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Episode 20: Your Kids Future
26 Plays1 month ago
This episode covers a great discussion around something many parents grapple with. If your child wants to go into the military, do you support that decision?
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Transcript
Introduction and Personal Updates
00:00:13
Speaker
Good morning, gents. Good morning, good morning. How is everybody doing? Tyler, back from a whirlwind trip. Brando over here playing the mouth harp. And this is the first time I've been on in a few weeks due to a career path change.
00:00:30
Speaker
So let's just do a quick round table and check in with everybody. Brando, how's it going? I did it too. It's been going great, man. I'm studying for my CDL right now. I'm going to be going to take that course in July here.
00:00:45
Speaker
So I'm going to be getting back in the cab of a truck again. So that'll be fun. um Candy cane.
00:00:56
Speaker
and I'm glad you guys laughed at that reference. Man, that's that's a Paul Walker OG film right there. Joyride. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. ah so But other than that, man, I've been working out at our church, you're doing some ah and a project out there, remodeling the sound room.
00:01:15
Speaker
So it's done, finally. so Happy about that. Heck yeah. All right. Tyler, did you have tea and biscuits in front of Big Ben? and i yeah We actually did not drink tea for whatever reason the whole time we were there.
00:01:30
Speaker
We did have fish and chips and we did a really sick bike tour around London and saw the sights. ah Had a really nice anniversary. Awesome. First and had a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant there.
00:01:44
Speaker
And we were located right next to St. Paul's Cathedral. And it was the most beautiful fucking thing I've ever seen in my life. was gorgeous. We went inside when they were doing a mass and it was like it was like heaven. It's amazing. Sounds amazing.
00:01:57
Speaker
So was really cool. Happy to be back, though. There you go. back Back on American soil before you get blocked from reentering the country. Yeah. yeah thatp Yep.
00:02:08
Speaker
Life for me has been crazy.
Listener Topic Introduction: Children Joining the Military
00:02:10
Speaker
Completely transitioned jobs and same company, different different career path. It's just big learning curve and a lot of hours, but it's good.
00:02:19
Speaker
Making the most of time when I'm home. All right. Today's topic. Today's topic is going to be, what are your thoughts and would you let your children join the military?
00:02:31
Speaker
I do think it's important for us to point out this topic was recommended to us from a friend of mine from boot camp named Sean. ah So hello, Sean. And I'm really appreciative that you're listening to the podcast.
00:02:45
Speaker
think we all are. And it just goes to show our listeners, if you have any kind of input whatsoever, If there's a topic you want to talk about, if you think there's something that you think would be great for us to bring up, write us an email. well ah We'll follow up with it if we think it's a promising topic, and we'll start discussing it.
00:03:05
Speaker
So thank you, Sean, for the input. Thanks, Sean. You know what, Sean? When do we do get merch, eventually, swag, you are the first and free person to receive a swag bag once we align out what that looks like because you are, ah you found your voice to speak up and shoot us a note like we've been asking the rest of these listeners to do.
00:03:29
Speaker
and Listeners. Listeners.
00:03:34
Speaker
All right. All
Pros and Cons of Military Service for Children
00:03:36
Speaker
right. Just for the listeners out there, me, Caleb, I have kids. Brandon has kids. And Tyler has dog.
00:03:45
Speaker
I might have some children in some foreign lands that I don't know about. Easy, easy, easy.
00:03:56
Speaker
Not letting my daughter join the military. but I got a kid in Thailand somewhere. Oh, my goodness.
00:04:04
Speaker
It's production award. All right. Well, let's just get down gritty with it. let's do What are your thoughts on your children joining the military? Go ahead, Brando.
00:04:15
Speaker
Ooh, give it to the guy with kids. straight Yeah.
00:04:21
Speaker
My thoughts on it are, is, is I think my, I speak for my wife on this too, is, is we encourage it. um My wife thought it was good for her. um It kind of made her a lot more oriented with life.
00:04:34
Speaker
Very driven, you know, And I myself, I knew I wanted to do it from a very young age. So she kind of tosses it around now, like seeing both of her parents is like in the medical field, in the military. She's talked about going to like, she's talked about space.
00:04:51
Speaker
So like going with the Air Force for NASA, or I think they still own NASA, right? It's not Space Force yet. I'm not entirely sure how that works. Yeah. NASA is a government company. Space Force is a military organization that is attached to gotcha kind of like the Marine Corps Department of the Navy.
00:05:12
Speaker
And then you got SpaceX. a SpaceX. But you know she she she talks about the military. She talks about medical fields. She talks about space. And I'm like, I don't know how many people you're going to heal in space. But and know i would i would encourage it.
00:05:27
Speaker
I would definitely let her mother kind of take the reins on that, having her experience as a female in military service, which is completely different than being a male in military service. So, yeah, absolutely. good point to bring up.
00:05:40
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So I've got two daughters. um If I had a son, it would be different. And I don't want our listeners to think of this as sexist or anything like that. That's that's not the point. Just let me get my all my words out before you judge me here.
00:05:55
Speaker
If I had fight a son, my first instinct was like, you're going, like you're going to do this time and this duty to your country. um I'm a firm believer that it's kind of a ah duty, right? A a duty as as citizens. I don't want to sound like the the movie or book Starship Troopers, but I do think there is a ah bit of obligation. i doing my part. Yeah.
00:06:19
Speaker
Yeah, for for for young men to serve their country. If one of my daughters wants to join a branch of the military, um I'm open to it.
00:06:30
Speaker
And the the reason being is some young adults aren't ready for real life. Some young adults aren't ready for school to be able to, you know, study on their own, live in a dorm room and not fall off the wagon.
00:06:44
Speaker
The military is a place of structure. It's a place where the money hits your account and there's a roof over your head and there's somebody looking out for you that other than your parent, when your parent isn't there.
00:06:55
Speaker
So it allows individuals to kind of grow up more than where they are and maybe become more true mature enough to be an adult once they end active service.
00:07:07
Speaker
Also, if they never end active service and they just go on with a career, you know, they do 20 right out of high school. They can start collecting ah retirement at 38 and start a secondary career.
00:07:21
Speaker
and be financially stable. So that that's another thing. In a world of like financial variability, it's a very solid ground. It has financially established some of the things that I have that I wouldn't be able to do unless I have served. So like that's that's my piece. like um I'm not opposed to my daughter's joining.
00:07:40
Speaker
Do I think they would both fit? No. My older daughter is a lot. of She's very sensitive. She's very intellectual. And I think that maybe the military probably isn't a great place for her.
00:07:51
Speaker
oh see stop yeah My No, not even that. My my youngest daughter? like i fully believe she would wrestle a bear. like She would fit in. right she She would fit in.
00:08:06
Speaker
Regardless of brand, she would be okay. um She's a little bit tougher. She's a little bit hard-nosed. and Honestly, she's wild, so maybe that's what she does need. Who knows? That's my piece.
00:08:18
Speaker
Yeah, and that's kind of my piece. Tyler, future children. So it's kind of a mixed bag. for i I will say i will not try to force my kids to do anything. you know Whatever they truly want to do in life, I will support because I think that's important and it's something that I have learned through my parents. um you know I kind of felt a little bit pressured, not not to join the military per se, but Pressure to follow somewhat in the footsteps of my dad for financial stability reasons.
00:08:53
Speaker
And, you know, especially with the whole film thing, like I am just like, well, you know, this is a gamble for me to do filmmaking. It's not, you know, a promise of financial stability, but it's what I love and what I want to do.
00:09:08
Speaker
And it's hard for my family to understand that. And, you know, I've just come to believe that you can guide your kids with instruction of like, these are like recommended options, but like you should support your kids in what they want to do because it's their life. You know, we only get one.
00:09:28
Speaker
And if they have, you know, a dream or something that they want to do, like I feel like as a parent you should support that. As long as it's not something fucking insane. But... you know, I guess some would consider the military to be insane.
00:09:41
Speaker
There's a lot of parents that, you know, I know of my friends who friends didn't, they straight up did not go in the military because their parents talked them out of it because of their own feelings about them signing their life away.
00:09:56
Speaker
And they're the, my friends would later tell me like, man, I, I fucking regret listening to my parents and like letting them talk me out of it and i think that's an important important thing to bring up is like you can't use the influence of other people to like make the decisions for you um so as parents i think regardless you should be supportive of your kid and their decision of what they want to do but I will say for my own perspective, the military it.
00:10:29
Speaker
it i mean, not only is it like super important to my identity and like who I am and the things I believe and the the values that have been built up in me, but also sets.
00:10:42
Speaker
It sets you up for life. If you do not, if you do not go in and just fuck around the whole time and get in trouble and get kicked out for some bullshit and get a bad discharge, you are fucking set up for life. Like with so many opportunities that the general populace don't have, you get free fucking college.
00:11:03
Speaker
You get a VA home loan, which you can use infinite amount of times. hmm. putting 0% down on a house. Like, in this fucking economy, in this housing market, like, that's massive.
00:11:15
Speaker
Whole other list of positives, like, with benefits that you will get just being a veteran who got out with an honorable discharge. So, aside from that, the the values it instills in you, the discipline, the, um, like, all all ah positive benefits values that you can see in somebody bravery courage honesty loyalty trust you name it like you can get those values from the military if you go in especially from a young age and you basically break away from how you were taught from your family or your friends and like you know you don't it's you just look at somebody who goes to college straight out of high school and you look at somebody who went into the military and they just seem like vastly different people because
00:12:04
Speaker
People who just went straight to college and just fucked around like they don't they didn't grow up in the same way that you had to grow up in the military, like going on two deployments for me as a fucking 18, 19 22 kid like.
00:12:18
Speaker
to twenty two year old kid like You grow up a lot, man. So just on that aspect, like you, you develop so much more world experience and the values and maturity that you will never get doing anything else.
00:12:34
Speaker
um As far as having daughters. So, you know, there is crazy statistics with like, unfortunately, sexual assault is very high. You got a lot of women veterans coming out with military sexual trauma.
00:12:49
Speaker
And it's just like one of those things I would not dissuade my possible future daughter from going in the military because of military, you know, sexual trauma experiences that are, you know, unfortunately common.
00:13:04
Speaker
I would say you have to be very fucking careful and keep your head on a swivel at all times. And you have to always be aware that it is a thing and be just be careful and try to support her in any way possible.
00:13:17
Speaker
Yeah, so I want to inject here a little bit.
Military Sexual Trauma and Transition Challenges
00:13:21
Speaker
MST, we'll abbreviate it, what the VA recognizes it as. MST is a very real, very prevalent thing in the military, both male and female, with higher populations and female, right?
00:13:33
Speaker
I will say, though, it is not unique to the military. Look at every state college from every state school, every university, oh yeah Young kids, 18 to 26, drinking alcohol and partying.
00:13:49
Speaker
Now, the military, eri I think, has done a great job in the last decade with recognizing it, educating, and allowing for an advocate. allowing for a platform, allowing for victims to come forward and speak about it.
00:14:04
Speaker
I will say that though it's prevalent in the military, I feel more comfortable putting my daughter in that position where the tools, the processes, and just the understanding of what it is, is prevalent versus a a state school where every frat boy It's just getting hammered or slipping roofies across at a college bar where they don't ID, right? i I think there is a totally different dynamic. I know we are very raw in and and near and dear to MST, and it's been pounded in our head through this class or that class that this is an issue. And on the inside, we know it's an issue, but I don't think it's in an issue that is unique to us. And I honestly believe the military is better positioned than ah college campus.
00:14:50
Speaker
I think so. Because you got more people around the two that are going to stand up for stuff like that as well. I would say the only thing that would kind of counter that with which like, I mean, I agree with you 100%.
00:15:02
Speaker
I would say the only thing that like sort of puts more of that pressure on like the military compared to college with, you know, and MST and just sexual assault in general, especially towards females is like the population of males versus females is much different than it is at like college.
00:15:23
Speaker
I agree. the The opportunity, right, it's, you know, 101 male to female in the military versus 15 to 2, 15 to 3 in college or whatever it may be. it's It might be closer than that. i I'm just spitballing here, but but I do understand what you're saying is.
00:15:40
Speaker
is the scarcity of women in the military therefore puts them puts them more in a position of potential for sexual assault yeah so and i understand that i know at the the university up here where i was going for a little while ah there was actually more females to males. so Yeah. but Actually, more more women do go to college than men now.
00:16:05
Speaker
sam That's good. I'm good with that. I'm good with that. I'm going to let my kings be stay-at-home dads, man. Let them ladies get educated. You kings, stay at home.
00:16:16
Speaker
All you youngins out there, learn to cook and change diapers and let them ladies make the money. Let's do it. ah I'd be a stay at home with that. That's what i'm saying.
00:16:27
Speaker
But yes, i I would encourage any future children to go into the military if that's what they would like to do. I would. There's a few things that I would really try to hammer to them if they did go in.
00:16:40
Speaker
And that would really be, you know, obviously what we just talked about. And then the whole transition of getting out, which You know, it's hard for a parent who hasn't gotten into the military understand that experience and try to help their kid when they are transitioning and getting out.
00:16:55
Speaker
But for somebody who did go into the military, like you should recognize the signs and know how hard the transition is of getting out. and Like you need to be there to help your kid in that transition. it's fucking hard.
00:17:08
Speaker
And this is it's just another reason why the suicide rates are we're not we're not looking after people that get out. And that's the military's fault. That's a whole slew of people's faults for not aiding in the transition.
00:17:22
Speaker
um Something we talked about in ah the the interview I have with the Lamberts, like all the steps and taps classes before you get out of the military, like they they're failing in their own job of.
00:17:36
Speaker
sending these these kids off in a in a good direction. They're they're just being like, here, you can take these online courses. You could. This is how you sign up for school. This is how you get a job. This is how you apply.
00:17:49
Speaker
And then they don't talk about mental health like they. Yeah. So it's like it's on the parents. It's on the kid themselves. And it's on the military for sending them off this way. But, know, this is something that if you do decide to let your kid go in the military or like your kid decides to go in the military and you support it.
00:18:05
Speaker
You need to look out for this. Two minute sidebar here. Do you think a standard contract needs to be adjusted from a four years active duty and four years inactive to four years active duty and four years reserves?
00:18:20
Speaker
I think the reserves, one, you would get the manpower that the reserves tries to get if you forced everybody into a four year reserve time, and but also the reserves help transition. You still have that brotherhood. You still have the the kind of camaraderie.
00:18:35
Speaker
And you still have, and now you've got a network of individuals who work amongst the community you're living in, who can help you land a job, who can be your support system, and you still put on a uniform with them.
00:18:46
Speaker
I think it's a unique idea. That's an interesting idea. wanted to bounce that. It's a really good take, by the way. I would say i'd be okay with like two-year reserve contracts. Yeah, go after even even yeah um I'm not sold on four, but I do think that just cut and run like yeah a standard contract is now is is our biggest fail point, right?
00:19:08
Speaker
But if if we are able to change what a contract looks like, here's four years active duty, and now you're obligated to two more one weekend a month, two weeks out of the year. You can ear tag those those active duty Marines with non-deployable status, right? Because because they're not there for that anymore.
00:19:25
Speaker
One, they help bolster manpower within the unit. They help train the unit. And now the unit helps them. It keeps them in the cloth of their brothers and sisters. It gives them a localized network of jobs, communities.
00:19:38
Speaker
Dude, let's go grab some beers, right? Because isolationism, when you get out, is is is the biggest killer, right? Yeah. You know, i like I like that idea, but I have
Parental Concerns on Deployment and War Experiences
00:19:48
Speaker
to think about those guys who got out with like a bad taste in their mouth. Like they did their time good. They had that terrible leadership they had, you know, and then they're like, oh I'm going go do the reserves now. Now I have to do two years and still give them my time.
00:20:00
Speaker
i mean, it'd be it'd be a great option, especially if we had like advocates out in the community, like telling people while they're still active, like, hey, dude, you should probably take this. Like, hear me out. Yeah.
00:20:11
Speaker
Yeah, man, I so so i I did six years in the like as a drilling reserve as post active duty. You know, I've got two deployments from the reserves like found more respect for the reserve unit than what I had when i was active.
00:20:25
Speaker
I had Lance corporals who were becoming doctors. I had a corporal who was a lawyer. Right. I had individuals who conductors on trains, et cetera. Right.
00:20:37
Speaker
Yeah. But what but what i did notice amongst the reserves is, oh, man, I'm looking for a job. That Marine had a job by the end of the week. oh man, you know, like I'm struggling, like dudes, let's go grab beers.
00:20:49
Speaker
Right. Like it kept up the same sort of like brotherhood and sisterhood that we know from active duty, but it extended beyond just the uniform.
00:21:00
Speaker
Cause they're in your community too. Yep. All right. Sorry. i went longer than two minutes. Hot take. I wanted to bounce that against you guys. That was a good, I like the idea though, man. Like there's a lot to work with there.
00:21:11
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So we've kind of gone over some of the bad things, military, right? But we haven't touched on probably the big one that is a concern of a parent. The average parent who has not served does not think of the transition, does not think of military sexual trauma, does not even think of PTSD.
00:21:28
Speaker
They think of their kid going to war. So, so let's talk about that. What are your thoughts on your son or daughter of the future, ah your current children, potentially being deployed in a place like Afghanistan being deployed in a place like Russia or Ukraine.
00:21:47
Speaker
I know we've all watched some of the combat footage coming out of Ukraine. That shit is gnarly. The drones, everything that they've got going on over there is is, don't get me wrong, like Afghanistan and Iraq was primeval.
00:22:00
Speaker
But what we're seeing out of Ukraine is next level. Like dudes running from first person drones, chasing them around and toying them with them in a field before they detonate. Like that's that's wild, right?
00:22:12
Speaker
So what are your guys' thoughts? Dude, I think by time... then I'm just speaking this year. Mike, they would be able to join in six years. They should be 17 in six years.
00:22:23
Speaker
um I think with the footage we are seeing from the Russia-Ukraine war, I think we're seeing the the shift of how combat is going to become. I have a feeling it will be unmanned a lot more as time goes on Granted, you're never going to be able to take the human aspect away from fighting.
00:22:39
Speaker
you know You're going to have to have boots on ground somewhere. um i mean thankfully so Thankfully, I got daughters. you know i mean If I had a son, obviously, it would be a lot different because he could be put more into a a combat role.
00:22:51
Speaker
and I'm not saying that women don't get him. It's just not as common as as most men, that well, in the Marine Corps anyway, you know to be in those combat arms positions. Honestly, even being military myself, I'd always be worried you know because you never know that's your That's your offspring, man.
00:23:08
Speaker
It's your legacy ah you love that you leave behind. you know And once they hit us once I hit a certain age, I can't leave no more behind. So I think any parent who has been or has not been in the military would would have about the same amount of worry. I think we would just have more of an understanding behind it.
00:23:25
Speaker
I agree with that. that's ah That's a very good good way to put it. is the The worry will always be there. We just have more of an understanding of what well the the potential risk is, right? you know to To the average person going off to war is um every second, every minute there's rounds down range, there's there's bombs exploding, they're going to die. It's doom and gloom.
00:23:47
Speaker
Not to say that's not the the case for some units, some deployments, but those are also some of, you know, those individuals fondest memories, fondest relationships.
00:23:59
Speaker
Inherently, war is hell, but it's also um kind of a place where, like, you you find the real you. I don't know. I'm... um Kind of rambling here, but it's it's not something I would be adverse to, right? if If my child made the conscious decision to join, I would definitely have the conversation like, hey, this is a potential.
00:24:19
Speaker
And I would worry, but I'm not going to try and dissuade them from joining because of my own worry. Yeah. Tyler? I think war, like anything else in life, is a journey.
00:24:32
Speaker
And it's one of personal reflection on grit and fortitude and character. And, you know, find somebody, young kid, goes in the military and goes off to war and goes in combat. And it's like you find out who you really are.
00:24:51
Speaker
You know, I think even the guys World War One, World War Two, who went through the fucking ringer, Vietnam, they might hate the experience that they went through, but you don't really hear them saying like, I wish I never...
00:25:05
Speaker
went in or like I regret having gone through this ordeal because they gained some sort of experience from that, that it made them who they are, you know?
00:25:19
Speaker
So and for me, like I wasn't in some kind of crazy combat. but I was at war. ah was in a ah hostile environment. There was lots of IEDs going off.
00:25:32
Speaker
And I still grew so much as a person having gone through that experience. And I not only not regret my experience, especially in Afghanistan, but I am really glad for it.
00:25:48
Speaker
And I'm like, it was one of the best times of my life because i felt like I was fulfilling a purpose, like my purpose, one of my main reasons for being here. Like I just, I felt like I was at my, my most meaningful being on this earth, like being there.
00:26:06
Speaker
It is what I wanted to do since I was a kid. And that was just me because, you know, a lot of us nine eleven babies, we You know, grew up as young kids when 9-11 happened and then wanted to go in and serve. So I felt like I was fulfilling a purpose.
00:26:19
Speaker
This future generation will probably not have that per se, because unless something else crazy happens, like we don't really have this call to serve and they don't. They didn't experience 9-11 like we did, so they aren't passionate about it.
00:26:33
Speaker
um But aside from all of that, you know, you can't really just dictate like, oh, well, you know, Ukraine and Russia said like it's kind of dictated how war will be fought with drones and technology and stuff like that or.
00:26:51
Speaker
Maybe we're going to do another sort of Afghanistan type occupation where, you know, we got a lot of boots on the ground for many years. And, um you know, you might not be in direct combat every single day, but you could be in danger. Who knows what the case is? wars War is war.
00:27:07
Speaker
And, you know, it's it's a fearful thing to have your kid in a war zone regardless. But at the same time, serving the military is serving a purpose. And if that is what they're what they feel like their purpose is you have to support it.
00:27:23
Speaker
And i mean, you could send your kid
Community and Brotherhood in the Military
00:27:25
Speaker
to college and they could be doing dumb, reckless shit that could be endangering their life every single day or doing fucking drugs. Or you could encourage your kid to go be a firefighter and they're fucking getting cancer by the time they're 40.
00:27:40
Speaker
Like it doesn't matter what you're doing. Something is probably dangerous or at a risk to your own life that a war would be doing the same thing.
00:27:51
Speaker
So it's like whether you're in a war or back home doing something else, like you're probably doing something that's pretty reckless for the most part. I think that just is is the age range that you're in at that that period of life because we get high strung, you know, 18 to 25 years.
00:28:10
Speaker
100 mile an hour, all gas, no break. All gas, no breaks, baby. All gas. All right. So we've talked about some negatives, right? The negative connotation within ah military sexual trauma, PTSD, transition, war, the inherent danger of actually going to war.
00:28:29
Speaker
Let's spin this into a lighter note. You touched on it earlier, Tyler. There's benefits. there's There's tons of benefits, but let's... Let's not go into the benefits. We're not we're not a recruiters here. Let's not sell people on it. let's ah Let's touch on some of the other intangible things that um come from the military.
00:28:46
Speaker
Best friends I've ever made in my life. Exactly. that's That's where I was headed. It was brotherhood and sisterhood. Those people that you you can trust them with with all of, you know, something that, I mean, i don't have that trust with people who I've known in my entire life, but those people who I knew that served with me, it's like,
00:29:05
Speaker
I would trust them with all of me. It's just that mutual love and respect for each other that you will not find anywhere else. Another uniqueness is is is community.
00:29:16
Speaker
um Not just like your tight friend group, but your community. The other day I was having lunch in a Raisin Cane's and there's this clean cut kid. He's got a full sleeve tattoo of traditional and then the backside of his other arm I saw 0311, right?
00:29:30
Speaker
And it was actually on Memorial Day. um So I'm sitting there and I'm like, wonder if he's home on leave. So I, you know, take a sip of tea, wash the chicken nuggies out of my mouth. And I said, Hey man, home on leave. He goes, actually, no, I've, I got out a couple of years ago. I was like, i couldn't tell you're still rocking a high and tight. He goes, yeah, I'm a welder. I couldn't let it grow out or anything.
00:29:50
Speaker
But just that community, like I can talk to another veteran, regardless of service or branch, just to just to bullshit and talk way easier than I can talk to a nurse, a doctor, a cop, a carpenter.
00:30:05
Speaker
Right. Like I can I can pick up that conversation in a crowded room. Like, am I best friends with them? No. But like, that's probably who I'm going to gravitate if I know there's another veteran in inside that room. Right.
00:30:18
Speaker
ah Very strong acquaintances. but Yeah, I think you you find a you find a community that is omnipresent, right? They're always there and around. You just got to find them. So it gives you ah it gives you kind of a safety net in those those weird moments of not, you know, being being with strangers.
00:30:37
Speaker
So I think you guys kind of hit the nails on the head there. I mean, the community, the bonds that we made just being together. i mean, look at us, you know, I mean, we picked up.
00:30:49
Speaker
Like we never even left, like right where we left off. The only difference is we're not, I'm not smoking a cigarette in front of the gym door at 5 a.m. waiting for you, like cranked out on beta alanine and, you know?
00:31:02
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I think another one is, is just um maturity, right? um Joining the military great helps you helps you mature.
00:31:13
Speaker
it's It's like going to college, but you're you're not in mom and dad's pocket anymore. you're you know, you're You're off and away. You're doing your own friend groups. You're making your own adventures.
00:31:24
Speaker
You're creating your own stories. To me, it's just, man, it's like four years of summer camp with the boys. Like sometimes shit's bad, right? But sometimes shit's like really good. Like, I don't know. It's,
00:31:37
Speaker
It's like the best worst times of your life. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's it's great. It's but I think that that gains ma maturity, right? like Like you have to start budgeting your own money immediately. You're you're not still getting you're not on a feed plan at some sort of ah I guess you are in the chow hall.
00:31:55
Speaker
You better wake up in time, though. You ain't getting breakfast. That's true. but you it's I don't know. I think, you know, you're you're thrusted in making adult decisions at a young age versus, you know, still having a safety net of being home or being at college with, you know, mom and dad's overarching support.
00:32:14
Speaker
So we kind of need Mac on this. his his His balance in this would be perfect right now. You know, college before military. Yeah. i did i did a I did a community college before the military. I don't know, man. I was working two jobs, trying to pay rent and gas and still live that life. I was like, deuces.
00:32:34
Speaker
I'm going to the barracks. I'm going to the barracks with the boys.
Life Lessons and Support for Military Choices
00:32:40
Speaker
I take the the shoddy doors that got cracks all over the floors and walls. and You turn the lights on the morning, and cockroaches scatter. It's like, whoa.
00:32:48
Speaker
Yep. I was not ready for that. I can tell you that much. i was like, this leaky barracks room, hurricane warnings. I mean, they know that in the Midwest. yeah okay I think that's the biggest thing I could say out of out of all of it. is Just our life experiences are what help us in our future. They're what help us learn anything, you know, and I can say the life experiences that I got from some were very hard learned lessons because I'm very hard headed, you know,
00:33:18
Speaker
um some were great lessons that i i i accepted welcoming you know like i just it happened it was great but just so those life experiences i can never i can never change them and i never would i feel the same way it's like tons of adversity and challenges just along the way like it's it's a hard life in the military especially in the marine corps compared to you know the fucking air force but it it gives you some grit for life you know like I feel so much more well-equipped for life because of my experience. Oh, for
00:33:53
Speaker
Like, i would not be anywhere near as well-equipped as I am if I, you know, went to college and fucked around. Like, i I grew so much as a person, and, like, I feel like I can handle anything, basically.
00:34:07
Speaker
You just learn to... be able to keep going and aside from like the mental health battles that's something entirely different but you know just handling the the mundaneness of society and life like you're able to push through the challenges very much that good discipline ah so discipline is everything i did your All right.
00:34:27
Speaker
Let's just bring it back to the original question. Would you be okay with your kids joining the military? Yes. Yes, I would be. I agree as well. That's a yes for me. all right.
00:34:38
Speaker
You guys ready for quirky closeout?
Nostalgic Closeout Segment: Favorite 2000s Memories
00:34:40
Speaker
We haven't had one in so long. It's been long time. right. It's been 84 years. so
00:34:47
Speaker
Pepperidge Farm remembers. remember you. All right, so this one's going to pick it up to where what we were talking about prior to starting and recording, a little ah pre-record conversation.
00:35:01
Speaker
You're going to need to name li four different things. I'm going to set the scene. It's the year 2000. You and the boys are in your bedroom. in know You've got a TV.
00:35:12
Speaker
What system? What game console? What 90s, 2000s cartoon? What game ah on the game console? And what drink? are you having?
00:35:23
Speaker
Oh, God. I gotta write all this down. I'm ready, if you guys are ready. ah Go ahead, man. I'm gonna wing it. Okay. So we're on an We're playing NFL Blitz.
00:35:35
Speaker
If we get done playing games, we're gonna watch some Rocket Power, and then we're gonna switch to Wild Thornberrys. And we're slamming surges by the pint. Ha ha ha ha. Oh, man.
00:35:47
Speaker
So I'd have to say Serge is definitely in the room. And there was also this is when like, so I'm going to like more of like a little later 2000, like for 2005, because we had the BFC monsters in the room to make the the mother can of like diabetes. All right.
00:36:06
Speaker
um diabetes oh yeah um the cartoon would be one of two it'd be Ed, and Eddie or Cow and bro Ed, Ed and Eddie yes rewatch any clip of the Kanker Sisters and do not do that shit was next level X rated like it's insane it's crazy though that I could look at Brandon and those would be my like what I envision that he watched I knew he watched Cow and Chicken, bro. yeah I know he watched Cow and Chicken.
00:36:40
Speaker
Johnny Bravo.
00:36:43
Speaker
Brando was like a Cartoon Network guy. I was a Nick guy. I was Nickelodeon. Dude, I love Nickelodeon. but i But I fuck with some Cartoon Network like Dexter's Lab, fucking Ed Ed Nettie. I'm there for it. All right, keep going. Game console on game.
00:36:57
Speaker
Game console and game. Man, this is difficult because at that time in my life, dude I'm going to have to say Dreamcast, House of the Dead 2. Got that Gamecast.
00:37:09
Speaker
Dreamcast, bro. That system made it one generation.
00:37:15
Speaker
Dude, the only time I played Dreamcast, right, this is, so you know where the Education Center is on Camp Lejeune, and then there's a rec center just to the south of that? When that rec center first opened, they had a Dreamcast in there, and all the kids would fight over who got to play the Dreamcast because everybody at home had Xboxes or PS, you know, Playstations and shit.
00:37:36
Speaker
I would just sit over there playing Marvel versus Capcom on the eight and the arcade game. I was fucking people up with it. All right, Tyler. So this is a complex question and answer.
00:37:48
Speaker
So I guess my question to you is like, Do they all have to be at the same exact time? Because if I'm watching cartoons, my answer for console and games is going to be entirely different than otherwise. No, no, no, no.
00:38:01
Speaker
So the boys come over. You guys slam some surges. You you have a LAN party. And then you turn off the console. only It's the show you put on when you're mellowing out for the night. What what is Red versus blue. man.
00:38:16
Speaker
Sorry, I had you. Yeah, so like, if I'm if i'm thinking about fucking LAN parties and all that shit, hanging with the boys playing games, like, it's gotta be original Xbox, Halo 2, Xbox Live, and LAN, and I mean, we played Halo 1 also, but Halo 2 was like the fucking epitome of the perfect gaming experience that will never, ever be. A lot of people who are younger say Halo 3, which was also amazing. But Halo 2 online can never, ever be replicated. That was the fucking pinnacle of gaming.
00:38:52
Speaker
So that is my answer for console and game as far as show. So if I'm thinking like childhood show, probably fucking Hey Arnold. Oh, I'm thinking like football head.
00:39:04
Speaker
Hey, football head. Yes. If I'm thinking more like teenager era show, you know what, man? I'm going to just throw out fucking Viva La Bam. Yeah.
00:39:16
Speaker
Okay. that was that was like that because That was like my Halo 2 era. like You know, shows on MTV. Oh, MTV was legit. yeah I think like 2006. Yeah, during that era, like it was legit. I was so i was a Viva La Bam fan. oh And Jackass was actually on TV. Yeah, Jackass was going to be my second show.
00:39:38
Speaker
And then for drink, ah I would probably say Pepper. Okay. Okay. All right. Like a warm Dr. Pepper. That was a fun quirky, though.
00:39:48
Speaker
Yeah. That was, man. It just it kicks you right in the good old nostalgic I literally live for nostalgia, as you can tell with my fucking Pokemon collection and my Star Wars cosplay and all this other shit.
00:40:02
Speaker
Oh, man, we were going through some stuff. We were going through some stuff, and we found Terra's old Game Boy Color. Mine is long gone. It's wrecked. So I'm going to throw some double A's in that bitch. I'm going get Pokemon Yellow, and I'm to teach my six-year-old to play because that was my fucking childhood. Oh, that's so exciting, dude.
00:40:20
Speaker
And she she knows I like Pokemon, so she's been like collecting some little Pokemon cards. She's getting some stuffed animals. So like she's going to be my little Pokemon nerd. but That's awesome. Yeah, dude. I'm going to have to get her some Surge.
00:40:34
Speaker
Good luck finding it. Surge. I'm going to look up and see if they have that on like eBay. Oh, I'm sure they do. I'm going to our listeners twenty million years old our listeners are going to call me a bitch. But listen here.
00:40:47
Speaker
There's a bunch of like ninety s and early 2000s nostalgia videos that are hitting around Facebook. I get a little misty-eyed watching. I'm like, oh, God, it's my it's my youth.
00:40:59
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely, dude. And you actually can find Surge sodas on eBay. I just looked it up. It's like always, man, with that nostalgia, I try.
00:41:11
Speaker
My kids got everything at their fingers. We were the last generation to kind of get like thrusted into the electronic age. We lived at the best possible fucking time. Just going extreme to the next, man.
00:41:23
Speaker
remember having my obscure ear and bruises all over my shins. We played outside, but we also had fucking Game Boys and played Pokemon, you know? Before all this fucking bullshit with the cell phones and glued to technology, we still got to live life.
00:41:38
Speaker
That was beautiful. I agree. Alright, fellas. It's been a good one. It's been real. it's it was um It was a mature episode full of immature shit.
00:41:50
Speaker
I'm trying to be... Obviously, I didn't get anything from the military. No. All right. All right, guys. Love you guys. Love y'all. Love you.
00:42:00
Speaker
Good morning, Jens.