#49 - Why I Left the Badge Behind - A Story of Brotherhood Betrayal w/Tyler Geiger

This week on The Wild Chaos Podcast, we sit down with a former police officer, Tyler Geiger, who traded high-speed pursuits and crime scenes for the unpredictable world of entrepreneurship. From the intensity of law enforcement to the mental toll of the job, he opens up about the struggles, sacrifices, and defining moments that shaped his career.

What made him walk away from the badge? How did he turn years of high-stakes experience into a thriving business? And what lessons from the streets now guide him in the world of entrepreneurship?

Tune in for an unfiltered, powerful conversation about resilience, reinvention, and the unexpected paths life takes. 🚨🔥

Tyler's instagram: @nockperformance

For Tyler's private coaching visit: CLICK HERE!

Chapters

• 0:00 Coffee Talk and Introduction
• 18:07 A Gift for Veterans
• 25:57 From Marine to Cop: The Unexpected Journey
• 50:40 Training Academy Insights
• 1:07:02 Navigating High
• 1:40:00 Perils of Policing: A Day in the Life
• 3:00:44 Reflections on Leadership and Morale
• 5:00:43 Transitioning from Officer to Entrepreneur
• 8:20:00 Advice for the Next Generation of Cops

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

well, dude, once you get done sipping on some c-state coffee, you know, there's a subtle, subtle plug um, well, before we get started, actually I'd like to do something a little bit different.

Speaker 1: 0:18

I'd like to offer all the guests a gift, and I give veteran law enforcement you being a law enforcement officer yourself, or previous um, you can respect that. So, platoon cigars or the war machine. He was a combat Marine, got out, became a cop in Chicago and got shot in the line of duty, so we're going to have him on here soon. And then C-State Coffee. Very good, buddy of mine, recon Marine. He wants to make sure everybody goes home with a bag, and you got a long drive ahead of you. So thank you, cold, and you got a long drive ahead of you. Thank you, cold. Brews maxed with caffeine Okay, so you can leave anytime tomorrow and you're not, we'll be good, then You'll make it All.

Speaker 2: 0:50

Right, coffee, I appreciate it. Yeah, that stuff won't last long at all.

Speaker 1: 0:53

No, no, it's first coffee I've ever had was actually like drink a full cup. One of those was on my own show. He called me out so, okay, I had to do it. It was actually pretty good. So, yeah, um, dude, let's just jump into it. Man, sure, let's have this conversation, get to know you. Yeah, you have a podcast to let you go in those details about that, but why don't we, uh, give a little details and a little backstory of who you are and we're gonna jump right into it yeah, tyler geiger.

Speaker 2: 1:18

Uh, currently live in eastern montana, originally from michigan.

Speaker 1: 1:21

Yeah pretty, um pretty normal kid I.

Speaker 2: 1:24

I was into sports. What part of Michigan? Right outside of Ann Arbor, okay, yeah, okay, yeah, right outside of Ann Arbor. Lived there, shoot, pretty much my whole life until I got to applying for schools, okay, and ended up playing a little college baseball in Saginaw Valley. That was pretty much a joke and realized I needed to get out of there. Why was that? It just it was Mickey. It was Mickey Mouse, okay, yeah. The coach was like on his deathbed, like sleeping in the dugout, oh yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:54

Yeah, it was just one of the joke joke, it was a joke joke. Okay.

Speaker 2: 1:58

Yeah, and like as much as I wanted to, I wasn't going to make the the league, so I was like I kind of want to get like a real college experience. Um, because, dude, I was never there on the weekends. Anyways, all my buddies were up at michigan state, so it's like a three-hour drive girlfriend at the time was there, so I was gone all the time if we weren't playing baseball. That's where I was at. Yep, um, thank god I didn't get into there, because I would definitely flunked out. No, doubt michigan state.

Speaker 2: 2:21

Oh yeah, as they party. Oh yeah, yeah, we were. We were having it, um, no doubt about it, would have, definitely, when I got kicked out, but I wouldn't have been able to pass class. Yeah, no, no chance, yeah, um, it's not from there. I was like, shoot, I'll just apply to bowling green state, um, which is like a little mac school in ohio, okay, and that was only like an hour and 15 from my dad's house, so that was super cool and that was like more of an experience.

Speaker 2: 2:47

Right, that's where I started studying criminal justice and actually went to class, actually learned how to study, um, there's like an art to that I still didn't you know gpa is not crazy, but I do got one of those things I think they call them a degree that you can hang up in the corner all that matters. Yeah, it doesn't have your grade on, no dude it does not have my gpa on there, thank goodness. But yeah, I got one of those. Not sure where it is now, um, but I ended up getting one of those for cj and um. Yeah, I decided I wanted to be a cop why?

Speaker 1: 3:13

what? What made you want to be a cop out of all things?

Speaker 2: 3:15

yeah. So I could give you the cliche answer of I wanted to help people this, that and the third no, I didn't give a fuck about that no no, no, I thought I'd be good at it Really, yeah, straight up, and I didn't know what else I wanted to do.

Speaker 1: 3:27

Seriously, I'm going to be a cop.

Speaker 2: 3:28

Yeah, so where?

Speaker 1: 3:28

did you start applying? I mean, did you start local or did you want out of there?

Speaker 2: 3:32

Yeah, so I didn't really know. I kind of was just like trying to shoot fish out for the michigan state police. That sounds like a pretty good gig. Wasn't crazy about staying in michigan. Never really wanted to stay in michigan. Ie going to school in ohio that's not far, but it's not michigan, right? Um applied there. They thought that I was lying regarding my drug use.

Speaker 2: 3:54

I've never done drugs, apart from the recreational drug that probably is legal in pretty much every state nowadays um, but they thought that I was like lying regarding my, my drug use really with like cocaine, so I've never touched any of that stuff ever really scared to death, yeah and they no matter what, like you're talking, like a polygraph came back or what yeah, well, that's what they, that's what they told me.

Speaker 2: 4:16

Yeah, I found some information out from somebody who was kind of in with them that that wasn't the case and I can tell you what the case was, if you'd like to know. I was the wrong skin color and I am really and I am a white male, really. Yeah, they were trying to diversify what year was this?

Speaker 2: 4:34

that would have been graduated high school in 12, went to school, graduated at 17. Yeah, right now 2017. Yeah, that sucks. Because they told me they're like you're permanently banned from applying here again. I'm like what in the hell? I crushed the pt, I crushed all the tests, did the polygraph. They said you're good and then they came back with that. I'm like what?

Speaker 2: 4:55

there's no way so I had a sergeant that I did an internship with at the university of michigan, who knows everybody. He was on his way out anyways, um, but you know, good old boy, sergeant hicks, and I was like can you figure out what happened? Like there's no way, this is true. And he's a black guy and he's like you're white, I don't want any more white guys. I was like really no shit.

Speaker 2: 5:15

He's like, yeah, crazy, huh, and I was like I guess. So I just up and said okay, whatever is what it is, and I had been to nashville a couple times, yeah, really liked it kind of, was not against moving down there. I applied there and shoot. They hit me I think three weeks before the academy started. They say you're in, really okay.

Speaker 2: 5:35

So you just up and left, packed it up, went down yep found an apartment found an apartment in like two weeks, got there a week to spare, kind of like god acclimated, didn't go downtown, none of that bullshit Shaved my head. I was paramilitary, so bald with big eyebrows isn't like the best look going, but like fuck. We made it work and then, yeah, showed up and got through it.

Speaker 1: 5:59

What was it Okay, so Academy.

Speaker 2: 6:01

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 6:01

What's the Academy like out there? It was a really good Academy, yeah.

Speaker 2: 6:03

What's the? What's the Academy like it?

Speaker 1: 6:04

was a really good Academy. Really, what makes it a good Academy?

Speaker 2: 6:05

It was no bullshit. Like they'll just smoke your tits off until everybody quits.

Speaker 1: 6:10

Really.

Speaker 2: 6:10

Yeah, they weed you out fast.

Speaker 1: 6:11

So you enjoyed it, I did.

Speaker 2: 6:13

I did. I don't think a lot of people enjoyed me there because I showed up in super good shape, that's, that's yeah. So when we'd get smoked I'd just be making a joke out of it, right, and like trying to get these people to quit, like come on, let's go. You've been in the military, right. So like a lot of guys go through training or whatever, and like yo try to be the guy in the corner, don't make a scene, blah, blah, blah, kind of wasn't my thing. Like I was kind of the raw rock guy that not necessarily got everybody in trouble, but I was having fun, I liked, liked it, I liked that kind of discipline I like I like hard work. That's, that's my thing. And I was really serious because if I fail out of this thing, dude, I got, I got. What am I going to do? That I was all in.

Speaker 1: 6:54

I mean, that's your degree, right, you got a criminal justice degree, yeah.

Speaker 2: 6:56

But that doesn't mean anything. Yeah, I've used 0% of that degree when I was policing literally zero for sure?

Speaker 1: 7:02

No, it's just a check in the nothing.

Speaker 2: 7:03

They just gave you a little bonus, you know, on top of your pay, 3%, whatever it was, which was nice, I guess. But um, I had no other options. Dude, I literally moved 500 plus miles down South to get into the Academy to be a cop. They're paying you 1300 bucks every two weeks, so at least we got paid, which was something. But, dude, I failed one law test too. You fail two, you're out. I failed like the third one. Yeah, so it was pressure.

Speaker 2: 7:32

Yeah, we were puckered there for a while. For a while I didn't know their options. I was like I guess I can like go bar top, bartend down and down at Tootsie's. I'll be a bouncer. I've been a bouncer before, that's a fun time that it's not.

Speaker 1: 7:44

I mean, how long does that last? How long does that last?

Speaker 2: 7:47

right it's like so, yeah, I got through it. And then, yeah, did the fto program, all that we can dive into whatever it is the fto program um, so when you graduate they don't just throw you on the street. You get the way that nashville had it structured. I think it was like three months with three different guys. Okay, so it's a field training officer. Really really fun time with that. I had three really good FTOs.

Speaker 1: 8:12

That pretty much taught me how to be a police officer. So I mean, what makes it a good time when you're cause I? You know we have other. I've had a few officers law enforcement officers and they talk about their FTO officers. What makes a good one versus?

Speaker 2: 8:22

a good FTO yeah.

Speaker 1: 8:24

What makes a good FTO stand out when you're brand new cop and you hit the the fleet, I'd say, or the force?

Speaker 2: 8:31

I was so lucky I got the best police officer that I've ever seen Really and I I did it for five years. The best. This dude was an absolute shit magnet. Have you heard that term before?

Speaker 1: 8:45

As in just always getting in trouble, no, or trouble finding him.

Speaker 2: 8:48

Just if something's going down, he's a block away. Okay, Like just he's always in it.

Speaker 1: 8:53

Okay.

Speaker 2: 8:55

And we did some stuff those three months with that guy. His name was Slate. God bless him, man. He's the man he's out now because they had hits out on him. Really yeah, they had to take Slate off of midnights and move him to days because he was getting in so much shit.

Speaker 1: 9:15

What type of shit.

Speaker 2: 9:16

Shooting after shooting. Our thing was stolen cars, man. That's what we did. That's what we did. So where worked in nashville? We worked in north nashville together and it was called 511 zone. So the way that all these zones are kind of let's call it like separated and categorized is based on the amount of crime.

Speaker 1: 9:39

So they're almost their own little units. Correct hunting unit if you look at it on a map.

Speaker 2: 9:43

Right. So his zone was 511. Therefore I'm riding with him. We're 511. I'm 511 X-ray right and for perspective, the bigger the zone, the less crime in that zone. With crime maps right, they keep statistics on robberies, everything, Domestics, the whole thing. 511 zone is a mile by mile by mile by mile. It's one square mile, it's like four streets.

Speaker 1: 10:10

It's a big housing project. If you're looking at a map straight down at Nashville, where are you located? Like downtown Nashville, how far outside of the city are you? Not far?

Speaker 2: 10:19

Okay, no, and that's where Nashville gets maybe not categorized correctly. When you think of Nashville, you think of what? Broadway? You think of country music, you think of having a good time and drinking beers with your buddies. If you go two miles north, east, south or west of Broadway, which is downtown dog, you're in the projects Straight hood. You're fucked. Yeah, yeah, you don't want to be down there. Yeah, you don't want to be down there. Yeah, you don't want to be down there not at night dude, really definitely not at night.

Speaker 1: 10:48

It's bad, it's really bad because you're I mean you're dealing with it every day every day.

Speaker 2: 10:53

I tell this a lot man in north nashville where I worked, if it was 70 degrees or hotter in the summer with the sun shining, somebody's getting killed really every time, really every time like clockwork huh clockwork why is? That it just people are out. People are out. Nobody down there's doing shit besides doing drugs, drinking, stealing cars, fucking off this is downtown well, north nashville yeah yeah, there's like a bunch of housing projects down there.

Speaker 2: 11:24

Yeah, it's section eight, housing. Okay, right. So yeah, someone's getting someone's getting shot for sure. I worked eight homicides in a row, dude, eight homicides in a row. I had a colon six. I was like I'm tired of seeing dead bodies, fuck this, I'm good what?

Speaker 1: 11:38

do you mean in a row? Is that every day in a row?

Speaker 2: 11:40

every day, eight days in a row, and you only work five days a week, right, eight days in a row.

Speaker 1: 11:43

you saw day Eight days in a row and you only work five days a week, right Eight days in a row, you dealt with.

Speaker 2: 11:46

I went Monday through Friday, let's call it. I don't remember what my schedule was, but let's call it Monday through Friday. Definitely wasn't because I didn't get the weekends off right, but Monday through Friday. Saturday, sunday off and Monday, tuesday, wednesday, 6, 7, 8. Thursday I was like I'm good, like I'm hey sick, yep, not coming in today.

Speaker 2: 12:04

I mean that shit wears on you after a while. I mean, I always did a really good job of keeping it there and then when I got home I was just straight Like I do a far worse job now that I run my own business, Like I bring work home all the time, and it's something I'm trying to work on.

Speaker 1: 12:29

But when it came to policing, I was good at leaving it where it was and then coming home and being a boyfriend at the time or you know, but yeah, it was. I mean, what type? What are we dealing with? Is it shooting, stabbings, all drug related?

Speaker 2: 12:33

yeah, I mean you think of nashville you don't think of, just pick your, pick your poison. Dude like we'd see ctv footage and a dude would get robbed right in the middle of the fucking street, pistol whip, shot in the head. See you good night. Hops in the car, drives away over nothing. Three o'clock in the afternoon, probably drug deal.

Speaker 1: 12:48

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about, though yeah, and that shit wears on you I don't care you can leave it at home, but I mean that it does, but I never had any like nightmares or anything like that.

Speaker 2: 13:01

Yeah, it's always funny like now that I don't do it anymore and whenever I'm walking back to my truck from the office or whatever that I rent downtown, I hear the sirens or I see a cop car. I always think like god bless, man, it's a rough job, it is dude and people don't. It's a super honorable job, but it's a really fucking hard job it is it's a really, really hard job, dude, because you got to be perfect yeah especially in today's age.

Speaker 1: 13:28

It's because everything is recorded.

Speaker 2: 13:30

Everything, and when we first started we didn't even have that Really. Yeah, we didn't have body cameras, not that that mattered, but like you could like calling it what it is, you could talk to people a little bit differently without a camera on oh for sure. And you had to on oh for sure. And you had to like, if I'm in the projects dude and I walk up to a 17 year old kid, I'm not gonna say, hey, excuse me, sir, this is officer geiger. Can I talk to you for a second? You ain't doing that dog. No, you gotta talk, yeah what's up?

Speaker 2: 13:55

dog get over here let me holler at you. Shit like that. You know what I mean. Like you have to talk now when the 75 year old lady calls and says that she got her purse stolen. Hi, ma'am dog, you're so sorry to hear what happened. How can I help you? Yeah, tell me what happened. But leadership doesn't look at it that way.

Speaker 1: 14:11

No, oh god they don't.

Speaker 2: 14:12

And then when you get on camera, dude, they expect, but they're so far out of the game, they're not on the street, they don't understand how it works it.

Speaker 1: 14:20

I feel that the it's like that and most every position of that type law enforcement, military, anything, corporate, big, the leadership, that's. That's the biggest problem everywhere. You know, it's just everything the lead. When the leadership is disconnected from what's actually going on on the ground, you don't have your guys's back. There's, there's no way.

Speaker 2: 14:43

That's why a lot of good dudes are leaving man 100, that's why I left. It's like, okay, tyler shoots somebody, totally justified, they're gonna hang me out to fucking dry dog period done, good night I have a buddy that was a border patrol agent got in a shooting.

Speaker 1: 14:59

If I remember it's been a long time but he didn't work. For like five years he was under this investigation. It was years that he guy threw a rock and like crushed his partner's head in and I think he shot him and they they did everything they could to fry him dude, and then they freeze your assets.

Speaker 2: 15:15

They I mean you're fucked, you can't do anything.

Speaker 1: 15:18

Being a cop man is it? That's got to be the shittiest job, and I say it with respect, but I mean me too. You're scared of. I don't. When I say scared for your life, I don't let me rephrase that. I mean like you're worried. I mean you're out there dealing with the worst of the worst every day.

Speaker 1: 15:31

If you don't if you're not worried or a little concerned about your safety. You're in either a cush ass little village of a town or you've been doing it too long. Transition out, but that's always over your head. You don't know what's coming up. I mean you don't know who's waiting in that car for you. And then the pay. Our communities now feel like it's so turned against cops. It's just, it's a rough gig, man, and it's like these who's flying lining up at the doors to be a police officer these days. I mean, the retention rate's got to be so tough. And then when you do do your job and you don't do it, right, get ready, yeah and it's.

Speaker 2: 16:08

it's not like the tv shows, dude, no, like that's not why I signed up, yeah, but like maybe a little bit of an influence, like, oh, I could do that, yeah, like that's me, like I'm very blunt, honest to the point, fucking like this is how it needs to be done and that's how I policed and that that that worked really really well in the street. But to the outside world, if my, if my footage is getting looked at, or maybe somebody that's brand new, a rookie, that rolls on my call and he sees how I talk to somebody, oh God, now it's the end of the world. It's like if you want shit done, you have to show authority, like you have to step out of your car. If you pull up in your car, it looks like shit. You got Coke bottles falling out of your car. Your boots look like shit. You got crumbs in your microphone. That's on your chest. Your hair's out of whack. Your uniform's not tailored and fitted. You're fat and out of shape.

Speaker 2: 16:55

I'm trying you a hundred percent, all day a hundred percent all day and I never really got tried, not a whole lot.

Speaker 1: 17:01

Was it a physical appearance or was it like a respect? Because you learned okay both okay, both right I feel I feel a huge problem and I'm speaking for law enforcement, but I feel a huge problem. Where cops are getting in trouble is they. They take the power of the badge and they put it above and you can have all the power and go to your head, but, like it's, as soon as you're not matching somebody, respect wise, especially in the streets and that's like instant.

Speaker 2: 17:32

I've seen that happen with a lot of guys, where they get that badge or maybe they get that promotion and I'm out of the game. I've been out of the game for two years, right, but I got buddies that are still in in billings, where I live now, and then back in nashville. It's like that's not you. I remember you in the academy, that's not you.

Speaker 1: 17:51

It's the same in the military. You know I have buddies that are retiring now. Most of us have stayed true, but it's like, bro, I remember you when you were lance corporal. Now you're all high and mighty and burning dudes for the exact shit we were running from. We were that age.

Speaker 2: 18:03

You're a bitch dude, that's not you. I remember you straight up crying on the concrete because we were getting smoked. No, don't play tough, that's not you dude, it's not, yeah, and I don't know it's. I'm not gonna bad mouth anybody really, but it's people lose themselves in it. Man, yeah, they lose themselves like I never once when I left. Oh, back to civilian life, fuck. What do you mean? Nope, I don't care about that. Oh, I'm a cop.

Speaker 1: 18:32

No.

Speaker 2: 18:33

I would tell people I was a firefighter, Like we'd be at downtown, be in an Uber. What do you do for work? I'm a firefighter.

Speaker 1: 18:38

They love us, right I?

Speaker 2: 18:39

told nobody I was a cop and my wife, she'd always slip and I'd be like Morgan got it Like not every not, not everybody's rah rah about that. Plus, I don't want to. Oh, how many dead bodies have you seen? Have you ever killed somebody? You're military, you get that question. Hopefully not a lot, but like people are crazy. They don't have any type of respect Like you fool. I don't want to talk about that yeah, stupid, but yeah, it could be.

Speaker 1: 19:03

It's an interesting world, man. It's an interesting world to be a law enforcement officer these days. It's very uh, very challenging and it's boring too is it?

Speaker 2: 19:12

yeah, dude, yeah, especially where you work. I was lucky, right like I went to the hottest zone in nashville. Nashville's a big police department, it's a big police department and we got after it like, had so much fun. We I was with slate again going back to him we kind of veered off. I was with slate for three months. We got a stolen car rolling, somebody occupied right not just on the, not not on the side of the street, around the tags who that car stolen, let's tow it. We got a rolling stolen every day, but two days out of out of three months out of three months, okay. So in one of those days, dude was the second to last shift that we had together where we didn't get one really, and we had one more and I went home to. I went home to my wife that night um, fiance at the time, probably, but maybe girlfriend, I don't know morgan and um she's like how was work? I was like we didn't do shit, like we found nothing, nothing you were used to that no, and I was like, so how?

Speaker 1: 20:14

are you finding these guys? It was crazy. I mean, how do you know? Are you just running every plate? Is that what your zone?

Speaker 2: 20:21

is so small and he's worked there for so long. We We'd just be driving down these side streets Like that car stolen around the tag, like what do you mean that car stolen? He's like I've never seen that car in here before. It's like an Audi R8 or whatever the fuck. Like I don't belong here. Stolen Every time. Every time We'd be like. He's like nah, we're not towing shit, let's wait, let's come back in an hour, let's find somebody in it, because that's when it gets fun. That's when it gets fun, hell yeah.

Speaker 1: 20:49

So once you confirm it's stolen, you're just waiting. He would.

Speaker 2: 20:53

He would. That's what I mean when I got lucky dude.

Speaker 1: 20:55

Yeah, it makes it interesting, I didn't have boring rotations.

Speaker 2: 20:59

This is what being in the police is right now. Yeah, here you go. You're on the fire like day one like the movies, like the tv shows. Really it was that cool. Right out the gate, right out the gate, right out the gate. So I mean you're enjoying this, I'm having a blast. I don't know what I'm doing, like I'm nervous walking into gas stations, full kit gun is actually loaded. I'm like we're about to get shot. He's like just playing cool man, like you're the police.

Speaker 1: 21:22

Now see it's funny hearing this because you always talk to these guys. They're so crusty. But I mean, honestly, if you're, it's just I feel like you know, when you're overseas, you're walking through some town, you're just a marine, you're like fuck everybody's, I am a target. Is that what it feels like being in that, in that area?

Speaker 2: 21:39

yeah, at first okay, but then, like people get to know you, they recognize you and you learn the community, of course. Okay, of course. Like we're not busting nobody for smoking weed on the side of the street, you can do lines on your freaking doorstep. We don't care, because if that's the worst thing that's happening, neighborhood's good. Really Neighborhood's good. We're freaking doing this driving. Hey, how you doing? We don't. I'm like I do smoking weed. It wasn't legal at that time. I was like you got to pick your battles, dude. These guys are good.

Speaker 1: 22:09

Smart. How long has he been running that block? A long time, okay, a long time. So he he holds some slate, holds some street cred in that Big time.

Speaker 2: 22:18

And I know one of my buddies, john Petriello will listen to this who I also worked with in Nashville. Okay, he had Slate as well, and then John and I got to work with each other, and John's a little bit younger than me but I looked up to him because he policed just like Slate did. Okay, and then I wanted to police like Slate did, and then, just like John did, so, john and I would run together and just have a ball. Have a ball.

Speaker 1: 22:47

I mean mean. So, after you get past the, the looking over your shoulder part, you're starting to learn these communities what's what's the everyday in and out for you guys? Are you still focusing on stolen cars or?

Speaker 2: 22:54

we're just, we're really like. We went the whole. We went until like the last week where we were doored up with another FTO and their rookie and we were just talking shop and they were talking about like misdemeanor citation and I'm like what is that? And Slate's like you haven't written a misdemeanor citation yet and I was like dude, all we do is take people to fucking jail. We're not writing no citations, man. He's like shit. He's like shit. He's like we got to get you to start doing some paperwork, man. I'm like I guess, because we were just having fun, no shit.

Speaker 2: 23:31

Like we'd answer a couple calls every now and then but like for the most part, we're doing our thing. We're doing our thing.

Speaker 1: 23:37

How many? What's the percentage? Or how often? If you're waiting for people to get in a stolen car, are the majority of them running or are they just pulling over?

Speaker 2: 23:45

oh, they all run. None of them pull over they all.

Speaker 1: 23:48

So you're getting in a police chase almost every day if they stop, they bail.

Speaker 2: 23:51

One goes this way, one goes that way. Slate goes here, I go there, yeah no shit, I swear to god. So we had one.

Speaker 1: 23:58

We had one, one of the first ones we had yeah, that's what I was just gonna ask first, first day Slate. I mean, you're brand new, what's?

Speaker 2: 24:06

your first day, one of the first ones we had, where we waited on this car and I'm like yo, let's just go tow this thing. He's like we're not towing shit. He's like we're going to go answer a call. We'll come back in 45 minutes. Somebody will be in that car, then it gets fun.

Speaker 2: 24:21

I'm like, all right, cool, it's fine with me. I'm you don't know what's going on. I'm doing what I'm told. I don't know shit, nothing. I don't even like I'm just happy that my uniform looks nice, like I'm, I'm just there having a good time, and I'm young too. I'm like I don't know 23. Than that I have no idea how to be the police, zero and uh.

Speaker 2: 24:44

So we rolled, we roll back and sure as hell, two people are getting in this car. And it was one of the first days that he let me drive, because on first rotation fto drives your student, whatever. It was one of the first days he let me drive. So like, okay, he's like, creep up, throw the lights on, they're gonna run, we're gonna chase them. I'm like, okay, sure as heck, they drive a little bit down the road, they stop. One dude goes this way, one of another girl hops out, goes this way slate dips out towards this guy. Well, slate had a swat mic where you can adjust channels. Okay, everybody else's mics. You had to adjust on the body which was on your belt.

Speaker 1: 25:26

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 25:27

As he's getting out of the car, he throws his seatbelt off Switches channels Switches channels.

Speaker 2: 25:33

So instead of being in our area, which is in North, he's calling this whole thing out on records where you check somebody's background, like a channel that's completely dead, like an admin channel. Okay, long story short, he ends up running like 1.2 miles in a foot chase and gets this person and he's calling the entire foot chase out on his radio on the records channel, and nobody's hearing this, nobody's hearing it, and you're not hearing anything, nobody. So I hooked the girl up, I got her, hooked her up. Slate's got the keys. Dude, I don't even have the fucking keys. Oh my god, I'm in the middle of the pjs now.

Speaker 1: 26:11

It's a show is there a crowd building?

Speaker 2: 26:14

oh, dude this is like your first. Oh, dude, I'm like what? I'm like I'm done. Like what am I gonna do? They're gonna mug me. Yeah, I got homegirl in cuffs on the back of the car. I'm on the channel 511 x-ray One in custody. Where's 511? We haven't heard from 511. And then he comes on like 10 minutes later. I got her. He walks all the way back. By then we had backup and stuff where I'm good, but just one of those things where just a bowl of china can welcome to the force, like here you go. But like, not everybody had that experience. Like I see guys in billings that you know rookies. That came when I was there and it's just you can't even take anybody to jail you can't.

Speaker 1: 26:55

I want to get to that, you can't even take nobody to jail I don't want to leave nashville yet because I feel like there's a lot of good ones there, dude. So I mean on the day in and day out, you're focusing on cars.

Speaker 2: 27:05

There's that many stolen cars like that's and when I got out on my own after nine months, that's all I wanted to do. I didn't want to go answer calls. We had so much fun doing that because they're a dime a dozen, like you would know the spots to go and I wasn't working in the pjs, that you know. When I got out on my own, but every chance that I had I'd try to get down there. Or I'd pull into the jack in the box at 7 30 at night when it starts to get dark, or I'd go down in the alleys and start doing terry stops, whatever what's a terry stop?

Speaker 2: 27:33

just roll up on them. Hey, how's it going? You mind if I search your pockets real quick? Yeah, sure, go ahead. Well, that was dumb of you. You shouldn't have said that now I'm gonna take all your drugs and take you to jail, just like that. Yeah, just being the police, like being proactive, that's fun, like that's making a difference. Right, getting drugs off the streets. You have a felony warrant, you're going to jail and I'm going to take you there right now yeah you want to run, you want to fight?

Speaker 2: 27:58

it's all good, you're gonna have to fight all of us. No sweat off my back. I'm doing my job. If I'm, if I'm at work, dude, I want to work. Yeah, of course, you got the bullshit paperwork.

Speaker 1: 28:08

You got the domestics, which are an extremely dangerous call, very dangerous call um, but that I mean, obviously I know that you don't know what you're rolling up onto a domestic, but like, what's going? You get a domestic violence call. What's protocol? What's going through your head? Because I mean I hear a lot of cops either between traffic stops and domestic violence. Those are the two scariest calls to get called on.

Speaker 2: 28:33

Yeah, so never by yourself, ever. That's where the majority of cops get shot is on domestics.

Speaker 1: 28:41

Okay.

Speaker 2: 28:41

The first actual domestic that I had was with slate and the projects. We're in the middle of the street holding people back the whole nine yards. Husband, baby, daddy, whoever the I mean. They're going at it. I'm so green that I literally caught myself waiting for somebody to yell out index like done, we're done here From the academy, because we'd mock all of that really, and then when you're done with the mock, somebody would yell out index as in, we're done you're that green, I'm that green, we're in the middle of the pjs and I'm waiting on, like when's this over?

Speaker 2: 29:17

until you, until you get it under controls. When it's over, yeah, dude, yeah. Like when I tell you thrown into the fire, thrown into into the fire, you learn really quickly or you're going to get fucking hurt.

Speaker 1: 29:28

How long were you on the force before you got into an actual I'm talking brawl with somebody? Oh, I mean, if you're chasing people on a daily basis.

Speaker 2: 29:38

Not like huge brawls, just like little ground scuffles. Okay, nothing like crazy. When I got out on my own fairly quickly, yeah, yeah, fairly quickly, because me and jp the guy I referred to yeah, we're going, we're, we're doing it, now it's us. Now it's us, we're young and dumb and just having fun. Yeah, so all the time tasing people pointing guns and people that deserve to have guns pointed at them, obviously, yeah, um, all the time really damn nashville's wild, it's wild dude. North nashville, south nashville, it goes, yeah, it goes it's.

Speaker 1: 30:21

It's crazy to me to think that how the system's set up, I mean you go through a few months of training in the academy. Was that three months? Four months, three months?

Speaker 2: 30:31

oh man, it was 21 weeks, something like that.

Speaker 1: 30:35

Okay, I think ours here is 18 or 20 weeks. Yeah, it was right around there and uh, and then I mean you're, you do your fto for three months then you get switched another three, three, six, nine okay, so you're Another three, so you're doing three, six nine yeah. Okay, so you're nine months in before you're cut on your own. Yeah, okay, okay.

Speaker 2: 30:49

I mean that's a decent amount of time, especially if how much action you're talking about you got, but not everybody had that experience like I alluded to. Okay, all my classmates 28 of us. However, many of us graduated after the 100 got cut or whatever it was. You started with 100? I think we started with high 70s, yeah, and ended with 20. Yeah, I mean, we weed them out. Yeah, we weed them out. Nobody gets a hall pass there. Oh shit, yeah nobody gets a hall pass.

Speaker 1: 31:16

I feel like you can't. You can't Going into an area like that, you have somebody that's not qualified. We had one girl.

Speaker 2: 31:22

She was five foot. Nothing passed all the driving, everything like did great, passed all the tests. One of the last things we had was like I forget what they called it the box drill or whatever where they put you in a box and you gotta fight like you fight one of the officers, yeah, and she just got her ass whooped for like the whole day and they're like can't happen, your liability. We're two weeks from graduation. You can't win a fight. It's been real and it's been fun, but it hasn't been real fun. Thanks for coming.

Speaker 1: 31:48

Oh shit, I always wonder that. I always see these police officers and these female cops and it blows my mind. If I was married to a female cop I don't think I would ever be able to rest, because it's like dude, if you meet the right guy that just wants to get his hands on on a woman, it's like it's crazy. You see the videos. I mean you've been through all the training I'm sure they've showed you, and it's wild to me that I feel that they just let some of these women just roll solo out in some of these communities and it's just like it just takes one dude to know that, unless you get a draw on them, you're done.

Speaker 2: 32:23

Yeah, yeah, it's um. I don't know.

Speaker 1: 32:27

There's some really good women cops out there oh for sure there is, like his wife's, a cop.

Speaker 2: 32:32

She's downtown there's some alpha women out there for sure, um, and they'll let you know about it too.

Speaker 1: 32:36

Yeah, yeah, they will, I think they're all on bike cops still, like every female bike cops pull me over. They'll let you know, they'll give you a break.

Speaker 2: 32:46

But that's the people that I wanted to work with. Like show up with an edge about you, like let's handle this shit and then we can go fuck off. Yeah Right. Like I don't want to have to worry about you on the call. That's bad, because we have to handle this situation. I have to worry about you. Well, if you're a liability and not an asset that's what it is.

Speaker 2: 33:09

That's what it is at the end of the day. If you're a liability, I really don't want to be there with you for sure, because now I have to handle this situation and worry about you if shit turns south or then worrying that they can't even have your back if shit turns well, that's the I mean.

Speaker 2: 33:17

That goes without saying. Yeah, I started getting my ass whooped. Okay, where you at sweet Sweet Thanks, yeah, but that's not all women, by any stretch. There's some really really good women, cops and guys are like that too. Oh yeah, guys are like that too.

Speaker 2: 33:34

I've seen the videos of both guys getting their asses kicked In. Actual criminals, like actual bad people. Smell that like blood and water right away. Weakness right away. If they think that you're scared, if you're intimidated, if you don't show authority like we touched on, you don't stand a chance. No, shit, nothing. You don't stand a chance. That's why I did everything that I could, without even having to open up my mouth. Yeah, right, if at face value, it looked like I don't want to fuck with him, and then when I do open my, it looked like I don't want to fuck with him. And then, when I do open my mouth, now I definitely don't want to fuck with him. Okay, that's, that's a really good start. Helps get a lot farther. Yes, yes, and I treat everybody with respect until until they don't deserve it anymore. Yeah, like I wasn't going to get walked on. Like you treat me like shit. I'm probably not treat you very well and that might not sit well with a lot of people, but this isn't a game. No, I'm going home.

Speaker 1: 34:31

Yeah, and I feel you have to have that mindset. But you know, like we talked about, the egos start getting in the way.

Speaker 2: 34:37

They do.

Speaker 1: 34:37

Yeah, that's when guys get in trouble. But you know, I've had other guys on here that we've talked and I feel like any encounter I've ever run into, even when I was bouncing, it's like if you just try to match that person, hey, like, let's just get through this, get on, but the second you come in above them, grab and hey, they're going to match that, and then there's no de-escalation.

Speaker 2: 35:00

You can't come back from it, yeah.

Speaker 1: 35:06

You're just one up and then that's what gets a lot of guys in trouble. But at the same time it's so hard. This is, I feel like, a hard part of being a cop. It's that you could have dealt with your third shooting of the day and chasing. Some guy got in a fistfight earlier. Then you pull over some random person that's just speeding or whatever. You don't feel that build up, you know, because you're dealing with it, and then you take the slightest little smart ass comment or almost sovereign citizen bullshit and then it just escalates from there. You know. So it's tough. You're not just, you're not the first person's problem that day and they don't realize what that cop's been through that whole entire day of a week of dealing with hell. You know you deal with eight homicides in a row. It's like, yeah, you're wore out at that point.

Speaker 2: 35:49

Yeah, and people aren't calling you because they just won the lottery. People are calling you because they're having one of the worst moments of their life yeah like you can probably think of every time you've called the police.

Speaker 1: 35:59

I don't know if I've ever called I mean I've called cops on drunk drivers, but I've never. I don't know if I've ever called it. I mean, I've called cops on drunk drivers, but I've never. I don't know Other than that I've never called the cops.

Speaker 2: 36:06

Okay. Well then, anybody listening, any random citizen, can probably recall every time they've called the police, which is maybe only two or three times you, you, you remember exactly why you did, if you were involved or even if you weren't right. You just alluded I've called it on drunk drivers. It called it on drunk drivers. Yeah, it's something you wouldn't really remember, but you dialed nine, one one for sure. Yeah, it's a big deal. It's a big deal. People don't care if you had a tough day. No, people don't care if you're fighting with your wife. People don't care if your kids are sick. People don't care that you just scraped off brain matter off your boots two hours ago. They don't care, and that's fine, because they shouldn't. Yeah, you have to be a professional, yeah. Yeah, you have to hold yourself to a standard that's just.

Speaker 1: 36:48

It has a wear on you over over time. You know dealing with it.

Speaker 2: 36:52

I don't know how guys do it like I really don't. When I signed up I knew I would never retire doing it before I even graduated the academy oh really yep really I didn't know what I was going to do, but I knew I was not going to do that for 25 years. I don't think I'm capable of doing anything for 25 years. No, I'm not. I'm all over the place, dude you know what?

Speaker 2: 37:11

I just feel like that yeah, that's just how I am. I'm all in on something. Then when I think that I've maxed out the potential of the opportunity on the next, I'm already scheming on something else yeah, I already got something playing in the background and you get that.

Speaker 1: 37:25

It sounds like you're like that too well, when I joined the marine corps, I thought I was 100 retiring and then, once I got in, I did my time and I did my second enlistment and I just realized it wasn't for me and started seeing the light and writing on the wall okay, cool, you know, even though my dumb ass I went straight to afghan and contracted. But, yeah, you know, it was just did my time. And then, you know, instead of me staying in and not enjoying it, I was like cool, I was right at that, right at that cusp of okay, I'm in a career or this is, I gotta get out, make changes, and so, yeah, because there's I mean god so many things that if you zig instead of zag, like maybe you're not here anymore.

Speaker 2: 38:07

So many instances like that dude, so many, and that's what wears on you close calls hell yeah dude like what.

Speaker 1: 38:15

What's a close call for you?

Speaker 2: 38:19

not necessarily like a close call, but like when you, when you go on what we call hot calls sometimes my brain wouldn't even necessarily register what was happening while it was happening, not like in shock, but when you've never seen something happen. And I'll tell you what I'm referring to, okay, you don't even know how to compartmentalize it in your brain. As what with slate? We are not in the projects, we are heading back to the station. There's like an hour left of the shift. Some crazy call comes out about a guy with a shotgun and that he's gonna blow everybody away.

Speaker 2: 39:02

We are literally 60 seconds away from that spot shit magnet shit magnet that's what I'm talking about, yeah and I'm still probably two months in at this point. We're going let's go. You're green, okay, yeah, let's go. We park outside of this house. Slate immediately pulls his pistol. I'm like, oh, it's one of these calls. Okay, I pull my pistol right Like monkey. See, monkey do I don't know what the fuck I'm doing.

Speaker 2: 39:31

We run around the back of this house and it's like it's one of those things, too, dude, where I'm not even really listening to the radio that well, I'm just following fucking instructions when he's getting all the information from the radio like, this is our lifeline. We creep around the backside of this house and in the front of this house there's have you ever seen those houses with like plastic toys and like structures and like kid play, like what the kids play on and shit? This house has got signs, toys, bicycles. The whole front yard is just fucking trashed with just random stuff and apparently suspects. In the back of this house we creep around this house, pistols drawn. I'm kind of bladed off of Slate. Slate goes to say Metro Police. He gets to Metro Police, boom, dude is sitting there in the backyard with a 12 gauge tucked underneath his chin. And then it's the 4th of July. Head dissipates, brains fly 50 feet up in this tree. We both duck. What, what, what was that?

Speaker 1: 40:50

this is you're two months in.

Speaker 2: 40:52

What was that? Like I didn't know if we were getting shot. I didn't like I saw a dude clearly eat a shotgun, like he doesn't have a head anymore, but I don't know what I just saw.

Speaker 1: 41:07

So you're not even knowing how to process.

Speaker 2: 41:09

What is that Like? You don't even see that on television. Yeah, nowhere gone, head gone.

Speaker 1: 41:16

Was that your come to Jesus moment Like, hey, this is a big league, this is real.

Speaker 2: 41:21

That was that moment. That was that moment and this is how hyper fixated guys can get to. As soon as that happened, another FTO showed up with his rookie. Her name was Anna. She's behind me. We're like bladed up against this house because we don't really know what's going on. This dude just ate his shotgun. She goes around to the front of the house we both do and remember all those toys and shit I was talking about in the yard. We damn their step on this dude. This dude's head is blown off.

Speaker 1: 41:59

There's a dead body in the front yard.

Speaker 2: 42:00

Right in the front, right on the freaking like right in front of the stoop.

Speaker 1: 42:03

You guys walked right by.

Speaker 2: 42:04

Right by it. And then so anna and I go up to the front of this house to check, like, hold the front, okay, yeah, we got another one up here. So you're so fixated on something that you don't even realize what's going on.

Speaker 2: 42:19

And this dude, like he's done yeah like his head is like this dude, like he's done, yeah, like his head is like peeled it's peeled inside out and what ended up happening was is that dude in the backyard who ate his shotgun showed up to this house where his old lady was living. She was with another guy now and he took that guy out. Obviously he's in the front yard now without a head and he goes around to the backyard and as he proceeds to shoot his head off, he's on facetime with his old lady and his kids oh my god, fuck you, this, you, this is what happens yeah, dude and that's what our law enforcement have to deal with every day.

Speaker 2: 43:14

That's what they deal with. That's the shit that bothers you, because you don't even really know how to process what you saw. I had no idea what was going on. I thought we were getting shot at. I clearly saw the dude shoot his head off brains in the trees like, but I ducked, we both did metro. I'm like, uh-oh, like under fire. No, this guy just killed himself right in front of us did you have to deal with a lot of suicides?

Speaker 1: 43:45

Yeah, hangings and things. Yeah, if you don't mind me asking, you don't have to get into it, but I've had somebody tell me that they just hangings are they suck.

Speaker 2: 43:53

They're interesting, they suck yeah.

Speaker 1: 43:56

Is that weird, walking up on a body hanging Because it's such a natural?

Speaker 2: 43:59

It's weird.

Speaker 1: 44:06

It's natural it's weird walking up on a body that you know is going to be there. It's the anticipation. That's what sucks like when you get a call to a hanging.

Speaker 2: 44:11

Yes, dude, that sucks. I hated those yeah, it's one thing, if you're like clearing a house or like doing a welfare check and then like, oh there's, oh, okay, yeah, he's. Yeah, he's not there anymore, yeah, yeah. And people like in the movies, they don't die with their eyes open. I've only seen that once and it was a hanging.

Speaker 1: 44:30

Oh, really, yeah, it was nasty dude, so he's looking at you when you walk in.

Speaker 2: 44:34

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 44:35

Yeah, it was gross. You deal with any bloat, Like doing welfare checks and find because in Nashville it gets pretty hot and humid you run across any of those.

Speaker 2: 44:43

Yeah, it doesn't take long to realize what's inside that house when you open up the car door.

Speaker 1: 44:48

Oh, for sure, yeah, dude.

Speaker 2: 44:49

When it's 95 and it's really humid down there. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 44:53

They get big quick.

Speaker 2: 44:55

Yeah, and that smell is have you ever smelled a dead body before? Yeah, yeah, dog, it embeds into your nose for like two days, mm-hmm, yeah. But going back to that story to kind of make light of it, that got out pretty quickly because we were there. I mean, the news is there, the chief's there, everybody's there. That was a big one Double homicide, right, yeah, that was a big one. And word got out really quickly. I mean, dude, we're supposed to be off at like 2. I got home at well past dark and I finally got to call Morgan and she's like you all right. I'm like, yeah, I'm good, because everybody had told her what happened. Everybody's super jealous that I'm the one going on all these crazy calls when, yeah, we had fun. But when you see shit like that, like that's not fun, no. And Morgan's like just get home when you can, like I love you. Blah, blah, blah. I made dinner. I was like okay, what are we having? She goes. I made some spaghetti squash and I said can we maybe just like go grab a burger?

Speaker 1: 45:55

when I get home. I don't mean to laugh, but yeah, that's what she said dude. Bless her heart. Yeah, bless her heart.

Speaker 2: 46:02

She had no idea what I saw was what I saw. Yeah, and I just almost laughed and I was just like, can we just go get a burger?

Speaker 1: 46:09

So there's a cop and a rookie cop and you see some guy just swallow a shotgun and then you go home and you got to go. I mean you don't have kids, or at least at that time these guys got to kiss their kids goodnight and put a smile on their face and walk in that door.

Speaker 2: 46:27

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 46:28

And then this country just, but a lot of guys will put that on. You don't have any booze in here, I don't think. But they'll find that bottle For whatever reason. Man, I was always really good at turning it off and I think it was a strange mechanism that my brain has. So after I saw that, and then especially because I never went up to dude after that happened, I was good, I'm not going to do anything anyway. I don't know how to work a freaking double homicide. I'm just here getting experience. But when I'm standing from me to this end table away from I almost stepped on him, didn't even see him. He's laid out. He's been laid out for the past 20 minutes. Head gone, brains everywhere.

Speaker 2: 47:12

My brain had this weird thing where it was like cgi or like a movie and it looks like somebody just took raw meat and put a bunch of dye on it, like it didn't like have you ever seen brains before? Like who's seen that? I haven't. My brain like would try to play a trick on me and be like this is a stage, like that dude's actually not that, he's just laying there for the camera. Take like that's how my brain would like compartmentalize shit like that. So. And then it always stuck like I knew that that wasn't the case. Am I making sense?

Speaker 1: 47:43

yeah, it not. I don't think it's common. It's not it's you know it's not.

Speaker 2: 47:47

I don't think it's very common but like I knew what I was seeing, but like my brain wouldn't let me go there.

Speaker 1: 47:53

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 47:54

My brain would be like nah, dude, that's staged Like, that's a. Oh yeah, absolutely. Do you remember when I think it was, um, they like faked jesse's death and they bought the hamburger patties and took a picture?

Speaker 1: 48:10

and sent it to the one dude, to the cartel or whatever it was.

Speaker 2: 48:11

I forget exactly. I've seen the show six times over. Yes, that's embarrassing, but I'll admit it. Um one of my favorite shows of all time. But like that's how my brain would go yeah like oh, at face value that looks real, but it's not, that's staged did it ever, ever register how real it was?

Speaker 1: 48:25

I mean, was there ever a time where like fuck, this is, this is, uh, this is a pretty shitty situation when I was in no, no, because I was fired up.

Speaker 2: 48:35

dude, like I loved that job. Yeah, I really did like if I could have stayed where I was at riding around with that dude. Yeah, or even that first year when I got out rolling around with jp Musgrave and you know, all these other guys, ben, just a bunch of young kids Just having it dude, if I could have stayed there. I bid back there Like I wanted to stay in North. I got shipped off somewhere else.

Speaker 1: 48:59

Oh, and that kind of ruined it for it.

Speaker 2: 49:00

It's like the worst zone. Nobody ever wants to work there. I loved it there. This is what the police is. This is what I wanted to do. This is what you see on TV. This shit's fun. But if I could have stayed there, I'd probably still be there. Really, hopefully, right, right, yeah, hopefully. I definitely would have shot somebody by now.

Speaker 1: 49:21

You think?

Speaker 2: 49:22

so yeah, all those guys have gotten in shootings. Every person I just mentioned has gotten in a shooting, really.

Speaker 1: 49:28

So the odds you never gotten one.

Speaker 2: 49:29

Huh, that's for pretty fortunate then I've had that slack pulled out though a lot of times. Really, hell yeah, all the time is it?

Speaker 1: 49:39

I mean, I know you kind of have a different thought process, but I mean, when you're drawn, when you when you a gun at somebody, it's a pretty serious situation.

Speaker 2: 49:49

It's another one of those things that when you're doing it, it's not a dot, it's not a target.

Speaker 1: 49:59

Some dude's standing there yeah it's on somebody's chest. It's a weird feeling, dude, when you feel your finger on the trigger, I mean it's Taking slack out's chest, that's. It's a weird feeling, dude, when you feel that your finger on the trigger I mean it's taking slack out.

Speaker 2: 50:07

Yeah, that's a weird feeling and I'm not dude, I'm nothing special, like I don't want that to be confused with some of the guys that you've had on this show. Like that is not me yeah like no, I've never pulled that trigger. Some of these guys on your show have, and that's a big, big fucking deal. I'm so glad that I never had to do that.

Speaker 1: 50:27

It's a scary situation, especially nowadays, Even if it's justified. Who knows how it plays out? Yeah, man, who knows? I mean, it takes the right camera angle to not show the beginning or the buildup to it. And you're done Done. And that would keep me up. You're done Done.

Speaker 2: 50:45

And that that would keep me up.

Speaker 1: 50:47

I bet yeah.

Speaker 2: 50:48

Not necessarily in Nashville, Cause I did have really really good leadership there.

Speaker 1: 50:52

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 50:53

Yeah, like really good leadership.

Speaker 1: 50:55

Was there any crazy domestic violence calls? What's the? What's the worst domestic violence call you've been on? Cause they can get pretty ugly man, but dude.

Speaker 2: 51:03

I've violence, call you better, because they can get pretty ugly man, but dude, I've, I've they're all a blur.

Speaker 2: 51:08

Yeah, dude, I've been on hundreds, no shit yeah, man, what's it like going in people's homes weird and just I'm 24 and I'm dealing with two 45 year old, 50 years old and I'm the adult here. Not all of them are violent, like like I mean it's just drunk or whatever. Like we've all been in arguments with our wives wife gets pissed, had too many wines, call the police, okay cool it off like dude. I'm 23, I'm telling y'all how to act like adults. I'm not even married. That's a weird situation I'm not even married at the time yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 51:42

I got no facial hair, nothing Clean, cut fade. Like probably too much Copenhagen in my mouth, but like neither here nor there. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 51:50

Like I don't.

Speaker 2: 51:51

I'm giving y'all advice Go get a counselor. Why am I here? Those were annoying, I bet.

Speaker 1: 51:57

But they get bad yeah.

Speaker 2: 51:59

Yeah, they get bad man.

Speaker 1: 52:02

It's weird to just being a cop is such an interesting thing, at least with us Overseas. You're just not your own people. Yeah, I mean we got our worries and our stresses, but you're dealing with it every day for a career. These guys that make it. We do a deployment, we're gone, and the cop just gets up, puts the uniform on every day and goes through the grind.

Speaker 2: 52:25

I think it's really cool what guys like you were doing with your platform Guys like Rogan, guys like Blake Cook, sean Ryan, all the podcasts that we probably both listen to. They really shine a light on it. Like it is really really a hard job, yeah, and I don't think people realize that. Like it is really really a hard job, yeah, and I don't think people realize that.

Speaker 1: 52:51

But when it's coming from somebody that people admire, like a Rogue and Sean Ryan or whatever. I think people are starting to understand that this is serious. It definitely shines a light For sure To be able to just hear these stories. Yeah, and it's always that weird. You know to be transparent, it's weird. You know what I mean. Asking but like if one we don't share these stories to just your every average day. Joe has no idea what the vets have gone through. Law enforcement has gone through firefighters, I mean all of these first responders and what's crazy to me is that the amount of charities for veterans just shadows law enforcement. And you know cause? We have a program off, off of ours. I've talked about a lot on here. No one gives a fuck. It's our hardest funding program is to help cops get basic training, better pistol and carbine classes, and it is no one cares.

Speaker 2: 53:42

It sucks because I just don't think they. How do you describe it? Unless you get somebody on a show or whatever telling a story?

Speaker 1: 53:48

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 53:52

Nobody knows until somebody gets shot and killed, period. Mm-hmm, you never hear about the good story Because that doesn't sell dog. Mm-hmm, like you, helped Sally find her purse that got stolen at the walmart and all of her cars and social security cars, and she just pulled money out of the bank for her grandkids we got all of it back.

Speaker 1: 54:14

You don't hear about that, yeah that doesn't sell shit.

Speaker 2: 54:18

No, you hear about the dude who fucked up. Always, always there's some really really really good cops, dude, like there's people that would die out there for their community and for the people that they work with like really really good people, not people that put themselves above anybody else. They do it because, unlike me, they really really wanted to help somebody. You know that wasn't me, dog, not initially.

Speaker 2: 54:42

Not initially, no, no, it turned into that. Yeah, man, that made me feel good, but I went in because I thought I'd be good at it and depending on who you talk to, those answers will vary.

Speaker 1: 54:54

How did becoming a cop change your perspective on people? Because you're in the trenches, you're learning cultures. You're learning different everything. I mean because you break down cultures. You're learning different everything. I mean it's because you know you break down cities and it's off of demographics. Yeah, so as a young kid coming down from Michigan, I mean, how did becoming a cop change your perspective on on people in general?

Speaker 2: 55:17

Mental health is a real, real big issue, dude, yeah yeah. There are so many people that are mentally ill and I don't mean just like crazy, like I mean like they have a sickness, whether they're skitzed out or whatever it may be. Like we would deal with those people constantly, constantly hearing voices, thinking somebody's in the corner when they're not thinking people that are upstairs in the attic when they're not. Real voices in their head, like dude, all day, every day and we do nothing to help these people, nothing.

Speaker 1: 55:52

What are you going to do? That's just. That's such the hard part of you. Look at the homeless community, veteran or not there it's it.

Speaker 2: 55:59

And people again, everyday people that show up to the bank, put their aid in, go home. Nothing wrong with that. But those people don't see that. No, they're the tellers. Oh, you want to make a deposit? Cool, I got you. They don't see that.

Speaker 1: 56:15

And then, when you're stopping a stoplight in a bad area, you see some guy, half naked, running around screaming in the streets Don't do drugs, kids.

Speaker 2: 56:27

But it's the mental yeah, battle that they're doing, and then obviously the drugs. And that's james. He was out here last week. Let's go get him. Let's take him downtown. They'll hold him for 48 hours and he'll be back here doing the same shit because nobody wants to help him. I'm the police dude, like I can't help you if you have a mental illness. Yeah, there's a couple things that I can do. One of them take you to the hospital. Like I'm not a therapist, I'm. I don't write prescriptions, I don't. I don't do any of this. Like you haven't even committed a crime, you just are sick. And somebody calls the police on you because you're freaking them out. Yeah, it's not their fault, they're sick dude. Nobody does anything.

Speaker 1: 57:05

There's really no programs for that I remember as a kid you know you always hear about the mental institutions, stuff, like I mean, you never hear about any of that stuff anymore. People going to these places I mean maybe they exist, we just don't, or they just. That's why the homeless communities just exploded so much, because there's nowhere for people to go get mental, mental help. Yeah, where do we send people that are like that Hospital? Then we throw them right back on the streets after they've sobered up.

Speaker 2: 57:30

That's pretty much exactly how it goes.

Speaker 1: 57:33

That's so unfortunate.

Speaker 2: 57:34

It's so bad that when you bring them in, the nurses will sigh.

Speaker 1: 57:38

Because of that person's back again.

Speaker 2: 57:40

Yes, oh shit, it's that bad dude Dude still has his wristband on.

Speaker 2: 57:46

From getting out of the hospital, from yesterday or the day before last, and you're bringing him right back. You don't even have to give them their name at the desk, you don't even have to give them DOB. Oh, that's James, he's back. Can we help James out? Can we do something with James? Because obviously what we're doing here, which is somebody calling the police, I show up, james. Come over here, brother, let's go, hop in. I'm not even going to cuff you, dog, let's go. I'm going to take you downtown. It's all I can do for you, dude. That's all I can do for you dog, that's it. He don't know what day it is. I take him, he goes, they open up the front doors and then James wanders back.

Speaker 1: 58:25

Works his way back and it's just this, the whole time it's a cycle of this.

Speaker 2: 58:29

So that's what I've noticed, dude, is that mental health is a huge, huge problem and I got to be real careful man because I can. I back then would see the worst in everybody, opposed to seeing somebody's potential or seeing their best. I've gotten way better at that, I hope. At least I feel like I have. My wife tells me that I have, but I would. I mean. That's why I left nashville. I was like fuck this place. I was like this place is destroyed. It's so dangerous here. These people are crazy, like let's get out of here. Of course I wanted to move montana right, but like then I left billings. Fuck this place. These people are crazy. Like why am I doing this, dude?

Speaker 1: 59:12

like I can't even see the good in anybody well, it probably doesn't help being a cop either, because I mean, I got a buddy that he lives right right down the street here and he just became a cop and his, his little area is right right Almost here. You know he stopped, he arrested some guy the other day here and stopped by the house beforehand. It was like serving a warrant, but we talked to him and he's like bro, you have no idea how much is going on right here and I'm like what he's like?

Speaker 2: 59:39

Oh, he's like I. You would never know that dude Ever. You would never know that.

Speaker 1: 59:44

So, yeah, you really can't live somewhere where I guess you're being a cop. It's a really nice area, because you're just seeing the negative all day. Yeah, even in these nice neighborhoods, I mean, there's still.

Speaker 2: 59:54

That was the big thing where if people would live, let's say, and not many. I don't think anybody lived in North Nashville at the time, yeah, but like some people would work in west. West was a pretty good area, like west nashville's kind of ritzy. It's nice and not a whole lot going on. But like fuck, I wouldn't want to work in the area where I live.

Speaker 1: 1:00:11

No, I'm actually going to a restaurant. You're like looking at somebody, looking at you, like okay, dude that's so dangerous.

Speaker 2: 1:00:18

That is so dangerous, dude, because half the time I'm not going to recognize them no, I go on 20 calls a day dog.

Speaker 1: 1:00:27

They're dealing with that. One time they ran into you and that could have been a year ago, but they're going to remember you and I took him in on that warrant.

Speaker 2: 1:00:33

He's got nothing to lose, didn't back then? Damn sure, doesn't know. Fuck you. And I'm out with my woman, my woman at a restaurant. You see me, you see me in the mall, fuck that dude that sucks I've had that happen. I've left places hell yeah, hell yeah. I took that. I took that guy to jail. Let's bounce. Yeah, dude, he's not a fan of me. Are you kidding me? He's not gonna come up and be like hey, long time, no see, tyler. What's up? You changed my life.

Speaker 1: 1:01:02

Yeah, maybe it's happened, but with the percentage of it I'm probably leaning toward not.

Speaker 2: 1:01:07

I'm the caveat dude. I've had people come up to me. Hey, can you run my name really quick? Sure, I think I have warrants. Can you run my name? I just want to square this away. Yeah, dude, you got four outstanding. Let's go. Thank you, man. I needed to get this off my chest. I want to just take care of this. I'm trying to turn it around, no kidding.

Speaker 1: 1:01:24

Thank you so much.

Speaker 2: 1:01:25

You're welcome. I guess Shit. I just got four bodies, I didn't do nothing. Great Thank you. I've had that happen, where people are actually trying to turn their shit around.

Speaker 1: 1:01:35

I mean good for them. Yeah, it's got to be, a weird scenario for. Especially when you hit enter. They're just.

Speaker 2: 1:01:41

I'm like are you cool? You got four outstanding. Do I need backup or are we good here? It's like you should never arrest somebody by yourself, like you really shouldn't. I mean, we've all done it, but you shouldn't do that. It's not smart. I mean because it's people's last resort, yeah, especially if they don't want to go. When somebody wants to go, it's kind of a little bit more lax, but I've had that happen a lot.

Speaker 1: 1:02:06

Honestly, when they're just ready. They don't put up a fight.

Speaker 2: 1:02:09

No, they run my name. I'm pretty sure I have outstanding warrants. I want to take care of these. Yeah, you actually do. You have four misdemeanor warrants.

Speaker 1: 1:02:17

Is this? You just park somewhere like just chilling waiting and somebody comes up.

Speaker 2: 1:02:20

The one that comes to mind is at the old jail in Nashville where you take them to jail. You'd park in the Sally Port or whatever, and then you would have to walk across the street, literally walk across the street, to like, get the warrant signed and all that shit.

Speaker 1: 1:02:35

Oh, okay.

Speaker 2: 1:02:35

And I'm parked there like just, and dude comes out of the woodwork hey, can you run my name? I think I have warrants. Okay, sure, well, this is going to be really easy, dude. We just got to go right over there like literally, we crossed the street and I took them in and I went back. I went back, got the other warrant served and that was it. No kidding yeah that that's the one that sticks out for sure and then how much paperwork comes from that? Those are easy are they?

Speaker 2: 1:03:00

yeah, but it can get kind of fucked up when, let's say, you get in a car chase or something. Actually you know something high speed happens. You get five minutes of fun for four hours of paperwork. That's something that people don't see.

Speaker 2: 1:03:15

Yeah, that sucks yeah that's a part of the job that isn't fun. That was fun, but this is because some guys, like me included, pick your spots. How much fun do you want to have because you're not going home when you're supposed to right like and people can say this, that and the third, but it's true, if you know you're getting off in an hour, you might not want to go. Do a random terry stop oh, I would imagine you idiot, like that's your fault I feel that's human nature.

Speaker 1: 1:03:48

If I was a cop and I was an hour out for my shift being over, I'd be like unless it was major praying dude, if praying that your number doesn't get called are you getting overtime at least, or yeah but keep your fucking money.

Speaker 2: 1:04:01

If I want overtime, I'll go work a side job on purpose. Okay, yeah, I'm trying to go home. Like, come on, dude, I'm trying to go home. I hated staying after.

Speaker 1: 1:04:11

Oh I bet, how often does that happen? A lot.

Speaker 2: 1:04:15

Yeah, a lot in Nashville, A lot. I don't know if my wife walked in or not, but yeah, a lot yeah no shit or not, but yeah, a lot, yeah, no shit. Yeah, that would be to me. That would be the shitty part. It's like, yeah, you're getting two hours time and a half or whatever it is going to keep your money. I'm straight. I'm trying to go home. Yeah, I'm hungry. I got a lady at the house. It's friday.

Speaker 1: 1:04:36

I'm getting like weekend it's your friday, I put my time in.

Speaker 2: 1:04:41

This week, dude goes blown by, you're like maybe next time, like if I wanted to get overtime, I'd go work the bus stop from seven to two and then go to my shift and then I bet a bus stop is popping in nashville.

Speaker 2: 1:04:52

Dude, that was my favorite, why I just loved it. People would hate that job, like we'd have to sign up um via this app or whatever, for, like, extra jobs. They'd come out once a week and you're getting I don't know 50 bucks an hour, whatever it was at the time, which is pretty freaking good, yeah, when really all you're doing is just sitting in your call and when the security at the um, the bus stop, calls for police intervention, you go down and you handle it. Um, but you, you dude, you see some, yeah, mta down there was interesting. Yeah, and you've seen um, you're dealing with all sorts dude. I'm Dude, I'm not even trying to be funny, but I use this. And you ask anybody that I used to work with, I used to use this line. Have you seen Training Day?

Speaker 1: 1:05:31

It's been a while.

Speaker 2: 1:05:32

You want to go to jail, or you want to go home.

Speaker 1: 1:05:34

That's all.

Speaker 2: 1:05:36

I used that line so many times at the bus stop.

Speaker 1: 1:05:41

What are people doing? Just gathering? What are people doing? Just gathering?

Speaker 2: 1:05:43

drugs. They're trying to take a bus when they don't have a ticket or whatever, and they won't get off the bus and these security guards aren't going to do anything. They're not the police, we are, and that's one of my favorite movies of all time with Denzel. You want to go to jail or you want to go home.

Speaker 1: 1:05:57

All day.

Speaker 2: 1:05:58

All day. I would say that All day. I would say that and the guys I'd be working with would be like you're really saying this right now. I'm like I'm not technically on duty, like I'm working a side gig. Yeah, I'm representing the department, but fuck this, get off the bus. I'll take you to jail. Like I'm getting paid the same, no matter what, but like just get off the bus yeah, do us both a favor do us both a favor, jail or home. I love doing that.

Speaker 2: 1:06:20

That was so much fun I bet you that is just a cauldron of just everything whatever you, whatever you want, yeah, yeah, they could almost charge admission there like people watching at its finest dude, like don't worry about going to the airport, the park, go to the bus station yeah all different kinds of creatures. Dude, I'm not lying, you hit it right on the head, though it's true. Well, yeah, everybody. Yeah, all different walks of life.

Speaker 1: 1:06:48

What was the hardest part of working in Nashville? The hardest part of working in Nashville, so no cops all have to deal with some sort of moral balance of dealing the right things. And there's this hard situations, and I mean as a cop I mean it's.

Speaker 2: 1:07:08

It's not an easy job I don't know, I could tell you what the hardest part about working in billings and we can get there when we get there, yeah, um, there really wasn't anything hard. No, about working at nashville, it was a really good job so you enjoyed it. I did like it a lot good, like I. I left because I left a really good situation like a really good I wanted to move to montana that was it, huh yeah, like I I worked with really good people, had awesome leadership like wasn't getting micromanaged.

Speaker 2: 1:07:41

That for me, dude, that's like my biggest thing. You micromanage me? Oh, dude, I feel you I can't stand that. Yeah, I can't stand it.

Speaker 1: 1:07:50

Just let me do my job especially you feeling like a grown-ass man. You're out there dealing bullshit all day. The last thing you want is some supervisor just up your shit all day, yeah but yeah, I left a really good situation there really wasn't anything hard.

Speaker 2: 1:08:02

I mean, working in south nashville was difficult because there's a lot of hispanics. That was pretty challenging trying to communicate with somebody on google translator and if there's not a spanish-speaking officer on duty, like you're fishing for it right like this person doesn't even have a actual driver's license, they give me a mexican I d. It's like that's annoying. It wasn't difficult, hard, but you know it slows it down pretty well.

Speaker 1: 1:08:27

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:08:27

Because, like I don't know if they're being sarcastic Like they don't speak English, At least they're not portraying like they do. My Spanish is something that I should have taken a lot more seriously in school, because I took Spanish in school.

Speaker 1: 1:08:38

Everybody yeah, I mean, and I just dicked off and I really dicked off and I really regret that, for sure, yeah, yeah, I think bilingual is pays huge dividends, were you doing a lot of gangs down there, or is it just?

Speaker 2: 1:08:52

yeah, dude, and it's. We had this thing where we were in the academy and they're running us through all the gangs and you know nashville and so on and so forth, and a lot of them were juveniles gangs. Yeah, really, a lot of juveniles Gangs. Yeah, really A lot of juveniles were in these gangs.

Speaker 1: 1:09:07

Oh, okay.

Speaker 2: 1:09:07

Yes, Like I'm talking 15, 16-year-old kids.

Speaker 1: 1:09:11

Are these South American gangs? No, no.

Speaker 2: 1:09:14

No, just black dudes.

Speaker 1: 1:09:16

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:09:16

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:09:18

Were the kids pushing drugs? Is that what they were?

Speaker 2: 1:09:19

using them, for they're just killing people.

Speaker 1: 1:09:22

Really.

Speaker 2: 1:09:23

Yeah, and using them for they're just killing people really, yeah, and they're stealing cars. And I literally raised my hand and I was like this could have been arrogance. I was super naive. I literally raised my hand during this presentation as, whoever it was was giving us the presentation we're freaking. We don't even have a patch. Dude, like we're in the academy. Yeah, I'm like, are we really concerned with these kids? Like these are 15 year old kids. Fuck these kids. Yeah, like we're in the academy. Yeah, I'm like are we really concerned with these kids? Like these 15 year old kids fuck these kids. Yeah, like we're gonna be the police. Like these kids ain't got shit. He's good, he goes. These kids will fucking kill you. They have nothing to lose, they do not care, they're dumb, they have nobody at home, they they have no responsibility. They're just out banging. Really, these are true Banging.

Speaker 1: 1:10:12

That's wild and you don't know what kid. No.

Speaker 2: 1:10:17

I mean, we'd have our.

Speaker 1: 1:10:18

And if they're trying to prove something I mean the kid's trying to prove something to get accepted into a gang they tell him he's got to kill a cop Dude, I could show you pictures of some of these people that I've taken to jail and you're going to be like what are you serious?

Speaker 2: 1:10:31

Yeah, yeah, I'm just talking like gang member. This is what a gang member looks like. Yeah, like that's a gang member You'd be like. So you're dealing with these kind of people. Yeah, dog, yup, that's wild Wild. But I was like we're really worried about these punk kids.

Speaker 2: 1:10:48

You just didn't know, yeah, they'll fucking kill you. They do not care. It's like, yeah, all right, whatever, no joke. Yup, they do not care. They have nobody at home, dude, and it's not their fault, but they grew up in the PJs. Mom's a drug addict, dad is not in the picture, they're with the wrong crowd, they don't go to school and when you take a juvenile to juvenile, slap on the wrist.

Speaker 1: 1:11:16

So this kid's out just banging hard.

Speaker 2: 1:11:20

Until he gets of age. There's really no consequence.

Speaker 1: 1:11:22

So they could kill somebody, and then they're right back out.

Speaker 2: 1:11:24

I don't really necessarily know about that.

Speaker 1: 1:11:27

I mean if they're not getting caught.

Speaker 2: 1:11:29

Oh well, of course, if they're not getting it, they get hemmed up for some other shit. I'm just saying, like, if you steal a car, if you rob somebody this, that and the third, you're really not getting the full consequences. If you were 18 and above, really here, slap on the wrist, dog, you're a juvenile, you're a kid.

Speaker 1: 1:11:43

So these kids are doing all the dirty work. Fuck yeah, hell yeah, dude Did Stealing cars All the time.

Speaker 2: 1:11:50

No shit, kids that don't even have driver's licenses. You want to know, if you're ever looking for a stolen car, how to know if it's stolen or not If the seatbelts are buckled so the ding, ding ding doesn't go off, and then that way they can just bail. Yeah, if the seatbelts are buckled, like you know, when you're driving around the back roads, glassing for deer or whatever, you don't have your seat belt on because you're going, because you're going 15 miles an hour.

Speaker 2: 1:12:16

Yeah, well, if you're in a bad area, and that's the case, they're not glassing for deer. They're looking for lights in their rear view because if so, they're dipping, hell yeah they don't have to make the motion to take the belt off, just little, little signs like that, little signs like that.

Speaker 2: 1:12:33

Slate was so good dude. He used to be able to read license plates in the rear view mirrors, where he wouldn't even have to turn around to look suspicious. He could just look in the side mirror and read the plate backwards to me. Really so good dude, so good.

Speaker 1: 1:12:46

These guys are watching. I mean every car. Are you in marked or unmarked?

Speaker 2: 1:12:51

We were in a marked but I actually, when I got cut loose at one point, had an unmarked and that was baller.

Speaker 1: 1:12:55

Yeah, hell, yeah, that was sick.

Speaker 2: 1:12:58

Yeah, it wasn't even my car either, but I got to drive it for a couple months. That was gangster. Yeah, hell yeah, that was so cool, just because you get much closer. Yeah, dude, yeah, and there's tell the side, but like they don't say police, I'm driving a freaking well a freaking chevy malibu murdered out.

Speaker 1: 1:13:19

Yo it was cool, no shit, yeah, it was fun. God, being a cop is wild man like it's not too late, dog, you're only 40.

Speaker 2: 1:13:25

Nah, fuck that. We had a dude that was like 45, that came through our academy, my boy burt couldn't pay me enough even in my early days.

Speaker 1: 1:13:35

I might have mentioned it on here before, but I was going to be super interested in becoming a police officer. In high school we had to do these interns to a job field that you wanted to do. I wasn't sure if it was military or law enforcement at the time. I did a ride-along and the cops let these high schoolers come up. I got to ride with this cop and bro like first day we go into this hoarder house and there's just it was paths through this house and cat shit on all. Like it's just eye level with you and the smell. I'm like standing there in my fucking letterman jacket and jeans and like some k-swiss shoes, like what the fuck am I doing here? This cop's like oh, I'm the next one. And we went to a couple more and I was like you deal with this every day. He's like you don't even know. And after that was some more just bullshit going in people's homes and I went home.

Speaker 2: 1:14:25

I was like I think I'm good, I'm gonna join the military instead I almost, I almost was a marine, yeah, when I got rejected from MSP.

Speaker 1: 1:14:34

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:14:35

I went to the recruiting office. Should have done it. I took the test. My dad was pissed, was he? Yeah, he was pissed. Yeah, I'm glad I didn't. But I think about it a lot.

Speaker 1: 1:14:47

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:14:47

All my buddies are military and if my kid wanted to go to the military, I wouldn't have a problem with it at all.

Speaker 1: 1:14:54

That's a good route. I mean, it's not for everybody and it's not for everybody to do forever, but I think it would change this country around, like a lot of these other countries. If you don't go to college, they should serve at least two years in the military. I think that's great. I think it's a great program because it will straighten you out real quick, real quick.

Speaker 2: 1:15:13

Yeah, I didn't even really need straightened out. Yeah, but like going through the academy shit like that, it just teaches you how to be an adult man. Yeah, like responsibility.

Speaker 1: 1:15:25

I don't want to say you grow up. But you grow up, you do. You turn that new chapter from being home college kid and then when you leave and go through the academy or the military, it's dude you, you sever that umbilical cord and you start becoming a, an adult, and it's kind of like the first chapter into growing up is and I think it would help a lot, a lot of this generation that's lost.

Speaker 1: 1:15:49

Yeah you're not wrong and something might be. It might. It might be some dude's dream. They might have absolutely had no idea or no clue or no want in the wanting to be in, but they might get in and get a good job and love it, end up career and I think I think it's something. If it was implemented here, I would 100 support.

Speaker 2: 1:16:08

I think it's a great option yeah yeah, all my buddies that were in the military are doing really well for themselves. None of them are in anymore, but yeah I mean, they're all doing really well for themselves. They're all responsible um good leaders. Um, yeah, I, I wouldn't have a problem with it at all no, I'm, I.

Speaker 1: 1:16:28

I 100 support that. Yeah, me too. So what took? I mean obviously just wanting to move from Nashville to Montana. I mean that's quite the decision to make.

Speaker 2: 1:16:41

Yeah, it was. It was a COVID thing. Oh really. Yeah, we had a, my wife's from Ohio. I'm from Michigan and, like every Midwestern person, for vacation they go to Florida, yep, and our vacation was scheduled when covid pretty much popped off and everything in florida was shut down. Yeah, um, so we canned the vacay and we're like, hey, let's do something in like august, like we'll just hopefully this shit calms down. Nobody knows what's going on. Yep, um, and started calming down. She's like where do you want to go? I was like, let's go somewhere we've never been. She's like, well, where I was? Like I've never been to Montana. She's like me neither. Really, she goes, what's there? I was like I don't know. I heard it's really pretty there. I feel like it'd be great. I've told this story a couple times, but I secretly dude. We went to Bozeman, had a blast for seven or 10 days, got on the plane and we were super bummed that we were going back to Nashville.

Speaker 1: 1:17:37

That was a sign, huh, and I said we should move here.

Speaker 2: 1:17:40

My wife goes, we should move here. Seven months later, vehicles packed heading to Montana.

Speaker 1: 1:17:48

Yeah, I mean growing up in Michigan. You obviously you're dealing with the snow and cold and all that.

Speaker 2: 1:17:53

That ain't nothing.

Speaker 1: 1:17:54

You get all the seasons up there, it ain't nothing.

Speaker 2: 1:17:55

Yeah, so moving to Montana Builds character, for sure.

Speaker 1: 1:17:59

So what was the difference? Obviously, every department, I feel, has its good and bads, but what was the transition like? Going from Nashville that I feel is super busy, at least the interactions that you had with the people. How did that compare to moving the billings you went to?

Speaker 2: 1:18:17

Yeah, okay, For example, in Nashville we had northeast, southwest, midtown hermitage. I think we had eight or nine different precincts with A, b and C shift, okay, and each precinct had their own building. So like I worked with people in Nashville that I didn't even know, oh, okay.

Speaker 2: 1:18:40

Like I didn't even. Like they could have came up to me at a restaurant and been like hey, what do you do? There's that many. I work for the PD oh, so do I. Where do you work? I work in hermitage. Oh, I'm in north, but we would never see each other because they're on a completely different side of the city with their own supervisors, their own co-workers. In billings there's three shifts, but there's one building like there's no, there's billings. So you get to learn everybody. Yeah, I mean, there's like you know, you got know, you got the Heights, you got the West End, southside, but like all those people meet in one spot and then everybody says go team, and then they go to work.

Speaker 1: 1:19:20

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:19:20

So you know everybody.

Speaker 1: 1:19:22

Do you like that or no? Fuck, no, no, why not I?

Speaker 2: 1:19:25

hated that. Why I just didn't like it, dude? Okay, because everybody knows everybody and I don't like everybody knowing everybody. Yeah, I don't like that and it's super. It was super like good old boy system.

Speaker 1: 1:19:39

Okay.

Speaker 2: 1:19:40

And I might catch heat for like. But if you're from Montana and you're like a generation Montanan, you know this where, if you're not from Montana, like'm not. Sometimes people get upset with that. Oh, for sure, and that's just what it is, and that's fine, because this is their state. Montana's do you know? Montanians do stuff a certain way, so on and so forth.

Speaker 2: 1:20:03

It's everywhere out here, right, yeah, but I always say everybody's from fucking somewhere, like if you don't think that I respect the state of montana, why don't you come hunt with me and then you'll see how much I love this state.

Speaker 1: 1:20:14

Exactly.

Speaker 2: 1:20:14

Yeah Right. So it was really strange for me because they treated me like I wasn't from there, but they knew where I was coming from because they flew down to Nashville to talk to my people that had nothing but positive things to say about me coworkers, supervisors, lieutenants, all of it.

Speaker 1: 1:20:33

So they hired you, and then there was a problem.

Speaker 2: 1:20:35

Big problem why I was under a microscope there.

Speaker 1: 1:20:38

Just you or everybody?

Speaker 2: 1:20:40

I mean, I don't know about everybody, but I sure was.

Speaker 1: 1:20:43

Why.

Speaker 2: 1:20:44

I think I rubbed people the wrong way. How I was blunt. I policed a certain way.

Speaker 1: 1:20:51

Blunt my wife. That's one of the things she loves and hates about me how blunt I am. A lot of people don't like it.

Speaker 2: 1:20:56

That's not how we do things here. Bam Really.

Speaker 1: 1:21:00

I deal with that all the time.

Speaker 2: 1:21:03

Did the job get done? Yep, it just didn't get done how we do it.

Speaker 1: 1:21:08

Okay, what was so different? It's pretty, I want to say liberal up there. Where Billings? No, where am I? Bozeman, bozeman, I'm thinking of Bozeman. Okay, bozeman's pretty liberal. So if Billings is good, old boys, and I mean, what are you doing so differently? Obviously you're learning a whole different culture, so you're dealing with that.

Speaker 2: 1:21:38

You want to hear a funny story about that? I didn't have to go to the academy, I was a lateral transfer. Okay, they hired three of us, me and two other guys. One dude was from la, the other dude was from tampa. Okay, um, I get thrown with an fdo again. Very expedited process. I know how to do this.

Speaker 1: 1:21:51

Yeah, like, just learn the system you're three years into being a cop, right at this point, roughly yeah, okay, but if you want to classify it on experience, call it at least six.

Speaker 2: 1:22:01

Okay with what I've done. Yeah, spades, a spade, that's where I'm at. So I get to ride on with this girl and call comes in. Hey, let's kick these transients off the street. Homeless people okay, I walk up to them. A sergeant shows up just to see how I do. Hey, blah, blah. What's your name, buffalo?

Speaker 2: 1:22:26

let's try this again what's your name, buffalo? I look, I look at my FTO, I look at the sergeant. They go I'm about to call this out on air Like hey, can you run? I guess Buffalo. I was like is that your first name or your last name? Reuben Buffalo? I thought he was running game on me, swear to God. I look at the people around me and they're like key up, get his information, see if he has warrants. Yeah, whatever, I was 579,. Can you run? Reuben Buffalo? Yep, stand by. What the fuck he's? Native. Natives have unique names like that. Oh yeah, I had no idea.

Speaker 1: 1:23:10

Oh, okay, I'm not from here. Yeah, they got the res and you're dealing with all yep. It's a different world. Straight off, he's straight off the crow.

Speaker 2: 1:23:20

I had no idea. I'm like I'm about to look like a fool. Run. Can you run, mr two moons the next guy's name was two moons, dancing bear. Yeah, exactly, you're not far off. Yeah, I'm like I'm about to look like a jackass on like my second day. So you thought he was just messing with you. And I'm looking at these people. They're like, really, I had no idea. I had no idea Really, hmm.

Speaker 1: 1:23:42

Yeah, so now you went from gangbangers to dealing with the res, which ain't dick. Yeah, it ain't nothing yeah, after going from a kid that literally a kid.

Speaker 2: 1:23:54

You turn your back on them, we'll kill you. It's preschool. These guys are just drunk. They're here off the res because the res is dry. Yeah, they're just getting drunk and smoking weed. They ain't doing nothing wrong, so it's just homeless.

Speaker 1: 1:24:03

So would you prefer that, or would you prefer that?

Speaker 2: 1:24:05

shit sucked, boring dude, and it's hard to like. Keep me enthused with that, yeah. And then it's like oh yeah, mr buffalo has three outstanding felony warrants. Turn around, mr buffalo, nope, cut him a citation and wish him well, because there's no room in the jail to take them. Really, what the fuck are we doing here then?

Speaker 1: 1:24:26

okay, I can see that what am I doing here?

Speaker 2: 1:24:29

what's going on?

Speaker 1: 1:24:31

and then they're not going to pay the citation, which then he's gonna get another warrant no, now he's got four.

Speaker 2: 1:24:35

Next time you talk to him instead of three, what are we doing?

Speaker 1: 1:24:39

bam that could. That would be frustrating and I let that be heard and they didn't like it.

Speaker 2: 1:24:45

No, fuck. No, they didn't like that, no, but it's like. What are we doing? Why am I here? I'm not babysitting or be the police or not. So I'm going to get this dude a freaking citation and I'm going to see him next week and he's going to have four instead of three. What's going on? Why am I here? Like it's super cake dude. I'm working four tens day shift Like I'm not doing nothing.

Speaker 1: 1:25:07

Yeah. I went two shifts there without one call, but really yeah, dude, I feel like a lot of cops would like that, though you just built no dude, I'm 27 28 at the time.

Speaker 2: 1:25:18

You want to comment from where I came from, like? That's not at work, dude, let's work yeah like, let's quote unquote make a difference.

Speaker 1: 1:25:25

Let's take people to jail where the police why was the jail so over full, if they, I mean it just wasn't big enough.

Speaker 2: 1:25:31

I guess, like there was just no room for anybody else. Like handcuff them to the fucking chair. I guess, like I mean, like what are we doing? Oh shit, what are we doing here? Like this is the biggest city in montana and our jail's full. Okay, what's it like in columbus montana? What's it like in dylan? What's it like in roundup? Yeah, is there any room there? Dude, we ran a dude's name one time. He had almost a quarter million dollars in warrants Felonies.

Speaker 1: 1:26:00

That's impressive.

Speaker 2: 1:26:02

Yeah, dog, you just got him a site and yeah, move on. I will go to Walmart right now, buy a chair, bolt it to the ground in the jail and let's put them there. A quarter million dollars worth of felony warrants. You're straight. That could be frustrating, dude. What are we doing right? Doesn't sound crazy?

Speaker 1: 1:26:25

that does it's true, dude, it does. I feel like that's like how I mean being a cop in portland. It's true, man, and it's I don't know how they would like. How do you, how do you do your job and what is your job? Yeah, is it just like a show of?

Speaker 2: 1:26:37

force. You're just there. I've never touched on it, ever. Just because like it's is what it is. But that department is a fucking joke. The Billings Police Department is a shithole, really.

Speaker 1: 1:26:55

If you listen to this, go work in bozeman. No shit, yeah, dude, it is that bad, huh, is it just leadership? Terrible. Where's it come from? The state about you know? No leadership. Yeah, who's running it? I?

Speaker 2: 1:27:03

mean, why are they making these decisions? Who knows? Chief's been there far too long, oh, but he's getting cut. A healthy check so I don't blame him. Ride it out, old boy. It's all good and I liked the chief. The chief was cool.

Speaker 1: 1:27:15

He always treated me pretty fair he should have a problem with you supervisors.

Speaker 2: 1:27:20

Yeah, yeah, no shit. All the supervisors used to work out on shift. We get like, um, I think it was our lunch break. Okay, we're working. Four tens, whatever, cool. I'm literally like I would see them working out on shift Like it's common knowledge. Well, now I want to work out. Now it's a problem. Now you're going to talk to the chief. Oh really, dude. I have so many examples. Like it's crazy. I wanted to get my file to bring it, but I'm not sure they had enough paper downtown to print it off.

Speaker 1: 1:27:56

Yeah, yeah, I don't think they'd give it to me anyways, but it was a joke of just write-ups and stuff. So you're just getting written up constantly, all day, every day but they wouldn't fire you.

Speaker 2: 1:28:01

Bullshit, petty stuff. They were trying to make me quit. Yeah, they weren't gonna fire me because they don't have enough bodies, but they were trying to get me quit, get me, me to quit.

Speaker 1: 1:28:12

What's some of the bullshit they're writing you up on?

Speaker 2: 1:28:15

Working out on duty, not having a body camera on to knock on a door when you know nobody's home. That was a coworker that wrote me up for that.

Speaker 1: 1:28:25

Your coworkers could write you up. Mm-hmm, I thought the law enforcement community was all about brotherhood. Yeah right Snicking together? Mm-hmm, what yeah right Snicking?

Speaker 2: 1:28:34

together. What else, man? There's a laundry list of things Showed up two minutes late one time. They got a talk with the chief. Yeah, two minutes late to roll call that got a talk with the chief yeah, first time I ever got in trouble there was during admin. When they were, it was like an admin week where we don't even have a badge yet.

Speaker 1: 1:29:00

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:29:01

And they gave me, I want to say, four weeks until my start date and I live in Nashville. Hey, um, is there, you guys got any wiggle room? I appreciate the opportunity, like this is great, I'm coming, I'm stoked to work there, but I live in Nashville. I haven't even quit this job. Yeah, like, I'm going to give them two weeks. We have zero family there. Like, can you, can you wiggle on this at all? Nope, these are the dates, roger, okay, I'll be there. So we're going through like a little admin week and I'm in the classroom, three of us in there me and two other dudes and she's given us a presentation on how to work the computers in the car, which that's not going to do anything for me. First off, I need to get in the car and work on the computer to figure it out. I'm not going to remember anything that you're telling me, right?

Speaker 1: 1:29:53

now yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2: 1:29:54

I'm on my phone texting my wife as we're trying to close on this house, in this town that we now live in, we're staying in an Airbnb dude, yeah, like that adds up. This female officer Maybe she was a sergeant at the time she gets up Comes she was a sergeant at the time she gets up comes over to me, takes my phone out of my hand and places it I know I think she took it. She either took it or she put it upside down on the table and didn't say a word to me. Are we in the 10th grade, right?

Speaker 1: 1:30:33

now Right from there.

Speaker 2: 1:30:33

I mean we're talking like day two. I was in the shithouse the whole time. Really, oh yeah, I'm like dude, I'm not on IG, I'm trying to close on this house, like right now.

Speaker 1: 1:30:45

Trying to square my life away because I just moved here for you guys, yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:30:48

I got 80 grand that I'm about to pay these people for a down payment on this crib. I can step out, but like I need to handle this, yeah, I don't give a fuck about your computer right now. I'm not gonna know how to do this until I get in the car, for sure. And then from there on out, it was just one thing after the other yeah, that's frustrating super frustrating and it's like y'all knew where I was from.

Speaker 2: 1:31:07

If you didn't want me here, don't hire me. There's a reason you didn't want me here. Don't hire me. There's a reason you didn't. It's because all the recs that I had, the people you talked to were solid people and knew that I was really good at what I did.

Speaker 1: 1:31:20

That's why y'all hired?

Speaker 2: 1:31:20

me right.

Speaker 1: 1:31:23

That's gotta be psyched.

Speaker 2: 1:31:25

It was so bad dude.

Speaker 1: 1:31:26

That's depressing, because obviously you love being a cop.

Speaker 2: 1:31:30

At one point, dude, it was like three write-ups, write-ups in a row. And this isn't like a hey, keep this in mind. Like hey, don't do that man. No, like this is going up all the way to the chief, and I forget what they called it, um, but basically it's like a sit down where you are under oath and at the end of it they can either discipline you and or you're gone, like see ya, I'm in the chief's office under microphones, like really tape recordings, the whole nine I think I called it like yes, there was a dude, I don't remember.

Speaker 2: 1:32:03

It was dupras, whatever they fucking called it, some bullshit term, um. But yeah, like I'm like this it's a big deal. Like this isn't. This isn't like a slap on the wrist, like, hey, hey, dude, like don't do that over nothing. Like dude, you were two minutes late. You good Like, show up on time, brother, fuck.

Speaker 1: 1:32:17

Sorry, you're right, we're slapped.

Speaker 2: 1:32:18

Fuck my bad, now that you're going to talk to the big guy. So now you're freaking out. I'm be a bouncer, like I've done that right, like we alluded to that earlier. Yeah, go downtown be a bouncer and make 12 bucks an hour.

Speaker 2: 1:32:43

Um, there was like three back to back to back like chief, chief, chief, and after the third one, they're like yo, I'm like are we good here? Because this shit was happening like weeks prior, months prior, stuff that would like come up and I'm like are we? Are we? Oh? So they're bringing up old, old stuff. They're like watching footage on me the whole nine, this, how much time you got? Like this can go on. I'm cool with whatever. How much time you got, I'm being smart. But, um, um, there was like three write-ups in a row and, uh, after the third one got cleared and stuff, I'm like are we straight? Like do I have anything else coming down the pipe that I need to know about, cause this is really wearing on me. Yeah, nope, you're good In the clear. Yep, you're good.

Speaker 2: 1:33:23

Fresh start, tyler. Okay, I can do a fresh start, no problem, like my, my P's and Q's, and head down, chin up, got it, I drive home. That was like the last thing I did that day. It was my Friday. I drive home, I check in to roll call after my three days off. I was not in my uniform for more than 30 minutes, considering the drive home after the previous week and then coming to roll call, I was in my uniform for 30 minutes. Hey, can you stay after roll call? I was in my uniform for 30 minutes. Hey, can you stay after roll call? We need to talk. We just talked three days ago. You said I was in the clear.

Speaker 2: 1:34:00

Yeah, but this came up. I don't even remember what it was. It's. It's a laundry list. I should have brought in the list. You know, you literally have a list. Yeah, I have a whole file. Like I wanted to get it to bring it because I had a feeling this would come up. But, like I said, I don't think they have enough paper at the town hall to print my file. And he gave me some bullshit thing, like you didn't have your body camera on or whatever. And I literally looked at this lieutenant. I said are you all trying to make me fucking quit? Point blank, period. What was his reaction? No, like, but like we got to handle this whatever it was, and one example, man is, this was my fault. I probably wasn't as detailed as I should have been on a report, because I'm just frustrated at this point.

Speaker 2: 1:34:48

I can't take anybody to jail, so on and so forth. Maybe took a shortcut or two on this report and that was the one write-up that I had that I was like, yeah, full responsibility, you're right, I should have done better. Yeah For sure, if I fuck up, I'll man up to it For sure. Have to Is what it is. Responsibility, right? Okay, you're right. So a couple weeks go by and again, and again I wasn't thorough on this case. A hot call comes up in my zone. Everybody drops what they're doing and they go to this. I'm on a missing child report. I'm on the phone with somebody's mother. They can't find their kid. This call comes out in my zone, literally five minutes away from me. I don't go to that hot call because they're going to roast me. That I skipped out on this call and wasn't thorough on this call to go take the hot call. They're going to roast me for that.

Speaker 1: 1:35:39

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:35:39

Like. This is what I just got in trouble for him. I, I, I. I wasn't thorough. No, this is important, like this kid's missing. We need to find this kid. I was totally wrong. I got in trouble for not going to that hot call and staying on the call that I was currently on, which was an important call that needed to be solved. We have a missing kid on our hands. You should have. You should have left that call. You were right down the road, but you just wrote me up last week for not being thorough on my investigations. I can't win. What are we?

Speaker 1: 1:36:08

doing Frustrating.

Speaker 2: 1:36:10

What are we doing? Yeah, so like you look at nashville great experience. You look at billings police not a great experience, stuff like that. Yeah, I literally brought a tape recorder because I would always have to go talk to the captain before um to like give my story, get under microphone, um, you know they'd take my statement or whatever, and then that would get presented to the chief. Then I'd have to go talk to the chief. I put my recorder in my pocket to record that conversation and I said what, like? What's the deal? I have representation, obviously. And he goes Tyler, clearly somebody here has a vendetta against you. That's a hostile work environment, dude. What did I do? That's a hostile work environment, dude. What did I do? You have a vendetta against me from the start.

Speaker 1: 1:36:58

How can I trust leadership now.

Speaker 2: 1:37:00

You don't have my back. You're the captain and you're telling me this. Somebody has it out for you here, Tyler, You're the captain and you're telling me this. From then I was like what am I doing here? Yeah, like what happens if shit hits the fan.

Speaker 1: 1:37:14

That's scary.

Speaker 2: 1:37:15

What am I going to do?

Speaker 1: 1:37:16

Cause, then you're an example.

Speaker 2: 1:37:19

One of the highest people on the chain of command just told me that Tyler, some that dude was straight Like. I won't drop names, but people listen to it, They'll know who it is. That captain treated me so fairly One of the few people that did there. He's like somebody has it out for you here and I held on to that. How did you not? I held on to not only that, but I held on to that recording Because at one point I was going to throw that on the chief's desk. During one of these meetings or disciplinary things that I was going through, the captain told you that there was a vendetta out for you.

Speaker 2: 1:37:52

And I know they heard it. I never presented it but I held onto that because I did have to turn that recorder in when I left and it was on there.

Speaker 1: 1:38:00

I know they heard it.

Speaker 2: 1:38:00

Yeah, and I know that they were like oh fuck, like that could have been really bad, cause he had no idea that I was recording him but, I didn't care. I had to look out for me 100% at that point.

Speaker 2: 1:38:11

What am I going to do here? What do you think it was? I wasn't everybody's friend, probably. I'm not going to go into roll call. Walk up to Lieutenant Lieutenant, how was your weekend, brother, sir? I should say how was your weekend, sir? I don't give a fuck how your weekend went dude For sure. I don't give a fuck how your weekend went dude For sure I don't. Now would people do that all the time? Yeah, because they want a promotion, because they want this.

Speaker 2: 1:38:38

I will never dick ride anybody for anything. Just look at my work. I've always been like that man. I'm not going to kiss any ass to get anywhere. Because, like, if you don't care how my weekend was, why am I going to? Like, I'm the same way man, I'm not that way, dude. And again, that rubbed everybody wrong. Because it's like a party, every roll call, everybody's talking bullshit and it's like none of you guys are all fake fuckers, man, none of you guys care about nobody. Like everybody's just rah-rah just to act like they're rah rah, just to act like they're rah rah and act like they're here and since you didn't play the game, I didn't play the game.

Speaker 2: 1:39:20

They didn't like that. Yeah, I never had to play the game, never would, even if I had to, because you had a job to do. Yeah, I'm not trying to be anybody's friend. Talk to the people in nashville. I said that in a roll call one time, like I'm here to do my job. If we become friends sick. If you want to dick off after the call is over, with hell.

Speaker 1: 1:39:40

Yeah I'm all for it.

Speaker 2: 1:39:41

Like camaraderie is huge, like the vibe needs to be up, I'm all for that. But like I'm not gonna play that I'm not gonna put on like a happy face to get somewhere. They didn't like that.

Speaker 1: 1:39:53

That's a bummer, bro. You went from such a cool fun department to such just a shit bag one.

Speaker 2: 1:40:00

that but such a blessing, dude, yeah, oh, man.

Speaker 1: 1:40:05

Got you into what you're doing now. Yeah, such a blessing. Before we transition out, are you cool with telling the story that you wrote in your bio, which one About the cop that took the bullet and you had to transport him? Yeah, you're cool with telling that, just so people hear it. Yeah, yep, so I mean, if you want to jump into that.

Speaker 2: 1:40:26

I know it's probably a pretty shitty time, but I told it not long ago, okay. So yeah, pretty much everything that we just talked about all these disciplinary actions is really having me question things. It's been probably a little bit over a year that I'm like Morgan, this is a bad situation. She's like Tyler you moved us here, Tyler. You took this job. You should have done more research and not picked the biggest department in the state and maybe gone somewhere else. I didn't do any research like my fault, for sure.

Speaker 1: 1:40:56

How do you know it's going to be the toxic environment like that?

Speaker 2: 1:40:58

Didn't know. And I mean, all this is coming week after week, month after month, and I'm like this is really not good, like I have to get out of here because, god forbid, dude, I'm going to get in some major shit if I actually have to go the extra mile, right, if I injure somebody if I shoot somebody, if I kill somebody by doing what needs to be done. That's the job. Yeah, period, that's the job. Yeah, we had this conversation for like two hours. Dude sitting, just like this, you know just like you just gotta stick with it.

Speaker 2: 1:41:32

Man, just like this Yep, you just got to stick with it. Man, just like, keep being yourself. Like I mean it's steady income, it's not a lot, but like I have insurance, like it's security. Man Like this is my career, I'm just going to like bail.

Speaker 1: 1:41:43

I had no plan.

Speaker 2: 1:41:45

Yeah, and nothing. This was the plan. This was the plan. Yeah, we're in it. Yeah, like I was at least going to do like five, six, seven and then like maybe figure it out. Like we just moved here, bro, we've been in this house for a year, yeah, and we have this two hour conversation, however long it was, and then the next day I go to work. I'm working days. Roll calls at 06. Get this call um. It's in a trailer park. Go talk to this lady. She goes. My neighbor is shooting pellet like pellet guns, like pellets, through my my window. Sure shit is dude. Her windows are blown out like this is bad. Like I mean it's only a pellet, but like somebody's actively shooting these people's windows out. Look at these messages on facebook. This crazy, like this is my neighbor. I'm gonna kill these fucking people. Fuck my neighbors.

Speaker 1: 1:42:46

This and the third, I'm like so the neighbors are watching the neighbor that's shooting at the big post on facebook. She's showing them to me I'm like this is bad.

Speaker 2: 1:42:54

Yeah, she's like, yeah, you guys were just out here two hours ago. I was like whoa, I, I wasn't here. Yeah, that was midnight shift. We just got on shift. It's 6 45 in the morning. Yeah, I'm like, okay, well, it's me and three other people and I'm like this is a bad deal. Like I want to know why nothing was like what happened? Was this taken care of? Did we make contact with the person that's shooting this person's windows out? What happened on this midnight call? And nothing's in the computer yet, because this shit just happened. There's no reports that are uploaded.

Speaker 1: 1:43:26

They're still doing their reports, probably back at the station, I'm sure they're probably submitted by now.

Speaker 2: 1:43:31

I mean, get kicked back for a correction. Sergeant has to look at it. Next person has to look at it. They're not there. Is anybody still working, like from midnight, can tell me what's going on? No, okay, key up a sergeant. Hey, like, this is our situation. Like we got a lady that's getting her windows blown out by her crazy neighbor lady Like ghost on the radio. No, fucking, no, no comms on the radio, really, okay, um, I look at the other three. I was like let's go try to make contact. Like what the fuck are we doing? Like, let's do our jobs, let's arrest this lady. I walk up to this trailer. No answer, no answer. I go to knock for the second or third time, whatever it was, and I got my earpiece in Get out, get out, get out, get out. Okay. Like, don't knock on the door. Okay, why get on the? Get on the phone. This lady's crazy. We're looking at her stuff up. Um, she's got guns in the house. She's making threats towards this neighbor. Okay, hey, uh, sarge, sounds like we should call the SWAT team.

Speaker 2: 1:44:45

No sounds like we should call the SWAT team. I'm not kicking this door down.

Speaker 1: 1:44:50

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:44:51

Like I just tried to make contact but nobody answered and apparently I wasn't even supposed to do that. But I don't know. Like, let's work, let's make, let's do a job. Okay, uh, this is a SWAT call out. Like this lady's barricaded in her fucking house. We need to get the SWAT team out.

Speaker 2: 1:45:07

Finally, swat team comes out. My job's pretty much done at this point, right, like it's my zone, but like I'm not on the fucking SWAT team. I got buddies that are on the SWAT team but I'm not. I'm sitting next to my other buddy who's working the drone and you know we got the drone over the top so they can't get in contact with this lady. She's not answering her phone. We got her phone number.

Speaker 2: 1:45:28

Obviously, I tried to knock on the door. That's out of the question. Now we have the lieutenant there. Who's the SWAT lieutenant? Who's the lieutenant that also isn't a fan of Tyler? He's there doing his job to the fullest by sitting in the passenger in the driver's seat of his car. He's not doing anything. Okay, so we decide, they decide that we need to make contact with this lady, and the way that we are going to make contact with this lady is take a team of, I think four SWAT guys and we are going to break the door, down the front door, and we are going to throw a burner phone through the front door so we can call that phone and have comms with this lady.

Speaker 1: 1:46:12

Okay, you could just like put a tear gas through the window and smoke her out in a little trailer.

Speaker 2: 1:46:18

Or maybe just break one of the windows and throw the phone in the window. Yeah, okay, so I know your background. My background is not as extensive as yours, but correct me if I'm wrong here. If you're going to hit a house, we should probably hit a house, right? If we're going to knock the fucking front door down, let's knock the fucking front door down with purpose to actually take over the house, instead of throw a phone through the doorframe. Instead of throw a phone through the doorframe. I am literally on the door with my boy who's working. He's in the driver's seat of his car. He's working the drone. So I'm watching this on film drones above the house. We watched the team approach. I'm leaning on his door watching the drone footage. I'm not doing shit Like my day's done. Four dudes roll up, bust this door down. Old girl sitting there with a shotgun Hits the first dude that busts down the door and you've worn plates before.

Speaker 2: 1:47:22

You know there's about a four to six inch gap right about where your belly button is to your waistline. That slug hit that gap. She shot him with a slug. Yeah, um, at least I think so, I'm pretty sure. And we're like it's weird because we're I'm watching this, and then all of a sudden it's just fucking gunfire, like in real life, right over here where the house is. Yeah, everybody panics. There's supervisors there, it's a trailer park, it's one road, there's all these cars on there and they bust the door down, shots get fired, obviously the shotgun and then our guys return fire. Don't hit her, which I mean whatever, um, and officer down, officer hit or whatever. And then from the only person that could get on the radio that had any idea what to do is my buddy who's working the drone, who isn't even involved, but he has an extensive military background. Yeah, freaking special forces dude. His name's Darren, squared away as fuck. He calls the whole thing out. We need this, we need that, we need this, we need that, we need this, we need that. Let's go.

Speaker 2: 1:48:34

My vehicle is blocking the drive to pull down this road. My car is sitting there with the lights on it's. This is a big deal now. I mean, it's a SWAT, call out. Those are big calls. I need to move my vehicle because an ambulance needs to come get our guy. We extract our guy to the front. That needs to be open so we all can throw him in and go. As I'm running from Darren's car to my car, which is probably 100 yards, all the supervision has now hopped out of their cars and they're scrambling, looking around at each other pale white faces, looking like they just saw a ghost. You move your fucking car. You go over there. I'm yelling at these guys, lieutenants and sergeants, they're. They're literally doing this in the middle of the road like they don't have any idea what's going on.

Speaker 2: 1:49:35

No idea what's going have no idea what's going on, when this is the call that they made. If you're gonna hit a house, hit the house with force and go in and get this bitch for sure. Or if all you're trying to do is make contact with her, throw a rock through the window, throw your sat phone in there and boom you're, you're done. Don't hit it half-assed. And to me and maybe I'm wrong that's the perspective that I had of the situation. If you're going to hit it, hit it. Okay, we didn't. We knocked the door down with the purpose of throwing a phone, in which, in turn, got one of our guys shot. And then I see everybody who's making these calls look like chickens with their heads cut off.

Speaker 1: 1:50:08

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:50:09

Not knowing. Complete shock. Probably looked like me when I watched the dude blow his head off with a shotgun Three years prior to that. Oh shit, these are our leaders and I'm barking orders at them Get the fuck out of the way, move your vehicle. They get our guy out. I give him a police escort. He's in the ambulance. I'm give him a police escort. He's in the ambulance. I'm giving him a police escort. The whole way I'm clipping anywhere from 100 to about 20 down main street and the whole time I'm driving I'm like I'm gonna get rid of this. I'm gonna get rid of this.

Speaker 1: 1:50:46

They're gonna write me up because I was speeding so you got a cop laying in an ambulance behind you with a gunshot wound to his stomach and you're escorting him and you're worried about the whole time. You're worried about getting written up.

Speaker 2: 1:50:57

Oh, I thought it was a fucking for sure thing. That is insane. It's 45 mile an hour. I'm going a buck 20. It's all my camera in-car cameras rolling, chest cameras rolling. I'm like these fuckers are going to write me up for this when our dude's bleeding out behind me and I'm trying to get him to the hospital.

Speaker 1: 1:51:12

That is insane. That that's what's going through your mind at that moment.

Speaker 2: 1:51:13

The first thing the whole way. I got there in under 10. Like I got there fast, I'm clipping. I blew the ambulance out of the water Like they're going as fast as they can go yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:51:37

And that's been in any situation. It's all about saving a life at that point. So we get to the hospital and he's not doing good. No, obviously. Yeah, he took a slug to the gut. He's not doing good, obviously. And they run him through the initial shit, shit and then he's got to go upstairs to I mean, it's surgery time. Yeah, this dude's shot in the gut and one of the nurses says you and you come with me. You have to go upstairs because I have to collect the evidence which is fragments inside of this dude's guts. So I'm grazing adam meat out. I got the whole smock, the face mask, the hair beanie, the shit over the boots, like I'm all blue. I got pictures on my phone. Are you at this moment like what the fuck is going on? Why the fuck am I going up here? Like I think I've had enough? So I'm sitting there with another dude. They got a catheter running through this dude's shit. He's knocked out. They cut him from here to here.

Speaker 1: 1:52:37

You're watching all this. I'm right there, dude. What was that like watching someone get gutted Fucked?

Speaker 2: 1:52:43

They are literally taking his intestines out like this, just throwing them on the table.

Speaker 1: 1:52:51

And this is a fellow officer.

Speaker 2: 1:52:53

Yeah, like I'm not friends with them, but we're on the same team.

Speaker 1: 1:52:56

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:52:57

Yeah, she's still in uniform. They got her stripped down.

Speaker 1: 1:52:59

No, he's naked.

Speaker 2: 1:53:01

Yeah, he's naked and they're taking his guts out and throwing them on the table. And then they're finding fragments, clink, clink, just like in the movies. Clink Really, yeah, throwing fragments in a cup. And I'm sitting there, standing there for hours as they're doing this. Oh, that took a long time. Being like, yeah, being like.

Speaker 1: 1:53:27

I knocked on that door two hours ago.

Speaker 2: 1:53:31

Just trying to do my job, not knowing that what happened, because I had no comms with anybody. I wasn't just randomly going to go knock on that door Like this lady's obviously crazy. I'm reading the Facebook post I'm going to fucking kill this bitch. Okay, I'm not getting any comms. Fuck, let's make contact. Like. Like, what are we here? What are we here for?

Speaker 1: 1:53:54

like, let's go get her so you have, you're, you're I mean you're watching this cop laying on this table getting his guts pulled out because he's got shot from a woman that you knocked on the door two hours prior. Like, are you processing life at this point? Are you re rethinking everything?

Speaker 2: 1:54:08

I'm standing there looking like miss chin or whatever her name is, from gray's anatomy. I took a selfie. That is on my phone and I sent it to my wife and as I'm standing there watching this dude's intestines get thrown out on the table, I'm like, yeah, that's all she wrote for your boy. That was it. I was like that's all she wrote for your boy, because don't forget about what I just told you about the conversation that my wife and I had before the night before. What happens if I get shot? What happens if I have to shoot somebody? Nobody's gonna give a fuck about me. I'm going to jail. You think people are gonna show up at my hospital bed? Officer geiger man, we're so sorry what happened. Thanks for your service, but we know you got your leg blown off. When can you come back to work? Nobody was going to be there for me. That's sad. And then that happened. The next call, not towards the end of the shift the next day, the next call that I went on. Dude, that, my friend is a God moment.

Speaker 2: 1:55:11

If you ignore that, you're dumb. I don't know what. I don't know what else to say. You're dumb.

Speaker 1: 1:55:19

So how long was it until you put in your I called off sick the next three or four days.

Speaker 2: 1:55:24

I wasn't sick. No, no, fuck you, I'm not coming to work. No, hell, no, cause nobody knew that I was even up there. That was the most messed up thing. I'm watching our boy get his guts thrown out on the table. When I just knocked on that door two hours beforehand because nobody would communicate with me on, hey, how should we go about dealing with this crazy lady? I'm watching this happen. Nobody called me over the next three days. Hey, how you doing? Really Nobody.

Speaker 1: 1:55:58

Not one person reached out Nobody. Yeah, that's a sign it's time to go at that point.

Speaker 2: 1:56:03

Nobody called me dude, nobody. I called in sick the next three days, I think it was, and then I had three days off. Obviously, we worked four times no one checked on you.

Speaker 2: 1:56:13

No, no leadership buddy nobody, dude. And I show up the next day with a fancy letter and I can read that for you if you'd like. I mean, if you want to share it, you're more than welcome. I showed up with a fancy letter and I handed it to whoever it was that I could hand it to, which basically said it's been real, it's been fun, but it hasn't been real fun. And I gave him my two weeks or whatever, and I was just planning on using sick time for those two weeks, but I was trying to be professional for whatever reason. And he said you're good, Don't worry about it Like you're done, I was like okay, cool.

Speaker 1: 1:57:02

No shit.

Speaker 2: 1:57:03

I went back to the freaking office and I parked my car and, as they said, we'll call you in a couple of days and give you a date and time to turn your shit in.

Speaker 1: 1:57:14

That was it. That was it, dude. Yeah, so they didn't even let you ride out your two weeks, they were ready. That's crazy.

Speaker 2: 1:57:22

I wonder what triggered all that to turn on just to have your number pulled like that it was, um, I don't know, they were driving by my house because we worked 410s and there was an overlap. Yeah, they were driving by my house, so we'd be on shift like another hour and a half while, like I was on a detail. B detail would be working okay, and everybody uses that time for paperwork. They'd go downtown to the station and do all their paperwork and basically just dick off and tell war stories. I would never do that because one I don't need the distraction, especially when I need to focus on my report writing. I would park outside my house and do my reports right there. Your, your number doesn't get called. You're off duty technically, you're just doing paperwork. Yeah, that was frowned upon.

Speaker 1: 1:58:15

Really.

Speaker 2: 1:58:15

They would drive by my house to see where I was, Knowing damn well where I was. We have GPS in the car dude.

Speaker 1: 1:58:21

So you're saying how do they not track you guys?

Speaker 2: 1:58:22

Yeah, Having GPS in the car. That's wild. The same guy that used to do that. I should have arrested him. He was a sergeant. I rolled up, His wife called the freaking cops on him. This guy's a sergeant. His wife called the cops on him because she was worried that he was going to do something dangerous like shoot the kids up or whatever. He's trying to flee the scene. He's drunker than a billy goat. When I pull up, Hammered.

Speaker 1: 1:58:52

He's in a vehicle like actively like in drive, sergeant, so-and-so.

Speaker 2: 1:58:54

like, let's, I'll follow you back to the house. Like, let's settle this. Another sergeant shows up and tells me to go kick rocks.

Speaker 1: 1:59:04

Oh, and, they handled it, they handled it, they handled it. Really One of those departments, huh.

Speaker 2: 1:59:09

Yeah, they handled it. And guess what, when I tried to access that report, no report. It's locked, I could have hooked him up for drunk driving. His wife was worried that he was going to kill her. It's on body camera. I didn't, so you just didn't play the game. Oh game, oh dude, I was so bad at playing the game yeah, that's.

Speaker 1: 1:59:35

That was a big reason I got out of the military. I couldn't play it. I was some people are built for it and some are just not. No matter what, we got to swim against the grain and that's so. What happened to the woman?

Speaker 2: 1:59:51

shot the cop um, I was listening to it on the radio the whole time. Super embarrassing for the department. Um, we had multiple shots at her in terms of opportunities where guys on the sniper team were, you know, hideout in a neighboring trailer, on a roof or whatever. I got her Clear shot. Give me the go Stand by, subject no longer in picture, or whatever they would say. And that counted three of those where we got a beat on her. Ready, when you are, give us the go Stand by, yeah, she moved. That happened three times. Um, finally, they just quit and they gave up our SWAT team in our department and they called in like Helena's SWAT team I think maybe it was either Helena or Bozeman they drove down and they um brought like a fire truck with them and they hosed her out with like 30 degree water. So they handled it. We gave them our trash and they just were like what the fuck are you guys doing? Like this is easy, just get her out. Oh shit, yeah, so they handled it.

Speaker 1: 2:01:06

That's insane.

Speaker 2: 2:01:07

Yeah, I'm trying to find this letter because it's this. I want you to hear it because this is the tone, this is how. This is how fed up I was.

Speaker 1: 2:01:18

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:01:19

I'll leave out some names, okay. So April 3rd 2020 said to whom it may concern, april 3rd 2023 will be my last day of employment with the Billings Police Department. It should also be noted that I will use the remainder of my sick leave and comp time until this date. When leaving my previous department, typing a letter of resignation was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I was surrounded by a group of true leaders who genuinely cared for one another here, not so much. Another here, not so much. This letter should come to no surprise to anyone, as both parties will be. Most will be much better off without each other. I would like to thank captain blank, sergeant blank, and then I named three other officers for staying true to themselves, having my back and truly understanding who Tyler Geiger is. As for the remainder of leadership, you probably know where I stand. Tyler geiger, really, that's how fucking pissed I was. That's your. That's your final goodbye. That's fuck you without saying fuck you joke dude, damn dude.

Speaker 1: 2:02:25

I'm sorry to hear that but it all worked out.

Speaker 2: 2:02:28

Freaking golden what are we doing now, having fun yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:02:33

How did you transition? I mean, okay, now you got to go into survival mode.

Speaker 2: 2:02:37

You just lost your career.

Speaker 1: 2:02:39

So then know what?

Speaker 2: 2:02:40

It was survival mode big time. So I had started a podcast in 2021 with a friend at the time. Long story short didn't work out with him. Kind of sounds like your situation was maybe similar, all have similar been down those roads. Yeah um, that was only like 20 episodes in. We were both working on the department at the time and it was just an excuse where we could bullshit talk hunting like cool once a week. Awesome, 20 episodes, a good chunk, not bad right um, long story short, didn't work out with him.

Speaker 2: 2:03:09

No hard feelings at all. Yeah, um, we hosted the show together and I was like, fuck, dude, like this is fun. I like doing this. I can run this by myself easily. So I started interviewing people, started interviewing people, having fun, making connections, hearing stories, telling stories, learning right, I'm a student helping people that listen very, very fun. And then I did that for a year and a half or so when I was still working the PD and then during that time I have a really good background in health and wellness.

Speaker 2: 2:03:37

Man, I don't have one of those stories where I was 75 pounds overweight, got my shit together and now I'm a coach. Nothing wrong with those people, good on them for getting it back on track. But that's not me. I've always been dialed. That's just who I am. That's how I was raised and had some really good coaches and mentors in my life that helped me be who I am today. I've always been on that route. All my buddies would know that, so they'd come to me dude, can you train me? Can you give me some workouts? Yeah, sure.

Speaker 1: 2:04:07

I got you.

Speaker 2: 2:04:11

Trying to get better. You're married now You're getting chubby. I got you dude For sure, so I started making them workouts. They were loving it. They're seeing results. This is really cool. Like I'm helping my boys. Okay, Sweet, Well, maybe I can make a living doing this Right.

Speaker 2: 2:04:23

Like I don't know, I think I could do it. So I rebranded the podcast into what it is now, which is knock performance, and then I tied coaching in under that brand, which is knock performance, and now I coach. I primarily focus on hunters, guys that want to get out West and go run ridges, guys that are already out here that are doing that, that struggle putting on seven to 10 miles a day You've done it right. That struggle putting on seven to 10 miles a day You've done it right. Um, in my opinion, it's not required to be in killer shape to go out West, but it's not going to hurt your cause. Yeah, it's going to make it definitely more enjoyable. Um, so I started coaching guys and I invested in myself, spent seven grand on a coaching school that I went to. How to start your own online fitness business, went through that, excelled, got all the bullshit paperwork that nobody cares about, right? Nobody cares. That I have certs nobody cares.

Speaker 2: 2:05:19

Never been asked, but once no, nobody cares oh, you have actually had someone ask one time, yeah, actually pretty recently, I forget who it was, but I was like, yeah, I got a couple certs, but like I've just been doing this shit since I was 16. Yep, so yeah, did that. Obviously didn't make any money, never do For the longest time. And I'd be lying if I told you that I wasn't working random side jobs, security stuff, driving out to Kalispell getting 1099 with some bullshit security company. I got bills to pay dog I do. And my wife was working two corporate jobs, double dipping at that time. Okay, bringing in bank Carrying us While I'm trying to turn this dream into a reality. I got no insurance. I got no paycheck. I'm man enough to say that my wife held us down. There's nothing wrong with that. And I just said I got no paycheck. I'm man enough to say that my wife held us down big time. There's nothing wrong with that. And I just said this on a previous podcast that I was on. But that's what it was Period Like. She carried us, dude. So started just marketing.

Speaker 2: 2:06:29

I had no idea how to market, ended up getting my first client for X amount of dollars for three months.

Speaker 2: 2:06:35

He paid me in full and I made 600 bucks in one phone call and I ran upstairs. I had a studio downstairs where I would work out of, where I would do the pod and stuff and I ran upstairs like a kid on Christmas I was like I just got my first legitimate client, not a friend. This guy does not know me and I don't even know if on Christmas I was like I just got my first legitimate client, not a friend. This guy does not know me and I don't even know if he knows that he's my first client. I don't know, I'll see him next week or next month at the expo. But yeah, I was like holy shit, I think I can do this. And then client, and then client, and then big podcast guest, and then client, and then client, and then big podcast guest, and then meet this person. This person helps me. I make a connection here, just head down like going, and now it's becoming very, very real.

Speaker 1: 2:07:25

Good for you.

Speaker 2: 2:07:26

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:07:27

It's cool when the ball starts to roll. Yeah, it's cool when the the ball starts to roll. Yeah, and it's it feels really it's.

Speaker 2: 2:07:37

It's hard to explain. You can't stop this ball, even if you wanted to it just makes it fun.

Speaker 1: 2:07:41

You know it's a grind and there's some dark times and you know, and it's there's some struggles and we've all been through, but that's what makes when you get another client and that client refers a client and he refers to and you're like, holy fuck, like this is working and such a good feeling.

Speaker 2: 2:07:59

I've built the whole thing. Everybody's like man, how do you, how do you build a business like how do you get this podcast guest? Like you got cam hands on your podcast. How would you do that? He doesn't do podcast. I'm just me, I am not an internet personality. I am just tyler. The first time you and I talked on the phone you knew right away that you and I were kind of in alignment. Yep, I'm the same way on this podcast, am I not?

Speaker 2: 2:08:28

from the first time you talked to me on the phone. I've been doing this for three, four years, like with my brand and this podcast, am I not? From the first time you talked to me on the phone? I've been doing this for three, four years, like with my brand and this podcast. I've told my story, 170 something episodes. People can relate to me because authenticity is very refreshing. It is when you find it, and when you find it, you don't forget it because it's so rare to find nowadays that's why people listen to my show.

Speaker 2: 2:08:51

That's why people listen to my show. That's why people choose to book a call with me and work with me for an extended period of time, because what they get with me is exactly what they were hoping for. I'm just me. There's no secret, dude.

Speaker 1: 2:09:06

I feel there's more longevity with that too.

Speaker 2: 2:09:08

You don't have to be anything that you're not you don't because then you're forcing it and then it turns into work and once that happens and the it just kills it. It just kills it, man, and it's been so fun and I think it's easy for people to put me in a box and Tyler's his boss. He gets to fuck off whenever he wants. You get to go hunt when you want. No, no, I took six calls yesterday driving to Boise, idaho, pulling over on the side of the expressway.

Speaker 2: 2:09:42

Yep 12-hour days Every day. I don't take off days. There's too many people depending on me.

Speaker 1: 2:09:50

You can't when you work for yourself. That's the funniest part is when you think like, oh, I want to become self-employed.

Speaker 2: 2:09:57

And you don't know until you start to get that ball rolling like you're talking about. I had no idea how much work this was going to be. I don't know what the fuck I'm doing, but I'm doing it. I'm learning along the way. I have some really good business mentors in my corner. Good, my dad's been an entrepreneur since 1989. He helps me tremendously.

Speaker 1: 2:10:17

How much do you feel the mentors help when it comes to things like this Everything?

Speaker 2: 2:10:22

Everything, and that's why, when I get a young buck on the phone who's 21, 22, 23, 24, this is a huge opportunity for you, dude. Yeah, the fact that you even answered the call is a really big deal, because you're young enough where you can take a chance and invest in yourself and have a mentor. Ie me, that will help you tremendously. I love coaching the young guys, dude.

Speaker 1: 2:10:49

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:10:49

Because working with me, me dude, it's not just hey, let's eat ribeye steaks and, freaking, throw some weight around yeah nah, like we'll put muscle on you, we'll lose weight, whatever you want to do I don't care, so you're tailoring it to your client thousand percent of what, each thousand percent. But what they don't really realize until they get in the door is that all that shit's like, that's part of it, that what's going to happen, but it's more mindset and lifestyle than anything else Like you got to have this.

Speaker 2: 2:11:15

A lot of these guys, don't? I just put a thing up on my story today. Guy talking talking sent me a random text. He's 24. Dude, I don't know where I'd be without you. I knew what I wanted to do, I just didn't know how to get there. Like I owe you so much this, that and the third, like you just made my day, dude, thank you. He's like I got. He's like I'm getting out of my own way. I'm not questioning everything now. He's like I got big news to tell you on Sunday when we talk.

Speaker 1: 2:11:37

Okay, cool. So you like a more life coaching as well? Advice, mentor, or is it just fitness? Yeah, yeah. If one of my guys texts me on a Tuesday saying, hey, do you got 20 minutes to talk? Yeah, give me five minutes, I'll call you. It's extremely hands-on, good, yeah, and I feel, with that business style, I mean that's, that's what's going to help so much and that's your. I mean, if you're producing and you're being that personal with your clients, they have nothing to do besides speak positive about it and their experience and that just trickles and that just goes to the next and the next and the next.

Speaker 2: 2:12:16

I tell guys, man, when I talked to him for the first time and, um, a lot of them don't even know me, maybe they've listened to a podcast or two and they're like hey, I heard you here, I heard you there, I was on your website so I wanted to book a call, or whatever it may be. I tell them all the same thing. I'm like, let's say, john, this isn't me being arrogant, this isn't me being cocky, self-centered, anything like that, but there's a reason that I can do this full-time. I don't have a boss. This is what I do all day, every day. This is my business, this is my job. Reason why it's my full-time gig in only two years.

Speaker 2: 2:12:51

There's two reasons my guys get results and I'm really, really fucking good at it good for you, man good for you, so it's up to you I'm never going to pressure anybody into doing something that maybe they can't afford, or maybe that's not in the cards for them right now, or if they don't see the value. Everybody's on their own wavelength for sure and fine. I'm not hurting for leads. I won't work with anybody. I want to work with somebody who knows what they want when they want it.

Speaker 1: 2:13:21

And the majority of your clientele are hunters.

Speaker 2: 2:13:24

Oh hunters, um, yeah, 95% Really, yeah, yeah, that's my. You know, that's my niche. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 95% Really, yeah, yeah, that's my niche.

Speaker 1: 2:13:30

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:13:31

Yeah, yeah, there's some guys that aren't, but the majority of them are.

Speaker 1: 2:13:35

Nice yeah, because they're just able to relate to you, mm-hmm.

Speaker 2: 2:13:38

There's guys I've trained guys that are in better shape than me, dude, they just want to get ready for the mountain Mm-hmm. I've also trained guys that are 350.

Speaker 1: 2:13:53

plus Yep, that's pretty awesome. So how do you enjoy it now? How do I enjoy it? Yeah, I mean compared to Nashville and everything else. I mean, Phil, you made the right decision.

Speaker 2: 2:13:59

A thousand percent. Yeah, this is what I was here to do, man.

Speaker 1: 2:14:01

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:14:02

Yeah, it's a way for me to help and give back by not wearing a bulletproof vest every day, and I can work from anywhere. Dude, I worked yesterday. It's cool. It's a lot of work, it's a lot of responsibility. There's a ton of people depending on me, dude. Yeah, it's a lot and each one of them's different. All of them, some of them sound the same. Right, I got dudes from bc um those canadians. They all sound the same so um, but everybody's story is different, man, everybody needs something different everybody's story is different, man.

Speaker 1: 2:14:31

Everybody needs something different. Everybody's different. Every person's body reacts different, sheds fat differently, in different times and paces, and you have to tailor that to every single one of your clients, every one of them. Good for you man?

Speaker 2: 2:14:43

Yeah, every one of them. Is that a lot of work? Hell yeah, Hell yeah. It is dude, but it's not work to me. Dude, I am fired up when that alarm goes off at 435 in the morning. Go hop in the cold tub. Go hit the gym. Shower, wife makes me food. I go downtown to the office that I rent, shut on there till 6 pm Loving it. Look at the clock it's like 530. I'm like that was a day just going, feels good. Huh, far too much coffee. But yeah, just going doing podcasts, like just really really having a good time with it.

Speaker 2: 2:15:15

Man like doing stuff like this yeah, like this is awesome so much fun.

Speaker 1: 2:15:20

Yeah, I, I enjoy it. It's you know, start. You don't know how anything is, you don't until you get into the guts of it. And then, once you get a little bit of the momentum and the taste and the feel for it, I love it. I could sit down with somebody and talk to them every day like a different person.

Speaker 2: 2:15:38

But imagine what it would be like You're 40 now. Imagine when you're 50, 55. The girls are growing up, they're out of the house, you guys are empty nesters and you're doing whatever it is that you're into Maybe smoking a cigar on the porch and you're like man, I wish I would have started that pod. I wish I would have started that business. Why did I stay at that job so long? They weren't treating me right? But you never did. Maybe you were scared. That's what it comes down to is fear.

Speaker 1: 2:16:10

It's huge.

Speaker 2: 2:16:10

Maybe you were scared. Maybe it comes down to his fear. It's huge. Maybe you were scared. Maybe you weren't sure if it was going to work. Gotta make, but at least you tried. You know what I think it is, man is I think that a lot of people are afraid to be broke for a little bit 100, you get comfortable we were fucking rock bottom, like my wife did really well, but she didn't carry those two jobs for an incredibly long time.

Speaker 2: 2:16:32

One of them ended very, very abruptly and then the other one ended pretty shortly after that. I'm out here chasing a dream. Wife isn't doing what she's been doing. I'm doing things that I shouldn't be doing. I am mentally an absolute disaster, dealing with panic attacks, depression, shit that I've never dealt with in my life, freaking out.

Speaker 1: 2:16:55

but I got out of it. That's what gets you out of it is being uncomfortable dealing with the times where you don't you don't know what's next. I mean I've been. It's so funny because people are always oh, it must be nice, must be. I hate that. I mean I love that, I it drives me.

Speaker 1: 2:17:14

I love when people say that dude I mean, I do because it's funny, right, but it's at the same time it's like, bro, like you know, they don't realize. There was a time my wife and I were, we were counting pennies, you know, to keep the lights on, yeah, and I had to borrow I'd call an old boss just for a loan, just to fucking get through the next week, you know. But those are the times that force you okay, like what, we can't live like this forever. Something's got something's got to break. And then that's when you start thinking outside the box, you start exploring other things and options and they lead you different roads and you see where they travel, man, and it's like. That's why it's.

Speaker 1: 2:17:56

I feel bad for guys that stay in positions. You know, I've talked about it a few times on here, I talked about it with James. You know why guys stay in, right, it's sad. I honestly find it very sad because you get the good old boy network and the brotherhood and I completely understand and respect it. But I feel like the majority of these guys, they're not happy. That's their life, yeah, and especially with the military man, you're so comfortable in the military, so comfortable. Everything's taken care of, full medical, your kids, your wife. Everything is just covered.

Speaker 1: 2:18:36

So why would you get out? You'd be a fucking idiot to get out of the military. But then I looked at it. I was like I'm a fucking idiot if I stay in. Yeah, yeah, I had that epiphany, it wasn't for me. And then you get guys who talk about it on here and they, oh, you're a quitter, you gave up. You should have made the difference, you should have been the difference. It's like this is the difference. This is me making the difference for myself. I'm not here to make it for everybody else. You can call it what you want, but man, getting out of the military and changing if you're miserable, you cannot bitch about it if you're not willing to change it.

Speaker 2: 2:19:14

I'm a firm believer in that. A lot of those guys, man, are. They only give you that, that backlash, because they wish that they could do that. That's and they can.

Speaker 1: 2:19:22

Though they can, they just choose not to because it's a comfortable situation, being uncomfortable is it sucks, sucks, so bad. You know when you're so bad figuring shit out and you're re re thinking everything on how you spend and cutting corners and trying to trim the fat on stuff, just because you don't have it anymore. But that's what you should take, that motivation like, okay, like I have these goals, let's get to it. And and once it's you do it, you're like like this is the perfect example. I look back and I look and we talked about it with her and I'll sit up here and like, fuck, we should have started this years ago.

Speaker 1: 2:20:03

Yeah, but you started it now exactly. You know, you started it exactly and that was the biggest, the biggest leap was just doing. And then when we had to bring it here, it didn't take wind out of my sails by any means, cause we had, you know, we were. I felt like we were had the ball rolling, but it was a huge setback. It was one of those the amount of money I mean to start a just the copy Cause you're not going to do anything.

Speaker 2: 2:20:28

half-ass, clearly, this place is sick. Thanks, this place is sick.

Speaker 1: 2:20:35

I don't think people get it, because I just had a guy here that's got a very successful podcast here in Idaho, a great guy. He comes in, he's like Jesus Christ, he's like this is nothing and I'm like I was so worried about it nitpicked.

Speaker 2: 2:20:46

It is sick, dude.

Speaker 1: 2:20:51

Thank you. Thank you, man. I really appreciate it. But it was getting it going, you know, and to be, but to be able to, I had the copy of production company, so this wasn't like, oh hey, we're just doing it with some gopros and a cell phone and we're gonna do it as long as we can, which? I look at people, god bro, I just I watch these people and I sent her the other day's guys just two cell phones on this little tripod and these little wireless mics and I'm looking at her, like you know. But I, I didn't want to take a step back, but we, you know, by starting fresh and starting new on our own. So we literally just copy pasted everything and had to figure it out along the way. But I mean, dude, that it sets you back. You wanted to roll into it.

Speaker 2: 2:21:28

That's the biggest thing, though, man, hey, we're doing this. That is usually the hardest part, at least for me personally Handing that letter in. Okay, fuck, that sucked. Here we go On to the next one, here we go. That's the hardest thing. Hey, I'm going to start this. You buy a sign. Sign, you buy some camp, like we're going. Now, that's the hardest part. Stuff starts showing up. Just get it going. Hey, this is becoming real. Dude, you're not gonna land your dream.

Speaker 2: 2:22:03

Guest week one month one month two I started my podcast with a that pocket recorder I was telling you about I started it with that. We set it on the table and it was horrible. Go listen to episode one, horrible dude. Yeah, I guess we're doing the podcast thing like echoing and like terrible yep. But hey, you're here, go listen to the last one. Pretty fucking good, yeah, yep, pretty fucking good. That's what makes it fun, man, dude, it's evolving and being able to grow.

Speaker 1: 2:22:34

See the differences. I get to watch her and the editing and you know there's some things we're going to dial in still, but it's just that's part of the growth you have to constantly be changing it up, like improving on something right.

Speaker 2: 2:22:46

Yeah, like I mean what? What's a good example? Like you got great mics, like, like the mics you said Our lighting.

Speaker 1: 2:22:52

That's our next goal here Is the lighting bad?

Speaker 2: 2:22:54

Absolutely not. But hey, there's room for improvement In your eyes. I think it's great, Like I wouldn't change a thing.

Speaker 1: 2:23:00

Thank you.

Speaker 2: 2:23:01

But I wish you know, can I? Rent this spot out a couple times a week dog. I'll live downstairs in the basement but, like you, constantly have to be Making adjustments, you have to keep up with everybody else. Your show reminds me a lot of like Sean Ryan and I'm sure you've taken a lot of pieces from his show, at least. Maybe you won't admit it, but I think you have Kind of the way you structure it, the lighting, how it looks, how you structure the show.

Speaker 1: 2:23:25

Honestly no.

Speaker 2: 2:23:26

Really.

Speaker 1: 2:23:27

Yeah, I love his show, huge fan. But no, like the wife, she fought me tooth and nail on both of these walls why it's got a clash, because she actually we're going to go with this Women right, they're great.

Speaker 2: 2:23:45

What are you talking about? They're great. I love it. I love them.

Speaker 1: 2:23:48

But she was like this is what I'm envisioning. I'm like I just need to fucking record, babe. Yeah, she said you record. I got an old backdrop. We ordered this shit three years ago because we thought we were going to do a podcast then. So I ordered some lick and stick, fucking barn wood.

Speaker 2: 2:24:03

Yeah, falling out halfway through the episode.

Speaker 1: 2:24:06

Did it again.

Speaker 2: 2:24:08

No.

Speaker 1: 2:24:10

It's happened. So you know, and she's like order this soundproof wall. And I'm like cool. And she's like we're going to do it this way. But yeah, we honestly just pieced it together and then she'll never admit that. She kind of threw a bitch fit. I had my buddy Kyle come over. He's on one of the episodes as a correctional officer. He has his own construction. Like he has his own construction, like he does everything, like finish work and all that. And I was like all right, come over, we play with the idea of it. She's like it's going to clash. I don't, I don't think it's going to work and I'm like I don't give a fuck, it's my podcast. She's like fine, do whatever you want. And yeah, we slapped like this.

Speaker 2: 2:24:47

yeah, this works and so I meant that because, like it's got, I feel like it's that vibe. Thank you, I'll take it. I'll take it like I like it a lot I'll take that compliment all day.

Speaker 1: 2:24:56

I I wish I had this set up in studio, but dude's crushing it. But yeah, I mean, I like his editing. That's the type of stuff that I would 100 admit to wanting to copy when we get dialed, and but that dude's got a full production company and it's like I I got my 16-year-old daughter and we're watching his shit.

Speaker 2: 2:25:14

Who's crushing it, by the way, crushing it?

Speaker 1: 2:25:16

And then I'll get compliments or people will write us and be like dude, you're my new favorite up, so you just took over Sean Ryan's spot. I'm like fuck, I'm nowhere, even near and I show her it. I'm like Christy, these guys have production teams and editors and all this shit. I'm like I got you.

Speaker 2: 2:25:36

We're making it happen. You got more than I got dog. You're looking at the whole band right here For sure, I feel you I got lucky.

Speaker 1: 2:25:41

I don't want to say I got lucky, but I got very lucky with her. She was kind of forced into this. Since we homeschooled, I was like, hey, guess what, yep, I'll pay you. You don't have to go work somewhere, some bullshit ass boss, you can learn to work for me, you can work for anybody. You're going to learn a lot, and she has man, and it's been. It's been fun being able to like, have that. It's cool, so it's, it's been interesting.

Speaker 2: 2:26:01

I like looking at, are you familiar with, like Mr Ballin.

Speaker 1: 2:26:04

Oh yeah, we were one of his organizations that he came out of nowhere. I've seen him, known of him. I would love to have him sit down and have a conversation. Yeah, you and me both, yeah. So he just literally reached out randomly and he found our organization and they made a very nice donation. It went to actually helping couples in Africa. We did a couples therapy over there, a rafting trip, and it's sponsoring a clinic we're doing law enforcement versus veteran shooting clinic like a long-range shooting course. So, yeah, I just out of nowhere but I've seen him and I was like God, who is this guy? Then he popped up and I dug into him and I'm like holy shit You've seen like his YouTube stuff then.

Speaker 2: 2:26:45

Yeah, see how nice, it looks right. Yeah, yeah, go watch episode one. Oh yeah, trash. Yeah, I love looking at stuff like that though right, I went back to the original sean ryan.

Speaker 1: 2:26:53

Shit, I'm like right, fuck, I'm like kid, we're good, we're already ahead of that. That's what I mean, we're ahead of it.

Speaker 2: 2:26:58

But people don't look at it that way. No, they don't right. Look at your first episode in that room that you showed me earlier today.

Speaker 1: 2:27:06

So whatever, look at this I, we left the, the first one we did here with Kyle that came and helped build this, and we looked at it. I'm like, fuck, we should do it again. You know like, but I'm like, no, it just shows. And then people, holy, fuck, dude, your evolution in just four episodes, you know. Then we had a firefighter.

Speaker 1: 2:27:25

She came out McKenzie, it was Kyle's, the lighting was a little bit better, but we fucked the audio. Then hers, the audio was fucked, but it was just super horrible. And then we sit down and we're like, okay, like, how do we color correct this? And yeah, and so it's just, it's constantly. It's something. That's what makes it fun. It makes it fun today. How many problems are we running today? Before we started, yours, the camera's not working, like she can't even hit the record button. I'm facetiming, facetiming dude trying to walk us through how to set a camera up. Yeah, we don't. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to put you on blast like that. We'll blame it on mom, but you know, it's just, I enjoy it, man. I think anybody that is even considering anything, even if it's just a side hustle, start it start it.

Speaker 2: 2:28:09

You have to dude because you don't like it's one of my hustle. Start it, start it. You have to dude Cause you don't like it's one of my biggest fears man getting old and being like fuck. I shouldn't did that.

Speaker 1: 2:28:18

You know what, coming from a guy that's older than you, I, you exactly, you were me to the T. I've swim against the fucking stream on everything I am not going to be. One of my biggest things that I've told myself my whole life is I will never be on my deathbed and be laying there and be like fuck. I wish I would have done that. I'll have regrets. That's just life. I should have done things differently and mature, maturity, wise and just in different stages of your life. But, dude, like we're not here, for very long.

Speaker 2: 2:28:49

you get get one crack at this thing, dog Just do it man Period Do it, you get one crack at it, man.

Speaker 1: 2:28:55

And people were worrying about failing. I don't want to say Wild Chaos failed. It was just shit timing between my buddy and I and we both started two new chapters of our life while we thought this was going to go and I took it as a failure for a while. And you know, I kind of sucked. You know, especially when you have I don't want to say an image like I have this big fucking following or anything, but people watch and people don't care about the success, they care about the failure and that's what they remember and that's what they talk about. So then I'm like fuck dude, I failed, like this sucks.

Speaker 1: 2:29:28

And then, yeah, when we rela, we relaunch this. I told the wife, I go, I don't have an option, I can't fail the same business twice. And we launched it and that was it. Man, I just have to stick to it. I don't know, I get to meet really cool people and obviously I'll always kick myself like god. I don't even know where we would be if we would have started when we started. But to be able to I mean, we just looked up our first episode was February 17th or something like that.

Speaker 1: 2:29:55

So, we're almost at a year and we had to take a little break in a few months, get everything settled and learning, but yeah, we got right back into it.

Speaker 2: 2:30:02

No, you guys are crushing it, thank you. And you did it right, Like you started it.

Speaker 2: 2:30:06

Yeah, and, and as long as you don't turn it into a job, that's the most important thing, and good on you for hiring your daughter to take care of some back-end stuff. That is very, very time-consuming For me. I want things done a certain way. I have a really hard time giving up control. So do I Right? But in order to grow… you have to fire yourself, you have to fire yourself. You have to fire yourself.

Speaker 2: 2:30:31

My wife does a ton of backend stuff for me. I got a couple of guys that do a lot of backend stuff for me, stuff that I simply don't have time to do. It's up to me to train them. And hey, these are the expectations of what I want something to look like, so on and so forth. But I could be this big forever forth. But I could be this big forever. But if I would give up a little bit of control and maybe contract a couple guys to help me out with some back-end stuff, I can be this big yep right every time, I feel, and one of the biggest learning lessons there for us was our organization.

Speaker 1: 2:31:07

We fought it for years, years because I'd watch all these other charities and how reps were representing that organization. I traveled I mean, the first few years of us launching our charity, I was on the road 280 days a year. That's tough, dude. I was hitting every expo, every trade show, driving vets all over the country. It was rough on us, but I would go and meet these other organizations that were growing and I'd see their reps and I'd see these reps. Just I'm like god, if somebody talked about my organization like that, I would be devastated.

Speaker 1: 2:31:40

So we kept everything and we nurtured it and was our organization. We held on to it, and once the wife and I were like we got us, we're growing too much, we can't do this ourselves, and so, as we'd start bringing people on, I mean you just slowly start growing. And that's a battle, though, is getting people to be able to let go. She's had to learn it working for me. This is how I want it. There's no ifs, ands or buts. If I tell you I want it this way, it's fucking done that way, and she's just worse than her mom with being stubborn, so she's had to learn to work, and I've had to learn to work with her I'm like okay, can my wife's like you can't talk to her like that.

Speaker 1: 2:32:18

She's still a teenage girl and I'm like you know, I want to be the drill instructor. Get it done. This is how I want it, no sins or butts. But then you know, you got to learn to work with, obviously, employees and staff and they're not always going to click. But I told her I'm like you, work for me, you're going to deal with asshole bosses, but they're never going to talk to you like I'll probably have. But it came to figuring out cameras and the record button.

Speaker 2: 2:32:39

So in the. What's really what I've noticed is that I filled a couple positions again back end stuff, yup. But those positions for these said guys are a huge opportunity for them. It's a blessing for them. Some of these guys prayed for a situation like they're in now. Those are the people that I want helping me with things Absolutely, where they take this as seriously as I take it. They care about this just as much as I care about it. Like, don't holler at me if you're trying to make an extra two grand dude. It's hard as I take it. They care about this just as much as I care about it. Like, don't holler at me if you're trying to make an extra two grand dude.

Speaker 2: 2:33:16

It's hard to find people. It's so hard, dude, it's hard to find people that have the same passion as you, because, like it piddles out real quick if it's not their dream, because, like we said, man, the ball's rolling and you can jump on and you can be a part of it or not, but the opportunity is here for you, and the people that are helping me do some things behind the scenes with this company are awesome.

Speaker 2: 2:33:36

Good man Are really, really awesome, and I'm very fortunate to have them yeah, Very much so I know that without them, I would not be where I'm at period.

Speaker 1: 2:33:45

A lot of people. They don't ever realize that I've worked for a lot of different businesses, I guess, from all different sizes and levels, and that's one of the biggest things, the failures that I see a lot of businesses that have potential is appreciating what they have, taking care of, who they have working for them. Because if morale's up I mean you see it in the departments If morale's up, fuck dudes will go to war and back forth for you. They have no problem Without asking forth for you. They have no problem Without asking one single question.

Speaker 1: 2:34:14

They have no problem crawling in the trenches, but if you're, they don't get the. And it's weird, you know, especially with grown-ass men you got to coddle some of their fucking balls, sometimes Like, come on, buddy, come on. And it's hard as a business owner, a leader, I mean, but you have to learn your staff. And to some people there's the fire and forget guy where you're just like, hey, here's, get it done, and every week that's just getting forwarded to you. Then you have another guy's like, okay, this is what I need done. When this is done, finish this, come to me with this and. But that's just how they operate. And once you can learn how your staff are, it makes life so much easier.

Speaker 2: 2:34:46

And like dude, three years ago I was riding around in a police car. I've never been an entrepreneur before, I've never started a business before, I've never hired anybody before, I've never cut anybody a check, before I've never interviewed anybody before, I've never coached anybody before. What Isn't life wild when you chase it, bro, if I can do this shit.

Speaker 1: 2:35:08

Stop it.

Speaker 2: 2:35:09

That's what I'm saying bro, I'm a fucking retard, come on.

Speaker 1: 2:35:14

Here we are, here we are. There's no excuse, dude. I tell people how do you do it? I don't fucking know. Just do it, that's it. I'm not one of these life coaches who's got to get this. Make a plan, do it Fucking, start buying. Start buying shit, start getting the domains, get the socials, just do it. That's the only way, and you start chipping away at it. Things start happening.

Speaker 2: 2:35:37

The ball gets rolling and you're like, holy fuck, we're in it. And you'll be surprised how many people that you'll approach for advice that are more than happy to give it.

Speaker 1: 2:35:43

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:35:54

Because if somebody comes to me wanting to start a podcast or looking to get into coaching, guys, yeah, I'm not going to give them all the sauce. At least when it comes to like my business, you can get started. I'm going to get you started, dude, because I have been there for sure. That's why when I get some quote-unquote big guests that have maybe successful podcasts or well-known in said industry, whatever it is, yeah, they're doing me a solid. They've been where I'm at. They've been the little dude and you're the little dude. Until you're not the little dude anymore, you're next, I'm next. People can like that, people can hate that, but it's right in front of your face, dog. Every single day they see the wild chaos clips every single day.

Speaker 1: 2:36:23

I'm sure it's annoying, but fuck it. We ain't letting out the gas. I love you guys' shit we this shit.

Speaker 2: 2:36:32

We're all gas, no break. That's what it is you you give. You give people no option, have to, and that's what it is. That's all I've done. That's all you're doing. This is what it is. You don't have to like it, you don't have to follow it, you don't have to watch it and or listen to it. But here it is, we're rolling. Yeah, take that or leave it I've told her I go our.

Speaker 1: 2:36:45

My goal in the next four years is I want to be big enough, or at least have a name enough, that I could sit JD Vance down right there. That is my podcast dream. I want to sit down with the vice president and talk to him where he came from and what it was like being a Marine.

Speaker 2: 2:37:01

That's it. I have no doubt in my mind that you'll do that.

Speaker 1: 2:37:04

That is my. I can stop recording. I'm going to cut this shit and we're going to mail it to him.

Speaker 2: 2:37:11

As long as he agrees, I can stop recording pot, I'm going to cut this shit and we're going to mail it to him, as long as he agrees to do mine too, right? I actually would prefer, uh, trump, jr. Um, but I'll take either JD. You want to. If you want to roll the Billings, holler you want to hear a crazy Trump jr?

Speaker 1: 2:37:24

Sorry, of course we can. Probably we can save it for yours tomorrow, but save it for yours tomorrow, but it's a fucking wild one.

Speaker 2: 2:37:29

we'll save it for yours, okay, let's hold it.

Speaker 1: 2:37:31

Yeah, I, because I know the trump's junior and I've guided them and yeah, incredible people. But I got a hilarious story that I've never told before. It's a good one. But yeah, man, like that's, that's what I told her. I was like I just want to have a name just big enough that I can. I could have somebody on here like jd vance fuck that, that's my podcast goal. That's it when he's sitting here one day. I don't care how secret service we've got to hide a bunch of guns and shit because they're probably stuff stashed everywhere, but if he sits there one day, holy fuck, that's my holy grail for me.

Speaker 2: 2:38:03

But you want to know something about that? That's great. I'll reach in one more, and I have no doubt that you'll do that. Yeah, reach in one more and I have no doubt that you'll do that. Yeah, but you won't stop at that. Oh, absolutely, I got my dream guest, did you? Yeah, campaigns that's your dream guest, dude. Are you kidding me? No shit, dude, he. If I can have a guest that is perfectly tailored for my show, it's that guy. Yeah, good for you. I could have stopped at 150 episodes, I guess. Yeah, fuck that, I got a ton more people I want to talk to. That was really cool, but I'm not resting on that.

Speaker 1: 2:38:31

No, hell, no, oh God. No, are you kidding me? Yeah, if I can get him, I can get anybody. That's just my first. Yeah, I get it, that's just my goal.

Speaker 2: 2:38:37

Yeah, and you'll do it. There's no doubt about it. You'll do it.

Speaker 1: 2:39:03

That would. If there's a word for advice, any word for advice. If there's any advice that you would want young guys, law enforcement, shitty positions, anything just what's something you would like to share that if somebody has been in your shoes or going to be traveling in them, what do they need to know? What do they need to know? It's a piece of advice that you would give Okay, let's do this. Then what's a piece of advice that you would give your younger self if you can go back and change something? I'll answer both.

Speaker 2: 2:39:18

I mean, be true to yourself is what I tell me, yeah, yeah, and I've done nothing but that.

Speaker 1: 2:39:24

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2: 2:39:25

Yeah, like there's different iterations of me right. Like I'm a completely different dude than I was when I met my wife and we've been married three years now and we're together, I think, three or four before that Dude. I am so much different but I've always been me right. I've always always been me. I know exactly who I am. I've lost myself along the way.

Speaker 2: 2:39:55

But I've always came back and found it and made a better version of me. So that's what I would tell myself um, don't lose yourself. And I never did good, not for an extended period of time, at least. Not perfect, nobody is right. And then I guess advice to like younger guys, or maybe LEO guys or things of that nature, pretty much what we've been talking about the past 20, 30 minutes.

Speaker 2: 2:40:22

Man, it got to a point where I was so checked out that I was that girl cop that maybe, or maybe that guy who thinks he's all that that maybe my partner would have to worry about. That was me. At a point in time I was not in that shit at all. I roll up to a frigging call, half-ass it. Why am I here? What are we doing? Like? I guess I'll just cut you a citation Like one that's how I get hurt. Two, that's how you get hurt if you're on the call with me. I was not in it, dude. I asked morgan, I did not give a shit, I didn't. And I was not happy. I dreaded throwing on that vest every single day, dreaded it. At one point I didn't. I was stoked, ready to go. Yeah, let's change the world right, but it got to a point where I was not there anymore.

Speaker 2: 2:41:21

Outside factors that we talked about some self-inflicted, some self-inflicted things, some not. So jump you know, go for it, dude. You did, I did. Tons of people on this show have done that. Your daughter does stuff all the time that she's probably nervous and uncomfortable with fighting. Right, we touched on that a lot. I'm sure she shows up to matches, sometimes scared that she's going to get her ass whooped, but she shows up and she does it. Yeah, she might get beat sometimes, but she's also going to win a lot too. She's never going to win all the time, dude, but don't get old wishing that you would have tried something. You're supposed to be uncomfortable, you're supposed to be like, oh shit, what did we just do? Yeah, and I get it. Man, it's E, it's easy for me to say because newly married, no kids, you know that's a pretty decent situation. Like I don't have the responsibility of kids or tons of debt, like we don't have that. Yeah, but we still had bills Still life.

Speaker 2: 2:42:36

It was still life. So if I can do it, man, anybody can do it. I just wasn't scared to jump. But if you're going to jump, know that you ain't going to win right away.

Speaker 1: 2:42:50

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:42:50

You are going to be broke for an extended period of time, you will experience, possibly, some depression, some anxiety, some breakdowns. I cried, dude, more times over that three-month period of first leaving than I can count, literally mental breakdowns. Yeah, smoke and weed. I don't smoke weed, dude, like there's nothing wrong with that. If you do that, that's your prerogative. That shit was frying my brain and I was losing myself, losing myself.

Speaker 2: 2:43:23

Yep, I've never once understood before that time how people can just let's call it what it is and eat their gun. Right? I'm fed up. I've never understood that. I never thought about doing that, but I gathered a lot of understanding how somebody can go so far down that rabbit hole to end up doing something like that. If I would have kept that pace, dude, who knows where I would have been mentally. I was broken. Ask my wife, dude, crying on her shoulder like bawling. I'm pathetic, I'm a loser, like I've failed. I got nothing going for me. What the fuck am I doing? I understood how people can do that If I would have kept going down that path. Who knows, it gets scary, man, it does. But guess who's not there anymore.

Speaker 1: 2:44:19

Us. We got out of it.

Speaker 2: 2:44:22

And now we do really really well in all credits of God. Dude, I listened to that one sign that we talked about earlier and I took that. Dude, I'm reading my Bible every morning. I'm praying every morning Like God has blessed us Good, like point blank period. Sometimes I question why I don't feel like I'm deserving of everything that's come to us, but as long as I just give the credit to him and focus on my people, all of that comes back to us. Doesn't matter how much money you make, how many clients you signed, how many podcasts you ripped. As soon as you make it about you, you're done. You got to make it about everybody else. This conversation, yeah, it's great for your show, but hopefully it helps somebody. 100, that was in my shoes. Right, we're gonna do my podcast here tomorrow. Your story is for sure going to help my audience and I don't even care or know what your story is yet.

Speaker 2: 2:45:23

I don't know a whole heck of a lot about you right, this has been the tyler show for the past two, three hours I don't know how long we've been going yeah, um, and hopefully I have a lot to offer to folks and, but I know you will too. Yeah, everybody Save. This has been the Tyler show for the past two, three hours. I don't know how long we've been going. Yeah, and hopefully I have a lot to offer to folks, but I know you will too. Yeah, everybody has something to offer dude A hundred percent.

Speaker 2: 2:45:38

Even Reuben Buffalo, right off the street. Yep, everybody does so try to see the light in people and just jump. Yeah, you're not going to making it, but I don't want to make it, but I'm on my way, because once you do, it's over for you where? Do you go from there? It's over for you, right? Yep, that's it, so go for it dude.

Speaker 1: 2:45:57

Good for you, man, sticking true to your guns. There's not a lot of, not a lot of people you'll see, is you get into these industries? There's very. I think that's been one of my battles as far as getting in with groups and things like that. I've always just been true to myself, like what you see is what you get. Who I am on Instagram is exactly who the fuck I am. That's why I'm here, not and it's you'll see, man.

Speaker 1: 2:46:21

It's like I don't know what happens and people get fame or money and clout and followers, whatever, and it's just they start. You're like what dude? I remember who you were. We should do this together. You remember that motherfucker? Oh, it's not me anymore.

Speaker 1: 2:46:35

I get people change. Everybody's got to change for the good, but no, when you're selling yourself out for stuff, that's when you're you've lost it at that point. So it's it's nice to hear, it's refreshing. Stay true. No matter what, man, don't ever, I'll never, bend the knee, ever. You can't dude To nothing.

Speaker 1: 2:46:52

Like my wife, when we get in an argument, she'll look at me. She's like just bend the knee. I'm like fuck, no, even kissing her ass, it's making up. So it's like a running joke of the house. She's like all you got to do is bend the knee. I'm like than he is Shit and that's just how some of us are wired. I feel like. But at the same time it's a benefit, because it's this is who we are, this is how it's going to be. Love it or hate it. You're either going to fit in, you're going to know real quick if your community accepts it or not. And obviously, moving to Montana wasn't that tight. There's of people they just got to play the game. And if you're not good at playing the game, then you need to become an entrepreneur and do your own fucking thing. That's, that's the bottom line.

Speaker 2: 2:47:34

That's what it is. I'm good at playing my own game. I'm good at playing yeah, I'm good at playing our game I'm good at playing the family, I'm good.

Speaker 1: 2:47:41

I'm good at you know, this is my world, my game. I don't I don't need to go and kiss some dude's ass because I want to get promoted like that's just not me.

Speaker 2: 2:47:50

Hey, it's to each their own, everybody's you're not everybody's cup of tea, fuck no, and you're comfortable with that. Oh, I say that on every call. I get on dude every call. I say that to every guy. I am not everybody's cup of tea and I'll give you x, y and z examples why I'm not. What's your thoughts if I'm not your cup of tea? Been real dog. Thanks for yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:48:10

I have no problem walking the room and knowing everybody in there doesn't like me. They're going to remember me. Yeah Cool, I don't give a fuck. Don't like me for whatever reason, I can't. It's funny that he's mentioned campaigns because him and I we've had, we've gotten rounds. I've called them dude. He gets a lot of shit, rightfully so. I respect him. He did me a solid. I get it dude. He's one of my number one requested people because people know how I feel about him. You've got to have him on. I'd love to have a conversation with him.

Speaker 2: 2:48:39

He's solid. I like him. I like him a lot. He did me a solid. He was in my spot once.

Speaker 1: 2:48:46

Everybody, everybody's got to start, man. That's fun. When you do, I appreciate it, man.

Speaker 2: 2:48:53

Thanks for coming on. This was a favorite one I've done. I haven't done a crazy amount on other platforms.

Speaker 1: 2:49:01

It's just a conversation.

Speaker 2: 2:49:03

I like that you do the long-form stuff like two, three hours. I don't even mean to, she hates it, she's the one ripping it dad, she's the one splicing it together. I'm like no, but the. This is what people want. Like, if this would have went 60 minutes, I would have hopped in the car and been like what the fuck? Like, why did I come out here?

Speaker 2: 2:49:22

yeah, like dude, like we're just, I don't know how long it's been three, I think, on the dot from yeah, but like fly just hitting your stride at an hour, yeah, like if you really want to dive into it with somebody and I'm hearing this yeah, I got like.

Speaker 1: 2:49:38

I can't do a pod. I hear I watch these shows. I'm like hour and a half.

Speaker 2: 2:49:41

Yeah, fuck, I'm still in people's childhood at hour and a half. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, it's what I want to listen to, it's what I know a lot of people want to listen to, and I've tried to implement that. I've seen your stuff, I have been following you and I really, really enjoy what you've done, and I'm a student dude just like anybody here. I've been doing it a lot longer than you have, but that don't mean shit. Everybody's got something man, everybody's got something to offer.

Speaker 1: 2:50:07

I might learn something month two that might. You might learn month or year six Yup.

Speaker 2: 2:50:12

And like I'm a student, like as much as this was my story and this, that and the third. I also was paying attention to how you host the show. Right, that's the majority of the podcasts I listened to. I want to see how they host the show. You let me speak. You didn't cut me off. That's a sign of a good host You're genuinely interested in your guest. Cool.

Speaker 1: 2:50:34

Thank you, which is awesome.

Speaker 2: 2:50:35

I'm not trying to pump your tires, I'm just saying what you got going here. It's going to be really cool a couple years down the road when this thing is absolutely freaking massive Spotify top charts and my name's going to be on that wall. I'm really stoked about it. Yeah, name's going to be on that wall and I'm really stoked about it. Yeah, it is. I'm serious, I'm really really stoked about it and it's been um an honor to be here. We're so glad we did it and I'm coming back. I don't know when, but I'm letting you know I'm coming back on anytime you're rolling through it dude.

Speaker 1: 2:51:03

Well, thanks, man, I appreciate it. I appreciate all the kind words. It's uh, it's been quite the journey, but it's like we said a bunch of times on here you just got to make the jump and once you do, it's off to the races. You're doing it.

Speaker 2: 2:51:19

I appreciate you, thank you good.