It doesn't matter the most obscure thing, but Goodfellas is is and I and I think and I always make this analogy. I think if they ran the fire service a whole lot more like the mafia, we'd be in good shape.
SPEAKER_01Firehouse Vigilance presents the weekly scrap, a podcast dedicated to the never-ending fight against complacency.
SPEAKER_02Fourymore, Firehouse Vigilance. It is weekly scrap number 362. My guest tonight is Steven Runyon. I love bios when they're sent to me by firefighters. He said, 20 years in the fire service, 14-year captain with Wichita Fire Department, assigned to headquarters firehouse to truck two in Wichita. He is the hiring coordinator. He is the truck coordinator, Georgia Smoke Diver, FDIC hot class specialist, and is heavily involved with the Wichita Hot. My brother, Steven Runyon, it has been too long, but welcome back for episode number 362 of the scrap.
SPEAKER_03Wow, thanks for having me. It's been too long for sure.
SPEAKER_02It has. And uh the first time you were on was to talk about, you know, you you guys were overhauling the the hiring process at Wichita and and really working on the uh recruitment. And I didn't know, I don't know if I've told you this. I did tell you this before the show, but when I went back and I look at analytics, I don't know if you know this or not, but your show is in one of the top 10 shows of all 360 scraps. So yeah, I I mean I was you know, because all the names and things like that, I would not have said, hey, the one time we talked to Yeah, I it must just be one of those things people were just accidentally clicked on or something. No, I but the the the value is there, so that's why it's been too long because I mean obviously the interest is there. Uh is there anything you want to add? Anything I felt like I left out in the intro?
SPEAKER_03No, uh I mean the update on the bio FDIC. I'm now I now handle all the vendors, so kind of moved up within the organization as everybody else moved up and been there 11 years. And so now I'm the vendor equipment manager. So every single piece of equipment that comes in for 38 hot classes over five days, um, that run of Lucas Oil Monday through Friday when the hot classes are there. So it uh it used to be uh a kind of a vacation going out there and hanging out in Roadie's room and you know, sleeping in down on his couch and and just kind of getting to be around everybody to it's a it's a year-round. I've got to touch that year-round. So it's it's been you know incredible to watch it grow and obviously seeing, you know, we we went somewhere around 6,700 hot students this year.
SPEAKER_02That's insane at PSC. This was insane.
SPEAKER_03And live fire all five days. So it it to see what it's become. And you know, my uh, you know, my my dad, David Rhodes, he he told me he was taking over the world, and and uh and here he is over over the whole fire service world.
SPEAKER_02So one hot class at a time, baby. One hot class at a time.
SPEAKER_03I I would like to go back to about 20 hot classes on Monday and Tuesday, but uh I don't I don't get the vote. I don't, you know.
SPEAKER_02So well the other part is the pace, man, the the the the evolutions they put in was like some of those classes I heard, you know, they were like, we got it's just the number that they rotated through was just amazing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and you try to, and it's one of those things where you know you tried to give everybody a taste, and and you would love it, you know. I mean, that was one of those things where every now and then, if you get a little bit smaller of a class, you know, the amount of reps that some of these students got, um, that I mean it's just it's it's incredible to watch. And and you know, it's it's always hard. And I learned this the hard way the first time that uh Chief Roads came to Wichita was that you design a class that you think you want to go to, some high-speed search, everything else. And then the first two people that show up to class on that day are you know, Ma and Pa from Kearney, Nebraska, and this is their first fire class. And it's like, oh man. So trying to trying to be, you know, you know how it is, trying to build out the curriculum to encompass everybody's level from you know whichever coast to everywhere in between is is hard. And so I think those instructors do a really good job. And it's it is it I know the logistics guys this year, uh especially my guys from Wichita that that rode back, like they were whipped. The end of the end of that two weeks, they they were whipped. So I'm hoping they're coming back.
SPEAKER_02Right on, right on. No, and if you haven't experienced it, you need to, every firefighter needs to experience it. And so, okay, with that being said, I'm gonna get audience, get your questions primed and ready for Steven and myself. Sam is here, he is looking at your questions in YouTube. He will be posting them to us and I will get them asked. So let's do the sponsors and we will get to the scrap. Everything in the fire service gets tested. Training, instincts, equipment. That's why Snaptight designs and builds its fire hose to perform no matter the challenge. Durability, packability, kink resistance. Every single line is tested before it leaves the factory, so you know you can count on it. Snaptight, it's American made. It is firefighter trusted. Visit SnapTightHose.com to learn more or find a distributor near you. Firestationfurniture.com, they provide a complete line of quality furniture for your firehouse. Firefighter owned and operated. They understand the strain that firefighters put on furniture and they offer furniture that is built to last. Visit FirestationFurniture.com for more information. And the last thing I want to talk about is, of course, the Patreon, the Vigilantes and the Vigilante Codex, which is our current project. In fact, this the July 9th, we're having, is it yeah, 9th. We're having a meeting. Just to work on this project. If you want to be part of what I really believe is going to impact the entire fire service, come be a part of the Vigilante Codex project. Uh that's that's yeah, that's enough about that. Let's get to the scrap. Mr. Steven Runyon, I always send out an email that says, hey, what topics are you passionate about right now? What do you want to talk about? And I love the topics list you said. Like I think, I think you said it earlier. We could do 10 hours about each, you know, one hour on each topic. But for sure. I love what you said right at the beginning, which is let's kick it off with the amount of world-class firemen it took to shape your career. So I'll let you lead off with that and go with what you were talking about.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So, you know, I I always look back and see the amount of people that invested their time, effort, and were willing to pass along. And I mean, that's you know, for a department of of 500 like Wichita is, uh, I I've been just absolutely blessed to work with with guys who, you know, they they have done it all, seen it all, and you can easily just retire with that. And I've been just beyond blessed. And then, you know, being part of the the smoked diver program um and meeting those guys just, I mean, the network that it's developed, and you know, I I at a moment's notice can pick up the phone and call anybody that um, you know, any any problem I have. I mean, there's nothing new in the fire service, right? And so I just always give thanks because you know, most of what I have um is not, you know, it's not something that I was self-taught, and all I'm trying to do now is is pass that along to to the men and women beneath me. So right all and brother, very blessed.
SPEAKER_02I love that as a topic, which is hey, I want to make I want to be very clear out the gate. So I wanted to give you a chance to talk about that. And then uh through texting, me and you texting back and forth when we were getting ready for the show, I found out that you have been on a journey of your own over the last four years, and I'm wildly interested in this topic. And I know this is a hot topic throughout the fire throughout the world, but throughout the fire service specifically. Um, so I'm gonna kick right into that. It's one word, very hot topic, and it is peptide. So give me your background on on this journey.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so it has been uh I'll tell you, it's been a a super fast trip right down the rabbit hole. Um, but about about four years ago, you know, just like everybody else, you know, at that time I'm 40 years old and you know, been been working on busy truck companies uh between the two, the downtown house and the South Broadway house. So, you know, I mean, yeah, it takes its toll on you. And then uh, you know, training to stay up with that and doing the gear workouts and trying to hang with the 20 somethings at the firehouse that all played college football and everything else. And you know, you you start running into those aches and pains. And and I had uh I had just terrible tendinitis in my left elbow. And you know, one of the one of the mornings sitting at the table where all the world's problems are solved, and uh, you know, try to pick up a coffee cup and you know, immediately wince. And one of one of the uh one of the the old school you know chiefs, he said, you know, what's wrong, Bubba? And I said, Oh my elbow, you know, he's like, you know, shoot some BPC in it. And I was like, I don't know what that is. He's like BPC 157, he's like, peptide. And I'm I'm looking at him like he's speaking German. I'm like, I don't know what that is. He's like, here, just you know, order this, da-da-da-da, everything else. And you know, lo and behold, a little vial of powder showed up to my house, and I mixed it up and felt like I was in an episode of breaking bad. And I mixed it up, and I thought, well, I've done way worse in my life, so you know, whatever. And just put a little insulin syringe, pinched up an inch of skin there, and ran it in. And within about three, three days or so, uh, significant improvement in everything. I mean, and I'd been to the doctor, I'd wore the brace, I'd done the rehab, you know, all the things you're supposed to do, and there was no relief. And so that kind of got me like, what is you know, how in the world did I just order something from you know, someplace in Florida and they ship it to me? And so I started down that path, and then you know, what I was running into is that there was just not there's nothing in data, it was all just stuff you could barely find, you know, you could barely find anybody that knew what they were talking about on it, and you know, no research and stuff like that. So it was like, you know, I didn't even know, you know, on that website what would I order. Right. So then, you know, it starts like you said, it started to become a little bit more mainstream, and you know, then you start down the rabbit hole and you find, you know, like I was telling you before we were text about it, whatever, is that um, you know, there was a guy that he had a YouTube channel with 500 videos on it, and overnight they delete his account completely, his whole library of videos, everything else, and I read about it on some obscure Reddit deal, and I thought, whatever scared Big Pharma so bad that they had YouTube delete this guy completely. I was like, I want to know what he knows, and so you know, kind of was able to find him uh on some different platforms that he I mean, he had Instagram deleted, I mean he was gone, and he and he's an incredible guy, former Wake Forest football player who couldn't, you know, doctors couldn't heal him, he'd had concussions, he'd had, you know, his hormones were out of whack and all those, and he was dealing with a bunch of issues. And it ended up being one of those things where um he threw kind of a mic slimmer path is like, you know, I'm dealing with these issues, and I'm not gonna go, you know, you go to the doctor, what do they want to do? They want to give me a prescription for a pain pill or you know, do whatever. And so, you know, starting to do the research, and it was like, you know, down the rabbit hole I went. And so I I always kind of laugh and and say, you know, BBC 157, which body protection compound 15715 chain amino acid, that's it's endogenous to the gut. So it it come, you know, it comes out of your gastric juices, and you know, so it's funny that I always call it like the California roll of when you go have sushi for the first time. What do people say? Well get the California roll. Right. And so let's everybody start with peptides like do the BPC 157. And so that it's kind of that like we talked about, it's the gateway drone.
SPEAKER_01It is, yeah.
SPEAKER_03So um, and now and now fast forward to you know that uh you know, as as more things come about and there was more research, and you you really start getting in the right circles, it's like you know, you realize peptides are nothing new. I mean, insulin is a peptide. So, I mean, that's where people hear the word and it's such a broad term. And what's interesting is it's such a broad term in something that is is so precise in what it does. And you know, so many of these are synthesized in labs to figure out exactly what they will do, you know, upstream, downstream. And they're just, you know, it's a precision strike and a signal that your body puts out. So when people ask what peptides are, it's like they're just they are just small molecules that um you know they've synthesized and they figure out what button to press to make your body heal itself. So that's kind of once you understand that, how they work, it it makes it a whole lot easier to delve into, you know, because you hear all the acronyms and all the names and it's all the yeah, two letters, three letters, and three numbers.
SPEAKER_02Right, right.
SPEAKER_03And it gets and it gets so confusing, and and essentially it's that if you kind of break peptides down into categories, you know, there's some that are for you know pain, inflammation, and things like that. There's some for you know growth hormone, um, you know, release, there's some for uh you know fat loss, there's some for metabolic overhaul. And so it uh it's it's quite the um it's quite the broad spectrum of things and it can get overwhelming. And now with social media, you're just getting hammered with people who are saying something so confident, and and about half the time it's wildly inaccurate. Right now, the good news is that it's it's hard to hurt yourself with peptides because they're just all it is is a something your body already does, and you give it a signal, so it's boosting the signal of what your body naturally does. So it uh man, I I'll tell you, it's it is something that you know I I don't turn the TV on anymore. I don't I've read every book, I've watched every podcast, and something every day I'm reading or studying. And and it's just it's it's been interesting to see how I've made myself so much healthier in the last year or two, once I had access and and understood what I was doing, right? And I mean, you know, I researched it, and and then of course, like I said, I'm not a doctor and anything you and I talk about here. We are not physicians, we are firemen, but uh research, research purposes only. Research purposes only. So when you're doing your research with your your lab rats in there, um, but I I just you know, at 44 years old, I look at my lab work, and I'm you know, I'm one of those guys who I'm doing my lab work quarterly, or anytime there's something that uh that pops up, and so or you know, anytime I do a change and I look at it, and I mean I'm just constantly on a you know, looking for uh the the next and you know, people are like, oh it's a shortcut. And it's like, no, these are tools because I mean if you think about where we're at in this world, but let's take let's take our my grandpa. Okay, my grandpa did not have you know plastics in everything. He wasn't ingesting plastics everywhere, he wasn't underneath artificial light 18 hours a day. He didn't have a phone with constant stimulation, he didn't have glycipate, you know, sprayed all over his food. I mean, we legitimately at every turn uh were poisoning ourselves with our environment that we live in. So, you know, you look at it and you and you look at all the complications that they have now. I mean, you look across, I mean, metabolic disease is huge, inflammation is huge, um, you know, our cardiovascular, you know, we we don't work out as much anymore. We, you know, you know, our our food choice, especially at the firehouse, is is not great all the time. And we live on caffeine, nicotine, and we mask it with paint pills and whatever. So, you know, I mean, we're just at such a disadvantage now in our environment that it's hard to get away from. And then when you go to the doctor, you know, they call it the healthcare system. I always call it the sick care system because there's no money, there's no money in healthy people. So, you know, what do they what do they want to do? Well, doctors learn, and it's like they prescribe, and then you get that prescription for something, and then guess what? It's got this side effect and this side effect, and it just so happens that the same manufacturer of the first drug, they make something that can help out with the side effects. So now you're one, two, three prescriptions deep. And every fireman that's ever gone in, especially if you're a company officer, you make a medical, you know, a gut run. What do you what do they hand you?
SPEAKER_02A med a med list, yeah.
SPEAKER_03And yeah, yeah, and it's or a Tupperware bin full of full of pills, and you're and and it's like, well, what does this do? I I don't know, you know, and this doctor prescripts so I I just any more, and and I've got several, you know, one of my best friends is a is an incredible physician and probably the anti-establishment, if you will. And you know, he'll be the first to tell you that they got two weeks of nutrition class in there, and they, you know, they're they're they have a certain way that they learn to do things, and then they're held to that. And so you're just in this, you're just in this constant hamster wheel of, you know, so you know, you go to the doctor, you know, I I anymore, I'm my own doctor. I do all my own research. And the nice thing is, is that with you know the advancements in AI and you're able to immediately research things and break it down versus you know going to the library and pulling out the encyclopedia. Sure. So it's it's just opened up to where, and now you're getting people always say, well, you know, there's no clinical trials, there's no this and that. It's like, well, when you have, you know, obviously anecdotal experience for myself, and I and everybody's an N equals one, something that works for me may not work for you, right? But you know, when you see the same things over and over again, and then you're you know, the internet allows you to communicate with millions of people who do the same things, you know. I mean, I feel like that right now society's got the largest, you know, clinical trial going on for all of this. And I know that just in my little piece of the pie of me sharing my experiences, because I mean, all the firemen that I know around the country and locally, it's like, you know, I share all of this with them. And so it's one of those things where I always one of my favorite quotes is that, you know, knowledge is only power if you share it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And it's like that to me, you know, what what I've been able to do, and I look at it, and my lab, my labs and my physique and my performance and my sleep and my everything is better at 44 than it was 34 and maybe even 24.
SPEAKER_04Wow.
SPEAKER_03So it's been it's been quite the the rabbit hole for me, and it's but it's also opened my eyes. And like I said, I've had wonderful debates, healthy debates with sure.
SPEAKER_02And hopefully challenged, hopefully challenged so it strengthens what you believe.
SPEAKER_03Well, and they're and they're practicing medicine, right? I mean, science exists to be disproven. So, I mean, that's the basis of it. And so, yeah, it's it's interesting, and and of course, you know, I mean, you anywhere you go, you know, people want to come up with all these reasons why, well, peptides are dangerous. Well, you know, you look at it and you think the the alternative of what we're doing every day, you know, it's just I I guess focusing on my health, I it was worth the risk. And I'll tell you what, so far it's you know been the best investment I've made because I'll uh you know, I'll I'll put 44-year-old me up against any version of myself in the past.
SPEAKER_02Right on, right on. Uh, so if somebody was was wanting to start down the rabbit hole where you start, like what is your advice on where to start?
SPEAKER_03Well, so I researching, of course. Researching. I I mean, I and I and I have this conversation a lot with guys, and I'm like, you know, they'll call me like, hey, I want to start that type of stuff. And I'll say, well, well, you know, how old are you? What does your blood work look like? Um, you know, what as far as what's the bleeding neck issue?
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_03I mean, that's that's it. It's like, are you 50 pounds overweight? Well, you need to start uh on a GLP, or you know, if you're you've got tendinitis, well, you need to start with you know, something BPC 157, TB500, aka the Wolverine stack, which I think is the greatest name that's ever come up for a pet file.
SPEAKER_01No doubt.
SPEAKER_03But you, you know, so it's always I always had that conversation, but I'll tell you, and I would be remiss if I didn't say this first and foremost, and it doesn't matter what your age is or where you're at, but um, you know, the the healthcare industry does a really bad job of, you know, I wish that I had lab work when I was 18 years old. I wish I had lab work once a year, and I'm talking full panel, not just my cholesterol and things like that. I'm talking what what was my testosterone total and free, what was my SHPG, my IGF1, my HSCRP, my you know, T3, T4, all all of that stuff because the issue is that your hormones are the foundation of the house. So you can take all the peptides you want. Now, I'm not saying that peptides won't work if your testosterone was low or your SHVG is high or your estradiol is out of whack. However, I always tell guys, it's like if you were building a brand new house and the foundation was cracking, you wouldn't continue to trim out the half, you know, you wouldn't, you wouldn't be hanging a big screen TV in there when the foundation is crumbling around you. It's just it doesn't make any sense. And so it and it's like, and what's funny is it's like I hammered all the time like, well, what is your blood with? Wow. Well then, and then the you get deeper down the rabbit hole and you look at blood work and they say, Well, your total testosterone is between uh 250 and 900. Well, 250 and 900 is a massive range.
SPEAKER_02That's a big range.
SPEAKER_03And the fallacy in all that is that do you know what your total and free testosterone was at what's whatever peak year? Let's say you were 20 years old, was when you're no clue.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So do you know? Do you know what yours was?
SPEAKER_02No, no clue.
SPEAKER_03I don't right. So so so now when you're at 400 and the doctor says, Oh, you're normal, how do you know? Because are you 50% of what you were? Were you 800 back then? Were you were you a guy? LeBron James probably runs around his his test drive is probably 1100. You know, so when when he's uh you know, half of that, he's 50 of what he was. So when they talk about, well, it's just normal, you get well, that's I it's one of those things where I don't accept any of that anymore to say what's normal. I want to be optimal. And the thing about it is is that I want to live that till the day I die, I want to be out on that golf course and chasing around, you know, hopefully sometime in the future, grandkid. I mean, I've I graduated, just graduated my last kid, so I'm about to be an empty nester in about two weeks or six about I guess it's a little over two weeks now, but into August. And it's uh so you know, I but for me, I just keep coming back to that, you know, the hormones, and that's what we run into, and we don't check it very often, especially in the fire service. But what you see with most guys is is that their problems start with being low testosterone. So what do they do? And they but they don't think to check it because, well, you're 32 years old, whatever it is. Well, when you see how many times that we get woke up and we disrupt that rhythm and everything else, like sleep is the number one thing that is going to wreck your hormones. And so, and then what happens is that as soon as your hormones are low, and all the factors we've talked about before the plastics, the bullshit food, lack of sunlight, lack of heavy weight training and hip training. So all these things factor into making us weaker. And and as a society, our average testosterone level is a fraction of what it was when our grandpa's average of the men back then when men were men. Um, so I always tell people, get it checked. And most doctors want, when you go do your blood work, they're not checking. They're gonna do, you know, they're gonna do your basic labs. You have to ask them, and some doctors are like, oh, you know, you're too, you don't worry about that. I'm like, I and I I have a I have a website or an app that I use that I just order my own blood work, pay for it, and we have an association I return my receipt into. So I'm doing my insurance once a year and then doing my own blood work at least at least two more times.
SPEAKER_02Have you seen I it's just come across my it's one of those ads I get on my feed every once in a while. The little thing you plug onto your arm and it drains the blood. I know nothing about it.
SPEAKER_03I just wondered if you yeah, so it's so limited. Okay, that's what I was wondering. It's so like it doesn't tell the full picture. It'd be like it'd be like pulling up to a house fire and making all your decisions from the cat.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_03Fully involved. Well, no, I gotta get out of the cab and I've got to walk all the way around for a 360 to get everything. So the is it is it better than nothing? Sure, but it's one of those things where one of those pops out of, and I and I hate saying out of range because the the range is on there so wild, but it's one of those things where let's say something was amiss on that. Now now you need to be looking at, you know, if your if your total testosterone's 800, but your free is really low, but you didn't do the SHBG, then you don't even know what like there's nothing that you can say, oh, this is why that's out of whack. Well, when your SHVG is high, it's going to pop and make your token good, but then your free is actually the only number that matters because that's what's bioavailable for you to use. So that's where you've got to look at that ratio and and have the full spectrum. So I just tell guys, I'm like, listen, you know, do the full thing.
SPEAKER_02And it, you know, you're not you're not is this something you can usually go to your doctor and say, hey, I want the full uh or is it something they push back on, or is it hard to get?
SPEAKER_03You can, and it's one of those things where I always encourage people, it's like a lot of firemen I know they don't use, they don't get a physical once a year. They don't they don't go to the doctor. I mean, we're just naturally like that, but your insurance will cover one blood work a year. Now you may have to pay a little extra to add the hormones on there, but a lot of times the doctor can code it, especially for firemen. We've had one guy that you know saying that we're we're like cancer evaluating the way they code that sure, you know, because blood work's cheap, but the markup's hiding. Um, so that's one of those things to where, and if you find a doctor that doesn't want to do that, then I would then I the first thing I would do is find a new doctor. I mean, that's essentially what I'm saying. No, absolutely. Yeah, because but then but then you run into, and and this guy always is giving me permission to tell this story. But we've got a guy on the job who went hit his testosterone was was low, and he started doing uh, you know, he his doctor gave him a shot of a long chain ester. Typically, your testosterone sipinate or ananthate are your 21-day long chain esters, so they fit in well with your TRT. Um, and so he comes in and he gives this guy, he was giving this guy a shot once a month. So this guy's coming in and he's you know, the peak and troughs on that, he's getting a full dose up like this, and then he's going back down like this, and then his own natural production, because the way I always explain testosterone to firemen, because so many times you hear the proceeds, well, I'm just gonna take a little bit, boost my natural, and all these things. The testosterone in your body, like testosterone, works just like if you pull up to a high-rise downtown and it's got its own pump in the basement, then and it's pumping the water. When you throw water in, you hook up, and you're throwing water in from the engine, they never work together. Either the pump is supplying it, or that either the engine supplying it, or the pump in the basement is they never work together. It's never like that, it's not it's either closed off, whichever side has higher pressure, that's it. And and I've never, you know, I've ridden an engine like 30 seconds in my whole life, but even I get that. It's just right on. So I mean, I ate the crayon when they were telling me the story, but I figured it out. But so I tell guys, I'm like, you know, so you see something like that. So that doctor, I mean, it I mean, that's just straight up malpractice. He has given him a bullish amount once a month, and then at day 21, his natural production was kicking back in, and it takes a while. What do you do is you suppress it right away, as soon as your body detects it. The boys downstairs say, they hang up their their coat and helmet, and no work is needed to be done. We're off duty. So that's one of those things to where that so then that fireman was starting uh at 20 day 22. His natural production was starting back in, albeit very poor. And then nine days, 10 days later, he goes back, and that doctor jabs him again and he shuts his whole entire system back down. And he was on this vicious cycle roller coaster. So, and so after a few months, he's like, I feel bad. So then the doctor moved it to every three weeks, and then the doctor moved it to every two weeks, and then the doctor, old doctor, dies. And the guy goes in and the PA is like, Well, we need to do some blood work. What was it? Well, the doctor had never even done blood work on any of the follow-up. He just kept plugging him with this because he thought, well, this is how it works. Um, so eventually that guy calls me and I'm like, hey man, this is what I do, and this is you know, this is the best practice I found. Uh, this this is what I would do. And that guy, you know, uh within two months called me. He's like, I've got my life back. I'm playing with my kids again, I've got patience, I've got energy, I've got sleep, you know. But it's one of those things where doctors out there, they don't they don't know that the the problem is they think they know. And so that's where you run into so much of this to where, and and I like I said, the doctors that I'm friends with and the nurse practitioners and stuff that I've educated on peptides and hormones, uh, you know, because they care about their patients and they want to know. And so this is all the stuff that you know, I've been I've been my own guinea pig on all of this stuff, and I've made the mistakes along the way, and so now I'm just trying to help guys, you know, anybody that calls me. This was my experience. I don't know if it works for you, but this is what I do, and I'm trying to save them from making the same mistakes of once-a-week injections or you know, even every three and a half days. It's like, you know, I'm a Monday, Wednesday, Friday guy at a microdose. Right, right. I don't take, you know, and and every doctor and every wellness clinic you go into, they hand you right along with your injectable testosterone, they hand you an aromatis inhibitor. So, you know, uh something that's going to suppress your estrogen. And that is single-handedly one of the worst things that you can do. Because if you need one of those, estradiol is one of the most important hormones in a male's body, believe it or not, it's the estrogen. Your libido, your mood, your energy, all of that revolves around having a nice ratio of testosterone to estradiol. So when your est when your test testosterone is a little higher, running at the upper end, uh, your estradiol should be up with it. And as long as you're not symptomatic, the higher your estradiol is, the better, the more muscle you're gonna build, the better you're gonna feel. And so, but right away, without even seeing if that happens, these doctors immediately start you on something that's going to suppress that estradiol because they get out of the range on the piece of paper that they live and die by, which how it how an N equals one can fall into that. So I was like, if you if you have to be on an estrogen blocker, you're either taking too high of a dose or you're taking it too infrequently. And and 98% of the time, that takes care of guys' issues, and they and because when you take small doses, yeah, you're you're leveling fast levels are even. So instead of doing this, you know, if you do it three times a week, you've got three little curves there, and you just get on that plane, that level plane. And so I say all that, and you know, getting too deep in the weeds on it, but it's just that you you no matter where you go, I mean, like you want to feel terrible, you know, take take big bolus amounts, and that's the other thing firemen think well, if 150 milligrams a week is good, 300 is better.
SPEAKER_02300's better, yeah. That's that's firemen think right there, one-on-one.
SPEAKER_03You're gonna feel great on 300, and you're gonna get big and you're gonna be a man, you know. But that's when the side effects start. And so that's where you know, testosterone has been demonized, and they said it causes prostate cancer. Well, that's been blown out of the water, and you're gonna see actually through Congress, they you know, you're gonna see the reduction in restrictions on that. And then, you know, you're starting to see, even with women, you know, HRT, they always said testosterone causes breast cancer. With that black box warning from lifting. So these doctors are in in trouble because people have access to all their own data, and they're figuring out that a lot of these studies that a lot of this was built around, they're they're just you know, they're just garbage. And so, you know, but it's like fire service. This is how we've always done it, right? So you're seeing, you know, right right out the get-go.
SPEAKER_02If someone's interested in this stuff, then you've got to start with the foundation. Start with the foundation, get your blood work done. That's what we'd say start.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you've got to do the 360 of your health, and then it's one of those things to where you you, you know, it it's you still have to do the old school things, right? You still have to lift, you still have to get don't put on sunscreen, just get sun, it's good for you. You still have to prioritize your sleep, and if that's off, fix it. So a lot of those things when people don't sleep or they they don't have any energy and things like that, a lot of it starts at the hormone. Now, with the peptide, you can get precision with that, you know, and and the the hormone thing, I mean, you you you dial it in, it's it's actually not that hard. And it's and it's one of those things to where sometimes guys start when they don't need it, and that's an issue too. I tell people, I'm like, listen, you know, the the three H's, uh you ask yourself as a male, if you're happy, you're horny, and you get hard. Those are the three, those are the three most important things that if you don't need any blood work anywhere else. If those three strings exist, then if you have an issue, it's somewhere else downstream. Gotcha. So I always say get your hormones looked at and don't be immediately ready. If you're 27 years old, you know, don't don't be sticking a needle in you because that's a lifelong decision and you're making you're making there that it can be serious when abused, you know what I mean? I mean, if I if I chug uh you know five gallons of water and I'm in deep trouble. Right. But if I drink uh half a gallon of water, it's gonna be really good for me. So I tell guys I'm all the time, I'm hammering them, you know, especially my young guys. I'm like, hey man, I know the allure's there, but it's one of those things where just be healthy and stay young.
SPEAKER_02The three H's. I'm gonna I'm gonna might be a t-shirt. The three H's, according to Stephen Runyon, happy, healthy, and hard. Is that is that correct? Happy morning and happy horny and hard. Happy, horny, and hard. Okay, I had to get him. All right.
SPEAKER_03So and and so yeah, I I mean, and I and I kind of got down on a tangent there, but I think it's supremely important that, and if you are that 25-year-old, do a full panel of blood work. And if you've got an 18-year-old son or daughter for their 18th birthday, buy them a full panel uh blood work. It it's it's the best investment. I mean, it's one of those things where it's like knowing that is like getting a peek at the next house fire you go to. If I I got to walk through the next house I was going to, how how easy would that be? Yeah, it'll be like Worley, you take you take the two bedrooms on the right, I'm gonna take the master over here that's the size of my first house, and we'll take care of it, you know. So I I think it's important now. If we get into the peptide space, which is where everybody wants to be, because peptides aren't just for, I mean, there's there's so many of them. And I mean, I could sit, like I said, we could do we could do a 10-part series on this and never get down and get through the 10 most popular peptides. And and the reason why they're popular is because you see such acute results with them. And so when I talk about peptides, you know, obviously, like I said, these are not drugs. So prescriptions mask symptoms. So prescription drugs are like going to if you took your if the check engine light came on in your car and you drove to the dealership and they burned the light out and they said, You're good, Corley. Well, you you just took the signal away telling me something was wrong. And so that's the health care, the sick care system is they continue to make money by you're continuing to come in and a recurring thing. I mean, big pharma didn't get uh where they are for no reason. You know, we're the only country that allows advertisements for prescription drugs on TV. So it's it's one of those things to where they control the narrative on all of it. And so I tell people, I'm like, you know, peptides are just signaling your own body to do its job. So if my tendonitis in my elbow, well, I there was a fire burning right there, but nobody had called the fire department to tell them. So when I threw in a 15-chain amino acid like BPC 157, it signaled my body to hey, we've got to do some work right there. And that's why immediately the fire department was called and they put the fire out. So that's essentially what you know, I the way I look at peptides and how they are is that they're they're precision, not broad stream.
SPEAKER_02No, brother. Now you said like we're just barely scratching the surface, barely. And and but uh, you've done a great job of explaining, and especially with a good fireman analogy, uh, explaining it somewhat. But I am gonna get to the audience because that is the other half of the scrap. And they have a the questions have been stacking up, and it has to do with everything, some of what we've been talking about, and some of which uh still stems back to the original. So we'll go wherever it goes. Luke Stevenson, he's coming at you from down under in Australia. He wants to know have you ever thought of working with the doctor to formalize or standard size standardize the medical side of things?
SPEAKER_03So so the issue there is, and this is where you run in the and and my own doctor uh and several of the doctors I know, they they will tell you that they would be risking their medical license to be because if it's not a if it's not FDA approved, now a lot of peptides are FDA approved. So the the problem is, and and and Biden's administration, a lot of these peptides were Schedule One. So BBC, uh TB500, thymus and alpha one, a bunch of these different more more common peptides, if you will, they were schedule one, and your doctor could send it to a compound pharmacy and have that compound pharmacy make it. They it went on for years. Overnight, in the middle of Biden's term, um, he schedule two then. So what you did was is you took it from what Luke was talking about of where you had a doctor, and and you would have to find the right doctor because most of them just didn't get any of this in pharmacology. They didn't, they weren't taught any of it. But you have a lot of progressive doctors out there, including mine, who see the benefit in it and would love nothing more than to talk to their every patient about it. However, when they made it schedule two, where where are you going to get it? So that's that's where this loophole got closed is is that you went from being able to have a compound pharmacy make a handful of these, and they did for years, to now you've to find it on, you know, because you have pharma grade, you have compound pharmacy grade, and then you have research grade. But the difference is that that doesn't mean that the compound pharmacy grade is any better or the pharma grade is any better. That's just who makes it. Eli Lilly makes semaglutide or trosepitite, uh, Manjaro and Ozempic is their their uh brand names. So that comes from the manufacturer, and then you have your compound pharmacies that their compound pharmacies made millions and millions of dollars because the only time a compound pharmacy can make something that a patent is on is when the the manufacturer couldn't keep up. So when semaglutide, we get into the GLPs here, which are are some of the most incredible things that have ever been been formulated, is you know, you had a you had all these people were going on these uh GLPs. Well, they couldn't keep up, which means that you had a you that was the the green light for these compound pharmacies to be able to make it. Now, the crazy thing is that your doctor could, since he couldn't get it from a normal pharmacy, he could send it out to this compound pharmacy, and the compound pharmacy cuts the doctor in on that.
SPEAKER_02So there's there is a whole right, there's a there's a whole system, yeah.
SPEAKER_03It all comes back to money. You follow the money, and that's it. And so the thing about it is is that now that they now that they have kept up with production, um, these comp or these manufacturers like Lily and them, they have they the compound pharmacies cannot make any of this stuff, even your GLPs. And so, you know, the government's always weaponized by whoever owns them with the money, and big pharma makes massive contributions. Every every politician, everybody out there, big pharma has put significant amount, they they back both sides, right?
SPEAKER_04They're on both sides of the island, right?
SPEAKER_03They they if you and I are both running for president, we're both getting massive contributions from the same, you know, super PAC. So whichever of us wins, they own us. They own up, you know, we owe them. So you look at it, um, you know, Trump makes that deal with with the you know big pharma as far as his prescription deal. Well, at the same time, you had all these compound pharmacies received a letter from the FDA and they said, if we find out that you are making any of these GLPs, we will raid you and shut you down. There's no warnings, there's no anything else, because you have compound pharmacies still making some of this stuff. And so they they said, hey, because I mean, what you what you see, the billions of dollars that the that these uh pharmaceutical companies are making on semiglutide and trzezepatide, which that's a whole topic we definitely need to talk about. And there's an upcoming one that the clinical trials are over for, and it's in final FDA approval called retitrutide.
SPEAKER_01King Redittide.
SPEAKER_03And reditrutide is the single greatest thing I've ever seen. It's the king of all peptides that I've it's it's the hands down the king, it's a triple agonist. And you know, obviously, you know, people have been able to research it from other countries. Um, and funny enough, that there is one single person in America that got an emergency use authorization from the FDA. Now we don't know his name, but he's 79 years old and he's well connected, and he was a little bit uh obese pre-diabetic. Well, I only know one 79-year-old that's super well connected and a little bit overweight that could get that emergency use authorization, and that's got to be President Trump that is using Redatrutide now. And I've and I can tell you from researching it myself uh and and several hundred other people that I know that have researched it. Um, the metabolic overhaul, they're marketing it as a fat loss drug, but the metabolic overhaul that you get from that triple agonist is unlike on labs and everything else, it's unlike anything I've ever seen. And it will cure type 2 diabetes, it will put Type one diabetics in range within a month, put them in range to where they're using half as much insulin and they're in range 85 to 90% of the time.
SPEAKER_02Uh, I mean, it it truly and it's close on his clinicals, it's close to getting approved.
SPEAKER_03And then yeah, that I've I've been here in October, and then I heard some places the the first of next year. I think the one thing holding it up is that with some people, obviously, again, this is with RETA, is where you people want to ramp up higher doses. And in the clinical trial, they started at two and then ramped people up to four, six, eight, ten, all the way up to 12 milligrams. And in and in you know, 48 weeks, you saw um you saw a ballpark around 30% of total weight loss of their starting weight in less than a year at 12 milligrams. And so, but you run into side effects there, and I think the one thing that's holding it up, I mean, your three main side effects that people saw at higher doses were you know nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, but even that was you know a certain percentage. And you got to remember that the 535 people in this phase three clinical trial called Triumph, they they were obese, BMI over 40. I mean, and they and they weren't working out. I mean, you saw you saw bariatric surgery level results uh in a once a week shot that people that were not doing any of the things that we do every day working out. So uh, you know, you're you're seeing it. So when you talk about back to Luke's question of why you don't work with a doctor, well, there has to be to get a drug through FDA approval is hundreds of millions of dollars and years work. Well, if you take something like BBC that there's already a patent on from back in the 60s, um, there's no why would somebody spend that kind of money to run these clinical trials and spend all that money? There's no return on investment in it. So it all comes back to money. So it's like, you know, I think that's why you'll see in July later on this month, you know, Congress is or FDA, they're they're meeting to decide whether to reschedule back from two to one these 14 peptides like BPC and things like that. Then you will be able to, your doctor will again, just like he could for years before anybody knew about it, you'll be able to go and he can send them to a compound pharmacy and and you'll be able to get them then. So, which is great.
SPEAKER_02Oh, it's awesome. Now I got Rob Fish, no, no, no. There's so I want to I want to include the audience, but it's it there's so there's so much, uh, you have a ton of knowledge on this, and so much of this stuff I've never even heard. And and I, you know, so uh again, um Rob Fisher coming at you out of Las Vegas, he says, What about peptides for old guys like me?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so the thing about it is is that I mean, first and foremost, uh, you know, like I said, uh it's with most people, and especially when you're a little bit older, um, and I include myself in that, um, and it's like I think that once you get your hormones looked at, you make sure that hey, your your foundation's good. So we'll just skip past that that you're good. Um, you know, retitrutide is is the king. I mean, retotruttide at a at a small dose, a microdose once a week, I mean, you immediately see uh vast improvements in your cholesterol, your fastid glucose, your A1C, your, I mean, like you name it, everything on the deal because what it does is so retitrutide is a triple agonist. Semaglutide was a GOP1, a single agonist, great for its time. Now you want to talk about a little bit back to Luke's deal. They've had that technology for 20 years and then and then it came out. So I mean, like that's how long some of this takes before it can hit the market. But so you had semaglutide, a GLP1, relied on appetite suppression, uh, essentially. Then you had a GLP2, terzepatide, everybody knows it as Manjaro, GLP1, GIP, so dual agonist, uh, that still had the slow gastric emptying and appetite suppression, but then you threw in with that that GI with that uh dual agonist, you threw in some insulin resistance lowering. So you became more insulin sensitive. Um, and so insulin resistance and inflammation period are what kills us. Like it's not high cholesterol, it's not all these things, it's inflammation, it's that. So you it terzepatite was profound. I mean, like when it first came out and hit, like, and you saw all these people running around that were losing 30, 40, 50, 100 pounds on it. The issue that I had with it and why I never researched it myself was it relied on appetite suppression and it made it to where you weren't hungry and it slowed gastric empty. The issue with that for us is that at some point I'm gonna start catabolizing muscle and I'm not getting the nutrients that I need. Right. So you you'll see, you know, the bone density. So you talk about Rob with the old guys, like when you don't eat, you know, it's like when you're hungry, because people are like, why they just keep taking more and more and more, and all these housewives are like, hey, I'm not, you know, now is the trade-off if you lose if you're 70 pounds overweight and you lose 70 pounds, is that a great trade-off? Yeah, but long term, you know, you're gonna see the effects of just not eating. So that's kind of where it was great. But then when Redatrutide came along and you added in the glucagon agonist, that glucagon was your brain telling your liver to burn all that stored fat. So your liver holds, you know, if anybody's ever done, you know, like a fast or done a ketogenic diet. I mean, I ate a ketogenic diet 300 and some days a year for 15 years, and in a short time researching red atrutide um blew that completely out of the water. So I what what I've seen it do is you still get the GIP, the GLP, and then you add in that glucagon agonist. So it's a triple agonist, and you're seeing that that fat burning, you're burning fat 24-7, and it starts with the visceral fat around your organs. And I think that's the most important part is that even at a microdose, I mean, they you know, they say that in the studies when they were looking at it, they were like, oh, you've got to get to four milligrams a week for the the glucagon to kick in. Well, then what they figured out was is that it just was that they weren't picking it up at lower doses on the tests that they were doing. So I've seen plenty of people that stayed at one milligram, one and a half milligrams, maybe up to two, and you see the visceral fat. And that's the thing, is like, you know, immediately you don't necessarily see it in the mirror, but the most important fat that you're gonna lose is that visceral fat around your organs because that's the inflammation that's killing you. So you'll see four, five, six pounds come off the, you know, come off on the scale, and you don't necessarily feel any different. And then the longer you get into it, um, and and more is not better. I mean, it's like when I when I tell people like, hey, if you're gonna put your research rat on this, you know, you start low and you only go up, you know, as needed. Lowest effective dose in anything wins. But the the what I've seen with people, and I'm and Rob would be, you know, I don't know what Rob looks like, but it's one of those things where almost everybody suffers from metabolic disease for all the reasons we talked about earlier. So, you know, I mean that's it's it's one of those things to where this has been something to where I, you know, we talk about the bleeding neck issue. I'm gonna say inflammation is and metabolic dysfunction is 95% of firemen's problems based on the way we ate, the way we slept, things like that. So that's where, you know, to me, red is the king of all kings and the rest of it. I love Wolverine, I love, you know, whether it's you know, growth, you know, and that's kind of what the old guys too. All of these things slow as you age. So your production of you know, your release of growth hormone in the plugary every night. When you're 20 years old, it's probably around two IU a night, give or take, you know, but it slows as you age. So then you don't recover as well, you don't sleep as well, things like that. So again, back to blood work. What do your IGF one levels look like? You know, then are you young enough to still run a uh growth hormone secretagog? So, like a GHRH, a growth hormone releasing hormone paired with a growth hormone releasing peptide, and you know, like we talked about, you know, those are good on their own, but the synergy that you get, you get one plus one equals three when you pair it. And then when you dose them correctly and you and you time them correctly around, you know, empty stomach and things like that. So, I mean, when you're talking about the old guy, you know, it's like all of them will help you. So your mitochondria are probably you know out of whack from from being a fireman all this long. So you you run SS-31, an FDA-approved drug, but also a peptide that you know they're they're using it on sick kids and running 40 milligrams a day and everything else. You know, uh a research rat would do somewhere between one to 10, you know, five being kind of the most common deal, and repair those mitochondria and watch how much better, you know, when you fix the when you're you're getting into the cell and you're repairing stuff from the inside out, the benefit the ancillary benefits around that are you can't quantify it. And so that's where you know I I'm kind of one of those people where I I do I do and cycle is a terrible word because it gets people into thinking they're doing steroid juice and steroids, yeah, yeah. It's like it's like when I say uh say stack or protocol, like there are ones that I will do twice a year and and figure it out, and I'll pair them with things and stuff like that. And like I said, so much of this is so new that you know, this is my anecdotal experience based on how I perform, how I feel, how my blood work looks, and you know, and then several hundred firemen that are running the same thing. So we basically have the the you know the biggest clinical trial going on that nobody's paying for. And it's uh, you know, it's it's just one of those things that and I I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that once or twice a week uh I get a phone call uh or a text message saying, hey man, what you told me worked and it changed my life, or it changed my wife's life, or whatever. And so it's one of those things where it's like, you know, I I don't I'm I'm sharing the knowledge and hopefully saving them from making the mistakes. And I all I know is that uh, you know, so far, years into this, I'm I'm not I haven't killed over dead. And I can promise you if that any of this stuff was causing cancer or doing anything like that, like they try to claim VPC and things like that because of angiogenesis. If if if even one test subject, rat, animal, or human had developed it, Big Pharma would have they'd be flying planes over with the study for you with a link to go follow to scare you from from taking your health in your own hands.
SPEAKER_02Follow the money.
SPEAKER_03Follow the money.
SPEAKER_02And when you when you texted me and and and had this, because I know it's just a huge topic and people are wildly curious about it. Uh so I did want to, I did want to, I did want to get that information out there for people to to to educate themselves, you know, because again, I'm not a doctor. I I wouldn't be able to tell you if anything, you know, Steve said was uh but I trust you recently the best part is no doctor would be able to tell you if I knew what I was talking about either, right? Right, no doubt.
SPEAKER_03It's a fallacy.
SPEAKER_02I mean, yeah, so I didn't want to get I want to get because people are still in fact not in fact uh still have reference to your previous scrap. Okay, Fisher, again, uh awesome questions as always, Rob. Are today's firefighter candidates truly less prepared than previous generations? Because I've said that, I've said that in classrooms before, but or have the expectations and the job itself changed faster than our hiring practices? What's what's your take on that?
SPEAKER_03So, just with my little piece of the pie, the single greatest thing we did was we stopped making people go to college and get an EMT before they could apply. So as soon as we got into teaching our own EMT and in an EMT academy that lasts eight weeks, what we solved many things. One, the applications skyrocketed because you needed to be in Kansas. There's no state certification, there's no anything. So you needed to be 18 years old, have a driver's license, and no felony. So that's so what I've seen is that now you have we're hiring on intangibles. So, but what you get when you get that is is you get that, you know, I'll use my crew for example. It's a it's a mix of college football players, baseball players, you know, black belts and jujitsu, everything else. You you get the people who maybe they're not going to go to college and get an EMT for an entry-level job they don't know. The police department doesn't make you go become an expert marksman at on your own dime somewhere before you can apply to the city.
SPEAKER_02Before you can apply, yeah.
SPEAKER_03So to answer his question, they are they might be more ill-prepared, but like like in our interview process, you have to be physically fit. You're going to show up to the WFD combine first, and you can show up to as many combines as you want. So let's say that you were ill-prepared. And some of my favorite success stories are guys who showed up, guys or gals who showed up, they had no idea they were about to run a mile and a half for time, uh, do as many reps as possible, uh, you know, of push-ups for two minutes, a two-minute break, dead hang pull-ups for two minutes, and a two-minute break, and burpees for two minutes. And we all those are equal. So, like we got so many applications that we had to weed out people because let's let's make no mistake, we're not hiring on college degrees anymore. At no point in in human history has that piece of paper been more worthless than it is right now. And so it's one of those things where I I will, if you can pass the EMT Academy in eight weeks, uh, which we have phenomenal instructors that are doing it, and they're teaching them how the whys, not just some guy that's teaching it on the side at a community college once a week. We've got them Monday through Friday, eight hours a day. They're working out twice a day, so they're getting in shape for the fire academy. And if they are smart enough, it's one of those things where if they're smart enough to pass that, we we all know damn well they're smart enough to work at the fire. I mean, it's an entry-level job. They're you're gonna have somebody making decisions for you and teaching you. So even the ones that show up ill-prepared, I love it when the guys come back because HR is like, oh, just get rid of them once they fail. It's like, no, no, no. I want the guy who looks in the mirror and goes home and says, that was on me why they didn't hire me. And we've had them come back and they perform so well poorly, we couldn't not give them a job. And so I I would say that uh I would say that you're you know, it your hiring practices are going to determine that. If they show up like what I did 19 years ago, I showed up in a suit and I told a panel full of HR, uh fire marshal, the airport chief, all these people who are not subject matter experts in ghetto fire. You if you I can bamboozle them, I'll sell them all day long that I'm that I'm gonna be great at three in the morning, but points for my degree, you know, all these things. So I would say that uh that we're getting I've got more good candidates than I have spots.
SPEAKER_02Lowering the and it's not even lowering the bar, but lowering the the requirement to come and give show us what you are.
SPEAKER_03Correct. It we're our standard got higher because we have, you know, at any given time we may have three or four hundred applicants because I try to leave it open year-round. And so it's like when we do period, we're supposed to do combines periodically, everything else. We've been slow right now because we've been long, we just didn't have, but now we're about to kick back into it. Um, you know, but in the seven years I've run it, I've seen it go from where we barely like it would it would be where when you when we required ENT, the pool was small. So the standard I had to hire somebody, right? So so the standard was low, right?
SPEAKER_02No, that makes sense, and it's almost counterintuitive. It's like the the bombers that came back and they tried to armor the places, you know, the whole uh yeah.
SPEAKER_03Exactly. That's a great, that's a great analogy. So I would say that no, I mean we have like I said, we've got more good applicants than we have spots, and it is a highly competitive process. And I I wish that I could hire them all. And you know, it's it is uh it's it's tough to tell somebody, you know, especially when it's somebody you know or it's somebody's kid or so. I'm a sucker for legacies, but it's one of those things where it's like, you know, I there's it's not just me on the panel, but now it is all subject matter expert, like it is all firemen and operations who are making these decisions. That's all so I I think it's I think it's in a good place. I can't speak for around the country, but I've had a lot of people call me and I just kind of lend my like here's what I battled and here's how I got HR on my side, and you know, like we talked about.
SPEAKER_02Well, and we had the same problem because we required it at one point we required EMT, hazmat, ops, hazmat, uh awareness and ops, not tech, but awareness ops and emt before they could even walk in the door uh and fill out the application. And well, it's not even that, it's and and then also you know, you had to come and on we had one day for the one day that you could come do the written application. What we found was man, we're missing a lot of these guys that are out there working a job. They can't come and take the test. So if we make it more accessible to them to come take the test, somebody who's working a blue-collar job slinging sheetrock or you know, insert whatever, then we actually, when we got rid of the requirements and opened it up and put multiple times you could sign up to come take the test, et cetera. Man, our our numbers went through the roof, which again, like you said, raised the bar because you had more to choose from.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And so, you know, I mean, it's one of those things where that it's in good shape. And, you know, it it part of me is is looking at now, because um, I'm we've got a nonprofit in Wichita called Beyond the Call, and I'm I sit on the board of that now as that's a that's a new thing since I've seen you. And it was started by four Wichita firemen, and it's all about health and wellness. Nice, and we have our own, we have our own gym, and then but I think one of the most important things is often overlooked, and I, you know, you just never see it, but I've even seen it in some in some ghetto firemen who, you know, you wouldn't think it. It's like, you know, the mental side of things. And so we've got one of our guys um that you know, he holds uh a little deal at the gym. We've got some couches, brew some coffee, and they do an unknown call for fire, is what they call it. And you know, he holds it in conjunction with our Wichita State, our people, our psychologists there, of just giving guys an uh a way to you know vent out the frustrations or the things on the job, you know. I mean, they throw people throw PTSD around way too much.
SPEAKER_02Right, it's almost weak into the term, you know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, for those things where I I think for me, I've seen that, you know, from a health and wellness side that our our hiring practices are leading to us hiring healthier, stronger, able-bodied people who are gonna make it 30 years in this and who are gonna take care of themselves. So we're we're requiring that up front, and then we're providing them with you know, with a gym that is just for Wichita Fire Me, that all comes from our 501c. And so you have all these things, and it and and it was born out of you know, being injured on the job and having nothing, you know, one of the guys was seriously injured, and and basically he was on his own, didn't get the help. So it, you know, for me, it's it's kind of come full circle of you know, we're building these things into the hiring process and then you know, getting the right fit for the job because it's not for everybody, right? And sometimes you figure that out, but sometimes it's just that we don't have an avenue for someone to come and say, Hey, you know, that that last fire pulling that you know, that body out and that skin sloping like that that is sticking with me. And you know, sometimes it's one of those things where we we are growing up in a in a little different society where it's a little kinder, gentler, and they don't keep scoring T-ball, and everybody gets a blue ribbon and stuff. So sometimes when you face some adversity, some of these kids that must be the first time that they've they've faced any. So being part of this nonprofit has been awesome because you're watching um, you know, and it's all run by firemen in Wichita, and it's just for it's just for us.
SPEAKER_02And now, is there way is there a way to support that if you're not from Wichita, or is it strictly your own thing?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, there is. So we do uh what's neat what's neat is is that that and and the four guys that started it, um, you know, the dopping brothers and Dow Gaines and Connor Knowle, um, and and one of the dopings works for me and since day one of this career. And it's one of those things to where um you know the the way that I look at at all of this is um is that you you can support it by we do like uh coming up like 9-11, we do the honor challenge. So we do like a high rock style deal where you can sign up and it's super cheap, and then we host that uh you know that event. And so we have food trucks out in the fence, okay, we got kegs, we do that, and then uh I and then we also, you know, it was like kind of born out of the plastics and everything else that we talked about, is we we developed our own soap and then we ran clinical trials, and so we we have fireman'sfriend.org. And what the neat thing is is and I think this is one of the coolest things is that um, you know, I we we did crossover trials over eight months, and there was you know over a 50% reduction in the BPA, the plastics. Oh, nice 50% reduction of stuff. So and it's and it's we make it all. We have a we have a uh production facility in the gym. So guys are in there.
SPEAKER_02Well, I'm like seeing like fight club scenes make its own.
SPEAKER_03It is exactly that, except for the equipment. well the equipment's a little bit not okay um but it's been great and the and the thing about it is is like uh you you you've seen it make a real difference but i the coolest thing that they do is you know i'm on the board and so i try to help them as much as possible but these guys the the cool the two coolest things are is that one no matter how many times we try to vote and pay these guys something there's more of them than they were us and they vote it down and not a single one of them has taken a penny since this started and they recording a two time and then the coolest thing is is that anytime we we have a deal on our firemanspriend.org site where you could sign your department up and for every time we sell a bar we give one away and so we've shipped we've shipped boxes and boxes and then we've had we had great support from our local you know our our bank uh aaron bastion in town uh he's a president he bought a bar a year's supply for every fireman on the job you know so it it was great to see and and like I said it's it's just awesome because it's not a you know we're not there this isn't a for-profit thing it's a for-profit to benefit right right no no absolutely it goes right back right back into itself back through it and nobody and and it's well essentially where you know smoke divers is built on the exact same premise none of us get paid to go back and teach you have to we have to pay to go through the course then you've got to pay your own way to come back and teach and you have to go through the course to teach it but it I think that it's so organic that as soon as money gets involved just like everything else we talk about as soon as people are getting paid it it ruins it and so I I I see the beauty in that and I my my wife you know I've spent quite a bit of money going back twice a year to Georgia and then now once a year to Oklahoma uh so you know I it uh but I but I I love it because guys are there because they want to be and they want to help firemen right on be harder to get fireman's friend fireman's friend.org fireman with a M E in so fireman's friend dot org fireman's and like I said it uh you know it's it's super cheap and it it works and and I you know I I've been it's been it's been neat to watch because when these guys had this vision years ago it just like anything else I'm like man it's a great idea I hope it works and so now we're starting to see it take off and our local businesses have been outstanding. I mean we've got two you know Star Lumber bought us two world class uh um cold plunges we have we have like the Cadillac of cold plunges nice you know and so like you know all these things are are leading to us being a little bit healthier and you know obviously the the carcinogens and these house fires are are as as bad as they've ever been our awareness of that is actually you know now that we're doing something about the awareness of it so that's the good news and you gave me an invite to come up and see the gym so I'm gonna take advantage of that. Yeah and and definitely like I said it it is the you know the high rocks events the the 9-11 challenge and these things like they're they're fun and everybody comes out I mean like everybody's right up in there and and they're firemen you know they've got the different fireman themed stuff and you may do a search at the end and so I mean it's it's fun and they're teams of two and they've got co-ed and men's women's you got some kids coming out and doing it. So it's we've got it kind of slotted to where you know the big the big heavy boys they're gonna lift the 100 pound deal and the you know the right kids are going to lift the 10 pound thing. So it it's been fun to watch and it it's just uh yeah it all ties back like I said you know you start at the hiring and now I mean in seven years you know my team has has picked half the fire department right alert it's it's been awesome and they and the and the downstream effect of that is going to be immeasurable immeasurable long after you hung it up. I mean probably long after they put you you know you know hopefully long time from now but yeah yeah well I mean I you know I they sent out a deal yesterday that you configure your retirement I'm like well I you know I I could leave in five years so we're you know I there's a lot of there's a lot of golf I want to play around the world so it's and now especially since you took care of the elbow uh it's yeah it's perfect and the and the best part is is that you know it's like I use Wolverine like like uh like people use ibuprofen so if I tweak it tonight or I go to a fire whatever man wherever that hurts I shoot a little bit in there and it is good as gold.
SPEAKER_02I love it. I absolutely love it. All right I love I we did not even get to a tenth of the topics we had on the list didn't get to a tenth of the questions so you have to come back and we have to make it quicker than last time but with that being said I love to ask the question is there book or books that you think firefighters should be reading I'm always looking for more stuff to read so what uh anything any suggestions book or book well so I've got one and and if you can't find it contact me um but there's one that that uh a fire chief from Wichita wrote it's called Memoirs of a Fire Chief.
SPEAKER_03Memoirs of a fire chief and his name is Jim Sparr S-P A R R and it's so funny to me and it's and it's a thin it's a thin book it's a quick read like you'll blow through it in no time but it it was just a a great look at his philosophy on how how he led as a fire chief and and and I won't ruin the book but I'll just give you a little nugget in that you know he beat out that say there was five of them for the final the final job he was a young lieutenant on the job and went from lieutenant to fire chief. Oh wow here's the thing though he had done so much in the background to make himself the most well-rounded candidate but he beat out some great guy you know Walt Campbell that was our ops chief uh and ended up being the ops chief well he beat him out so what he did is all the guys he beat out he called him in and he said you know hey Walt you're a better operations guy than me why don't you come be my ops chief and so he hired Croft you know you're you're good at the finances you know whatever you be that so he brought in all the people that he beat that he knew were better singularly at something than him and then he told him hey when we're in this room right here you say anything you want like this is open whatever now when we make a decision and we go out this door I find out you're running me down you're fired so I you know it's like it's a it's a it's a super cool book and he went on to be a chief do you know what the time frame was when he was chief there oh gosh let's see well could be force of nine years back then Garcia was here forever it was so far before my time I'd have to go look I was I didn't know if you knew the decade 70s 80s in this well so he built the fire he designed the firehouse that I'm the captain in now and that firehouse was built in 183. So probably the 70s 80s it was 70 he was 70s and 80s early 80s and it's like you know so but it it just and then he went on to be fire chief somewhere in Florida I can't remember I need to go back and read the book again but can you say his name one more time? Yeah Jim Sparr S P A R R Memoirs of a Fire Chief Memoirs of a Fire Chief and obviously it's a little bit more um and and and he'll never watch this or whatever but I recently uh had a guy that was on the job when he was that when he saw him he got he he told him how what a profound effect that book had on me and so he signed a copy for me and sent it to me. So oh wow I've got a you know and obviously he's getting up there in age and and I've never had that I've never you know I've always wanted him to come to dinner to firehouse but I you know he wouldn't I they said he won't come you know he he just that way and so it it's uh but it it's and obviously it's to Wichita it means a little bit more to me but I think there's some great lessons in it and it just goes to show you that there is nothing new in the fire service always get it it just history repeats itself repeats itself there's no doubt about it.
SPEAKER_00That book is available on Amazon by the way it is available on Amazon.
SPEAKER_02Okay it's yeah it's got to be important it's a it's a quick read and it's a thin book for that I never know if Sam is making it where he can where where people can hear him or if I need to repeat him so they can hear me right now. Okay there we go that's why I asked it uh perfect so we do a thing called the five questions for firefighters first time you were around did you did you ever get exposed to the five questions had it had it come around yet the first time you were here man it's been a long time it's 165 he was on 165 it wasn't that long ago so these are new questions so these are not the same questions you had before but yeah I get that I remember these okay yeah yeah uh there's no right answer there's just your opinion and the points are arbitrary passed out by me with the help of the audience so Stephen Runyan are you ready for the five questions for firefighters version I think we're on like 6.0 now but but are you ready?
SPEAKER_03Sure here we go you have a time machine but it can only be used for one thing you can go back in time and give young Steven Runyon one single piece of advice what would you tell young Steven I'd say I'd say that uh you need to do a whole lot more listening and a lot less talking I love it man two ears one mouth for a reason I love it easy max points out the gate listen more and shut up uh dude I think I think all of us could go back and give our younger self that advice yeah saving a lot of heartache no doubt about it uh number two it's job town it's time you are in route and responding you got to think of the scene from backdraft where he's slapping that tape into that cassette deck you're in route and responding what song are you playing while in route uh it's gonna be let the bodies hit the floor bodies I I've had that I've had somebody pop that in one time in route and you want to talk about it just creeps in and you're not expecting it and next thing you know you are just uh I probably didn't need my heart rate that high but I'll tell you what that's amped up and you're just yeah it's it's building for sure uh first time on that one is it okay I was gonna check I mean that seems that that's surprising to me actually it kind of seems you know like counterproductive of let the body sit the floor but you know I mean I we're gonna pull the bodies off the floor right right but that's also that count one something's got to give two yeah I mean it just got a it's got a great deal from here to here quick uh no and there is a Spotify playlist with every song that's ever been suggested this will of course be added to that list and so the list grows and uh max points for bodies the uh number three cold weekend at the station rig checks are done training's done PT's done food is cooking simmering in the crock pot whatever basically what I'm saying is it's a lazy day but you're not being lazy and you're sitting there in the day room and you're clicking through the channels what is that movie that no matter how many times you've seen it before no matter what network it's on you're gonna sit through commercials what is the movie you finish no matter what what is that movie for you it's there's no doubt it's good fellas goodfellas goodfellas I mean it just like every single part I mean no matter where it picks up I know what the next line is and it's just you know I mean I get the papers get the papers I mean it just it doesn't matter the most obscure thing but goodfellas is is and I and I think that and I always make this analogy I think if they ran the fire service a whole lot more like the mafia we'd be in good shape ooh that might be a whole topic of a discussion sometime and it it you could get deep and you start making analogies and then you start piecing it together and you're like you know if every now and then you put a body on the table in the firehouse guys would learn you know so I mean it it just uh there there's there's next time you watch goodfellas think of how you would run parallels in if the parallels of if we ran the fire service a little bit more like that we would be uh you know you I think you'd see a little bit higher performance all right all right I will check it out uh number four what is the one habit that you believe separates average firefighters from exceptional firefighters uh training in here I think there's there's no substitute and I and I I'd have to go back and look it up but I think within the last couple days Bill Carey put out an article that kind of talked about that uh data not drama yes and and and so I but just from what I've seen and you know I I know the yeah well your gear gives you cancer I there's no substitute for training in gear and what it will allow you to the the level that it will allow you to get to and I and the thing about it is is like you know my guys train they they go through a bottle every day doing a circuit so on top of their normal workouts and guys are like oh man you know you're too tired too tired for fire these guys these animals I mean they're they're you know I'm I'm Andy Reid and these are the Kansas City Chiefs and these guys train in here every day and they drill themselves they they compete with each other and so I what I've seen is is I've seen and I've seen them take you know rookies who were you know they're good and make them great and it's all because you know and I think one of my lieutenants is a black belt jujitsu and I kind of look at back of you know you become you know you become comfortable being uncomfortable and you get choked out enough you just start figuring it out. And so I I think that the training in gear like we want you to fail if you're gonna kill through a bottle and and the nice thing is is that you know uh more than half my crew has been through smoke divers. And so they're doing circuit through a bottle and then every time they run out of air uh whoever's closest when the pass device goes up they give them mayday they package them and drag them out of the state so man it's like it's not just PT it's it's a it's a drill.
SPEAKER_02Yeah and and they're doing the circuit is you know we've got a uh a woods force to entry door you know we've got uh a dummy drag they've got they're throwing a ladder they're clide they're taking a uh the K970 up and down I mean so we're doing functional functional things in gear burning a bottle yeah when I get when I get in and do it you know I like to crack my bike down this a little bit don't tell them I said that but I like to get done a little bit quicker you know so yeah you're your your tricks of the trade sure they won't be watching so it's fine I'll just crack it a little bit that they've already hung up they've heard all these old stories right on right on no and I want to be clear four for four max points I didn't give max points on goodfellow because I was talking about it so but one two three max points number four uh training in gear and bringing up Bill Carey who who has had such a massive impact on cutting through the BS of social media and so if you if you don't follow data not drama if you don't follow Bill Carey do yourself a favor and do so uh so his line of duty yeah his line of duty deal every year where you break it down makes you realize that hey we're we're doing a pretty good job at uh taking care of guys you know I mean yes yes we're not dying on the fire ground right no absolutely absolutely the numbers it's data not drama uh it's in the name it's in the name and then his articles are so spot on yeah he's so uh final question and I I'd be I'd be surprised this is the same question you had the first time you were here and I know your history heavy fire searchable space would you rather be assigned to the nozzle or first in on VES uh there there's no doubt I'm searching before the line every time I I mean I would have been I would have been a massive curveball if you said something else yeah so uh yeah I don't I'm not sure I that that whole on off thing gets me you know and that and I tell I tell him I said you know I make sure my gloves on because that hose might give me a little rash so I don't I don't touch that hose so stay away from it all right there it is five for five max points absolutely crushed it Steven Runyon that officially puts 362 scraps in the books that's crazy to me that it's been almost four years since you were on that blows my mind I will not let that happen again so thank you for a sharing your evening with us b sharing your deep dive uh rabbit hole uh expertial anecdotal life experiences with us and if someone wants to get a hold of you for more information find out more about fireman'sfriend.org or any of the things you talked about your hiring practices what's the best way to reach out to you yeah um I mean it's one of those things to where obviously so I don't get fired on social media I'm Tommy Gunn on Facebook just in case I can get on there and post something controversial.
SPEAKER_03So you can you can message me on Facebook at Tommy Gunn or you know it's one of those things to where uh most people uh have my number so it's like shoot me a message I'd be happy because like I said I you know I I have this conversation with people a lot and it's one of those things where I'm just passing along the knowledge and can help you kind of guide it if you want me to look at you know like I said I'm not a doctor but I've got a whole lot of uh a whole lot of experience in the in the space here and so if you need help with uh with anything and you know if you want you know that kind of stuff reach out and then like I said if you know beyond the call is a phenomenal program that these guys have and we've had departments reaching out saying hey how do we start our own beyond the call here and I can tell you that that what it's done for some some situations already where guys were in a little bit of distress like it's been nothing short of a miracle and so you know reach out I'd be what we're we're all especially everybody at Beyond the Call we're more than happy to share everything that we've done and the the mistakes we made and you know if you want to know anything about any of this stuff just uh get a hold of me and and uh you know like I said I I I I have some stuff kind of pre-built that in a database that I can share with you and I can kind of turn you on to you know the books I've read the podcasts I listened to and then kind of wade you through because there's just so much misinformation and I you know I I don't even have time every day to try to thwart it on my own so all I can tell you is is that you know there's there's a there's a lot out there I'll try to save you from making mistakes I did.
SPEAKER_02Beautiful that's all that's all man if that I love that message right there. So thank you. All right my housekeeping go to patreon.com slash the vigilante's go sign up if you're not a vigilante why not it is the greatest thing all the cool kids are doing it the best part is the Discord the Discord I say it every week it's like all the best parts of social media minus all the bullshit so go sign up become a part we are working on uh the Vigilante Codex project which I firmly believe man we're having a meeting on the 9th and it's gonna I I really do think this project is gonna have a massive impact on the American Fire Service. Okay next week on the scrap straight out of Texas it's time for a dose of Texas learning to be present Jerry Wells and then two weeks from tonight embrace the resistance get intoxicated time it's time for Benjamin Martin Dr. Benjamin Martin to come on the show and man he's got so much we've been texting back and forth he's been sending me articles it'll probably be like tonight where we get to 10% of it. So uh long story short thank you once again Steven Runyon thank you for sharing your evening with us and being uh a knowledgeable and phenomenal guest audience you make the scrap magical each and every week it would not exist without you you show up you support the show you ask amazing questions thank you for tuning in live I love you all remember mucks don't scrap I hope the tone stays silent unless it is burning this job will never be safe so stay smart out there thanks for listening to the weekly scrap please subscribe and please share we'll see you at the next episode