Charlie Mike The Podcast
Charlie Mike The Podcast
How Veterans Use Water And Brotherhood To Heal PTSD
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Trauma does not always hit all at once. Sometimes it stacks up quietly until one small moment at home becomes the blow-up you never saw coming. I sits down with Matthew, a Navy veteran, Houston police officer, and executive director of the Birdwell Foundation, to talk about what PTSD really looks like after the uniform and what actually helps when willpower is not enough.
Matthew shares a deeply personal story about surviving a shipwreck near Bahrain, avoiding water for years, and then finding calm again through fishing. That healing turned into action with “Fishing for Peace,” a program that takes veterans and first responders out on the water, teaches fishing and basic boating skills, and helps people build a reliable outlet they can use with their kids, their buddies, or on a hard day when their nervous system will not shut off.
We also dig into the Birdwell Foundation for PTSD and Camp Valor in Conroe, Texas: a faith-based recovery camp built on brotherhood, structure, and peer support. Matthew explains who the program is for, how the intake process works, why they require a PTSD diagnosis, and how chapters in multiple states provide free support.
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Welcome And The Mission
SPEAKER_00Charlie Mike, the podcast, veterans helping veterans, talking about things happening in the veteran community, things we've experienced and overcome, such as addiction, PTSD, depression, legal trouble, and we also promote veteran-owned businesses. If you're talking about it, we're talking about it. This is Charlie Mike, the podcast.
SPEAKER_01Yo, what's going on, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Charlie Mike the Podcast. As always, I'm your host, Ro. Today I got my good friend Matthew back on the podcast. Uh, Matthew is is was a regular at one point, but you know, life goes in different ways, man. What you been up to, Matthew?
SPEAKER_02Yes, sir. Just been grinding, man, working.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
Family Life And Getting Grounded
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I uh my regular work as a police officer, just working that, and and um, you know, I'm executive director now for the Virgo Foundation.
SPEAKER_01I was uh tell me to let's talk about uh man, let's talk about life for a little bit, man. Last time I saw your little one, she was a baby, dude. And now it's crazy. She's a she's a full human. Yeah, she's six, almost seven. Yeah. I don't even know what that means, bro. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But uh her and her friends like getting big kick out. Yeah. But uh, but yeah, so yeah, she's seven now, man, and she's in softball and she's doing really good.
SPEAKER_01That's good, man. That's good. What's your life been up to, man? What have you been doing?
Shipwreck Trauma And Returning To Water
SPEAKER_02I've been working, man. I've been trying to create new stuff for the foundation and and uh trying to get closer to my family, man. You know, back in the day I wasn't very close. Going through, you know, traumatic stuff and TSD and stuff. You you kind of isolate yourself. But uh, I'm trying to work that back into everyday life now. And uh I go fishing a lot now, man. Do you? Yeah, man. So uh uh before the military, I was I was a big I was fishing a lot with my dad. And uh uh after the military, uh, I don't know if I shared that with you, but we I was in a shipwreck. Uh and it was right outside of Bahrain on an aircraft carrier. And uh saw a bunch of people die. And man, I didn't want to have nothing to do with water, man. You know, after that, and my up until I think it was two years ago, uh, my old man, he bought a boat, he bought another boat. And uh he was like, hey man, we gotta go, you know, take the boat out. Let's go check it out, make sure everything's gone good on it. Because he he had to fix it up pretty good. And I was like, you know what? Yeah, I've already I've already been through my healing and now I'm healing other people. And I'm like, you know what? I should be good. And man, I'll tell you what, bro, when I got on that water, I was like, yeah, I'm hooked.
Fishing For Peace And Recovery Outlets
SPEAKER_01So it's so the fishing, you ever try uh sailing? No, yeah, yeah. I'm trying to sail. There's a there's a few veteran organizations out there, man. Um skeleton crew, have you heard of that? Yeah, yeah. They do uh veteran and uh I think first responder sailing right here out of um don't give me a line, but it's right in our area somewhere. Oh, okay. But yeah, man, you definitely need to check them out. I know they're always going uh well they're doing things, they're always doing crazy things. They went around the world or some I don't know. That's awesome, man. Yeah, yeah. Don't give me line. But um yeah, be sure to check them out, man.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so um w one of the things that I did with the foundation was I created an initiative only because like being out there on that water, man, like even if you're not fishing, bro. Being out there on the water, it's it's so peaceful out there. Yeah, you know what I mean? Uh seeing the sunrise on the water, you know, seeing it set. Man, it's it ain't nothing like it. And for for recovery, you need you need outlets, you need stuff that'll help your mind get at ease, get away from the everyday hustle, the everyday, everyday life, you know what I mean? All the noises, all the all the worries, yeah. And when you're out there, man, and and especially when you're fishing, everything's concentrated on fishing, you know? And so it's it's a it's a skill on its own. And uh by no means am I an awesome fisherman, but um I I do go out a lot and we catch a lot of fish and and we teach veterans um fishing for peace, the initiative. And um uh I take veterans out and first responders, and if they don't know how to fish, I teach them how to fish. Um if they don't know how to run a boat or how to how to how to deal with you know uh boats on the water, I teach them how to drive them, I teach them how to how to uh maneuver them, how to work on them, you know, and and I'm not an expert on that either, but you know, just starters, get them involved and and uh thinking of it, you know. Um that way when they get they get away from us, they can take their kids fishing. That can be their own little thing, you know, with the kids.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02Or, you know, they can go fishing on their own. If they go through something, if they're arguing with their wife or whatever, you know, the next day, you know, they can go on the water and and have a day out there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I definitely see the the relaxation in fishing. We used to fish all the time. Um, haven't done it in a while though. But uh uh man with the Burrwell Foundation, what what I mean, what what's happening over there? What's going on?
Birdwell Foundation Tools For Healing
SPEAKER_02Yeah, man, uh a lot of good things are happening, man. We uh we just came out with our first adult coloring book. Uh and and therapy-wise, it's really good for um adults uh to color and it takes their mind off of uh the traumatic event onto the paper. Um it's just something that that you add to your toolbox, right? Um and uh it helps your symptoms, man. So it you can pour it out on the page, and it's called uh quieting the storm. You know, and it's and it's a little coloring book, you know, that uh myself and uh uh Camp Valor, which is under the Burrwell umbrella. Camp Valor is a um a camp in Conroe, Texas, where we house and facilitate um veterans uh with PTSD and and uh show them how to recover from their symptoms and deal with their trauma.
SPEAKER_01Let's talk a little bit about the camp. Where where is it at exactly? Uh what's new there? How's it going? Is it growing still?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's in Conroe, Texas. Um we don't have big donors. We don't have big donors. Um so most of the stuff that we do is we fundraise on our own to keep it running, keep it going. Uh we have local guys in Conroe uh that help us with meat and vegetables and stuff like that to feed the feed the veterans. Um yeah, man, they they they go out they go out there, man, when when they're you know trying to recover from from traumatic events, you know, and a lot a lot of them are recovering from alcohol or or drug usage, you know. Um but man, it's it's uh it's a brotherhood out there for sure. The camp director is John Bailey, and uh he's an old Vietnam vet. And uh man, he's he's been blown up in the sky, you know, in a uh Hilo, and uh he he knows exactly what it what it what people go through whenever they they deal with traumatic events. He was one of them.
SPEAKER_01Uh Mr. Mr. Bailey, uh he's been out there for a minute, right? Yeah, okay, yeah. I had the pleasure of meeting him. Great guy, right? Yeah, he's a good great guy. Um man, so what's what's the land looking like? How many are y'all able to accommodate now? What what's all done on the property?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so uh it's a it's a two-story house that we kind of transformed into the facility. Um it's only nine and a half acres and it has its own pond out there. We have our um uh our own swimming pool. A swim pool is well kept up. We actually just redid redid a lot of it. Um they have their own workout uh little facility outside of the house. Um we we want to incorporate uh animals and stuff in the future, but that'll come. Uh just we need to fundraise some more.
SPEAKER_01Like like what?
SPEAKER_02Like chickens and yeah, it'll be nice to nice to get some some livestock out there too. Yeah, to get the guys, you know, able to take care of animals and you know, put more responsibility on them. Um but during the day, Monday through Friday, they're in classes. Uh they're learning on on different ways and how to become a better man of God and uh how to become a better man at home. Yeah. You know, so uh whenever they leave uh Camp Valor, uh they're up and running and they get to go back to their families and be the man and and father, husband they that they should be.
Camp Valor Admissions And Peer Support
SPEAKER_01So with Camp Valor, how how okay, so if someone was interested in Camp Valor, how would they go about getting into the process or learning more about it? What is the normal stay time?
SPEAKER_02And uh just just explain a little bit about Yeah, for so if if if you or you know anybody out there that that has been through a lot of trauma and that you know is suffering from PTSD, um go on our website, birdwellfoundation.org, and look under Camp Valor. And um all the information that you'll you'll need is on there. Um the camp director's contact information is on there as well. Uh my my information is on there on the executive director. Um, you can contact me personally, and I can get you in contact with John Bailey, and y'all can set up uh a Zoom call or a phone call to where um he can kind of assess what's going on. Um we are looking for uh veterans and first responders that are actually diagnosed with PTSD. Um and the reason for that is because uh there are some, it's sad to say, but there are some people that take advantage of these facilities and they jump facility to facility um and they they use their resources and then they they talk take off to another one. Uh, but we just want to make sure that the people that we're serving uh actually need, you know, because the people that are there that are healing, uh they don't need any side distraction, right? Definitely. Yeah. So um, but yeah, it's like a brotherhood over there, man. And um I'm I'm loving, I'm loving it. And everything that we do, you know, uh fundraisers, events, everything, the funds go towards that. And also, uh, we are in seven different states, and you can look at that, look at those states on on our website as well. But um those states don't have camps, but they they do have directors and chapters out there that reach out and do peer support, whether it's uh in-person, Zoom, phone calls, uh, they reach out to local uh VFWs, they reach out to um uh local police stations and fire departments, and they they're very proactive on uh on peer support. And it's everything's free of charge as well. And also, we um if if you or you know anybody that has been through trauma and and and dealt with it and are okay and an okay an okay area mindset, uh we do also um help you become a peer support uh person to where to where you can help people uh in counseling on on uh on PTF as well. And that's for free.
SPEAKER_01So I didn't mention but Matthew, Matthew is a um Navy veteran who's also currently a Houston police officer. Um you know, first of all, that's uh a big I mean thank you for your service, first of all. I appreciate it, and thank you for what you continue to do for for the city, our brothers and sisters. And um, you know, I just want to give my hats off to you, man. And and that that's real. Um appreciate that. So with the Birdwell Foundation, tell us a little bit about what what is Birdwell?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so Mr. Birdwell, Gene Birdwell, uh he he uh he's a veteran as well, and he started off uh he created Camp Hope. Uh I don't know if a lot of people are familiar with Camp Hope. Um he separated from Camp Hope uh in order to expand um the people that that need help. Uh basically all veterans and first responders can seek help through the Birdwell Foundation. Um and at the time where when he whenever he separated from Camp Hope, um it was just combat veterans. So his idea was he wants to help everybody, right? Um so with us uh that that's what we do. We we don't limit ourselves on on who gets the help, right? Even if civilians reach out that uh been through bad car accidents or whatever, um we get the resources that they need. We don't just turn them away. Like we'll we'll look up facilities around our area and direct them that way. Um we just we don't we don't just tell them no, right?
SPEAKER_01With the with the Birdwell Foundation and Camp Valor, what are some of the biggest misunderstandings when it comes to that? Like as far as people have an assumption of what it is versus to what it really is.
SPEAKER_02Um, I mean, I'm honestly, man, I I think we're pretty uh straightforward, you know? Um and if they have any questions at all, like uh on our on our website, burwellfoundation.org, uh they can look up any of our uh directors and call us and ask us directly, you know, what we do provide. Um but what we do is we provide services to help mental health between uh first responders and veterans, right? Uh we are faith-based and we're very vocal about that. Um our camp is faith-based. Our workbooks that the guys go through um during the camp is faith-based, and and that's very important to us uh to stay true to that. Um a lot of a lot of uh recovery facilities they rely a lot on medication. That's not us, right? So um yeah, our our thing is to wing people away from it.
SPEAKER_01Mind, spirit, soul, man. For sure. Yeah, I love it. I love it. And uh you've been with the Birdwell Foundation for quite some time now, huh? Yes, sir. What?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, um going on uh almost six years now. Jeez. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Almost six years. Uh I started off uh actually my book, uh Silent Screams, uh it's on Amazon. Yeah, yeah. But uh it went number one in three categories, three site categories. But um my book is actually my little segue to get that got me into the foundation. And right off the bat, they started me off as the um the Texas uh director. And um, and yeah, man, we we've just been pounding the pavement since then. Um I had the opportunity to actually I um I was going through some some personal issues, so I stepped away for almost a year, and then um I got a phone call and and they're like, hey, you know, we're looking for a executive director. And uh and so I jumped back on uh being the executive director, and uh I'm trying in my best to do everything I can, man, to to keep everything funded and and up and running, you know.
SPEAKER_01So with with the the position of exec right executive director, what what are some of the the jobs that you're you're involved in and responsible for?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so um basically we oversee everything. Um this right here is part of my job too, you know, PR. I gotta I gotta get get uh get our foundation in front of people, the masses, and uh in in hopes of more volunteers. Uh nonprofits always rely on volunteers, uh donors. I I'm always reaching out to see if there's any private donors, uh, business owners that would like to partner up and and do anything with us, uh business owners that would like to donate on a monthly basis or or help us uh sponsor uh an event or whatever it may be. And then also whatever the camp needs. So uh John Bailey would he'll reach out to me pretty often and and uh there's different things that they need, whether it's a washer and dryer or or something breaks at the at the place, the pool, uh, the plumbing, everything. And uh, you know, I I I try to get my resources together and and get that fixed, or I let um uh I have full faith in John Bailey as well. And uh he has a bunch of contacts in Conroe. And you know, Conroe's a little little ways from here. So if there's any any businesses that are local in Conroe um that are willing to help the the camp, I let John, you know, go after them as well. And um, and we we do tax write-offs for people that do work, you know, pro bono, you know, and and and it helps them working with the 501c3.
SPEAKER_01Definitely. And with the with the camp, what are some of the things that that are always a necessity that that people could always donate?
SPEAKER_02Oh, people can always donate cleaning materials, uh cleaning supplies, um uh soap, you know, toothpaste, you know, anything with hygiene related. Um they're always looking for new like weights, you know, weight sets, you know, stuff like that. Um food, uh they they can always be catered one day or you know, a week or whatever. Uh there's a lot of stuff, man. Uh clothing as well. Uh we try and we try to stay away from used clothing only because we've tried that before and and there's stuff that came in or full of stuff, you know, we don't want to deal with that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Our veterans there that are there, man, they deserve the best, man. And right, and if I gotta go, you know, spend my time raising funds for new stuff, I'm gonna do that. You know what I mean? But um, but if if anybody wants to donate new new stuff or like you know, gift cards to Walmart, you know, so they can get their essentials, you know, stuff like that, that's always welcome.
SPEAKER_01So with uh is there by chance like an Amazon wish list or anything like that that that they have there there isn't.
SPEAKER_02Um there isn't, but um you can always go uh you can always contact the camp director, okay, and uh and he'll he'll let you know exactly what they need. And it and he's on the website as well.
SPEAKER_01Now, if you go to the Burbwell Foundation.org and want to donate is specifically let's say for Camp Valor, how how do they go about doing that?
SPEAKER_02Yes, sir. So if you if right when you pull up the website and scroll all the way down, you'll see donate and go through the whole process to donate. And if you want to donate monthly, click monthly. Just a one-time thing, click one time thing, or if it's yearly, you can click that as well. Um, but whenever it shows to leave a memo, leave a memo. So like um just put a memo for you know Camp Valor. That way we know to allocate those funds to Camp Valor. Or if we have an event coming up, like for instance, on May 30th, we have a uh fishing tournament. It's called Off the Hook Fishing Tournament. And uh that's gonna be here in Liverpool at uh Lutz Marina. And uh yeah, and you can go on there, donate, and then on the memo, put fishing tournament. You know, it's it's simple. We just we just need something there that we know, okay, this these funds are for this, these funds are for that. You know, that way we can separate everything and uh it'll help our our end and booking. And uh yeah, I mean that that's that's mainly how to do that.
SPEAKER_01Let's talk more about this fishing tournament you got coming up. So it's in Liverpool on May 30th. What what is a fishing tournament?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, man. So this is actually my first fishing tournament to to to do um to put on as an event. And um, man, I I just I I've been in since I started fishing again. It's been a passion of mine because I've been to a couple of fishing tournaments like in between, and it's been a passion of mine to do it and do it to where the funds help veterans and first responders. And this can't this was an awesome opportunity that popped up because uh at Lutz Marina, uh, one of the one of the people that I used to go to high school with, uh, Miss Lauren, um Lauren Tony and her husband, they purchased the the marina uh I think last year, and they're slowly like building that marina back up. And this is a perfect opportunity for me to partner with them and help not only them grow uh as a business and bring in more eyes to them, uh, but also help our foundation create an annual event with them and build that up year after year after year, right? And uh and those profits will be used for our veterans.
SPEAKER_01So with the fishing tournament, how does it go about? Like, do they have to have their own fishing gear? What what's involved with someone that wants to Yeah?
SPEAKER_02So so a fishing my the the fishing tournament that we're having um is open launch. What that means is at 6 a.m., you don't have to launch from Lutz Marina. But if you do launch from Lutz Marina, you get a free court of free. Right? So that's a little incentive to launch out of there. Um now you you do have need your own boat, and to be honest with you, you don't even need a boat. You just you can you can launch out of anywhere and you fish from 6 a.m. all the way to 2 p.m. maybe, and then you have to be back at Lutz Marina for weigh-in by 3 p.m. You have to be in line by 3 p.m. If not, we're cutting it off and nobody else can come come in. All right. Um, and that just keeps it fair. But we're gonna have different categories. Uh we're gonna have redfish, uh the uh biggest redfish, we're gonna have the biggest um drum, and then the biggest stringer, which is uh two reds and three uh speckle trout. And then also my favorite, uh, and and I've been wanting, man, every time I go to these tournaments, I want these tournaments to do like separate things on the side and like some like silly shit, you know? So like so like mine is uh as big as gaff top. So a gaff top is is a lot of anglers, it's trash fish, right? But some people love eating the it's like it's a catfish.
SPEAKER_01It's a slimy one, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay, yeah, yeah. Yeah, people don't like dealing with it because of the slime. Right, right. But uh, so we're gonna do a uh it's called blackjack. So the closest to 21 inches is gonna win that that that specific uh tournament for uh gaff top. But if you go over 21, you bust, right? Okay, okay, yeah. So it's the closest to 21. And though, and they're and we have a guy that that's uh he does metal art, and uh he's gonna make a big nasty gaff top trophy, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's it's it's it's funny. And then it's gonna and like all the trophies are gonna be kind of like that, but this one's gonna be a uh ginormous one, yeah. You know what I mean? And then also we have we're gonna have um uh redfish, but the redfish with the most uh spots. Okay, and uh yeah, so it could be it, it don't even have to be a big redfish, it just has to have a ton of little spots on it, you know, and and it has to be legal, right? A legal size. So um those are two little side ones that we're gonna do, and we're gonna have prizes for each one. Um, we're also gonna have a lot of raffles there. Um and I brought one of the raffle items right here, and this is for you, by the way. Oh man. Yeah, man. Yeah. I always think sharp, it's the same hat right here.
SPEAKER_01Okay, I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, man. Uh, one of the raffle items I got, I I brought over here because I wanted everybody to see it. Oh yeah. Yeah, we're we're doing it right. We're doing it right. So yeah, right here on the spot.
SPEAKER_01Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_02Yes, sir. I see it. It's got the fixtures that everything as it as it comes, McDogg. Yeah, you know, it has it has the fixtures on it, it has the flip-up sights. Nice. It has already uh a light on it as well, right here. Man, it's it's hooked up, man. These sites flip up. Damn, I like it. And then it comes with two two mags, and the stock is collapsible as well.
SPEAKER_01So, how how are you doing this raffle and how do people get involved in it?
SPEAKER_02Yep, so um this raffle, like you don't even have to be uh involved in the tournament. And you don't you don't have to be at the tournament to win it. Um we're gonna start this. I'm hoping tonight when the website goes up. Um let me get the website real quick so I don't get it wrong.
SPEAKER_01So with this event, are y'all gonna have vendors and things like that, or is it just yes?
SPEAKER_02Yes, we're gonna have vendors, uh, we're gonna have food vendors. Um, we're gonna have Mr. Snowy there. Snowy! Yeah, yeah, big shout out to our snowy crew out there. Um hold on one second.
SPEAKER_01Let me and if y'all don't know about Snowy, y'all be sure to check them out. It's uh William, William Gray and his family. Yeah, man. Uh always eager to help and uh and show up.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, man. So um, yeah, whenever I have events, man, I always I always try to get them out there because you know, uh he does his own thing with veterans and and uh he we're this is all one mission, man. You know, all of what we're all doing, it's all one mission. Whether it's it's you, you know, promoting the you know uh addiction uh prevention and and all this stuff, man, or or me with the camp and peer support. Um he's doing his own thing with leadership and getting getting these guys out there and and um getting them back in into the real world and and getting their life going. You know what I mean? Yeah, and leadership is huge in that, you know, and a lot of people don't understand that or um understand the reason why that's huge a hu a big thing. But if you think about it, man, like when we're in, it's all about purpose. We have a mission, we have things that we have to accomplish. And um, when you come out, it's not like that. Right. You know, it's all about what you create, you know, what what you do with your life, and uh and he's showing them uh a blueprint on how to do that. He is so that's why I'm always I'm always with them, man. Good people. Uh it's lootsmarina.com. It's not up and running right now, but it should be either tonight or tomorrow morning. Spell it. Lutes Marina, L-U-T-E-S-M-A-R-I-N-A.com.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02Yes, sir. Yeah, man. So how long y'all been putting this? You you're excited about it? I'm excited, man. So we just started, man, um, this past month. Um, but right now we're we're digging in deep and we're gonna we're we're we're gonna start promoting the the stuff out of it, you know. Um whenever this website goes live, we're gonna promote it all over our pages. Uh please give us a follow, Birdwell Foundation uh on Facebook. Um we have different chapters uh around the nation, but our main page is the Birdwell Foundation for PTSD. And um, and yeah, man, we'll we'll keep that updated as well as um we have the tournament page as well, off the hook fishing tournament. Uh that that we created our own page for that. And everything that we do, all of the new raffle items that are coming up, every everything that we're doing for that, we're gonna we're gonna list on on the on that on the tournament page as well. That way you can kind of keep up with it. And also um what we're gonna do is we're gonna create an overview of Lutz Marina and uh to where they can be, you can look at it and see, okay, this is all parking. This is where the food's gonna be, this is where the live band's gonna be, this is where I buy the or this is where I go get the bait, uh, this is the wave station over there, right? Everything's gonna be laid out on this map. And um and you can just pull that up and look on on on the on the Facebook page.
SPEAKER_01That's what's up, man. I'm excited. I'll definitely um I don't know about the fishing park. But how far out do you gotta go? What's the what's the rules? I mean, there's no rules.
SPEAKER_02No, there's no rules on where where you've where you're fishing. It's that's why it's an open launch. Okay, and um you can launch wherever you want, Texas City, uh Chocolate Bayou, uh in Galveston, anywhere. You know, you you can you can launch anywhere, just be back at Lutz Marina by 3 p.m. Right. And a lot of people, um, I mean that's that's a long time to fish. Yeah. So a lot of people will go, you know, to Texas City and they'll fish out there in the jetties and they'll come back, you know, and get in line, you know, they'll cut just they'll just cut their day early. Yeah. But um, but yeah, man, and and this raffle, um, this gun, this rifle will be on the website to buy tickets for it. And we're gonna do um$10 a piece. Okay. Raffle tickets. And you can, and when you uh sign up for the for the fishing tournament, you can just add however many tickets you want on there, and you can do it all in one checkout, right?
SPEAKER_01When is the raffle?
SPEAKER_02Uh it's gonna be the it's gonna be the day of they're all gonna be live at the tournament. All of it's gonna be live in the tournament, and we're gonna be going Facebook Live on the tournament page um doing the raffled pulls. That way, because you don't have to you don't have to be there at the actual event, but it'll be good for you to be there, right? At the event, uh, because there's gonna be a ton of there's gonna be a lot of little raffles, man. And uh not only this one, this is just one of our really good ones. Um, but we're gonna have a lot of raffles.
SPEAKER_01Nice, nice man.
SPEAKER_02And the live bands as well. Oh yeah, yeah. Uh Looney and the I think it's called Looney and the Bayou gang, or um, but uh they're gonna be there. My my my boy Shane Barron, he's gonna be there as well. Uh, and it's all live, man. And they, you know, they they sound they they're good sounding, man.
Journaling, Triggers, And Stress On Health
SPEAKER_01That's awesome, man. I'm I'm excited. I'll definitely show up. Show love. Uh man, I got my one of my final questions is man, what's next for Matthew, man? What what should people be watching for?
SPEAKER_02So um we have some we have some books coming out uh through our foundation that I'm that I'm getting published. Um one was the coloring book that actually just went live yesterday. Uh that's brand new. That's on Amazon. And um uh$3 from every every book sold goes to the foundation. Uh, you know, as you know, Amazon takes their big cut because they're doing most of the work. But um, yeah, every time you buy a book on Amazon like that, it comes to our uh a percentage comes to our our uh foundation. But also uh we're about to release a journal as well. And what it what uh it'll do is it'll allow people that are recovering from traumatic events to keep track, right? And through my recovery, uh I found that uh journaling saved my life, man. Because if I wasn't able to track exactly what was working with me and what wasn't, I I would be all over the place because my mind wasn't in the in that space to where I can without writing it down, I could specifically look at, okay, this helped me, this did it. You know what I mean? Like I was I was full of rage, bro. You know, I was I was just mad at the world, and um I wasn't thinking of any of that. But if you put it on paper um every day, you can be like, okay, man, I felt great doing this. What was I doing? Like, what what did I do to make me feel like this? Or I feel like crap this day. What happened before that? Right, you know, what what triggered me? And you this is a good way to fit find out your triggers and also like your body functions. Like, I don't know if anybody knows, I won't go too deep on on the podcast, but you get tremors too. You know, when you get triggered on something, you sometimes your your fingers will start twitching, your eyes will start twitching, yeah. Like that, and and that stress messes with your physical body. And I don't know if people know that, but um health-wise, it's connected to stress a lot. You know, so once you heal the mind, you can heal your body. You know, a lot of uh sicknesses and stuff come from stress, you know. So um mental health, man, I I just I I I stress it a lot, man, with with the PDs, police departments, fire departments, um, VFWs, you know, American Legions. Mental health is the number one thing that everybody needs to pour into. Because once you get that down, once you get that under control, you can work on everything else, you know.
Continue The Mission And Get Help
SPEAKER_01That's what's up, man. Hey, one of the last things I want to say is this is Charlie Mike the Podcast, man. What does Charlie Mike and continue the mission mean to you personally?
SPEAKER_02Oh man, it means everything, man. It means my own health, my own, my own uh journey, um, the journey of others, uh, everybody that we help, uh, we proactively uh reach out to them, even when they're out of the camp. Uh, we have guys that proactively reach out to them and see where their mind frame's at, see how they're doing in life. And if they're not doing great, bring them back to the camp. You know what I mean? Um the mission keeps going, bro. Like it once you once you once you exit our camp, and just talking about the camp, once you exit our camp, doesn't mean that you can't come back, right? Because during life, we have all these traumas. Let me put it like this. So you got a glass of water right here, right? You got a glass of water, and and what since you're young, you're having a little trauma every time, right? Every time a traumatic event happens, a little you pour a little bit more water in, right? Pour a little bit more water in. You go to the military, tons of traumatic events, pour more water, pour more water. You go to you get out, and like what I did, I jumped into a uh the police, the police force, and I've had to shoot and kill people, pour more water in, seen uh uh kids die in front of me, pour more water in. You know, I had people die after I uh uh did CPR on them, pour more water in. Eventually that cup's gonna overfill and it's gonna spill out, right? It's gonna create a big mess. Well, it's gonna create your life, it's gonna be a mess, right? So if you don't pour that water onto somebody else, if I don't reach out for help and put pour my my traumatic events onto somebody that understands what's going on, that can pour back into me good good stuff, this this glass of water is gonna overfill, overfill, and it's gonna spill out. For instance, like you see a lot of these officers and and veterans in domestic violence, right? It could take their wife just saying something smart to them, you know, whatever, but he's not reacting. That that's just something that he's reacting to at the moment, but it's really everything that happened leading up to that point that makes them blow up, right? So that's why I tell everybody, man, you you have to have balance, you have to be able to reach out as a man, as a woman, to reach out to somebody and be like, hey, look, I need a I need a vent. You know? Yeah, I need I need I need help. Yeah, something something's wrong with me. I'm getting pissed off really quick, or I'm getting sad a lot. Like, I don't want to act like this in front of my kids. You know what I mean? Help me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. It definitely takes a strong individual to ask for help, you guys. And um, you know, the help is out there. And as and you know, we always say, you know, the the suicide prevention line, 988. Um, you you can call or you can text uh suicide prevention hotline. And it's uh 24-7. You guys, I want to say, Matthew, thank you for coming to the show, man. We appreciate it, and it's always a pleasure learning about what you have going on. Appreciate it, man. And uh, man, keep fighting the fight, man. Thanks, man.
SPEAKER_02And uh also, real quick, uh, on my website on the Burrow Foundation.org, we have a 24-7 hotline as well. Um, veterans, first responders, call that line. You know, there's uh there's always somebody on the other on the other on the other end, and um uh we'll get you the help you need, man. Or if you just need a vent, you know, we're there for that too.
SPEAKER_01That's what's up. Man, uh again, man, appreciate it. Thank you for everything you're doing. As always, you guys, thank you for tuning in. If you like this podcast, be sure to share, like, subscribe. And if you're interested in being a guest on the podcast, reach out to me. As always, thank you. And Charlie Mike. Thank you all for listening to Charlie Mike the podcast. This is me, Soja Hall with Red Con One Music Group, and we out.
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