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Colin Lightfoot on Combat, Blast Exposure & the Long Road to Healing | Security Halt! Podcast Ep. 423

• Deny Caballero • Season 8 • Episode 423

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Colin Lightfoot shares his 20-year journey in the Green Berets, discussing combat, blast injuries, leadership, mental health, and life after service.

In This Episode, We Cover:

  • Combat experiences in Special Forces 
  • Blast exposure and brain health 
  • PTSD, survivor’s guilt, and mental health 
  • Leadership under pressure 
  • Transitioning to entrepreneurship and family life 

Key Takeaways:

  • Blast injuries can have lifelong impacts 
  • Mental health recovery requires support and vulnerability 
  • Leadership carries heavy responsibility 
  • Veterans need purpose after service 

Resources & Links:

  • Marcus Institute for Brain Health 

       https://medschool.cuanschutz.edu/mibh

  • Colorado Custom Design  
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Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Colin Lightfoot’s Story
 01:58 Early Combat Experiences in the Green Berets
 05:07 Mentorship & Leadership in Special Forces
 07:59 The Reality of Deployment Cycles
 10:59 Staying Healthy in High-Stress Combat Environments
 13:54 Combat Experiences That Changed Everything
 17:58 The Aftermath of Blast Exposure & Injury
 29:30 Chaos, Combat & Team Dynamics
 31:58 Evacuation Under Fire: A Life-Saving Mission
 34:45 Family, Fatherhood & War
 36:45 Recovery, PTSD & Mental Health Challenges
 39:00 The Weight of Leadership in Combat
 42:03 The War at Home After Service
 45:01 Healing, Recovery & Asking for Help
 51:01 Strength Through Vulnerability
 56:54 Transitioning to Business, Family & Purpose

 

 

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The Moment Everything Shifts

SPEAKER_00

When did things change for you?

SPEAKER_01

So we're walking up this essentially a goat path up the side of the mountain, all the way up, and then you go through this village. There's like the hell's gate where you go right through it. We walk in and we're clearing, and it's all quiet at first, a couple hours in, you know, all hell breaks loose. We still have control, right? We still feel like all right, this is what we're supposed to do. And then we start getting shots underneath. We finally figure out it's below us. So you started going towards where the threat was, and that's the last thing I remember.

SPEAKER_00

What was your initial thought to your mind? Like immediately, I would imagine it's like fuck, hand's feet. What's turning on?

SPEAKER_01

I have no idea where I'm at. It's all dark and rubble everywhere. You're in that kind of shock phase, so you're kind of cold, you're already in pain, but you start going down your legs and your arms, like, all right, I can feel everything. I'm good. And I remember just grabbing my rifle, and I was like, ah shit, what do I do? They don't show those that part in movies. Everyone looks at the sexy stuff.

SPEAKER_00

Colin Lightfoot, welcome Security Hub Podcast, brother. I appreciate it. Dude, it's it's great. Dude, it's great to have you here at the moment that the moment in life where you're at right now to dive into your entire journey, man, to to give it that perspective, which is one of the greatest things we we can do in life. So I'm not gonna I'm not gonna talk too much longer. I'm like, dude, dive in. Let's share your story with the audience. Yeah, let's go.

SPEAKER_01

I'm finally at the end. Um, you know, looking at 20 years, uh, it's crazy thinking about it all. Um, but it's here. I'm I'm probably three-fourths away through the transition and uh lucky enough to kind of step in into the new ventures. Um, but yeah, 20 years, most of it was all GWAT with 10th group. Um, like right when I got there, just stepped in and within two weeks I flew over to Iraq and and met my team. Before I could think of it, I was you know, before I could even think, I was like, oh shit, this this got real, real quick. And I was a what was your MOS? I was a Charlie. Yeah. And uh just couldn't be put into any hotter fire. Like, yeah, you know, and I was a green thumb. I had zero experience before, so it went straight from training to the real the real show.

SPEAKER_00

I can only imagine showing up and then having a senior and be like, okay, here's a 26-2.

SPEAKER_01

You know, they don't teach you all the stuff you're gonna do on a team in the course. You know, you uh you get there and within three days we took an IRAM and our our fob got blown the fuck up. And you know, they're like after we settled and everything was under control, everyone's coming to me, like, all right, pull out the one, two, three, let's get accountability of everything. And like, you know, at that point, I'm like, four, five, six. What the hell's a one, two, three? I don't know what that shit is. Six, seven. They're just looking at you like, what the hell, man? We got this cherry doesn't know what the hell he's doing. But you learn real quick, man. Learn real quick. I was lucky enough to have some awesome senior dudes um that you know, as as I grew up in my career, I tried to emulate. And luckily I was put with those dudes. It was a blessing, and uh kind of made me who I am today.

SPEAKER_00

But yeah, that's uh that's the the beauty of of um being a Green Beret is certainly like we do some amazing things individually, and you have to you have to have that that understanding of like, yeah, you're you're also cool, you also do some great things, but it's the giants we serve with, it's the guys that that give us that that mentorship, the guys that develop us, the unsung heroes of our history, man. Um, and we gotta we gotta always remember that. We can't let ourselves get too big in our head. And uh, you know, thinking back, like who is you know, a lot of times people tend to think like, okay, your senior is your greatest mentor. But I met a lot of guys that was like, yeah, I had a good senior, but it was uh it was my 18 Delta that taught me the most.

SPEAKER_01

Right. And like I didn't have a senior at the time. Um, so like the whole team, the whole team became your senior. Um and the reality is like they're my seniors for comp being combat effective. Like, yeah, you're gonna learn the Charlie jobs. I mean, you have a good baseline and you can reach out to other Charlies, but they're all like your seniors to as you grow up to the G Watt, and you know, you need to focus on the things that keep you and your brothers uh alive, right? So um, yeah, and and you appreciate the guys at the time, but it's not until you start moving up in your career, you take those leadership roles. Those guys, you know, they move out, retire, and move on to other things, and now it's your time. You step up and you realize you look back, you're like, God, thank God I had those dudes to mentor me because you feel ready at that point.

Learning Fast On A Team

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that's that's the beauty of the job, man. And it it's every combat profession, I'd like to imagine, like, has that ability. And I'm sure Soft MOS's you guys too, but there's something to be said about learning how to do your job in combat from dudes that are like they're senior, they're they're grimy, they're gritty, they've got that experience. Yeah. What was it like coming up on that team, man?

SPEAKER_01

So every like back then, you know, everyone had been there for four or five years already. The youngest dude, you know, there's some longevity on the team. And they all had like, you know, three to four pumps under their belt already. So they were established, and you know, you I've never felt more like a kid. You know, you feel like you're you feel like you're a grown man, you went to the Q course, everyone's got that badass mentality, and then you show up and there's legitimate badasses bona fide, and you're like, you kind of stake a take a step back and you you gain some humility. And it was the old adage of just shut up and listen and only speak when you need to, right? And you learn a lot that way. Humility and a little bit of patience is a powerful weapon um to achieve like success within this organization. Uh yeah, they were they were hard on you. You know, they they shot you straight. There are a lot of constructive criticism, but that's kind of in that mentality, it's life or death. So it needs to hit hard. The little things hit hard when you mess them up. You don't want to minimize it, right? So every little thing all builds up or leads up to something significant. So we made sure to harp on that and uh nip it in the butt early.

SPEAKER_00

But dude, it's it's funny you you bring that up in that way because the same thing can be said for the things that impact our health. Yeah. Uh the little things that we don't pay attention to. And and we're just now starting to understand it, man. Like it's it's in the moment you're not thinking of it. Oh, it's all right. And it's a it's only a couple charges. Oh, it's all right. Like I it's just a it's just a small headache. Like it's people don't understand the impact the career has until the very end. Like we've we are so focused on the mission, and and I have to ask, I wonder, you know, for a lot of guys, you deployment, come back, your train up, there's there's a little bit of of a lull. But when you look back in your career, how fast paced was it for you? How much was it back to back to back?

Humility And Combat Mentorship

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so early on, we didn't have kind of that um that that aspect where you go six months and you're back for 18 and you kind of build up with R3 and and ease into it. Like I mean, my first trip was coming off of 10 months, and I want to say we had six or seven months between the next one. You know, you're you're technically deploying within the same year, right? You're coming off of one deployment at the beginning, train up, and you're going to the next pump uh in October, November. And there were nine months. I mean, you're planning for six, but every one of them gets extended. So you're there for the majority of the year and you're just going. You don't even have time to think. And you know, I was young, I wasn't married, didn't have kids, so you you're just eager to train, you know. And the hope is that that's where cross-training comes into effect, right? Because you don't have the time to go to all these schools in that six months. You don't have time to go get all the cool cool guy stuff. It's literally a little bit of rest and go right into PMT for the next one. So it's the team just we're going to the range and I'm going to teach as we go.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. See, that's that's the reality of it. The it's a brutal rotation cycle. And like I, you know, I remember the the ad the advon of um Defense Ready coming in and be like, oh, you guys, you got a lot of guys in uh the green. It's like, yeah. Yeah, they're in green. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Look at the button and everyone's green. Exactly. Everybody's got perfect the exact amount of at-home of uh head and pillow time. Oh we're doing great things.

SPEAKER_01

That's back when you had more control over those metrics on a team. Uh they got a pretty pretty locked down now, but yeah. There's no one in the red or the amber.

SPEAKER_00

So exactly. You look at that team, Sergeant, it's uh the Manning board, and it's like everybody across the board is just perfect.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, looking back, everyone's like, these teams were squared away on admin, man. Why can't we get it right now? Why is everyone on a on a tracker, right? I don't know what to do. Because we bullshitted. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's there's things you're willing to cut corners on, and there's things you can't.

SPEAKER_00

Dude, it it's it's ridiculous how much the and you can't you can't tell anybody in the job to slow down. That's just the reality of it, man. Um especially when it comes to the health, too. And I know you you understand it better than most because you're between the Charlies and the Bravos, when it comes to training, you guys have the most exposure because you're already starting out a deficit coming from the Q course, having that as the primary focus. Take us through your career and and for people to finally understand what is what an 18 Charlie is responsible for and what they have to do.

Back To Back Deployments

SPEAKER_01

Right. So early on, I mean, you're kind of the jack of all trades, right? Like you said, between the Bravo and the Charlie. I mean, you're you're the go-to guy for not only the garrison accountability, but you're looking at loadout, you're looking at uh carrying uh an immense amount of demo for multiple reasons, whether it's internal breaches, whether it's cachets, whether it's wall chargings. Um, you're looking at, you know, you're you're coupled with the Bravo, making sure you guys are tracking with uh AT weapons, all these things, right? Not only that, but you're focused on your your uh bigger weapon systems, the moduces, you know, the Mark 19s, all these things. So, with all that said, you're just involved in it, right? The majority of your training is you're the SME or you're the go-to guy who's uh clacking that stuff off, right? And then early on, you know, everyone's not really focused on safety. Like your MSD is whatever the hell you want it to be. You know, you're so friggin' true. Yeah, you can justify, like, yeah, no one's gonna take the time to go through the uh the math problem on it, and they just trust you. You're like, yeah, you know, that looks like a little bit of cover. I'm gonna go ahead and clack it off. And and and you know, you kind of want to show you're worth your salt when you're early. So you're like, yeah, I'm gonna eat this one and let them know I'm getting to that door quick, right? So a lot of you take a lot of uh unnecessary risk early on, and you you might not feel it then, but it's gonna compound later, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. Yeah, that's uh that's the one thing we're starting to understand now. And it's you know, there's I think now it's changed. I I would say there are some green berets that are pension uh paying attention to the studies, reading white papers, talking and advocating for um changes to be made in the team rooms. Back then, however, I wasn't reading a white paper. I didn't know what a I'll be honest, I didn't know what the fuck a white paper study was.

SPEAKER_01

Or where to get a peer-reviewed study. So it's just a term that, you know, it probably happened up and out, but I was not ready to it, or did I give a shit? Like I'm over there reading their major handbook, like, you know, making making sure someone asks me a tactical question, I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_00

But yeah, and that and that's the that's the truth, and that's that's the the important reality. A lot of people ask, you know, on the advocacy space is you know, why are why are these guys getting hurt? Don't they know better? And it's like you don't, A, you don't understand a job, you don't understand the main priority, and the focus is the mission, the absolute, the, the hardwired focus for anybody that worked their ass off to get into a specialized unit. They're not looking at their overall health in regards to blast exposure, traumatic brain injuries. They're looking at performance injuries. Oh man, I tweaked a muscle. I need to go to floor three. Um, it it's on the backside, man. It's that it's on the backside of all these deployments that you get people that are finding like, hey, there's something wrong. Yep. There's something going on.

What An 18C Actually Does

SPEAKER_01

The only health you worried about was I need to make sure I'm at my optimal uh performance level to stay in the fight, right? There was never uh a time where you looked at it like, hey, I might need to take a step back and focus on this. It's like that was completely the last thing you would do. I mean, the reality is one of the first things you would sacrifice is yourself and well-being, you know, to stay in the fight, right? You don't really realize it at the time, but you just keep going, you're just tunnel visioned on the mission. And uh you do what you can to stay in it.

SPEAKER_00

100%. I didn't want to come off free fall status. There's no way I was gonna say that there's an injury that that's been both bothering me for years. And I I know other teammates were doing or had the same idea, they had the same issues, they weren't saying anything because it it's when it's such an amazing job, when it's such a bigger purpose, when the mission is so insane, like they make video games about what you're doing. Yeah, like who's gonna say, I don't feel good, right? I'm gonna take a knee. Yeah, like it that's why guys break down. That's why guys have catastrophic. That's why I had a catastrophic breakdown, that's why I had a downward spiral. Because at the end of the day, like you're living an amazing, you're doing a job that few people can do. You're doing something where you're you're like a per small percentage of the populace know what it's really like to do this job, and it's fucking cool as shit. Of course, you're not gonna self-select until you have a fucking catastrophic event. When when you look at your life, can you like what were some of the first things that really challenged you where you were just like, I ain't saying shit?

SPEAKER_01

Uh once I got to my career or started the career and deployed. I mean, there's a lot of things. You're you're expected to go out there and you know set up uh you know base security, and you're supposed to be doing cachets and stuff. And I think the first real experience I had is we came up on a big cachet in a house, and I was just like, all right, it's my time to shine. Um, so I laced it up, put my ladder charge on there, got it all prepped, and everyone's like, all right, where are we standing? Where are we going? Where's the MSD? You know, I'm like, shit, I'm not gonna sit here and do math problems. I was just like, well, make a decision, dude. Uh so you roll out, you roll out your initiation system, and you just find the nearest coverage, you're like, shit, how much was that again? All right, we got to move, so I got to get this thing going. Uh and then you'd clack that thing off and you could feel the concussion of it. Um, and it it's not painful, right? Like in the moment, it's not necessarily painful, but it's the inside that's taking that significant blow. And uh you don't realize it at the time because it's just kind of a wave that comes over you, and it's almost like, yeah, that was good. Yeah, got that yes, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Uh I'm so glad you brought it up because everybody thinks that like you you can be phased and be like, I because I had one of those two. I had an 18 Charlie that was like, we gotta blow ourselves out of this compound. And looking back, I'm like, wait a second, did you just say we're gonna blow no? What? And it's like, yeah, you're gonna lead out, and I'm like, and I still remember the fucking you're blowing down a wall, and you're all in the same courtyard, and you're just like, fuck this, but the adrenaline's going, like you know you gotta get the fuck out of there. And when I look back and I think back to that that fucking dude that ran out of that compound, fucking Leroy Jenkins style with a Mark 48. I was like, I should have not been fucking doing anything but taking a knee and breathing.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. You think back to that now, and you're like, what a fucking idiot. You know? And then now you're in this position advocating for people to do that. You're like, all right, guys. Yeah. Because they don't show, they don't show those that part in movies. Everyone looks at the sexy stuff and they don't look at the dude sitting in his apartment drooling, like, whoa man. You know.

SPEAKER_00

So it's so much, so much can be said for the exposure that exactly like that. Yeah, and then in training, too. In training, the amount of stories I've gotten from guys are like, yeah, they brought on a pallet of AT4s, and they're like, You're shooting these. They all have to be gone. Yeah. And it's like, yeah, we all went back to the barracks that night and we just slept for like fucking four days, didn't say shit to anybody.

SPEAKER_01

I'm like, lights, lights out, in foil on the windows. You're just trying to stay, you know, stay in the coma for a couple days. Well, and even when you're training for the GWAT, you're never short on rounds, right? It's significantly different now. Everyone's scrounging for rounds, but and no one's keep no one's keeping a count on how many mortars or you know, moduce rounds you're shooting and where you're standing behind that bad boy, how many AT weapons you're clacking off in a row. You're just going. And uh, you know, there's there's stipulations and rules behind that now, like how many you're you know, how long and how many you're allowed to be exposed to based off the metrics from our generation that ate that shit every day, right?

SPEAKER_00

Dude, that's so true, man. That's the one thing people don't don't take into account. Like the experience, the lived experience of guys like yourself, guys that came before us, that's what's driving the initiative. That's what's driving the change. It's like it's our hard lessons. Like, so if you're listening to this and you're a younger cat and you're complaining about restrictions, and dude, trust me, it's better than do that than have to go to the star program for three months to figure out why your fucking eye doesn't work. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Sitting in a place you can't leave for weeks at a time in a gurney. And you feel like, am I getting am I getting medical treatment or am I a crazy person? I'm not sure right now. Uh but yeah. It's it's unreal, man. And and you know, like I it's good on a team, especially from team leadership position. Like when I was a team sergeant, I'd rather have these pitbulls that I can kind of pull the chain back a little bit. But the idea is, you know, they respect you enough and understand that they're and they're gonna listen to you. Um, because a lot of times these guys just want to go off leash and nobody's stopping them. And then again, you know, that compounds over years, and then you're here. Yep.

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SPEAKER_00

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Hell’s Gate And The Hidden Threat

SPEAKER_01

I mean, you know, throughout the years you deploy a lot and you're doing a lot of training and an operational stuff, but I mean, honestly, what changed for me was when I got up to out to Afghanistan. I did Iraq for the most part of my career early on, a little bit of Africa and some other some other operations. And then the backside of the deployments were Afghanistan and both equally dangerous, right? But very significant fights. Um, and that's when I was really exposed to uh massive charges, uh, whether it's me initiating them or me receiving them on a daily basis. And then obviously when you're in combat, you can't choose where you're gonna be. You can't choose, you know, your hope hope you do your homework and you're the safest place possible. But you know, there's a there's chance and luck. And you know, you just hope you're on the good side of that. But yeah, and then that culminated in the 2019. Teen trip was uh I mean that trip collectively overall was probably the hardest time of my life. I mean, not only did we lose some incredible giants, uh, legends within our community, um, and mentors, and you know, people, those are the guys that really fulfilled kind of the father figure or the brother or the male figures in your life that a lot of us didn't really have growing up, right? And then these guys are it, and we lost a lot of those legends on that trip. And then, you know, people might not understand like the beginning of the war, there's there's parts in the middle of the war that were highly kinetic, and you know, there's an uptick, but also towards the end. Um, a lot of people don't realize during that 2016 to 2019-20 timeframe was highly kinetic. Um, and that was probably one of the busiest trips I had. Um, we got in a lot of a lot of shit, and uh I think it culminated April that time. We're out in Kugiani, uh, Nagahar area, and we're in a pretty intense uh firefight. Overall, it lasted three days and ended up just pushing that whole village. But day one, I was the assault cell leader and we went in this thing. We we called it Hell's Gate because you know, sometimes you get to uh you get to control how you plan a mission, and sometimes the company comes down and tells you how you're gonna do it, right? Bro, yes. And uh looking at it, and we joked this mission was a big one. We were, you know, there was multiple teams and assets that had been hit multiple times before with casualties, so you kind of already know you're going in and it's gonna get spicy. Uh so we're already kind of the infill's already, you know, questionable. Like, I don't know if this is what I would have picked, but all right. So we're walking up, you know, this uh essentially a goat path up the side of the mountain, and uh you're walking over or trying to uh mitigate IEDs on all the way up, and then you go through this village, there's like the hell's gate where you go right through it, and there's only you either go back down or you go through it, and it's these tiered um kind of uh levels to these compounds. And we walk in and we're clearing, and it's all quiet at first, and uh, I'd say a couple hours in, you know, all hell breaks loose. We still have control, right? We still feel like all right, this is what we're supposed to do. Um plan solid at this point, and we're uh suppressing sustaining control. And then we start getting shots underneath. So, you know, you're getting AK 762 rounds coming up right underneath your feet, and that's when we took our first casualty, and we're trying to figure out what the hell is that coming from? Uh we finally figured out because we're taking, we're in a tick already, uh, you know, in the front. We've got, you know, another element in a hand grenade hot potato battle over here. You got dudes over on the the other flank, you know, going back and forth with long range and AT weapons. We finally figure out it's below us. So at that point, you try to scrounge up your partner force, whatever one is not cowered in the corner, and you get you get as many as you can in a stack, uh, and you go try to mitigate it. And that's essentially what we did. Uh, started going towards where the threat was, and that's the last thing I remember. Um, so we've got we were in a little alleyway going towards that house, and then big flash, and I wake up later on in another area. But what happened was it was an H-bid. So the dude, the dude underneath knew, you know, we were coming down. They had a whole tunnel, a tunnel system under there. It's pretty elaborate. Yeah. And uh, you know, they're they kind of understand, like, hey, once we come in, it's just we've got we've got a stack of them. Um, and that's that was you know, think of back, obviously, the most significant blast, injury, life-changing moment. Um, it was a realist too. It was like, oh shit is signific like this shit's real. Yeah.

Waking Up In Rubble

SPEAKER_00

So dude. That is that is a a different type of fucking situation right there. Yeah. Like there's in that particular time frame too, man. Like, we were in 2019, like we were seeing a lot of complex attacks like that. Because we went right after you guys, 2019 to 2020. Um dude, hellacious time. Hellacious time for a lot of dudes, a lot of different groups. But going back to that experience, coming out of it, like knowing that, like, okay, like this is like one moment I'm here, next I'm not. Yeah. What was your initial thoughts to your mind? Like, immediately, I would imagine it's like, fuck, hands, feet, what yeah, what's turning on?

SPEAKER_01

You know, it's the worst experience. You you start coming to you. I have no idea where I'm at. It's all dark and rubble everywhere. There's Afghans in our stack that are in pieces over here. You know, you're in that kind of shock phase, so you're kind of cold. Things you're the feeling, you're like, oh shit. So exactly you start, you know, you're already in pain, but you start going down your legs and your arms, like, all right, I can feel everything. I'm good. My shit's all discombobulated, like obscores. Way the fuck back there. Yeah, my dogs are like almost blasting, like, just you're messed up, right? And then yeah, immediately I'm just trying to gain situational awareness. Like, where the hell am I? Because I couldn't really see at the time. You know, you hear all your uh partner force just ah bar, oh, just screaming, and you're like, all right, is are those my guys? Is that the other guy? Yeah. Culturally, that's the worst thing about him. You have no idea what situation you're in. And I remember grabbing my rifle, and I'm just like, shit, what do I do? And thank God I was on a phenomenal ODA. You know, my assistant cell leader, my other assault leader just picked up right where it left off, drugged me out of there, got me back to a hasty CCP, and then they continue to fight. Like, um, that was collectively like a powerful team, just like a super team. It was awesome. Guys are switched on. But fuck yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Um, right there, man. Like there's guys that don't hesitate, go exactly where they're needed to be and get to work. And that's um you can you can chalk it up and say, well, they're trained to do it, but yeah. Not everybody can not everybody reacts the same way.

SPEAKER_01

That's the truth. Everyone's got to play until you get punched in the face, right? Like exactly. You see some of the biggest, you know, badass dudes who get in a firefight and they freeze up. Or you the quite the opposite, you know, there's some unassuming dudes who you're like, I don't know, man. I don't know, this guy's got it. And he gets in there and he's just running and gunning. You're like, all right, don't be fucking savage.

SPEAKER_00

Don't touch a book by its cover. Uh hell no, dude. Some of the most savage and most fucking war-fighting individuals look like freaking point dexters. Just regular dudes that have that dog in them, man. Like they're like, okay, that's that's the guy.

SPEAKER_01

That's well, we had you you might we had a young team, and uh, I'd say three-fourths of them had never been to combat before, but they were great dudes. But like we said, you have no idea how they're gonna react when you you get into a firefight. And we had a a junior echo on our team. He was you know, homeschooled, just kind of quiet, you know, uh just kind of straight edge. Like, and I remember just being like kind of how I was when I was a new guy, like, hey dude, you better fucking get switched on, get your shit together. Like, I don't know about you, man. I don't know about you, you know. And then we get in, I remember the first tick we get in. I'm looking, you know, we're suppressing fire, control of everything. I look over and he's just getting it, you know, shooting, moving. Oh man, it was a proud moment in the middle. You kind of pause for a second, like, that's what I'm talking about. And I remember asking him, I was like, hey man, how you feeling? He's like, I love this shit. Uh you know, that it'll change a man's life. That's when you uh get baptized into becoming a man, you know?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, dude. But then they're like, you know, going right back to where you were at in this moment, like those that's the harsh reality of war. The enemy has a say. And fucking that day, they fucking went after you guys and they got you. Getting going back to that moment, understanding like there's two, there's there's that that guy that wants to get back up, get in the fight, but there's a reality of like, am I combat effective? Am I am I ready to get up and get in the fight? And how did your team, how did everybody cover down and say, okay, like Colin's hurt? Like he may not have a he may not be missing a leg, he may not be triggering in, but he is fucking hurt right now.

Team Response And The CCP

SPEAKER_01

That's part of your your scrambled egg mindset at the time is like, all right, I got all my pieces on and I can recognize who everyone is, so I'm good to go, right? And you know, I didn't realize the time lapse from when I got uh blown up to where I felt like I at least had some mental capacity to start figuring things out. But there was a significant amount of time that you missed. So you think everyone's h everything's happening so fast, but you realize it's been a pretty uh a pretty long time. But I mean, I I think out every day uh how my team reacted, you know. The seller, you know, took over the cell right away. The next guy came over, our medic uh pulled me out of of the danger zone, got me back to Hayes CCP. They're doing an assessment on me, and you know, I'm over there throwing up trying to fight my other Delta. Just you know, you just want to get in a fight, and you also still don't know what the hell's going on. Um, you know what's crazy is the one thing thinking back, and and then also what one of my buddies on the team told me is the only thing that calmed you down was our uh dog handler because the dog came over. Craziest thing, like I'm not uh you know, I love dogs, but I I don't have pets. I'm not a huge animal lover. And uh for some reason, uh our dog handler just like put the dog there. I held on to the the back of his collar and it just calmly got me down to the uh the other CCP. Um kind of crazy. And then you hear all sorts of stories of what you did after that. Guys on the team like, yeah, I mean, you're fucking losing your goddamn mind trying to feed people, you know, fight people, but then the next second you're you're over there with your eyes closed, throwing up on the ground, like just a crazy situation. Um and then you know we're you're in that CCP and like exactly what you're supposed to be doing. It was like thinking back, these guys set that thing up and and were rocking, right? Like, you know, you have your critically injured dudes full of gunshot wounds and missing body parts, and they're utilizing some of us to go over there and help calm him down, you know. My my junior uh, you know, was involved in it as well, and he's pretty much his you know shredded the back of his legs are shredded, he's you know, bleeding all over, he's broken bones all over. So, you know, he's in a worse position than I am. So we're over there, you know, just trying to calm him down, keep familiar faces. Um, so just helping each other out. Pretty cool to see all that stuff come together in uh a chaotic moment.

Medevac Chaos And Eye Injuries

SPEAKER_00

So oh yeah, man. And and I have to imagine coming out of there, finally that mission comes over. What were the next couple days? Was the discussion of getting you to a higher level of care like an immediate thing? Or like we always do, yeah. Like, hey, let's see if we can keep him around. Like, he'll be cool, he'll be fine. We need to get we need that gun in the fight. Like, how would how did your team approach that?

Home For A Birth

SPEAKER_01

Well, the thing, so both the team and honestly, like uh the medical providers in country, like I was uh meta backed out of there, the which was already its crazy, a crazy situation. The uh the PJ on that bird got a silver star for uh evac and like they the blades were hitting the side of the mountain because we're the you know the fight's still going on, so the only way they couldn't even pinnacle land over there. So the only way they could get dudes out were to kind of hover as close to that little goat trail going up and then send the dude down, you know, with the donut, send them up. So we're sitting there. This is the crazy that's that was the first time I was like, this is a fucking movie. Like these dudes, you know what I mean? Like you couldn't even plan that shit. Um, but they're just hovering, dudes coming up and down, birds, you know, the gunners in there trying to suppress fire. Like it's just unreal. Uh, but got us back to first level echelon. You're you're still in and out, you know, you're in a all of a sudden you're in a room with like four of your buddies, everyone's fucked up, and you're like the one of the worst parts, to be honest, was the uh the eye abrasions, the corneal abrasions. Um, because all the debris and shit just scars up your eyes. It's painful, but you can't see. It hurts to like even blink. And everyone within that proximity of the blast had that. So we're all just sitting in the gurney, just like trying to feel each other out, like, hey brother, where are you at? How you doing? Uh it's crazy. Um, but yeah, then then they flew me uh to the next echelon in Bath. Uh I was there for probably three or four days. And then I was supposed to go to Germany, but the crazy thing about it is my first son was supposed to be born any any day now. Which was unreal, my little war baby, right? So uh 10th group, the medics at the time, the the group surgeon and some of those guys really did me a solid and and negotiated to take full custody and and care of me to fly me back so I could see the birth of my child, which was you know crazy. So it's it's a blessing in disguise. Um the only bad thing is my wife's she's taking care of a newborn, and I'm over there in the other side of the room, drooling. So she's she's already taking care of two children.

SPEAKER_00

So yeah, that that that's the that's you know, that that is classic. Like, hey, we're gonna we're gonna take care of them, we got it. But the reality is like uh, you know, if you had to sacrifice going to a place like, you know, but that's the going going straight to a higher level of care like that to be home to see the birth of your child, and it's like nobody's gonna say, nobody's gonna look at it and be like, no, no, I'm gonna I'm gonna go here. Like, you're gonna make the choice be with your family, man.

SPEAKER_01

That's a significant decision. If it was something else, right, you're gonna you're gonna take it of of your caretakers. But I was like, I don't give a fuck. I'm going home to see the birth of my child. Your wife's already my wife's already pissed off that you know, I'm on yet another deployment while she's pregnant, and you know, we don't have family nearby, so she's just grinding it out on her own. I mean, yeah. So I was like, I'll have to be there. Uh I'm not missed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So and what was it like going through that recovery, man? Because everything, you know, the and and it's not about comparing trauma. It's just the reality that your teammates who are also in the blast, they're dealing with the tr the traumatic brain injury, the the blast exposure injury of all that. But they're also they have a significant, they can you can see their wounds, you can see the broken bones, you can see the casts, you can see the scars. When you don't have something that people can look at and visually see and be like, oh yeah, man, that dude's injured. People are really quick to be like, well, you're fine. You're back to work.

The Worst Decision After Injury

SPEAKER_01

I mean, outside of like a completely like different presence and level of consciousness, you're right. You're just it's cuts, bruises, a couple little broken bones here and there, but it's you know, it's doesn't from the outside uh looking in doesn't look as crazy when you got guys next to you of multiple gunshot wounds and multiple surgeries, and you know, it's you almost feel like fuck man, maybe I should get my shit out of out of bed and get back over there. And and and that's exactly what I did. In hindsight, that was the worst decision I ever made in my life.

SPEAKER_00

Dude, I'm so glad you're saying that. Guys need to hear that.

SPEAKER_01

Guys dude. It was uh it was so dumb. Not only like personally, it's kind of leaving. So what I did was after my kid was born, I was like, all right, wife's good, baby's healthy, kiss a baby on the head and get out the door, right? So I did everything in my power to get checked off to try to get fit for for combat. And I got denied by it, it's like the the one of the medics in uh at Intrepid Spirit was trying to do the right thing and say, hey man, you you should not go back. Like this is I'm not approving that. And uh I was like, cool, awesome. Uh thanks for the advice, Doc. Um, and then once I left, I ended up buying a ticket out to Baltimore and then getting on a rotator back up over. And uh I show up No, you didn't the dumbest thing, right? So like I show up, I take a brown flight from Bath to our our FOB down at uh Camp Shank.

SPEAKER_00

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SPEAKER_01

And uh show up just at the doorstep of the team room like, what the fuck are you doing here? Well, surprise, motherfucker, I'm back.

SPEAKER_00

Clear sign of a traumatic brain injury. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You just impulse. Yep, impulse control.

Going Back Against Medical Advice

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and uh well, you know, and not only with the mindset of I want to get back in fight, I'm a able-bodied individual. I want to get back in the fight. The hardest thing for me at the time is I had no idea how the rest of the team was, right? So that was a three-day fight. And what happened when I got fucked up, that was the first night. So these guys, these guys are out getting it for two more days, and there's no one letting me know how guys are. And matter of fact, I don't even I didn't even know it happened. So the first thing I'm thinking is, what happened? What the fuck happened? Where are my guys? Uh, and that went on for a while because you're you're trying to get feedback from people who are you know at the jock, you know. So, and then everyone's like, hey man, don't worry about it, you're good. Let's just focus on getting better. But the reality is like I want to make sure the guys I was in charge of and my brothers on the team are good to go. And I, you know, and then that permeates and continues to build as you're back home trying to heal, and you're like, fuck it, I gotta go back. It eats away at you. Yeah, it eats away at you. The mindset is everyone at home is safe, but everyone forward in is in significant danger, right? Because mind you, we still we're losing, you know, I had already lost two of my really good friends at that point, and you know, fast forward lost two more. So, you know, there's nowhere else I wanted to be than than back in the fight. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And how did your uh how did your leadership react?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I'm real so it was crazy because it just so happened to be the day that they were getting a command visit by group and battalion. And so I just remember like we're all standing there and I'm in the team room or the the loadout bay, and I'm kind of on the end, and they're going through talking to everyone. He just kind of stops and he's like, What the fuck are you doing here, dude? Surprise! I'm gonna say I'm sorry instead of ask for your permission. But uh the team took care of me, man. I mean, the reality is my team understood the mindset, but also knew like I'm not gonna have the responsibility I had prior to it. So, you know, I'm not assault one cell leader anymore. I'm uh making sure they're keeping a watchful eye on me, right? You know, like so there were stipulations involved. The the thing was, I was like, I'm just happy to be back out there. So they really did do a great assessment on making sure I was good to go, not forcing me into a position that could be detrimental to myself or the team. Um, so we made the best out of a shitty situation. And like they also knew there was no way I was gonna listen to anyone's advice at that point in terms of going back. Because there are, you know, like commands thrown around, like you can sit. Come back to Bath and be at the jock and all that. It's like, oh hell no. I was like, dude, you're out of your mind. That's I'm it's that's offensive you would even say that. Them are fighting words, you know? I am not gonna be an AST. Yeah, a bunch of dates sitting in a room looking at TV screens. Nah, not this dude.

SPEAKER_00

So some poor ASTs like, uh, please, yeah, please let me go replace them. No. Um, but but shout out to everybody who's done an AST rotation. I know it sucks, but uh sucks the suck nerds.

SPEAKER_01

Make yourself worthy and you ain't gone.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Mark me safe from never having to do that shit, job. Fuck yeah. Be useful.

Regret And The War At Home

SPEAKER_01

Uh yeah, I mean, looking back, honestly, it really was. Now that I have a little bit of humility and and you know, we're we're not doing those pumps anymore. I'm like, God, not only was that harmful to myself, but just putting your family in a situation like that. Like, that's like the re one of the biggest regrets I have is because you don't realize it's quintessential, a lot of people say it, but your family that sticks with you through all this is one of the most resilient. They're the most resilient hardcore people that ever walked this earth to be able to deal with it on that side, deal with your shit when you come back, uh, having to be the rock, having to support you even when they don't agree with it. It's and that like seeing now we're we're mending those wounds now, right? We're going through it and we're talking about that and how you know the positions you put your your family in when you do that. And uh outside of my own well-being, that's like my biggest regret.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. But it's important to understand too, like you're you're understanding it. There's still guys out there that don't realize that there's a war at home. Yep. There's a war that you get to deploy to, that you look forward to, and and people don't understand that aspect either. Like, how can you romanticize something that could take you away from everything you love? It's like it's the mission. It's what what we and guys like us live for. But we have to remember that there's also a war at home. The person that has to walk on eggshells because you're dealing with anger, you're dealing with with resentment, bitterness, depression, anxiety, all those things that you're dealing with, it bleeds off. And I wish people could understand it and visualize it. You don't suffer in a vacuum by yourself. Everybody else around you, your kids, your wives, everybody in your immediate family feels that tension. They feel that pain, they feel that animosity. And if we don't take a look at how we can help them, if we don't address those issues, we're never going to be successful at home, man. You're you're not wrong.

SPEAKER_01

You know, it was uh it was what you just said was um important in terms of the war at home that a lot of people don't focus on. And I my next team sergeant after that. So we got back from that trip. Everyone had just gone through hell together, so you're very tight, tight-knit group, right? And that was my team sergeant's at the time, his last pump. He stayed on uh for one last pump to take the team to combat. And then the next team sergeant came in right after that, and you're just kind of like, man, I gotta disrupt this whole momentum this team has. Like, but what he said is, hey guys, I understand what you've been through. Um and your last team sergeant, he took you to war, right? But I have the you know, I have the uh, I have to bring you back from war, right? With a responsibility to bring you back from war, which is equally as challenging, right? Because now that's when things start spiraling, that's when all the demons come out, that's when people start getting in trouble. I mean, that is not an easy task. Um, and I think back to that, I mean, he couldn't have been more right.

SPEAKER_00

Uh so but yeah, shout out to that guy, because that's that is one hell of a leader to understand the importance of that part of the equation.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, um you can throw weight heavy on him. It's not like, all right, I'm just gonna be in garrison for the first year. No, the dude understood there's a lot of responsibility there.

Spiral Into Darkness

SPEAKER_00

So hell yeah, man. Yeah. Well, take us through the the the journey of healing from that. Yeah. Because it's not an easy thing. Like I said, you can't see it. Yeah, you feel it, you understand it, but you also don't have at the time frame, there was nobody talking about operator syndrome. There was nobody talking about TBI or blast exposure. How did you come to the understanding of like, I I'm still struggling. I need help.

Intervention And Choosing Help

SPEAKER_01

I mean, unfortunately, when you come back, it that's not what it ends. You just keep keep spiraling, right? Like again, just that year, just the whole world was coming down on me uh with the loss of you know, some of the most significant male figures in my life. Uh, brothers, warriors, teammates, uh, they were everything, right? So that superseded the the issues I was having internally with all the blast exposures and the injuries. It was it was dealing with uh survivors guild, dealing with the extended mourning of these significant figures in your life. Uh, you know, the the pretty typical stuff of drinking and fighting uh just got out of hand. I'm getting arrested again for in bar fights, you know. I'm at this point, I'm well into my 30s, an experienced dude, and I'm still doing dumb shit. Just trying to find a way to let it all out, right? And just becoming a bitter, isolated person. And a lot of that is both the physical effect of your experience within these situations of combat, but just the the mental uh pressure and weight of all the things that happen. And you can even see that you're you're uh putting a lot of weight on your family, like they're mentioning it, you see it, but you're like, well, fuck it. You just keep telling yourself, like, whatever, you know, I'm I ain't worth shit. I'm you know, disappointment to you, so fuck it. Um and one of the biggest things I used to think about is how could I be so relevant? How could I be so meaningful and sought after in combat and looked up to and doing such a great job, right? And then you come home and it's the complete opposite. You're making all the wrong choices, you're disappointing everyone, you don't have that worth. Like, how can I be an effective operator in combat in some of the most stressful, chaotic situations in life? But I can't even be a good husband, father, or family member. Uh which was a very hard realization to come to. Um, but yeah, it all came down to just a deep dark hole where you know you those thoughts start seeping in and you're like, man, I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to be here. I don't want to keep, you know, breaking my family apart and putting all this weight on everyone. Like, fuck it, man. It's better if I'm gone, right? That same you hear it all the time, but when you feel it, you don't think it's gonna be you. But when you get to that point, you're like, I get it now. I get it. Um but thank God there was a quick intervention from my wife, and uh she just put the plan into action. She called everyone that she knew of, stayed with me, got those people uh aware of the situation, and within like an hour, I'm I'm sitting in in a uh a therapy session with who's now my therapist. I've got, you know, our behavior health uh I guess he was the OIC of the behavior health section who really became such a a pivotal member of my my journey, my path, um, that guy's family now. But I think I I was finally got to the point where like, man, I need help. I I just broke down and I realized I I don't really want to do this, but I'm gonna surrender to the cause. I'm gonna surrender to the process. It's one of those things where it doesn't work unless you are all in, right? It doesn't matter. You can jam it down someone's throat all day, doesn't do shit unless the individual wants it.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely, man. Thank you for saying that. Like it's um it's hard, man. It's hard advocating and having to say and accepting that I can share the information, I can share the resources, I can't make somebody click the button. I can't make them accept help. Man, and it it it hurts, it hurts seeing somebody that's struggling, you know what they're dealing with, and you keep saying, like, hey, whoop, I gotta I got a resource right now. We got a foundational, we'll take care of this. And they keep coming up with excuse after excuse after excuse when all you really want them to do is just do that, surrender, surrender and say, Yeah, I'm willing, I'm willing to try it. Yep.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, man. That was my biggest realization. It's kind of like what I used to always say on the team, man. Like, I can train you all day long. I can put you in positions to be a better person, I can help you reach your full potential, right? But never put me in a position where I want it more than you, right? Um, you know, I can lead a horse to water, but can't make him drink, right? It's it it's it really is truthful. I mean, I mean that has a lot of reactions to it.

Therapy And Letting It Out

SPEAKER_00

That's absolute truth, man. And in your in your path to getting better, to seeking answers to recover, what did you go first?

Marcus Institute For Brain Health

SPEAKER_01

Uh the first place I went was to a therapist right off the bat. And took me that day to just let it out. And I I just remember, you know, you suppress everything. And at that point, I was just sitting in a chair, humped over, crying my brains out, right? All those tears you suppressed that that was transformed into anger and just neglect and all these terrible uh qualities, now transition to I'm I finally just need to let this out. Both the tears and the weight and everything that's in my head. And that got me to a place where, like, all right, now I need to start thinking clearly of what's next. And we started talking about programs. Um, and the first one that I I went to, which ended up being you know very near to and dear to my heart now, is the Marcus Institute out in Denver. Um, Marcus Institute for Brain Health, shout out to them. Um, that was my first experience, one with accepting all these issues, but two, that staff, uh, they treat you like family. I mean, you walk in there and it's a bunch of people that just want to know how your day is, want to know how your family's doing. I mean, yeah, you're doing all of your appointments and you're seeing world-class physicians um and you're getting the treatment you need. But on top of that, they you can see the compassion and the empathy when they talk to you, which is what you you don't get that a lot with providers, right? Um that's it. And that that alone has uh there's so much uh benefit in what that does for you. Those little things can really change someone's life because you really feel like someone's hearing you or understands you. Because for me, it's like vulnerability is obviously very hard for all of us. So if you choose to be vulnerable and the person doesn't receive it the way you want them to receive it, you immediately lock back up and you're like, fuck it, time to put my wall up. That was that was a mistake, can't do that again.

SPEAKER_00

Nope. I fucked up and yeah, it it's a strength, but you're right, man. And and it's happened to me. I think it ha I think it's a test in understanding that it's okay. Sometimes it doesn't work out that way, but it shouldn't close you off. Because I I understand it, man. I understand like sometimes people don't have a frame of reference, and that's important too. It's important to understand that your family, even your family, like your wife, may, if you come from different backgrounds, you may not be able to be vulnerable in regards to sharing something from combat, something that you can't process or need help with, because I've done it. I've done that. But like, you know, I'm dealing with I'm struggling with this thing that happened while I was deployed, and my wife just looks at me like, what the fuck? And it's okay. Yeah, it's okay to find the right person, the right resource, a therapist, a peer-to-peer support system, somebody that understands your lived experience.

SPEAKER_01

You're absolutely right. Your your closest friends and family are there, obviously, through it all, but they might not always be the right person to talk about certain things. I mean, there's there's times where I've dumped information on my wife, and she's just like, uh that's a little dark. I don't know. I don't know if I'm the right person. Maybe uh call your buddy for that one. I'm like, got it. Dude. All right. Yes. Some of that shit I said out loud. I thought it was uh in here, but my bad.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and there's nothing wrong with that. That is a normal thing. And and you should be able to have those conversations. And your wife is probably like, hey, thank you for sharing that with me, but I'll tell you right now, like, you know, like my wife came from a very good background. She had a you know a good family, had you know, those those the the three pillars I always talk about mind, body, and spirit. And those were well concrete for her. They don't always understand the shit that we bring to the table, and that's okay.

SPEAKER_01

Well, the last thing I want to do is like, don't make my trauma your trauma. And now she's got to go to therapy for listening to my shit. You know, it's like, you know, like just yeah, there's a frame of reference of who you're talking to, and like you can't compare trauma, right? So someone else's most significant trauma in their life, if you're comparing it, might not be as crazy as yours, but that's their perspective. That's what they know. That is the worst thing. So you can both be feeling the same thing through drastically different experiences.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Um yeah, man. And it's important to highlight too that the Marcus Institute for Brain Health, like the staff, the people that work there, like, shout out to Dr. Kathleen Flaherty. Like, she had an awesome, awesome person had her on the show. But when the the when the friggin' person at the very top is also somebody that has a TBI that understands how that impacts your life, that's got to be one of those the understanding that that's the person in charge. It's it's it has to be like, oh shit. Like, okay, these people understand me.

SPEAKER_01

And they're so involved. They're so involved. Like you get done with an appointment from uh the neurodoc, and then you come out, and then you've got three or four people like, hey, how you doing? How's it going? Everything good, you know, like they're there for you, right? And you're selective too. So it's not like you know, anyone can just go there. You do a very thorough assessment for a couple days, and then they all get together, and you know, all the the SMEs get together, and like, hey, this guy's the right sit the right fit for this three-week program. So they already know going in, like, there's significant issues that they're gonna be dealing with. So they treat you as such. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And you know, looking back now at your journey where you're at today, how how different is it to be on this side of the journey?

Vulnerability As Strength

SPEAKER_01

It's amazing, man. Like, I've I've found a great middle ground of the ability to be vulnerable, to use that as a strength because I'm still Colin Lightfoot. I'm still full of dissent vinegar, I can still fly off the handle, you know. So it's not one or the other. You can be both at the same time. Um, and it's a strength, man. When it's a healing process for you to continue to talk about it and get it out, but it's also, I believe it's your duty when you're on this side of it, you understand the significant positive factor it can have on your life. So it's only your it's almost like it's your duty and your obligation to help the people that are stuck on the other side. So the more I can be there to advocate for that, the better it's gonna one, make me feel about my process, but two, help out those dudes who need it next, right?

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely, man. And, you know, we we can't end this episode without talking about the transition, talking about your journey and what you got going on planning for the future as you're stepping away from Colin Lightfoot, the Green Beret, the badass leader. Like, where's Colin headed to? And what are you focused on as you're heading into your next chapter?

Building Colorado Custom Design

Where To Support Colin’s Work

SPEAKER_01

My next chapter is obviously just focusing on the family and being here uh for them, being a present father, uh a present husband, and just really capitalizing in all the things that I essentially neglected in the past. Career-wise, you know, I appreciate what this career gave me. It made me who I am today. Uh, nothing but just amazing feelings, amazing relationships. But with that said, I need a healthy delineation from that. I need a healthy break to understand that's not my only identity, right? I have other qualities and hobbies and things that interest me, that incentivize me, that I can excel at and also help in the healing process. So it's it's a pretty drastic difference. Like uh we started a business last year, Colorado Custom Design. It's custom tooth, custom screen print, embroidery, engraving, and it, you know, it took off. And unexpectedly, that's gonna be my focus moving forward. Um, we get to stay involved with the communities, um, we get to do the creative side comes out. I love you know graphic design and and letting that creative side come out. And it's it's no longer Colin is the stoic kind of resting bitch face, you know, green beret, right? And that, you know, it's funny. My my kid, he's like, he's like, what do you do all day? It seems like you just make stickers and t-shirts, you know. It's kind of it's kind of funny. And I and the reality is I'd rather have him think of me like that right now. And as he gets older, he'll understand the path it took to get here. But I don't mind being the the t-shirt guy, you know? I don't mind having that stigma right now for for those kids because it means I get to be home. It means my identity isn't attached to only what I've done in the past. Uh, it gives me an opportunity to kind of create a different side of me. Absolutely, dude. And where can people go to check out what you got going on with custom Colorado Custom Designs? So we got our website in Colorado Custom Design LLC.com. Um we continue to increase the kind of the exposure on that and and put all our capabilities on that. Our uh Instagram page and Facebook page, Colorado Custom Design on there. Um so they can they can check out the website, check out the uh social media handles. We try to stay up and and on that as much as possible.

Why Marcus Institute Works

SPEAKER_00

So heck yeah. Guys, do me a favor, go to episode description, click those links, and buy a t-shirt or two, maybe three or four. Look, Colin is not he's not pumping himself enough, so I'm gonna give him a plug and a shout out for what he's been able to do with his business and supporting other nonprofits like the Special Force Foundation is huge, man. Being a veteran entrepreneur is not easy. It's rewarding, but it's not easy. Comes with a lot of hard-earned fights. But when you're willing to put your money where your mouth is and supporting other Green Berets that are also struggling through your business, it's a fucking home run, man. And that's what Colin's doing. That's what he's been doing for a while. So please support him, support his mission. I'll make it super easy. Here, scan this QR code or go to the episode description. I got to remember this because now I have an editor, so I got to send him the QR code. Hopefully I remember. Or not, yeah, I'll have to do a post, but hopefully I'll remember. Click the links, scan the QR code, support Colin, and please, you're not gonna, you're, you're, you're gonna love what he's got. The guy is good at what he does, and he's got some great designs out there right now that are actually pretty fucking cool to wear in your team room. So if you're still in, get a new t-shirt. Don't wear the same black one, don't be boring, get a new one. Colin, I can't thank you enough for being here. I will ask you for one more plug. If you could speak directly to a Green Beret right now as to why he should choose, or any veteran that might be dealing with TBI in the Colorado area or nationwide that is considering getting help, why they should go to the Marcus Institute for Brain Health.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean, without a doubt, absolutely. Uh, it's one of the few places that is going to one, understand you, one optimize your care and have the empathy, the sympathy, and just the understanding how significant this is for you as a human being. And quite honestly, the continued care that they provide for you, the checking in, the focus that they provide, uh, is no, it doesn't compare, right? There's there's nothing that compares to it. And Not only will that care be there for you for an extended amount of time, but so are the friendships and the relationships of the people you meet there. So can't uh advocate for them enough.

Final Challenge And Closing

SPEAKER_00

Awesome, brother. Thank you so much, man. And there you have it, folks. Straight from an individual that's gone through there, navigated that. Don't be scared. Reach out today. Their information is also in the episode description. I won't give you a QR code for that. You'll do it the hard way. I I am gonna have to remember this. So please do me a favor, click those links, check out the Marcus Institute for Brain Health, follow them on social media, and have uh have the guts, the tenacity and the vulnerability to ask for help today because you're important. We need you here. I need you to start a business. I need you to be involved in your community. I need you to raise the next great generation of Americans. And you can't do that unless you're here. And taking care of your brain health is the first step. Colin, thank you for being here, brother. Thank you for what you're doing. I can't wait to see what you have coming down the pipeline. Not just in regards to t-shirts, but where you're going, man, because I have a feeling that Colin Lightfoot's going to be a name that is talked about and spread throughout the veteran community in the coming years. So I'm staying tuned. Appreciate it, brother. It is an honor. Absolutely. Yes. Always, brother, and always welcome to come back on the show whenever you got anything to share. Absolutely. So uh please do so. And everybody listening, thank you for what you're doing. Thank you for supporting the show and our sponsors. And uh take care of each other. Reach out to a friend or two today. That's your last challenge. That's it. That's the last thing for today. We'll see y'all next time. Take care.

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Deny Caballero

Host