Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
To The Enlisted 🇺🇸
103 Plays1 year ago
Lock and load for this podcast episode as three U.S. Vets — Jack, Billy, and Jameel — break it down bar-talk style. Jack dives into his past Tech Startup, Relobase, and shares life as a Marine Officer, laying out solid respect for the enlisted and military spouses. Billy dives deep into his intense Iraq tour, bringing the heat and the heart of combat life. And Jameel? Well, he's here keeping things real, cutting through the chatter with his drunken interruptions. Expect no-BS talks on leadership, unwavering camaraderie, and the gritty realities these warriors faced. Tune in to feel the brotherhood, the humor, and the honor. No fluff, all real.
Recommended
Transcript
The Journey to Military Leadership
00:00:00
Speaker
You're not just so gifted for the opportunity to lead not just one, not just one enlisted Marine or any O3 to understand that... With you, brother. 100%.
00:00:32
Speaker
100%. And we spoke about this last time, right Jamel? Dude, pressure, man. How old were you again? 25? 26? How old were you, Jack? 23. But they taught me everything. I understand, man. They taught me everything.
00:00:57
Speaker
I mean, I was the fourth of six kids and I didn't get shit kicked for the wrong reasons.
Platoon Leadership: Listening and Learning
00:01:10
Speaker
Like I didn't get, I wasn't put in the middle of the circle to learn how to fight, you know, without learning how to fight. Right.
00:01:29
Speaker
my squad leaders, my fire team leaders, like the junior enlisted, like they literally, they, they taught me how to be like, I didn't know how to be a platoon commander without, like without them. I don't know. Not just without them. They, they knew how to fight. I, and they knew how to lead.
00:02:01
Speaker
I had a bachelor's degree and I went to OCS. And so we had
Understanding the Battlefield and Team Dynamics
00:02:10
Speaker
a platoon. And so together we had three squads, three fire teams, a platoon sergeant and a platoon commander.
00:02:29
Speaker
And who was going to, and who was going to fucking, who was going to work together, who wasn't? Who was going to work together and who wasn't? And it was like, I felt like my job, my job, if it was my job, my job was, my job was to do nothing, but listen.
00:03:00
Speaker
and learn. Did you hear this? Yeah. Oh, this part. No, did you hear it? I heard what he said. My job is to learn and listen. Very good. Yeah. That was it. Oh, thank you. That was it.
Reflections on Combat and Survivor's Guilt
00:03:20
Speaker
Yes. It's serving leadership. It's doing this, right?
00:03:28
Speaker
And it's beautiful, man, when you play the game at that level. And that's what we're talking about, general pattern, right? You need that intimacy, right? Which is intellectual, conceptual. You understood and saw the battlefield the way the 18-year-old kids did not. And your contribution to the team was the relationship that you had to the concepts and to the understanding. That is what you brought to the team, right?
00:03:57
Speaker
You weren't standing on a ladder looking at things from a different perspective, right? The officer on the fucking hill with the binoculars calling in for the support of the fucking fire, right? That's what you bring, right? And man, see, but I wasn't that. And it's such a beautiful contribution, right? And wow, I wasn't that.
00:04:29
Speaker
I, I, and I humbled that you say that. That wasn't, I don't know, maybe someone, maybe, maybe my Marines or maybe others would say different, but I never, I don't think I was ever that person on the Hill. I don't think I was ever the one on calling in.
00:04:57
Speaker
I don't think I was the one that was... I was there. I was there in the trenches. I was there in the fire. That's where I wanted to be. That's where I needed to be. That's where I wanted to be. That's where I had to be. I've said before, and I'll say it,
00:05:26
Speaker
The day I died, I was, I've never been more in my element than I was in combat. Absolutely. I was fucking in my zone.
Training and Supporting Military Families
00:05:42
Speaker
Yeah. You know, it was fucking in my own.
00:05:46
Speaker
You don't think, you don't do, you just fucking move. You just fucking go. You know it, man. You just fucking move. Things just move, you just go. And it's so beautiful like that. And it's not perfect, things aren't perfect, but it's perfect in that.
00:06:17
Speaker
I know that she's gonna do this, she knows that I'm gonna do that. And I know that he's gonna, she knows that I know that he thinks that I'm gonna do that. And I know that he thinks that I know that he thinks that I'm gonna do that, so I know that he thinks that I know that he thinks that I'm gonna do that. So I'm gonna do this. Absolutely. And that's that beautiful fucking touch with you.
00:06:44
Speaker
And that's and that's and that's and the only There the only part is obviously for me just personal is that Obviously because I had seniors I couldn't go back
00:07:10
Speaker
twice just saluting and seeing brothers go forward and not all come back was my greatest guilt as anyone would with any heart anyone would have guilt as anyone would
00:07:41
Speaker
as anyone would. So I say that not to spare or take away from where courage down range lies, not lie lay in the enlisted Marine.
00:08:10
Speaker
And then listed, and then listed. And then listed, 03. And then listed, 03. And then listed. If you are not, and then listed, 03, you're in support. If you are not,
00:08:40
Speaker
Enlisted of three you're in support Let's um, so this is Steve and Prominent and something to For these times and something for 20 years
Innovating Solutions for Military Relocation
00:09:00
Speaker
for something for 20 years For 20 years for our time for all of our time
00:09:09
Speaker
for something that I'm going to take just one more minute to mark. For all of those, for all of those, for how much, how much blood has been shed, for how much time has been invested, how much money has been invested domestically, internationally, in different
00:09:37
Speaker
nations for different reasons. And for all those families, their sons were lost or their husbands were lost or their fathers were lost. And they got nothing more than one hour or a half an hour
00:10:08
Speaker
for a day or 20 minutes of a, hey, here comes, here comes a casket, that sacrifice, and then it's forgotten. Yet their sacrifice continues. Today, fucking today,
00:10:36
Speaker
their sacrifice today. Absolutely. Today. In the flesh. And I come on to say there's no thank you. Well, right there with you, brother. There really are. Well, help me. Do you feel like there's a thank you? Yeah.
00:11:05
Speaker
Thank you. I think so. I think so. A little bit. And I'm being optimistic. I'm saying it in a positive way. It's deep. It's a deep question. It's deep. Something like.
00:11:33
Speaker
And I want to provide a thank you. Just to suggest your sacrifice continues.
Applying Combat Lessons to Civilian Leadership
00:11:42
Speaker
One of the things that wanted me, I was like, I used to be on guard at night.
00:11:54
Speaker
Kind of 50 cal, either fucking trolling with the rifle, with the saw sitting on a tower all night. Like, fuck, dude. In the middle of fucking nowhere, dude. Like, there was nothing stopping fucking Hodge from ambushing us, dude. Nothing, man. Like, you know, so that was like our biggest fear, right?
00:12:17
Speaker
And then, I think I told you guys last time, three of our guys got ambushed by like 40 fucking dudes. One got killed on the spot, left there. Two got kidnapped and tortured for like a week. Torture, dude. And then, it was crazy. The CIA was at the FBI, I mean,
00:12:44
Speaker
Seals everyone who was anyone was there trying to look for these guys, right? So we fucking Turned everything within like a 10 mile radius upside down. I Mean we fucking tore everything up, right? They quickly posted videos online of these soldiers being tortured This is crazy. So we're like fucking animals, right? We didn't sleep the whole week We're just fucking like
00:13:13
Speaker
rabid fucking dogs, right? And we tore up a lot. Fucking looking for these guys, right? So then we finally found them like a week later, movie trapped and stuff beheaded. Fucking gruesome. But
00:13:39
Speaker
What was equally fucking crazy was that, and I told the story last time, right? But a squad of our guys fucking raped and killed a 14 year old girl and her family fucking shot him up, burned him. So that act was vengeance for this. Yeah.
00:14:05
Speaker
And we're like, of course, of course. And it took so long to build those relationships, right? And at that time, we didn't have a platoon commander because our platoon commander got his face blown off. The first day we fucking landed there, boots on the ground, I think within an hour.
00:14:28
Speaker
fucking IED went out on his face. So he was out. We didn't have a platoon commander for eight months. And that was day one. So we went eight months without one. So our platoon sergeant was acting as both. So our leadership was just right. But he did an amazing job. Eight months in, we got a 22, 23 year old kid from West Point.
00:14:56
Speaker
I just graduated from Ranger School, but could still have pimples and stuff, right? Got there with the clean, you know, clean dudes, and we're like, at that time, dude, we're 18, 19. You never know? 18, 19, 20 year old kids, right? Like, we have been in Iraq for eight months fighting, dude. God damn. Hard, hard. Where were we? Southwest Baghdad. It was like the triangle of death. The triangle of death.
00:15:26
Speaker
Where the marine from our previous microphone. Team Rubicon, right? Team Rubicon. Jake Wood was in this... Jake Wood calls it the triangle of death as well. We should sit with that guy and fucking shoot the shit. Dude, for sure. Holy shit. So he was there at the same time.
00:15:53
Speaker
Yeah, Jake was the Trivial of Death. Yeah, Trivial of Death is what it's called. Holy fuck. That's what it's called. This area of operation. Yeah, so his boat. And what? Once a Marine. No, once a leader. Or... Come on, Jamely Schulze. No. Jamely was like, I'm too drunk for this shit. I'm drinking since 4 a.m.
00:16:25
Speaker
Yeah, no Raw technology. It's a warrior once a warrior. Yeah once a warrior. That's what he talks about era Once a warrior he was in the triangle death. Yeah Deep which
The Role of Storytelling and Consistency in Leadership
00:16:40
Speaker
is not which is not nature. Yeah, let's get together. He's not mainstream well, I download it you got the book but
00:16:48
Speaker
I mean, that's all I need. You're like, that's all I need? That story is not mainstream. I'm trying to look for something. What's a warrior? I want to play something. By the way, Bumble, Apple looks a lot like Audible. I was like, do I want to read a book or do I want to look for a hot jacket?
00:17:28
Speaker
So check it out, right? So we have all that drama, right? And then our fog. Yeah, I think I told you guys, right? The National Guard unit was there. So they were just there surviving. They wouldn't even patrol anymore. Yeah.
00:17:48
Speaker
They couldn't even, they couldn't even take them fucking supplies. They were just holding on for dear life. So we relieved them. So from day one, we're like, fuck it. We're getting there. We're walking out of the wire and we're going to see what the fuck happens. This is dangerous as fuck. IEDs fucking trucks getting fucked up. We got ambushed. We're like, what the fuck is going on? Right? So then we're like, all right, regroup. Okay. How can we do fucking better? What are we going to do?
00:18:17
Speaker
Obviously, there was a plan going in, but the plan goes out the window as soon as you fucking turn on the ground, the plan's going to go out the fucking window, right? But at least we have a framework through our education as to what framework we can apply to any situation, right? And that's what leadership brings to the table, right? Because if no one knows how to organize people and move men, they're fucking useless, right?
00:18:44
Speaker
So that is the strength of an officer, right? Cause you are trained, all those managerial operational and tactical skills to apply to any situation and execute a project, a fucking war, right? A battle, right? And so we had to do that, man. We had to explore out there. We had to secure other fobs locally. We had to gain more fucking ground around the area, right?
00:19:12
Speaker
And one of our major tasks was to guard a major supply route. And if you were either patrolling, we were either fucking patrolling. We were either patrolling, securing the fucking FOB or running missions.
00:19:37
Speaker
Fucking snatch motherfuckers up get intelligence said a little sniper nest over there over watching a road or something, right? Cuz a lot of IDs every time we try to drive Yeah, we just get blown up. You know, so the wire We had to take the point out. Yeah The
Dual Nature of Combat Experiences
00:20:00
Speaker
worst part about it is like you have to you know
00:20:05
Speaker
go out and attack. The last thing you want to do is go out and attack. Because you can sit back. You can sit back.
00:20:23
Speaker
But in order to build, yeah, dude, a hundred percent. Like, dude, just bring those chips over here, man. She's like 81. Bring those chips then dip over here, Mike. Dude, she got up and he ate all of them. He sat and then he went back for a walk.
00:20:46
Speaker
Yo, for you, if you listen to this, if you listen to this, for you who maybe listen to this, we've got some chips and dip. And yeah, we got some wings and yeah, I don't have any. Well, we've got toilet paper. That's it. But you don't
00:21:13
Speaker
You can only, when you can't, when you're left to just security patrols, when you're left to just security patrols, that's it. It's like, you can only look outside and say, fuck, man. You know what? I'm literally left.
00:21:43
Speaker
Just saying you're frozen. Yeah, dude. I'm frozen. I'm actually... Yes. Dude, I am frozen here. I'm... It's like I can't leave my apartment. I can't leave my house. I can't leave him. And that's how... That's... I can't... My patrol... I can't do it.
00:22:13
Speaker
And that's how that unit was, right? And that's, they were like, okay, we're going to send these guys in and they're going to clean up the area and they're going to expand our territory out. Yes. You guys are the fucking, some of the best man. What a first fucking Africa bowl. And it was dude. So, so that area was very strategic for them, right? Because the fighters, how big of a team did we have? We were a company.
00:22:43
Speaker
Yeah 3600 was maybe a hundred ish. I don't know the yeah, yeah But Where was I did?
00:22:56
Speaker
It's right here. Our guys started to get injured really fast. Within the first month, we had dudes with blown arms, lost eyesight, shot. Were you guys like walking? We were walking. Walking would walk and would not walk. You literally
Military Influence on Corporate Leadership
00:23:21
Speaker
step inside.
00:23:26
Speaker
One of our other jobs was like, I told you guys to guard the fly route. So we used to patrol back and forth. But we're talking about, I don't know how many miles, dude. It's an impossible task, especially with the men you have there. And it is an impossible task, right? And we had one platoon every like mile.
00:23:55
Speaker
with fucking night vision, she was almost pointing at each other, making sure that no IEDs were placed on the road. In the morning, we had to clear the road before the fucking other units could pass by or tanks or supply was very strategic, right? Fucking water and food traveled through there, right? And without that, men cannot fucking fight. But even then, I would say six to seven out of 10 times,
00:24:25
Speaker
I'll get blown up here. It was an impossible fucking task, right? And a lot of the time we used to walk in the middle of a fucking road to see if there was ID in the middle. They were like, fucking, we have to do it, motherfuckers. They were like, they're in the way. Ugh, let's go. Fuck it, David. Let's do it, right? And we did what we had to do, man. And fucking shit is a fucking... But we did it.
00:24:53
Speaker
When I arrived to the 101st Airborne, they were just getting back from invading Iraq. They spent 13 months there. So when I got out of boot camp and I arrived, we almost arrived at the same time. Wow. So these guys, they were the latest and greatest upgraded fucking soldiers that had just been out there, right? So I learned everything from them and then we deployed. So they were home for a year and then
00:25:24
Speaker
we deployed for another year, right? So that was the rotation that we're in. I have friends that spent six, seven years in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. They have so many fucking stripes, dude. Cause we hit a strike for every six months and the army deployed for a year at least. Some of them spent 18 months, dude, straight over there, right? But so those guys came and that's the batch of guys that I deployed with. So those guys had just
00:25:53
Speaker
And it was, it was intense, but we got that fucking hard love, hate fucking motherfuckers. We were just there and learn from her, but we also fucking love you, right? We want you to stay alive. We got that nourishment and, you know, those were my leaders in Iraq, right? Third idea, we're just here fucking working months ago. Just follow me and fucking, you know, real fucking catch on her.
00:26:22
Speaker
Yeah. So, you know, first deployment, they established a huge patrol base in Mosul. So they started in the seven hundred first spear headed off through the middle all the way to the fucking north. Air assaulting in helicopters and walking in the desert with fucking full mock gear, dude. In 125 degree weather. Fuck that. These guys are the ones I learned.
00:26:50
Speaker
my leaders and they're acting so so we're blessed and we were very humble through through their experience but it was it was tough man it was a tough fucking love man because you can you imagine like these guys brought all that energy back good it was
00:27:12
Speaker
It was crazy. It was chaotic, man. But that's the same fucking unbelievable. That's the same energy that kept us alive over there and pushing the fucking fight. What better unit to bring back than these guys and rest them up, retrain them. What things did we learn? What things can we do better? How are we going to integrate our learnings into our movements and our movements and our communication and our strategy, right?
00:27:41
Speaker
we learned the soldier, the enemy we've been, you know. So all that training, man, we were getting a lot of new training because all of that was, all that information was coming back and the army educational infantry training, it was just evolving, right? Based on the needs of, so it was crazy, man, it was a crazy fucking time, but we were, so we had like our main fog where like maybe there was,
00:28:08
Speaker
40 guys at any given time, but we also had maybe like 50 or 60 Iraqi soldiers with us. So those guys used to help us control, but they're useless, right? We used to drag them and we used to carry their rucksack, because those guys would give up sometimes, like eye and eye. And they were like, what the fuck?
00:28:31
Speaker
Like A&A was at Afghanistan. Yeah. I... I... I... I... I... I... I... I... I... I... I... I... I... I... I... I... I... I... I...
00:29:00
Speaker
What was your next duty assignment? So I came back in September, early October of 06 from Iraq. We deployed a year prior, so early September of 05. Right? Go ahead. And what was your
00:29:30
Speaker
What was your general demeanor? And just in general? Yeah. Fuck. I was so detached from my body and from my reality that I can't really tell you. Right? If you could tell me. Very alienated and disassociated from my environment. Because you had to be.
00:29:59
Speaker
That's just biology. And that's one of the things that I really started to learn and understand and see conceptually and then bring it back into my body and feel it. And that's what started resetting almost my nervous system. The vagus nervous system. Understanding that.
00:30:26
Speaker
and seeing it like, wow, you know what, this, wow, this is real and it does happen to people, right? And once I really started to have that realization and see it, I started to almost relive all these memories from Iraq and even explosions. Like I would just be like meditating or really crying and trying to really bring it in, right? Trying to really lie, you know what, it was really there and it really did.
00:30:55
Speaker
because the mind and the body has a beautiful mechanism to it. It's so brilliant. It's beautiful. And I also started to think that mechanism for allowing me to, that it's almost a debt that we have to repay to the body, to the nervous system, to the environment. Really. And once I really started to realize that and settle into that, my entire body just started to just work out.
00:31:26
Speaker
I was able to see for the first time. Yeah. And so were you still familiar? Were you still enlisted? Oh, no, no, no. This was
00:31:47
Speaker
This was a few years ago, man. Yeah, but so when you arrived back. So I got back in Iraq, September, right? And I got out of the army in January. Yeah, so that was my question. So you came back. So my question was, when you arrived back,
00:32:16
Speaker
after that first appointment like what was your demeanor upon arriving back and what was your demeanor and then how did that how did you apply that without thinking about how you are now how did you apply that
00:32:47
Speaker
Not now. How did you apply that then? How did you apply your combat experience to your soldiers?
00:33:17
Speaker
How did you apply that to them? Was it positive? Was it negative? But if you're next, I think I asked, what was your next? What was your next?
00:33:43
Speaker
Yeah. What was your next? Where were you going? Where were you going to be? Who were my plans after I came back? What's your next objective? No. What's your next three year? Where are you going to be in three years or five years? What's your plan basically? No. In the military, you get three year
00:34:14
Speaker
Reenlistment or something. Yeah, I asked You get three year like What is it called? You get three You get you get three year contract reenlistment reenlistment kind of
00:34:36
Speaker
So not re-enlistment, but it's like you get duties. That's it. Like, where was your next duty station? So when you came back, I was like, where was your next duty station going to be? That's it. That's it. I said, where was your next duty station going to be? That's it. That's it. I said, where was your next duty station going to be? That's it. That's it.
00:35:17
Speaker
How's that dick? Must be some cat and cocks over here. Cocks! Are you sure that's not bad? Are you sure that's not bad? Oh shit. Oh my god.
00:35:44
Speaker
So the next duty station, so that was it, is the next duty station is how are you going to apply serious, legit? How are you going to apply the experiences
00:36:12
Speaker
from your 2005 very very very serious combat experiences how are you going to apply those to your next duty station soldiers for the next three years in a productive manner
00:36:49
Speaker
Oh great, right? He literally... He... He... BANBING BANBOW FORK! Like he... Like he can't grab you a stick. Like he can't grab you a stick. I was like... I was like... I... I...
00:37:19
Speaker
Oh shit, I didn't pop. Oh my God.
00:37:34
Speaker
Like all those lessons
00:37:54
Speaker
They have value in my everyday life for everything I do, right? Everything I do, and it's so practical, and it translates directly to managing teams and running teams, right? And in the corporate world, like, dude, it's non-existent at that level. And sometimes I do share little tidbits of stories, right? Honestly, not this thing ever, right?
00:38:24
Speaker
just like man you know like just I didn't tell people just how much I appreciate water because I was like there is days we were like there is days that we're like fuck dude we have a fucking canteen full of water for each man for the next
00:38:47
Speaker
18 hours. So you guys better fucking conserve it. And the water we had was stale and old and hot. Sometimes you want to drink water and all that. Oh, this is so cool. You can make coffee with it. And, uh, yeah.
00:39:04
Speaker
One day, our platoon marched back, I don't even know how many fucking miles, from executing a mission without water in like 120, oof, plus degree weather, yeah, it was brutal. After fighting for freaking a week straight, yeah, gross. And yeah, the platoon sergeant was just like, wow, like the bravery and the fucking,
00:39:30
Speaker
honor of these fucking kids bro like at that point at that point we had lost man and we had gotten like a headless for seven years wow we we um cheers hey guys hey come on man
00:40:10
Speaker
So I share like my stories like that.
00:40:21
Speaker
So I like, I like share stories that work just to bring people back into perspective, right? And I tell them, you know what, like we're delivering software here. We're not freaking, we're not in the battlefield. Like, yes, people are going to be stressed out. And we have the force that we want to, everything we do, we're, we're standing up a startup basically, right? Within the bigger organization.
00:40:49
Speaker
So I tell them, of course we have pressure, we have deadlines, we have, what we're doing here ties to a strategy up here, right? And this is a huge component of that strategy, right? So everyone understands that. So a big part of my job is to tell a story, kind of like what an officer would do, right? Tell his men and tell a story. This is the vision, this is the objectives, this is how we're being measured. This is, you know, break it down by tasks, squad, right? That's the same thing that I do, right?
00:41:19
Speaker
Let's do it with that story. So do you want water? I'm down. Do you like it? I thought you would never ask. So those are all the same things. I don't know. Should we get water? Do you want this water? Do you want my water? Yeah. Go first. Do you want water? I want water. Do you want water? You want water? Sure.
00:41:44
Speaker
There we go. There we go. It's an earth water, baby. But that's the love and appreciation that I bring to my team, be to the product and the customer that we're serving. And then, um, the, also like the intimacy that I need to have to be able to want to lead at that level, right? I need to understand more than everyone else. I need to tell them, okay, we're going to do this because X, Y,
00:42:13
Speaker
I need to tell stories I need to be a visionary too and I need to be able to communicate to different levels of Understanding because not everyone seen the same thing, right? Yeah, that's one of the hard things of being a leader and I mean specially in the infantry man in combat. What are you? Hold on before we hold on Hold on before we won privilege
00:42:41
Speaker
privilege. Yes. First of all, privilege. And never ever, never ever think of my being an officer as anything better than what you are or you have been or you've done.
00:43:03
Speaker
because you are everything that I look up to and everything, every reason that I joined, everything, every reason that I've served, okay? Thank you so much. I'm really humbled. Do everything. I'm humbled. Thank you so much. Just know that, okay? Right. Like literally, just know that. I literally fucking kiss your hand and I'm saying that. I appreciate that.
00:43:31
Speaker
Thank you so much. You've fucking given everything other than your life, other than your life, other than your fucking life. Open your eyes. Open your eyes. Other than your life. Absolutely. And thank you. Thank you. No, thank you. It's very humble. Thank you.
00:44:02
Speaker
So never thank me again. Thank you. Thank you. That's deep. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, my man. So deep. So deep. Thank you. So deep. Let's drink to that. Drink to that. Man, there's so many stories, guys. So many freaking stories, right? Yeah, so many stories. Man, so many damn stories.
00:44:33
Speaker
Yo, oh yeah I'm gonna put this on pause Yeah, I don't put this on pause but go ahead Jack. I already know I don't know if it's recording. How was that dip? That's my question. Dip is okay. Dip is gone. It's gone like it was like two days ago
00:44:59
Speaker
Nah. I thought we had an actual dip. No. That actual dip is gone. It's like been gone. We should have been overseas if you wanted that dip. Shit. If you wanted that dip. I'm curious about this shirt. What is this? Oh, man. Oh, this is a company. Roll Tide. Yeah, Roll Tide. I started a long time ago.
00:45:28
Speaker
Didn't work out, unfortunately. I wish I recorded this. I wouldn't think this recording is not going to go that well. Is it recording? I think so. It's through Zegaster, but I don't know. Yeah, I hope it is. So let me ask you what
00:45:50
Speaker
how long after that, when did you get out and when did you start the company? That's probably two better questions. Yeah, so I got out of the Marine Corps in December, end of December, 2012. I started ReloBase in 2000, let's see, 2014. Yeah.
00:46:17
Speaker
2014 so about two years two years after Yeah, you started it from a problem that you saw that you had. Yeah Yeah, you had like first-hand experience Yeah, well, I just yeah, I I saw I Mean too many military service members were moving in my mind we're relocating and didn't have a
00:46:46
Speaker
An easy solution. There were too many problems, too many problems to relocating. And it was too predictable that they were going to relocate. And there were too many predictable problems that were predictable with a predictable problem.
00:47:15
Speaker
And so I, yeah. And so I looked at it and I was like, well, how much value, what is it? How much money is in, is it worth? And I looked at it and I said, all right, well, how many VA home loans are purchased? And on average, it was like,
00:47:45
Speaker
It was something like 2.3 or 2.4 billion VA home loan dollars from VA home loans on PC. I'm just on just on.
00:48:06
Speaker
Relocating. Relocations. Just on relocations. And how big is that problem now? How much money are these? Bigger. Even bigger. And who's solving for it? It's still, it's still spread. It's still spread. So 10 years later. 10 years later. 10 years later. 10 years later. 10 years later. You were working on this problem. Yes. Okay. Follow me.
00:48:34
Speaker
The problem persists right hundred percent So USA USA has created as Well, you wish I had a whiteboard dude so I can start a whiteboard holy shit
00:48:50
Speaker
I mean, I literally, I just said, I wish our walls were white boards. Didn't I just say? At work, at work, I draw diagrams and boxes and squares and red candles. And I tell them, look at this. Tell me if you understand it. Okay. Any questions? Let's review right now, right? I communicate with fucking diagram. It's more universal than the shot is going to come out of my mind.
00:49:20
Speaker
for sure and it's and it's an a that I need even to To make sense out of my projects and what I'm doing. Yeah Yeah, that's what I'm saying with so here is that Jackson saying here is the Okay, so the problem persists let's start there right the problem persists it is
00:49:47
Speaker
It's actually a matter of, it's a matter of consistency. It's a matter of consistency. Okay. So let me ask you this. It's a matter of consistency. It's a matter of consistency because I am not consistent. I am not consistent.
00:50:16
Speaker
and and I and I know that and I there are other things that are play have are there
00:50:38
Speaker
I'm not, it's hard to like be super, super consistent. That's hard. That's hard to say. It's really, really, really, really, really fucking hard to say. It's like heartbreaking to say. It's fucking heartbreaking to say.
00:51:09
Speaker
That's always been me. So let me ask you this. I'm with you, dude. Take your time, man. Don't impression me. I want you... Let's all do this. Call me, please. No, it's um...
00:51:28
Speaker
We're, we're here with you. Take your time. I want you to feel your words, feel him, express them. We're here to listen. That's what we're doing. We're listening, listening and learning. Those were the two principles, right? Yeah. And who echoed them? Jamil, right? So that's, that's what we're doing from each other, right? So the, the words are,
00:51:56
Speaker
I find them and you'll notice I can find the words. I can find them super fast sometimes and you'll notice I can find them faster than anyone else. And you will also notice sometimes I will not be able to find a fucking word.
00:52:23
Speaker
to save fucking anything. Keep it. The court is what's called what is unfortunate and not. You good? Yeah. You good? Bro, I'm going on you.
00:53:02
Speaker
I'll tell you two sides of how to fight. There is one side to fight. There's one that is the Marine, that is a forward deployed, that is in a uniform.
00:53:21
Speaker
That is putting runs down range. Doesn't think. Cares only. But. Left. Right. Get it. Wakes up every morning. Doesn't matter what needs to be done. Just what needs to be done, needs to be done. And that's what needs to be done. It's not heard of. That's what needs to be done.
00:53:51
Speaker
Absolutely. And that's beautiful. Yeah. It is so universal too. And so universal. No matter what time, place, no matter the environment, it's beautiful. It's beautiful. We could have pictures. It could be... I'm trying to create a... In one moment. And we can share all. And I encourage
00:54:19
Speaker
and let's have a round robin. I think we should all have a round robin, if I can. Yeah. There's the other side of the coin. That is, rather than that knight in saying on top of that drug lords,
00:54:49
Speaker
compound after patrol, fucking fighting and sitting with my dudes, smoking cigs, hanging out, waiting to fight the next day, knowing that we're all together, knowing that we're getting ready to fight another day. I saw it on the other side.
00:55:20
Speaker
I was in the back of, I was, I was in the back of, yeah, I was in the back of the room. And, um, it, uh, two, two, two four in near San Clemente.
00:55:49
Speaker
and sitting there with 25 incredible or 30 incredible military wives. And I was sitting in the back and it was probably Wednesday. And you were talking about, you were talking about
00:56:19
Speaker
while their husbands are deployed and and during this time I'm I'm Training combat replacements during this time training combat replacements. I'm I a seizure and so I'm Deployable and so I'm training combat replacements and so I'm non deployable
00:56:50
Speaker
And so I'm back. And, and so I, so I, so I'm, so I'm back. Yeah. And so I'm back. And so I'm, so I'm back. You're back with all the. Back with their wives. And their wives. Are on.
00:57:20
Speaker
Unbelievable. Did they, they literally fucking showed me what strength is. Yeah. Like they taught me, they showed me what like super human strength.
00:57:43
Speaker
I was like, holy shit if you want to know if you want to know what hike how to fight Now learn how to fight how to fight but like how to fight and Also take care of your kids
00:58:08
Speaker
while also take care of your parents, of your job, of your house, of doing all this. Of doing all of this. And also, try not to go crazy because your loved one, your loved one, is in combat.
00:58:35
Speaker
try not to fucking go crazy. Like, come on, dude, this, this is when I learned. Unbelievable. This is when I learned that military spouses were the secret, the secret to not just like the most untapped resource, but the most
00:59:06
Speaker
beautiful, the most beautiful, powerful, and like forceful, like almost like, I'm not joking, like ungodly, like thing that people don't, is like unrecognized.
00:59:37
Speaker
That's what this is. That's what reload base. That's what this is. And that's what, and I mean this and may need to go off record and part of me was hurt because I think friends of mine started something that
01:00:07
Speaker
believed in the force, the recognition of military spouses, but didn't go all in. They didn't go all in. They didn't go all in. They just kind of touched it, which is such a disrespect. And it's like, that makes me mad.
01:00:34
Speaker
That makes me mad. And it makes me happy that you didn't ask me to help. And I'm thankful for that. But it also, it's like, you should have asked me because I could have helped you. Cause I could have helped you to go all in. Cause I could have helped you. Well, one, one is the comment and the other one is the question. So my first comment is that.
01:01:03
Speaker
Because it's not going to work. It's 100% out. You're told two things about you, right? You have a very curious one, right? You have the education, obviously, right? So I have a master's in business. I have an MBA. I took a program, whatever, right?
01:01:33
Speaker
Besides the education, right? Education is just one thing. Yeah. Theory is great to have, right? And it gives you an advantage over someone who doesn't really understand it, right? But both can unite at an intersection where experience will eventually teach you all the theory without you having to pick up a
01:01:57
Speaker
You might not be able to connect the dots until you read a book and you're like, oh my God. If only it's comfortable with everyone else.
01:02:12
Speaker
Only if it's comfortable with what I mean by that, it's like... Yeah, like no shit, like hey. Literally, Zencaster. Zencaster was like, I got an email. When I was like, I'll pull it up right freaking now. Dude, this is such a fucking wonderful conversation.
01:02:41
Speaker
I'm going to get you guys Korean fried chicken. Yeah.