Kitbag Conversations - Episode 30: Warfighter Coffee (Australia)

Episode Date: November 28, 2023

In this episode, we talk to Ian, founder of Warfighter Coffee, and we discuss veteran suicide, transitioning to civilian life, and veterans internationally

Music 1. Draw the line on the back of the head I wanted to have you on for a multitude of reasons. I saw that not only do you guys help Australian vets with the recovery process of transitioning and we call it VA veterans assistance. I've learned through Dingo and some of the guys in the Ossent community that the Australian army and the Australian government could really use some work on that stuff, especially when it comes to the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. And then, I mean, I think it was just recently, there were two incidents that I can name off the top of my head.

One was a guy brought home his buddy's plate carrier. It was either New Zealand or Australia. New Zealand or Australia. He brought his plate carrier home and then he got arrested and all types of things happened. And then there was an investigation into the SAS community down there in Australia, New Zealand. And then Dingo was also explaining to me.

And I hate to keep bringing him up, but he's a great friend of the show. And he's always on here for our absolute Gregory podcast or we just talk about nasty stories that we did in the military, but another thing that I've learned from talking to the Australians is that it's kind of easy for veterans to get away from themselves there.

Like Southeast Asia's there. They can disappear. Things can go on. Like one of the guys that we talked to, he said that most of the guys from his deployment to Arruzgan are either gone. They've either, you know, killed themselves from suicide or they disappeared to Southeast Asia or they're just not the same anymore.

And so you've created your entire company about giving back to these veterans. So I wanted to have you on the show because you probably are knee deep in this every day of Australian veterans and we talked a little bit. You wanted to expand into New Zealand. But go ahead, talk a little bit about yourself, talk a little bit about Australian warfighter coffee and the things you guys are doing down there. Because I'm completely sold and interested on your product. Yeah, man. You're like I said, it's, this is my actual first ever podcast.

So I appreciate you guys reaching out. Oh, a little pop in the cherry for your nose. Yep, pretty much. Yeah, it's a big, kind of a gentle and no-casten catches. Basically, man, you got the way background. I don't know. The premise behind Australian Warfighter coffee was I was fed up of watching Australians spending money on coffee that was going overseas and the huge influence for me was Black Rifle.

Watch the news guys. What those guys started and did was like yeah you guys are really sucking in the veteran community over coffee which is great. I thought there's nothing like this in Australia. We get referred to are you the Black Rifle of Australia and it's no we're not we can put a different one we don't have the demographics as the US does to we don't have the same sort of veteran following as the US does you know it's it's very hard to get people to recognize veteran service without having to sell it. So my idea was after I was medically discharged from the Air Force was to find something that I could do.

I wasn't entitled or allowed to go back to work as my injuries and I have PTSD and anxiety depression from my deployment. So I had a love and a fixation of coffee. I want to start my own coffee roasting business and I purely wanted to set it up on a fact that I do not earn from it at all. I am on a medical pension, I'm on a pension. I don't want to set up a business where not only am I to pension But then I'm gonna take a whole leap of money from this business and live a life of luxury

I don't want to earn it's it's not for me. I just want to sell coffee Raise funds don't hate the profits give them to charity groups. They're gonna do something good with the money and That's it and for seven years that tell me we have run. I've not taken one coin, one bit of payment, one anything for this. It's purely due coffee. Talk about, you know, mental health over a cup of coffee or tea or jerky because we're expanding. And you know, just don't know the profits to charity groups that are going to do the right thing with them. And yeah, that's that's pretty much wall fighter in a nutshell. We roast sunshine coast here in Australia and in Brisbane.

We've expanded now into all over Australia. And yep, you can you can guarantee that if you buy coffee from my site, the profits are going back to where they should not into some CEO or directors account Yeah, well, I think I really appreciate that you do which is I guess the counterbalance to black rye for coffee is They seem to I don't want to say pander, but they seem to like dial into like that special operations background I mean Matt best like a green Beret background kind of guy. Right, Red German.

Yeah, Red German. Yeah, but you guys seem to focus more on the average Joe on the line. And Cody and I in the past have talked about that. But in popular culture and in the podcast community or any writer, you see the Green Beret or the reconnaissance marine who is like the hot ship, but nobody wants to talk about the Joe behind the scenes. And so myself and probably Cody included like appreciate that you shine the light to that side of the demographic because essentially they can't do the job without us as a good

way to put it. Oh, I appreciate, man. The thing is, I was not SF. I could never be SF. I don't have the mindset. I don't have the mentality. I don't have the physical statute at all. I mean, I'm 5'4", and built like a barrel. Yeah, but without the Spanner turners, without the, you know, the pilots, without the intel, nobody can do anything. It's a huge, as they say, it's a huge machine of cogs that just all have to work together. But as far as I know, PTSD mental health doesn't discriminate if you were SF or a cook. It's going to affect somebody somewhere in their military career, or first responder career. And that's why I want to draw a light on it too,

that not only do we look after military veterans, first responders, but I've broken it down to our SES and our correctional services. As you probably know, SES is a state emergency services. They're always called on as people to just fan out and walk scrub land to look for bodies or help out with, you know, natures as disasters. They've, you know, they come across things that at some stage it's just going to make

and break correctional offices. They've told me many times they've had to enter a cell after a suicide. You know, you just can't say to somebody I'm not doing that, it's not part of my job. That's going to affect them at some stage. And that's why I just don't focus on one group. It's it's the broader community. And we look after kids too, like my son has secondary PTSD from my PTSD because of the way I used to carry on like a you know an idiot It's affected him So there's kids end up with secondary PTSD. So we have our Little wall fighters range that we look after and that helps them and

Yeah, you're right man. It doesn't discriminate from what you did at some stage It's gonna come back and bite you if you haven't got the Mechanisms in place. Yeah. Um, it's, uh, have you ever read Sebastian Younger's book, tribe? Dude, I can't read, I can't focus to read more than two pages. Uh, well, yeah, I get a really strong. I mean, uh, it's, um, so part of my job in Afghanistan was, I was a targetter. So I was the guy who found the bag guys and we figured out what to do with them. And so when I came back, I had a lot of fucking issues. And I'm on a medical pension as well.

I'm 90% disabled. So the book, Tribe by Sebastian Younger, it's unaudible. It's great. Listen, I read it once a year, but it talks about how PTSD is actually more common in support personnel than it is in combat arms because when support personnel or even like non infantry such as artillery or whatever when they come home, they don't have that brotherhood to come home to, right? Like they fan out, they go back to the support roles and they do things and what he found because he's a sociology major is that they get a higher rate of PTSD because, you know, the brotherhood of infantry is there, but for the guys who aren't infantry or special

operations, they don't have a community to come home to, right? There's ton, there is black rifle, there is invader coffee, there is 800 different other coffees and brands pandering to that demographic, but I mean, they're the 1% and then on top of that, like, Sebastian younger talks about his book, he's like, when you're in the tribe, when you're in the group and everything's functioning as it should, he's like, you feel as part of a team, he's like, but then you take these guys out of the deployment area and they crumble because they, you know, it didn't matter if they were rich or poor, black or white. It didn't matter. Male or female. They were part of a unit. They were part of a tribe.

And he was the guy who filmed or strepo. And so anybody who's in the veteran community who is struggling or helping people struggle. I always say like Ted Talks also to Sebastian Younger gives those. He's fantastic and he's just a war correspondent. So Sebastian Younger give it a look because I mean everything you're doing, I mean I swear it's awesome. I saw that you guys also opened recently like a library. It looked like a little event, like community center that you guys sponsored.

That's another guy called Brothers Books, Dylan Conway. He's an X Army infantry, an X Army officer. I won't title him because I'm not too sure of it. Yeah, you reach out to Dylan. It's where about collaborations. Look, if I find there's a veteran community that wants to do something and they reach out and say, look, can we have our own private label coffee? And can we get the profits and proceeds from that coffee sales into our fund?

Yeah, I'll do it. So there's about three or four private blended coffees. I have young veterans Aussie Aussie front lines Black books I think there's another one they're called salty veterans or salt veterans Which is the sailing crews? They all get there and a gaming Veteran-graming group. So they all get their private blends and out of all of the sales that they make per month I don't know the profits back to those charities or to them directly Unbeignated to them they might only sell two bags a month, you know, which is equivalent to $10 $11

But it's not uncommon for me to just throw $500 to them. Because I feel bad. Not that they haven't sold much, but it's like, I just don't want to be seen sitting on a ton of money, which I'm not, because let's face it, coffee industry in Australia is not huge. But if I've got leftover money, then they can have it. So there's been quite a few times these guys have hit $400, $500, and they're probably only raised about 100. But

I don't need to tell them that they just need to get the money to do with it, what they need to do. Yeah. I was the veteran demographic looking all straight ahead, because I know in the US, like sometimes don't know like Cody probably knows like you could just drop like I'm a veteran car and a small business might like give you a Discount or something so is it a like all the community usually gives back to the veterans or is it a as some other third thing Yeah I think I think it doesn't happen like that

Well, I know personally for me it doesn't happen like that. Like I won't walk into some place and say, I do do Vetron just count. One, I think it's because I feel a bit... Well, I didn't do what I enlisted to do when I started. I mean, it goes back to the history of the Anzacs and things like that. I did sign up to do a role within the military that required me to the history of the Anzacs and things like that. I did sign up to do a role within the military that required me to be sort of in that danger

area, but I ended up deploying in a less dangerous role that ended up getting a condition from it. So I don't sort of go around saying I'm a veteran, but I do, when we do go to places, they might have a sticker that says we support APOD, which is Australian. It's like our old Defence Force discount card. So if you see a sticker, they may support it. And if you show them, or even mention your veteran, they'll give you a discount. But I think probably 98% of the people in Australia won't even bother saying to somebody that are a veteran for a discount. Whereas, you know, in the States you could get around with some sort of identification and, you know, it's looked at. I've seen videos whether or not the station, you know, they're

quite happy to give that discount. But different here in Australia, the demographics, what, you know, what a spread, where we're around the coast, we're not all over the Australia. I just don't think it's taken up that big. I think there should be more of it, to be honest with you. Like even applying for a special loan. If you were a veteran and that's the biggest thing, like we can discuss about the transition phase, that's a biggest thing. Like we can discuss about the transition phase. That's a killer for defense members.

And just having the ability to tap into some veteran specialties, not that you deserve it, but it just help you mentally and mindset wise. Take a bit of pressure off you. Would be more beneficial to our veterans, I reckon, a discounted, a burger joint can 10% off. Which is a cultural thing within the ranks of the average Australian. Is that mindset just not there, or what's a good segue into kind of like a reinforce

and that idea to give back? I think you've got to look at the amount of veteran suicide rates we got would be a good reason why they should be looking at giving back. I mean, the biggest thing that really gets up my nose every year, we have Anzac Day Remembrance Day. Social media goes crazy, you know, a month out before all ANSAC Day all these places that support veterans all get on board the the bandwagon and The next day it's finished boom Come down and get a party and a beer for $2.50. It's forgotten about

whereas wall fight a coffee is forgotten about. Whereas Wall Fighter coffee is 24, 7, 365 days at the year, remembering those still serving, struggling with mental illness, physical illness. And that's what So what kills me is I actually got my P.P. slapped. I think it was Anzac Day because I look, my respect for Australian Army Air Force, all those guys is through the roof. In 2018, there was a Taliban assassination attempt on General Smiley. He was wounded and he was our Kandahar commander. And he was replaced by General Shanahan, who was an Australian. And so we were tailed between our, you know, they almost killed the four-star general there, General Miller. We had a bad day, we had our tail tuck between our legs, and the day one, General Shane Ham walks in, and he goes, all right, so whatever we're doing, we need to change it up because it wasn't working for the last guy. And everyone just,

he just instantly cut the tension, and he just let us do our job. It was outstanding. And so when I think of Australian Army guys, and I think of the Australian Defense Force, I brighten up, my go-to carry coin is General Shannon Hans coin. It's a Red Kangaroo with the 40th Infantry Division. My world, if you tell me Australians are in the AO, I'm happy. I'm wherever they are, don't worry.

And I got my P.P. slap because I was like, hey guys, happy and Zach Day. And they're like, it's a, some civilian was like, no, it's a sad day. This is a sad day. And like, here in America, we have veterans day, which is just all the veterans getting out and grilling steaks, drinking beer, and making fun of each other. But it was like really weird to me because I was like, what I served with you guys overseas,

the Air Force Army, all you guys. Happy, so happy. Just happy to be there, happy to see us, happy to work, put in the job, and then I, you know, come home, transition, get on the internet, start hanging around,

and then I find out, like Australia is hurting. It's veteran community is hurting, and it's completely night and day. Like who you guys were overseas and who I like, you know, I'm your biggest fan girl. And then I find out like exactly like you say in Ian, you guys are hurting. And it just, it breaks my soul to hear it. And I'm just like, I'm so happy that you exist. And you're talking about it, and you're breaking it down even more, and it's true.

It's like, two days out of the year, the other 363 days, it's like, I go fuck yourself. And it's like, that's, I almost feel like, I'm like, do we have to create a holiday? Because I know what you guys did over there. You guys were fantastic. So. I know what you guys did over there. You guys were fantastic. So I think I think that what you're describing there is the typical Aussie larykin style work.

You know, like when the job is on the jobs on, you know, you switch on. It's it's serious. My game face is all that sort of, you know, you use euphemisms that you want to use. But then when you get back and it's behind mode, game faces, all that sort of, you know, you're, you're finesms that you want to use. But then when you get back and it's behind the wire, outcomes, the odds, the larykin spirit is sort of thing. And that's how it still is today. And I agree completely, why does Anzac Day have to be a day of sadness? Why can't we celebrate it in a way of being, you know,

for you to say to me happy ANZ that day, I would have said, yeah, man, cheers. You know, it's, it's not a biggie. You're saying, look, we recognize you as a veteran, we recognize your efforts, we recognize everything you've done in all military theaters. Should be proud of yourself, but we look at the other way and say, ah, today of morning. Oh, yes, it is, but you could flip that coin and say, we'll say, I hate to celebrate. And I think we have the somber part in the morning. And then as soon as that's finished, it's, let's get on the beers and start playing too up. And that's when the happy side comes out. So yeah.

Yeah. Very, I'm almost like a moral day equivalent in Australia because in the US there's veterans say celebrating current veterans are current serving then there's Memorial Day so it's like celebrating the day so is there something associated with that within Australia because I know like for the US Marine Corps we have our own day I don't know how the Army the Air Force does it but there's definitely you guys force your own holiday you guys like tell everyone it's our the Air Force does it, but there's definitely four. There's definitely four. You guys force your own holiday. You guys like tell everyone, it's our fucking birthday.

Woo! It's like, it's the day before Veterans Day too. So everyone's like, Oh God, here it comes. And like the marines are just like, they, they forced the holiday. Don't say it's a holiday. You made it happen. It's like, we have, um, happens. We have military units that have their own days within their units, which will remember certain campaigns like 3RR, they always celebrate the Capion event, which was a big, you know,

firefight for them, to RR to our might have something. The Navy remembers certain days of the year with certain ships and all that sort of stuff. Air Force, we remember some of the things I can't remember too many but you're right. We do have little things within units that units will remember but nothing major and that's why you see through social media that military units now have their own social media where they all mention that it's Capion Day. So, you know, we're remembering those are Capion.

The biggest one that everyone remembers is the battle in the rubber plantation with Army infantry escapes me, because my brain is all fog at the moment. Let me see if I can get it. Sorry guys, I'm going to get rid of this. Oh, you're good. Oh, God. They're going to say, I'm not an army and it's a big one. We have all those sort of things to remember. Battle long head.

We remember all that sort of stuff. We remember some of the, what was the other one? Some of the bases in Vietnam too, there was attacks on bases where Australians were in there as well. There are things that we sort of bring up but we don't really get involved on. It's Anzac Day and it is,

remembrance day, it's the two biggest. You know what they're saying? I think, oh, go ahead. know, I think oh go ahead No, I just think that we should be bringing these more to people's attention because there's a lot of communities out there that wouldn't even know that you know Yeah, like we always do bring long-town up, you know, and we always say 18th of August 1966 and all that sort of stuff bring in for D company But that's just D company. There's also other units that have done some big things as well. It's just the ones that get remembered, gets spoken about.

And we had a, I think we had a, it was at a Navy ship to collide it. And they killed a quite a few people. It was our aircraft carrier crashing the one of our frigates. You know, they sort of stuff needs to be remembered. But you only pick that up if you go to the war memorial So quite a few people, that was the aircraft carrier, crashing the one of our frigates. That sort of stuff needs to be remembered, but you only pick that up if you get out of the World Memorial and walk around the World Memorial in Canberra. Yeah. That's something like,

Cody and I in the past have talked about the Malaysian women scene, which was essentially the British Empire's Vietnam. And so when it comes to something, I guess in like, how much I'm trying to say it is in Australia military units or tactics or something like that. Do they ever reference the Malaysian emergency? Because I know a lot of people who have always referenced Vietnam, Korea, World War II, World War I, but that whole conflict definitely drew a lot from the Australian military population. And I'm

just kind of curious in that, because that's a incredibly under-focused conflict. Yeah, look without reading into the history behind it because again, I think if it's not classified as a war, it's a policing action. If it's a policing action, again, it becomes a political thing of whether or not you'll cover it under military entitlements as in it was a war, so therefore any injuries under that war, you'll cover it, or if it's a policing action, it wasn't a war, so therefore we don't have any coverage for it. That's a little different. That's a lot. That's okay.

Wow. I didn't know that. So please tell me that the war in Afghanistan and Iraq are covered. Oh, I didn't know. They classified as war like, uh, war like, uh, environment. Yeah. Um, but again, this caveats on that like, okay, I'm not about metals, I'm not about gongs and I always get it up when I get it is, okay, I see you served, I see you did five years, got my five-year badge, got my 15 years 15-year badge, you know, they're my long service badge. Then I've got my operational service metal. People go, ah, so you saw active duty. I didn't see active, I did see active duty, but I wasn't shot at. I never received any incoming fire. Okay, so I'm not a combat veteran.

I'm just a veteran. And then people say, well, what's the difference when a combat veteran and a non-combat veteran, we start getting into those murky worlds. But then someone would say, but you've got the double ASM Australian Active Service Medal. Where did you serve? So there's no class by mind to say Which theater of operations I was in Afghans Iraq just says I cat in the national coalition against terrorism Where someone next to me can have the same line of medals and have I cat plus Afghanistan Because they served in Afghanistan, I have to set foot in Afghanistan

for 30 days to qualify or fly a sortie in operational area to qualify. So when people ask me, what did you do? I have to sit there and explain it where people can look at somebody's chest and they're in Afghanistan, they're in Iraq. And if you've got a two on it, you've done two tours of Afghanistan and things like that. I think with the Malaysian emergency situation,

it comes down to whether it, like I said, it was a guerrilla war and he just had commonwealth and the Malayan forces. But I'd have to look into it to see if they classified as a policing action or a war. That's interesting. I mean, we do it here. I mean, I'm not going to lie. You know, exactly what you're saying, right? We have the deviation of veteran, and it just keeps like building to it, right? Like you're saying, and so I'll pair this with a question, right?

Like we have like, you know, we have veterans, then we have combat veterans, and then, you know, like so I went to Afghanistan. I got a combat patch, which with the 101st and all that, but my wife was in the 101st too, and she went to Africa, but her combat patch didn't come till later, because it wasn't classified. So it's like, ah, you didn't deploy,

and it's like, actually, I did. I'm just waiting on the paperwork, and it's just like, and then my father was special forces, and then Matt's dad was in the 82nd in a Marine, and so it's like, well, you were an intel guy, and then like dad's over here, and it just keeps like ranking up, right?

So it's more interesting. because when I went to Libya, it was classified as a non-combatant operation. So everyone on that ship was not qualified to get like the, you know, global war on terror metal or anything like that because it was more like, I guess what you're saying, it was a policing operation. So nothing really came from it. And it's, I mean, you said that at first and I was kind of like, you know, size white, It was a policing operation. So nothing really came from it. And it's, I mean, you said that at first,

and I was kind of like, you know, science white, but I was like, actually, no, we do the same thing. So. Well, it's, well, I'm, yeah, and what's crazy is that, you know, you kind of get to this point where it's like, nobody's going to be happy until you say you're like a Tier 1 CIA dev group, Navy CLSAS operator. And so it's, do you see that?

Because we have it in our veteran community. I have a friend who is a lobbyist in Washington, DC. His whole job on God's green earth is to try and get special forces veterans elected into Congress. He gets paid big money to do so. And so it's like, you take the veteran community, which is already 2%, 3% of the population as a whole, right? Then you take 1% of the 3%,

and you're like, now donate to this. And it's like you ostracize 99.7% of the community, right? or 99.7% of the community, right? And so as you get into warfighter coffee, because I'm sure it was this year, I think it's your two of business for you. Seven. Seven, okay, sorry. I saw the Facebook page too, so I was like, man, he's been a bit,

but as you get into your seven of this, sorry. Have you seen that? Have you had to challenge that as far as like you know Well, I did this and I did this and then the dick measuring starts and then you have to get a ruler by the door And you're like come on guys like I think I think when guys and girls got back From our theaters of operations and The snowball effect of people discharging from the ADF and people starting to get their medals. I did see a fair whack of, well, what classifies a veteran? What are you? Are you a veteran that received incoming rounds? Are you a veteran if you took lives? Are you a veteran if you were

just in the rear supporting? There was some internal, there was some internal things with army versus navy versus Air Force. Air Force is the butt of the jokes of everybody, but all I argue at that point is I just happen to score higher on my aptitude test and was given the Air Force Those that scored lower given army or Navy, so they are that's how it is There was a bit of that there was a bit of measuring those a bit of well you didn't do this and you didn't do that Do you really deserve this you really deserve that and look we've got things like what you guys have got we've got the SF But we've got things like what you guys have got. We've got the SF groups that look after predominantly SF. That's their focus, that's their role.

That's what I want to do. We've got others that look after certain units. As in your army, we look after our only army. I'm different. I look after everybody that served in every branch of the Air Force, Navy, Army, whatever. I don't care what you did. If you ended up with PTSD or mental illness after your service, then this is what we're about. We're about for you guys getting coffee, sitting down,

opening up, chatting to a friend, getting it off your chest because I've always thought, and people may disagree, this is purely my thought. Stillicide is going to happen no matter what within the community. If that person is dedicated to it, and that's what they want, and that's their way out, they're going to do it no matter how much talking or conversation you have. But I believe if you can sit down and talk to somebody more and more and pick it up earlier and earlier and get them to open up more and more, maybe, just maybe they will realize that hey, I'm not the only one going through this, there's heaps of people going through

this and I'm not alone. That dude feels exactly the same way as I feel. You know, for years I couldn't go to shopping centers because I didn't like crowds. I feared crowds. I feared airports because of what happened to me in my situation, happened at an airport at Q8. Now I've got to get over that and I can't let it rule me. I've got to rule it. So I just find that I will look after everybody no matter what branch they served in or what they did. It's purely Coffee for your conversation and speak about it Would you say there is a

How much are you gonna say this in the US is almost like the military like cannibalizes itself? Where like the veterans get out and so so I know for the Marine Corps specifically, if you leave, they kind of just cut your ass right out of the equation. They don't talk to you, you're out processing, they make it difficult. You go into the Gen Pop and it comes to that dick measuring contest of like, oh, you were in the 1980s, nothing happened, Shota, or you were in the 1990s, nothing happened, also the Gulf War, Shota, or if you're a veteran, in the global one, shudda, or if you're a veteran. In the global one, terror era, or era like you were saying, where it's like, well, there's

different echelons of people that PTSD, if Cody's was talking about the support echelons are getting the most PTSD out of the kinetic guys or the victory units. Is there something like that in Australia, like military culture, because I know in the US for a fact, we really cannibalize ourselves and make it more difficult to work with and like resimulate into the population. Yeah, I mean, I think again in the early stages there was a lot of, like you just said then, I served from experience to why period and never deployed. from experience to wipe period and never deployed. I'm not as worthy as you guys that serve from this time to this time and deployed. So therefore I'm not a veteran. So I can't,

I feel worse because of my 20 years I did in service and never deployed anywhere. I'm not a veteran. And quite a few of us had to come around and say, it didn't matter if you woke up and put, it's, it's mainly if you put the uniform on, you're a veteran. And that's the mindset we had to try and tell people. But then again, too, don't abuse that by going around and saying, oh, I'm a veteran. And using that veteran card, as we call it,

to try and leave the things to your advantage. Great, you served, people will recognize that, but you don't need to push that in somebody's face. And then there's those that work on that veterans, that lost mates, that were in the thick of that shit all the time. And look, I feel for those guys because I never got to experience that, so I could never tell you how I would have reacted You know those saying I would have been so great in this I Don't know how to react it

But that's what I did sign up for and you know the reality came when team or hit that was like oh wow You know, I've just done 12 years of this and then all of a sudden we're going to team or and it's no longer a little plastic cap down around it with a blank BFA on it. It's the real thing. It's the live rounds and your whole world changes. But for the guys in Australia that went through close combat, IEDs, losing mates, I don't know how they feel. I can never put myself in their shoes, but they're on my rung a little bit higher. But although those guys don't go around saying

I'm a combat veteran, you're just a veteran. They've got away from that mentality now. It's, it's a, everybody who served, served, it doesn't matter what you did, support those that have got these injuries and illnesses now. And that's the thing. We've been trying to fight mental health and Australian veterans for years, and it hasn't changed. So we're doing something wrong somewhere. And if it's the things that haven't worked, then let's try the things that we haven't tried. And that's what I'm saying. Let's get coffee into clubs, restaurants, pubs, associations, places where we can say, hey, all photo coffees being served at this place. Go and have a coffee, grab a mate, sit down and open up. You don't have to bottle it all in, you don't have to keep it all in. You don't have to come out and tell them the life story in day one.

Just start. You know, hey dude, I'm not doing too well this week. I'm having a bad time. And that's it. Keep, and then open you dialogue from there. I think, I was gonna say, I think a big part of that is that, you know, the hurt people, hurt people. Mentality, right? And I mean, I've, I've hurt people mentality, right?

And I mean, I've seen it too, right? You know, you got the guys who are like, well, you didn't do that, so you're not this. And it, look, I've done the deed. I've gone there, come back and put warheads on foreheads, unfortunately, and stuff. And I would say that the funniest thing is when you, as a guy who's done it, it's funny to see you guys say that because it's like, you know, they're like putting people down

and it's like, you know, if you have to bring yourself up by putting others down, it's like you're just stepping on people. And as we sit here, because we've got our own community, we've got our own groups and things of guys, everything from like, you know, recon Marines to special forces, to real combat veterans who have been through just like the worst deployments imaginable. I think it's actually kind of funny to see those guys, because it's the best feeling in the world isn't, you know, putting others down, coming home,

and then sitting down on Xbox or whatever you do, if you're that guy and hanging out and playing video games, like Matt can testify. He was just talking to our guys for like two hours. Because I'm willing to turn around and look at every veteran or every person the same and just hear their story and talk about things, like my day is full. and just hear their story and talk about things. Like, my day is full. I've got guys, I've got guys, like, I'm too busy, I've got too many friends, I've got too many people in my inbox,

I've got too many memes and reels on Instagram. And everything you're saying, I will testify is true. Because we do a video game night once a week with all the guys from veterans and kids and guys who may enlist, guys who aren't, they just enjoy the podcast. And I can tell you, if you stick to that mentality of just, hey, have a cup of coffee. I think you said you supported a veterans gaming group as well.

Yeah, dude, that's right up our alley. Everything you're saying, I promise you it works because I wake up to probably eight mentions in the discord and I've got nine messages on the personal Instagram account because I call them our kids. Our kids found my personal Instagram account. We've got 20 messages in the kit bag and it's like, if I was thinking about suicide, it's gone now because my life is full of people from combat veterans to French kids sending me memes and talking to me. And it's all happened because we had a discussion.

Well, it's weird. It's almost like in the US veteran community, we almost have, I don't want to say dick measuring contest. But it's like, like you were saying, and it's like the, you get the combat veterans, then you had the not combat veterans. And then with the side there, you had the different branches, like, oh, well, if you were in the army, you were in the shit.

But if you're in the Air Force, you're kind of like, you can kick rocks. Like, we definitely have that in the US. So whenever someone wants to sit down and say, like, I've had a bad day, they internalize it because like, I don't want to be bullied. So it's, which is, it's, I don't want to say giving ground, but it's like, it's like coming Jesus moment. For some people, we're like, it doesn't fucking matter. But on the other side, there's a lot of people

that just, especially the US culture, it's not very welcoming to veterans. They look at you as just like this weird red-headed stepchild because you're like, oh, you make offensive jokes in the workplace or whatever, and it's part of assimilate. So that entire culture of just sticking together post-militaries definitely important. Like we're saying, we're talked to the kids and have like the discord and everything. And it's therapeutic and healthy because some

people just don't want to go to therapy. Like some people probably should have. Exactly, man. I mean, it's that moral ground. Yeah. Yeah. I was, I was a therapy avoider. You know, I think what you're looking for when you do discharge like my What you're hitting there on the head is that when you do discharge I don't know about for you guys but for for me personally when I got out was okay I was just shy of 20 years. I was trying to push extra thing. It was three months to get my 20 years up So I would have got my 20 year long service metal. It was just a milestone that I wanted to get to. But I was discharged three months prior to my 20.

So I was like a kick in the guts there. But that was okay. Your discharge paperwork's through your, to meet at this location at this time to sit through a days worth of transitioning out of the defense force, which was watch a video. wow, realize that you gotta sit there and realize it, hey, you've got to start your own bank account, you're going to have to get your own medical, you're going to have to get your own life insurance, you're going to have to look for your own house, you know,

things as an adult should already know anyway. And then the next day you go back in for your next couple of hours or next day with all the stuff, you know, like how you will assimilate back into the workplace. Like remember, you know, it's not appropriate to make jokes about this that and the other in a workplace full of females and watch your language when you're ordering something or all that sort of stuff. The third day you wake up and you go, that's it. I'm done. I don't have to shave this morning.

I don't have to put the uniform on. Okay, so that's 19 years of that life finished in three days. You got to, you know, understand that. And then the fourth day, you might receive an email or a message in the post box saying, you've got two weeks to vacate your defense home. He's Jesus. And then it's like, okay, so I've got to find a rental within two weeks, but oh, my long service pay is going to take four to five months to come in.

My pension is not going to start for another eight months. I don't get paid until next week and that whole pay would be not enough to even carry over the first six weeks of rent bond that's gonna be required. I have a wife, two kids, where the hell am I gonna go? And boom, here's where the pressure starts for the veterans transitioning from the ADF.

When you are cultured to a breezy way of life of half price rental on a house, you know, no medical for the serving member, a decent pay. For 19 years, you live that life life and then for all of a sudden in three days to try and change to welcome to paying for rent, welcome to paying your own medical, to stress as kicking. When the stress is kicking, the argument's happened. The argument's happened. The family dynamics to rakes down. When the family dynamics break down, the voices come when the voices come, outcomes the ametodo to half routine.

Well, the more you talk about, I'm in thought it. You know what I mean? I was going to say, I know in the Marine Corps that we have like a transition period. So I forgot what it's called at the moment, but when you're leaving the Marine Corps, you have to go through like a one week like, here's how you write a resume, here's how you dress in person, here's what you have to say. And it's, I want to say like there's two organizations in the US. It does is it's the prison system in the Marine Corps, like reintegration into society.

And I don't know if you'll strongly an army has or military in general has something to like that. But it's like, hey, here, we're going to give you the tools to go back and yes, the Marine Corps, it's like, hey, we're gonna give you the tools to go back. And the Marine Corps do now. It's like be a good citizen. Yeah, we do now. When I got out, it was a pretty barbaric way of getting out. It was basically, here's your handshake, here's your certificate of service. See, Alayda, thanks very much.

He's not in use of service. Now, the thing that realized that they had to change the transitioning. So you'll go into a transition pool transition cell, you'll meet with people that will go, right, what did you do in the defense for us? What can we look at you career management wise? Are you looking at a pension? Are you looking at medical discharge to just a normal discharge. I will say that they've stepped it up in the way of the discharge and transition process now to see what core skills you've got that could be used and pay for some training to get you re-assimulated back into the workplace.

Well, let's face it, avionic technicians and aircraft mechanics If they want to do so they could probably go into aircraft aviation side of the field working for major airlines private industries helicopter crews would probably look at You know rescue choppers being crewmembers and stuff like that, but what do you do with a guy that's all he's done is play with automatic weapons and explosives? How do you find them? A job there. A job, you know. And the SF boys, how do you find an SF boy? A job, apart from close protection or security on a shopping centre more or see close protection, still got to find those right skill sets. And then you're getting, you might have people that were cooks.

Don't want to come out to be a cook. Don't want to come out to be a mechanic, or want to go into a completely different line of work that they did when they served, because it's not for them anymore. That's the biggest thing I found was when I got out, I was offered two roles. I could be a security guard working shift. Or I could be a security guard working in a shopping center.

Thank you. I hate to plug a show, but in the end of the show, the Pacific, where Eugene sledge comes back to the Pacific. That's great. He's, they took all the veterans, they sent them to like recruitment centers. And they're like, all right, well, we've got to get you a job. That complements your work background.

And the one guy is like, I was going to make a can. If they're like, here you go, being a mechanic, this one guy walks up, he's like, I was an engineer. If they're like, here you go. You know, jean's ledge walks up. He's like, I was a mortar man. And they're like, do you have any qualifying skills outside of mortar?

He's like, no. So, yeah, he, so yeah, that's a legit thing that happened to Eugene Sledge after he got back. He's like, they taught me to kill the enemy. That's what I'm good at. And then they're like, oh, oh, oh, oh. And he just runs away because he realizes he's like, he broke and there's some guys,

I know one, there is a digger who's been trying to get a job in the discord, I'm not gonna say his name, but yeah, I've talked to him a couple of times and I've seen it and it's really, it's hard for me to kind of eat crow because the US Army's done a great job of changing everything. I mean, as it stands now, you can get out of the US Army and the day you get out, your

medical pension starts right away. And your coverage is right there. You get your buy back leave days. So if you didn't use all your vacation days, boom, right there for you automatically. And so like you get your pay, your vacation checked out. And so you end up with like a huge check. And then it's actually like a full on month of training that you can do to get out. Like they call it soldier for life transition assistance program or a civil tap.

And LinkedIn has been a huge help for them too. And I don't know how I feel yet about that. Maybe it needs to change a little bit, but LinkedIn has been a huge thing. I'm learning from the British who, I didn't know it, but when we had the Brits on, they were talking about how they still recruit from areas. Like the green jackets all come from one area in England.

So when they come back, they're all there. And they're like, oh, Tony's boy's back. He needs a job. And it's just they come back, they're all there. And they're like, oh, Tony's boy's back. He needs a job. And it's just like, right over there. And so, you know, LinkedIn, you know, as much crap as we get social media, like it could work, you know, that it's just going to take one veteran or two veterans working on it. And there are LinkedIn programs for the US military that give us jobs. And I mean, you can really drive it home. I mean, I know an infantry sergeant who got out, his wife is now a master's degree and he is a recruiter and he turned right, he literally did a 180. He walked out of the office, found a new job as a recruiter at a local university in Nashville, Tennessee,

turned around and just started hammering soldiers around. Like he's all professional on LinkedIn. He's like, is anyone smart enough to read a fucking instruction manual? And they're like, maybe he's like $20 an hour. Let's go. And like, he's just, he's doing it. And he's turning around. And once again, it's just not being that veteran who's an asshole and sitting there and saying,

like, well, you didn't serve this or you didn't do that. So you're not a combat veteran. I mean, that guy is a combat veteran. He left and turned around and he offered his hand and solitude and he's like, look, I think you're getting out. The biggest issue in US veteran community is the ProVets. Like we have Vets, you see.

Yeah, that too. It's, I hate to use the word talks, it's like the most toxic culture for any veteran is your Mac best, ex-special forces, ranger, recon, marina, navy seal or whatever, that just put everybody down. And so the public perception of veterans is just like a dick. It's just the worst kind of person. They're like, I'm better than you, because I serve where we're you after 9-11, and it's, I don't know how that is in Australia, but I know the US. It's absolutely abysmal. Yeah, I don't see that as much, but what you're saying about the recruiting and working,

we have haps of veteran business startups. There are thousands upon thousands of veterans who just got out of the workforce and out of the defense and you know what, I'm starting my business. I want to work for myself. I don't need somebody telling me what to do. I want to be the person that does what I want to do and make a difference. That's why we're not a charity. I didn't set my business up as a charity because there was too many people coming out of the ADF going, I want to be a charity and I want to give this and I want to do that and I want to be able to make money but not have to pay the tax and then I can be a charity and get all these free charity bonuses from the government because we're supporting veterans.

And that's where I saw a lot of employment charities being built, you know, every man and his dog was starting a veteran employment charity. As long as you set it up and you're a non-for-profit and you could get money from the government to get a veteran, to get him trained, to get him in the books, to get him to a job, there was lots of those.

And now, it's seven years later, I'm seeing a lot of those fall off because there's no more funding for that sort of environment. The government's sort of cotton don and gone, hey, it's about time you start pulling the funding for a lot of these charities, it's say they do things, but aren't doing what they say they do things but aren't doing what they say they do. Whereas I've been up front from day one, that is if you buy my coffee, I will donate the proceeds, the profits and proceeds, the more I sell, the more I donate, the less I sell, the less I can donate. It's purely as simple as that. I've got overheads, I've got to pay tax on my

business, I've got to pay b on my business, I've got to pay bazz, you know, if I set myself up as a charity, I wouldn't have to pay all that, but I want to show people that I'm doing this for the right reason, not for a handout from governments. And we've got construction workers, guys that have started their own construction businesses who purely hire veterans to work in the construction industry. I made a mind, runs his own close protection course, security. He's always hitting our guys up in our chats on social. Hey guys, I've got a role for a driver, I've got a role for a close protection officer. Does anybody want to gig for a week looking after a celebrity?

I can't give you their details, but you'll be working in these hours. We look after each other. I had a meeting yesterday and one of my goals for Wallfighter Coffee was to make money, enough money for me to set up mobile coffee vans to be able to give them to families to say, hey, do you want to work your own hours? Do you want to sell coffee? And do you want to make some money while selling this coffee as well as spreading the word of warfighters? And that's purely would be me getting a vehicle, setting it fully up, giving it to say you, Codian, same men. As long as you buy the coffee from me, that's your business. Go crazy. Work the hours you want to work.

If you don't want to work it, don't work it. If you want to work if you don't want to work it don't work it if you want to work this weekend Right if I get a job I'll pass it to you Nice, I mean that yeah, it's Sort of for a small duplication there and that that's great. I mean you you I know black rifle did that they did that with a lot of Small coffee shops because I'm right around Fort Campbell in Tennessee, Kentucky area. And that's what they did is they handed them out to the coffee shops. And then some would go up, some would go down depending on, because they would be selling black, rifle coffee. And then eventually what they did is they

looked at the income and loss. And what they did is they decided, like, look, these are doing great. Some of these just need more cash. And they decided like look these are doing great. Some of these just need more cash and they're like yeah if we could only have a cash injection we'd be better. And now there's two I think black rifle coffee shops and so they're just like you know we sell black rifle coffee here all the time and that's pretty much our go to so they set up hard structures for black Rifle and that was a thing that happened around a lot of the army bases here. And that's another dream. I'd love to have a Black

right, I'd love to have a wall flight, a cafe, which is purely a drop-in center for veterans. The back end of this section or back end of the area is sort of more secluded that veterans, those that are struggling can sit down. The front end of it can be a little bit more busy, boisterous, serving customers, serving those that want to support a veteran coffee. But the back end can be a drop-in area where guys just feel like a safe space where they feel good. They can chat to other people other from different variations of the military. Yeah, you'll have your groups, your clicks could also be meeting places for old guys,

it tools together that can say, hey, we're meeting at this place at this time. Let's just go sit down and have a chat. No alcohol involved because once the guys start getting on the alcohol, oyster things happen, next for you know, on the throwing punches. Can't do that with coffee unless I put some vodka in it, make it a espresso martini, but you know, there's so much scope for wall fighters that if I could just tap in to the one to 2% that the American market has, the amount of money we could make that we could donate and change would be phenomenal. I've hit a few US guys up to do a joint task force. I wanted to call it JTF coffee, joint task force coffee,

a bit of Australian bean to a US ground bean, put it together, we got a JTF coffee bean. What's the, I mean, Matt was an NCO in the Marine Corps, I was an officer, so I can tell you that the culture around coffee is like coffee, yeah, like we don't, we don't do the team, and like pots and pots and pots, I mean, Lieutenant Colonel's going to the field with InstaPots and Instant Burners, not Instant Pots,

but the Instant Burners and like, I mean, French press coffee makers are bread and butter and Marine Cork. Man, the Elyssa guys love those. Yeah, you could throw a grenade at a marine recon squad and probably hit three French presses. You'd be like, why is there glass everywhere? I mean, yeah, I mean, I can see why.

Exactly why you're like, if I could tap into that, I could do so much more because we're addicted. I think it's also, can turn us back to the veterans surf for meaning, because a're addicted. Consuming is back to the, like the veterans serve for meaning because a lot of guys in listen to the military and they're like, I want to serve, we're doing the get out

and then what are you gonna do? Be like, I don't know, like a bus driver or something or work at the DMV. It's not really like a self-fulfilling job. And so essentially a lot of guys become depressed because there's not a, like a, something pushing pushing down in their back like you have to be better It so it comes down to you and a lot of guys don't have that drive internally to Push to be better. So if you're saying something like getting like a like a coffee shop cafe

Set up where a lot of guys and like meet up. I mean Everyone has a voice to some people it's game night So some people is playing board games or some people is a coffee shop or some guys is the pub set up where a lot of guys can like meet up. I mean, everyone has a voice. Some people it's game night, so some people is playing board games, or some people it's a coffee shop, or some guys it's the pub. Just getting everyone together, building that community.

And essentially, a lot of people like that regimented mentality from the military and transferring that into building life. And I think that's why a lot of guys go to like, be a fireman or a police officer or something, because there's a regiment and mentality inside of that. So I absolutely love the idea you're trying to take, which is like creating a, like a cafe or something.

And whatever city may put one in every major city, just be like veterans can go here. Here's our spot. It's an us thing. It's not them thing. It's ours. That's ours. That's right. And that could be happening in our what we call our cell clubs, our RSL clubs here in Australia. Unfortunately,

a lot of them aren't owned by Return Service League. So they are privately owned by sports clubs, but they still run under the premise of an RSL club. So they'll have a cafe called the Hilly Bar for the Hilly Chopper, the Long Tan coffee bar and stuff like that. And I approach them and say, look, would you please consider using a veteran coffee in your sports club? Your support to me will allow me to do X, Y and Z with my money. In return, it shows you're re-engaging with the veteran community. I can then promote your club to the veteran community saying, hey, this club is now serving Warfighter Coffee at the RSL Club. Go and support it. You're getting Warfighter Coffee.

Why don't you meet up there every two weeks with some of your blokes? They don't have a chat, have a coffee, and start bringing the younger veteran community back into the RSL clubs. I've got one so far. How many of us are saying I know exactly where this is going? Yeah, I mean, we have that with like the American Legion or the VFW, but it's just a glorified bar. Like, it's...

Yeah, they're dying. They're dying here. They're dying. They're dying off. I know when a lot of people, Cody, you might have got these, but I know when I enlisted, I received a letter in the mail that said, hey, you enjoy it. Are you enlisted to fight in a pointless order? Hey, here's a VFW membership. You know, like, cool things.

But I think the biggest thing is a, like, an us versus them mentality, because no one who is a civilian can understand veteran like mindset, culture like I mentioned it earlier that like offensive red line jokes do not mesh well with you know college kids. And so there's a lot of guys that get out of the military in the Marine Corps or the Army or the Air Force and maybe four years may have gallows humor. I mean, I was already dying because Ian was building this up to a contendow. I mean, I can't see your face, but I already knew what was coming. He was talking about these old man clubs that I was like, they're going to tell him,

no, they're going to shoot him down until, like, no, we have beer and beer. It's like I knew it was going to be a good season's episode. I'd like a coffee beer. It's like I knew it was going to be a nonsense episode. I'd like a coffee beer. Yeah, that beer. Don't eat. Don't get me wrong. When you go into these aerosols clubs now because of the demographic and the age group in there, they've all got cafes. They've all got

standalone cafes in there. And where the people play the poker machines Oh stuff like that. There's an automatic coffee machine there Really free coffee if you play the poker. Keep what it incentive, you know, you can go and keep going Oh, that's just that's just the neighborly the vase man Yeah, but what I'm saying is all these clubs will run at least two to three possibly four coffee machines. So they do chunk over a lot of coffee, but they all use commercial grade or commercial

blends coffee, all the cheapest coffee. Now I'm happy to work with these clubs and say, look, let's look at your price, let's match that price, let's do machines. All I'm asking you is let me know when your tender is true, because I'm not walking in there saying, hey, again, I'm a veteran, take my coffee. I'm walking in there saying, hey, I have a product that I want to supply you.

When is your contract up? I want to submit a tender because my bag does this, this, this, and this. Your bag currently does that. Let's put it to the test. And if I win the tender, great. If I lose, no harm lost. That's wild.

And they still say no. And they still say no again. Yeah. Wow. One RSL club in Melbourne, Mont-Marins, the RSL club have approached me. They were the first ones to approach me. Now, their current provider was able to give them ballads with the details of the coffee. They were able to give them umbrellas

for the cafe outside sort of thing. I couldn't afford that. I can't do that. I run a really shoestring budget, but they didn't care about what came with the coffee. They cared about the cause of the coffee They cared about the reason behind the coffee and Yeah, they don't go through 60 kilos a week They just like the fact that they're supporting a veteran business that gives back to the community And I plug them every week. Hey, go to Montenor and see RSL Club in Melbourne Support them. Go get a coffee That coffee could lead to a meal, that meal could lead to membership,

that membership leads to them being there all the time. Great, it's a win. It's a no brainer in my head that we're here to supply coffee for a cause. Get on board. If you don't want to get on board, I'm not going to hold that against you. You've got a reason, business is business, I understand that. But if you're only saying no to me because you've got a loyalty to a coffee provider, then let's talk

because loyalty is one thing, but loyalty and then changing it to a cause that can offer you the same service, probably cheaper, is a win for everybody. I got a question for you because I mean for those listeners that don't know because we have some people essentially what you're saying is like you're willing to go toe-to-toe with these coffee brands. And you're willing to say like, hey, I can put in a bid and let's do this, the fact that the good old-fashioned way, I will undercut the competition, I'll make a better product and all that, and you're still getting told no. And that's like, I'm sitting here like, because I've done that, I used to own a renovation company, a carpet cleaning and renovation company, so I've done that, I've walked up to people,

and been like, hey, I want to submit a bid. I want to submit a contract. And, you know, palms are sweaty and stuff. And I mean, you're doing it for a good cause. I was doing it to me money. But I mean, I get it. And I just, that's, that's a lot for me to sit here and hear that like still know, like you can't even get in the ring to go fight. You're just like, what are we doing here? And so seven years, mate, seven years, we started off, I've still got the first bag of coffee that we ever put it into. And I've got coffee that's flown operational sorties with pilots, just they took a bag of coffee

to fly it into a combat zone. To give me the bag back signed by the crew, E and E flag and all that sort of stuff. You know, our coffee was flowing into Afghanistan. I wanted to see 17 during the withdrawal phase in Afghanistan. So my coffee's been around to a lot of deployments and a lot of places. Like I used to see the Americans carrying the flag in their pack,

you know, and that's been around. I want people to carry my coffee in their pack and get around because at the end of the day, we have to stop. I mean, okay, let's, the first thing when you go and see a psychiatrist or you go to a interview or you go to a counseling session. The first words out of their mouth usually is, would you like a coffee or a tea? Yeah, well if they can say, would you like a coffee or a tea and they go, yeah, I love a coffee. And they know that that coffee is a veteran own coffee. So that coffee is there to support that person there as well. That warms my heart because then I know that they're drinking my coffee and they're buying it for me which then allows me to donate back to these people which

is then donating that money to a counseling session. So you know, and as you said first responders, Aussie front lines coffee uses my money to pay for their people to have counseling sessions that they couldn't afford to have That's it. That's all their bag of my coffee does And the more people that take it on the more I can give to these people which can then build their pool. It's Again in my mind, it's not rocket science, but I don't want to go in there and play the cards. I'm happy to go toe to toe with these people. And I want to dominate coffee in Australia, if I can. Do you have a plan to reach the current serving figure combat units? Is it a, because I took

a look at your website. I cited the, stickers for the Navy, the Navy, the Army, the Air Force. What is there a way to, or if you, how am I trying to say this, like unit specific coffee, it's like one that compliments, like the first RAR that was in this area, something that compliments that historic environment for the unit itself. Yeah, we tried that. Okay, so again, there's politics involved. We do already, currently serve probably 70%

of the ADF units around Australia with our coffee at their unit level. So like your units may have with our coffee at their unit level. So like your units may have had a coffee machine, we call it, I think the Army calls them RTFs, we used to call them just the social club rooms where you'd have a coffee machine going pay $5 and that money you raise there sticks within the unit to pay for their end-of of year functions. My pay for people that have had injuries that getting out that might pay for them to do other things.

So it raises money within the unit itself. That money is purely for the unit. And a lot of units are using our coffee. I supply coffee machines to probably about six units already, ranging from helicopter units to infantry units to Raf units. Inside the military bases though you've got your own canteen services and providers. They've got 28 canteens on Australia-wide on bases, but they use a different coffee. So I am in talks trying to discuss with them when their tender is up, please let me submit a tender. But I will give them on the other side of that, we just

secure the ability to put our coal brew into these aff canes. So they're going to come on board. So like I said, after seven years, a lot more people are starting to realize that hey, I'm not just a coffee guy that says, I can do it. I am a coffee guy now that has major companies behind me, Rhyma Tell Defense Australia. Is it Frankie? We just signed a deal with Frankie, which is the automatic coffee machines.

Military units, first responder units, all that stuff. They start to take me seriously now. It's taken seven years to realize that, hey, this guy is serious and can provide what he says. And we're moving into the jerky range. So 10 Flavours of jerky in a printed bag, I've never had a printed bag before. Just takes time to grow these things because I'm constantly giving money away. I've got to do it when I can do it.

Yeah, do you do weird question, but do you sell a kangaroo jerky? I can get it, yes. Okay, well, there's not... No, there's not. Fuck you, Matt, because no, because hold up. He knows why I'm saying this, because there's a guy on,

he's a very famous weightlifter, and he just announced that he eats about a pound and a half of kangaroo meat a day. And me and the Australian Dingo were talking about it. We were like, I was like, Dingo, do you guys really eat kangaroo? And he's like, yeah, it's like a lead meat. And you gotta like, he was telling me how to cook it

and all this stuff and the discordant. And it's just, everyone was looking at me like I was high because I was like, what are you talking about? This guy's huge. He's like a 50 year old man who rucks 75 pounds a day for five miles in the woods. And he just brings that dude. That's just man.

Yeah, yeah, it's just a man. But he's eating like a pound and a half of kangaroo, so I've been on the hunt for and I don't want to order a kangaroo from Australia because it'll take forever to get here, but if it's jerky, it'll be good. So I'm glad we can look, it's something that, you know, let's face it. I don't think Australians eat much of Australian kangaroo meat that I know. I mean, it's in our supermarket. It's rather than Northern Territory, you can have a camel burger, an e-new burger, a crock burger. You know, it looks great. It's just, it's just hard catching them to kill them, that's all. Yeah, it's all there. It's, yeah, we could do it. If you wanted it, next time I'm

I have a chat to our meat people and say, look, can we get and say look can we get some and we'll get it we'll get it happen for you for sure I'll order but I will for sure order a couple bags No, it was a whole thing and there was everyone was asking It's apparently to lean meat so There's plenty of roadkill when you're driving from say Queensland and the little territory. It's on the side of the ride everywhere. It's just falling in the freshest one point. That's all. The most weak when it's flat on its back. Before it's already been an hour. I don't want to keep it too long, but I wanted to ask you is there anything else before we go?

That you'd like to put out there besides you know, obviously you've got the jerky line coming, everything you do is for the veterans in Australia. And I know you've been looking at New Zealand maybe in the future. And also, and there are American veterans who listen to this podcast, you may be able to help you find somebody who will do the joint task force and you can tap into the American caffeine addiction. But is there anything else that you'd like to say or put out there? No, guys, I mean, I could talk for days, some passionate about what I do. There's plenty of things that we need to change. And I think we're slowly making that mark with

Veteranone businesses. We're slowly seeing that these businesses can step up and take it on. We've been like, so going for seven years now, we're slowly starting to get people's heads turned, they're starting to come to us, which I'm loving. Like when I get off here shortly, I've got to, they are, get some things together for some other major contractors and they're mainly massive defense contractors that want to get on board. But it's been great talking to you guys. It's great to understand that, you know,

I had the understanding that you guys have the same issues that we face with our veteran community and businesses and things like that. But yeah, like I said, you guys are our very first podcast and it's been great. Enjoy it. Thank you. Thanks for coming. Really appreciate it.

I'll pass the microphone a minute second, but what I will say for the people listening is I've learned a lot listening to you. I've learned a lot talking to the Australians who follow the Discord and who follow the page, but and the British. But every time I talk to a different veteran from all over the world who's in NATO or, you know, our allies in the Pacific, it's something different every time. And it's weird to see not only like what's different for the negative, but also as we've learned here, the positive.

Like I said, the British have their own systems in place that prevent, they're amazing. They sit there and they have their communities and then you've got the veteran clubs as well and then obviously there's your company that's coming up. There's Australian current construction companies that only hire veterans, right? And so it's interesting to see how each one of us after the global war on terror has ended, how we're all dealing with it in our own way. But yeah, thanks for coming. Thanks for sharing. I really appreciate it. Matt, you woke up, you guys. Yeah, nothing too much to another crazy contribute. I just want to say, Ian, yeah, really, thank you for coming on. I mean, back in the old Crow, nothing crazy to contribute. I just want to say, Ian, yeah, really,

thank you for coming on. It's been, I mean, back in the old Crow, towing days, I remember that I posted a Fugazi song and a couple of Australians reached out to me. They're like, oh, I haven't listened to this. It's like a Rack No 5. And I don't know. For someone like myself, I think like,

I don't want to sound like a hippie or anything, but like the music scene is like that bridging capability between different branches of different militaries and everything like that. And I think it's, I don't know, just to me, like, I don't want to sound like a soap opera, but yeah, really appreciate it. Yeah. I don't have anything crazy. Yeah.

Alright, man. Well, thanks for coming on in. I know you want to guys anytime. All right. So.