Because they are going to take it out of my hands and figure that shit out. And I am 100% fine with that. I was very fortunate in the medical retirement process.

I was assigned a VA case officer. So I actually had two claims. The Green Beret Foundation initiated my claim. And then there was actually a VA case. worker that looked at that and said, why didn't you claim your left hip? I'm like, because my right hip is the one that hurts. And she said, Sergeant Major, are you telling me that your left hip never gets worn out after compensating for your right hip? I'm like, well, sometimes she goes, sometimes is not an answer. It's a yes or no. I said, well, it kind of, she's like, yes or no. I said, yes. She's like,

good answer, Sergeant Major. She goes, you guys are the f***ing worst. She was helping. She was helping. me. But that's how the claim system works. And you're also doing what you were trained the entire time, which is do not be a bitch. Yeah. Entire time, I'm going to get in trouble if I go to the age. So that's kind of what Zach's talking about. Like, hey, your special forces privilege is showing. But with the guys that have never filed a claim that just got out or didn't know.

Like, I've got a buddy. He was in Afghanistan in 2002 with special forces. One of my favorite photos of the entire GWAT is this guy. I won't say his name because of Hippa and whatnot, but this guy is standing on the roof of a mud hut in Nongahar somewhere, and he's whacking a golf ball off into the distance off this rooftop in the mountains. Such a great shot. It needs to be a poster. Anyway, he never filed, and I said, why? And he said, I just don't have the money to hire a lawyer right now.

I'm like, you don't need a lawyer, bro. You don't need a lawyer. No, it's better than that. Oh, okay. I was like, that's crazy if I just typed that. He's also bald, like, everywhere, and he hasn't had a haircut or a shave at all. So he's got, like, this wild, like... The Jack Mandeville cut?

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Except he's, like, a triathlete. So, yeah, imagine Jack is a triathlete. So what I tell everybody when I find out they haven't filed a claim at all is go on VA. Gov that day. You don't need a lot.

lawyer. You don't need a VSO. You don't need anybody. You need to create an ID me account if you don't have a cat card anymore so you can access to government websites. And then you hit intent to file. Because once you do intent to file, when you eventually get your claim in, everything you've claimed backstate, backdates to date you file, which for me ended up being like two years of back pay. Congratulations. This is a good bonus. That was nice. And it's tax free. Yeah. But I heard in that shit. It's tax free, but you put into that. I did. Yeah. I sure did. I paid multiple different ways. I definitely paid into that. Flashback to throwing an Afghani elder into a K-hole. It's like, S-exchange. There was, there was some background here. After that, once you do your intent to file,

that's when you go hunting for the help. And there's, there's tax-free options. Like, I had lunch with a dude out in Bandera, who is it Bandera County out there? What county is that? I don't know. Wherever Bandera is. Like the town of Bandera? The town of Bandera. Yeah.

He was wearing a Warriors Heart shirt. So I just went up and started talking to him. It's a nice little town. It is. It is. It is a fun little cowboy town. Yeah. I might end up living there.

Who knows? You know, I'm wearing my Bandera shirt. So, uh, he is the county of the ESO. I just realized his Raptors and Tehr. Same as famous for Rafters.

It's a funny video of that too. So, yeah. Different counties, but, In Texas, definitely, there are publicly funded veteran service reps that will help you with all of your VA stuff. You don't have to hire a claim shark. You don't have to hire a lawyer.

And there is big business and claims. And that's what I get paid to do now. I'm the director of strategic partnerships for a company called Xterra Health. That's X-E-R-R-A health. What I like about this company. Finn cuts that. Yeah. It's like, B.

Let's cut that unless the check clears. So this company, we just do, we do nexus letters and DBQ letters. DBQ is disability qualifying letter. So it's a, remember I was talking about the C&P exams? You go in, this is your, what you say is wrong with you. The VA says, well, let's see. And they order an exam for you. So.

So a DBQ is a letter from a medical professional that says, yes, I've done an exam, and this is fucked up. There is still some fraud involved in that piece worldwide. So Rebecca was a VSR at the VA, and she would get claims, and she would see, at the VA, she would see, like, okay, this vet is filing his claim. He lives in Illinois. the doctor he saw is in Arizona. She would flag that and it would go for further review. Right. So there's still some of that going on.

That doesn't happen here. There is telehealth and it can be explained, you know. But what this company does is they've got a network of providers. The doctor that's in charge of it was Marty Scovlin Jr.'s medic in Ranger Bedion. He became an MD. and he called me up and brought me into this. That's how we ended up here. But first and foremost, they're veteran-centric.

If a vet can't pay, they will still take the case. Like, they are so anti-claim shark. That's what I will say. The claim shark thing, I hate if it's like pay out of pocket right up front. It's like how the ones I've seen or talked to is, hey, if we get the claim, we'll just take this right out of the gate. It's a grand, two-gram. I'm like, I don't care. You did all the work.

And that's me personally. But if I see them, they did the work, they got me set up. I'm like, and it's two grand. Cool. I understand. Good. Military order of the Purple Hearts who got me the original. Yeah.

And then I went with another one, two other ones to get to where I am now. But it's still not 100. There's some weird pricing models out there. And some of them are like, they look on the up and up. And then you look further. Like if you actually know something about claims, you're like, oh, maybe not. Do you think it's because the field is so new? No, because claims have been around for forever.

Well, I feel like, and maybe this is just a blind spot for me, but I feel like the industry of claims is like the last, I don't know, maybe five years. Some of it's blown up because, because Internet, dude, because Internet and because of AI has reduced the barrier to legal language. I mean, that's a lot of it. Holy shit, you are, I never thought about that. You could do everything just with chat GDP. Mostly. But again, like, AI, it hallucinates. Like, the VAs own AI right now that they're replacing Vsars with.

That's a bad idea. It is terrible idea because it hallucinates a lot. Like, it is connecting up conditions for veterans that they didn't claim. And humans are having to come back and scrub all this. It's actually making more work on the VAs side. Right. You could, I,

actually, think about it, it would actually, I guarantee you could get, like a pass. Well, I'm not gonna.

No, no. But like, jokingly, it's still, look how, for a year? Yeah,

well, that's actually, I didn't even think about that. It thought you were in two branches and you had multiple,

like, this is the, all AI. Apparently. Yeah. No, that, that damn it.

But you, you think of it like that, it would be like brands at 100%. And Bray's like, I didn't even serve. What the fuck? And that's where, again, like, lack of oversight lends itself to fraud. Because I, well, the, not to, I know that it's kind of become a little spicy lately because of a couple other things in the military industrial complex, but like Palantir.

Right. One of the things that I think they did exceptionally well in the beginning was integrating like AI and algorithms and things like that with human oversight. That's exactly. That's the key words. It has to have human oversight. Yeah. It has to have human oversight. Yeah.

We're not there yet. No, we're not. We're not. Yeah. So on the claim shark pricing model, like the most overt one is a company that takes a percentage of your claim. Every month. That seems on the up and up if it's like, and I've had friends that have had great results with this. The problem with that is the incentives. So you think about this, remember I said your intent to file, your payment is backdated to your intent to file. So if you hire a company that is doing your claim and they take what should have been a three-month process and it turned it to a six-month process, they're now getting a percentage of six months of back pay versus three months of back pay. And I don't think about that.

Yeah, I didn't either. Somebody pointed that to me. And I was like, oh, that makes a lot of sense. There's also companies that if your claim is elevated, like if it's rejected initially, maybe you paid a, a flat fee up front, but your claim's rejected and it gets escalated. Now you're paying again for an appeal process. So if you want to submit your intent to file a claim, where would they do that again? VA.gov.

You don't need anybody to do that. You don't need anybody to do that. How many services are out there to do it for free, by the way? How many counties are there? It is not Joe. Like, you have so many freeways. ways to do this, I just didn't have the best of luck with it. The VFW does it, the American Legion does it, DAV does it.

So there are, there's an accreditation process, and I don't know what goes into that. But there's, it's very specific on who the VA will give accreditation to. And if it's an accredited VSO, that means they can file the claim on your behalf. Like you can give them power of attorney and they can file on your behalf. And that's what the Green Beret Foundation did for me. They're the only accredited special forces nonprofit. But it's great. Still not perfect.

So the company that I'm working for doing the nexus letters, which means they're connecting the service to the injury with the DBQ, they're charging 500 bucks a pop for a medical letter. You're getting a medical exam. The doctor gets a cut of that. The business gets a cut of that. and it goes forward and that's that's per letter so they're not getting a percentage of a claim they're not getting any future revenue off of it or anything else like that and again today they to date

they haven't turned anybody down even if they needed if they did it rough times and they couldn't they couldn't do it today then they'll take it if it goes through or it's just the $500 so it's like it's it's such a nominal fee well for some people I will say like we get a seat I that's the one thing I'm big on is 500 for depending on who you are. It can be a fucking a hurdle. That's why I always, $20 can be a hurdle. That's why it's always like, hey, be as respectful on where they're coming from because 500 for you. It's true.

You're like, hey, not that much. I mean, like a couple years ago, that would have been a tough thing for me. So, yeah, I get it. But now they'll work with people. It's a small company. And it's soft-owned. And it's veteran first. Do you have to be Grimberated to go through that?

Absolutely not. Anybody with DD-214. See, that's okay. And then where is, what's that one called again? Xtera Health, E-X-T-E-R-R-A. Like the, you know, the SUV that predated the Tacoma that everybody drove around for a while, Xtera. Like said, Chase, wait till the check clears.

Yeah, Chase, it's flurging. Everything he is saying. Yeah. It's funny that I'm throwing this out there because I haven't officially started there yet. Well, then until you get a job. Clear for you either. Blur it out until you get the job.

I mean, again, you know, I wasn't looking for a job and they called me and hearing about the company. I was excited about it because I work a lot in the veteran space. I help out nonprofits when I can with the marketing and branding piece. And I'm always throwing shit up on my IG and knowing that this was a soft owned company. And I have enough experience in the healthcare industry to know that. $500 is not how a doctor is making his bank. So I was like, yeah, that makes sense.

Yeah. So what I'm hoping is I can, through my position there, I can connect them with other VSOs and whatnot, because there's a lot of companies out there that don't do the DBQ service. Like if my claim through the Greenbrai Foundation, it had that DBQ service, it would have avoided a lot of C&P exams and shorten the, the time frame of my claim, my VA claim, which ended up being like 18 months.

I mean, good check, though. It was a good check. Yeah. Thank God, nobody got a percentage of that one. That's what I'm like, it was still the long as time. 18 months of back pay? Yeah. At whatever your month.

Yeah, they have to pay every month Tuesday. What colors your Camero? In the AP? That's echelon money. Dear, where can that? Where can the amazing people on the internet find you? I am most active on Instagram at Red Leader underscore standing by. Make sure that it's the guy with my face and the blue check mark because, man, I am really, really popular in Nigeria.

I think I saw a profile, this fat little black kid. It's got the same name as you. That's not tier? Yeah. If there's only like five or six photos up and it says, to your sideback. I love America and the army. It's not me. He's going to go there to Nigeria and fucking give him the sex nightmare dust. It's sex nightmare.

Yeah. How many legs do you need to do this? Yeah. And the same with the dating services. I am not on any dating platforms. I've actually had people hit me up on my dot mill email say, excuse me, Sergeant Major, but I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this, but can you please confirm that you're not dating my stepmom or my mother-in-law. And like, nope. Wouldn't you like to know, fed boy? Sexist. Success.

Oh, God, I don't know if we've discouraged or encouraged people to do ketamine at this point. Great in therapy. Great in therapy. Great in surgery. Bad for the elderly. Allegedly. We'll see.

What was the noise again? Whoa. And, Kurti on that, close the side. Thank you guys for joining the unsubscribe podcast. I was joined today by Eli Double Tap, Tier Simeek, Brandon Herrera, myself Donut Operator.

Thank you so much for being here. Sex dust. Sex, dust. Sex, sex, sex, us.