Security Halt!
Welcome to Security Halt! Podcast, the show dedicated to Veterans, Active Duty Service Members, and First Responders. Hosted by retired Green Beret Deny Caballero, this podcast dives deep into the stories of resilience, triumph, and the unique challenges faced by those who serve.
Through powerful interviews and candid discussions, Security Halt! Podcast highlights vital resources, celebrates success stories, and offers actionable tools to navigate mental health, career transitions, and personal growth.
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Security Halt!
From Military to Meme Lord: Spencer Payne's Path to Impactful Nonprofit Work
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In this engaging episode of the Security Halt! Podcast, host Deny Caballero sits down with Spencer Payne to explore his remarkable journey from military service to becoming a meme lord and successful entrepreneur. Spencer shares his experiences transitioning from the army to launching Brotallion, a thriving apparel brand, and founding a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting veterans and their families. Discover the challenges and triumphs of nonprofit work, the importance of community, and how passion can drive impactful change. Tune in for insights on leadership, innovation, and the power of humor in building connections. Get ready for an unforgettable episode that reminds us all why community, storytelling, and resilience matter.
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Chapters
00:00 - Introduction and Welcome
02:15 - Spencer's Journey into the Military
08:30 - The Birth of Brotallion
15:45 - Transitioning from Military to Entrepreneurship
22:10 - The Nonprofit Initiative
30:00 - Challenges and Rewards of Nonprofit Work
38:20 - Future Aspirations and Goals
45:00 - Closing Remarks and Call to Action
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Website: https://brotallion.com/
Website: https://www.flybbsf.org/
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Produced by Security Halt Media
Security Odd Podcast. Let's go. The only podcast that's purpose-built from the ground up to support you Not just you, but the wider audience, everybody. Authentic, impactful and insightful conversations that serve a purpose to help you. And the quality has gone up. It's decent, it's hosted by me, Danny Caballero. I find myself dreaming of those days. Not either here nor there Spencer from Welcome Security Out podcast. How's it going, brother?
Speaker 2:Good man, how are you?
Speaker 1:Doing well. It's an honor to have you here, good sir. A fellow individual who found themselves doing something completely out of the ordinary on their second chapter in life after the military man. Yep individual who found themselves doing something completely out of the ordinary on their, you know, second chapter in life after the military man.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:So you know you're an accomplished meme lord or part of an accomplished set of meme lords.
Speaker 2:That's the second time I've been referred to as a meme lord in a week. That's new for me.
Speaker 1:It's the internet, the interwebs, people, that's. Uh, that's our title, our respected, and we're now you're in the business of making people laugh. Yeah, you're a meme. Lord doesn't come with a fancy title or cloak. I wish it did, though, I know. So tell us, man, how do you find yourself, uh, getting into? And now you're launching a non-profit too, and I want to dive into that as well yeah, absolutely how does that happen in today's world?
Speaker 2:um, I mean, I guess I can start from the beginning.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, take it all the way back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So, uh, I grew up in oxford, tennessee, and, you know, never necessarily had any plans to go into the military. Saw Top Gun at a young age. Resonated with me a lot, as did, you know, probably the Navy's best recruiting tool ever, but never really thought that that was like a viable path. And I played soccer, was somewhat decent and got recruited at Navy and the Merchant Marine Academy and I was like oh hey, maybe I could.
Speaker 2:Actually I didn't know anything about like ROTC or warrant officer or any of this stuff. Man, it's like the only thing I knew was like I thought you had to go to like a service academy and then you went and flew stuff you know, uneducated and uneducated, ignorant or whatever and uneducated but ignorant or whatever. So fast forward, ended up going to king's point and commissioned out of the army. There I went down to rucker um and did about seven or eight years active duty in a couple years in the tennessee guard. And uh, kind of early on and in my career, at our first duty station out of jblm, my buddies brett and kyle and I were all in the same battalion and just sort of gravitated towards each other. We loved, you know, just flying and working out and having a good time on the weekend, and somebody in the battalion leadership nicknamed us the bro-tallion, so that's where the name came from. We would always show up to meetings together and it was just like a little high school click I don't know what else to describe it, as you know. And uh, we had a group chat I mean the group chat still exists today and just started documenting flying helicopters and stuff and the, the guys and gals that flew and fixed them and everything. You know, we were young in our careers and this is early days of social media too, before it was. So you know, everybody's a videographer and everything's curated and perfectly, it was like, hey, you know, I that's friday I cooked a steak and drank a beer and like my 13 friends liked it. You know, there was like a level of authenticity and I say that because like there wasn't a bunch of other aviation content out there, I think specifically military. So, um, unknowingly, sort of like first movers in that space, if you will, and uh, just kept doing it throughout our career and, um, sort of, as we progressed, recognize that army aviation struggled from a culture and representation standpoint when compared to, say, like the Navy and the air force and these cool traditions that they have, like flight suit friday and call sign parties and squadron bars and stuff, and the army is like, hey, you can't even wear a flight suit anymore, you're gonna have something that looks just like everybody else. You know that kind of stuff. And so it was like, hey, maybe we can kind of combat that through apparel and some other things. Um, and you know's the, the dime a dozen cliche of the military t-shirt company, but our niche was sort of serving aviation, because we felt it was underrepresented and, um, yeah, just kind of. It was always just sort of a side hustle, to be quite honest with you. Um, something that we did for fun.
Speaker 2:And then when I got out and uh went back to school, I had more time to work on it, and so did Brett, as he was transitioning and it was starting to grow. I mean, as you know, the more time you put into something, the the faster it grows, and I just kind of became passionate about it. And, um, I read a book shoe dog as well in school, which is, if you haven't heard of it, I highly recommend it. It phil knight's memoir on like starting nike. And uh, I mean, he did, he did the same shit everybody. He didn't know what he was doing, making up a company on the fly, like he had to go back and get another job five years in to pay the bills and stuff. And so I was like you see, nike is what it is today.
Speaker 2:And then you see how it started and it's like, you know, it was just a regular dude like anybody else trying to grind it out and that kind of resonated so, figured, fuck it. Uh, let's not do this consulting thing and let's see if we can grow this instead, and if it doesn't work out, you can always go back and get a real job, so to speak. So, um, that was sort of the the pathway into that. Uh, I always say, like I accidentally started, we, we accidentally started bro time. It was never like this is this business plan and we're going to go out and like capture all this. It was just, uh, an opportunity that presented itself and it's been a real blessing to to work with Brett on it, and for me too, like he still flies in the guard. I'm removed from the community now, so it's a fun way to stay tied to something that was, know, an integral part of my life and professional career. Um, so, yeah, I mean, I'm happy to like yeah, dude give more detail.
Speaker 2:I don't want to like, sit here and just ramble at you.
Speaker 1:So I mean, that's ramble away, ramble ramble away you're touching on a lot of things that so many of us don't. We don't have time. We don't have time to think about that. Chapter two, what we're still in, few of us do um, if you're an aviator, your hours are insane.
Speaker 1:Man, I've got a shout out to my terminal cwo counterpart. Uh, you know, just if you have friends in that profession, you're constantly understanding just how fucking insane timelines are. The the amount of work that goes into that's not even talking about, like the support people, your crew chiefs and everybody involved in the aircraft. It's. You have a lot and you don't. You rarely get the opportunity to stop taking me. Figure out what you're going to do, and that's what I love about these little communities.
Speaker 1:What you created gives everybody something that they can look on and feel proud about what they do. Everybody can look on a video game or a movie tv show that you know glorifies a soft operator and be like yeah, fuck, yeah, dude, that's me. I'm the character in that fucking video game. But what about the guy that spends all day on the flight line getting that fucking crash hawk ready to go? What about the fucking dude that spends all day on the flight line getting that fucking crash hawk ready to go? What about the fucking dude that spends all day working on fucking the apache that's broken down for the umpteenth millionth time? You know they deserve the ability to look and see them being represented, because you know it's not just about the pilot, it's everybody's involved.
Speaker 1:Like it gives them a sense of community, sense of pride, of like I make that fucking thing fly like I get in there and I get it, and what you guys create I mean you're 111 000 followers and the fan base is growing. It's everywhere, dude. You guys created something that is iconic. Now we see it and it's given other people in the same space the ability to like, realize that their dreams of like. I want to go into cinematography. If you look at some of the videos are being produced right now on short form for aircraft. That's crazy, insane, insane. And if you pull, if you look and you pull the layers down and you do the connection, it can be directly attributed to individuals such as yourself that were the first ones to go out there in this space and say, hey, this is what we are, we're going to be proud of it Because you're right.
Speaker 1:If you look at the Air Force, you go to any base and the squadrons have their own little things. Like I was in Osan because my wife's Air Force, I got the chance. Never thought in a million years 7th Special Forces Group would send a Spanish speaker to Korea, but it happened. I went to Korea because we thought we were going to war and they needed a soft liaison. But even for the short amount of time I did in Korea, I was able to witness these squadrons had these insane niche connections and they had their, their little gang, scooter gangs and oh yeah bike gangs and scooter gangs and the number one thing that came to mind is like our aviators don't do that shit, like why don't our pilots do that?
Speaker 1:and it's because, like it's not something that it's it's not looked upon highly as important. I mean, fuck, dude, like you go to seventh group. Seventh group dudes are different than third group. Everybody has their ability to wrap their set and be different, and I feel like we need that man, and you've certainly been able to do that through the shirts, dude. That's something that's attributed to you guys as well. I want to kind of dive into that man. Like did you guys ever find yourself like in hot water for the culture that you were creating?
Speaker 2:I'm not in the army anymore, so I don't give a shit. You can send me nasty grams all day long. No, I mean like anything else. Well, first of all, I'd love to go back regarding the growth of the page and that's all. My business partner, brett I mean he slaves on. It's a full-time job and you're in the media space, so he's constantly on there creating content, partnering with people, answering DMs, all that kind of stuff on top of the other marketing mechanisms and stuff, and I'm not involved in it anymore. We used to sort of pass the torch back and forth in the early days, and I don't remember at what point. I think it was like 2019, 2020-ish. I think it was when I had just gotten down to Dustin and he was like you know what? I'm going to just take ownership of this thing, and you know he's done a miraculous job ever since that, so shout out to him for for doing all that stuff. Um, now, I forgot what your question was.
Speaker 1:You see, tbi impacts aviators too, the amount of strain in your head when you're pulling g's. Yep, oh, oh bad, no, the, the, the shifting culture, oh, yes when you start these, these um little meme groups uh being able to influence, and positively.
Speaker 1:You know, we're not trying to fucking destroy people's careers. We're not trying to fucking destroy people's careers. We're not trying to, you know, fucking tell people to rage against the machine. We're just trying to inspire, like, some motivation and passion for your work and it comes through on, you know, posts and t-shirts. But sometimes that can also come with some backlash from commanders that are quote-unquote as the kids that you say the old heads.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, there's been a couple of times maybe, or someone's been displeased, but quite honestly, I mean, I I not a lot. Yeah, not, it would. It's surprising that it's not more, I guess, because a lot of our stuff is is a little tongue in cheek. I mean, we have some things where, like I mean, there are there are times where I will go through and maneuver some things around on the on the website, depending on, like, what other types of relationships we might be working with, cause you know, the custom apparel stuff is a big part of what we do and most of the clientele is is aviation units, um, but we've started to branch out of that and it's the same process and things for, you know, other businesses and stuff like that. We just did something with university of tennessee which was cool for me oh, no shit coming from there.
Speaker 2:and so, like you know, those types of organizations certainly don't understand nor should they sort of like the type of humor and the things that get us going and get us out of bed and get us through the day, and so sometimes I'll find myself strategically like moving some things around, just to make sure it's not like top of mind, top center, in case they happen to pop on here and see what else you know, shuffle this design.
Speaker 1:It's the last page.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would be lying if I said I hadn't done that a few times. But yeah, man, I mean, ultimately, no matter what you do, there's always going to be people that are talking shit or frustrated or whatever else. Um, and I'd like to think that I mean we get a lot of positive feedback and stuff. There's nothing better than like going through and screening through um reviews and stuff and just seeing somebody be like man, I freaking love this, love this. You know, I used to fly whatever. They're not even in anymore. It like reminded them of the good old days and that kind of like. That stuff inspires us to continue to grind it out and do this. So more positives than negatives, at least from my perspective. But I'm not on the the. I'm not on the Instagram or the Facebook, so Brett might have more insight to nasty DMs from somebody that's pissed off about something.
Speaker 1:Army aviation sucks. Okay. Yeah, dude, when it came time to leave, what was the initial idea of going like you know we talked about, you know, understanding that maybe you can't sacrifice and make it your full time job. Did you focus on this as your primary mission or were you very much in the mindset of like hey, for right now this is going to be like my, my side chick. I got to find a main job and go into that first. I chick.
Speaker 2:I got to find a main job and go into that first when I left the army, so there's a couple of really good uh platforms out there. Veteran professional, or better at, veterans. In my professional I think he's primarily podcast now and reps a steer co. Another meme, lord.
Speaker 2:Um yeah, love that dude. And they, they did a yeah, kyle, I believe they've. They've done a great job sort of educating folks on opportunities post, uh, military and, like you know, not the way but a way to transition. Um, and that had come out like right as I'd already sort of made my mind up that I was going to get out. I just sort of stumbled across this MBA program that Tennessee had.
Speaker 2:I knew that I had the GI Bill Um and I thought that it might be a tool that I could use to help sort of pivot into the corporate world. And that was the intent of going there and that was what I was uh interviewing for and my plans afterwards and the pro Italian thing, just like I was saying earlier, I just had more time to work on it and I did like some pitch competitions and stuff in school and just got exposed more to that side of things and I had fun with it. It was, it was fun Um. I didn't hear anybody talk about consulting being fun. You know um and the book and everything.
Speaker 2:So my intent was to go to grad school, pivot into the corporate world and, like rotina would be a side hustle thing, and I left and graduated with that being my primary focus, um so, and I was still flying in the guard too, so I had some other means of income to help augment that and stuff, um, and then I just I haven't really looked back since and that was, uh, 2021, I think, something that. So the last few years, this has been my primary focus for work, so to speak.
Speaker 1:Dude, that's amazing. I think that's everybody's dream of being able to go into something with that much passion. But it's important to understand too. You've got to go into it. Understanding what's your overhead? Do you have, have four kids and a wife depend on you Do you have to land that job first.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a really great call out, because my wife and I don't have kids and she's very much like um, down for any type of adventure or whatever, likes to move a lot and stuff, and so when I sort of pitched this like, hey, I'm, you know, yeah, let's do it, let's you know, if it doesn't work we'll just do something else and you know, get a normal job or whatever.
Speaker 1:So we were in here, oh man Um so that we were in a unique position.
Speaker 2:Yeah, To be able to do something like that, which is like your to your point. And then you got kids and other stuff going on and you don't necessarily have the ability to take a massive pay cut and try and make something like this work. So, um, I'd say that, plus, you know, the opportunity to be in the guard for a couple of years too, was was helpful, for that. Shout out to to the guard. I mean, I didn't know this again, I'm just, my whole life is a story of not knowing things, um, until I'm, like, thrust into them. You know the, the, the guard aviation situation is awesome.
Speaker 2:They have the same flying hour requirement, minimum hour requirements as active duty guys. Um, in my experience my experience and again, opinions will vary people will probably push back on this in some circumstances, but a lot more opportunities to fly, uh, opportunities for schools and tracks, especially for commissioned guys, which isn't typically, uh, a normal scenario. Active duty it's very much like a warrant officer thing to go to mtpc or ipc another rename and some of the stuff too. So I might be butchering that, but, um, yeah, the guard is awesome. So it's not just your typical.
Speaker 2:You know, one weekend a month, two weeks a year, like you have what's called AFTPs and pilots and crew are coming in and flying. I think it's like 96 AFTPs, additional flight training periods, because you can't be proficient in a career that will kill you a couple of days a month, like that's just not going to cut it. So it's a super cool. I say that because you know it was a little bit more of an income that I could get. Still like flying part time while doing this until we really get some legs on it.
Speaker 1:So and what was the main drive for leaving active duty? Was it just burnout frustration?
Speaker 2:yeah, I mean, um, I knew I was gonna get out when I was in that I went. I deployed afghanistan in 2017 and the first half of my rotation I was up north in mez and it was me and I was managing two crews in 260s, um, and we were co-located with an aob and it was awesome. And then I woke up to go to the bathroom one night and had a signal message or whatsapp, whatever platform we were using and it was like, hey, pack up your shit. You're coming to bagram to be the brigade s1 tomorrow, um. And so I just remember sitting in there and that's the army, like you get, especially as a commission guy.
Speaker 2:Like I knew that time was coming up and I was like, oh, I was actually getting sick of. We flew missions every day. It was awesome, but at the same time, I was like man, I'm getting tired of this. Like you know, flying every day, it's like you gotta soak this up because it's coming to an end soon. I think I had like a year and a half platoon leader time, which is on the long side. I know some guys that didn't even get a year, um, and so was kind of in bath doing that gig and I was like I think this is the beginning of the end for me. Like you know, chances are I'm probably not going to be back in the cockpit.
Speaker 2:You know, maybe as a company commander, if you're lucky enough to get a flight company and, um, I don't know, I just kind of frustrated a lot with it's so difficult to implement change or like do something new, um, because it's always been done this way or whatever other reason. And I really have started to struggle with that as I've gotten older. It was just kind of like for so many years it was always yeah, whatever you tell me to do. From being a child to that, I was just kind of like for so many years it was always yeah, whatever you tell me to do. From being a child to that, I was like I don't think I can. I just can't do it anymore. And I think that's another reason too. Like I have to make this shit work, like I can't go work for somebody else and like just I just can't put up with stuff anymore. I think, as far as you know, once the walls break the dam is just destroyed.
Speaker 2:So I, I kind of knew I think it was like, yeah, this has been a wonderful chapter and I got to do a bunch of cool shit and meet great people, but I think I'm gonna try my hand at something else.
Speaker 2:And the guard was a great way to to wean myself off of that too, because, like, you're still getting the adrenaline rush of flying, you still have the camaraderie of the boys, um, you know the the team slash locker room type environment that you love, and that's the things that I miss the most too. But it was a good way to sort of like, not just go cold turkey but for a couple of years, sort of phase out of that chapter of life. Yeah, ultimately, especially as I was finishing up in the guard, I found myself starting to get more frustrated with stuff, and I don't I did the last thing I would do is be like that negative guy in the unit that like drags, because that shit's so fucking toxic. Um, and so it was like, yeah, like this is the universe telling me it's time to close a chapter and, and you know, do something else. So I just I just sort of knew honestly, I don't know how else to describe it no, no, it's often that I share openly.
Speaker 1:Man, you got to figure out what you want in life and often enough, the first steps is understanding when you're being a detriment to the people around you. Nobody wants to be around that and you're dragging everybody else down. We've all been there, we've all served that individual that should have retired, that should have ets'd four years ago, and all he does or she could be both just bitch moan, complain and it makes everything worse. Yep, like, get out, be happy somewhere. Like some people are addicted to being miserable I think so I honestly dude.
Speaker 2:I believe that those people will go do something else and do the same shit. It's a mindset, but I just I wasn't gonna like turn into that person. It's like no, well, that was the other thing. It was like I, I have a an issue with like god, this sucks, and I'm then then get out and go do like if you don't enjoy this and it's making you that miserable, like if your contract is up or your ad, so whatever, then like why not go do something else? Otherwise shut the fuck up, because I don't want to listen to you complain about it. You don't get to complain and then not take action about it. It drives me insane. Like I get it everybody's do a good bitch session and stuff, but like after a while it's like hey, if this is the same thing, like make a change man, well it's, you're in charge, like you're, ultimately in charge of your own life.
Speaker 1:Like at any moment you can say I'm done, I'm, I'm, I'm out of here. See you guys, I don't want to fucking deal with this shit, I'm out, it's just. It's a weird thing, man, it's weird mindset that I've seen and uh, it's, it's, I don't know. I wonder if that. When did that start in our chain of evolution? Like just, I can't, I can't imagine like two fucking core magnets just bitching and complaining. At what point did this begin? Oh yeah, man, like life's so much better. Like, especially when you're doing something like this, the entrepreneur route, when you're, you're on your own, or maybe with a core group of people, like that's, that's ultimately the dream, because you're not alone, you're on your own, or maybe with a core group of people. Like that's ultimately the dream, because you're not alone, you're in the trenches with somebody else. Yeah, and you don't have to sit there and just think like, is this a really bad idea? I don't have anybody else to bounce off of, except for you. Chatgtp, thank you.
Speaker 2:Yes, you're a godsend, the world's best intern. I turn it's yeah. I find myself saying thank you a lot. Yeah, that's good if you have a rapport and established documentation of being good. When the ai overlords take over one day down the future, they'll be like hey, you know what he was polite? Well, we'll give him a nicer prison cell, you know 90, why I?
Speaker 1:say thank you and please, dear chat g, please develop my content creation calendar for this week. Give me some ideas for memes, but, dude, you guys are moving into the nonprofit space. Now, how did that come about? Like, what was the driving force behind that?
Speaker 2:I'm glad you asked about that because that is my passion. I honestly believe that I made it safely out about that because that is, uh, my passion. Um, I honestly believe that I made it safely out of that career for this reason. Um, I like I was messaging you beforehand when I saw the 850 numbers. The last duty station for me was with seventh group and I went and did a liaison gig down there. Um, and destin and I was in first battalion and we lost a couple of guys in August of 2019 and that was my last trip.
Speaker 1:yeah, jose, yeah, st Louis yeah.
Speaker 2:So I had never experienced casualty from the aviation side, so that was a new experience for me working in the op cell, and one of the first things that happened was the op. So I had one of the captains get on the phone with the green break foundation. Um, I can't remember if it was Lou or the other. One of them had more of a complex family situation and you know only certain people. The army is going to send it over for the transfer, and so it was like, hey, gbf, we'll take care of that and make sure that whoever needs to be there will be there. So that was. I was like, okay, cool, I'd never heard of the Green and Gray Foundation. So, like you know, getting on there looking at their stuff, I was like, man, this is awesome, like they're doing incredible things for their community and its families and all that stuff. So that was sort of like the first light bulb that went off, so to speak, and all that stuff. So that was sort of like the first light bulb that went off, so to speak. Um, and then the other thing was I can't remember his name, but the red 70s guy. He was the first bad dude, I'm pretty sure. Did, you know, a lot of the custom swag for all the group guys, similar stuff as bro talion, but for the gb community. Then he did a memorial shirt. Friend ran it was like a limited item for a month and then gave all the profits to the spouses to help with. You know, food and all the other stuff that stacks up. And I was like, well, that's fucking cool, like he's using this company to do good stuff for his community.
Speaker 2:Um, and about a month later, september 26 2019, a 60 went down at fort polk and major trevor joseph was, uh, the pilot command and did not come back from that flight. And so I hit up Brett and Kyle and was like, hey, what do you think about doing a memorial t-shirt for him and basically just duplicating what that seven had done? And it's like and then we can, you know, maybe we can raise a couple thousand dollars or something for his wife, aaron, and I don't know, but let's see if we can turn some of this traction that we have into something good. And so everybody was on board and we tried it and it was more like 13 grand that we were able to raise for her, and so it was like holy shit, like proof of concept is here community willing to support?
Speaker 2:And then kind of started doing some more research and there was no 501c3 organization. That was like taking care of the army aviation community and his gold star families, 160th has nice doctor's associations and things like that, but green army aviation did not exist. Um, and so my neighbor at the time was actually a cobraobra guy in the Marines and he used to fly with this guy, jack Rivera, who started the Wingman Foundation and they have the same mission set, but for naval aviation. So Navy Coast Guard, marine Corps incidents go down, they step in and do the Lord's work for them. And he was like, talk to this guy, maybe he can educate you or point you in the right direction or whatever. And he was the one person that said we needed to do it. Everybody else said no, it's like nobody needs this, it's another veteran nonprofit, it's a saturated space. And he's the only other person that got it Cause he was like dude, your community needs this. If nobody's doing it, then you know, then you need to step up and do it. So he's been, he's proven to be a great mentor and everything. So, long story short, we supported through rotalion for those first three mishaps that year and basically was just using our company and then just like give these funds to these families and then, uh, in 2020, finally got through the incorporation process and the charity determination, all that stuff for the irs and like set up the separate entity which is the foundation, and so that's been running since, I think, june of 2020. So we started serving the mission set in 2019, got everything officially stood up and separated in 2020 and then was able to remove Brotalia as sort of the primary funding source in the beginning of 23, because that was it couldn't stand on its own, we didn't have enough revenue and that kind of stuff. And so yeah it's.
Speaker 2:You know it's been an interesting journey.
Speaker 2:It's challenging because it's pretty much all volunteer, so it's tough to get people to dedicate time and I'm still running it as a business that has to be run and it's no different than anything.
Speaker 2:It's a fucking tax code. People don't understand that. It's like you know it means you don't make money. It was like, no, it just means you're not taxed on it and when people give it to you, like they can deduct it from their expenses. Like it operates the exact same way, like we need money to cover bills and everything else and the shit that it takes to run it, so that we can then go out and serve these programs and stuff. And so, um, it's been challenging to. You know, we've got a great, great team on board, um Brittany, uh Mulher helps out with all the social content and general jack of all trades, and it's just tough. You know, people have full-time careers and lives and trying to dedicate more time that they can. So, with all that said, my mom has worked in the business development and nonprofit space for quite some time and she just retired last year, oh shit. So I was like, hey, do you want to un-retire and come work for me for basically nothing I can just imagine that pitch we're glad you're done it, we're just gonna go get some something to eat real quick yeah yeah, interesting proposal mom no money listen
Speaker 2:I need to get to hang out with me, yeah I was like I need somebody to help me with donor relations and like she you know she's, that's her bread and butter, is what she does. Um, I am not Mr Network guy, I'm not going to sit down and like strike up conversations with people and stuff something I've got to work on but she is the exact opposite of that. And so we've actually got our first big annual event of this scale this Saturday that she's been planning for the past six or seven months, which is going to be awesome, um, going to have like a hundred people there. It's at a horse farm in Louisville doing some whiskey tasting, with some distilleries that are coming on, some live music. Uh, a couple of helicopters flying in. I had a 60 static display planned, uh, but it got denied at the. At the general level, uh and the guard, I'll. At the general level, uh and the guard, I'll leave the state out of it. Uh, they obviously were pumped to support down at the company level but there's always a disconnect somewhere.
Speaker 2:Um, so I tried, I like wrote a letter and was like contacting people. I was like come on, man, because it will do so much for the people that come there. Like for us we get it we've either flown them or been on the back of them and stuff. But for somebody that is you know all, but maybe read a book or seen blackhawk down, to like sit in one of those or to have a conversation with you know the crew chief or the pilot and like understand the people that are doing this mission, set every day like it, it can really help bridge that gap between them and the lay person. Understanding like this is like what this organization is trying to support and the people and their families that get left behind when these things go down. And so that was like the lens that I was trying to get it through but ended up not working out Should happen for a reason. Either way, it's going to be a kick-ass event and she's done a miraculous job putting it all together, so I'm excited about that, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's hard working in a non-profit space man yeah I thought it was going to be sunshine, lollipops and rainbows and come to find out it's a dog eat dog world and uh, galas, golf tournaments, dude, it's. It's a lot of work to set these things up and it's not. You have to remember. It's not for the end, it's not for the guy it's going to be receiving or the families are going to be receiving. It's for for the. You know the people with money they's going to be receiving, or the families are going to be receiving. It's for for the. You know the people with money they're going to be donating.
Speaker 2:So it's going to be appealing to them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's one of those things where it's like man, like it's a lot of work, a lot of workers, and you're right, a lot of people tend to think that we don't need another one. Tons of support in a non-profit space for the soft, the special operations, world 100. The problem is that there are a lot of people that still need help that aren't part of that world and they're getting left behind. They're not. It doesn't look sexy to a lot of um people that want to donate. Yeah, like, oh, 88 mike, what the fuck is that? So, you know, light wheel mechanic, fuck no, I want to help the guy that was on the front lines, like that's why I want to help. It's like fuck, dude. Like these individuals need help too.
Speaker 1:Like I talk about paratroopers all the time and there's, there's a segment of individuals that are also doing and also did a lot of great shit for our nation and got blown up and got fucked up, have a lot of issues and they need support too. But there isn't, you know, we don't have those big name nonprofits for those guys. I think it needs to change and there's a few that you know. I'm not going to name names, because they do have money for for lawyers and I don't want to get involved in libel suits, so we'll just say there's some that aren't as reputable. We need good individuals.
Speaker 2:But yeah, it's a lot of work, man yeah, the the non-reputable stuff is frustrating because it gives it's just another obstacle for people that are trying to do good shit to have to to have to get over it, and it took us a couple years to each mishap. Is is very different, um, active duty guard. You know, we we're at the point now where we have enough awareness of the mission set, where a lot of times people will reach out to us, and that's the ideal situation because things move much faster. But in the early days you know something like who the fuck are you like and what do you try? Who are you trying to take advantage of?
Speaker 2:Basically, and I get it like you have to think that way because there's people unfortunately out there that are about that Um, and it's, it's unfortunate, but yeah, it's uh, it it just. You know, I feel like it not set you back. But it's just one more thing that makes it a little bit more difficult in the early stages, until you've been able to show to enough people that you know, hey, this is what you're doing is like legit, we're not here to freaking.
Speaker 1:Yeah, try to just scam people enough people that you know hey, this is what you're doing is like legit. We're not here to freaking yeah, somebody or whatever, yeah exactly yeah, so tell us what's your mission statement, what are some of the programs you run, and uh how many people have been able to help?
Speaker 2:um man, I should have all that memorized, huh, I think, fuck, I did.
Speaker 2:I put you on the spot, so no, no, since since 2019 it's been like I'm going to pull it up just to double check, there's somebody running in the background 44, 44. Yeah, so, since 2019, since, uh, that Trevor Joseph mishap, we've lost 44 crew members and army aviation mishaps. Um, so we've been able to support 41 gold star families, um, which I think is pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty great. Um, the mission itself is you know, we're a veteran founded 501c3. That's dedicated providing post-mishap support to the army asian community and its gold star families. Um, and we've edited some stuff in the bylaws to expand that a little bit. And talking about advocacy and other things, because I would love to eventually get to the point of a Green Beret or Navy SEAL foundation where it's not primarily just the unit and the gold star families, but as people are transitioning out and other things like that, um, that's, you know, grand aspirations and we're nowhere near that today, but changing that up to enable us to be able to move into those directions one day, should we be, you know, in the position to do so.
Speaker 2:Programming right now we have three programs. So there's our Gold Star Financial Assistance Program, and the way that that works is there's a class, a fatal mishap. At this point, myself and other people are just getting blown up on text messages as soon as something happens, and so we'll monitor that and wait for everything to kind of to come through the official channels and all of that. And once that's happened, we will work with the unit and get their approval, as well as the family members approvals, to initiate support. The command approval is really more of a nicety. I only care about the families saying yes or no, because ultimately I you know, most leadership is usually very good, but there are other leaders that stand in the way of providing somebody's support and ultimately it's not their fucking say. So I've only run into that once and I had a junior leader step up and make a decision to change that, which was pretty cool to see. But with that said, we go through a process of do you want support? And if a family says yes, it's an immediate $2,500 ACH just to take care of immediate aftermath stuff the next 96 hours, travel, lodging, food, child care, pet care, whatever all that kind of stuff that starts stacking up as they're going in and out and friends and family are coming in and all that kind of stuff. And then we kick off about a month long online fundraising campaign for them. I say about a month, sometimes a little bit longer. If we still have like traction everything coming in, we'll keep it open as long as we need to, but usually after a month that kind of stuff starts to die down and a big component of that is what ties into sort of.
Speaker 2:The next program, too, is the legacy preservation. So one of my designers, ryan Santana for Rotallion, does pro bono work and so we'll connect him with a unit member. He'll work side by side with them to come up with the unique memorial design specifically for the mishap, and then we'll have that available as a fundraising mechanism as well, and it always does wonderful because people love to have something tangible to remember these folks by, and those are available for forever and those profits are granted to the families, just like the other stuff that we raise online and all that good stuff. The other component of the legacy preservation is we work now with steel hearts foundation, uh, to do memorial bracelets. So we'll do a specific memorial bracelet only for the unit, uh, same kind of concept, work directly with the, with the poc from the unit, and then these will be something that's not available for the public and then we'll ship those out. You know, however many folks I think there was like 60 for pat, 25 we'll ask those over to them so that they have, um, the memorial bands, and so that's how it operates today. Future state I'd love to be able to work to have, you know, some type of monument or capital to support something like that, in particular for the guard guys who are like a true, like parts of their community and have been there for forever. You know, whether that's a plaque at a park or something like that. I'd love to be able to sort of do something at a larger scale from some of those individuals.
Speaker 2:And then the third program is the education assistance program.
Speaker 2:That's the newest one that we've got stood up, got the board to sign off on an endowment fund and basically it's just to pay for the gold star children's continuing education.
Speaker 2:So you graduate high school, and whether you want to go to college or a trade school, an electrician, welder, whatever, like, as long as it is, you know, post-secondary education, the concept is that I can take a chunk out of that and hand it to you and be like hey, here you go, go enjoy learning about whatever it is that you need to do, uh, and without having to worry about the crazy financial repercussions, because college is like insane these days, um, and that's a big lift because we've got to get that principal up to like half a million dollars for it to be in a position where we can take, you know, 20, 30, 40 grand out of it, hand somebody and still have the fund be able to continue to grow and everything. So that's technically. That program is like, uh, like a program, but it's not functional yet Cause we don't have the. That makes sense, um, so I'm not going to make a lot of promises to kids.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:So, exactly so, like that's's. Uh, that's our big focus. You know, all the fundraising efforts and stuff that we're doing right now is to is to build that up as quickly as possible. And same thing with this event that we're doing, um, this saturday it's with the focus on fundraising for those kids.
Speaker 2:So it's good we've got, you know, usually we've systematized so much stuff and it's just like we were talking about earlier, like when we first started doing this, it was like let's just figure out how we can help and you learn stuff along the way. And so now we've got a great sort of let me get as much information from you as possible, and so we can kind of rack and sack the kids on who's going to be the oldest and who would be next up in the pipeline in terms of like, okay, denny and Spencer are coming up this year, they're going to need, you know, 50 grand for whatever, um, so it's cool. That's like that's the end state for that. We're nowhere near it, but day by day, you know, buy the time for the elephant to get that going.
Speaker 1:So, hell yeah, dude, do you guys give yourself enough time to, like, come together and reflect and see where it all started to where it is now? Because, no, dude, this is fucking remarkable Like this is not an easy feat to look and see where you came from, see where you're going and just the amount of impact, the positive impact you've had on your community. And I honestly like with individuals that are truly committed to the community, truly committed to being of service to others, there's no reason why you can't be as big or bigger than the Green Beret Foundation. I certainly think that we need as many nonprofits as possible, because what we're facing now is repercussions of GWAT. You know, our nation, our men and women and certainly our aviators, bear the strain and the marks of constantly having to be at the ready. Uh, a static load is something that affects not just soft guys, our evaders as well, and that breakdown is not a matter of of if it's a matter of uh, when. Uh. So we need to be able to grow, you guys to support you so you can get bigger, so that, when guys and gals are finally getting to that point, like you know it, you, you felt that pain when they get to that point of transition where they're going to the unknown, don't know what their passion is, don't know what their their next few years gonna look like. That makes it so much easier to have those moments of crisis.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we need to be able to have specific non-profits that can address, and who better to help your aviators or your crew chiefs than an organization that's built by them? And that's why it's vital we can't just rely on what's already been, because I know for a fact from my own experience you're not going to be comfortable reaching out to an organization that doesn't represent you. Wounded Warrior, great millions, billions of dollars they don't represent me. They don't represent people like me. Dollars they don't represent me. They don't represent people like me. I don't feel comfortable reaching out.
Speaker 1:That's the story that I've heard from so many different people. Interesting, but when the non-profit looks and has the feel of something that's like you, that represents who you are, it's like okay, I'll reach out to that. That's why the green beret foundation has been so successful, because guys are willing to go towards that name, that brand that represents them. Um, and I think that's something that we need across the board. We need more help, more resources and it's a hard fight. Man, I'm like kudos to you for being on the ground floor starting it up with your friends and, uh, like I said, if you haven't taken the time to pause and reflect, dude, you guys deserve a moment of fucking. You know, take a weekend off, reconnect and be able to look back. It's like oh shit, dude, like this all started with fucking jokes.
Speaker 2:Yeah it's a great call out man. I, I appreciate that it's. It's. It's nice to hear you know, somebody recognize that and, as you know, it's just you get caught up and oh yeah, we got shit to do. Man, I don't have time to sit around like look at what we've done, like look at what we haven't done and that we need to.
Speaker 1:You know, take a break those are conversations for when you're like 60 or something and I'm like wish I had something to do, organize that fucking that facetime, and just say hey guys, uh, we built this off of uh fucking memes and we're here.
Speaker 2:That's a. That's another thing to the FaceTime thing. Like uh, this and you I think you alluded to it earlier in our conversation to talking about you know being by yourself, so very lonely path to be on, uh, entrepreneurship, you know it's one of those. It's one of those things that's like it's made all sexy with like linkedin and social media and you know it's all a ruse and I'm guilty of it too, like I'm not sharing my bad days on there. You know, like we're highlighting the wins. Baby, nobody wants that today.
Speaker 1:Nobody wants an entire two weeks of no, no fucking production done, because I'm going to support somebody else's dreams and somebody else's missions and I am. I am deadly afraid that I'm not going to sleep for another 48 to try to make it happen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's tough dude, and nobody wants to hear that. They want to hear about the overnight success stuff. And then there's also like a certain niche you know call it tech or software or whatever that really then kind of encapsulates that and we sort of forget about all these other businesses that like run our economy, that are not just software I'm not knocking software, it's just like that's the big sexy thing. It's like there's so much other shit that people are employed by and that are, you know, making a difference and, you know, providing people value in different ways. That is not sexy and it's not. You know that guy doesn't have time to be on LinkedIn because he's freaking working 12 hours a day, you know whatever. So I think that's the loneliness thing, like it's.
Speaker 2:That's the one of the biggest challenges for me and, honestly, one of the reasons that we just moved to is like it's tough when you don't have the the I don't know, I said the privilege or whatever the ability to have like even just an office space with other people to like walk into together and to share it, even if you're not freaking working, if it's lunchtime or whatever.
Speaker 2:Like being around people as you suffer collectively is something that the military is great at right, like trauma bonding everybody, like there's value in that and so it's. It's, I feel like, makes things just a little bit tougher when it's like, yeah, we have the ability to do this and we can look at each other and converse and it it checks a block. But it's not the same thing as if we were sitting in the same room drinking a beer having this conversation. It's the same thing with the team and so, like having remote teams across these organizations, it's great that we can have people all over the states supporting and working together, but at the same time, like it just makes it that much lonelier than it already is, you know absolutely it's.
Speaker 1:You know, I I get in the fits of hallucination and I daydream that there's somebody sitting across from me and that that takes away a little bit the loneliness. Uh, just you know, just induce some hallucination.
Speaker 1:However, you can. Four days without sleep does it for you. These bags in our minds are real motherfuckers. Yeah, just, you know. Just daydream that you have that support. You ever seen the movie sidekick? Just have that. Just imagine that. The old 1990s movie. Or chuck norris? I haven't seen that. I don't think. Damn it. Wish you would. Just I'm gonna have to erase this entire thing. I can't do the sidekick fucking segue that I was planning. Son of a bitch, oh man I'll add that to the list sidekick chuck norris and the kid from sea quest.
Speaker 1:Forget his name. Sweet, fucking, amazing movie.
Speaker 2:Okay, I got a flight tomorrow, so maybe I'll download it and uh and watch it on the way out oh yeah, it's, it's, it's worth.
Speaker 1:Uh yeah, it's money well spent in this economy. I will tell you that much. Well, dude, uh, it's been a pleasure having you on the show man, but before I let you go, give us a again. Promote the nonprofit. Where can we find it? How can we support it?
Speaker 2:Yes, thank you for giving me the opportunity to do that. So we're on social media. I believe the Instagram is blue underscore skies underscore foundation. But, honestly, if you just go to fly bbsforg, everything is on there Hyperlinks to the social media you can learn more about the programs in depth. Look at financials, transparency, all that kind of stuff, um, and there's contact information on there too. So if you want to get ahold of myself or somebody else, um, likely I'll be the one that responds, if you feel something out and we can jump on a phone call or whatever. If people have ideas that they want to support or just want to get involved, wwwflybbsforg and everything is everything that you need is there.
Speaker 1:Hell yeah. And if you pause right now, go to episode description whether you're on Spotify, apple podcast, fucking, whatever, get your your video or audio podcast. Just pause, good episode description, click the links and then you know, look here, there's, here's the logo. That's what it'll look like. Go support them.
Speaker 1:Um, you know, we, we are not living in a world that's, uh, you know, remiss. There's a lot of horrible shit happening. Uh, I wish there wasn't, but that's true. It's the nature of the world we live in. There's going to be catastrophes and we need to be able to support our air crew, our pilots and army aviation team. So please go to their website, donate whatever you got five, 10, $15. I don't care, small amount. Help them grow, help them establish themselves so that they can be the next great nonprofit out there, changing lives, helping change the way that our service members get supported, because we need it. We need the representation out there. Again, spence, thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 1:Well, y'all tuning in. Thank you for tuning in. Thank you for checking us out. We'll see y'all next time. So then, take care. Thanks, brother, thanks for tuning in, and don't forget to like, follow, share, subscribe and review us on your favorite podcast platform. If you want to support us, head on over to buymeacoffeecom, forward slash setcoffpodcast and buy us a coffee. Connect with us on Instagram, x or TikTok and share your thoughts or questions about today's episode. You can also visit securityhallcom for exclusive content, resources and updates. And remember we get through this together. And remember we get through this together. If you're still listening the episode's over, yeah, there's no more Tune in tomorrow or next week. Thank you,
