Security Halt!
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Security Halt!
From MLB to Hero: Todd Blyleven on Trauma, Faith & Stepping Into the Fire During the Las Vegas Shooting
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What does it mean to be a protector—on and off the field?
In this unforgettable episode of Security Halt!, host Deny Caballero sits down with Todd Blyleven, former Major League Baseball player turned real-life hero, to talk about trauma, mental health, and the courage it takes to lead with heart.
Todd recounts the harrowing night of October 1, 2017, when he ran into the chaos of the Las Vegas mass shooting, risking his life to save others. But this episode isn’t just about one night—it’s about what comes after.
🔊 In this episode:
· ⚾ How Todd's identity shifted after leaving professional sports
· ⚔️ The duality of being both a warrior and a protector
· 🧠 Processing trauma with EMDR therapy and reclaiming emotional health
· 🙌 The power of mentorship, faith, and community support in healing
· 🗣️ A powerful message to all men: Strength includes asking for help
This conversation is a masterclass in courage, vulnerability, and personal growth—a must-listen for anyone navigating trauma, transition, or transformation.
🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
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Produced by Security Halt Media
Security Out podcast is proudly sponsored by Titans Arms. Head on to the episode description and check out Titans Arms today. Todd, welcome to Security Out man.
Speaker 2:Thank you, sir. So honored to be here. I appreciate you having me on and definitely appreciate everything you've done for not only our country but for you as an individual and where you're at and then sharing these stories. So hats off to you, brother.
Speaker 1:Hey, you're like my good friend John Wayne Walden says you're at and then sharing these stories. So hats off to you, brother. Hey, you're like my good friend John Wayne Walden says you're worth it. Man, the American people are worth it.
Speaker 1:And one thing that I love to bring out in this show is the understanding that greatness, heroics and being a good human being, a good man, isn't just relegated to the military. All of us can do that, and your story is proof that, when the moment comes and you have your ability to do something great for the benefit of others, you have to jump. You have to jump and you have to be there. Meet your moment. When destiny calls, don't hesitate. And your story is a great reminder that greatness can come to all of us. We just have to be willing to step into the unknown and act. But before we jump into that, before we jump into that, that moment, that that night in October of 2017, you know we got to talk about the journey. Man, like you, you are an athlete, a major league baseball player, but not just by yourself. You come from a family. You have you have history, a lineage of greatness. Let's dive into this, my man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, super humbled, you know. I just always appreciated every moment that I got an opportunity to be around those amazing athletes, individuals that were high, achieving every day. You know, my dad was a major league baseball player for 23 years and ultimately got inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2011 to see. So, to see him and all his hard work and that perseverance pay off at the end was absolutely amazing as a son. But, you know, I was really blessed because he was a present father in a job that took him away the majority of the year. I was always with him until high school. I ran around with him from stadium to stadium and I was, you know, I certainly during the wintertime I'd come home and during the off season I'd go to a regular school, but for the most part, from spring training on to the end of the season, I was on like a MLB style homeschool thing. I was doing homework in Chicago and turning it in Pittsburgh, you know and and my tutors were guys like Willie Stargell and Dave Parker you know the late Dave Parker and guys like that that were helping me with my math homework Um, but it was a special time, denny, because back then, like you know, the kids we could, we would show up early with our dads and we knew, like we were coming into, say, uh, philadelphia or something, my dad or Cincinnati and Pete Rose jr Was going to be out there with his, his other friends and things, and we'd play ball out in the outfield. You know, home run derby. And here we are. We're 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, you know whatever it was, but never took it for granted. I had an opportunity to watch real athletes learn how to lose, learn how to win the successes. What it felt like in that victory uh, learn how to win the successes. What it felt like in that victory to my dad was part of two world series, championship clubs with 79 world series. We are family to the 87 twins and the camaraderie and the teamwork and everything. And again, I mean, I was just super blessed.
Speaker 2:My dad had me around, you know, and he enjoyed it and uh, I think that's where, you know, we always had this mentality of this no stopping here, no blood, no foul, like with him and I would play basketball together. We were roughhousing and everything else, but it was super competitive. But you know, he's my dad, you know. So, um, but, uh, I remember.
Speaker 2:I remember one time, you know, my dad was super into long distance running. He has always believed in the core and uh and really trying to. You know, um always keep his body in shape. And we're running up in the Hills in Southern California and I'm on a bike, I'm following him. I was probably nine years old, 10 years old, and I'm like dad, when are we going to stop? And it just so happened to we're passing a sign that says no stopping here and we're passing a sign that says no stopping here. And he goes, no stopping here, todd. And I'm like, okay, that has stuck in my mind to today. Right, just that's the mentality he had, um, but I wasn't, it wasn't just my dad either.
Speaker 2:You know I, my mom's side, was all military. So my, my uh, mom's biological dad was a career Marine for 25 years. He was a gunny, fought in a couple of wars and, you know, had had that PTSD, you know, and went through his, his battle fatigue, you know, post battle life. And my other grandfather was a career Navy man. You know he built, built bombs down in Camp Pendleton and he would, he had also been in a couple Navy man. He built bombs down in Camp Pendleton and he had also been in a couple wars and so I came from that devil pup era. I was always wearing my grandpa's fatigues, I was wearing his old war helmets, the old war blankets from Vietnam and things, and I was either going to be a professional soldier officer or I was going to play baseball. I mean that was why I was either going to be a professional soldier officer or I was going to play baseball. I mean that was why I was either digging trenches or I was throwing a ball.
Speaker 2:So yeah but that was super amazing, just a different life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's a constant theme right there. You had great men as part of your development. That's something that we don't celebrate, we don't talk about. It's looked down upon. These days it's almost like a dirty thing to talk about the importance of having good male role models, having good, strong father figures and men. Looking at your life, looking at where you're at today, that's a testament of having strong, positive masculine role models. Like it is absolutely necessary, strong men in the home and around you. Like it doesn't just have to be a dad A lot of us don't have dads, but you may have an uncle, you may have, you know, grandfathers, you know it's. It's important to have that. It helps young men understand the you know that build that character of trust, honor, integrity, being being a good, decent individual. We're not going to always get it right, but if we have the role models there and we can, if we stumble, if we fall down, we can look to our left, look to our right and figure out how to get our bettering straight.
Speaker 2:You're so right. You know one thing that I always found that all three of those men had in common was they all shared this same mentality, and my dad used to talk about it when he used to cross that white line because he was a pitcher and he used to cross that white line and step onto the actual field, he became a beast. A beast, he became an animal. It was his game. He pitched in an era that he pitched seven to nine innings and when a manager in Minnesota, his first manager I met him years ago. My dad had his number retired and his first manager was there and came up to me and we were just watching the ball game and he said you know, your dad was one of the scariest individuals on the field. I never wanted to come out and do a mound visit with him or take the ball away. He would literally cuss at me and he would tell me get away.
Speaker 2:But my dad's mentality was I'm going to be that beast when I crosses the line. That's my job, but when I come back on the other side, I'm a good human. And so I was raised with kindness. I knew how to be gentle. I knew how to give back to my community. My dad did a ton with especially a lot of children's groups and hospitals, and he took advantage of who he was and his status and he gave back to his community because he came from pretty much nothing. I mean, his dad was a molasses truck driver and a plumber hardworking individuals and that's the way my dad was, you know, up until he got the opportunity to play baseball. And my two grandfathers I think that they both had that same in common as well. You know, you put that uniform on and, no matter what you do, you're a soldier, and then you come out of it and you're a good person, right?
Speaker 2:In society and treating people with kindness and respect. So I was really lucky. You brought a great topic up of just being mentored by good men.
Speaker 1:It's important to understand that we have multiple roles in our life. Just because we stop serving doesn't mean that warrior has to lay dormant. No, if it's needed, it's there, and I believe anybody, any man, has that ability to tap into what role you need. If you're, if you're at home with your children, with your wife, to protect her, yes, he's always there, but maybe he's not the guy that's on guard, ready to kick in the door. It's the gentler, father figure that's there and we've lost the ability to to to talk about that, be able to say like hey, exactly how you said your father approached being a pitcher.
Speaker 1:When you cross that line, it's business, it's it's. I am in this until you, until I fall down, until the arm breaks, until I can't throw anymore. You're going to pull me off this field. And then, when I cross over that line, it's back to being. I'm a father, I'm a husband, I'm that gentle protector. I'm going back into my normal mode and we have to understand like we have. Those traits are within all of us. We just have to understand how to develop them, how to get better each one of them, and know which one's suited for which part of our life or moment.
Speaker 2:You couldn't have said it better.
Speaker 2:You know I I a part of my therapy and, going through the aftermath of what I went through, I learned how to just write poetry and I really got in touch with my you know, just kind of inner self and I wrote a poem called beast and peace, and it's all about what you had just described the beast that's in us, the warrior that we fight, and it's really hard for a lot of us to let that peace come in and slow down.
Speaker 2:It's hard for us to get off the battlefield, it's hard for us to get outside the lines because we're constantly in competition with ourselves or the life part of it is just too fast, right, and so it's. This poem is all about this piece that keeps hammering and hammering. Finally the beast lets the piece in and then at the end the beast realizes that man, he's a stronger beast because he's now walking with peace. Right, you know how to cross the line and separate yourself a little bit and enjoy the moment of where you're at. So, yeah, super powerful. I love where you went with that because, I'm right on that.
Speaker 1:We'll circle back to that because we're going to dive into that. But anybody that's been in that situation or been in a life or death situation, where you are in the moment we talked about flow a little bit before we started, and you can tap in the flow, whether it's intentional or not, and it can become addictive. You can find yourself pulled. Your memory pulls you back to those moments of danger as if it's the greatest thing you've ever been in and it's not, and it's hard to pull that back and I want to explore that. But first, what was it like growing up and making that decision that like, okay, I grew up with a father that played professional sports, I grew up with all these great men, like, I think I have what it takes.
Speaker 2:I'm going to go after this. You know I knew I was always good in baseball. I loved baseball. I love sports also. I mean we, you know we were throwing the football around in the street or playing basketball. There was something we were doing right Trying to build a ramp to see how high we could jump our bikes off of it. So we fell too many times.
Speaker 2:But you know, I think it was around high school when I really became dominant in the sport and you know, the stats was around high school when I I really became dominant, uh, in the sport and you know the stats were proving things. I was in the paper, I was in like the top 10 in the country and certain stats, um, scouts were coming around. I started playing scout ball, uh, so there was majorly baseball interest. That's when I really started kind of believing in myself, started running, started paying attention to what I was eating, paying attention to my body, started lifting, started focusing on my trait and it was exciting. It was just drinking out of an amazing water cup. That just was always fun, you know.
Speaker 2:But it came with its hard times and challenges. I was always compared to my dad. It was tough. So I remember pitching at games in high school. I'm throwing 92, one of the hardest throwers in the state and I'm striking guys out and I hear, oh, that's Burt Blylevin's son, oh, but he doesn't have his dad's curveball. No, who has my dad's curveball? My dad had the best curveball him and Sandy Koufax in all of baseball. If I had my dad's curveball I'd be making crazy money, right. But so that part of me, I think, fueled a fire too to just try to hey, I'm here, you're facing me, todd. I'm here, I'm, you're facing me, todd on the mound. Um, but I love my dad man and I love the whole competitiveness of it, uh, all the way up. But you know, I trained with the Marine Corps recruiters uh, out of high school.
Speaker 2:I didn't know if I wanted to play baseball. I really that was kind of on that line, like, yeah, military kept speaking to me. You know, do I want to jump down that path? And then I'm looking at the career side and the difficulties of can I make it all the way to the top and can I make a career like my dad had? Um, or should I follow my heart and my passion and go serve my country and become an officer one day and serve my community? You know, god just had a plan. You know I ended up going to play in college ball.
Speaker 2:I drafted three times and my junior year in college I made a commitment I'm either signing or I'm going to Camp Pendleton. That was it. I didn't know if I was going to Camp Pendleton or not, but I'm joining the Marine Corps, or I'm signing, know if I was going to camp Pendleton or not, but I'm joining the Marine Corps or I'm signing. And uh, I got. I got drafted by the angels and uh played six and a half years of professional baseball with the angels and the pirates in Milwaukee and had an absolute amazing time. Um, and then uh, and then just started my life that I do now in the corporate sports world and, uh, helping athletes and all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 2:So yeah crazy how life throws you curve balls at times. And and then there were barriers to. You know there were barriers that were set in my life that didn't allow me to get away Like I wanted to. You know I got married super early, out of out of when I was playing my last year and um, not not something I absolutely wanted to jump into. You know she got pregnant and tried to do the right thing. I think you know a lot of us have been there and and uh, so I tried to be honorable in that, but it also took away a lot, of, a lot of my own dreams that I really wanted. I couldn't in my mind I needed to be there and so, but you keep believing, you keep stepping forward and that whole no stopping here mentality.
Speaker 2:You know when I when I got into major league scouting so I was a major league scout for eight years oh wow, very successful there, love that job. I worked for the Angels, got a World Series ring in 2002 with them. I was a lead scout and that was amazing to have that ring. You know, put on your finger and be a part of this championship the first time and hopefully the only time, because then it makes the ring more special, but I loved it, man, Like going out now I'm sitting in homes and you're talking to families about you know the game and helping them make informed decisions. And I had this, you know this background to it, so it was just awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a unique part of baseball that's really intriguing, like we you know being. You know there's been movies that really highlight it. But seeing that journey of the former player being brought on as the scout now you're looking into the eyes of what could potentially be another version of you, trying to get them that opportunity that you had. What was it like all those years going through that process of finding like the best, and looking in and seeing like, wow, like you've got it, you've got that spark in you, like that's, this is the guy, this is our guy.
Speaker 2:It was. It felt like you were giving back to the game. You know it filled a void for me because I loved playing, I love being on the field, but I knew where I was at. I knew my limitations. My I wasn't as good as my dad was, and so I knew where I was at. So when I got a chance to go into families homes and talk to them about their kid and their journey, I was able to answer some questions and it made me feel wanted at that time, right, and I needed that.
Speaker 2:Um, scouting is a lone, lonely, you know man's job too, because you're out by yourself a lot. Yeah, you have your, your senior leaders and cross checkers and things that are coming in. You got your scout buddies, your pals that you're going out and and doing. You know watching games with I mean no, um, it is a great job, uh, but to, yeah, to give back and then to go through like the signing process. I signed 26 players to professional contract, which was awesome. I had an amazing run in those eight years. Um, it was great.
Speaker 2:But then you know, I'm married now to my wife. We've got two kids. My son's playing little league, you know going into like beyond the coach pitch. My little daughter's walking down the left field line and he hits a single and I miss it because I'm on the phone talking about some other player and I wanted to be home. You know, there it was again, like I just felt this calling. I need to be home, I need to be present around these kids. I want to be part of their lives. I don't want to miss this. And uh, so I walked away from scouting and didn't know what I was supposed to do. I was, I was digging ditches, I was working for boot barn as a manager at a Westernware store, uh, delivering water, um, all kinds of cleaning carpets doing all kinds of things.
Speaker 1:This sounds very familiar to a lot of transition stories from our military community. It's it's the same, it's the identity, the, the mission, the purpose in in, in one decision, a lot of things seem like they're taken away from you. You, you're no longer the. Well before, I was a baseball player. Well, now I'm not a baseball player, I'm a scout. Well, now I'm not even a scout. Now I'm not even attached to the organization, I'm no longer attached to the career field of baseball. And it's jarring.
Speaker 1:And people that never had that identity with what they're doing in the field that they're devoted, identity with what they're doing in the, in the, in the field that they're devoted to, they have a hard time understanding it. A lot of people just go and work at a bank. They're not, they're not, they don't, they don't identify themselves as the bank for professional athletes, for service members. That's the mission. Like I am a soldier, I am a player. Life has a way of falling apart for us. What was it like going through and from those careers and trying to find yourself again and trying to figure out, like, okay, who really is Todd and what's going to be my mission?
Speaker 2:It was tough, man. I, I mean I I went through, you know, serious depression. I mean I still get goosebumps over over that time and I I appreciate that time now because it shaped me to who I, who I became in terms of uh, lifted me out of that fire. But, um, it was very tough. I you know, I remember I was cleaning carpets and, uh, one of the calls I had was up by where I grew up and you know, like, going through my high school years, and I knocked on this lady's door and she opened the door and she goes you're Todd Blylevin. And I said, yes, ma'am, Uh, do you? You called for carpet cleaning and she said you're going to clean my carpets? And I'm like, yes, I am.
Speaker 2:And she goes okay, she goes. What happened to you? And I'm like, oh my God, nothing happened. I just, you know life like baseball and scouting and just had a blast and I'm trying to stay upbeat. And she made me feel like I was worthless in that moment and it was horrible. It was horrible and uh, so I did my job and I walked out and you know, now the next call I went to was super appreciative, um, that we were there, didn't know who he was, but it's, it's amazing how people can make you feel like you're not worth anything.
Speaker 2:And so, um, I worked hard to to just be the best I could. I wanted to be a good dad. I wanted to. You know, I stayed true to my morals and my values and I knew something good was going to happen, right, and uh, so I got into doing lessons with kids. I fell back to realize, like, what is it that I want to do? How can I live a life serving others, doing something that I enjoy? I got to find peace somewhere in this chaos, right. And so, uh, started doing lessons. Lessons grew. I ended up investing into a small little place in Huntington beach, a facility, um, doing privatized stuff, ended up doing lessons for a guy that's a big CEO. He's like let me take you out to lunch. I love what you're doing, I love your personality. Your network is amazing. Have you thought about getting into like corporate sports? And I'm like what am I going to do?
Speaker 1:I'm a baseball guy.
Speaker 2:You know I got what am I? And he goes business development. You only looked at my phone, all the contacts I had, and that's another thing, like I didn't realize. All the hands that we shake, all the eyes we look into, being polite and kind. Those are all business opportunities where someone's going to want to help you. It's in our nature, right To try to help good people and I'd always been a good person. That's the way I was raised. And he offered me a job and I took it and I look at leap of faith and it brought me into a world that, denny, it was like my first.
Speaker 2:My first task was to identify all these sports products and put them through the test, right From a pro scout, pro player. So I'm doing all this. At the end, about eight weeks later, I mean it was huge, like 200 products in this world. I give the guy this piece of paper that I had written all these notes on and I said I'm ready to present and he goes okay, can you give a PowerPoint presentation on Monday? And I'm like sure, I didn't know what a PowerPoint presentation was. So I'm like, okay, sure. So I called a buddy of mine, he came over and we put together the worst PowerPoint presentation ever.
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Speaker 2:But it was solid because I delivered it, because I was trustworthy and I ended up doing a great job and I kept my job. I got advanced, you know like, and it, it just YouTube. University is amazing. Um but again I was surrounded around different men that opened up their doors to me and, uh and and wanted to see me succeed, you know and and I never stopped working hard.
Speaker 2:I was a good employee, treated people with kindness, I led with example and it got me to where I am today, you know, in the, in the corporate world.
Speaker 1:So yeah, todd, I want to pause and and you know the Todd that showed up that day to that lady's house, that's a. That's a story I've heard all too often with a lot of my friends. You know you guys that are green berets, navy SEALs, Rangers, high achieving dudes, get out, they get lost. They don't know what they're passionate about anymore. They don't have a mission. It's not uncommon for for people to look at us and I interviews you. You have interactions. I've seen it myself. I've I've sat down across from somebody and wanted, uh, to be part of a team and they look at you and they, they don't value you anymore. You're only valuable when you're on, when you're on the team, when people see you playing pro ball and when they see you in the uniform. But when they see you out of that uniform that you don't have that. You don't have that long tab anymore. You don't have that beret, you don't have that scarlet beret, you don't have the maroon beret or tambourine.
Speaker 1:A lot of people will look at you and say, well, what are you now? What do you what? What do you have Like what? What value to bring? And even if you meet every, every single criteria, if you have everything they're looking at. They'll still look at you and look down on you and say, well, you know, well, you're not a green beret anymore, you're, you're not. You're not this great individual anymore and man I wish I remember one time, one of the first I had it's well, I'll make a spot for you.
Speaker 1:I don't know what I would do with you, but you are a veteran, I can create something for you. And I just remember looking at the lady and saying you know, I appreciate that, but that's not how I want to start my life in this civilian world. Someone to pity me. And all we need to do is remember, as human beings, maintain your grace, be kind and exactly what you did Be professional, be courteous and move forward and know like, hey, I'm going to remember this feeling.
Speaker 1:I'm going to remember this feeling because someday I'm going to run into somebody and I don't ever want them to feel this way or talk to somebody this way and uh, it's, it's just about being a good human being, man, and look where you're at now, Like the ability now to give back, to be that person that can uplift somebody, to motivate somebody there. Remember like I remember what it what it's like to not have everything to feel like tomorrow might be just the worst day again. Being able to give somebody that next step up, that handout, that's something that we all have to remember. We can all have that. We can all have that ability. It's just remember, don't give in to being bitter, spiteful. Move forward. Move forward with grace man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's so many opportunities, we get pigeonholed. We make the world super small to us. When that happens, there's no other opportunities, there's no other businesses that need work. Right, when that happens to us. It's how we feel and it's ingrained in us. It's ingrained in you how you trained our military soldiers, our vets. You're built just like an athlete. Right, the opportunity is there. Yeah, it's small, but broaden your horizons, keep going, keep moving. Don't let that knock you down. That one moment of defeat. You're not going to do that. How many times did you train? Being defeated multiple times probably, in order to have the one successful mission right, and that's all it takes is where's my one successful time? That's going to give me happiness and peace, and it might only be short lived. So then I got to keep moving. I can keep persevering. So yeah well said.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like I remember getting a phone call from my friend because he's he was the first one that saw it and he was saying, like a lot of us, we don't sleep well. So when the when the news first started coming out, I remember getting the phone call and hearing it and seeing the scenes just sheer panic and nobody knew what to do. I remember seeing the first clips on the news and just yelling and saying, like Jesus, can somebody please start getting people out of there? It just felt like nobody was taking action. What was it like that day on the ground?
Speaker 2:Well, I'm going to be respectful of your audience, so I'm going to keep this very PG rated. Ok, so I won't go into any of the gory stuff by any means.
Speaker 1:No, by all means. This is. The majority of the audience is seasoned individuals. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, all right, I might open it up a little bit Now. Mass chaos, you know. So you really prior 30 seconds prior to the, to the first shot. It was pure love, pure joy, happiness. I mean, we had been to that event a couple of years prior and and what? I was there for about 18 family members, my wife and brother-in-law.
Speaker 2:Holy cow brother-in-law, and yeah and uh. So we were in a position. Normally, if every last performer, the girls always go up to the very front and the guys will stand back about 10 feet from the rail, but we're normally right there on the stage. Um, this particular for jason aldean was the first time we decided to stay about 20 feet back from the stage because we had a nice little opening. I'm dancing with my niece. I call her, I've just known her since she was. She was a kid. They called us aunt and uncle, me and my wife and, um, we're dancing and you hear the pops, you hear this, those singular, uh, uh sniper shots. And, um, you hear those singular sniper shots and don't really know what's going on.
Speaker 2:And I had a visual. So I got where I'm at. I've got stage like center left. Okay, south to my right is Mandalay Bay and right there is a VIP booth where my wife and I had had bands to go to the restroom and all that stuff. There was always three officers, three responders there in vests, so the green vest standing right there at the rail. So I've got them in sight behind me.
Speaker 2:North is Tropicana, vegas Boulevards, to my right on the on the West and to the to my East, to my left is uh, uh, the the Giles street, a parking lot, and then the to my east, to my left, is, uh, the the gile street, a parking lot, and then the airport. Okay, so that kind of gives you the visual. And about 50 yards to my left is where the end of the food truck row kind of ended. So there's a budweiser booth right there at the end, a metal budweiser booth. So the stage is here, we're dancing and having fun.
Speaker 2:The gunshots go off prior to the machine gun fire and you kind of slow down a little bit. The song ended. Officers are still there, they're not on their walkies, they're still there, nobody's saying anything. And all of a sudden you hear the first round of barrage of of that machine gun. And right away I was thinking, okay, vegas Boulevard, right there in an intersection, drive by somebody shooting. It's a gun, but it's gotta be, it's gotta be on the ground. And you're thinking right off the bat, it was a car, something's going on. But there's a seven foot retainer wall to your, to your right, that separates vegas boulevard in the venue. Okay, and then you got the vip tent. So we're okay because we're lower than any fire coming go over our head, if anything yeah we're okay, but you're still now okay.
Speaker 2:Where is this coming from? It's definitely right side. Officers now are on their walkies, on their vests and they take off. Okay, so Jason's still singing. So now you're like, all right, it's still over there, it hasn't, it's not affecting us, and are praying that those people are okay.
Speaker 2:Second round starts. When the second round started, that's when it was centered on the stage and started to come towards us and you saw people get hit. You heard the screams. So the screams went from cheering to blood curdling, horrifying, terrifying screams. And then it was like this wave and everybody starts to go down. So I told everybody to get down. I got my wife right in front of me. I'm on one knee and I happened to look up and I see muzzle flash, something was flashing up above in Mandalay Bay at a high rise position. I knew at that point we were getting shot down upon from that elevated position, so we were sitting ducks and it was literally coming at us. So I told everybody to get up and run. So we started running towards, took everybody to, towards that Budweiser booth. I wanted to get away as far away from the fire as possible we were able to, which was also a scary ass thing and I pray that I'm sure, especially in your audience, you've you've experienced this when you've got somebody shooting behind you and the feeling of not knowing if your boots going to hit the ground or not and if you're going to live through that 50 yard run. Um, I mean, it was just people were falling around us and so when we got, I think I were able to get to the booth. Um, I got everybody to the booth and then about another 15 feet was this opening to Giles street on the left, where there was a police car there, probably for parking control. So I got everybody up super quick after a couple of seconds. Um, and we got to that police car. When we got there there was already two individuals, two ladies, that were behind the car. One was injured, not, I think, from a shooting, just something happened and then there was a security guard or something that was holding his foot on the other side. I looked to my right north, there's four more squad cars. That's where we're going, right, just get another, probably 100 yards away from it.
Speaker 2:So as soon as we turned, a guy comes running out with a girl. She had been hit in the upper extremity and I ran over to him. We got about five feet really. He was losing his grip. We laid her down and she was gone. And at that moment I knew, okay, no, I can't, I'm not running, I have to do something. And so I ran over my wife, I gave her a kiss, I said I love you, I'm going back in. And that's when my brother-in-law I told her but he keep running North, I'll find you. And I watched them run off and I turned around and went back in and, um, in that moment, yeah, I'm running against the grain.
Speaker 2:Talk about mass chaos, people running all over the place. It was like a ping pong. They were just running to run get out of the way. They didn't know where that, because of the acoustics of everything, you also thought shooting was coming from stage left had been hit in the lower kind of hip region on her left side. And so I picked her up and I just brought her out and set her down to the police car and I figured, okay, that's my, that's my job, I'm going in and out. And the gunfire, you know, I think the third round was getting ready to start at that time. And, uh, so when I started going back in Denny um, and I tell this story a lot cause. I want to pay tribute to the people that were there on boots on the ground that I, that were with me in the beginning, that truly made an incredible impact.
Speaker 2:But a former former uh, uh army personnel, I think she was, uh, she was a medic of some sort, but she's she identifies herself, coming out with a group of 20. I'm running in, she grabs my shoulder. She says I'm a, I'm a trauma ER nurse. What can I do to help? Little five foot nothing blonde. And I said, ma'am, put your hands on those people. Right there there's three women down and an officer I think that's hurt or a security guard that that she put together three triage centers on Giles street that night and probably saved hundreds of lives. Incredible human being. She's got a star on my tattoo representing I've got five on here representing people that were with me, um, and then my wife for running, and then the other one for the 58th that lost their lives.
Speaker 2:But when I, when that happened, I ran in and then it was, you know, find somebody that I needed to get to. A girl that had been hit three times. A nurse comes out of hiding, I shield her. That's about, I think, when the third round had started and crazy, crazy stuff. And so I got her in, I ran, ran around and then, I think that's when I found Rachel Parker and her two friends. Her two girlfriends were trying to pull her out. She's a Manhattan was a Manhattan beach PD clerk, so were the other two. Um, I came up on a body that had been, uh, it was no longer with us at that time and I saw them dragging their friend, and so we locked eyes and I ran over, swooped up, picked her up, threw her over my shoulder and then ran her and her two friends out. Uh, this time there were already people that had gotten to their cars. So I stopped a car female driver and put rachel and her two friends in the back of the car and then, uh, they drove off and I just kept going.
Speaker 2:So the rest of the night I was going back and forth, picking up and and running out. At some point, um, I ran a girl out and she had non-threatening but she was hit and, uh, I laid her down, um, and I, when I got back up, there was a EMT and a, uh, fire captain from San Francisco and a Marine off duty and the EMT says where are we going next, brother? And I'm like, who are you? Didn't even know he was with me or that they were. And he goes, brother, you've been running them out and we're fixing them up, like, where are we going? And I'm going, okay, well, let's go. And so we were going in and out picking, you know, victims up as fast as we possibly could.
Speaker 2:But prior to um, prior to that happening, I ran a girl out, a young girl. Of that happening, I ran a girl out, a young girl, and I still remember her. I remember her touch, I remember her hair. I had to lay her down and she took her last breath in my arms and that was tough, man. You know. Like, there you are in this middle of the chaos a gunfire was still going on at that time and you lay her down and and just the softness. And I remember standing back up and looking down at her and just questioning why has this happened? I'm looking at my boots and I'm seeing her and all of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I see this flash and it's this guy running in and I'm like, okay, let's go. I was screaming for water, something. Somebody tossed me a beer. I'd throw it over my face. It was what it was and I ran back in. It was that kind of emotion nonstop.
Speaker 2:Up until towards the end we were breaking down rails and carrying and using the rails as a as a carrier, and then I ended up helping put a girl into a wheelbarrow. There was a construction site, so people were commandeering wheelbarrows and wood planks and just trying to get as many as we could out. And here I am, running a girl out in a wheelbarrow that ended up not making it. It was. It was insane. At the end of that ordeal on the ground there I had been shot at multiple times.
Speaker 2:I was standing there like a third base coach at one time towards the end of the gunfire. And now the fire was coming towards the Budweiser booth and there's a girl. I'm on video on this. There's a girl that's giving her like last rights. She's talking. Somebody found it on YouTube and said hey, bly, like you're on there, you're on this. Girl's like last, yeah, crazy. And she's talking like I think it was meant for her parents and she's erratic and everything. She filmed this thing for about seven, eight minutes.
Speaker 2:All of a sudden you see me come out and you see me run around right behind the Budweiser booth and you hear the tinkering. Then you see a wave of people come running out. And that's when I was standing there, waving people like a third base coach because they were taking coverage behind fold up, fold out chairs and the. The firing had gone through zones and it was coming right at us. So there was about a hundred people or so that were all lined up. They just didn't know they could get out on the other side of those food trucks through that exit on Giles. So got them out Again nonstop. Your boots are just moving. You're just praying to God. You know, either I'm falling or I'm going to outlast this thing until it's over the same four now that I'm with.
Speaker 2:Towards the end of the night one of them said they're loading people up behind Tropicana. That's where ambulances had staged and law enforcement was staging behind Tropicana in the service entrance, and so we ran across there. We had done what we could. Everybody was out that we could get out. The street of Giles looked like gone with the wind. I mean there was hundreds of people down, uh, but thousands of people on top of them. So every time I went out or went in, when I came back there were more people helping, every single time and it just grew and grew. People, people were hiding under trucks, under cars and bushes. They finally started to come out Once the shooting stopped. We thought we were under attack.
Speaker 2:I was getting a call from FBI terrorist task force, national security these are my buddies, right? National security, obama's detail FBI terrorist task force, lapd, metro that was that was working with Vegas Metro. They were all asking for, like, what's going on? All had missed reports. All of them had missed reports and so I'm telling no. The first report was hey, we heard there's a couple down. I'm like no, there's like 20 down right now, 20 dead right now. I'm I've already 20 dead for sure and it was crazy.
Speaker 2:But at the end of the night we run over to Tropicana, we're loading people in the ambulances and thinking we're still under attack. Uh, I'm on the phone with my wife for the first time, just telling her I'm okay. All enforcement officer pulls up, gets out of his car, screams at everybody. We need to get inside. There's a shooter up on the roof. Shooter screams at everybody. We need to get inside. There's a shooter up on the roof, shooter inside the building. We need to get everybody inside those in that corridor, lock it down, all right. So me and a couple other men, we get everybody in and we're at the corridors. You step in.
Speaker 2:We created a little mini triage center right there at the entrance and then there's two hallways that go right and left and then a long tunnel that goes under to the ballrooms and then ultimately the casino up on top and so the corridor, that tunnel, is probably about 60 yards in length, 50 yards probably. So there we are and we're looking at both. Both the right and the left had doorways at the end. So we're like, okay, we need to secure these, get these secured, put a man or two men at each door in case someone tries to come in. At least we got two brothers there to stop this stuff or prevent it. Slow it down, it, um, slow it down. So I go left with three guys, three other guys go right and our job is to break doors down. So here I am now never done this before, only seen it on TV and I'm hitting these doors and barreling them open Right, and it's like service, like laundry stuff, and um, but the first door I hit nobody was in there. Second door I hit, uh, the lights were out.
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Speaker 2:I thought, okay, I'm dead. There's a pod of 20 uh individuals that had gone. People were scattered everywhere, right running everywhere. So about there were about 20 individuals huddled up in the corner of this dark room and I hear this todd, and it was a girl that was in our group and her name's Amanda and she's from Texas and she was in our group. Well, she had been hit, grazed on her left kneecap from one of the bullets, and so she was bleeding pretty good. But she comes up, jumps on me and I'm like, oh my God, I'm glad you're alive. I didn't know where everybody was at and I was able to get her out, get her on an ambulance. And as soon as I got her on an ambulance, a girl comes up, says there's a man with a knife at the end of the hallway. He's trying to stab people. So we're like, let's go.
Speaker 2:So I'm running down this hallway and I'm I swear, and I don't know if it's because at the underneath all the stadiums that I ever was at, they have these long, you know, cement service ways, so that's where they have all the food. They can go back and forth. I just had this visual of like I wish I had a baseball and I'm running down this thing and I felt like I'm in one of those hallways and I'm running, I'm passing all these people that are huddled up on the walls and crouched down and I come up on this man. This man sure is nothing. He's got this blade in his right arm and a right hand. So I'm yelling at him Good guy, bad right hand. So I'm yelling at him good guy, bad guy, good guy, bad guy. And I scared him enough because here I'm six, five, right, I'm a big dude and I've got these boots on and I'm like bam, bam and uh, I got him enough to where he raised and I grabbed him and was able to throw him up against the wall and I was able to take the knife away and uh, turns out he was just a schizophrenic dude, because it wasn't just the concert goers now that are all involved with this. This is all in vegas, right? So you got drunks like not not drunk, but you got people that have been drinking all night, people from the streets, everybody. So this guy had a, had a big blade like a Rambo blade and was able to take that away.
Speaker 2:At that point, swat came in from a door to our left and started asking us to get everybody into the ballroom. So when we started getting everyone in the ballroom at that point now we're just profiling, now you're just profiling as much as you can because we don't know that shooter could be right there. So the four of us continued to profile as much as you can because we don't know, like, yeah, that shooter could be right there. So the four of us continued to profile. We didn't stop until finally, um, two SWAT officers came up to me and, uh, one of them put his hand on my shoulder and said sir, you can stand down.
Speaker 2:And, um, when I hit, when I, when he said that, um, I dropped you know knees, hit the ground, and that ground it just grabbed onto me and I just felt like the world had ended. And what am I supposed to do? And in that moment of my darkness and my depression, like everything, all these raw emotional cocktail just hit me hard. I had people coming up and lifting me up. They didn't want me on the ground. They said please, sir, stand up. You, we don't want to see you on the ground, stand up. I had blood all over my left side from carrying a lot of people. I thought I was shot earlier that night. I mean, it was just crazy stuff and um, um. So now I gotta go to the bathroom and you know your bodily fluids.
Speaker 1:Right, I'm the adrenaline's done.
Speaker 2:I'm like adrenaline dump man, let's go. And uh. So I go in, uh, and I'm headed to the men's restroom right there and a little swat officer, uh, shotguns, bigger than he is, he's going to clear the bathroom Right, and I'm like, all right, he goes. You got my six. I'm like sure, what do you want me to do? Yes, just hurry up. So he, he goes in, clear as he comes out, and I said now, sir, do you have my six? And he looks me up. He said, yes, sir, go ahead.
Speaker 2:I went in there when that door shut. I talk about this all the time with first responder groups and military group that moment of silence when everything's quiet, right there, right, that's that to me was the scariest moment in my entire life. Everything was super quiet. I felt absolutely vulnerable, like monsters were going to come out. Someone was going to grab me. Someone was going to, even though he just cleared it, someone's going to come out and shoot me right there. That's how I felt and I'm washing my hands and I'm wiping the stuff away and um, when I got out, that that officer was still sitting there and um told him thank you. And then he went off and that officer was still sitting there and told him thank you, and then he went off and did his thing down the tunnel and I went back in and I was able to get back to my wife about an hour later. A couple hours later maybe, they let everyone out so I was able to get back to her. She was held up in the Desert Rose Casino about 50 yards behind the Tropicana. Three gentlemen came out, three angels of guys man came out and let 26 people into their condo. They barricaded it, kept everybody safe in that space. My wife happened to be one of them, so I'd love to meet those heroes one day. They were, you know, they didn't have to do any of that stuff, but they did and they took care of all those people. Um and uh, for eight hours. So they eight hours from the. From the first shot on, I was able to give my wife a kiss and uh, yeah, crazy, crazy times.
Speaker 2:But when I got back to Dallas, um, when I got back to Dallas, I got in my truck and a dad, a guy buddy of my dad's, gives me a call, literally getting ready to pull out of DFW in the parking lot. I'm in my truck with my wife. This was the next uh, midday and uh, he says, uh, todd, my name is Lee, I'm a three tour vet, combat vet, I'm aanger and I'm going to tell you what your next 72 hours is going to look like. He said you're going to study your speech. You're going to have nightmares. You're going to feel like an elephant sitting on your chest. He said, and he told me a couple other things and I said, okay, and he goes, I'm going to be with you. And he called me like almost every hour. Just how you doing, brother, like you. Okay, just know that we're here, my FBI terrorist task force, buddy firefighter out of Rockland, california, regular people.
Speaker 2:But I started hearing stories that I'd never heard before from some of my best friends. My best man and my wedding was I'd never heard before from some of my best friends. My best man at my wedding he was law enforcement FBI Never heard these stories of them talking about their fears, their trauma, how they had been knocked down in their life. I always thought they were invincible and it was incredible, man, the brotherhood that just all of a sudden blossomed out of that became a huge network for me. I call it my pal system and, uh, I, I grew as a man in that moment, you know, just knowing I wasn't alone. So, yeah, yeah, crazy times it's absolutely crazy.
Speaker 1:But yeah, like we were talking about earlier, um, you find yourself in that situation. You're able to tap into something that that few individuals will get to experience in their life Like that, that ability to react, knowing like, okay, I don't need to know how it's going to end, I just need to know that I need to move forward. Just like your hat says I'm going in, I'm going in. I don't know what it's going to look like in the next 10, 15 minutes, but this is the first step and I'll take it second by second, moment by moment. I'm going in, I'm going to do something, and that is a call to action for our entire nation.
Speaker 1:It doesn't have to be a gunfight. It doesn't have to be a gunfight. It doesn't have to be a life or death moment. It can be as simple as standing up to somebody or standing up for someone, making the decision to step in, knowing that you don't know what it's going to look like. You might make somebody angry, you might evoke something where somebody's going to step to you and challenge you back, but knowing it's the right thing to do. We we have to be able to stand up. These days, now more than ever, where we're facing situations and all different forms where it's as simple as just being able to back somebody up in a moment at work where they're being, you know, judged or they're facing you know judged, or or or they're facing, you know, discrimination. Be willing to stand up, be willing to put yourself in the right side of a situation. In that moment, on that day, did you feel like you were tapping to something that was from another world, from the other side of you you hadn't experienced before?
Speaker 2:Hmm, yeah, I, I, um, there was a reason. I I'm, you know, I was in shape, but I wasn't in that kind of shape. Yeah, not to be able to go in and carry over 30 people out, you know, and that was that's. That's confirmed. 30, that's people contacting me through facebook, me sending pictures back and forth. Yes, you were the man that came in and picked my friend up and ran him out. We chased you. There's no way I could have done all that without something being with me and the fact that I was shot at multiple times, as big as what I am and wearing a cowboy hat for the most part.
Speaker 1:It's a big target.
Speaker 2:I'm a pretty big target. But you know, I had a dream. I'm very faith-based and I'm grounded. I had a dream that night when we got back home, and it was about five o'clock in the morning. I woke up grabbing my wife's leg and I'm staring at my front, my my door to the, to the bedroom, and I'm in it. I can hear it, I'm smelling it. I'm smelling the bullets off the turf. I'm hearing the whiz.
Speaker 2:you know what that sounds like when it goes by you and uh, I'm, I'm in it and I'm hearing a man cry for help, and so I run around that Budweiser booth and now into the open and it's just dark and I can hear it. But now these red bullets are flying to my left and now they're flying to my right and I'm bobbing and weaving and I come up on a pole and all these bullets are flying around me and I couldn't get out. But I keep hearing this man and this white light sweeps up behind me and comes out and unfolds its wings and now starts to back up. And now the bullets are flying off his backside and he starts to back up and I'm able to get out and I pick up this man, which was super light to me, and now I'm running him out and I can see the exit on Giles street and I look over my right shoulder and that angel is still sitting there and those red bullets are flying all off the backside of him.
Speaker 2:I was not alone that night. There's no way I could have done all that by myself. There's not a single. There's no way as tough as what I always thought I was, to make that decision to keep going back.
Speaker 2:I'm not trained in that I was a vessel and I just I tried to do the best I possibly could until either I fell or it was all over and um, but that faith, that strength, the next shower that I took, I felt that embrace again and it was a squeeze Like we've got you, I'm, you're not alone in this and uh, man, it's and man, it's been an amazing faith journey for me and I talk about it at church and just to others. It's been my pillar of strength. You know, between that and my PAL system, my buddies that have relatable trauma and experience that have felt that that I can talk to any night, call I still have my days Every day. I'm still seeing that 13-second memory that I wish I never saw. But I've got that support. And then the EMDR therapy. But no, to answer your question, no, there was something there.
Speaker 1:I was with you and a lot of people that experience these situations where, whether it's in the military, whether it's in Afghanistan, iraq or or here, something, at least know that, when you make that decision to step forward, that you're going in, you're not going in alone, whether you believe or not. I'm just saying take comfort in knowing, like you face something, an arduous task, you're going against what you feel. It's dangerous, and and and unknown and unknown, you're not alone. Like you will, something will guide you, you will be brought through this on the other side. Just take a step forward and go.
Speaker 1:People are counting on you, people are counting on us to make the right decision and in those moments, brother, like you did the right thing, and and and. There are people alive today that wouldn't be here without you. But at the same time, when we go through something like this, we have to be able to go through the entire journey. And then the other part of the journey that we don't often talk about is how do we get better, how do we come out of that fight or flight? Because I can stick with you for a long time. What were some of the things that you? You know we talked about EMDR, but how did you find that modality?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it took me a while. You know, growing up, the way I did that no blood, no foul mentality I can figure it out myself. The beast inside me kept wanting to just fight it alone. The nightmares kept getting worse. I mean, I blew out my shoulder, I had total reconstructive, I had hernias on my right side, my left hip is still jacked up. I mean body-wise, I tore myself apart. So I was in pain. On top of the pain, the kicking in the back of my right side and that skull, like the memories, I couldn't process everything right. And so I had a buddy that Chad Vert. He's a fireman out of Rockland, california fire captain said hey, brother, you need to search EMDR therapy. You need to look at that. We're using that for our firefighters up here. We're hearing that military is using it. It's supposed to be a great therapy. He had never gone through it. Hearing that military is using it Um, it's, it's supposed to be a great therapy. He's, he had never gone through it, but he was recommending it.
Speaker 2:So I looked into it, uh found a couple of therapists, uh went to them. My first therapist, denny like. She was probably early sixties well put together, pristine, clean, you know whatever and she was super nice gentle, and she sits me down. She's like so tell me your story. And I'm like, nope, nope, I'm not telling. I'm going to destroy your world if I open this stuff up. No, and maybe she could have taken it, but I just could. So I finally found a therapist that I felt really comfortable with, and she had worked with combat vets, she had combat therapeutic experience, and so right away she told me I'm a safe place, there's nothing I can tell her that she hasn't heard already. So she made me feel super comfortable and I started on that EMDR therapy journey that allowed my brain to go back and forth, remember the minute of time where my boots took me, allow me to categorize, allow me to process and cry as a man which I'd never really done before and think about the moments, like every little minute, the second, how the wind was, what were you thinking in that second, can you see anything around you? Like? We went super detailed and then I was able to put those little black memory boxes in chronological order, combined with because of my story, because of my name, because it went global with all the press and everything else what I did. A lot of people were reaching out to me and sharing with me too on what they saw me do. And I got to meet a couple of people that told me this is what you did. Can you, can you remind me?
Speaker 2:I remember yelling at a man. Why was he yelling at this old guy, like? And I remember, like, do you even know what the F is going on? Well, I wanted him to get in that car with Rachel Parker and her two friends because there was not a man present there, right, and he was like I'm not and I was yelling at this guy. Well, I didn't know where I was at in that moment until one of the survivors she told me we were in Huntington Beach, california, where I was meeting the two of them saying hello. They wanted to confirm it was me and tell me what I did. And she goes do you remember yelling at that man? And I'm like wait, did they have a Hawaiian like Jimmy Buffett looking guy? And he goes. And she goes yes, you wanted him to get in the car and I go.
Speaker 2:I could not figure that out. It was driving me crazy, you know. So I went back and I told my therapist and her name's Diane, out of Plano, texas, here. And and I told Diane I'm like okay, do you remember the man? This is where he came from. And so I found it to be really successful. You know, I was scared to death going into that. I didn't know, I didn't trust it, but I'm glad I persevered, I kept my boots moving forward through that process. And again, faith. So I have my three pillars, my pals, faith and my therapy, and it just it transformed me into the man I am today, where I'm a beast that walks with peace and written a book. I've written some songs and I love it, man, it's just, I embrace it. So now I, now I help others, you know, just like you.
Speaker 1:It's, it's incredible yeah, that's, that's what we're supposed to do. There's um and we say it all the time, a lot of us do victor frankl uh, powerful book, but suffering for the sake of suffering doesn't do anybody any good. I'm butchering the quote. It's much more eloquent when you read it in the book A Man's Search for Meaning. But when we take our suffering and we turn it into either a book or a speech or a pathway into helping others, when we can use our narrative, our story of suffering and moments of pain to help somebody else and help shorten their journey to healing, that's purposeful, that's meaningful. So that's something that we all have to remember. We're going to suffer in this life. Get through it, face it, be willing to ask for help, be willing to reach out.
Speaker 1:Shameless plug for the Special Forces Foundation. If you're a Green Beret or a Green Beret spouse or family member and you're suffering right now, reach out today, get in touch. You don't have to do it alone. There's plenty of people here that will help you in this journey so that you can get on the other side and continue serving our great nation. Yeah, there's tons of people out there.
Speaker 2:You are not weak. Yes, exactly, ask for help, because it just means you're trying to help yourself, just like an athlete. If I hurt my shoulder, what am I doing? I'm going in the training room to get rehab, to get back, so I can go play again. It's the same thing we're doing, right? It's just?
Speaker 1:our minds now yeah, well said yeah yeah, well, todd, tell us where we can go find your your stuff. Um, where can we find your book? Where are you at online?
Speaker 2:I appreciate that. So toddbly11.com is uh kind of my speaker page. I'm getting out, I'm speaking a lot more now. I love talking, uh, sharing the story. Um, I've got my book on amazon. You can find all that on toddbly11.com as well. I I wrote some baseball books too, so I'm in the sports side. I've got some poetry on there. I've got some songs. There's one song in particular called a soldier's legacy that I wrote. It's a three generation soldier, family of soldiers and it's it's a great patriotic song. So I don't sell those things. But I do have an apparel line I'm going in. I've got a lot of stuff for veterans and about 70 items. So I do give back to certain foundations within the military community, law enforcement. So I try to do what I can to give back. But yeah, toddboy11.com.
Speaker 1:Yeah, awesome Guys, do me a favor, go ahead and pause Episode's almost over now. Just go ahead and pause right now. Go to the episode description. Look at all those links, click them. Help support Todd. Get his book, check out his show. You got a podcast yourself, right.
Speaker 2:I'm going in. Yeah, I'd love for you to be a guest on it, please.
Speaker 1:Done and done. Good sir, all those links are right there. Please go ahead and check them out. Subscribe, like, share and follow them. And do me one more favor head on over to YouTube, head on over to securityhallcom. Get yourself a new t-shirt or hat. Leave us a comment or two, give us a rating, a follow. I certainly would appreciate it. It would help the algorithm.
Speaker 1:Todd, I can't thank you enough for being here, man, your journey is a testament to all of us that greatness comes and can arrive at the worst times. We just have to be willing to answer. We have to be willing to say I'm going in. The world needs more individuals who are willing to step forward, not less. You just have to find enough courage to take the first step. I guarantee, as soon as you take the next step, god will be there with you to take the next and then the next. So just muster enough courage to take that first step. God will be there with you to take the next and then the next. So just muster enough courage to take that first step, and the rest is up to God, and he'll be there with you. Thank you all for tuning in. We'll see you all next time. Until then take care. Securepodcast is proudly sponsored by Titan's Arms. Head to the episode description and check out Titan's Arms today.
