The Sevan Podcast - Mike Egan | Snatches More than Colten Mertens

Episode Date: February 14, 2024

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Starting point is 00:01:02 Oh, Mike, you froze right when you looked at the camera. Can you hear me now? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think you froze. As soon as we went live, I think you froze. Gotcha. How's your internet? It's not bad.
Starting point is 00:01:17 It should be okay, hopefully. All right. You have kids in the house streaming or anything like that? I don't think so. No, she's seven months old. So I'd be impressed if she was doing that. She's not streaming already. I did a show with Greg Glassman a month ago and his internet connection was really spotty.
Starting point is 00:01:35 And I'm like, what's going on? He's like, hold on. And then he goes upstairs and he's like, hey, there's like 14 teenagers here all on their phones. I'm like, what did you do? Don't get the fuck out of here. Yeah. Kick him out. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:01:47 Oh, that's good. You popped on my radar because of this, uh, this interaction you had with my boy Colton Mertens. I'm like a huge, crazy, uh,
Starting point is 00:01:57 Colton Mertens fan. Oh yeah. He's a good dude. God, he's cool. Yeah. And, and just a good role model for human beings in general.
Starting point is 00:02:06 And then I saw you in your gigantic arms coaching him through this seated snatch. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I was pretty pumped when I heard that he was up for a try and seated movement. How does that go down, Mike? You guys are at Wad waterpalooza this year right yeah yeah so that was at waterpalooza uh so rolo uh the guy who runs the meme for time page just hit me up he's like hey you want to snatch with colton and uh and i was like yeah absolutely and uh he's like he's gonna try to see the snatch i was like okay um so yeah we just all met up over at paper
Starting point is 00:02:46 street and walked it over to the warm-up area and gave it a go so he was yeah he was excited to try it i think he was a little nervous uh people were getting his head thinking telling him he was only gonna hit like 100 pounds uh he ended up doing really well so um how cool is it that on all three of your parts to do that you know what i mean what's what's the guy's name the meme for time guy's name it's the guy with the wild hair right yeah rollo yeah rollo roderick is his name roderick that's how i that's okay roderick okay and what do you what do people call him? Rolo? Rolo, yeah. Yeah. How cool is it that he, he, did he know you before that? Yeah. So I met him at a wheel log competition out in North Carolina. But I've talked to him quite a bit in the past.
Starting point is 00:03:35 He helped train another adaptive athlete, Brett Paulzer. So I've, I've talked to him quite a bit before I am, but really great dude. Um, and the adaptive scene, I didn't know that. Does he specializes in, um, training adaptive athletes or I didn't, I think, I think Brett is one of his first, I could be wrong. Um, but he, he really dove kind of headfirst into the adaptive scene when he went to wheel on this first time, uh, this, this past year. Um, and it's been really passionate about helping the adaptive community
Starting point is 00:04:11 just kind of highlight what we're doing and everything. So, Hey, um, could, could we try with, or could we try without those headphones? I'm wondering if we could get better audio just with your phone. Not, not that it's like horrible but i see what happens now now if we switch to your phone oh no i got a crazy echo do you guys hear that you might have to switch a setting on your uh phone there we go oh yeah we're getting there Uh, phone. There we go. Oh yeah. We're getting there.
Starting point is 00:04:47 And then, uh, I think you're muted too. There we go. How's that? Oh, way better. All right. Cool. Okay, good. I'm glad I asked. Okay. We was just getting a little tin canny and the S's were getting kind of crazy. Gotcha. Okay. So, so, so you know him cause he coached one of your, your peers, one of your competitors, you met him at a competition and then he just just rolled up to you at Waterpalooza, and he's like, hey. And then he got Colton, and then he filmed it. Yeah, yeah. That's kind of just how it happened.
Starting point is 00:05:17 So, yeah, he was like, let's try this. Let's highlight this a little bit and see what happens. So it was interesting to see him try out a seated movement for the first time. It's not as easy as you might think, for sure. It looks hard as shit to me. Hey, I hate to dote on the community, but, man, there's no better place to dote on it than right here. You're never going to get two athletes from two different divisions in other sports or it's going to be rare who are just going to actually do their profession and come together
Starting point is 00:05:52 like what a trippy scene we're in that he can get like one of the best in the world uh in their in their specific divisions and then just while there's some downtime get them to actually play i mean it's it's just kind of just it's it's really uh unique to this sport like you're not seeing that you're not going to see shit like that in the super bowl unless they're trying to make some sort of virtue signaling statement like when they traipse those kids out there did you watch the super bowl yeah the the hawaiian kids they brought them out there yeah yeah they could have bought one of those kids a house for all the money they spent doing that probably yeah those did look like good kids though didn't they i know that was a that was cool i was i was happy to see them bring them
Starting point is 00:06:33 out there that was a that was a cool one of the cooler parts of the super bowl for sure but this is legit what you guys are doing like like like you and colton are like man it's it's really cool yeah just to have him kind of you know be open to trying that and highlight that is it was was really cool of them um not a lot of people take the time out of the day and do that you know try especially new movement when you're a competitor you try new movement when he's competing mike when he's competing even right i mean he was right in the middle of a competition yeah exactly um so yeah so really like down to earth dude i was really excited to meet him and have the opportunity to do that um how long you've been competing a little over two years now, so not too long. And how many competitions have you done?
Starting point is 00:07:27 So I've done Wheelwad twice, Waterpalooza twice, and CrossFit Games twice. Okay, so those are the three biggest events in the space? Yeah. And have you always been an athlete? No. So I've always been pretty like physically active. I've been a trainer for several years, but I wasn't in the CrossFit space until a little over two years ago. And when you were say you were a trainer, what's that look like?
Starting point is 00:07:59 Just a personal trainer. So I would just work one on one with people with people. Um, but not, it wasn't, uh, tailored to CrossFit. It was just weightlifting, powerlifting, overall fitness. Um, and it was kind of interesting how I got into like the CrossFit space, um, was very not planned. Um, did you meet your wife training her? planned um did you meet your wife training her no oh no i met my wife um wow it's been probably over almost 10 years now i wrote an article a long time ago uh that got published and she ended up seeing it and uh we kind of communicated through that so it was it was kind of crazy um your wife your wife met you through
Starting point is 00:08:45 through writing yeah right through through literature great oh can i hear that story hold on heidi uh hi is is he in a wheelchair hold on heidi don't ruin the don't ruin the punchline no hold on hold on uh can you tell me that story i'm very curious yeah so i actually um curious. Yeah. So I actually, um, like early into my recovery, um, you know, after I was injured, um, my sister suggested to me, she was like, you should start writing. It'll help be like therapeutic and stuff. So I kind of started just writing different stuff on like a very, like my own little blog. And, um, I wrote an article about the day I got injured and it got picked up by someone over at the Washington Post. And they published it. And they published it online and they attached like all of my social media and stuff to it, which I didn't know about.
Starting point is 00:09:46 which I didn't know about. Um, and it, it got around quite a bit and she reached out, uh, via that article. And, um, we started talking from that, which was crazy. How old are you now? Uh, 35. So you were 25. Yeah. I'm not a fan of the Washington post, but, but no, but no, but now, but I'm really had now. It's the first nice thing I've ever heard. Uh, what are the articles? They started like a military section of a blog,
Starting point is 00:10:15 like recently for the Washington Post there. So they posted some cool stuff. What was she doing reading that section? Um, you know, I don't know. I think it just got shared around on like social media and stuff eventually and made the rounds and somebody shared it to her. So it was pretty interesting. Can you tell me what in a nutshell what the what the what what the article was about and and what what captured her attention? what captured her attention? So I think the article, I mean, mainly it was just like it talked about the day I was deployed and got injured. So it was kind of like a brief overhaul of like, hey, this was this is what we were doing over there.
Starting point is 00:10:57 This is, you know, on the day and, you know, going through. He froze. I think the last thing he said was go back. So it was an article about the day you were injured and it was going through and then know kind of my mental thought process uh or the lack thereof at the time of what was really happening um so it was yeah it was pretty vulnerable article that at first i was like i wish i didn't post that and then i was like i don't know if i was ready to talk about that, but I ended up meeting my wife from it. So it worked out. What didn't you, was there actually something in there in hindsight that you think was vulnerable? Or do you think that it was more where you were at in your head at the time?
Starting point is 00:12:01 What do you think now looking back at it? At the time, yeah. I think it was just. Are you proud of it mentally when i wrote it yeah was probably not the most like clear-minded i've ever been so i was like i was kind of apprehensive about like i would have wrote it differently had i at the time i was very still on heavy medication for my injuries um so i was like i don't know if i should have wrote that just yet but i mean uh it was vulnerable it was real uh it's how i felt at the time so um it's out there
Starting point is 00:12:33 and i met my wife from it so were her parents in the military no um she yeah her parents weren't in the military no and did she did she live near a military base did she have any interest in them in like military stuff was she in the military no she wasn't in the military so um she was actually with someone prior in the military passed away oh so wow yeah from it from a deployment uh from a training accident holy shit wow yeah so that's why it got shared to her and um yeah we kind of bonded through loss and uh dealing with stuff so um yeah that's how we kind of connected on that level wow what an amazing story um so when she reached out to you it wasn't so much in courtship that was just a byproduct of it it was just more like hey uh i got some wounds and you got some wounds you want to um can we talk
Starting point is 00:13:32 yeah yeah and that's how it just started we talked for a long time and um and then we realized there was something there so we just kind of connected on that level of just going through hard times dude what a great story this story i feel like this story is like from 1812 you know what i mean it feels like a real timeless uh human story doesn't it like wow what a great story and um where did you live at the time? So I lived here. So, well, San Antonio is where I did my physical rehab after I got injured and got out of the military. And where did she live? Seattle. Wow.
Starting point is 00:14:18 Yeah. And so are you in San Antonio now? Yeah. We both lived here in San Antonio with our daughter, yeah. Oh, man. Congrats on the daughter, our daughter, yeah. Oh, man. Congrats on the daughter, dude. Thank you. Oh, my God.
Starting point is 00:14:28 You have a perfect baby. I have to agree. Yeah, she's pretty awesome. Yeah, I was looking through the pictures. I'm not trying to be a dick, but some people don't get perfect babies. You got like a really – I was looking at those early videos and stills and and pictures you have and just the way her eyelids move and those veins and her dude you got a perfect yeah you guys are so yeah wow that was i forgot that's how uh babies look because you have some videos in there when they're
Starting point is 00:14:57 she's really young and she's at home and she looks like you know how like they look like they're moving in their underwater yeah you know what i mean they look like sea anemones or the way and i'm like oh my god he got a perfect one oh yeah it's nerve-wracking when that that small man i'm like just like oh she looks so healthy she looks so good thank you uh uh look jay hardell uh blackhawk crash usually what happens in train accidents was her uh uh friend in a Blackhawk crash, do you know? No, it was, I believe it was a mortar accident. Oh, shit. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:15:34 God. Yeah. So you, how old were you when you got into the military? I was 20, 1920, 20, somewhere around there. Yeah. And you're born and raised in San Antonio, Mike? So I grew up in Houston, but I went to college here in San Antonio before I joined the military, and I love it here. So that's why I ended up wanting to stay here.
Starting point is 00:16:00 Whenever I go to the Trulia app and I start looking at homes in San Antonio, it makes me want to move. Man, you guys got affordable housing there. Crazy homes there. It's definitely blowing up because of that. So the city has grown quite a bit since I've first been here. Yeah, prices are pretty good here, for sure. Yeah, it's unreal what you can get. And so you get out of high school and you go straight to the military and why did you do that well i did a couple years of college before i joined the military um but i was like after i got into college i was like yeah i've been wanting to
Starting point is 00:16:36 do this i thought about it i was like if i'm gonna do it i need to join and otherwise if i get through my college career i probably won't. So just decided that. Why did you want to do it? I mean, I really just wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself and just kind of go out there and try something new. A lot of different reasons, but as a whole whole like i just wanted to to be a part of something bigger did you like hardship were you like up for the challenge too for sure yeah not as much as a couple of my buddies growing up they're all like we're gonna go on the seals program and i was like i'm definitely not ready for that um so yeah, I joined the Marines, um, which obviously still very challenging in and of
Starting point is 00:17:27 itself. Um, but yeah, I was very thankful. I chose what I did and, uh, met the people I did along the way. So, so you joined and how are your parents, how are your parents about when you joined? How were your parents about when you joined? Supportive, nervous. Nervous. Yeah. You know, Marines are kind of known for going out there and doing the hard job. So she was apprehensive at first, but supportive for sure.
Starting point is 00:18:01 And what year was this that you entered the Marines? I joined in 2008 and interesting so i'm holding a camera running around filming the first crossfit games or second crossfit games and you're uh joining the marines i remember tony budding said for me one said to me one time i was talking to him on the phone i was was sitting at a cafe, sipping a cup of coffee and good little Berkeley boy. And Tony Budding said to me, hey, remember, dude, while you sit there and drink your fucking ten dollar cappuccino that there's dudes out there fighting for your freedom. So I was like, fuck you. But but, you know, as a 51 year old man, those those words resonate with me now. So so you're there. And can you tell me about that can you tell me about just how you ended up being in afghanistan what led up to the accident can you give me the whole
Starting point is 00:18:51 the backstory so we can feel like we're there a little bit yeah um so what it's like getting the news that you're going to be deployed all that the were we in a war at that time all that stuff yeah so i knew at a certain point i was you you know, we were going to deploy to Afghanistan. There was several companies that were just rotating out. It was still very much the height of, you know, everything going on over in Afghanistan. So I went to 1st Battalion 8th Marines back in 2010. So we did a workup. We did some training and we left. I went to 1st Battalion 8th Marines back in 2010. So we did a workup.
Starting point is 00:19:27 We did some training. And we left in 2012. Or no, so I went to 1st Battalion 8th Marines in 2011. We did the workup, and I deployed in 2012, January. I was a squad leader at the time so mike would you would you were you getting out that's four years so i i signed up for a different contract i was on a five-year contract okay okay because i did three years uh in a different unit before i went over to the infantry where okay constantly going over to afghanistan and and what what did you say in 2012 you were a squad leader a squad leader yeah what's
Starting point is 00:20:13 that so within a platoon there's different team leaders that hold different responsibilities so there's a team leaders in charge of uh like five guys a squad leader is in charge of the team leaders and the guys underneath them so anywhere from like 15 guys then there's a platoon leader who's in charge of the squad leaders who's okay like 30. oh in the chain of command you you weren't at the bottom anymore you'd worked your way up a little bit okay yeah yeah so i was at any point in time during combat operations in charge of 15 to 30 people, you know, as we're out there in Afghanistan. So did the work up. We deployed the first couple of months in our deployment. We're pretty chill. We just did some security type stuff. And then it really picked up later on the
Starting point is 00:21:06 deployment a couple months in uh we were assigned as a helo company uh so essentially what we would do is we would plan raids uh to where we would hop on a helo and they would drop us in the the heat of it for a week or two and then come pick us up once we were done with what we needed to do so we did a lot of helo raids uh that were very highly kinetic and uh and a lot of firefights at the time can you tell me what that means would there be like a four i'm just completely making this up i have no clue but there's a four-way intersection and they're like hey don't let anyone pass through here for the next week. Would it be shit like that? Sometimes that was like our mission was just like, hey, we're going to push them back.
Starting point is 00:21:51 Sometimes it was we would be told there was high value targets in the area. We'd go and try and find these people. Sometimes it was, hey, you know, there's an explosive. They're making explosives on of this location we gotta go find it um so it was really it was really kind of based off of whatever intel they were gathering and uh what we needed to do in order to neutralize that so um yeah it was kind of just but yeah the majority of it was like hey we need to push them back. But our overall goal at the time, I would say, would be to train Afghan National Army and police to take over once we pulled out.
Starting point is 00:22:37 So we constantly had Afghan National Army and police shadowing us, essentially, as we would go and operate in these areas and our main goal was to train them on how to properly you know push back the taliban and stuff like that god this this sounds so wild so you you and 15 to 30 guys would get dropped off somewhere and then there'd be some local dudes there helping you translate and supposed to be learning stuff from you. Yeah. And then you would be on these missions that what sounds like always ended up being contentious. You were basically trying to do something that someone else didn't want you to be doing. Yeah, pretty much.
Starting point is 00:23:19 Damn. And that started after you were there for two months already. Correct. yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So the first like month or so, yeah, it was a lot of just security type stuff. But after that, we really got into the heavy stuff where we'd fly in and already be getting shot at.
Starting point is 00:23:38 So it was very much, you know, we were there to do what we needed to do and it was very uh highly active uh where they were dropping us off so and you'd be there for like a week at a time seven days sometimes it would be just a few days sometimes it would be uh yeah where do you where do you sleep when they someone when they drop you off like i'm assuming you don't get you don't go to a campground at night and camp. No. Yeah. You just try and find something with a sturdy four walls and hope it's enough. So it's a legit war scene.
Starting point is 00:24:16 You're like, okay, guys, there's an abandoned building. Let's go over there, and that's where we're going to sleep tonight. And you make those decisions? For the most part, yeah. And you make those decisions? For the most part, yeah. Once initial landing on a mission is usually planned out. But from there, yeah, if we push through a certain area, it was my job to kind of like, okay, we're going to hold down in this area.
Starting point is 00:24:40 We'll push out from here. And it's all on foot, Mike? You don't have vehicles? Yeah, there's no vehicles. I mean, you could call in air support when you're it's all on foot mike there's no you you don't have vehicles it's all yeah there's there's no vehicles no i mean you could call in air support when you needed it or uh artillery support but for the most part it was just boots on the ground yeah just us out there and you so you're carrying your food and water too yeah um there was a couple instances where we were out there for so long and we ran out, so we'd get airdrops of supplies and stuff like that. And that's just like in the movies, like a plane comes over and just a fucking pallet with some shit comes out and like half of it's damaged when you get to it? Yeah, pretty much.
Starting point is 00:25:19 So yeah, we'd go out there and they'd drop us supplies and be like, all right, I'll see you later in a few days when we come pick you up so wow crazy um when you were out there did you ever lose any any soldiers uh thankfully no not in my squad um as a as a unit as a whole we did um but but not in your squad no so i was injured and my interpreter was also injured. But those were the only things we sustained as my squad was both of us being injured on the same day. Bruce Wayne, sleeping in a hut the good old days. Manny C. Serrano, thank you. Thank you so much for your service, Mike. My pleasure. Thank you so much for your service, Mike. My pleasure.
Starting point is 00:26:05 Thank you. Okay. So you're out there for a month, and then a month in, these missions start up, and that's where I interrupted you. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, that's basically the gist of the remainder of our deployment was just go out there and whatever mission we were handed at the time. And, you know, we'd go out there for a week or two and do our job.
Starting point is 00:26:34 So and how and how long were you doing that for? Did that tell did that for about five months I believe before I was injured and then my unit was still out there for about another month or so uh after I got sent back to the states can you tell me about the the injury what led up to it and the injury so it was uh probably our most um most kinetic like most highly active uh op at the time um we're out there and it was just since we flew in it was just constantly um you know in firefights and stuff like that um was it a city scene was it a city a village scape or what was it like yeah i mean it was a pretty populated area most of the uh locals you know they know when the taliban's in the area and they clear out they go somewhere else um so it's like the only people
Starting point is 00:27:33 you're dealing with you do not you know they're the bad guys yeah okay um so it was just abandoned buildings everywhere that were uh laced with s or traps or anything else before we came in there. What was the mission just to get those guys out of the village or to stop them or to eliminate them? What was the mission? At the time, I believe it was just to push them back because it was like they were setting up shop. They had weapons caches and different stuff. They were shooting like old weapon systems that were left behind by different armies at a lot of our helicopters and stuff. So we were trying to push them back from basically like a staging area.
Starting point is 00:28:24 We were trying to push them back from basically like a staging area. And we actually found one of my guys in my squad. We actually found one of the largest caches in Afghanistan of just like weapons, explosives, police uniforms, suicide vests, you name it. Like it was it was essentially like this giant well, and we're just walking by it and he looks down and he's like, Oh, I kind of see something down there. And, um, so we, we go check it out and it's just, it goes on. There's like hundreds of explosives. Uh, we call out EOD. So we're like, this is more than we can handle. We need you to check this stuff out. And, um, you know, they just kept pulling stuff. So we're like, this is more than we can handle. We need you to check this stuff out. And, you know, they just kept pulling stuff out.
Starting point is 00:29:14 And they're like, there's an actual tunnel system down there where they have cars that drive underground. Oh, my God. Yeah. So it that was one of the times where we had to get airdrop supplies because we were out there trying to figure out exactly how far this went um and yeah we we ended up not being able to fully like search the area because it was so massive so we just blew it up yeah um sounds right, so it was a big win for us because it was, I mean, weapon systems that can shoot down helicopters in there. So we were pretty pumped to find that and be able to take that out. Okay, so you're there. It's a big firefight, lots of bad guys around, lots of booby traps. firefight lots of bad guys around lots of booby traps yeah yeah i mean even on into the well to protect like essentially where they were holding all this stuff they had uh ieds uh every other step um and we didn't know that initially what does that mean like is that landmines for
Starting point is 00:30:22 us laymen when you say they're just on the ground? So IEDs is like an improvised explosive device. Essentially what sets it off is you have a pressure plate, so like two pieces of plywood. Yeah. And a switch in a light amount of pressure, a few pounds, and activates that switch. So for the laymen, that's a landmine, right? Essentially, yeah. Okay. Yeah. so for the layman that's a landmine right essentially yeah okay yeah so they had uh
Starting point is 00:30:47 ivs on like every other step on the way down to this cache where they were protecting their stuff and um we did not properly search the area before going down there and but no one was injured so we were very lucky everyone took the opposite step on the way down. And then EOD got out there and be like, y'all don't know how lucky you are. You know, this could have been very bad. So yeah, there's a lot of instances where we were very lucky and fortunate.
Starting point is 00:31:20 But we, yeah, it was a big one for us, for sure. But that is where you got injured. Was on ID. Yes. Um, so that was a different day. I believe it was the same, the same, uh, helo raid we were doing. Um, so essentially it was early morning. There was no one around. It was pretty quiet. Um, but I just kind of knew someone was off. So we were on a foot patrol walking around, and I just stepped on IED.
Starting point is 00:31:55 So, yeah, it was from there. It was on that same raid. But, yeah, I was just doing a normal foot patrol and stepped on IED. So do you even remember stepping on it? Yeah, I was awake the whole time. Did you know as soon as you stepped on it? Was there a split second where you were like, fuck? I was definitely disoriented. It was a highly explosive IED.
Starting point is 00:32:21 I don't know how big it was, but I went through the air for quite a bit of time and landed on my head. So it was very disoriented with, you know, dust all around you. You kind of don't know where you're at or what just happened until the pain kind of sets in. And your ears are ringing like crazy. Yeah, yeah. So it was a very, yeah, hard to comprehend how exactly or how much your life just changed in an instant, you know. So it was coming to terms with that and then also just kind of realizing like, this might be it you know uh yeah did you just assume you were gonna die i would just start i would just start sure dear god uh i apologize for never believing in you uh yeah i'm flipping the script on that right here yeah i mean my my injuries were pretty intense so um there's a lot of worry even like after they put me on the helo
Starting point is 00:33:24 they're like i don't know if this guy's going to make it. How long did it take for the helicopter to come? Oh, man, it felt like eternity. Yeah. But they were quick. You know, I was fortunate to have my lieutenant there at the time in my squad. So he called up on the radio. squat so he called up on the radio um you know i trained with my corpsman who just basically started doing everything i needed to do immediately uh put the tourniquets on uh you know did you you
Starting point is 00:33:54 had your legs still on you no so i instantly became a bilateral amputee you just blew your legs off yeah holy shit yeah so i i sustained bilateral like both my legs were gone um and did you know or you don't even know do you know i didn't know um i tried to even get up after and that's when i realized i'm like oh I can't get up. So that was kind of the realization, like, this is bad. I didn't know how bad it was because I couldn't move very well. But yeah, it was it was pretty much instantaneous once it happened. And the interpreter was standing next to you. What's that?
Starting point is 00:34:43 The interpreter was standing next to you. No, he wasn't standing next to you? What's that? The interpreter was standing next to you? No, he wasn't standing next to me. So essentially when you hit one IED, it's very likely that there are several in the area because their goal is panic. Like once you step on one, you try and set up. Obviously, you're not going anywhere for a while. set up you know obviously you're not going anywhere for a while um so he actually after i was injured and you know i was getting worked on by mccormand um he grabbed my rifle uh and he went to go set it down against a wall and unfortunately where he set the rifle down there was another ied did you hear that one go off yeah holy shit oh my god so so they so they succeeded they that's what they want they want chaos yeah and and damn yeah um so it was very unfortunate uh at the time. I didn't fully understand or comprehend what exactly was going on,
Starting point is 00:35:47 but it was, you know, especially like the interpreters, man, those guys want to bring the fight more than anyone else, even us, you know. They have an ax to grind. They're pissed. For sure. Yeah, they're pissed at the Taliban. And so how long does it take for the helicopter to come get you i don't i don't remember exactly how long it'd probably be
Starting point is 00:36:14 hours no not hours they're pretty responsive um but i'd say less than half an hour and what are your buddies telling you at the time? Are they talking to you? They're just trying to keep me awake, you know, really try and just make sure I don't pass out because then you kind of open up to like possible brain injury, you know. So it's just trying to keep me awake, keep me calm as much as possible. and if the guy wouldn't have been there
Starting point is 00:36:48 to put the tourniquet on you you would have just bled out and died for sure within minutes yeah um so yeah i mean i'm really alive because of was that the first tourniquet was that the first tourniquet you think that guy's ever been put put on like a real one not like on a dummy for a real one yeah yeah fuck you must have been so fucking nervous that guy it wasn't his first deployment he's very good at his job and as a squad leader i kind of i trained him very heavily on like pull that thing tight buddy yeah pull it pull it tight do it quick um and he yeah he knew exactly what he needed to do um you know despite the chaotic nature of it and like just watching your it's your body you know it's someone you know um and they're dependent on you and he did everything he needed to and i'm still here because of it so
Starting point is 00:37:45 always thankful for that mike did you ever did you hear anyone um between you getting picked up and whenever you went unconscious say anything like hey this guy's not gonna make it or he might not make it did you hear any talk like that no um because i clearly, if you see someone with their legs off, you got to assume that they're not going to make it. Yeah. I don't remember hearing anything like that. I do remember waking up on a plane at a certain point on my way back. Where did they take you, like to Germany or something? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:38:26 So they'll take you to germany they do like the intensive the quick surgeries to get you stable before they send you back stateside so um but i remember waking up on the plane and um yeah it, that was probably the moment I realized I'm like, okay, this, my life is completely changed. Um, cause I just look around and I see other guys that are injured. Um, you know, other people that didn't make it at the time. Cause that was, that was one of the, the ops where it was, like I said, it was really rough. So we lost people, um, while we were out there but um at this it's it's got to be pretty surreal you wake up in the plane is that when you realize your legs are gone I wouldn't even say then I realized how extensive my injuries were uh so I woke up real quick and
Starting point is 00:39:17 then they put me in a medical induced coma because I was going into shock. So from then on, I didn't remember anything until I woke up in the hospital. In Germany. And are you all alone when you wake up? Any family or friends there? So I didn't have anyone in Germany, but they were waiting for me stateside once I got to Walter Reed where I basically went through, I don't even know how many surgeries. I think I had over 40 surgeries. Yeah, I read 40. Yeah. And you were in, did they, how long did they keep you in coma for,
Starting point is 00:39:54 medically induced coma? Not too long. Weeks or days? I'd say less than, I want to say less than a week. And you spent two months in the hospital? Yeah, a little over two months. Hey, I don't remember where I read it, but this part was the part that really tripped me out. I never thought of this.
Starting point is 00:40:14 You're 24 at the time, and I guess as human beings, we project out how we see our life is going to be, right? Yeah. And then all of a sudden, with your legs gone we see our life is going to be. Right? Yeah. And then all of a sudden, with your legs gone, your projection didn't make sense anymore. Right. And you went into a depression. And it's weird because I think of myself as pretty mindful, but I was like, fuck. I don't know if I do that. Did you know that you projected forward in time or did that become a harsh reality too? When you realize your legs, like everything was going to change.
Starting point is 00:40:47 Like, did that introduce you to ways that the mind works that you didn't realize it worked? For sure. Yeah. I mean, you don't think about it until you realize like, you know, you could project forward and kind of plan, have all these plans for yourself and where you see your life going in the direction, um um you know that you want and coming to that realization like all all those ideas or goals or aspirations i had are no longer in the cards um your whole life has to be reworked right yeah you're not gonna be a nascar driver or world-class marathoner
Starting point is 00:41:27 or right climbing ladders and working on roofs or yeah i mean you could be doing even some of those things but you don't see how it's possible at the time okay you don't you don't think about you know how how do i function and do even just normal daily tasks without legs you know uh I had no exposure to that kind of heavy injuries on you know how to basically function on a normal basis like day to day so it was yeah that was I you read was, um, it was like the first time I took a picture, uh, after my injuries was because my guys were still over in Afghanistan and there was like misinformation going around on how I was doing and stuff yeah and um basically it was like that was my realization moment like oh like that was the first time i saw like a full body picture of myself and i'm like i do not look the same um you know so that was the first time i hopped out of the hospital bed and uh were you in amazing shape when that happened i was in pretty good shape yeah so i
Starting point is 00:42:47 mean i was because you look pretty good there you i mean it's pretty crazy to think that that dude's been in bed for two months yeah yeah so i mean i lost a lot of muscle mass i think around there was probably around 110 um what are you now you're more more than that. I'm 155. Wow. 155 with no legs. That's crazy. With no legs, yeah. So you're this kind of the same size man I am, but I have legs.
Starting point is 00:43:13 Yeah. I'm a pretty big guy for not having legs. How tall were you? Six foot. And how much did you – what's the most you ever weighed in your life? uh six foot and how much did you what's the most you ever weighed in your life uh uh pre-injury probably somewhere close to 200 pounds yeah you but you look bigger than a six foot guy right like you're a big guy you were a big guy yeah i mean you look like a giant in those shots next to colt when you're in your wheelchair, you look like a fucking monster. Yeah. I appreciate it. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:43:45 It's definitely training has been paying off for sure. And, um, in some of the footage, I see that you have a prosthetic legs. Do you not use those anymore? So I, I have them.
Starting point is 00:44:00 I need to get refitted for them, um, in order to use them more on a daily basis. When's the last time you put those on? It's been a minute, so I don't fit in them currently. If I put them on and try to take a few steps, they'd probably fall off. You don't want them? No, I do want them. I just need to go see my prosthetist and get refitted for them.
Starting point is 00:44:26 No, you're what? You're prosthetist? Prosthetist. Honey, I swear it's a prosthetist. No, yeah, prosthetist. Honey, listen. Listen, I'm not good at spelling. Stop reading my text.
Starting point is 00:44:38 I'm just bad at spelling. Yeah, that would be a dangerous. Why isn't that urgent for you to do? I don't get it. Like, if i lost my glasses i'd be like fuck yeah but you lost your legs and you're like yeah get around to it it's um it's painful to walk and it's much easier to get around the chair where's the painful like just cutting into your like where it attaches yeah so basically what you do Is you sit in a socket
Starting point is 00:45:05 With your residual limb And mine is a severed femur So it's just constant Impact As you're taking each step Oh on the bone there? Yeah Hey so you do have some of your legs left
Starting point is 00:45:20 Yes Oh how stoked are you So it's very fortunate So Because if you have even too high amputation Yes Oh how stoked are you So as Very fortunate So Because if you have Even too high amputation It's really hard to use Prosthetics
Starting point is 00:45:31 Even more so So I And your balance I have to assume your balance And everything is so much better Than if you didn't And just your ability To do certain things
Starting point is 00:45:41 Yeah Absolutely So I I still have the majority of my femur. Uh, my amputations are like right above the knee. Um, so I still have like even some muscle and some ligaments to where I can, you know, swing through on the prosthetics. Um, so very fortunate in that respect, um, to be able to do that. I don't have my knees, so I do need mechanical knees with my prosthetics. But, yeah. Hey, do you – are you – I don't know how to ask this.
Starting point is 00:46:18 Are you – do you accept your new body or are you comfortable in your new body or is it still you wake up every morning and you're like, like I got a new car once. And like every morning I woke up for like three years, I couldn't believe I had a car, a new car. Or like I got a new refrigerator a couple of days ago. I can't even fucking believe it. Like I walked by it and I can't, but if my whole body changed, I don't know if I, in 10 years, it would be enough time for me to be like. Yeah, I think. Is it still weird?
Starting point is 00:46:44 Like you're like, what? Yeah, yeah no i've come to terms with it now um but it took a long time took several years i mean is there a moment is there a moment or no just one day you realize oh shit i've come to terms with it i think it's just a progressive thing over time and you face it several times so like early on in my injury I mean it was it was hard um you know you go you try and get your mind off of it you go to the movie theater you watch a I remember as a time I went to go see a movie with my family um and you know you're you're invested in a movie you're watching for like two hours credits roll and what do you do you get up and you leave the movie theater well I was still trying to get up and I'm like oh yeah you forgot in that two hours
Starting point is 00:47:38 you kind of just lost yourself wow crazy you're so invested in like the movie and everything yeah like oh you know and then I'm like oh wait I can't do that anymore so it in like the movie and everything yeah like oh you know and then i'm like oh wait i can't do that anymore so it's like moments like that you realize they're like it hits you hard you know um so initially the first few years were pretty difficult you know you can't get out of bed how you normally got out of bed um so it was a long time coming to terms with it and then just over time you just learn to adapt you you what do you what do you do um do they um what do you do when you get out of the marine so you lose your legs and then you are you immediately out of the marines are like okay you're done uh bye so not initially um so you go through pt um then make sure you're able to could you've signed up for another four years could you be like no i'm
Starting point is 00:48:39 staying yeah right uh you can uh so they will not kick you out based on combat injury. You know, obviously, like, depending on your injuries or how severe they are, it limits essentially what you can do. Sure. Within the military. But I know guys who have the same. You can still train dudes or do a desk job. Exactly.
Starting point is 00:49:02 Or you can still, like, I mean, clearly you could be a coach coach or I don't know, a boot camp guy or whatever those guys are. Yeah. Yeah. Or you could lead. Or you could lead. You could be a general. I mean, fuck. True.
Starting point is 00:49:14 Yeah. I want a general who lost his legs. Then it's like someone who fucking knows like, hey, this shit's fucking crazy. There are guys who have the same level of injuries than me that are still active duty and out there and so uh kudos to them i wanted to be a you know go out there and um you know be in the infantry and stuff so i was like i i knew that wasn't an option for me uh anymore so i just decided i would be better off getting out of the military. I'd want to stay.
Starting point is 00:49:49 This is going to make me sound like a pussy, maybe because I am. But I'd want to stay just for security. Okay, I'm not going to get deployed again. I'm going to get a paycheck. I know I don't want any more change. I don't want to go out to that. I already lost my legs. I don't want to go to the outside world.
Starting point is 00:50:07 That's even more change. Like was part of you like i'll just stay it's kind of like staying in the military would be like staying in the womb a little longer i thought about it yeah i mean essentially it's very like you would be well taken care of um if you stayed in the military yeah your job wouldn't be as dangerous whatever you're doing um and they they take good care of you um but yeah i mean and that's a decision a lot of guys had to face back then was like what direction do i take my life now like if i get out i have no idea what i'm gonna do uh or where i'm gonna go um so but i knew that had to happen. Eventually you can't stay in the military forever. At some point they're going to boot you no matter how good you are. Um, so I just kind of decided, I was like, I need to figure out what I'm going to do with the rest of
Starting point is 00:50:55 my life. Okay. So, so, so how long after your injury do you get out? Um's see i got injured in may of 2012 i got out in january 2014 so two years yeah two years of basically yeah did they ever put you in another job or no it was just all healing a year and a half of just healing so when you get combat injured you get sent to window warrior battalion um and your your job essentially is just to get better um you're in a battalion with just all injured dudes just everywhere you look are there dudes with pieces missing yeah i say battalion so it sounds like this massive thing where i was located it was small because it was in san antonio so you have when you were battalion west and east for the marine corps um which are huge battalions at the time for combat injured.
Starting point is 00:51:48 And then San Antonio was very small. But I mean, it was still like 30, 40 dudes that were, you know, sustained combat injuries. Someone should do a sitcom about that place and like some part in the show you cry And some part in the show you laugh What a crazy scene dude Ah for sure Did you make any friends there you're still friends with? Yeah I still know like a few of them that are local
Starting point is 00:52:16 But a lot of them You know I met a lot of people In my time there that were even Not in the Marine Corps But I still keep tabs on a lot of Marines that I know that are there. Did you meet anyone who just had the exact same shit going on you did? Yep, they looked at you, you looked at him, and you're like, oh, fuck, you stepped on IEDs.
Starting point is 00:52:36 Like, uh-huh. You're like, yeah, me too. Yeah, it was a pretty common injury to sustain back then. So there was a lot of amputees over there for sure wild you know um um motorcycles accidents used to be the leading uh like business for prosthetics and you know what it is now what's that type two diabetes yeah yeah you ever do you ever think about that you're like motherfucker like like you see people with like i mean you must see it all the time in texas but people with legs and
Starting point is 00:53:10 you're like dude you need to be taking care better care of your body i would do anything to have those fucking things and you're fucking you're eating like an asshole and you're not like when's the last time you took those things out for a run like do you think that's like shit uh it's like when you see an old guy in a lamborghini you're like why do you get that yeah you know what i mean probably in the beginning um you know stuff like that would frustrate me but you know people are just kind of you know in their own lives and in their own environment and they can kind of get to the point to where you know health you know the detriment to your health over time and you don't really think about stuff like that till you're like oh crap you need to cut your leg off because you have diabetes like and then the
Starting point is 00:53:58 realization comes like like i made mistakes you um, crazy mistakes all through putting stuff in your mouth. Right. But it's kind of like, you don't think about it in the moment. Right. Or right now. Um, so, or you just can't stop. Right. That's how crazy the addiction is. Exactly. Yeah, for sure. Do you have anyone in your family who's, who has had an amputation because of diabetes? No. No, I haven't. But, yeah. If you see it, you should have a talk with them before that happens. Be like, dude, you're not going to like it.
Starting point is 00:54:33 I've trained people who are amputees that are from diabetes and stuff. You have? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it was a hard realization for him. But, I mean, it's like nobody thinks about having a disability at any point in their life. But, you know, you can get a car accident and you're going to wake up. It's not going to be the same. So, yeah, it's coming to that realization.
Starting point is 00:55:03 And it's crazy right now how healthy you are, right? I mean, you look amazing. You look like a perfect specimen of a man. Yeah. Yeah. It's coming to that realization. And it's crazy right now how healthy you are, right? I mean, you look amazing. You look like a perfect specimen of a man. Yeah. You look rock solid. Yeah, it was a lot of trial and error figuring out like, how do I, you know, I mean, fitness really kind of changed my life. It gave me a new perspective on like, okay, I can still do these things. changed my life it gave me a new perspective on like okay i can still do these things uh but i didn't know what i was doing after i initially got injured so i just rolled into like a globo gym and i was like i don't know how to use 90 of this equipment what do i do uh what year was that so that was probably like 2016 you didn't work out from 2012 to 2016 so i i mean i did like normal pte when you're in
Starting point is 00:55:47 wounded warrior battalion they don't care they'll they'll make you do pt and stuff um so but it's very like limited type stuff mainly cardio they have equipment uh that's adapted while you're in the military um here in san antonio So I used a lot of that equipment, like cable stuff. But once you're out of the military, it's like, good luck, you know, figure it out. So kind of figuring out how I can essentially continue to try and progress and be better. I had to figure out on my own. That's why I became a trainer. I was like, I want to help people figure this out, you know, um, that have possibly sustained any type of disability. So 2012 to 2016, you know, you haven't stepped foot in a global gym and then you go to a
Starting point is 00:56:39 global gym. Like who took you there? Why did you go there i just went myself yeah i just went myself and i was like i i want to like rolled up to a planet fitness and they're like a 20 sign in fee yeah you know there you go and then you're just like what the fuck yeah so it's a realization i'm like okay none of this stuff is tailored to me how do i make it work um and a lot of stuff i was like okay well i'll start with free weights. That's easy. They're like, okay, how do I use these machines? Transferring to a machine or stuff like that.
Starting point is 00:57:13 Did you ever get fat? Were you fat at this time or no? I gained a good amount of weight. And I think that was kind of like my turning point. I took a picture with Oh man Were you with your girl at that time? So we were Did you start working out because of her?
Starting point is 00:57:33 No I started working out ahead of time I took a picture For well one it was like this big event I went to And I met like President Bush or something And I The second one The second Bush? was like this big event i went to um and i met like president bush or something and i had to wear my second one the second bush yes i had to wear my dress blues and i no longer fit in my
Starting point is 00:57:54 dress blues and i was very upset about that and um so i realized i'm like okay okay, I need to, I need to basically get off my ass and, um, try and be better. Uh, so that was kind of my like turning point. I'm like, okay, my, my health, like this is the body I have today. I need to try and treat it better. So, um, yeah. Did you enjoy that first trip to the global gym? Did you enjoy it? No. Yeah. I just didn't know what I was doing. Um, you know, obviously I'd spent a lot of time working out prior to that, but I was like, I don't know how to make this work. And some of these things that I'm seeing. So I recognize this movement, obviously pull up.
Starting point is 00:58:38 I recognize this movement, obviously deadlift, but how about there's one coming up here. I don't know if you can see it on your phone. So is this a burpee? Essentially a burpee burpee to target yeah okay burpee to target and then what's this next move this next thing might be something like no not the muscle up there's one coming up that i'm like oh maybe i should have my sons do this it's like a gymnastics move where you put your hand um i recognize this this is kind of a this what's this so that's uh we just call that like a florida box transfer florida bench um so it's essentially like your box jump right so when you look at the box the box jump what is the stimulus you you start at the ground you go to a higher higher location so
Starting point is 00:59:20 how do you do that when you don't have legs you can't do a box jump so you you take yourself from a low point to a higher point is you know essentially what you're going for have your arms ever were your arms ever this big uh before your accident no um so arms they're great they're crazy is your dad are those your dad's arms or your mom's arms? You know who you get that from? Probably on my father's side, for sure, the arms. But yeah, they definitely were not that big prior. But when you're in a chair and a lot of the movements are shoulder and arm intensive. Man, you are a specimen. Thanks, man.
Starting point is 01:00:03 Look at you. Jesus. Man, you are a specimen. Thanks, man. Look at you. Jesus. Hey, when I think of I have a panic attack thinking of not having legs because like my go-to, I like to sweat every day. And it's so easy sweating getting on the assault bike. I don't mean to rub it in your face. But you can just get on for 10 minutes and just mangle yourself.
Starting point is 01:00:23 What do you do if you don't have legs? What's the fastest way to sweat if you don't have legs? What's the fastest way to sweat? If you don't have legs, what's like your go-to like, fuck, I got to sweat. I mean, using the assault bikes,
Starting point is 01:00:32 pretty good way to do it. Oh, so you'll just sit on it. You just do the arms. So yeah, I can sit on it and I'll just do the arms. So yeah, try next time you hop on an assault bike,
Starting point is 01:00:42 kick your legs up on the pegs and miserable. Yeah. Miserable. Yeah. So it requires crazy focus. Yeah, try – next time you hop on an assault bike, kick your legs up on the pegs and crank your arms. Yeah. Miserable. Yeah, so – It requires crazy focus. For sure. To not put my legs down. Crazy focus.
Starting point is 01:00:53 Yeah. Okay. So it's a burner for sure. So, yeah, I'll do some cardio or the ski. I'll do the skier just seated, just yanking that thing. But, yeah yeah So machines too Same machines So the skier
Starting point is 01:01:11 How do you do the skier? You just roll into it You lock off the seat So the seat doesn't roll around Yeah I'll lock my wheelchair I'll pull into it Skier makes some wider bases so you can actually pull your wheelchair all the way up to it um but yeah so it's just reach up and pull
Starting point is 01:01:32 down like you would on a ski you just can't obviously bend your knees and use that momentum to help you out but um do you have this equipment at home do you have you have a bike and a... I don't. No. No. So I have no home gym. I always travel to my gym here in San Antonio, the tribe, get my workouts in. I also train there as a coach. Don't you want one of those bikes at home or no?
Starting point is 01:01:58 I would love to. But now that I have a daughter, she is accumulating so many toys and I just don't have the, uh, the room. So she took my old workout room. So I had some old equipment, but. And, um, what are those handles on the other side? Are those some sort of adaptive handles? For sure.
Starting point is 01:02:18 Yeah. So those are made by Equip Products who makes fully adaptive equipment for what we use essentially on most of the workouts for adaptive CrossFit. So those mount on the front of the bar, and you can actually roll up to the front of the bike and use those handles. Basically, so then you're sitting in your chair, and you pull and push those handles. Right, yeah. sitting in your chair and you pull and push those handles right yeah and that's how you'll see it in most competitions because what i'm doing here uh a lot of people in my division aren't able to do because they you know i i'm with hip function uh athletes so i can move my legs and people in my division also have some functionality of their legs yeah Yeah. But getting up to the seat and sitting on it
Starting point is 01:03:07 is not possible for the majority of people who compete within my division. So you always see seated athletes on the front of an eco bike using those grips. When your wife sees that article, you guys just start talking on the phone? Yeah, so we exchanged a few messages and then we just kind of started talking We were there for each other in some really hard times, for sure And how long had it been since she had lost her friend?
Starting point is 01:03:42 If you're reading your article It hadn't been too long I don't think so right around the same time yeah it was pretty soon after and when the first time you guys see each other how do you guys coordinate that
Starting point is 01:03:58 so I mean we were talking for probably well over a year before we actually met in person um so it's kind of just just back and forth we talk like every day um so it was just over time we realized like hey we need to meet you know um so at that before you met did you guys both know that you liked each other you're like you you just yeah you're like hey i'm attracted to you like yeah it didn't it didn't happen uh right away but it it just well i mean the attraction she's beautiful right
Starting point is 01:04:32 but just the realization i'm like oh like there's something here you know um so it definitely did you have a girlfriend at the time of your injury mike Mike? I did at the time. Yeah, you did. Yeah. And then you guys separated. Yeah, there was a, it was a very hard time in my life. Uh, yeah, I bet I was, I was not an easy person to be around. Um, so it was, yeah, it was, it was definitely a time in my life where it was coming to terms with, you know, everything and who I was and what I, my goals, aspirations, like we talked about. And yeah, it was a, it was a hard time.
Starting point is 01:05:19 Did you ever think about ending your life? No, no. That was kind of i does your mom ask you that by the way does your mom be like hey hey dickhead if you ever think about ending your life don't i'm like i can't you have to like stick it out for me did anyone ever say that to you for sure there was concern yeah um you know i i got out of the military and i lived on my own for several years so it was just kind of how you did that i'd either stayed in the military or gone back to my mom for sure for sure that's crazy yeah well she was there with me in the beginning um because i was so i was unable to do even like normal tasks on my own even after i got
Starting point is 01:06:07 discharged from the hospital like i couldn't push up uh i couldn't push up my driveway um or anything so i lost essentially like all the strength or independence i had and had to kind of rebuild that. So you couldn't even do one pull. You couldn't even do one pull up. Could you even hang from a bar? Could you hang from a bar? No. Damn. So I actually still have like massive scar right here. You can't see it too well, but I lost like a good portion of my forearm as well.
Starting point is 01:06:48 So even just like pushing around in a chair was difficult i had an electric chair when i first got injured because i wasn't able to push myself or use a manual chair um so recovery was long um and very difficult to kind of even just get around and you were you pissed and when you say you were hard to be around, you were just pissed? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, sure, I was upset. I was like, man, like, my life is so messed up now.
Starting point is 01:07:18 Like, where do I go from here? And just coming to terms with everything and then coming to terms with everything we had to do over there too so it was when you're deployed you don't think about a lot of that stuff and you don't work through you know everything you just went through and i'm working through what i did we had to do on deployment the things we faced and then also like not having legs um so it was a not having legs um so it was a very hard shift in my life of you know how do i how do i move forward and i didn't feel like i could yeah due to have great military careers will get out and
Starting point is 01:08:01 be like think for a second that they're incapable of doing anything like, because they don't think it's the skills are transferable. So not only do you have all these skills that you don't know that you have, but you came out with like, like you said, without your legs. And so your whole shit's upside down. And, and, and I mean, basically the part we haven't talked about that you're alluding to now is that in all your muscles had atrophy and you were incapable of even the most basic tasks. Yeah. Like not getting up your driveway is fucking feeble as fuck. I mean, that's like,
Starting point is 01:08:32 that's decrepitude. That's like, Hey, when you see like your mom or your dad that struggled to get up the driveway, you're like, they have a week to live. You know what I mean? I mean,
Starting point is 01:08:40 that's fucked up. Wow. Crazy. Yeah. It was definitely like, I'm like, I mean, that's fucked up. Wow. Crazy. Yeah. It was definitely like, uh, I'm like, you know, just come to that realization of like, there's, there's nowhere, like I can't do anything on my own. Um, you know, and I, at the time you don't see how you move forward from that. So it was, it was a, a like i said it was hard to be around me at the time because i was just miserable um but you know over time i realized you know i was fortunate enough to be
Starting point is 01:09:12 exposed to like certain people who had been through the same stuff i had been through and that helped me kind of see like okay there's there's ways to move forward this you did so so other dudes who were like 10 years ahead of you in the journey without their legs and like be like hey mike i'm sergeant so and so i was yeah so i had a lot of people visit me in the hospital some of them like important politicians or in it all this other crap of just like random people like a revolving door. Oh, your governor doesn't have legs. Yeah. He's a bad dude.
Starting point is 01:09:49 He's a fun. Yeah, he's a bad dude. So yeah, we had like a revolving door of people coming through. But the one I remember the most was, oh, I think I lost you. You still there? Thank you. okay Thank you for watching.ありがとうございました you you you you you you you Hold on. Hey, it sounds like, can you hear me? Can you hear me? Sounds like Savan's internet went down. Let me see.
Starting point is 01:16:09 How about that? Maybe? No? Oh, they can hear both of us. Okay, well, I can't. For whatever reason, I can't hear you. But it sounds like someone's internet went down. So he'll probably come back in a few. Sorry, I have to...
Starting point is 01:16:40 Huh. Well, Mike's audio is down. Okay. How's it going, everybody? I'm at work, if you can tell. This is my guard duty weekend. Okay, Mike. Did you change your audio at all, Mike? Or did you just... All right. No, nothing.
Starting point is 01:17:10 That's weird. Let me see if I can fix your audio here. Edit mic settings. Oh, I hear something now. There you go. There you go. Hey. Cool. All right.
Starting point is 01:17:23 Hey, Mike. My name's Caleb. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you too, man. Sorry I couldn't be here for the rest of the show it sounds like it was pretty good yeah it's going well uh i don't know what happened to savon it sounds like his internet went down oh no oh and in california they they don't really uh don't give you Internet. They only give you so much Internet. You know, it's like it's like minutes on your phone. They limit you, huh?
Starting point is 01:17:50 Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. That sounds about right. Hey, how's it going? It's going great, man. So Savant's Internet is kaput.
Starting point is 01:17:58 He's done. Oh, wow. Yeah. He just called me and said to do the same. And I like scrambled in here. And oh, no no it's not even working but uh yeah so we're gonna have to uh we're gonna have to get back with you i don't know why yeah no that's fine that'd be cool um so yeah just so you know i'm just so you
Starting point is 01:18:17 know i'm the one that came up with the title i just figured it'd be uh it was a good good jab at colton you know yeah i posted i posted it to my story i was like uh sorry colton i promise i didn't choose the title uh that was good i liked it oh good all right cool well i gotta get back to work so suza are you good to go yeah i'll land the plane here thanks caleb you look good in a uniform look Thanks, man. Not as good as Mike, but I try to do justice. Look at Colton over here.
Starting point is 01:18:52 Oh, man. Sorry, Colton. I had to do it. Honestly, it was too easy. Too easy. All right. Well well it's nice to meet you mike we'll see you later all right sounds good there you go thank you all right mike so uh yeah someone gave me a call and i saw the text coming through and he's like my internet's down and then he called me he's like fuck you have to jump on there let him know yeah no you're good
Starting point is 01:19:19 and then uh i had a buddy call me he's like yeah you're just by yourself and they're still live and i was like oh i thought it went down i don't know if you saw the text i sent you but as soon as i pulled it up on my phone coming back i was like oh shit he's still alive i was like don't do anything crazy no no i had it i had it on do not disturb so i didn't know anyone was even still watching uh smart yeah i just was hoping that you didn't you know we didn't have any total disaster here with you you start picking your nose or something crazy like yeah no well thanks so much for your time brother we really appreciate it like i said we'll um i'll reach back out as soon as i talk with seven we figure out what's uh what's actually going down and then um we'll get then we'll get you reset up here and kind of finish this off properly.
Starting point is 01:20:07 Okay. Yeah, just let me know. Right on. Sure will. Thank you so much. All right. Have a good one, man. Later, brother. See ya. All right, guys. Interesting. You never know what's going to happen. You're always along for the ride.
Starting point is 01:20:21 This is the way we do it. It's live. It's just straight up. It is what it is. Internet goes down. Kayla was able to jump in and help out and i like scrambled in and then uh yeah land the plane but um thanks for uh thanks for andres you didn't andre should i miss the live again kinda the first hour was good Eric Wise News with Sousa I don't have any news right now But I am planning on doing something Next week
Starting point is 01:20:53 I think I'm finally going to get it together And do what Sevan's been kind of pushing me to Do for a while Which is a weekly show So I'm thinking it's going to be on Tuesday at 11am Is going to be the Is going to be on Tuesday at 11 AM is going to be the, um, is going to be the, uh, the plan right now. Uh, good job, Susan and Caleb, um, Marissa, Susan for the rescue.
Starting point is 01:21:13 Actually, Caleb, I think was really to the rescue. He just jumped in and like kept it going on the phone at work. What a savage, what a savage. Okay guys. So I think we're going to be back. Possibly Dave's week in review. Later on this afternoon. Have you guys been seeing that new news segment that Sebon's been doing? It's been awesome. I mean, the numbers on it are fucking crazy, but I really like that flow and what he's been doing. It's been great. My computer's a lot of whack. I'm like, it's a mess in here too. Still the chair left over from the live we did last night. Okay, so we'll be back later today I think with a week in review. Tomorrow we have Greg Glassman coming up.
Starting point is 01:21:58 On the 15th we have Chris Cooper. So we got an awesome week going down still. So we'll see you guys later today. Adios. Have a great day. Bye-bye.

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