Rowing Through the Storm: Pete Glaeser on Mindset, Mental Health & Veteran Resilience

In this episode, former Green Beret and Ranger Pete Glaeser shares how he turned personal struggles with mental health into a mission of service through Courser Racing, a nonprofit delivering ocean-based adventure therapy to veterans. Pete dives into his battle with victim mentality, the healing power of physical challenge, and why surrounding yourself with community is the key to resilience. This is a raw, powerful episode about overcoming darkness, finding purpose, and becoming an asset again.

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Transcript

Meet Peter: Service And Transition

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to the Asset Mindset podcast. Today we have another special guest, former Ranger Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group, fantastic guy, doing amazing things. And he's still actually in 19th group. However, he's also doing stuff outside of the military. And Peter, it's great to have you here. Why don't you introduce yourself and let the people know what it is you got going on?

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Yeah, sure, Dan. I appreciate it. Um, great to be here. I've I've seen some of the people you've had on board on this podcast, and I'm excited to be kind of in that list of names. A lot of really cool people. Um, yeah, so uh you kind of covered it with the military experience. I I mean, I went to Auburn University out of high school, did ROTC there. Um, I didn't want to do the academy thing. My dad did that, and I just had a I didn't have a good taste in my mouth when I went up to the academies. I didn't feel like I'd fit in. So I did ROTC, um, went into the infantry, spent a year at Benning doing the whole, you know, ranger school, a couple other courses, motor course, pathfinder, whatever. And then I went up to Alaska for a year. That's after that year, I went to Third Ranger Battalion, did a couple deployments there, um, cube course after that, 10th group, down to Sotandee. I got the Fort Polk assignment, which was actually a really cool job, but not exactly where the family wanted to live. Um and so yeah, I decided to get out and focus on my family. We had young kids and I'd been gone a lot. Uh, and since then, I co-founded a nonprofit um that that focuses on we're trying to help veterans with the mental health aspect through adventure therapy. So I always compare us to like think of the nonprofit that everybody's heard of that does hunting trips or hiking trips or whatever. We provide ocean rowing excursions and it's called Coarser Racing. So I started that out of a like we were trying to do it as a side hustle, and really it was something that I wanted to do. Um, and it's grown. We've got a team of five now. We've sent a couple guys across the Pacific Ocean. They just finished up in um last month, actually. And we're looking to do a Gulf Coast crossing, an Atlantic Ocean

Family, ROTC, And Special Operations Path

SPEAKER_01 2:10

crossing here soon. And then outside of that, full time I work as a consultant at a big four consulting firm and I've been doing that for a couple of years. Um, and I'm on paternity leave now. So I'm chilling for like four months, and it's been great.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Nice. Well, congratulations on your your new child.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Yeah, I appreciate it. It's a boy and it's number three. And and I will say this this is the first kid that I've had where I actually get to take a break. You know, like I get a real paternity leave, and it's like life-changing. You know, I I've realized now that's like probably an area that the military could do better because the the the time that I get to spend with like the older kids and then my my newborn and my wife has been incredibly valuable. It's like I have nothing to think about except family versus the other two. Even when I was in the delivery room, it's like, dude, I got a deployment in three weeks. Like, I gotta get out of the hospital tonight. Let's go. Let's go, doc, you know? Yeah, that can be rough. I appreciate it though. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

No, it's it's amazing the quality time that you can have and those moments and the bonding in the beginning. You think like, oh, they're just a baby. There's you know, but boy, the bonding really does take place and it is a very special time. So I'm glad you're enjoying it and appreciating it.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

100%. Yeah, I have like a newfound appreciation for this time. Um, that even three years out of active duty, you you kind of like continuously discovering like, damn, dude, I never really focused on my family at all. Even though I was, I thought I was. We were doing the vacations, I was taking, you know, block leave or whatever, but I never really focused on my family. And, you know, I'm three years out of active duty, and I feel like I'm finally starting to do that. Uh, it's been really great.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

Well, that's fantastic. Glad you're doing it. Some people never have the opportunity to do it or never even realize how important it is. You know, there's people in the civilian world that are just addicted to work and in the office, and they don't give their family the time they deserve. So kudos to you, brother. Kudos to you.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

I appreciate it. Hopefully, I just have a job when I get off the training leaf. Well, you'll be asylum, dude. I'll figure it out.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

So cool. So um, let me, you know, you you've accomplished a lot in your life and what you're doing. Let's go back to your childhood a little bit. And where did you first, I guess, find the desire to serve, or did you ever have like a mindset shift where you're like, you know what? I want to do this or that, or defining it.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

I could answer the that in two two questions. One, um, why I wanted to get into service, and then that defining moment. So I was actually a military brat and my mom was in for 31 years. My dad went to West Point, but he did his five years and got out and has been in business ever since. But growing up, uh, my as far back as I can remember, like our household parties that my family had was always military people. So I was around the army my entire life. Um, in high school, I wanted to be a West Point guy. I ended up getting into uh I think I got into West Point. I honestly don't remember. I definitely got into Air Force because I eventually went to West Point, said, not for me. I'll go fly jets.

Defining Moment: Liberate The Oppressed

SPEAKER_01 5:20

I got picked up to play lacrosse there, and then ultimately decided not to do that. Um, but the defining moment for me was sounds super lame, but back in 2008-ish, there was a movie came out called Blood Diamond, and Leonardo DiCaprio's in it. He's got a terrible, you know, accent that he's he's playing. But the opening scene of that movie, there's essentially a try uh a group of rebels that roll into a small village and just like murder everybody and chop hands off. And I was watching that in our movie room while my family was having this like party, and one of the guys that was friends with my mom or dad was kind of like standing over my shoulder watching. And I just couldn't, I grew up around guns and shooting and all that, and I could not fathom like how did these guys like have zero way to defend themselves when they know this rebel group is coming around? Like, you could couple rifles could have like disable the first vehicle and at least gotten people out. And that guy turns out he had had a special forces background and told me that he was like, oh, we actually had guys there. We taught them how to fight against those rebels. And that is when I knew I wanted to be in special forces. So it was graduating high school. I knew I wanted to be in special forces. Uh, the four years I was in college, undergrad, I was like on a pretty regular basis, considering going down to the recruiter and just enlisting because there's peak war back then for the most part. Um, but ultimately made the decision to stay in and did, you know, did the ROTC thing. But military is kind of in my family, multi-generational. Uh, I'm the first one that did soft. Um, but I I always wanted to be a Green Beret on a team. That was kind of from that moment, figuring out that there's army soft people whose mission is to go train those that can't defend themselves. That to me was huge, and that's what I wanted to be a part of.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

No, that's incredible. Yeah, the the motto was already a part of you before you even knew the motto. But he told me that there too.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

He said, he said, yeah, our thing is de oppressor libre. It's like we literally literally liberate the oppressed. And I don't remember that whole conversation, but what I remember is like having this aha moment of like, dude, a couple Americans with that village, like setting up an ambush on that road, like you could have wiped, you could have we could have done it, you know what I mean? And and to me, that was what was most exciting because and then on top of that, like I was I was kind of a 9-11 kid. When 9-11 happened, it was like, I'm I'm gonna go to war. I'm going to go fight those people. It's it's it's just a matter of when. Um, and unfortunately, you know, we're all victims of timeline, but I was like racing to the to get there before the war was over. Um, and fortunately got a little bit of a taste of it, and I'm very proud of that. But that was kind of all the part of the journey. It was, you know, it was kind of just handed to me.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

Yeah, no, we all have our journey, our story, you know. Yeah. Um I'm grateful, brother, that you you stepped up and you did it, and you've done some amazing things. So and you continue to do that. I mean, hear about this rowing thing. Yeah, no. But talk more, please, about this course of racing and how you're changing people's lives through like rowing across the ocean.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Yeah, yeah, it's I'll try to keep it short because I I can ra I can talk about this for hours, but a little bit of background. I was on vacation with my wife in like 2021. I was still in the army and we were in Antigua uh with another couple that I've been friends with. He was best man at my wedding. And we were walking up to this place uh called Sunset Cove or whatever. They do a sunset celebration every Sunday, and we wanted to see that. And as we were walking past the marina that this hilltop sits on, I saw all these boats. And, you know, I spent a lot of time on the water. I'd never seen this type of boat. So I'm standing there trying to figure out like what is that? And there was nobody around them that knew what they were. So it's kind of just like looking around, you know, whatever. I as we walked up the hill, there was a sign for World's Toughest Row, and we just happened to be at the same sunset celebration where this race, this ocean rowing race, had just finished and crossed the Atlantic. So I got to spend the evening like talking to these people that had just finished, like literally the day prior that evening. And what I found was nobody I talked to was a freak athlete. They were all just like normal

Founding Courser Racing And Ocean Rows

SPEAKER_01 9:30

people that were interested in endurance sports for the adventure or whatever. I kept asking people, like, dude, were you like a collegiate rower or something? And every one of them was like, no, man, I never rode a day in my life. Uh one guy was like, I don't even know how to swim. Like, that's baldy, bro.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Yeah. Like, dude. All right. Um, so while I was there, I texted my co-founder Blake and said, Hey, do you want to row across the ocean? Uh, he jumped on it right away. So, like, sweet, we're gonna do this. And at the time, it was just, I wanted to do something epic. You know, I've I've always been one of those guys that's like, I'd love to climb Mount Ephrist if given the opportunity. Like, I wanted to go to combat, I want to jump out of planes. It was like the excitement that I was drawn to. Ultimately, when we started factoring all the expenses, we're like, there's no way. And so we put a stop to it. And then a few months later, uh, both of us are in this uh transition group that caters to soft people, helps them get jobs or whatever. And somebody posted in there, like, hey, does anybody want to row across the Pacific Ocean? And I knew they were talking about world's toughest row. So I jumped on it. And long story short, like those people aren't involved, but we ended up building a team. And then in the process, we needed two more guys at least. And so our first guy that joined was uh one of Blake's teammates, uh, Chris Farrington. And he was one of those guys that was like, as soon as he heard on the phone, he like looked at his wife and was like, Hey, can I row across the ocean? She's like, You need to, like, yeah, you should. So another one that just kind of like sent it, but you know, honestly, and I don't like talking about Chris behind his back, but watching him go from like army NCO that's about to retire and is just down for whatever, to like business guy. You know, he's like leading this little non, you know, program that we have. I was like, dude, we actually could do some good for people in terms of like getting experience that's relevant for a resume. Because at the time, Blake and I were both trying to find jobs. So then it's like, long story short, we morphed into a nonprofit. Like initially, we were just gonna donate everything we make to another nonprofit, but found that to be kind of silly. And so we were like, what if we just focus on getting veterans onto this boat? Kind of like we are. You know, not everybody's gonna be able to take a month or two off to cross an ocean, but we could do shorter ones. And it's a new sport. You'll be surrounded by other veterans, and essentially it's just another opportunity, like an adventure therapy opportunity for vets. And everybody we've talked to about has been really enthusiastic about it. So, so ultimately we've morphed over time like any organization, but now we're we're a fully functioning nonprofit that that caters to vets, and we try to get as many veterans as we can out on the ocean. Um, because that time that you're sitting on a boat, you know, you'll have music or whatever, but you will be sitting talking to other people like you, especially if you're on the ocean where you don't have service. Um, it's just valuable time. And I think that the time to reflect, challenge yourself, definitely be outside of your comfort zone. That combination inherently puts you through a hardship that bonds people. And and I I was not on this recent race um with the three guys that went. Yeah, I had a kid, it just didn't work out. But again, like watching those dudes go from, hey, yeah, I'm down to row an ocean to actually execute and the years that built up to it. You can anybody that knows them can see the change in these people, these guys. And so that's what we're trying to capture and and give back to others. It's just a slow process. So you know, we've had to raise 200 grand just to cover the boat and equipment.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

But um, we're pretty close now to starting to get others out on shorter excursions and um got a couple big rows coming up that should get us a lot of visibility and experience. So that's what we're doing, man. It's it's fun, it's what I enjoy doing more than anything else in my professional life.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

That is so cool. And I love that you just happen to find a passion, you know, like doors and opportunities are put in front of you. And I want people, listeners, you hear his story right now and look what it's turned into. So you never know when you're gonna see an opportunity or something is in front of you in life.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

So I totally agree. And and a lot of times you don't even have to look for it. The door is there, it's just a matter of taking the step. And I've heard that a lot, you know, throughout my life from mentors or podcasts or books. I know some of you talk about, but it's like, dude, just face your fears. Like it's gonna be uncomfortable, it may be weird. And and like if a door presents itself, why not explore it? You know, and something like that was it was a lofty goal, you know. Thinking of like, yeah, I'm gonna row across an entire ocean on a rowboat with four army dudes with no sea experience. You know, it sounds everybody I tell this to, they're like, You're crazy. But at the end of the day, it's like, man, it just doesn't, for me, it's like maybe, but I also it's just my I just wanted to check it out. This door was available and I sent it and it's working out. And it,

Paternity Leave And Reclaiming Family Time

SPEAKER_01 14:20

you know, it's just take the risk, it's it's fine, everything's gonna be fine, you know. Yeah, um, I'm a big fan of like facing fears and discomfort head on. I think that changes people and is it really like kind of the root of bonding with others, and like when you hear about, you know, you go through hardship together a lot of that time, it's like there's fear and hardship that make teams and people grow. Um, and we live comfy lives. So I was trying to not get too cozy on the couch as a corporate guy.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

Don't get too soft, you still have to be hard on it.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

I'm still scared of that, dude. I'm still scared of that. I don't want to get soft yet.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Yeah. Well, that's a healthy fear. It's keeping you young and strong and adventuresome and all that. And adventure therapy is a real thing. I've seen it. I've worked with an organization called Camp Resilience. Um, we've taken people out on boats uh in Lake Winnipesaukee up in uh New England or New Hampshire. And man, it's incredible to see people that go through a weekend of hiking or sailing or just being together, bonding through that adventure. It's incredible. They share stories, you know. People start in the beginning, they're like, Oh, hey, how you doing? You know, a little cold, and then they warm up, and next thing you know, they're learning about their experiences, they're sharing, and yeah, you know, people sharing their story, that alone can be so helpful. And I can only imagine the stories that are shared on rowing across the ocean.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

It's all of them. And I'm with you. I haven't done the ocean crossing yet. Um, our first one is in January. We're going for a world record attempt across the Gulf. Um, but you know, I'm I'm kind of piggybacking off of my teammates and what they just experienced. And they have a robust comms package on these boats. So we were talking while they were rowing and I was getting videos and clips. But I'm telling you, like these are like our teammates are all older guys, they're retired, they're NCOs, and you know, like stereotypical NCO, the people I enjoy hanging out with, but watching them after safetying is like, dude, I'm gonna, yeah, it blew my mind. I'm gonna go get like counseling now. It literally changed my life. I think seeing normal people like us, normal veterans, that you never expect to be like the spiritual guy or the therapy guy, say, like, bro, it freaking worked, it worked, it's crazy. I think that helps other people when they hear it, like, maybe I should get freaking help, man. Like, maybe I should just send it and talk to somebody. Um, and that's kind of like how I got into veteran support, is I had a a very low point when I was getting out, a dangerously low point. And essentially, if it wasn't for battle buddies, if it wasn't for a honor and valor, honor and valor is another adventure therapy nonprofit, but I literally it changed my life just getting around other vets, doing the adventure therapy thing. It was a duck hunt in particular for me. Um, but realizing like if pipe hitter Chris can say, like, yeah, I'm gonna get therapy, like I can do it too. I it's you know, it's not like a bad thing, which I know we all talk about in um the veteran world is mental health and like just doing it, just get the help you need, talk to your friends. Um so I'm really fired up about it because I didn't see myself as like a mental health threat. I thought everything was good. I had no idea there was anything wrong with me. And then I snapped and realized like, holy shit, I'm like one of the people that I'm trying to cater to. And you know, how I can't tell people to go get help if I'm not gonna do it myself. Uh and I did, and it changed everything.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

So can you, if you're comfortable, can you share a little bit of that story? So for listeners or people out there that, you know, they can understand they're not alone. Like we all have these moments.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

I'm happy to. I'm happy to. And honestly, as I was saying that, I was hoping you'd ask because honestly, I I really do I find that when I tell the story, other people open up too. The bottom line is I, as I was getting out of the army, I built this plan, you know, like school, job, et cetera. And I executed it to the T. So I did exactly, I mean, literally the the place that we're living, everything was exactly as planned. But I was still so unhappy. And um, at the time, didn't really think of it as like I am depressed, I have a mental issue, I have PTSD, any of that. I was just like, man, this transition sucks. That was where my head was. Like, this sucks. Figuring it out sucks. Um, so I was on a work trip and um I had actually applied for another job at another corporation, like another corporate job. But it was a lot more money, you know, it would like look better on paper, and this is where my head was at. It was all chasing money and titles and all of that. Um so on this work trip, on the last day,

Adventure Therapy For Veterans

SPEAKER_01 19:00

it was a Friday, everybody flies home. I stayed in the hotel and I interviewed for this job. And there was a green beret that was on the other side, and he had gotten me into the interview. He called me the night before to go over what the questions would be. It was like, I had all the tools. I go through the interview process. I felt that I had knocked it out of the park. Turns out I had found a like a minor loophole in this case they gave me. So I had solved a problem that wasn't supposed to be part of the problem, but it was very easy. So I was like, this is easy. Like, just if the company lays off 1% of their employees, they'll they'll reach all like whatever. I was driving from eastern Tennessee to Nashville immediately following the interview because we had a course for fundraising raiser the next day. I got a call that I didn't get the job, and dude, I legitimately lost it. I like I lost complete control of my mind and body, and I like went pedal to the floor as fast as the car would go. And I'm basically in the backwoods of Tennessee going like 130 miles an hour. Like, dude, all it would take is that, and I could end everything, and then all these problems go away. And you know, I'm like crying and stuff. It's all like way outside of my characteristic, but it was it was very much a physiological, like my body felt it, my mind, like I knew something was wrong. And I was essentially having like a mental breakdown, and I just knew like you gotta phone a friend when that happens, because I'd seen that stuff in my career with people that worked for me or friends that I've had. And so I called a battle buddy, and um, the first thing he said, he's one of my best friends who we met through school, actually, was welcome to the club, dude. Like, you're one of us, you know, you've arrived. We all go through this. And it kind of opened my eyes to like, dude, this is normal for us. It we all go through it. Even if you don't think you're a threat, like, bro, getting out, like I imagine you'd have the same issue if you left the NFL duty injury. You know what I mean? Like you're leaving a very elite club with inherent built-in purpose, you're traveling the world, you're working with some of America's finest, and then you go to corporate, everything changes. And I just I lost control of my mind and body for that. And so after that, you know, I calmed down. I pulled over, I got a hotel room. Ironically, that next day was a coarser fundraiser. So I went to the fundraiser and I had called one of my teammates after I'd gotten talked down off a ledge. So I was supposed to stay at his house that night and I was like, hey, man, I'm not coming over. I I almost lost it. I almost killed myself in a car. Like I don't have no idea what's going on in my head. Um, but ultimately that was like the catalyst that that made me realize like I need to go see somebody and get help. And so I started that process. Um, but I mean, overnight it was almost like a perspective shift. Like I realized, like, wait a second, I think I've been like clinically depressed. And it's probably been even before I got out. Um, and as I started getting treatment, I went through transcranial magnetic stimulation. It was fantastic. Like, highly recommend for anybody that's got TVI or PTSD. But afterwards, like I can very clearly see this like cloud over a period of my life that was like, I was definitely like depressed. Like it was something was way off. Um, and I had no idea at the time that somehow when I completed this training and like my kind of like life turnaround, I could see that that was a problem. And I had no clue. The whole time I was like, I'm good. I was drinking every single night too. Like I never really thought of myself as an alcoholic, but I was slugging bourbon like every night. Like if we were at the range till 2 a.m. and I went home at got home by three, I'd still have bourbons before 6 a.m. wake up. And it's not like I drank at work ever or anything, but I was drinking like every single night. And so this also helped me realize, like, oh shit, dude, maybe I'm maybe I'm an alcoholic. Um, I should fix that. And so I just took some time and quit drinking, saw what it did to my body and was like, damn, I'm this is kind of nice. I look way better with a shirt off. So um, but I say all that because the big thing for me is when I tell my story, it's like, A, I had no clue. I literally got out of the army thinking, like, I never saw my my buddies lose their arms. You know, I never saw the real catastrophes that that a lot of my butt my battle buddies saw. Um, you know, I'm high-paying job, I live where I want. I got a wife, my wife is incredibly happy now that I'm out. Everything's fine. And I still snapped and I had no clue that was coming. And I've told this story dozens of times now. And telling it, I've seen other people open up, you know, like, oh, well, he can say that he went through it, like I can say, like, I almost shot myself in the face. You know, and those are like really important things to talk about because that's where like the therapy comes in. I think a lot of us, if we just had exposure to a network that was like us, and we just had this like place where you can say whatever about what you're going through. And people are like, yeah, bro, welcome to the club. Here's my story. You know, you start to realize that we all have problems, it's all part of the process. If you're around explosions all day long for years and years, you're probably gonna have some issues. Um, and whether you think so or not, it's worth like at a minimum talking to your friends about it. And I tell dad, it's like, dude, always be available when the buddy calls. If you get a battle buddy phone call at two o'clock in the morning, take it because there's a good chance that it's not good what's going on.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

Yeah, and there's a reason why they're not gonna be calling you at 2 a.m. Yeah, you know, just to say hi. They're calling because something's going on. And yeah, they may say it's just to say hi, like, hey, I was thinking of you checking in, but like you know, yeah, definitely answer the phone calls. And I I think one of the the real powerful things to me that you're sharing that you realized when you went through it is that you're not alone. Like when your buddy was like, Hey, welcome to the club. Because so many of us, like you said, you're transitioning, you're getting out, you're you're getting your ducks in a row and you're putting everything together, and you're like, Oh, you know, I gotta be squared away, I gotta be squared away, you know. And then, oh shit, I'm not squared away. You feel alone, you feel isolated. But to have that boom, oh, all right, this is part of the process. So I think people, you know, that's why we share, hey, get it out there, talk to somebody. Because if somebody keep it in, it it's gonna eat you alive, and you're not alone. That's the big thing. You're you're not alone.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

Yeah, and you know, after all this, like a whole bunch of other like very coincidental things happened in my life. And the you know, the long story short of that is I ended up starting to go to church. And I I heard a I heard a Sean Ryan podcast episode where this dude, Lee Stroble, was like, look, man, if if you try it and you don't like it and it doesn't do anything for you, then

Training, Funding, And First Crossings

SPEAKER_01 25:30

stop. It literally doesn't, that doesn't change your life at all. But if any of that stuff is real, it's like the most important story in our universe. And so I was like, F it. I'm gonna go get TSM. I'm gonna try going to church. I tried all these different things, and it's all worked out. I go to a men's group now on Tuesday mornings where I sit with like civilians from the small town in Texas that I live in. And what I've realized is we're not the only ones with issues. Like everybody's got issues. Just like people in general, especially men, like we don't talk about issues because of whatever reason, you know. And I think a lot of the reasons we don't talk are valid. Like, I'm not advocating for dudes to run around and cry on each other's shoulders everywhere. I'd feel like that'd be a negative. But your close friends, your confidants, you are they should be the people that you can call and say, dude, can you just hear me out? Like I might be crazy. I'm dealing with this thing, and I have no idea, like, I just don't, I don't get it. Just hear me out. Um, veterans are better at that because we all know if you were to call me right now, I just met you today and you were to call me and say, dude, can you can you just hear me out? I got, I'd be like, let's go, bro. Like I've talked to now guys from my very first platoon that are struggling, can't called out of nowhere. And I remember seeing, like, dude, I don't want to take this call, you know. But then when I answer, it's like clearly a cry for help. So at the end of the day, we just all we all need to talk. You need to share your stories, what you're struggling with, whether it's with a friend, a pastor, a therapist, um, because that helps. And then just like like all the big leagues are saying, like, squash the stigma of mental health issues being a negative. Like we all deal with it. And frankly, for us, it's because we do high-speed shit for 10 years or 20 years or whatever. Like you're constantly doing high-speed stuff. So that's gonna have an impact. So when you get out, like go do the therapy, go do the adventure therapy, come row with Courser, go get a therapist, or go to church, or something that gets your mind right spiritually so that you can, you know, repair the damage that the military is going to do, uh, regardless of what job you have.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

Yeah, or life, you know, depending on where you are in life. Yeah, like, you know, someone gets in a car accident, they lose their spouse, or a child dies, God forbid. Like, yeah, there's there's things that we as human beings, we're gonna be tried and pushed. And it's you're gonna suffer. You can't go through life and never have any suffering. And learning how to handle that is so important.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

Absolutely. And the last thing I'll say on that is in one of those men group, like that whole thing is designed to like break out in small groups and kind of talk about what's going on. I shared that story. I was still kind of really in the low. I was like coming out of this low part of my life. And the next dude that talked was like, oh, my dad's been in prison for 20 years. You know, I'm still taking care of my sister. It's like, I'm listening to this guy, like, why did I even talk, dude? Like that guy's story is way more hardcore than mine, you know? And he was a civilian, and it made me realize that, like, yeah, everybody, you know, everybody's got their thing, and it's nothing wrong with it. And I I would venture to bet that any person that you could gain the trust with could tell you something that they're dealing with that's having an impact on them, and they don't know what to do about it, you know. Even if you have everything in the world, you you know, they're probably something that's that's getting to you. And I think we could all be better people if we could figure out how to like tribe up and get through those challenges together.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

No, absolutely. And let's talk about challenges right now. With some people face challenges of uh victim mentality, you know, like, oh, I can't, because we're talking about tragedy or when things go wrong, you know, like for you, you know, hey, that that job fell through and that went wrong. But other things in life, you know, someone has a bad spouse, or you know, someone's abused or something happens at a childhood. Victim mentality, I think, is very rampant right now. How would you advise somebody maybe that has that or is coming out of it to deal with it?

SPEAKER_01 29:30

Well, I the first thing I'll say is like it, you know, to those listening, part of that is acknowledging that you're calling yourself a victim, right? And I say that because when I went through my incident, it was my fault I failed the interview. I'm fucked up, I'm the problem, I'm handling everything myself. Um you know, and and again, at the time I wouldn't have said like, I'm I'm just vic I'm victimizing myself. I think I like fundamentally believe that any chance. Challenge that you're given in life is you're not going to be given that challenge by whatever higher being you believe in, if any, that you're not going to be given a challenge you can't overcome. And there's this really awesome book that I love to quote called The Obstacle is the way, where essentially he talks about when life gives you an obstacle, that obstacle becomes the way. It's not, it's not like, well, I'm screwed now. My life sucks now. It's how do I overcome this obstacle? If it's a spouse, like, dude, solve the problem. And you can solve any challenge that's put in front of you. The difference is you may need more people to solve bigger problems, you know? And that's why call your battle buddies, dude. Like I was dealing with a problem that I thought I could manage myself. When I realized I could just vent to one friend, like my one battle buddy, who we now talk every day. It's like he gives me advice that I would have never heard of. I've learned more about the VA from this dude than the VA can teach me about the VA. You know, and so I would say, you know, it's very easy to play the victim. It's, and I do agree with you. I think it's rampant. And, you know, especially young people, dude. It's like just understand that all of those negatives, they're just obstacles. Like put them on

Breaking Point On The Road And Getting Help

SPEAKER_01 31:10

a whiteboard and start knocking them down one at a time. You can accomplish anything that you put your mind to. I really mean that. I literally just saw a guy, like three guys row across the Pacific Ocean in a rowboat. You know. Um, but I'm really I'm I'm a big fan of like that whole obstacles the way concept. I'd recommend that book. Um, it's you know, I'm I want to say it's Ryan Holiday, but somebody that talks a lot about like Marcus Aurelius and um stoic stoicism. Yeah, but basically it's like, dude, give me any challenge, any, and I promise you, if you just take a minute, recognize that's a that's an obstacle, it's not a problem with Pete. How do I overcome that? Can I do it by myself? Do I need to get my wife involved? Do I need a couple battle buddies? Like anything that's put in front of you, you can accomplish, you can get past. And I think that the act of you know reducing an obstacle or getting past it is what makes us all stronger people. I'd venture to bet that any one of the most successful people you could ever talk to could in an instant name to you some of the biggest obstacles they ever came in their life. And some of them you'd probably be like, holy shit, dude, I've never had anything that difficult, you know? So my advice would be like take it on. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I think you become better for it. And shifting my mindset on that, you know, is like I started to look at like, okay, why am I depressed? You know, it's not because I live in Texas when I wanted to live in Colorado, it's not because of X, Y, or Z. When I started to figure out, I was like, well, these are the things that I'm gonna address. And really what I found was it was a mindset shift. It literally, as soon as I decided, like, hey, I'm the boss of me, you know, and I'm these things that I don't like that I'm dealing with, I'm gonna fix them so I don't have to deal with them anymore. And it and it, you know, I most of those problems I didn't know how to solve myself. I was just living with. Um, but when you hear a buddy or your wife say, like, like my wife is so cool. She never said anything about a drinking problem. But when I was like, hey, I think I drink too much, she's like, Yeah, I think I think you do too. It's like, well, that was enough for me to be like, damn, why didn't you say that earlier? You say it, then I'll stop, you know? Yeah. Um but overall, yeah, it's it's a mindset thing, man. It's just and you I literally anybody, I if you take anybody, I promise you, if you put your mind to overcoming whatever you're dealing with and stop being this victim, it doesn't exist, it's not real. All you're doing is slowing yourself down. The act of overcoming whatever that is is going to make you better on the flip side. And if you have to do it more than other people, you'll probably end up being more successful than other people.

SPEAKER_00 33:45

Um can we drill down on that a little bit? And you know, are there any techniques that you find, like as far as either self-awareness, journaling, meditation, go for a walk, extra like what do you do when you see yourself? You know, you get that question negative dialogue or whatnot. So, what's a great question? Do you have further than rowing across the ocean?

SPEAKER_01 34:09

Oh, dude, just take 60 days off of work and go row across an ocean. No, um, that's a great question. Uh I'll I'll bet my answer is one that many have said, but physical fitness, like anything physical, especially if it takes more than an hour. Um, for me personally, what I've found is I've got trails behind my house. I'll go walk on these trails, and that's where all my best thinking gets done. So I I found that physical, it's when you're depressed, it's really hard to get out into the gym. This was something I was dealing with. I wasn't working out um as much as I'm used to. I started gaining weight. And that was one of those things where I was like unhappy with my health. So I'm gonna start working out again. And the moment I did, I find myself on the bench rack thinking, like, do I even like my job? I should look at moving into a different project. You know, it's it clears your mind, but get away from the noise, um, something as simple as a walk, but try to get into a rhythm of doing that frequently because I think human beings are designed to be active. And it's very easy when you're out of the military to not be active at all. It's it's a lot more difficult to get up and go to the gym or get outside and you know, ruin your legs on a run or a walk or whatever. So that's one. Um honestly, that's probably the biggest one for me is it like I'm not I'm working on becoming better about the meditation piece. I'm trying to become disciplined in the morning where I take just like 20 minutes to stretch and just focus or say a prayer or whatever. But I'm pretty bad at that. I still I got that area to improve. But I think once once you start getting out and getting active again, that helps. But like I keep telling people, it's like, dude, stop just don't get worked up when things go wrong. It's like it if it were a combat mission and you wanted to go left but were forced to go right, nobody would just throw their guns on the ground and say, fuck it, this is dumb. I don't want to do that. Be like, we guess we're going right, bro. Like, that's the way we're going now. So let's go that way. Um, and that's kind of how I approach everything now. It's like bad interview. Like, I've had dozens of interviews, by the way. None of them have been successful. And frankly, not in industries I want to be in. It's like, hey, you know, it that's clearly not my way then. That wasn't my path. On to the next target. Um that's kind of the way I look at it. Short answer get outside, be active, sunshine, time away from noise, put the phone down, spend some time with your kids. You know, that that type of thing, I think, is where you'll find that you can adjust yourself mentally uh to overcome obstacles rather than just, you know, internally, I want to say bitching about it, but really victim mentality is a lot of times I've found like you just don't even know you're doing it. Um, I try to tell my buddies, I definitely tell our teammates, we talk a lot about transparency now. And like we will flat out call somebody out. If it's like, dude, I think you need to stop coming to this meeting and go get some help. Or we'll call people call our teammates, say, hey man, I didn't hear me a while. You good? Like your buddies will help you recognize when things are going not the way they should. So I guess the other one would be surround yourself with veterans, man. If you're a veteran, surround yourself with your people in whatever discipline or tribe or group or whatever that is, but people that you can trust and talk to. Um, between between all that, I mean, I think you could solve a lot of your problems uh just doing that alone.

SPEAKER_00 37:29

Absolutely. And that's why you're here on the asset mindset because that's why I showed it here. Yeah. Is surround yourself with good people in positive environments. Like you do that, that's gonna change your life for the better. It absolutely is 100%. 100% any of you listeners out there, hit pause, go in the description if you want to find out about everything that Peter's doing or Pete, whatever you want to go by. Either or uh cursor racing, you can find out about that if you want to support, donate. Maybe you're interested in rowing across the ocean. But yeah, definitely go in the link in the bio and all that information will be there. Reach out to Peter. He's um obviously, as you see, very open, very giving person, and which is why he's on the podcast. And of course, don't forget to like, follow, and subscribe, the Asset Mindset Podcast. Yeah, do that.

SPEAKER_01 38:18

Like, follow, and subscribe, ladies and gentlemen. The the followers and the likes matter. Yeah, and share.

SPEAKER_00 38:24

Share with people who need him. That's one of the big things, too. Like sharing's great, but share with those that you think, wow, they need to hear this, or someone that you know is struggling and needs a better mindset because it's so important. And I love that you you mentioned the walk,

Stigma, Therapy, Faith, And Men’s Groups

SPEAKER_00 38:40

you know, and you've talked about ooh, stressing. Well, not stressing, that's the wrong word. I apologize. It's probably the right word.

SPEAKER_01 38:45

I that's kind of my thing is too much stress, you know, the anxiety and high strung and all that.

SPEAKER_00 38:53

Yeah, but you're saying you were struggling with meditation or whatnot in the morning, like going for a walk, that can be a walking meditation. You're you know, you're you're out in nature, you're getting fresh air, your blood's flowing, and then your mind can relax and you can start thinking of better things or positive things or problem solving during the walk. I think that's a great stepping stone, and I'm glad you shared that with the audience because you know, for someone that's just starting out and you're, you know, scrolling through YouTube or listening to different podcasts, you know, hey, where do I begin? Go for a walk.

SPEAKER_01 39:28

Yeah. It's so easy. And you know what else too is that I found because I I started doing the walking thing not too long. It's hot in Texas, so I have to do that too early or late at night. And so it's hard to get up and do that late at night. But once once you've done it a couple of times, it becomes habitual. You you tend to want to do that. And so now I won't miss it. And it's not because I'm like, man, I need my therapy walk, it's because I genuinely benefit so much from just the time away from the devices and just thinking and walking with my dog. It's it's and it's I think too many of us try to advise people like go get a physical trainer or go join a gym. It's like that's a lot of stuff, man, for a lot of people. It's easy to go outside and walk, you can do that anywhere.

SPEAKER_00 40:09

Yeah, exactly. And the one thing, whether it's walk or working out, I've never ever met anybody that afterwards feels worse.

SPEAKER_01 40:18

No, no, you know, it's one of those things. And I'll bet you in the work that you do on this podcast, I'll bet you've met a lot of people too that would say the same thing if you ask that question. Like, do something physical.

SPEAKER_00 40:29

Absolutely. Yeah, it's it's hard to be uh and down when you're moving and you're exercising, the blood's flowing, you know, you got fresh air, birds are flying around, or you see the sun's out and blue sky, like you just your mind is taking all that in, and there's a lot of beauty in the world. You know, something I share and I'll share with you, and you can use with the groups that you work with, you know, people talk about triggers all the time. Well, instead of seeing triggers around, look at glimmers. Glimmer of something beautiful, glimmer of something that you're grateful for. Just like there's triggers all around us, there's glimmers everywhere. So start noticing the glimmery or the shiny things in life, you know, as you're driving and you see a rainbow, or you see a mom and a and a kid, you know, embrace and oh, isn't that cute? The hub, you know, like there are things of beauty and love all around the world. Oh, yeah. All the time. There's a lot of negative and bad stuff, but you don't have to focus on that. See it, acknowledge it, it's out there, but you can focus on the good things.

SPEAKER_01 41:39

Easy. And I I heard a pretty famous podcast. Well, it's Tucker Carlson. I don't know if I'm supposed to talk about political figures here, but I heard him on his podcast recently say if I were to just to pause and open up my eyes, I would probably recognize a lot of miracles and great things going on in the world that I'm just blind to because I'm sucked in on all the negatives that are going on. So I agree with you. And then the last thing, last thing on this one, you talked about mindset and something I've talked about with the team. I've talked about with Denny on his podcast. If you, if you go Google, like type into the search bar, 1% better British cycling team, you'll come up with this story of uh from whenever it wasn't that recent, but you had this British professional cycling team that was losing all the time. And they weren't, you know, the basically their whole motto that they decided to try to like implement to start winning was if we can just get 1% better in what we're doing, eventually we'll be winning. And so they went down to like, you know, selecting the right pillows for their athletes and like making their bike one ounce lighter, like every little thing they could do to improve 1%. And that became one of the most winning cycling teams out there. So I talk a lot about like, dude, if you get, if you can make yourself a better person, 1%, whether it's physical, mental, you know, read a book, anything, you'll know it. Everybody knows what makes you better. Get 1% better every day. Eventually you're gonna be better than everybody else. And so that's what I try to tell people about our nonprofit. Like, we're literally just trying to get 1% better every day. Eventually we'll have all the funding we need. Eventually we'll be running programs all the time. But in the time being, it's just, dude, just 1%. If you can literally go walk for five minutes, you've just gotten a little bit better and that'll grow. And then you'll walk for 10, 20 an hour. And then, you know, now you're not even gonna think about walking as getting better. You're gonna say, I'm gonna read something, you know. So I try to tell that to a lot of people as well. It's like I really believe in that mentality of like, dude, take every day, good or bad, get 1% better. Promise you your life will improve. You know, get out and be physical, surround yourself with your buddies. Um, we can really tackle a lot of the mental health challenges that vets go through if you could somehow build that out for people. And a lot of times that means people like us that know this, like we're calling our friends and teammates that we know are not doing that. Um spread the love.

SPEAKER_00 44:02

Yeah, absolutely. And that's one of the things too. I I think people don't realize how much love there is in the military. You know, we are shoulder to shoulder, side by side, you know, with people and horrific things. And yeah, there's a lot of evil out there, but there's a lot of love and goodness too. Like the guys that I've seen that served with, I'm sure there's amazing men. Like I still can't believe some of the guests I have on here, some of the guys I served with that you know, I'm friends with. I'm like, oh my God. Like it's it's incredible. And you know, it is so powerful to surround yourself with positive people. So just make sure you're doing that. Get a group, a team, whatever it is, because that's gonna it's gonna change your life. It'll change your world and be a good asset to those other people too.

SPEAKER_01 44:52

So before we go, I love the asset mindset, and I'm sorry to interrupt you, but you're good. A final comment and thought on that is all veterans, you just mentioned these hardships we go through. You're almost like you're you're kind of inherently an asset to your communities with that. And so another thing that I've found for me that's been extremely helpful is I'm in a small town. I've got my little veteran cohort that I spend a good amount of time with. But when I'm talking to like the civilian

Victim Mentality Versus Ownership

SPEAKER_01 45:20

friends, you are more equipped to deal with struggle than most people are because you've been around it and all your buddies have been around it, and you've heard stories that like nobody can one up. So if you take your struggles, like I'm sucking, I have a problem, something's going on, and think about it from a perspective of dude, everybody I know has gone through something like this. And if Green Beret Pete is going through it, like I'm more equipped to handle it. How bad do the others have it? You know, like give back by saying, like, dude, I'm struggling too. Like, look at me and what I've done, and I struggle too. We all struggle, man. Like, so let's do those things that I just mentioned. And it's and it really becomes easy. I think the positivity is a huge part of it. But that's why I love I love what you're doing here because I think you are preaching to a large audience about, and maybe preaching is the wrong word, but like you it's simple adjustments to your mindset, and you can become an asset to your communities, your family, veterans, your buddies that are still in, you can give a lot of back, even if you feel like I'm worthless. You're not, you know, it's like literally that is your brain. It's not you in control. And if you're somebody that thinks that on a regular basis and you think nothing's wrong with you, it's just you, go call a buddy. Call me, dude. I don't care. I'll listen to your story and I'll tell you what I've been through and we'll figure it out. Um I appreciate what you're doing here. Oh, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 46:48

And yeah, it's it's been pretty incredible the journey and helping people and just realizing, you know, I've joked sometimes, you know, about the pen is mightier than the sword. You know, I joined like you, I wanted to be a green beret. I wanted to be out there, help people make changes in the world, which I did and did great things and served with great people. But boy, the book and now the podcast, and really reaching people and getting out like it's changing people and changing the world. And it's incredible. And I feel so blessed to do it and to get guys like you out here that are doing the same thing. That's why you're here, because you're living testimony of being an asset in the world or having the asset mindset philosophy. And just because you have this philosophy doesn't mean you're not gonna have troubles or struggle because that's part of the human condition. But having this mindset will help you get through it. So uh before we wrap up, I want to ask, what do you think has been your biggest contributor to being successful and being a positive person in life?

SPEAKER_01 47:53

Oh, that's a good question. Biggest contributor, uh my instinctual answer here is gonna be somewhere around resilience. And and I think overall, I don't set my sights low ever. I always my goals are always lofty and I and I look at a lot of them. But I really do believe that you're gonna be throwing obstacles and it's gonna come from every direction. You know, like they say, the enemy always has a vote. But if you think about it, if you think about anything you're struggling with, it's just an obstacle. It's just part of the process. Like, yeah, I'm not allowed to have it easy here. That's that to me is is is just, you know, that's what keeps me positive. Like you drop the hammer on me right now, and I'll be like, well, damn, now I gotta figure out this problem, you know, and it's and just keep a positive attitude about the obstacles in your life. That I think is really what um builds resiliency. And I think that's, you know, you're you're like you said, everybody's gonna have hardships, different degrees, different times. Um, but I think for me personally, it's one setting unreasonable goals. There's nothing wrong with that. You can literally accomplish anything you want. More people have gone to freaking space than have crossed an ocean on a rowboat. Um and just address those obstacles is like part of the process. It's just part of the process. You know, your obstacles are different than mine. You can overcome them. And if you need a battle buddy, like, hey man, I like to help out. Like, call me, call call another friend and tackle obstacles together. But I I think looking at hardship that way is what has made me um most successful in the world. Well, you're definitely resilient.

SPEAKER_00 49:30

Yeah, I think I guess no, it's it's great. And I want to add to that a little obstacles help you grow. And you're here to grow and have growth and change. You know, if you're not growing, you're dying. And everybody out there, I think we all want to grow and not die. So, and if you're having that bad moment, you know, reach out to someone because you should be wanting to grow and learn and be an asset to others, spread some love in the world, do some good things that make you feel good. And I'm gonna go through the quick one, two, threes. One, take ownership of your life and realize you're your greatest asset. Two, you need to surround yourself with good people in positive environments, and three, be an asset to others. You do those three things, it's a recipe for success. So Peter man. Thank you for what you're doing. Thank you for uh I want to say like breaking grounds, but you're not breaking grounds, I guess you're rowing oceans. So thanks for doing that and uh helping people. And it's been a great time here on the show today with you. And remember, everybody, link in the bio, go in there, check it out, see what Peter's doing, see what the rowboats are doing. Do you have a name for the boat, by the way? Most people name their boats.

SPEAKER_01 50:49

Yeah, no, our boat's named Relentless. Relentless. Ah, nice. Yeah, there's the relentless pursuit of making this thing happen. So that's what we named our boat after. And and um, I was gonna say when we finish this um Gulf of America Crossing in January, I'll reach back out because that'll be a bunch of world records idea. I

Tactics: Movement, Walks, And Tribe

SPEAKER_01 51:10

I believe as of right now, we're validating that, but I don't think anybody's ever done it. So I'll reach back out to this happens, and then we can talk about where I am mentally.

SPEAKER_00 51:21

No, super cool. We'll do a follow-up, you know, and um definitely share on socials all that information. You know, I'll put it out there if you're looking for sponsors or whatnot, we'll share. And I'm glad I asked for the name of the boat. That was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 51:34

So again, it's getting wrapped right now. When it's done, it's like this Tiger Strike camo, it's gonna look sick, and it should be done in a couple weeks. But I'll I'll send you a picture. How big is it? It's 31 feet, I believe, in length. There's a cabin on either end that that can fit too. It's not comfortable, but it can, and then it has three rowing positions, and all of your storage is um under the hole. Uh, so it it's the the like the transoceanic rows are self-supporting. So you pack like six million calories worth of food, and you don't get to see anybody else for a month or two. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 52:09

Incredible. What an incredible thing, man. I I I love it. I can't wait to hear about it. So thanks again for being on the show. Thank you all for watching. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and follow. And of course, always own your power.