Ready to be emboldened? Join us as we invite Erin Switzer aka Jammer Actual, Recon Marine, and Call of Duty character, to our show. Embark on an exhilarating journey as Erin, a man who tackled college football before pivoting to a rewarding military career, unrolls the map to his life. The call to action is clear: time waits for none, and neither should you. If your dreams are waiting, Erin’s story will inspire you to reach out and grab them.
Fear, a universal feeling, is a beast we all face. And Erin is no stranger to it. As a child, he was terrified of drowning. But instead of letting it control him, he took the bull by the horns, joined the Reconnaissance community, and overpowered his fear. His unique approach to life’s most harrowing moments doesn’t end there. A severe injury during his tenure as a Recon Marine tested his resilience, but with the indomitable support of his first sergeant and the courage to stare fear in the face, he emerged victoriously. Strap in as he shares his hard-earned wisdom on battling fear, embracing adversity, and powering through the toughest of times.
Contact Thad - VictoriousVeteranProject@Gmail.com
Thanks for listening!
Ready to be emboldened? Join us as we invite Erin Switzer aka Jammer Actual, Recon Marine, and Call of Duty character, to our show. Embark on an exhilarating journey as Erin, a man who tackled college football before pivoting to a rewarding military career, unrolls the map to his life. The call to action is clear: time waits for none, and neither should you. If your dreams are waiting, Erin’s story will inspire you to reach out and grab them.
Fear, a universal feeling, is a beast we all face. And Erin is no stranger to it. As a child, he was terrified of drowning. But instead of letting it control him, he took the bull by the horns, joined the Reconnaissance community, and overpowered his fear. His unique approach to life’s most harrowing moments doesn’t end there. A severe injury during his tenure as a Recon Marine tested his resilience, but with the indomitable support of his first sergeant and the courage to stare fear in the face, he emerged victoriously. Strap in as he shares his hard-earned wisdom on battling fear, embracing adversity, and powering through the toughest of times.
Contact Thad - VictoriousVeteranProject@Gmail.com
Thanks for listening!
What advice would you give to anybody and I know you've covered a lot with that and we've talked about it but anybody that is thinking about changing their life, changing their lifestyle what advice would you give to them?
Speaker 2:I'm still trying to figure that out for myself. So I got a lot of stuff going for me. I've been very fortunate. But, god, we all deal with our own stuff. So by no stretch of the imagination is my world perfect and perfect example. But the stuff I've learned over the years is just God, we live such a freaking. You have such a short period of time on this little dirt ball we call earth. Don't put stuff off, just get out there and do the stuff. Do something. If it's fitness and you have fitness goals, don't put it off till tomorrow. Like, take a step today, step outside, walk around the block, but do something, act. Take an action when you have the thought get the ball moving on it, don't keep putting it off. So that's really it, man. That's where I see people get hung up is just putting stuff off forever and tomorrow never comes.
Speaker 1:Welcome to another episode of On your Lead. A point man in the military leads from the front, making the path clear and safe. My goal is to provide a point person or guide for you to follow, to help you build confidence and locate the next steps you need to take to achieve the life you want. My hope is that you take those steps. Then join us on the show to share your success so we can all follow On your Lead. Welcome to another episode. I'm here today with Aaron Schweitzer Jammer Actual, and you may know him If you've ever played Call of Duty. He is actually ghost from Call of Duty. He's a recon marine, does a ton of work with Black Rifle Coffee as well as has a lot of support through Nine Line Apparel. Aaron, how are you doing today?
Speaker 2:Good man, Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1:Good man, I'm so pumped up to have you on. I'm excited to hear your journey. It's an incredible journey and I'm so pumped up to just let people hear, let people get to know you a little bit deeper and understand kind of what makes you tick.
Speaker 2:Right on.
Speaker 1:If you could, just so. Obviously we talked about where you're at and we're gonna talk about that more in depth, but I'd love to just unpack what got you to join the military. I mean, what caused you to join the military? What did that look like? I'd love to hear what got people into the military in general.
Speaker 2:So I actually joined a little bit late. I was 20, I see 24. Do has Work in Valley parking cars at a casino in Kansas City. And I was just like one day, one day I had just kind of an awakening where I had a college football coach come in and he pulls up in his nice car, pops out and it clicked on me who it was and I had kind of failed at college football. So seeing my coach in that setting and kind of having that little shock of like gosh, here I am parking his car, and I just kind of felt a little bit like a disappointment. And that was kind of like my moment where I was like, dude, I gotta do something else man.
Speaker 2:So all my friends were graduating college or had graduated college and they're all like veterinarians and doing good stuff and I was like I gotta do something. So I went to go enlist and initially I was looking at the Navy. I wanna do, like a lot of people, go be a Navy SEAL. And yeah, that didn't really work out. I showed up there and the Navy recruiters weren't there when they were on time. So I was outside in the cold and the Marine Corps it was like he was a gunny Recruiter, just snatched me up, introduced me to force recon and the rest is history.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I love hearing that progression of going in and that just happened. Stance the Navy just didn't show up, and I love to throw jokes about the different branches. Navy didn't show up and then, of course, the Marines were there on time and ready to go and so they got a great asset. I love that you mentioned the failures, and that's a big piece of who you are and what makes you tick. I've enjoyed kind of our side conversations hearing about the and your ability to learn from it, cause I think a lot of people have failures in life but they don't learn from them and so they either tend to repeat themselves or we stay where we're at, and so you had mentioned kind of failed there with the college. What did you mean by that as far as failing on the college realm or the college football space?
Speaker 2:Or both. Yeah, yeah, no, I I bought a man. I had a high school, you know I had. I had some scholarships to smaller schools for football and track and you know, and I just you know, like a lot of the stuff I do, you know, I just made a decision one day that you know I wasn't going to go to a smaller school, I just wanted to follow my dream to go to Kansas State. And so I walked on there in spring the spring ball, I think it's been like 95 or something like that and I was doing really well, and unfortunately I was.
Speaker 2:I was doing well at that, but I wasn't doing too well at my studies and so I got put on academic probation, partied a little bit that, coupled with a little bit of illness at the end of the year, and dropped a ton away and all that, you know, on the shoulders of a 19 year old kid, was a little bit much for me.
Speaker 2:So I ended up dropping out. And yeah, so I mean gosh, you know I failed at that, but in hindsight, you know there's a lot of times I play it back like what, if you know what, if I would have got my shit straight and actually, you know done well and you know, like a lot of the guys there, you know, several of the guys that were in front of me, you know went on to the NFL and excelled. You know they're coaches and at various levels now, still today. But you know, then I also look at him like gosh. I probably would have not gone to the Marine Corps, I would have missed out on all that and that kind of you know, going to the Marine Corps kind of shaped my life for what it is today, which you know I'm pretty happy with.
Speaker 1:So I think everything you know you always hear the you know cliche like everything happens for a reason, but you know, I think that there is some truth to that and also yeah, for sure, and as long as you have like you've proven that you do so many levels that ability to reflect on what took place there and what do you want to do differently going forward? I have a buddy of mine that he always says that anytime he's dealing with a struggle or inside of a failure, he just says this is preparing me for something I don't know. That's coming yet.
Speaker 1:And then I can't see it, but it's just. This is preparation for the next level of whatever life is going to throw my way. And so you join the Marines, decided to go be a recon Marine. How did that transition go? When did you join in? How did that transition go? Going to be a recon Marine?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I joined in. Let's see, bootcamp was January of 2000. So, yeah, so I went to bootcamp. Then I joined under the, the 321, the Reconsons contract which was sold to me. That you know like, hey, you're guaranteed to go to recon. In hindsight, what that really meant was guarantees you a tryout and if you don't make the tryout you become needs of a service which pre you know, pre war or pre 9-11, meant that you're going to be a cook or admin of some sort, which not to take away from those folks. We need them. I love my challenge, I love my pay. We appreciate you guys. However, that was not for me. So when I found that out, that was motivation enough to keep me going on the tough days, you know, so, yeah. So when it was a contract to a 321, bootcamp, SOI, and then onto BRC there at Coronado. So class 4-0-0.
Speaker 1:Excellent. So you went off, brc, completed that, and where did you get stationed at?
Speaker 2:So they gave us. You know, I'm sure you went to ARS, right.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So they give you for us. They gave us the wish list of, you know, hey, give us your top three picks, you know. So I naturally picked California because I was familiar with it and I kind of you know, I kind of took to the, you know, the SoCal life down there. I thought it was pretty cool. So, yeah, from Kansas, I was like this is nice, you know. So I checked that out. So I checked that as number one. Two, I think, was Lejeune, and then I want to say I think there was an option for like Hawaii or something weird like that or whatever, but nonetheless, you know, they put me. It was just kind of like going through the process, you know, asking like we had or pretending like we had a choice in it, and they sent me to Okinawa, so which you know. Now I'm very fortunate that I grew up in the McCrousins community as a young recon marine in Okinawa, because it's an awesome place.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's one of those. I would imagine it ends up on the bottom of everybody's wish list if you get the choice, but everybody that I've talked to that got stationed in Oki absolutely loved it. I mean people, there's some amazing stories that come out of it and then some some really cool stuff, yeah, and so you had an interesting childhood story though, because then, being a recon marine and you are a combat diver as well, how was it going through dive school? When did you go? What did that?
Speaker 2:look like for you. So yeah, so I think I mentioned it to you off camera that I had a near drowning experience when I was a little kid. I was probably about a year and a half old and I'd fallen into an indoor pool at a hotel, sunk to the bottom and was ultimately rescued by a lady, scooped me up off the bottom of the pool. I still can remember that pretty vividly, which is crazy, and you were a year and a half old, yeah, so it's amazing.
Speaker 1:It was a traumatic experience.
Speaker 2:Man, I can't remember what I did. I don't even know what I ate for breakfast, but I can I sure as hell can remember that the echoes and stuff of my brother's voices and stuff as I was sinking.
Speaker 2:But so going into the reconnaissance community, which you spend more time in the water than you do out of the water sometimes, that was a huge fear to overcome. And then obviously dive school, going into that man, many, many sleepless nights, just the fear of drowning. At that point, when you get down there, you've already gone through pre-scuba and obviously BRC and everything, but it's still kind of has that little haunting in the back of your head. So that kind of messed with me. But it's like a lot of things I think that's the same with a lot of guys like us is that you find something that's your biggest fear and instead of running from it, you run towards it and attack it and take it head on, and so that's kind of how I dealt with that. It sucked as my biggest fear, but hey, let's overcome this.
Speaker 1:Still impressed with your ability to step into that. And then you mentioned running towards that fear. I'd love to ask you what was that like going into that? Because dive school is on another level. That's like being a recon marine. We swim a lot Going into to be a combatant diver. They mess with you in the water. What did you do to prep for that Heading into that fear? That's a big thing to get prepped for. What did you do mentally to get ready for that?
Speaker 2:I mean, mentally, I was a mess going into it. Honestly, I was scared, shilless, like I said already touched on. I had many, many sleepless nights because you lay there thinking about what's about to happen the next day. You sit there and you can't sleep and then you don't want to fall. You know you need to sleep, but you don't want to fall asleep because the very next thing you do is you're going to wake up and you're going to go rolling straight into the suck fest. So it's kind of it's a real mind fuck, you know.
Speaker 2:But for me, like leading up to it once I knew that I was going, I had a teammate, an awesome mentor in Okinawa that talked to us about working on our breath holds and stuff like that, and so I just I emphasize that I sucked at running and that's a huge part of dive school, but the main thing I did overall was work on my breath hold and that was just everywhere I went.
Speaker 2:I was holding my breath from point A to point B, just trying to keep in time and seeing how far I could stretch it out. You know, when I was laying in my barracks bed just watching TV, trying to hold my breath through commercials, through songs like just you know, building up that breath hold until I, you know, I had a breath hold of guys probably two and a half minutes before I went down there, which for me was it was just an insurance policy, knowing that some of the stuff that we, some of the challenges we were going to face, was going to require us to get the shit, you know, knocked out of us underwater. You know the shit kicked out of us underwater for a period of time and I knew that if I had a really solid breath hold, that, no matter what's going on, I relaxed, I got my cool that I would have time to figure it all out and work through the problem.
Speaker 1:I love that. So you built up confidence with your breath holds going into them and you used everything you could do to really, as you called it, an insurance policy built up to where you knew you could go for X number of minutes and be good, and I'm sure that it only got better along the way. I love to hear how you just stepped into that fear, because I think that a lot of people, even now I mean we get out I think sometimes people forget about how quickly they jumped into their fear too, because I mean a lot of people have the same thing. I think there's a lot of people that can connect with what you're talking about, because they went off to boot camp or whatever they did in the military and they had fears going into it and they ran to it. And I wonder how many people nowadays we get out and we forget about charging towards that fear, that thing we're afraid of. So I love that you're able to share that.
Speaker 1:I know you also had an interesting story in Okinawa too that I would love to be able to unpack and share, because I believe you had an interesting situation that took place. Did you get injured? Something like that happened over in Okinawa Do you mind sharing that as well?
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure man, I had an injury right when I got there which showing up to third recon. I showed up as a Lance Corporal, which was as a new guy showing up as a Lance Corporal. You catch a lot of heat because your ATL is a Lance Corporal and then I picked up Corporal right when I got there. So I was getting thrashed every day as it was. And then I think I was there maybe a month and we did a cold water amphibious package in Iwakuni and I was going out the back of a CH-47 and we were doing just a helocasting in dry suits and slipped going down the back ramp and fell about 30 feet into the ocean and ripped my peck, my pectoralis major on my right side, completely ruptured that and ended up having to swim about.
Speaker 2:It was about two and a half clicks into shore, which sucked, yeah, but unfortunately the water was ice cold so I kind of held it a little bit. So that was a challenge. So I had to overcome that. You know, there was a period of time where, while I recovered, I got kicked out of my or removed out of my platoon and put over to H&S for a period of a few months and fortunately I had a first sergeant over there that was super cool, took me in, took me under his wing and looked out for me and kind of set me up for success and a good recovery from that injury. And then I eventually got through that, went back over to Bravo Company and finished out my second year of the NLK with Bravo, which was a really good experience.
Speaker 1:I can't imagine what was that recovery period like? I mean, did you? What did you have to do? What did you have to overcome? I mean, what type of support did you have with that?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So it was interesting. I went down to the Mainside Hospital after about I think a month and a half, two months had passed, where you know, being a new guy at the unit, you know you go to a sick call and they look at him. They dive dock just said you know, hey, you've got a bruised bicep, which wasn't the issue at all, it's just it looked like it because it was all the blood had kind of gathered and collected around my bicep. So as misdiagnosed from the get-go, and you know, being a young guy at the Constance Unit, you just you know you don't want to be that trouble. You know the guy that's high maintenance. So you just kind of shut up and drive on and by doing so the muscle had already healed and everything the way you know, incorrectly. So by the time I finally got down to seeing an actual orthopedic doctor who was too late to repair it. So I just requested you know I got over that first sergeant, first sergeant grant. I don't know where he's at nowadays but you know, good dude looked out for me and he asked me as I came in I know you don't want to be here, how can I help you out? You know what can I do to help you get back where you want to go? And I said honestly, there's no, there wasn't any like physical therapy over there to help me recover.
Speaker 2:I went to one therapy session that had never dealt with that injury. So I just I basically just asked for, you know, time to try and figure it out myself. So I just did with just worked with what I knew and just from lifting and and exercise and you know, kind of resorting back to some of the strength and conditioning programs I've been a part of, and just broke it down super, super simple, with just starting out with no mobility and, you know, flexibility and stuff like that and range of motion, and then start introducing some extremely lightweight and stuff like that, and eventually worked out and my strength got stronger than it. You know, I ended up being stronger than I was prior to the injury, which just came down to focusing on what.
Speaker 2:What the doctor told me that I wouldn't be able to do. That's kind of struck a nerve with me. So he told me I wasn't going to do 20 pull ups again. I focused on that and when he was right, I did 30. So whatever he told me, hey, you're not going to be able to do this. I focused on that and it kind of fueled my fire to you know, just kind of you know, fuck, you all do it, you know. So made it happen and that kind of just helped, helped me bounce back.
Speaker 1:That's incredible. It makes me wonder too if there's oftentimes like a doctor sees the twinkle in your eye like man, this is going to just really get under this guy. Right, and that's what I mean. Like he knew I don't know whether he did or didn't, but obviously that motivated you.
Speaker 1:I like to think sometimes they know yeah, it's, it's man, it's awesome. And just made me think about it too, because I wonder where you got your workouts from, because anybody listening you know it's easy to think about modern day, right where we're at right now, and if you want to do literally anything like I can search I'm running and I got a foot pain. You'll get a million different videos on YouTube which I would imagine. This is the 0102 timeframe, correct. Yeah, that, that wasn't a thing. I mean, where did you get all this? I mean that's a lot of resilience. I mean you had to really dig deep to find. I mean.
Speaker 2:I don't, and even still to this day I mean I've done. I've never followed up. The only time I followed a program was obviously in college. College football is a very, very, very detailed program, like down to how many reps, how much weight, everything was calculated specifically for you. But other than that, that's like the only time I've actually followed any sort of program. I know I get hit up from time to time on on you know social media like, hey, what's your workout routine, what's your? You know stuff like that. What do you do? And just as you know, and shit, I'm knocking on 50s door and I'm, and I'm still in pretty good shape. So I'm asked that and I just like I don't, I don't, I don't follow anything. Man, I kind of, I kind of just, I've always just kind of gone off of you know what, what I feel and what I feel. You know like I don't know, I don't follow any program, just whatever I feel like doing. You know, and it's worked, I'm still here and still doing okay from my age.
Speaker 1:Well, I think that probably the key thing there is that you're doing which so many people? We kind of get stuck in that analysis paralysis. We get that analysis paralysis where we analyze what do I do, what do I do, and we don't do anything, whereas it sounds like for you it's the opposite, it's like I'm not worried about what I'm doing, I just know I'm doing something and you kind of step forward into the action piece of it which I think eludes a lot of people. So, and that's just an incredible journey, incredible story going through the military. And so what did it look like? How did you transition out of the military? Did you do four years? Did you do longer than that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I did. I did, I enlisted for four and I was set to get out. I think I was in, I was in Sear School when the war kicked off officially and then I was set to get out, you know, not long after that and then we got the call that we were going to deploy over there. So I extended for six months just to go over with my team, because you know how you've done a work up and everything else and I wasn't about to like bail on the dudes. And honestly, you know, from a selfish aspect too, you know you get your shit pushed in for four years and then all of a sudden you know Super Bowl rolls around and you know your contract's up Like you're not going to, you're not going to sit on the sidelines for that. Yeah, so I extended and went over, did one trip over to Iraq with my team and then got out after that.
Speaker 1:That's love that you defined it as a Super Bowl too. I mean, that's everything you train for, everything you looked at and so many people. I know that that's a big thing now. That a lot of people struggle with is they do their entire enlistment and never deploy. And I know now that's a big thing and I love that. You had the opportunity to do it. You stepped in, you did it, you made it happen. So you just extended for six months and I would say just minimizing that, as that's a big, that's a big commitment to do it. And then what did you do after you got out and how did that look for you? What took place? How was that transition?
Speaker 2:Actually I, yeah, so I had, I had like 45 days of terminal leave. So I came back and I think I surfed like 44 out of 45 days. You know, me and my, me and my boys, Craig McCarroll and Scotty Lehman, we spent a lot of time surfing. So we we'd go down to Carl's bad, stop by 7-Eleven, get a little coconut mocha, coffee and pie loud, and just spent, spent a lot of time surfing. I tried, I tried hanging out in SoCal for a while doing personal training and stuff like that it's way too expensive at the time and so ended up moving back to Kansas City and going to school for engineering for a few years, Right on.
Speaker 1:And I want to ask you about that too. You mentioned Craig McCarroll, because that's he was. Actually. I went through a pre-recon school with him and they picked they picked six of us to go over to ARS and so I went through with Craig and, uh, craig said, and absolutely, he has one of the his, him and his two brothers have that tattoo across their back, which I always thought of as the coolest thing. I was like man, you have such a tight knit Cause me and my family. We weren't very close and it was my first introduction to seeing like a really tight knit family. I always love it and Craig's a just a beast of a human being. He's an awesome guy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, he's a good dude man. We're still real tight, so um talk to him regularly.
Speaker 1:What impact did that timeframe Cause? I know that I've actually talked to quite a few people that do a lot of more. It's now called surf therapy, which I know that wasn't what you were doing, but what did that do for you? Getting out and having that transition? And have you ever thought about that? Has that? Have you reflected on that time piece of being able to just do that surfing and really have that that intentional?
Speaker 2:I really thought about that much. I mean, for me it was just like I don't know. I mean I was, you know, I went from being told what to do, when to do and how to do it for four and a half years and then all of a sudden, you know, I've got like 40 days where I don't have to do anything there. So I was just, I was just chilling, I wasn't giving any. You know that I wasn't having some like deep emotional like you know. You know therapeutic. You know I guess I probably was, but I wasn't. That wasn't my intention. You know. I wasn't like set out to find clarity and all this. You know all this stuff. I was just like, dude, I'm just going surfing, man, let's grab a coffee and let's go surfing. And that was about all the thought I put into it.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, it probably was very you know, very good and a good way to transition into the freaking zoo that we live in, you know so.
Speaker 1:But yeah, it was a good time man, I bet it was and there's a great book called Stealing Fire where he actually breaks down and his it's not a military or veteran's book. However, it has some some commonalities where he connects some dots there and surfing is one of those things that's proven long term to have like really big benefits on things like PCSD, anything like that. So while you weren't doing it with that, I bet it had a really nice impact and help propel you. I can only imagine that it would, even though that wasn't your intention, intention behind it, you just having fun, which probably made it made it better. So you got out and what got you? I mean now I love I was blown away because I played.
Speaker 1:When I got out, somebody showed me Call of Duty probably 15 years ago, man, forever ago, and I saw it and I was like, oh, it's super realistic, this is cool, and I played it. And just recently somebody showed me the new Modern Warfare 2 and it was insane for me to jump on and start seeing guys I knew from the recon community in this game. I was like what the hell is going on? What started this path for you? I mean, what was that like? How did you get into it. It's a pretty incredible thing to be doing right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's been a really cool experience For me. I just kind of got lucky. Obviously one of my good recon buddies, jim Staley, who was at First Force, known him now for 21 years. He started a company up called TACGAS. It was just kind of like a marketing and, I guess, you know, like a production company for like the tactical space, realizing a lot of us, a lot of dudes from the recon community, a lot of Rangers, SF guys and even a couple of SEALs and stuff.
Speaker 2:It's based on shooting realistic content. That's accurate because you see so much of the stuff, especially in Hollywood, where dudes are holding loading magazines backwards and just not moving. Not everybody actually does. Most of the actors don't do the work like Keanu Reeves and actually learn to shoot. Most of them are just actors that don't even know which way, hardly to point the rifle. So we focused on that and it's working with him and kind of crushing it in that space.
Speaker 2:And then Call of Duty, activision, infinity Ward and those folks threw a little chunk at TACGAS and they kind of knocked it out of the park and so it kind of opened up a lot more possibilities and opportunities for us and then kind of got into the casting part of it. And so Jim was really big about pushing a lot of guys from our community that were actually dudes that played the real world part pushed really hard for us to get into the game. And he hit me up about doing this part for Ghost back in Modern Warfare in 2019. And so I jumped on that and I didn't do the voice acting. I think originally it was. I think in 19 it was Jeff Leach who was a voice actor and then Modern Warfare 2 is Sam Ruekin. So I did all the covers, all the cover art, a lot of the pictures, some of the stunts, commercials and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:So everybody always you know it's like some guys want to claim 100% that they are a certain character, but those of us in the know that we realize that they actually know and acknowledge the fact that a character like Ghost takes it's more than one person. So I can't take full credit for that. I'm about half of a character that makes up that character. So I was British and I had an awesome British accent and I sounded tough. Then I could probably fill that role. Or if Sam or Jeff got in the gym and got a little bit bigger and got in shape and got some firearms experience, they could probably fill that role too. That's a fun style with those guys, hopefully motivates them to do it.
Speaker 2:I get in the gym and want to kick my ass.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man for sure. Well, I love that you pointed that out. I'm still just impressed with your humility inside of this.
Speaker 1:I think that one of the traits of a good leader because one of the things I do is talk about leadership and leaders in general, and one of the triggers and the points of where you know you're talking to a good leader is anytime you reference a part in their life. That's kind of one of those big highlight areas that just kind of out of nowhere seemingly happened. They reference that they got lucky with it and that was exactly how you referenced it is that it was just some luck and not taking away from it, whereas a less humble or not a great leader would say, well, that was all me and you didn't do that. I think that just speaks to you and your leadership and just who you are backing up to your humility, that it's not you, it's not the one character, that it takes everybody, and I love that you can poke a little stab at them too. So in along the way, and so you do that. You also do a lot of work with Black Rifle Coffee as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah. So my dog and I, rex, were somewhere around here. He kind of does his own thing, so we do ambassador work for them. Of course, we've known some of those guys since before Black Rifle was a thing, and so it's just kind of made sense for us to come on board and shoot content with them and stuff. So it's been a fun, enjoyable ride and it's been really cool to see some veterans. It's always good to see veterans and guys from our communities rise up and be successful, and they bring a lot of other people with them, which is really cool.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I always love seeing their success and just hearing about seeing all the really cool things that they're doing. It's a great thing for them and for the community. It's good to see. So I love that you brought up Rex, because Rex also in the video game and this gets back to one of your big passions is. You spend a lot of time with with dog rescues, don't you?
Speaker 2:Yes, in fact, we just rescued one. I was on a rally with Jim this past week doing a rally, a super car rally, from Aspen to Salt Lake, stopping to tell you ride. In a couple other places we're zipping down the highway I won't say what speeds, but you know, somewhere around the speed limit and I'm sitting there on the phone, you know, or I'm on my phone. He's asking for navigation and stuff and it's pretty intense. I'm sitting there texting people, you know, because this Malinois Akita mix is at a dog shelter. It's got less than an hour to live before it's euthanized.
Speaker 2:So I'm making posts on Instagram, I'm texting, messaging people that I know and this network and I had two of our followers actually they didn't know one another and they were both, you know, like hauled ass to the rescue or the shelter to rescue this dog before it was euthanized, and I just saw a video of it today. They scooped in, they saved this dog, this awesome dog that looks a lot like my puppy, and they got it and then we coordinated. There's a female police officer in Miami that's going to take and adopt the dog. So it's being fostered right now in Dallas by some awesome people that stepped up and here, in a couple of weeks, once it's healed from being neutered, then we're going to transport it to Miami, to its forever home, and so it's stuff like that.
Speaker 2:That's like our platform on social media it's. You know, I love doing all the fun stuff and it's hopefully entertaining for people that follow us. I try to keep it, you know, somewhat entertaining and not boring, but ultimately the whole reason you know that I'm one of the main reasons that I'm on social media is using it for causes like that, and it's awesome to actually see that unfold and it's just reassuring that you know that all the time that I put into it is not just wasted time. You know it's productive and it's doing awesome stuff, because Word knows we all have better stuff to do than the trolling around on social media, you know.
Speaker 1:Right, well, and you can. I mean there's some good. It's cool that you're using it for the good side. You're having some really good things come out. I mean, that's what an incredible story. What got you into just dog rescues in general? What sparked that?
Speaker 2:You know, just working alongside dogs, you know, throughout the military. And then you know, in my current work, you know, working with the canines and stuff like that, I've never been a canine handler. I've played a canine handler and TV show but you know I've never an actual operational canine handler. So I've always worked alongside them and I've always had a passion for it. Those dudes are. It's awesome. I mean, your job is bringing your best friend to work and working alongside them and that's awesome.
Speaker 2:But you know, just being around those, that breed of dog, you know the Malinois and the shepherds have really taken a liking to them and just the way that they perform and stuff. And then you know, with the new, you know, like the new John Wick movies and seeing the popularity of the Malinois and the working breed dogs, how much those have been cast into, the, thrust into the spotlight, as you know, these badass dogs and now they are like the new status symbol or the new accessory, you know, for people that want to look like badasses. You know it used to be like pit bulls and rottweilers and now it's. You know, malinois, everybody wants a Malinois on their side so they, you know, they can, you know, wear that Malinois like a freaking high-end you know handbag or something or some sort of accessory. But people quickly realize that if you don't put in the work every single freaking day with these things, you know a lot of times, twice a day, three times a day, that this dog is smarter than you and a lot more capable than you as far as like thrashing you and shredding your life. So people don't put in the work and then these dogs, you know they get pissed off, frustrated, throw them in the backyard. They either escape the backyard and get picked up as strays, or the people just, you know, hey, this dog doesn't want to listen, it doesn't want to learn, and it's just crazy and insane. And so they take it and they surrender to the shelter or they take it somewhere and just abandon it, and so all these dogs, these badass dogs, are ending up in shelters.
Speaker 2:And for us you know that's how I now have three of them, you know, because every time I go and I see one, I snatch it up. And the original plan was I'm going to. You know, I got this one, I trained him up Rex is phenomenally trained and he's a very exceptional dog and then my plan was to continue rescuing these dogs and training them and giving them off to veterans. But the second one didn't work out quite like that. He's just kind of a house pet. He doesn't like to be told what to do, he just kind of hangs out. And that's my dog Hank, we call him.
Speaker 2:Hank, because he does pretty much. I mean, he's not, he's not, he's not a hellion, but he just kind of does what he wants. You know, he's just kind of like the dude from the Big Lebowski, you know, he just kind of chills, so it wouldn't be a great, you know, service dog or anything, but yeah, so I don't know, I just kind of keep adopting these dogs and training them and it's just, it's a lot of fun for me, it's a lot of it's like therapy, you know. I mean it's. You know, you get back from a stressful last day and come home, spend some time with the dogs, just, you know, interacting, learning new stuff and new challenges and stuff like that, you know. So it's kind of therapeutic for me, you know.
Speaker 1:Well, it's an amazing cause, because I think that it's really unfortunate what happens to these dogs that it becomes popular, like you said. It's like wearing a high-end handbag, which it's not the case. It's a brilliant animal that loves to work but not work. It tends to look I don't want to say bad, but it doesn't do. I would guess it looks like it's misbehaving, anything like that.
Speaker 1:Again, not knowing the space, that's kind of what I'm hearing is, if you don't work it, if you don't put in the work to train it up, you're going to have some problems. And then, on the other end of that, it makes me want to ask too, what sort of support. I mean, say, somebody listening was like you know what? I would love to help out. I would love to rescue a dog. Knowing that there is that much work that goes into it, what sort of support or help do you give anybody or resources does anybody have, knowing that if they wanted to adopt one and bring one in, I would imagine that work still needs to be put in with that rescue dog, maybe even more. What sort of support?
Speaker 2:resources do they?
Speaker 1:have.
Speaker 2:There's. You know I get hit up quite often for excuse me for dogs, people looking for dogs and bias on the breed you know the Malinois breed and working dogs and stuff like that. And you know, always, first and foremost, I always let people know that, hey, I'm not a professional trainer. I'm just a dude that has got some good dogs and I've put in the time and I've learned a hell of a lot from some awesome trainers and I really I'm really passionate about that. So I'm not a professional trainer. I have been pretty fortunate to interact with some really good trainers and I work alongside some of the best canine handlers in the world. So but yeah, I always, I always first and foremost, I always tell people like, hey, if you're considering one of these dogs, you know there's a lot of breeders out there. But gosh dang, you know there's a lot of these dogs that came from those breeders that are now at shelters. So I always say, like, go check out your shelters. If you're really passionate about these and you're looking to rescue one, you can. I mean your, you know, listeners can always hit me up and I have endless shelters and rescues that I work with. I work with several of them that have you know so many, so many freaking awesome dogs. They come with all their shots, all of their, you know, come with a lot of basic training, crate training, all that stuff out of the box, which is which is awesome. And they also come from a you know the shelter or the rescues they've been with these dogs. They can tell you like, hey, this is the quirk on this dog or this is not where you know and not to.
Speaker 2:I think breeding has its place. You know there's obviously in the, in the working space, a lot of agencies you know require that they come from certain breeders or have the certain vetting and stuff like that. So it's definitely got its space. But the backyard breeding people that just get these dogs and breed them and stuff, and hey, I want to, I want to do one litter so I can make some money, make my money back, or you know it'd be cool or whatever. And you know I just that's not my, that's not my jam. I think that's contributing to the problem that we have. So, yeah, I mean, if anybody's interested, reach out to me. I'll put you in touch with some, some rescues that have awesome, awesome, freaking dogs. And then you know there's a lot of different trainers out there that are reputable. There's also a lot that do your homework, because you know they advertise really well, they appear really well, but they'll destroy your dog. So do your homework on that.
Speaker 1:Well it's. It's a great cause and I know there's a lot of great dogs out there that do need a good home. I love that you're able to contribute in that way and really use everything that you've built. I mean, you've built a huge career, a huge following and you're able to do some really amazing stuff with it. I think it's funny.
Speaker 1:We were we just got just about six months ago we got a he's passed out right here waiting to go in our run but a wire haired pointing Grafane, which is a, randomly came across. It was a super random, really long story, but apparently you know, we've done some research but apparently they're high end dogs, like they like to be worked and if not, they can turn them to be kind of misbehaving dogs and he's just, he's incredible, he's the best dog, he's amazing. And I know like I take him on runs and we play fetch, we do, we do different things with him, but we feel like we don't. We always feel like we don't give him enough exercise. But then me and my wife sat down and we were watching him and the kids we have a three year old and a five year old and I mean he probably gets two, three hours of just running and just playing with those kids and I love that just seeing it Like and I think that's what's contributed to him being such a great dog is he gets so many different facets of action from, not only for me and my wife but also from the kids who they're always pulling on him and doing randomness with each other.
Speaker 1:But it's, it's a great companion and if you can find a good one, set it up. I know that I really believe in having a good family dog is a great thing, so I love what you're doing with it and as we talk about all of this, I mean I really appreciate you sharing everything.
Speaker 1:I'm curious to ask you too, because I can't. You got a huge following. I'm sure you get to ask a bunch of random, random questions and I just want to ask what's your favorite question to get asked and to answer? Maybe something that we haven't talked about, but, like, what's your your favorite thing to discuss? Like, when you get asked about it, what's top of list for you?
Speaker 2:Oh man, I don't know. I mean, from time to time I do put you know like hey, ask me a question, or something like that I get. Yeah, there's a wide array of questions that I get asked. I would say like it's not so much the questions or anything like that, but I get a lot of or not a lot, but like, from time to time I get feedback from individuals and it's like something that you know, like there's a you know like some post or something that we did or something like that had an impact you know a positive impact or motivated somebody in some way to do something for themselves. And so anytime I get feedback like that, that hey, man, like you had a post last week that I was really down the dumps and it kind of brought me back and motivated me and you know, this week's been great, or something like that and like that. That's stuff for me, that's it's really uplifting. And you know, like a while back we were doing an opening of Black Rifle and it's a little bit, a little bit off topic, but kind of related. This is kind of what, you know, this kind of stuff, that kind of fuels my fires.
Speaker 2:Years ago I was a GoRuck cadre. You know, cadre for GoRuck. I led those, you know, hopefully, those events and stuff, and I had this gentleman up in Phoenix that he was, he was, he was, he was overweight, significantly, he was probably three plus, you know, and we did a GoRuck light which is, like you know, like it's like a 10, maybe a 10 mile hike with a pack, a little bit of weight and some activities and the dude got, you know, probably you know, 50% of the way through the event and he wanted to quit and he was like man, I can't, I can't do this, you know. And and he was really struggling and you know I was like I'm sorry, man, like you, I don't allow people to quit these events. Like you, you just got to keep going, you know, like it's, it's not an option, you know, and the other people rose up and you support him and you kept him going and you know we had some, we had some kind of heart to heart talks on that and, dude, he made it through the event and he spoke to me afterwards.
Speaker 2:He's like he was, he was, he was what you did today. He goes, you, he was. It really meant a lot and and he was, I'm going to. I'm going to change my lifestyle because I've realized to you I'm a grandfather, I used to hunt, I used to hike the mountains and I want to do that stuff with my grandchild. And it's a long story, but you know, any of people tell you that. You hear that all the freaking time, right.
Speaker 1:Hey.
Speaker 2:I'm going to change my, you know, I'm going to change my diet, I'm going to change, I'm going to start working out on Monday and all that stuff. And it's like you know, you see, enough over the years, you're like, hey, that's awesome. Yeah, good luck to you. Well, fast forward. You know, about three years and and three or four years, and I'm up with this black rifle opening up in Phoenix and this guy comes up to me and goes there's Aaron, right, I was like, yeah, and he goes. You don't recognize me, do you? And I was like, you know, in my memories, you know, and you know, like we touched on my memories, shit, you know. I mean, I've had a couple of bad accidents and you know all the other crap, you know. So so I, you know I was like man, I'm going to change again. You look familiar, but you know, I apologize, I don't, not up top of my head, I don't. And he goes. Hey, man, it's Sean, he goes.
Speaker 2:You know, like, four years ago you read it you led the go rock event and I told you I was going to change my diet and exercise and this dude was like he had. He had lost over a hundred and I think 120 pounds or something like that. He was down to like just looking like a normal dude, and I was like when he said that, then I could tell like in his face I was like, holy shit, that's, that's the dude that you know barely made it through that event. And to me, like that dude, that's like I got goosebumps, just, you know thinking about it. But it was, uh, that's the type of stuff like that fuels my fire, rescue and dogs.
Speaker 2:You know, seeing people that you know having a having a positive impact, uh, being a positive influence on people, uh, something uplifting. Or or, you know, helping kids, you know, stuff like that. That's what. That's what kind of motivates me. Um, I could give you know two shits less about any of the. You know any of the stuff that we do that seems cool, it's, I mean it's, it's a bonus, it's a plus, it's a fun ride. But ultimately, the, the really rewarding stuff is is seeing, um, just less fortunate people, uh, you know, get lifted up and stuff that kind of makes sense. You know makes perfect sense.
Speaker 1:I absolutely love that story and you know, I get more motivation out of out of seeing people stepping up and and doing, just going the extra mile, like doing the extra thing, and it made me think of. You know, we see like a David Goggins video where he takes that video of him running, you know, and it'd be really cool to see that person that's going to say like I'm going to get started on Monday. You know that you mentioned like we're going to start on Monday but, as I know I watched your video, I got off the couch. I don't even have running shoes right now, but I'm out running right now. They're like that's like I'm doing it right now. This is it's. It's done because it's putting the work, it's putting the action.
Speaker 1:I love to hear that you were able to to contribute and just help him to see a different way of living and different way of thinking. So it's no surprise that that's that's got such a big impact for you and mean so much to you, because that's a huge contribution to just society in general. So, man, if you think about it, what advice would you give to anybody and I know you've covered a lot with that and we've talked about it, but anybody that is thinking about changing their life, changing their lifestyle what advice would you give to them?
Speaker 2:Man, that's. You know I'm still trying to figure that out for myself, you know. So I got a lot of stuff going for me. I've been very fortunate. But God, we all deal with our own, our own stuff, you know. So, by no me or, you know, by no stretch of the imagination is my world perfect and and a perfect example. But you know, as far as you know, like, the stuff I've learned over the years is just, god, we live such a freaking.
Speaker 2:You have such a short, short period of time on this, on this little, you know dirt ball we call earth. And you know, don't put stuff off, you know put. You know. You know, like, just get out there and do the stuff. You know, do something. You know, if it's, if it's fitness and you're, you have fitness goals, don't put it off till tomorrow. Like, take a step today, you know, step outside, walk around the block, you know, but do something to act, take an action. You know when you have the thought, you know, get the ball moving on it. You know, don't keep putting it off. So that's really it, man. That's where I, that's where I see people get hung up is just putting stuff off forever and then and then tomorrow, tomorrow never comes, you know.
Speaker 1:It's always tomorrow and you say yours isn't perfect, and I love this is one of the things I love and it's as an outsider observing kind of the story that you've shared of your life. There's this thread that weaves through all of it and then what I've heard is just you doing what you just said is taking action. I mean, you shared the story of you know, dropped out of college, valiant cars, and you were like nope, something's got to change. And you went to the recruiter's office. You shared the story of tearing your pec with no support no, nothing. I know that the VA is there, but back then there's and you took action. You know, dive school, you've got this failure or this fear from a past trial to try to get stepped into it and made it happen. You took action and you've got this, this littered pathway of the places in your life where you've taken action, and so I would I would happily say that I think you are a perfect example to follow of taking action.
Speaker 2:I respect your humbly not saying that, but I'm going to say it for you.
Speaker 1:It's a really really cool thing that I think you're a perfect example to follow and I love your humility inside of it. But I do wish that people took one, took a note out of your book and then really stepped up, took some action. So I'd love for you to share, if you don't mind. Just where is it? I have one more question or one more statement and follow it up and I'd love, if you don't mind, sharing. If somebody wants to get in touch with you or just kind of see what you're doing, follow you. What's the best way for them to find you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we're primarily our largest platform is Instagram and my following or my page is jammer underscore actual, and I post you know that's just our daily stuff and then just kind of like you know what I'm up to and everything like that. I'm on that daily. I'm really responsive on that. And then I also have Rex's page backup. His page got packed and stolen and then held for ransom a while back and I wasn't about to cave to that. I wasn't going to pay somebody to get what was mine back. So I told him make it happen, delete it and some other things. And then so we're rebuilding his page. It's just straight up call of duty, rex, and that's going to have all of the you know, all the dog stuff on it, a bunch of stuff that he's up to, all of his activities, his tricks and stunts and stuff like that. So either one of those he's also on TikTok under the same name. That's more somebody's jam, just, you know, mindless entertainment. But yeah, instagram jammer underscore, actual is what I typically monitor the most.
Speaker 1:Okay, and well, anybody that wants to, I definitely recommend. You've got some some amazing content. I always love seeing the different videos. I'm not on there a ton, but anytime I open it up, yours is always one of the top ones that pops up, and it's always. It's really. It's very entertaining, to say the least. It's really cool to see you doing some some awesome stuff. Especially some of the call of duty commercials that have been made have just been. They're awesome. So I definitely recommend anybody to go to go check it out and also know you have tell us about Nine Line. You do. You have like some clothing, some products, things like that.
Speaker 2:We've got Rex, my dog. We actually have a an apparel line through Nine Line apparel. So if you go to their their site it's just Nine Line apparelcom you can get a lot of the t-shirts, hats we've got, we've got tumblers, coffee mugs, stuff like that. Actually, this is our latest design, which I 100% believe this came to me.
Speaker 2:This was a thought that came to me about three o'clock in the morning when I couldn't sleep, and so this is one of our big sellers right now on Nine Line. It just just I think it just posted on in the last week or so, but let's go to.
Speaker 2:Nine Line Apparelcom. Go down to partner stores, click on partner stores and I think we're like the third or fourth one down and just call up duty Rex and he'll have all of our t-shirts and stuff like that, a lot of the t-shirts that we do. We typically like to give a portion back to different organizations that support military working dogs Excuse me, like retired military working dogs, canine departments that are maybe not funded greatly. We have to help them out as well, and there's also causes that come up with related to children and stuff like that. Yeah, so we appreciate all the support and anybody that purchases stuff like that man. The money does not go to waste. It goes to help us continue to grow our platform and do the stuff we do.
Speaker 1:Oh, I think it's an amazing cause and I think it's a layered one too. And for anybody that, if you're just listening, not watching, the shirt says dogs with a greater than sign people, and so I definitely agree. It is a very true shirt and for me it's dogs are just awesome, awesome, awesome animals, awesome creatures, and I love to support veterans. Anytime I can support a vet, I'm usually I kind of sign up, pay for it whatever capacity I can, but then to find out all the layers of what you're helping, because it's not only helping support you, but we're helping support surf sandals, we're helping to support other people in need along the way. So there's a cascading. So not just supporting you, there's a ton of support that goes into it. So anybody that wants definitely go check out your gear. I know there's a ton of really good stuff there.
Speaker 1:And then one of my favorite quotes, favorite sayings. I heard it and it's interesting because this has been just talking about failure, talking about different things along the way, and this quote just says that the size of the superhero is determined by the size of the villain they have to overcome. And we've talked about a lot of villains along the way. And if you have, and I'm not sure if you have or haven't, but have you considered? I mean, where would you say the biggest learning opportunity has been for you as far as the villains or any of the failures, things that have happened in your life, that have propelled you into this, this figure that you are and I know you're humbly say that you're not that figure However, what do you think it's been? What part of your past has really helped out?
Speaker 2:Yeah, honestly, like I don't know, it's just for me, it's just been kind of instilled on me to never quit, you know, and so I don't know if there's one significant villain or anything like that, but you know, just not being afraid to fail, and when you do fail, use that to fuel the next. You know your next venture and sometimes, you know, I think a lot of times you get stagnant, you know, when you don't have challenges, and so you know, for me it's always that's kind of been the stuff that fuels my fire and motivates me as challenges whether that be a new venture or, you know, an injury or failing at something is, you know, that challenge and having something to overcome or work for or work towards. So I don't know if that answers your question or not, I don't know how.
Speaker 2:I can't really think of anything significant, but that's just kind of a summary of how I guess what keeps me ticking.
Speaker 1:I mean, I think it answers it perfectly. I think that for me, as you were saying that, I was thinking about just envisioning if somebody actually did stop and look back at it, because you said you haven't really identified one piece, because you're looking at the next thing and that just goes back to the advice that you gave and you, being who you're recommending other people to be, I mean, you're stepping in and doing exactly that. Hey, what's the next thing I need to get over? What's the next thing I need to conquer? And just constantly moving forward, that I don't have time to look back. So I love it, man. Thank you so much, aaron. I really appreciate everything that you do and I really appreciate you taking the time today to jump on here. Man, thank you very much.
Speaker 2:If I can say just a couple of things, before we Please yeah, yeah, this past week I saw that we lost another reconnaissance marine in the community to suicide and that's something that a lot of times it's not the sexy thing to talk about, and I just wanted to touch on that, you know we as brothers and in the community, we need to really focus on reaching out to each other, staying in contact, lifting each other up.
Speaker 2:When you see brothers down and you see brothers quiet, it doesn't take anything to give some uplifting words or make that phone call. Five minutes that you spend on the phone touching base with somebody could be enough to kind of snap them back and keep them on track. So as we close, I'd like to you know one remember those guys and just kind of keep that in mind. And to the guys that are out there that are struggling with stuff, you know you're not alone. There's a lot of other dudes that have demons that they're dealing with and you know part of being a man and being, you know, a tough dude is acknowledging that and seeking that help, getting help through some counseling and reaching out to those brothers that will come out and support you. So I strongly urge, you know, all the listeners and viewers to you know, do that, make that five minutes, make that phone call, reach out to your brothers and let's freaking, nip this shit in the butt.
Speaker 1:What a thank you for sharing that. I think it's a huge thing. Definitely, reach out. If you're struggling, reach out. And if you're not struggling, if you're one of those people, make sure to check in, reach out and see who you can support along the way and give some of your support to. Thank you, Aaron.
Speaker 2:Right on dude. Well, thanks for having me on. You don't have anything else.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's it, brother man. I appreciate you stepping in, man. Thank you, awesome dude, that's awesome man.
Speaker 2:We got it all figured out and I overcame my techie struggles and we made it happen. So thanks for taking the time, dude.
Speaker 1:Dude, of course, brother man, you're always welcome on. I really appreciate you stepping in and making it happen. I know you have a really busy schedule, so thank you.
Speaker 2:You bet dude no-transcript.