Beachside Banter w/Bee

From Combat Zones to Coastlines: Pete Turner’s Stories of War, Podcasting, and Beach Life

• Bee Davis • Season 2 • Episode 5

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Episode Summary:
This week on Beachside Banter with Bee, we sit down with Pete A. Turner — an ex-Army spy turned veteran podcaster with over 2,000 episodes under his belt. Pete shares how his background in intelligence operations shaped his approach to storytelling, podcasting, and finding truth in conversations. From the dangerous streets of war zones to the chill vibes of palapa beach bars, Pete drops gems on how to show up, how to connect, and why Florida's beaches and food still win his heart.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
• What it’s really like to go from spy work to storytelling
• Why Florida wins the beach wars — and the food wars too
• How to book high-profile podcast guests with confidence
• Why in-person podcasting builds deeper connections
• How to find magic in unscripted conversations
• What paradise means when life slows down

Locations + Food Mentioned:
• California Beaches – San Diego’s Dog Beach, Portuguese Beach
• Florida Beaches – Anna Maria Island (AMI), Fort Lauderdale (Las Olas area), Florida Keys
• Other Mentions – Cabo San Lucas (West Side), Leadville CO
• Food Spots & Styles – Florida palapa-style beach bars, shrimp, rum runners, local no-sign food joints

Timestamps:
00:00 – Meet Pete Turner
From spy life to podcasting legend, Pete shares his unconventional journey, including 10+ years of podcasting and how it all began.

09:00 – East Coast vs West Coast Beaches
Bee and Pete dive into the great beach debate: California or Florida? They share personal picks like Portuguese Beach and Las Olas.

14:00 – Beach Bars, Shrimp Plates & No-Sign Restaurants
Pete shares why he prefers small, local beach bars in Florida over polished resort experiences — and where to find the best (and cheapest) eats.

22:00 – Pete’s Spy Past & Dangerous Missions
He opens up about intense moments in Iraq, from bullets hitting walls to conversations mid-firefight, and why fear isn’t part of his everyday mindset.

30:00 – Podcasting on the Road
How Pete sets up in people’s homes, including a memorable trip to Leadville, CO with Tour de France rider Floyd Landis and a visit to a dispensary.

39:00 – Booking Big Guests & Staying Curious
Pete explains how he lands high-profile interviews and why he seeks out challenging conversations that push both host and listener to grow.

52:00 – What Does Paradise Mean to Pete?
Spoiler: naps, beaches, and curiosity. Pete shares what a perfect day looks like for him — and why it's all about ease, not flash.

About Our Guest:
Pete A. Turner is a former Army spy and the host of The Break It Down Show, a podcast with over 2,000 episodes that blends deep-dive storytelling, culture, and intelli

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Speaker 1:

Hey, hey, hey, everyone, it's another episode of Beachside Banter with Bea. I'm Bea Davis, your host, and I am here today with Pete Turner. He is a man of a lot of accomplishments man. He did some missions in the combat zones. He was. Now he's a podcaster. He's got over 1,300 episodes on his podcast, which is amazing, something I definitely strive for. So, yeah, Pete, kind of take it away. Let everybody know who you are and what you stand for.

Speaker 2:

I appreciate it and I don't know where I put that fact that I haven't updated it, but we're over 2000 episodes now, 10 plus years, even today. Oh, it's crazy. It's crazy. And look, you've got to show. You know what it means. Like you and I now get to know each other. We get the vibe I get to give you guests, you get to give me. You know whatever it is, and even if we don't do any of that, even if this is just a one-time deal, just in that one time there's so much richness. So I'm a dude who likes to create value for people. I like to create things. I'm working on a number of projects. I've become a producer in general right, and so that's what I am now. I used to be a spy. I was a Captain Morgan model at one point. I've done a lot of things in my life.

Speaker 1:

but right now, today, I am lovely and thrilled to talk to you. Yay, I'm super excited. Wait a second. Did you say you were a Captain Morgan model?

Speaker 2:

I was, okay, you can't see, but I got my left leg up, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Do you have a tattoo on it?

Speaker 2:

No, no tattoo. Oh, I'm okay, okay, I got, we oh I was sitting like I was, captain morgan got it I miss it.

Speaker 1:

My bad totally flew over my head, y'all. That's all. I can't see my leg. That's the whole key. That's hilarious. All this stuff's okay. Yeah, out of all those things, like, I just feel like you've you've transitioned to all these different things. What do you feel like has been your favorite so far?

Speaker 2:

well, that's a tough question.

Speaker 2:

I know you know I love being a podcaster. I love it. But I also love being a spy, because I was very fortunate to get to do the job on the ground. A lot, hyper dangerous, really bad for me. It's beaten up my body and my soul and my mind, but so rewarding Really. And even though we lost, I'm just like I you know it was. It's such a defining thing in my life. The podcast is not a close second, but it is a very good B. You know a story for me and and I don't know we'll see what the next chapters are going to be I like to do a lot of different things, so who knows, maybe all this changed, but I can't seem to quit podcasting, so I'm just going to keep doing it and keep loving it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, there's something about it, man, I tell you what. So I had never had anything to do with it. I've listened to like Crime Junkie, I think, is the one that I listen to. It's one of those true crime ones and that's basically it. And so when my son proposed the idea to me, I was like I just don't know how I feel about this. And he's like mom, you can do it, all you're doing is talking to these people. It's fine. I'm like, okay, fine. So first couple I'm not going to lie to you, we're not good. They just weren't. We're not supposed to be. But, as you know, we're getting ready to hit.

Speaker 1:

We're on season two now and I think we're about 40 episodes deep or so are really starting to pick up, and it's a lot of fun. I've talked to so many amazing people that have these, these just incredible lives that I would never have met million years would have been like hey, let's do this or let's do that. Being like right now I'm talking to an ex-spy, y'all, that's pretty amazing. I'm super excited about it. Uh, but what? The best part about all this is that you've lived on both sides of the United States, right? So you've lived in California, lived in Florida and yeah. So, between the two, which one do you think would have been your favorite?

Speaker 2:

I'm from California, this is where I come home and I feel the most normal when I'd be gone abroad somewhere and I'd land, didn't live there or anything, but I'd land in the Bay. It's just like my body just knows it resets Everything's right there. But but I've lived in Kansas and loved it. I lived in Las Vegas and loved it. I've lived in a lot of places. I will say this there is a lot of great things about Florida that really resonate with me. Um, the one, the one thing that I can't is impossible to get over is the time difference. I'll adapt to it and everything else, but everything for me is off a little bit and I never could quite like walk in, you know, like just the TV shows. And look, I don't watch so much TV anymore. I don't watch any really sports really, but I did like I follow the A's and I follow the West Coast teams in general, Of course. So all of that is impossible, you know.

Speaker 1:

I'll agree to that. Yeah, so we went from. I've lived in St Louis my whole life, right? We just moved to Georgia about a month ago or so, so getting used to that, I don't even know what that extra hour does to me, but for whatever reason, eastern Standard Time does not work for me at all. I'm still living in Central Time, even though the majority of everything is here. I think that, yeah, I don't know what it is about Florida, but it is. I get that time thing. So what would be your favorite beach? And you said California is kind of where home is. Which one is?

Speaker 2:

your favorite that you've been to. All the beaches aren't as good here in California. You know, look and I'm not knocking California and like Oregon has wonderful beaches, but you have to wear a jacket, you know. And so there's something to the water is a lot more accommodating in Florida. You know, it's like if you get tired of laying on the beach in, like, say, miami or you know, fort Lauderdale, las Olas area, you can just walk into the water and it's so comfortable and you cool off. And you know, I just I love that. You can be in the water more. And I don't know, just the beaches are better. You know, you go on a beach out in the Keys. You know those little hidden beaches, god, they're wonderful, yeah, you know, and you can be alone on a beach and act like there's no one else in the world around you, and that's just not possible. In Southern California we have great beaches, they're wonderful and you can absolutely go to them, but beach for beach, mile for mile, nothing's beating Florida, nothing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I can agree with that. So we went to San Diego. They have a dog beach out there. I think my cousin used to take her dog and all that all the time and she's like, oh, this is such an amazing beach and I'm like it's beautiful, don't get me wrong, but there is something about having to wear, yeah, a jacket. Like I don't really want to go to the beach and wear a jacket. I want to go there, I want to be in a swimsuit, I want to get tanned. That's the whole reason I'm there. Right is, it's not that I didn't like it, it just it feels like it's a completely different world in California, for whatever reason.

Speaker 2:

Up to the north a little bit more. It's a little more severe, but there's a beach called Portuguese Beach. Okay, it's gorgeous and you just like you kind of have to climb down to get to everything. It's all beautiful, beachy wonderfulness. If you put more than your calf in the water, you're going to go slide down that water mountain and just be gone and never come back. It's so dangerous, you know, and Cabo was like that, on the west side of Cabo. If you've ever been there and tried to go in the water and you're like, oh, that's scary, like you wouldn't want to go hip deep because you don't know that you could get out, you know Right.

Speaker 1:

And so that's.

Speaker 2:

Well, the beach, and that's it, the fence beach.

Speaker 1:

I mean like I'll get into my ankles, but you know, I could see things and they're not gonna bite me and I have to worry about sharks or anything like that. So, right, yeah, yeah, I know my husband makes fun of me all the time because he's like I can't believe you love going to the beach but you don't ever get into the water. I'm like that's what they make pools for. You know, right there, I see the beach, I can get into the water. I'm like that's what they make pools for. You know, right there, I see the beach, I can get in the pool. It's no sharks, it's perfect.

Speaker 2:

You know, let me ask you this Cause when I lived in Florida we just lived a few minutes away from the beach hop in my Jeep, no top needed, you know, we just drive down and I got into beach shape where I could reliably lay still and just chill for two, three, four hours. Sometimes you gotta go to the bathroom or whatever, but I didn't have to move and it was just. It was so therapeutic. If I go to the beach right now, I'm not in beach shape. I'll have to, like, get up and do something, dig a hole or get in the water. You know I can't just lay and I'm serious, all of these things happen, right, I can't just sit there and just read a book or fall asleep or whatever. I have to do something.

Speaker 2:

Until until I, you know, go enough times and I don't live very far from the beach at all here, but it's a little harder, it's a little more crowded, it's harder to park. You're worried about maybe something happening to your, your car if you leave it. You know, because the neighborhood's not bad, but there's just a lot of people, right, right. And so by the time you get there, I'm just a little bit flustered. The beaches are wide, wide, wide, wide, wide wide. And so you're just like I finally found a spot. Yeah, god, I'm worried about like what is this? Yeah, now it's going to be. Or also, I got to worry about the toll on my parking spot because I had to pay to park.

Speaker 2:

You know, whatever it is, and I just I can't get used to all of that right, and I just I can't get used to all of that right, but it isn't one or two times and yeah. So I will say this about California beaches if you use the water, part of it is there's a lot of places where you throw on a mask or snorkel, spear gun, whatever and you can go out, have a whole new world experience there, come out and get on the beach, warm up, go back in the water. That also is incredible. So I mean, you know, it depends on what you want to do. There's nothing wrong with any beach, but there are definitely better beaches than other beaches.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so which one's got the better food? I know I knew this was going to be a stumper.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it is a stumper. I'm going to say Florida and this is my version of Florida, right? So I love the. You know, I guess I'll call it the Palapa style bar, you know, like, where it's just a bunch of leaves and some sticks and there's someone in there and they're tending bar at a cheap old beachside hotel. That was my favorite.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, these things are going away, but there's when you find those spots and you can just get up, hop over, support a local business and go lay down. Like I'll go sit by you know rum runner and hop in and grab some food, but it's going to cost me a lot more money. I can go to a little bar and I can just maintain a nice easy buzz. I can get some shrimp if I want to eat it. You know, I just I love that experience. They have that sort of in California, but it's um, it's not as beachy. It's like you have these beachside towns that are wonderful. I love it. My cousins own a great deli in San Clemente. It's awesome, right, but it's a business. It's a business, it's not a palapa, right.

Speaker 1:

I get it.

Speaker 2:

That, for me, makes it a little better. There's nothing wrong with any beachside town, but yeah, I just don't want it to be $100.

Speaker 1:

When they go get a snack, I get it. Totally get that, I feel like in my experience anyways, if you go to a place that doesn't have a sign, it's usually the best food of your life. If it's not on Google, it's probably amazing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, I don't need all that stuff, right? Like, I'm not there to be on my phone anyhow. You know, maybe I'll bring a Kindle because I want to read a book and you know that book, whatever. But there's a pretty good chance that I'll leave my phone in the car, if I can bear it. Like, if I have to keep my phone around because I'm trying to pay attention to something, then okay, but for the most part that time is scheduled for me and the beach and whoever I'm with.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm notorious for leaving my phone at home and not even thinking about it and then I'm like dang it, this is perfect content. Why am I not here recording this right now?

Speaker 2:

Because you're already doing it. It's already better. Who needs the content right?

Speaker 1:

I know I'm like man, I just want to soak it all in and I'm like, oh, I guess I should probably be like sharing this with people too, so that they can soak it in. But you know, it doesn't always work out that way. Um, okay, so let's talk about your transition to podcasting. So we kind of already kind of touched this base. Uh, what made you decide to start your podcast?

Speaker 2:

You know I had a lot of good stories to tell Just from my own experience, just from seeing, like right now we're talking about in the news, about USAID, and you know we're taking a deep look at those guys. I'm all for it, Not politically, but just the fact that I saw a lot of failure. I saw a lot of money that was wasted on things and ideas that were inappropriate, and so that's part of what I do, is I go hey, like understand, this is what USAID does. There's a lot of great things. It all briefs well, but when you tabulate everything you're like wait what? Huh? And so if you don't have people who have real experience doing that, and I'm hard on USAID like, if you say you're going to go out and help people, then do it and make sure it happens and make sure actually that helps sticks.

Speaker 2:

If not, go back and start to work on how you do better, we don't like that and so, um, my, my show is not just about that, it's also, hey, by the way, I was a spy. I get to know spies, we get to share our, our secrets not secrets, but you know, like our insider stuff that we like to talk about. And I, you know, I always find it fascinating to even if I'm on the show or not to talk about these things, and so I just I had a lot of that in me and I had to find a way to create some avenue, and thankfully, podcasts ended up being the right answer.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, wow, that sounds awesome. So you took all of that, turned it into this fantastic podcast. And how do you find new people to talk to on a regular basis? I feel like that seems to be the most challenging sometimes.

Speaker 2:

It takes a lot of time. For sure, my show is established enough that I don't have to do a lot to book it, so I can chase someone and get them, because I know how to do it now and the show largely books itself. And so even if I don't know that person, I'll say, hi, I'm Pete from the Break it Down show. The Break it Down show is this. And then they're like yeah, of course I'll come on, but I also have a sense for who might say yes, so I can literally get anybody. I mean, if the person is doing media and they're hyper famous, I'm a show that they'll come on. You know, I've had a lot of very, very famous people on my show. It is not all about famous people, but, but I get. But I get to have them on the show when they're talking about things. And I don't get every single person, but if I chase somebody, usually I'll at least get a response. Even if it's no, it's like hey, no, we're not doing that, you know, but but I've had some really amazing, amazing guests. And so for me, booking, booking for me is just like who do I want to talk to and who do I want to support by talking to them. And who do? I think my audience would find interesting, even if it's not my cup of tea.

Speaker 2:

I love guests that scare the bejesus out of me. I'm like that's a David's topic. What do that? You know? Because that's, that's where I grow. That's where I grow and give opportunity for other people to hear, you know, a fair conversation, even about challenging things. But but sometimes it's just me and the comedian and we're just cutting it up and having a good time. The, the, the guest thing for me is it's a muscle that I've built and it's big and it's strong, and so I don't worry about guests at all. That's awesome. I book them.

Speaker 1:

I hope that I'm there one of these days.

Speaker 2:

I feel like now, actually, you're almost there. Yeah, you're almost there. I mean, you know how to book people now and yeah, and you're on Podmatch. That's a great place to find guests. You know, podmatch is awesome. No week for me or anything, but I find that service for actually, podmatch is great. I almost don't need it, but I like to use it because it forces me into new ponds and I'm like, well, I've not talked to this person, I'm not talking to that person, and so I get to.

Speaker 2:

You know, continue to expand my network. I love grabbing um people who were newsworthy. I read about a story and I'm like, oh, two fire experts from LA, let me send them an email. And now I'm talking to a fire expert, right? And so there's a lot of that that, I think, helps me find what's interesting to me and reliably get that person. I mean. And authors my gosh, who's not an author? Is writing their heart into that book. Yeah, they write books all the time. They're putting their very best effort, they've edited it, they're proud of it. It's hard work, chopped apart by another editor and then they finally put it out. Of course, I want to talk to these people. They've done something remarkable.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, I definitely agree. I actually have a friend of mine, who I went to high school with, who just published her first book. It's like a series of four and she just got the first one out there, and I am not even lying to you. I sat down and I started reading and I'm like holy cow, who is this person? This is amazing. Like I would never have guessed that this would have come out from her, but it's, I don't know.

Speaker 1:

It's really cool to see that kind of stuff and watch people grow and that sort of thing. So that's kind of what I try to do. I try to find people who are entrepreneurs or who have just really cool life stories or travel stories or something along those lines that we can chat it up about. So, yeah, okay, so I don't even know where to go from there. That was such a blah, yeah. So how about what's your most surprising guest that you've had on the show? Like, how, who is there one person that has stood out like? If I was going to say, hey, listen to this, what episode would you suggest?

Speaker 2:

I can't even remember. Everybody's been on my show, so I'm gonna say I was on your show and I'm like oh, wow, wait, we did, we did this okay add enough context.

Speaker 2:

I I'll remember, but sometimes I literally have to go back and listen to the episode. I'm like, oh shoot, yeah, you know what I do remember you. It won't take long once I listen, but when you've had this many conversations over 10 years, it's hard. But you'd be surprised at how many I do remember. You know there's a lot that I do.

Speaker 2:

I would say it's the guests that take me, or I take them, in a completely different direction. You know they're here to talk about a and we ended up talking about Jeff. You know, like these things aren't connected at all and I'm saying Jeff like Jeff. I don't know who Jeff is, but all of a sudden, right, we just get there to this spot. Sometimes it's a philosophical conversation from a person who's an entrepreneur, like I thought we were talking about your business and we talked about all this other stuff. You know, whatever it is, I think those are are fascinating, and I like to have my mind blown, and so I'll get people on who teach me about something or they give me a point of view I'd never considered. I love that kind of stuff. Those are always great guests.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely I. Um, we have a lot of those times where I'll go on this silly rant and I'm like I don't even know how we got here, but let's back up. So that happens a lot for me as well. So do you do your podcasting on location or do you do it all in one studio?

Speaker 2:

Both.

Speaker 1:

Okay, yeah.

Speaker 2:

I love to grab my backpack and deploy myself to whomever's house. And here's the cool thing this is the thing I learned when I was a spy is we're always like I'll do this myself, I don't need any help, all these kinds of things. Right, because that's what it does too. But when you allow yourself to be a good guest like a lot of my friends don't want to, they don't want to do a subscription for my show, for whatever reason, right, but they will absolutely not let me buy lunch. And I used to feel bad about it. I don't want to have to buy me lunch. And they're like I want to support you. And I'm like oh right, right, I've got to be a good guest so you can be a good host.

Speaker 2:

So when you go on location to someone's house, like if I came to your house and you were going to do my show, you might also say do you want to stay for lunch? Or my wife made her famous cookies for you. You were coming to my house. And so this happens at famous people's homes. And so I'll go to the famous person's house and they're like can I make you a martini? Can I be like what do you? And like if they offer me a drink, I always say yes. And I'm like they'll say what do you want? I'm like what's your house drink? What do you make? Great, and they're you know. They'll say I make a great martini. Bam, we're drinking martinis.

Speaker 2:

Now I went from being a host on my show to their guest and it creates this warmth in there that I relied on a lot as a spy. And then now that I do it, while I'm podcasting oh my gosh, it just unlocks so many things and I can point it out to them. I can say you turned yourself into the host and you've invited me into your home. You don't know me. And they're like yeah, it's amazing. You just got me to be like. I thought huh. And the other person would be like I don't know it. Just it seemed like a good idea. You seem like a really good person. I just wanted you to come over.

Speaker 1:

I want you to come over and see the sign.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly why I was good at being a spy. And so these very famous people, these are household names. You can look at my show and see I'm not bragging about that. What I'm saying is these are people you wouldn't expect to be so warm, but the wouldn't expect to be so warm, but the second you let them be a good host. Oh my gosh, they are. And even if they don't, even if it's all business like hey, you know, you've got two, two hours total set up, break down everything and I got to have you out of that. That's all fine, Right, but most of the time we find this groove when I'm on location. So I love it. It's a lot of work.

Speaker 1:

It's like walk on a tightrope, but I love it, so I do it all the time. Yeah, wow, that sounds like a lot. So who do you just? How do you decide whose house you're just going to randomly show up?

Speaker 2:

at. Uh, you know, it's primarily I live in Southern California, there's a lot of people around here, and so if I can drive there pretty reasonably, I'll do it, you know. And so it's I sort of I hate to say, I force myself. I sort of force myself like, oh you, I force myself, I sort of force myself like, oh, you're in Phoenix and I'm not in Phoenix, I'm in Orange County. So I'm all the way by the coast, right, and I'm like, yeah, that's six hours away, why don't I build a couple of days? And I'll go out to Phoenix, and I've got five or six guests already lined up right now for the next time I'm in town. I'm going to be in Phoenix soon, right, and so I'll bring my gear with me and then, bam, I'll be like today here, today there, the next day there, and then home, and so I'll get really and I'll knock them, and so I do that.

Speaker 1:

Take some notes, man, they're showing up.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, I don't just show up. You know, obviously, you know I've scheduled it and everything and they're looking forward to it. But you can get some really incredible people. Because here's another thing is, when you show up, they're like you showed up, you're here, my place, you know, and it is magic. It is magic when you go somewhere and you show up, people recognize that, like you came to my hometown. I'm like, yeah, the next time someone's like, hey, we're gonna do the show and everything, you got time to drive around town with me for a little bit. I'm like, yeah, the next time someone's like, hey, we're going to do the show and everything, you got time to drive around town with me for a little bit.

Speaker 1:

I'm like hell, yeah, I do.

Speaker 2:

I feel like I should drive around town. How did I get in this car with this dude, you know? And so it's amazing when you have these moments, because it becomes. I'll give you an example of that I was driving across. I used to do with this annual charity fundraiser where we would ride a motorcycle across the nation. This one guy and a bunch of us would follow. It was called Ride for the Brave, and one year I went back to Colorado and I sort of know Gosh, what's his name? I can't think of his name right now, it's escaping me. I sort of know one of the Tour de France winners. He lost his Tour de France winners. He lost his Tour de France title because, oh, lloyd, yep, lloyd, flanders, sure, yeah, floyd Landis, right, floyd Landis was the guy.

Speaker 2:

And so I show up in Leadville, where he lives, and Leadville's way up at the top of the very tip, it's like 10,000 feet up right, and I show up there to go do a show with him. He knows I'm coming, we've talked before, I've got his phone number, my phone number and my phone, and um, he's like, hey, um, they have this bike race that's going on and I want to kind of check out the end of it. You want to come hang out with me? And I'm like, yeah, and he's like, hey, let's grab beers, you know. And so we're sitting there on the street a couple of his buddies that are just kind of and he's buddies with everybody and we're just hanging out. I'm not even worried about the show, the show will get to it. We're just chilling, drinking beers.

Speaker 2:

He took me and this might sound crazy to some people but he's like hey, let's go to my weed shop, because that's what he does now. He's got a dispensary and he's like and then grab whatever you want. You want a shirt? I'm like, yeah, sure, I'll take a shirt. Hell, yeah, and I'm not against it, I'm glad to take it, I'm glad to do something, but it's not a thing I know anything about. He's like oh, don't worry about it, these young kids, they'll tell you everything you need to know. And so they did. It was like a shocking bag.

Speaker 1:

There's weed in there, oh, my God, kind of like a dream come true for a lot of people.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, hard to say I got to do that, you know, partly because of my spy skills, right? But I'm not trying to do anything right. I'm not trying to accomplish it, it's just I'm open to the opportunity to do these things and so when they happen, it's like it's special. And again, it's Floyd in this story, but it could be somebody else in the next one.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's amazing. So do you ever? I guess because you're a spy, you probably don't fear so much, but do you ever feel like you're putting yourself into a weird position sometimes?

Speaker 2:

no, not really. You know, I mean, look, if I get got, then I get got, but okay, that's, that's a good way of looking at it yeah, yeah, look, you don't, I don't, I don't borrow fear, I don't borrow trouble, if I can at all avoid that.

Speaker 2:

you know, at my worst, sure, all those things. But no, you know these homes I go into and again, primarily it's very notable people, right? So the last thing they want to do is break out the cucks. And if they did and listen, if they did, I'm not saying I would win every time, but I'm not someone you tangle with. You know you're like oh God.

Speaker 2:

So you're a bit of a badass God, so you're a bit of a badass, I get it, yeah. Oh look, I'm old now, so I'm not Shoulder off a little bit? Yeah, I'm a former, former badass and even then I've lost fights, you know. But the thing is, when you lose fights you're like, yeah, I might lose, but you're willing to go fight. That's a different dude, right? Yeah, yeah, you might get the better of me.

Speaker 2:

And then it's like, well, maybe we'll just and I'm glad to skip the fight, but if you want the fight then they're like uh, maybe, maybe this, we're not this guy's right, yeah, yeah, no, I I think the world mostly is a wonderful place, especially in the united states, you know, there's really not that many dangerous things and so, uh, you know, look, am I going to be the victim of something sometime? I'll probably victimize somebody sometime, you know, but we all. Am I going to be the victim of something sometime? I'd probably victimize somebody sometime, you know, but we all have to experience life.

Speaker 1:

Right, no, I get it. Yeah, I guess that's more of like a female mentality, I guess, so to speak, because I couldn't imagine myself going and like I mean, I think it's amazing that you do this, but I think I'd be a little bit like I don't know, I'd probably get myself in all kinds of crazy situations and yeah, you never know these days anyways, you never know.

Speaker 2:

But, but again, I don't borrow trouble and I think even if you're a female and I get it, it's different, right, like I'm physically imposing right and so even if I just push against you, you're gonna move right, um strong.

Speaker 2:

So so I can like like grab a hold and favorite. I don't fight anyone anymore, but my favorite fighting technique back in the old days was to pick someone up and just push them and shove them and throw them. You know, because I'm like, I'm like six foot, and when I'm in great shape I'm like six foot, 220, right, and so I can just take that person and just go you are no longer in my space. Or I can grab a chair, be, I'll huck this chair at you and if you see someone threatening you with the chair, you're like I need distance and that's all I want and I'm glad to not fight, I'm glad to avoid it. So when I say all these things, understand that I don't want to harm a soul. I've seen too much death and destruction, right, but it does. It does give me the ability to say I'm going to go out and interact with society and not do it from a point of fear, whatever happens in my day-to-day life.

Speaker 2:

I've been in a head-on collision with a tank. Okay, so when you are in a car accident with a tank and you're like ta-da, I'm still here, my level of danger is pretty high, right.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So, yeah, okay. So what's the most dangerous situation that you've put yourself in? If you could tell us.

Speaker 2:

I'll tell you. Here's the thing is. There's so many of them because I've done a lot of things and my job is extremely dangerous, right? So I mean, apart from being in a head-on collision with a tank in the car, there's been a lot of things. I, um, I was once doing some, I guess.

Speaker 2:

I guess the best way to explain this is so I was talking to a dude, and he's an Iraqi guy, and a gunfight broke out between friends, the Americans and and some Iraqi foreign force, and so they were shooting.

Speaker 2:

Now I'm kind of tucked away by a shop and so I'm not really exposed to the gunfight, but it's my friends, my people, and they're handling it. That is their job. It sounds crazy for me to say this, but I don't have to worry about that because these things happen quite often and really there was nothing for me to do because I wasn't in the middle of it and there's a good way to get shot is to go run out into the middle of it. Right, I kept talking to the dude I was talking to and, by the way, he's like, yeah, they're shooting again, and so while they were shooting, for you know, for a moment or two, the bullets were kind of hitting in our neighborhood where we were standing and bits of the building were hitting us in the face right. This all sounds insane to a person who's never been in combat.

Speaker 1:

Clearly it does. We kept talking Okay.

Speaker 2:

You know, it's like oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, anyhow, by the way, I've got an interpreter with me, and so all three of us are just kind of focused on that, because I'm doing my job, they're in a gunfight, I'm not, and even if the bullets got closer, we had the ability to go in another direction. So it was cool to stay there, but that's pretty dangerous, and I didn't even realize how dangerous to me. It was just matter of fact back then, because my job was dangerous. There were bombs, there were gunfights, we had, you know, helicopters that would come and destroy things all the time. So it was a normal thing for me to be in that environment, but it was now. I look back now and I'm like that's crazy. It is crazy, it's just one side.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, just a typical Thursday, no big deal.

Speaker 2:

And that is Thursday, right.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, man, so are you going to write a book soon?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, I've got a bunch of books kind of written in some form or fashion. I've written a lot about this stuff in general. Here's the thing about writing books when I talk to authors I'm like, oh, it's really hard to sell a book and it costs a lot of money to get it out and it takes a lot of time and I don't know that it's worth my time. That's fair. If I was to write this thing, would I sell 10,000 copies? Od? Would I sell 10,000 copies? Odds are no.

Speaker 2:

So you everybody thinks they have a great story. I know I do too, right, but there's no guarantee that I would see a profit and so I would take a long time and I've, I've pecked away. Don't get me wrong. I've written a lot and I have several books that are some form or fashion, some level of finished and beyond 50% right. But yeah, it's just it is. There are a lot of books out there and I struggle with getting over the hump with do I need to do this or can I just do this on my show? Can I come on your show and talk about these things and create? You know, it doesn't take less work, but just it's different work and I don't have to look. You have to spend a lot of money on buying your own books to give them to people. You've got to fly around the nation to go and get on tv shows.

Speaker 2:

You got to buy ads on radio like all these things right and I'm like I don't know if I want to be salesman of the year of my own book and I don't expect anybody else to buy it. So yeah, I'm stuck, but I want to write one and always write. I just don't know that. I don't know what I'm going to do.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, I'm just going to throw this bomb out there, though there's a lot of podcasts out there and people are listening to you, so that's very well. I mean, there might be a lot of books, but they very well could be interested in reading.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, look, I said, said I've been writing and I've got a couple different things, but also here's the here's. The thing this is like. The big reveal is I've transitioned less about writing about me and I learned about me, yeah, about, uh, working on getting projects made like documentaries and films, and that I can wrap my head around putting my time and effort into I don't mind being a guy who was a spy, who has become an executive producer and no one even cares about the fact that I was a spy, right, and so maybe I'll put out a book or at some point, you know, maybe something short, I don't know who knows and rather than make these movies that I'm talking about, that's really where my passion is.

Speaker 1:

That would be cool too. For sure, man, this has been such a great conversation. I know a spy, you guys an ex-spy, that's all I have to say. I am so excited about that. So, pete, where can everybody find you? Where can they what? What the name of your podcast? Where can I find you? Listen to all the things.

Speaker 2:

Easy enough Pete A Turner on all channels. I don't check most of them. So if you want to get ahead with me, pete at break it down showcom or a P a Turner on X probably the fastest ways to reach me and I'm look, I'm real, I'm real approachable If you've got a podcast and you got questions, I'm glad to talk to you. You know I make money producing podcasts, but I don't have to make money with every podcast.

Speaker 2:

I help and so a lot of times I'm just like here do this, that, and if you need my help, let me know. I'm glad to let you hire me, but I don't need to pitch myself all the time. If you need my help, I'm here to help, right, but the Break it Down show and you can find it on YouTube, you can find it in all kinds of places but the main thing here is just Break it Down show, pete A Turner, I'm on X quite a bit. Those are the things and people who want to find me. They seem to find me, and so I'd love to help with whatever project you're working on, or listen to my show if you'd like, or just keep supporting B. That would be the best thing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, let's support B. I like that one for sure. So real quick, before I end the show, I always ask one last question what does paradise mean to you?

Speaker 2:

before I end the show.

Speaker 1:

I always ask one last question. Uh, what does paradise mean to you? Easy days, easy days, yeah, easy days. Getting old Me too, I think that's what happens after you hit like 35. It's like naps are all of a sudden the the in thing again.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I love a nap. Yeah, If there's. I don't mind winters, but I don't mind winters, but I don't want to live in them. I don't mind cities, but I don't want to live in them. But get me close to a beach or get me you know, I don't know. I'm pretty happy in most places. I just don't want to be too cold during the winter and I'll take winter for a vacation, Love all that. But I just like that I can pursue what is interesting to me and take naps. That's pretty. That's pretty. That's the paradise for me, right there.

Speaker 1:

Easy peasy. I love that Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being on the show. This has been a great conversation, had a lot of fun. I learned a lot, I can say. I know an ex-spy, which is amazing. So, yeah, we will definitely keep in touch. I have a couple of people that I'd like to send your way, anyways, for the show and all of that. So, yeah, good to talk to you and we'll talk soon. Have a good one, thank you, hey there. Beach lovers. That's it for today's episode of Beachside Banter with Bea. I sure hope you had as much fun as I did. Hey, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the show. You can catch me on all social media platforms, at Life, love and Travel, and if you've got a question or you just want to stop by and say hi, feel free to slide into my DMs and I'll make sure to get those answered for you. Big thanks to everyone who joined me today and for all of you tuned in, and until next time, enjoy your week.