Aaron Q. Seibert, Brian Colburn and Chef James “JB” Brown discuss what has been happening over the past several weeks, share updates from the nonprofit organizations and veteran initiatives with which they are involved, and provide information about upcoming community events, fundraisers and golf tournaments.

The conversation gives listeners a look behind the scenes at the work being done throughout the veteran community. It also explains how fundraising events, nonprofit partnerships, volunteer service, culinary outreach, peer support and veteran-to-veteran connections help restore camaraderie and purpose after military service.

This episode reinforces a central Combat Vet Vision principle: service does not end when the uniform comes off.

Chief Aaron Q. Seibert, USN (Ret.)

Aaron Q. Seibert Linktree:

linktr.ee/aqseibert

Email: [email protected]

Chef James “JB” Brown, AAC

Veteran Transition Resource Center:

https://vtrc.us

Brian Colburn

Brian Colburn Linktree: linktr.ee/Bcolburn

Hey, welcome to Combat Vet Vision.

This is a great platform for our veterans, our sponsor, supporters, volunteers, families, things of that nature to come on here and talk about, tell their stories.

And for sponsors and supporters volunteers, it's great to hear what they're doing and I can't begin to thank them enough.

There's a lot of things I want to put out there.

Chef jb, hopefully he'll pop on here a little while.

He's been super busy.

He got called in to back up some chefs that were, he needed to help fill in for some guys that couldn't make it today to some of the stuff that he's got going on.

Mike deleon, Recon Chief Incorporated llc.

He'll be on deck, hopefully to tell his story about what he's doing.

He's been traveling a lot.

He made it to Camp Hope this week, took a tour.

You know, just, just, just checking in.

He does so much to help me out in some of the things that I'm involved in.

One of the things I kind of really wanted to bring out and, and talk about, you know, this, there's a lot of updates, things that are going on.

You know, we'll have some stuff to discuss about upcoming events and things that I'm involved in and, and what, what the other guys are involved in, what they, when they pop on.

But one of the things I wanted to talk about real quick was, you know, there's a lot of veterans out there and they're, they're dealing with things.

And I want to say there's a lot of solutions to problems and some of those solutions don't necessarily show their face in any way, shape or form other than, you know, somebody's reaching out with a helpful hand and there's a lot of helpful hands out ready to help.

But there's not a lot of, necessarily veterans or people in general reaching out to grab those, grab those hands.

And I think it's because we have a lot of pride, we have a lot of, you know, gusto to do what we're doing in our lives to push, push through the negativity, the positivity, the, the, the, the noise, the frustrations, the things that we do on a day to day basis and do it by ourselves.

We think we can, you know, we, we've come this far, we've had to deal with things.

We, we've grown away from our parents, you know, we moved out of the house.

We, we do things with our, ourselves and we're supposed to be the ones that are looked up to by our families and situations.

And, and sometimes that just doesn't roll out.

It doesn't roll out right.

And so sometimes it's really important to reach out and grab that hand.

And I think a lot of times we as veterans feel like, hey, man, I don't want to be that guy that's just weak, vulnerable.

I don't want, I.

It sucks to, you know, have this pity party on myself, and I don't really want to share it with anybody.

I want to just have my pity party and call it, call it, call it good or don't.

Because sometimes, you know, that pity party steers down roads that lead to loss of life, suicide, to other problems in, in life.

And we live an incredible life in America now, in, in, in society.

And however things are going, you know, there's a, A lot of times that we just got to pick ourselves up and say, hey, you know what?

I'm not okay?

And I need to talk about it.

I need to just roll it out, roll it off my tongue to somebody.

I need somebody to just kind of vent to.

And a lot of times we don't realize that that venting and that resource becomes an incredible feature of support.

It's not necessarily there to give you a handout.

It's a hand up.

It's, it's a, it's a way to just kind of navigate things.

And that's why, you know, I'm really big on, on warrior groups.

I'm really big on, you know, communicating and just kind of letting things go.

Because when you go on other.

When you, when you go and you listen to other people complain or talk about their issues or just deal with the, the things that life throws at us every day.

It's great to hear that and great to know that you're not alone.

Great to know that you're moving forward in these positive directions or that you have the ability to find hope somewhere.

And a lot of times I, I look at this, this, this great, you know, set of hope that exists that is, that has existed for me, and I will say, you know, there's, there's a lot of things you can complain about, a lot of things you can take, you know, and say, hey, the VA is not doing this.

The VA didn't do that.

And, and really, like, like I always tell people, the VA is not your ladder to success.

It is a, it is one ream at a time so that you can put your hand on it, grab a hold of what it needs, and move on.

It does not support you with all the things that you need in life.

And it will, it won't.

It's not built for that.

It's built to be a hospital organization, it's built to be a funding organization.

And together that's a weird combination because, you know, if you're not, if you're not in compliance with your care, you can lose the compliance of getting your paycheck.

So it's important that you stay engaged in your life, engaged in the VA and formulating pathways that maybe you don't know about, but because you, you, you want to do it your way, it becomes really difficult to navigate, and sometimes you do it their way, and it's really hard to navigate.

But somewhere in there, there's some navigation, and somewhere in there there's some coordination, there's some help and support that is being done to veterans everywhere.

And the United States is the only one that has a VA system.

You know, you go to any other country, go to any other, any other way of doing it, they don't have anything for their veterans.

Like, like, like, like America does.

So I will say that, you know, the system can be broken, it can be fixed.

You know, it's constantly on the verge of fixing itself and running into these problems and these, these headaches.

But if you're relying on that as your only support network, then you're going to be disappointed because it's not going to be there for you.

For every little bit piece and things that you, that you need, everybody feels like it is.

You know, there's a lot of things.

And the reason I want to bring this up is because there's a lot of guys suffering out there and they're afraid to ask for help.

They're even afraid to go to the va.

I know veterans that haven't been.

It's important that they do.

I think it's an incredible thing that we got, but I also think that there's so many other organizations out there doing incredible things.

There's always, you know, there's always guys that have some really good, positive ways of dealing with PTSD on different ways, waves for each one of us, because not everybody is a group guy, not everybody's therapist guy.

Not everybody can go to the VA all the time.

Transportation is an issue.

You know, logistics, whatever it might be, there's things that we need to better learn how to navigate so we can get the, the resources that we need.

Wherever you're getting your resources and whatever that looks like is awesome.

There's a lot, a lot of talk about plant, you know, medicine and you know, all this, all this new ways and, and you know, the, the, the, the different things, the different medications, just the amount necessary for the effect is sometimes super important.

So it's, it's great to see.

Hey, thanks, thanks.

Shout out to you guys that are watching, listening.

Hey, doctor, thanks for getting on here.

Indeed.

Info.

And Mike deleon's on deck too, so I'm gonna bring him on deck.

But I just want to say, hey, there's a lot of things out there, a lot of support.

Where are you getting yours?

And do you have to feel bad about receiving that support?

I don't think so.

As a society, we're not built for that.

There's always somebody that's going to say, hey, there's a cure for ptsd.

And I want to believe that there is, but it's not.

I don't, I don't believe that, you know, you can fix every single thing.

I believe we can fix some things.

I believe that we can better manage our life skills.

And I don't want to, you know, and, and, and I want to say, hey, if you have a cure, that's great.

You know, push it out there, get it done.

Let's, let's do it.

And I want to bring some guys on here eventually to talk about cures, to talk about, hey, it's okay to wake up every day and find happiness and smile, pull yourself up and, and really go through your day.

But, you know, as I go through my day, I want to believe that I'm going to be happy and good and this, this and that.

But there's a lot of struggles in the day.

I constantly have to shut down thoughts, intrusive thoughts and intrusive memories and sometimes intrusive nightmares.

And I have to deal with, you know, waking up in the middle of the night because I want to make sure everything's safe.

That's the way I was trained.

Because not everything in, not everything in the United States is safe, even though it appears to be and it should be and you want to believe it is.

And you know, you know there's, you know, you want to take the course of, you know, non violent negotiation course, and you want to believe at the end of the thing you're going to be able to say and do everything possible that you can and not end up in a violent situation.

That's not realistic, but it's, it's a dream, you know, and at the end of the day you have to say, hey, if everything I did to keep peace with love and cherishness in my heart and soul.

And now, you know, I've done everything I can to try to try to appease that situation, but that situation doesn't, doesn't appease.

You still have to deal with the violent situation that might occur.

And that's, that's just my thought process.

That's, that's an unfortunate set of circumstances.

So, you know, that's why I say, you know, the cure for, for it would be mind wipe because you take away all my memories, you take away all the traumas, you take away all this, and, and, and that's where it will be.

But I, you know, I want to believe that there's a lot of people doing some incredible things out there.

I want to, I want to see where it goes.

I want to promote it, talk to, talk to you about it, and let's have some great conversations.

But hey, I'm gonna bring Mike on deck because Mike's been traveling, doing some incredible things.

And you know, from recon Chief incorporated, he does a lot with me.

He films a lot of stuff.

He does some incredible stuff.

Mike, how you doing, brother?

Hey, what's up?

Where you at right now?

You're all the way down in.

I'm in Dallas now, so I'm up here visiting with some veterans up here doing some, some claims, you know, helping them with their claims and everything.

Nice, nice.

And you, you stopped into Camp Hope earlier this week?

I sure did.

I went and did a site visit at Camp Pole, met with some people over there, met with Maryland to get some PTSD foundation merch for future events for you guys.

You know, it was a good visit.

It's a good visit.

No, that's good.

For those of you who don't know, Camp Hope is where we house for the PTSD foundation of America.

It houses all the veterans that, the combat veterans that need to go and get that extra help.

Up to 100 veterans at any given time.

And it's a campus.

It's a full five acre campus with all kinds of things ready and good for them.

And then on top of that, it's, you know, it's just a great place for the, for the PTSD foundation of America to run its warrior groups.

And they have a lot of guys that come and attend those warrior groups and families and things of that nature that get involved.

Mike, Mike.

Mike's been there almost, I think, more than me at this point.

And I spent a lot of time, you know, on the west coast covering a lot of the veterans.

Mike helps me out with a lot of that too.

With the, you know, with Recon Chief incorporated and doing all the things that he does and that is bringing organizations together to, to help motivate and you know, it's in the racing realm of things, you know, street racing.

He's got a lot of things going on that.

But it has a lot of capabilities and that's why Mike does a lot of things that he does.

So.

Go ahead, Mike.

Yeah, so as a founder and CEO of Recon Chief Inc.

It's an organization built for veterans, built by veterans, primarily Navy guys and director board.

We do a lot of work with the military as well.

We compete into the training process for chief Petty officers, which is actually going on actively right now.

I'm involved with a lot of the groups and also providing sponsorship and also providing mentorship for veterans, either becoming chiefs and also with the retirees and bringing them into the system and helping them cope with their struggles by continuously being around veterans and building or rebuilding that camaraderie that they are lacking in the civilian world.

So it's a really good thing for everybody.

It's healing as well as empowerment.

And we play around with the Navy mainly, but I am operating off of the Camp Pendleton base.

I also work with the Greeks as well.

And it's a good thing because we do a lot of work inside and outside the base and we bring a lot of other organizations like you mentioned together to, to complete their missions as well.

So to return the favor, they helped me with my missions.

Really awesome.

Yeah, it's some, it's some incredible stuff.

I'm going to be with Mike.

Him and I are both going to be down in San Diego at the Chief's Pride Day on 9 11.

Which obviously 911 is right around the corner.

A day to remember, you know, when our nation was attacked and uh, in the most brutal way that basically kicked off the wars that I've been part of.

Oifs and oefs.

So yeah, so currently I'm with a veteran that served during 9 11.

She, okay, was a 50 Cal twin.

50 Cal operator during post 9 11.

So after 911 happened we all got people into the Gulf and you know, we were tracking all the ships and doing anti piracy.

So she's, she's, you know, got a lot of struggles.

You know, this is the first time she's filing her disability.

So I'm really like stepping into her world of what's going on in her head and it's, it's really, it's really nice and promising for her because she didn't have anybody that did that for her.

So I'm the first one that's actually sitting down with her going through the missions.

She had to, you know, struggle through and coping.

And, you know, a lot of that caused that for PTSD that she didn't know how to deal with.

And so, you know, with all the groups that we have and all the talks we have, it kind of builds up my knowledge and builds up my response mechanisms, response skills with people like this.

And it's a really good thing to always keep maintaining that knowledge, maintaining the education and this area to help other veterans get through it and also offer, you know, places she can go here locally.

She didn't know that there's a lot of different organizations that operate for veterans, and she just didn't know how to find them.

You know, it's like, a lot of times when you get out of the military, you don't know what to do because they don't really teach you when you get out.

They just teach you how to be a civilian.

They teach you how to go to school, how to file for classes, how to buy a house and all that.

But they always forget that you still need your people, your brothers and sisters, to lift you up and keep you on track.

And so I make it a point that when I do my road trips and site visits and people visits, I make sure that I ask them, are you okay?

Help with anything?

And I'm here to provide.

Yeah, that's good stuff, Mike.

And I know, you know, I've been fortunate to know Mike a long time, and he's.

He's one of these guys that kind of.

He said some stuff to me at the beginning where, you know, I learned this from Nick Ham, and Nick Ham's the.

The president of the War Built Foundation.

And Nick Ham's like, hey, man.

You know, people will say all kinds of stuff, but until I see it and, you know, I really don't believe in it.

But Mike's one of these guys.

He says some stuff that he's gonna do that sounds like, off the wall.

Like.

Like, dude, is that even possible?

I mean, it's possible, but it seems so unrealistic that I can't really believe in it.

But he's one of these guys that once he says it, it, like, turns into this, like, unbelievable set of circumstances that really does pan out and.

And give you an example of that.

I mean, we.

We were going to take care of a veteran because we got Hit up by a business that really helps veterans in a lot of different ways.

And we were, we were setting up to.

To help them out.

And I'm, I'm not in San Diego, but this, this, this veteran was in San Diego, needed help with the house, getting clean, needing.

Needing some other things done.

He just got some, some work done through the VA stuff, some procedures knocked out, and he needed a ride back from a facility, and we were ready to make that happen.

And, you know, sometimes, like I said, the veterans pride gets in the way and says, hey, I don't want to use the resources of our veterans.

I don't want to put my undue burden on them.

Or they have this feeling that they don't want the help because they're too prideful for it.

And instead he spent like $3,500 to have his house cleaned and, and told Mike at the last minute he didn't need a ride.

But Mike had already lined up Home Depot.

He's.

He's got Navy Chiefs that are.

That are selectees right now that are going to volunteer.

We're gonna, you know, put them to work and doing this great volunteer for, for the service.

And it's kind of sad when, when you have this all lined up and Mike had to say, hey, man, thanks a lot for providing those resources, but I have to turn that down at this time.

You know, Mike, I don't want to, you know, talk about it too much, but I want to say, hey, you know, those are the kind of things like, we all need help, we all need support.

But, you know, if you could go into some of those things because, because you do this a lot, man, you throw a whole bunch of things at people and they're like, like, whoa, is this, is this true?

I mean, line them up and they get them all the help that they need, and sometimes they don't take it and they don't.

It doesn't work out for them.

And then that's the sad part.

Yeah, you just got to be prepared for that because, like, I thought he really was going to take the help.

And we were ready to rock and roll.

And it was like the night before, you know, very last minute.

But, you know, I took it.

I took it good, and I didn't.

There's no need to get upset about it.

You know, there's nothing.

Nobody spent any energy or any more money or any, you know, people power to do it, so they didn't waste any time or money.

But the resource and the help was ready to go and ready to Perform.

But it's unfortunate he went another way.

But like I said, you know, we're still for him here for him.

So if he does need help later on, we'll still be able to provide that help.

Exactly.

You know, that's.

And that's the thing.

There's plenty of guys out there that I've tried to help, and, you know, they've taken some pathways that have really been destructive to themselves.

The chaos is there.

It's real.

And, you know, they're not ready for the help yet.

And.

And.

And, you know, as much as we, you know, even.

Even the warrior groups, you know, if Mike.

Mike's in the warrior groups with me, he pops in there, you know, just to support me on all the.

All the endeavors.

But there.

There.

There could be a lot more people in there.

There could be a lot more veterans that are.

That are dealing with things, you know, reaching out, getting that camaraderie.

And it's not about like, hey, what was me?

It's about, hey, you know, here's how I'm reflecting on life.

Here's how I'm better navigating life, or here's the situation that I ran into this week that just really kind of upset me, and I'm just glad that I have this opportunity to kind of dump this off here and pick up this puzzle piece.

But, you know, the group is only like.

There's only like 3 to 12 guys in there at any given day or, you know, guys, gals.

And so, you know, if you're needing a warrior group, if you're needing that support, you know, I'm running three of these a week.

It's a huge cool thing.

I know Mike just got back from Camp Hope, and they talked about integrating the female into it, into the group as well.

But then we have the breakout room for them to kind of go into their own.

Own endeavor.

Because the dynamic between men and women, Women, it causes some.

Some.

Some hiccups and some.

Some under some misunderstandings that, you know, all the time we can't necessarily, you know, come across a certain way because we're in front of a woman.

And, you know, the.

The way that we're built in.

In the country is to kind of say, hey, I don't want to cuss.

I don't want to do this, but sometimes you feel like you need to.

And group, that's where it's cool.

So I do like the dynamic that's starting to develop.

And I know me and Mike talked about it earlier this week, so I'm Looking forward to some of that.

But if you need a group, hit me up on that.

The PTSD foundation of America, running its groups, Warrior Built running groups, other veterans that are running groups out of their church doing things.

There's a lot of opportunities to hit these groups up in different ways and just be part of something.

Yep.

Mike, what else you got, man?

You.

You.

You.

You usually make a trip across America a couple times, but, hey, you know, last year you were in Florida doing the chief's initiation and doing all that.

And, you know, it's.

It's.

It's a huge, cool camaraderie building.

You know, it's.

It's an awesome thing to understand how the chiefs operate and going through this process.

So.

I did the road trip, stopped at the PTSD foundation in Houston, Camp Hope, did my site visit, and then continued my trek down to Jacksonville, where I was invited to be part of their initiation and CPO Friday competitions.

And, you know, I was able to meet up with a lot of sailors I served with across the nation and even overseas that were there, and they're like, hey, it's like, you know, we haven't seen each other for 10, 15, 20 years, and they're.

They're chiefs now, and they're.

They're being, you know, promoted, and then they.

They get to get their charts from me.

So I get to, like, give them some, you know, words of hope and passion and charges and tell them, hey, this is what's going to happen from the rest of your career.

And those kind of things are the.

Like, I can't talk to be anybody about that.

But other Navy chiefs, you know, and so that's why I attend these chief functions, because I.

That's where I fit in.

And likewise with, like, Marines, Army, Air Force, and Navy, like, they typically get, you know, migrate towards the people they are comfortable with, you know, and as military events, we don't just talk to civilians like that so we could be more open with people like our.

That are like us.

That's why I do that.

And it's healing for me, too, because it brings me back to where I was happy and progressive and where I'm comfortable speaking my mind without being ridiculed or judged the wrong way.

That's what a lot of veterans avoid.

They avoid having to deal with being judged.

So that's why they kind of unplug and don't talk to nobody.

But we're all here to get them back in, you know, where they belong and give them that sense of belonging.

Definitely.

Definitely.

And you Know, I think that's so, so true, especially when you come to a veteran.

You know, I was speaking to a veteran yesterday and he's going through a lot, but what he did know how to say to me right off the bat was, hey, you know, just so you know, you know, suicide's not a path for me because of this.

Right?

And that's because so often you hear about, you know, a veteran dealing with PTSD and this, this and that.

It has a stigma to it, it has this flavor to it that, you know, and, and it's so true.

I mean, I do want to ask the, you know, I always want to ask the question, are you feeling suicidal?

Are you feeling upset?

You know, where are you at in this journey?

And I think, you know, as, as we go down these pathways, we want to be able to talk to each other in a way that quite frankly, you just can't have a conversation in any public place because people look at you and be like, damn, man, these guys have a warp sense of humor.

They have a dark, you know, part of their life.

They're, they talk about, you know, suicide and death like it's nothing.

And you know, it's, it's because we live in this great country of freedom where America's supposed to be this great peaceful blue, red, white and blue space.

And sometimes it's not, sometimes it's very, it's very dark.

And the freedoms exist because someone's, someone's guarding the wall right now.

Someone's, someone's gardening, you know, the place.

Someone's, someone's making sure that peace is being, you know, introduced to the world from, from a standpoint of, hey, the reason we care so much about each other is we got each other's back is because there's a lot of love in this country and it needs to continue.

And I think it's an important thing.

And, and you know, we have that camaraderie and that military bearing, this, this like over zealous way of like enjoying life on a level and taste that very few people can understand.

They, they can to a point, but it's not our, it's not a place where we like to take you.

It's not a place we like to talk about all the time.

So we, when we talk about it amongst ourselves, it gets kind of crazy and, and interesting.

But it's, it, it irons itself out and iron sharpens iron.

We, you know, it's a non understanding kind of thing and escalation of force and we use all kinds of words that are really kind of derogatory to the peace and tranquility.

But I'm not against peace, but I'm definitely for those that are about to bring it, you know, and I always have been.

That's, it's the military way.

But Mike, hey, hey, talk about, talk about the, the film industry and what you, what you got going on that.

And then we'll, and then get into the food, the food bender deal.

Because I want to hear about that.

The film industry is really great because my goal and mission really is to hire and cast veterans, right?

And so being a producer of veteran powered films and a producer for CS Productions, which is responsible for the movie called the Master Chief, our goal is to really just kind of bring in a lot of veterans in that served in the Navy because it's a Navy movie, and put them either behind the camera, in front of the camera, or behind the script reading and everything and just to help with dialogue so that when we are filming this movie, we're bringing in real stories, real experiences from people who are really, you know, telling the story.

And that's what it's all about.

It's about storytelling.

And we can't just tell our story to anyone.

So through film as a therapeutic tool, we will tell the story through film.

And that's what's great about filmmaking is we can be open and consider all of the things we've gone through and bring that into the movie and bring that into the script and the dialogue and everything.

And my job as a military advisor for the movie industry that I work with is to basically make sure these actors and actresses are walking like they're in the Navy, talking like they're in the Navy.

And what better way to get the lingo right is from a person that's served in the Navy.

So that's my thing.

Like if they say something wrong, I will come in and say, hey, I interject, hear what you're saying.

You need to say it this way.

This is what everyone will resonate with when they watch the movie.

They're like, oh yeah, I say that all the time.

So that's, that's where this movie is, is transposing into it.

It's going to resonate with everyone that's going to watch.

So without a military advisor in the movie industry and you're doing the military movie, you're probably going to fail at that.

So part one was 50 50.

Part two is going to be great because now I'm in there and I'm bringing all the military in the Chiefs, senior chiefs and master chiefs, even some former mick pawns are going to be in there as well.

Rick west agreed to get to cameo in our movie.

This is gonna be great.

And so aside from that, I do do cooking.

Like Aaron mentioned.

They call me the food vendor and I get hired and put on different sets and red carpet events to cook for everyone.

For the actors, the actresses, the producers, the videographers, the directors, and everyone else involved in the film.

And that, you know, is different from a lot of film sets where they hire catering service to bring the food in.

I cook on station, so it's even.

It's like another sideshow during the filming.

Like, hey, they're filming over here.

And then the food vendor is making our lunch and they're like, we can't wait to eat.

And it just helps them, like, you know, do their part and get back into character and do a good job during the film so that they can go eat this great food that I'm barbecue.

And it's really fun.

It's fun to see them with their big eyes waiting to eat my food because they know it's gonna.

Right, right.

Hey, and, and, and later on, you know, in the future, right, right now you're working on a food truck that's coming, that's going to come out?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I always forget about that because they kind of put it off till January.

So the Robert Irvine foundation has a food truck business called, called let's Chow.

You guys see it online here and there.

I thought it was fake until they actually approached me because they got word that I was like cooking for veterans and cooking for the movie industry and I needed a food truck.

So they offered me a food truck.

It's about $150,000, Bill.

And I want to involve as many veterans as I can to build this truck once I get the slated for it, which is supposed to be in January.

And I would like to involve, you know, like the Warren Buff foundation since they love building off road vehicles.

Navy Marines, Food vendor recon Chief Larry Bill Foundation Combat Vision and just promote all our companies as one whole big thing.

And everyone who eats from it, they can say, hey, man, even if they say, oh, I, I ate at the Warrior Bill truck, it's okay, or I ate at the food vendor truck, or I ate with that combat vet Fish and they have their own food truck.

It's okay with me if everybody claims the food truck.

I don't care as long as we're serving veterans and it's doing a good deed and we're raising money for our, for our programs.

This is what's going to help us a lot.

It's going to be a big boost in, in our operational funding.

So.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, speaking of programs and that's, it's going to be exciting, man.

You know, you, you, you specially requested that they build the truck as a four or four by off off road type scenario because obviously we're out at King of the Hammers.

You always hang out and do a lot of things with us and, and have been for years.

And the other cool thing that's going on, you know, talk about programs is, you know, I got, I gotta throw a shout out to Tom Gibbons and Darts Only Golf.

They're going to be with us on 9 11.

They're going to be next to me and Mike, Mike, Mike made this happen as well.

You know, they're, they're getting their coins from you.

I mean you got a lot of resources that have helped out businesses that have helped out individuals and our veterans that, that, that are part of our organizations and, and, and the groups and the things that we're involved in.

They get to work directly for Darts Only Golf if they want to.

As you know, as these golf tournaments are set up for veteran communities, businesses, all kinds of things.

You know, Tom's hiring these guys to go out on the, on the, on their, on their adventures and work on, work at the golf course for the day and help help things out.

The only requirement is like six days of, of service a year and you're going to be paid for it.

So it's a paid job.

It's.

So we're working on providing our veterans with job opportunities that normally wouldn't be there.

I'm thankful that Tom Gibbons is making this happen.

And Mike, go ahead, elaborate on some of that.

So yeah, Tom Gibbons, the golf, darts only golf guy, he's been doing events for the PTSD foundation and in the future here in November, we're doing, he's doing one for PTSD foundation and the American Music Patriot Music Project which is the guitar build that's going to happen up in the high desert in November.

I'm cooking for that event for the entire three days as well as building my own guitar for recon cheap.

You know, they're really happy because they're one, they're saving A whole bunch of money.

I'm donating my services.

They're just buying the food and I'm cooking it.

I get a free guitar code.

That's cool with me.

I think it's a good trade off with Tom Gibbons, though.

He was very interested because I kind of talked to him about all the stuff that happens at CPO Friday and he's like, wow.

He's like, that'll be a great place for me to put a golfing putting green and get all these military guys to play golf and then I can promote the business.

Well, you, I'll promote you and you promote us.

So it kind of like a good trade up again.

I got him in.

They put up the golfing green.

The Enlisted Leadership foundation was like, wow, we're gonna have a golfing putting green.

I'm like, yeah, like they're excited.

Everyone's excited for him and hopefully it works out and it's gonna be a great day.

And this is another thing.

I'll talk about bringing other, other organizations in and showing people who are maybe at that event on September 11th that are, you know, about to get out, they can see in, in person what type of organizations are out there for them.

And so Tom Gibbons is going to.

Show that, hey, I'm still here.

I'll be right back.

Yeah, I'll show that to them and, and show that there are organizations in real life that are helping veterans.

So, yeah, he's gonna have a good time with us.

We're gonna see a lot of people and he's gonna see like 10, 000 people in one day.

You know, that's three times more, maybe even four times more than he would see at a golf tournament.

So he's, he's really excited to bring the numbers.

Sorry, I had to step away real quick because I forgot to plug in my computer and it was about to die.

So.

Yeah, yeah, he's gonna, he's gonna see a lot of people and they're all going to see him and they're going to be really interested in what he has and he's gonna let everybody put golf and it's all about, you know, just showing up, being there, you know.

Yeah, and that's, that's an incredible thing too because, you know, when we get to hang out with our sponsors sometimes and our supporters, our volunteers, I mean, it's, it's an incredible thing.

And, and really?

You know, Mike always comes out, hangs out with me, and he's created some really cool avenues.

I mean, you should see some of the wild pictures, I think, you know, especially when we were just at the golf tournament in the 30th of July, and, you know, a lot of people haven't seen it, but, you know, we're singing with Bruno Mars in.

In the.

In the.

Yeah.

You know, you did this whole animated thing where he came out of the.

The box cut out of him, you know, in front of someone's booth and he's all singing with us.

I mean, it was.

It was.

It was nutty.

So we get to do some really cool things.

And Mike.

Mike, you know, with all this film industry stuff and, you know, learning the technology, we all need to learn some of this technology.

It works out.

It makes some incredible things and just good times.

And a good example of Tom hiring veterans.

He actually, he's bringing me in on 26 September for a celebrity golf tournament.

For a person who has invited a lot of celebrities to this event.

Sho Koi is going to be there, a couple comedians.

I've got the guy's name, Mexican guy, he's going to be there.

Basketball player is going to be there.

Byron Scott from the Lakers is going to be there, some other actors and actresses.

They're all.

There's like 18 celebrities that are attending this golf tournament on the 26th.

And it's going to be a very special tournament because the celebrities are really donating a lot of money to this one for a big cause, you know, for cancer.

Cancer research.

Yeah, the cancer.

Cancer research.

Just to feed into that.

After I get a view of how that runs.

The golf tournament that Recon chief is going to be sponsored by Tom Givens in the spring is going to be also a celebrity golf tournament.

And I'm planning.

I want to.

I want to try to top that other one, 26, but I don't know if I'll be able to.

But I do have a lot of connections to get some.

Some great, awesome sponsors, awesome celebrities at that tournament.

We will have our own celebrity tournament.

We'll see how it turns out.

That's.

That's good stuff.

That's going to be exciting, Mike.

And so what do you.

What do you got.

What do you got planned for the next.

I mean, you're.

You're heading back pretty soon.

Yeah, I'm.

I'm pretty much buckled up over here in Dallas.

We have an event tonight, a cooking event, you know, for myself, to do my content thing.

On there, cook for a bunch of people or families.

And then later on tonight, midnight, I'm, I'm gonna be lining for California.

So I'll be back in a day and a half or something.

Maybe a day.

Nice.

Nice.

And hey, Mike, you got, you got anything else, man?

Feel free to stay on with me.

We got a couple more minutes.

But yeah, I mean there, there's a lot of, a lot of things going on.

I'm really just preparing for, for final night for the Chiefs.

And that's going to happen at Camp Pendleton over in the, I don't know what you call it, where they pretend they're in Afghanistan.

They're shooting through the clearing houses and everything.

Combat town.

One of the combat towns.

We'll be in one of the combat towns for final night, which is the day before the Chiefs get pinned.

So that's a pretty extensive day.

It's called the longest day now, but we used to call it final night.

It starts at 6 in the morning and ends at like 10, 11, 12 o' clock at night.

They're beaten to death already.

Can't wait to get pinned.

And you know, it's, it's a long day of, you know, basically like rite of passage if you want say less.

A lot of camaraderie, a lot of team building exercises.

Lots of training, lots of training, integrity training, you know, like, hey, you're a chief now, you will do these things now.

And when I became a chief, I learned how, you know, to be that kind of a person and then carried on into this building where it's what I do now.

I still do the same thing I would do when I was a child.

Exactly.

And it's, it's so cool to, to, to, to be a chief.

And it's the, and the responsibility is not lacking what whatsoever.

You know, it's a, it's a huge responsibility, huge thing to do.

But yeah, Mike, thanks a lot for being here, brother.

I appreciate you and we'll stick around till the end if, if you're still here.

A lot of good stuff going on, you know, like, like, you know, Mike just got done visiting the PTSD foundation of America Camp Hope and that is free for our veterans.

The six to nine months of treatment and, and you know, it's really peer to peer mentorship associated with some, some clinical stuff for mental health development and it's faith based and it's an important part of, of life, you know, to, to, you know, whether or not you, you believe in God.

You know, the Bible is probably the oldest book written so that we can navigate this world however it might look.

It's an important aspect of, of life and you know, if you need some, some help and support in that manner, you know, just to regain some connection with, with, with God and higher power.

Yeah, it's an important place to, to go.

It's not down your throat faith based, but it's, it's, it's there so that you can take it and, and go with it and understand it.

And we send our guys there for six to nine months and the, the reason it's six to nine is because it could be even longer.

But that's, that's the average of what we talk about.

And that's because they're, they're there for the program.

They're there to get sober and be sober for a long period of time.

It gives them the best exit strategy and reintegration into the, into the world on a, on a much better footing at that six month phase.

The reason it stretches out for nine is because it does some, they do some life skills after that for guys that want to have jobs or do some other opportunities.

They create some avenues of support and, and programs that are designed to, to help, help help them establish a way better lifestyle of, of jobs and housings and you know, things of that nature.

So it's a huge benefit and you know, I want to say thanks to the War Built Foundation, Warrior Built foundation, vocational recreational support for combat vets.

You know, it's getting guys together, it's, it's putting them to find their, their avenues of, of pathways in their lives.

But it also gives them one of adrenaline rush back out on a field op and running a race and just cruising across the, you know, wherever they're cruising.

You know, Vegas to Reno just happened.

It was this first time, Reno to Vegas this time.

So it started in Reno, ended in Vegas.

So it's just a great opportunity for guys to just get out there and do some stuff.

There's guys that just that, that love the racing.

They get involved in it on themselves and they, they, they still race with Warrior Built, but they step away and they start doing their own races.

They start doing a lot of really cool things with other race organizations or they, they've gotten hired to, to work with race organizations and they, they've partake in some of the volunteer efforts of setting up tracks to all kinds of things that the race industry has done to, you know, putting tires on vehicles for Yokohama or something of that nature.

So you know, it's just an incredible thing that a warrior build exists on that, on that piece, that vocational, recreational support.

So it, it is creating jobs, it is finding, you know, avenues of support for the guys in such a cool way.

It just makes a huge difference.

And it's made a huge difference in my life in all these organizations.

They've made huge differences in my life.

Not something that I'm gonna, you know, vouch for unless I truly believe in, in the organizations that I'm part of.

I'm right here filming and doing everything that I do on the podcast right here at the Veterans Transition Resource center in Las Vegas.

You know, it's a place where veterans can come in and find some resources that might benefit them in their lives to, you know, their benefits, their, their this and that.

And we got another, another branch of this in the Reno section.

So in Reno, there's, there's the Veterans Transition Resource center up there.

They're there to support that whole element too.

And they're, they're, they're knocking out people's benefits and making sure that those are getting, getting done.

And so it's just an incredible thing to be part of all these organizations.

And, you know, I can't, I can't thank enough you who volunteer, you who support our veterans in such a different way, cool shape or form the businesses that have created either jobs or the opportunities for these non profits to kind of thrive.

And you continually, year after year, support that element.

And it's, it's just an incredible thing.

So, you know, if you want to get on here and you want to talk about why you're doing that or you, you're a veteran, that, that feels like they have something important to say or to tell their story in a way that's, that's impactful.

I want to, you know, I want to invite you on to the, to the platform.

I have a lot of, a lot of guys and gals that, you know, I hit up all the time to tell their story.

It's not like some, you know, most of the people are not knocking at my door to do it, but when they, when they get the opportunity, it really kind of allows them to tell you a story that they've maybe been wanting to tell and held in for a long period of time, and those stories become very interesting.

So it's, it's just a cool thing.

And I want to thank Mike deleon, Recon Chief Incorporated, for, you know, making it possible for me to be part of that as well as his, his journey to be embedded in these elements of support that exist and he, he goes with it.

He picks it up and says, hey, this is something that we can build a program for.

And he finds a way to make these programs work for certain veterans.

And you know, it's not one fit fits all because not everybody can take the time to devote, you know, six to nine months of their time in themselves, but they need to.

The ones that are going to Camp Hope are the ones that really needed that.

It's, it's a life saving organization.

It's built for that.

And the rest of them are, you know, great opportunities, A chance to, you know, escape your, your, your whatever you're dealing with or to pursue something that adds to your life or escapes your life for a minute.

But it also will introduce you to other veterans that are doing things in, in certain directions that need that, that need that, that support.

So, you know, as you're, as you're going through your day today operations, think about the organizations out there that, that are doing incredible things for you and let me know about them because I'd like to be able to talk about them.

You know, it's not just, and it's not just mine.

It's not just, you know, any organization that I'm part of.

I love to be part of those ones.

Those are ones I know, you know, front to back for the most part and still learning.

Always, you know, there's always a way to kind of navigate some of these things and there's always somebody out there.

And I'll tell you, these organizations are moving down tracks that are like train tracks.

So it's not like you're going to be able to change those tracks or add to that track unless you're personally involved in being involved in that build out to ensure that that program gets built and you're going to see it through.

You're going to, you know, be responsible for it because you know, there's only so many people that are capable, there's only so many volunteers because not everybody's volunteering, but we all have lives, we all have purposes and we trying to figure that stuff out.

But it's always an honor to have, have everybody that pops on here.

Sorry Chef, couldn't make it today, but hey, got Mike deleon and I bring him on from time to time.

So it's good with that.

Hey, I'm gonna bring Brian Colburn on to do a evaluation of the situation.

So Brian, how you doing, brother?

Good, chief, how are you?

You're on mute or something?

You can't hear me?

No, I'm off Mute.

So we're having technical difficulties.

We'll have to do this next week.

I can hear.

I can hear him through the walls.

And so he's, he's in different ways.

So he's gonna have to do it next week, you know, just because, you know, if it's not coming through here, I don't believe it's.

It's making it to you as the audience.

But we'll try to get a, A back brief of this show at a later time.

But hey, I just want to say, you know, for you guys that are out there doing your thing, be involved in your lives, whether, whether you're civilian, whether you're whatever, be involved in your lives and feel, find those people that you can surround yourself that are, that are good enough, that are going to support you along the way.

Not.

Not.

That's going to tear you down.

That's not where you want to be, you know, and also, you know, find those habits that you need to break, whether it's drugs, alcohol, those, Those things that are really holding you back from thriving in your life, that are wrecking your relationships and causing havoc, you know, find a way to navigate that on a better basis because life is short, you know, and, and, and we've lost so many veterans to their own undoing, and it is unfortunate that those hands of help didn't get touched.

They didn't get looked at, they didn't get called or they didn't get whatever.

There's veterans that I talk to all the time.

There's veterans that I would, you know, I'm always available to you.

I know I'm a busy guy, but at the same time, I love talking to my veterans.

I love being where the rubber hits the road, and if I can't do it, I got guys like Mike deleon that's ready to talk to some guys.

I got, you know, some other guys that volunteer and they're, they're, they're force multipliers to everything that I do.

And thanks a lot to all you.

All you veterans that have helped me along my journey and, you know, I know of taking you along with me and, and you guys, you guys are just doing it.

And shout out to Keith Wilde out there.

I know he's always, you know, you know, working it really hard.

He's up in Oregon, and I know he always takes on some challenging veteran communication things on his own.

I mean, these are, these are battle buddies.

These, you know, as much as you go to this group and you think, like, I'm, I'm designating you to do it.

It's not that way.

It's.

They're, they're, they're guys that are going to click together.

They're going to be able to talk longer than I, I might be able to talk to you, and they're going to have a better, you know, maybe.

Maybe just a better connection.

So that Battle Buddy scenario is so true.

You didn't, you didn't go to combat by yourself.

You didn't do anything by yourself.

You still had all kinds of logistical support and everything in between, and that's still what exists today between the Battle Buddy system.

So be part of that till next time.

Hey, this is Aaron Seard signing off.

Strength and honor out the only way?

And we need nothing more?

The only way Together forever.

That's for sure.