Forging the Mindset for Special Operations--Finding Meaning When Tragedy Takes It Away

In this episode of The Signal, host Andy Feltovich sits down with Mike Panonne — founder and head instructor of CTT Solutions, former Recon Marine, Army Special Forces operator, and member of 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta.
This conversation covers the oldest questions in recorded history: what leadership actually demands, how culture is built and destroyed, and what happens to a man when everything he has built is taken from him in a millisecond.
Panonne doesn't traffic in motivation. He traffics in standards — and the difference between the two is the entire point.
 What You'll Learn:

• What three elite special operations selection processes are actually looking for — and why the answer isn't who you think
• Why culture lives and dies at the top: leadership by example, not leadership by exemption
• What the jungle teaches you about mindset that no classroom ever will
• 64 fractures, one eye, 141 pounds: how a man rebuilds identity and purpose after losing everything that defined him
• Why motivational retreats are "serving you soda and telling you it's a protein drink" — and what actually works
• The neuroscience behind an ancient truth: you cannot achieve what you cannot first see and feel

If you lead a team, are building something difficult, or have ever had to pick yourself up off the floor and figure out what comes next — this episode will give you the language for what you already know.
Mike is also active in the Marine Reconnaissance Foundation, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides financial assistance to wounded Reconnaissance Marines and Special Amphibious Reconnaissance Corpsmen (SARCs), supports families of those killed in service, and funds educational opportunities for their children.
501(c)(3) and IRS 990 filings confirm that the Marine Reconnaissance Foundation reports no executive compensation or professional fundraising fees, meaning more of your donations go directly to injured Recon Marines, SARCs, and their families.
501(c)(3) filing: https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/ (search EIN 46-3009425)

• IRS 990: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/463009425

Guest Links:

• Instagram: @CTTSolutionsLLC [verify]
• Website: cttsolutions.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Signal. Hot companion is the only intelligence report in men's health and performance. It tells you what to watch, what to ignore, and why. I'm Andy Phelps, Founder CEO. Every episode, we go deeper than everyone. Longer conversations, harder questions, and the stories behind the data. We don't do close signs, we don't do wealth speed. We question everything except we question. Every dogma on tribe, guilty. If you're new here, the signal is produced by fucking shit. Subscribe to the report at weaponizeresearch.com. And if this episode is worth five stars to you, leave a review. It's the single best thing that you can do to help us cut through the noise. Now let's get into it. Today we have Mike Pannone, currently founder and head instructor of CTT Solutions, that delivers best-in-class tactical instruction to military, law enforcement, and civilians. He is also a master class shooter in three different divisions. Prior to that, Mike had a career in the U.S. Marine Corps and Army that included membership in Marine Force Reconnaissance, U.S. Army Special Forces, and First Special Forces Operational Detachment Delta. As always, this is for informational purposes only and is not medical or legal advice. Welcome, Mike. It's a great honor to have you today. I'd like to start off by talking about your military background. You are a member of not one but three elite military units, Marine Recon, Army Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets, and then Delta Force. So each of those units has a very rigorous assessment and selection process to even be considered to begin training and ultimately join those units. So tell us about those different assessment and selections that you went through. How are they similar? How are they different? And what was each unit looking for?

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Oh, thanks for having me. Um yeah, the the the start at the beginning of the beginning of my career, the reconnaissance um process, the selection process that I went through, we call it Endoc. Uh it's just a really hard day. It's a just a physically punishing day. See what they're looking for, one is just physical capability. Can you physically handle what they are going to expect you to do? Okay, like there's there's a there's a the price for jobs like that, and it's expensive. And you you have to be fit, you have to be able to endure discomfort and fatigue and all that. So that's that they're looking at that portion of it, and they're looking at the mental part that says, can I do this physically and can I do it mentally? There are people that can do it physically, they can't do it mentally. At a certain point, they're like, hey, this isn't for me. I'm not, I'm not here for this kind of work. Like, I'm not, I'm not for I'm not about this kind of smoke. And you'll see guys just drop out, go, it's not for me. And so they're they're trying to push to a breaking point uh in order to see who breaks. That's the only way. I mean, it's like you you look at it, and all of the selection processes have the same thing. It's like forging steel. You take iron, you heat it, get it really hot, and you hammer it. You forge it. And if it if it uh doesn't break, it becomes really hard steel. But right at the beginning, if it's not quality steel, it breaks. So it's like that's the only the pressure testing part is is critical because you you can tell me how hard you are. Now show me. Okay. Um, and it's there's there's no positive uh uh encouragement, it's all negative, it's all negative. So now you're pushing yourself while people are basically telling you like you're never gonna make it, you're not good enough for this. Come on, just just just bail out. No shame. You can leave right now, nobody will know. Like it's a different kind of vibe. Now, when you look at Army Special Forces, there's a there's a distinct personality and cognitive process. They want to see you solve problems. When you go through the course, it's difficult, but you're just a number. You're roster number 253, and that's it. You're not a name, you're not a rank, nothing. You're just a number. And and there's a reason for that. They want you to recognize to us, you're just a number. That's it. Like you're you're you're you're you are literally nobody of consequence. And um, you go through the the physical portion of there's lots of movement, overland movement and navigation and all that, and culminates in a team week, which is a bunch of events. Like one of them, they give you a um Jeep trailer with only one wheel on it, and the other wheel is inside the Jeep trailer, and then a bunch of poles and ropes and all this, and you have to make a device to be able to pull that for you know freaking kilometers on sandy roads. You have to push Jeeps like 10K on sandy roads. There's no, I mean, there's an engine, there's everything, but you can't start it. So there's a bunch of there's a bunch of problems you have to solve while you're already smoked. And then they look at how you solve the problems and how you interact with the team. And when you're in charge, how do you act? And when you're not in charge, how do you act? So they're looking at a much broader spectrum of personality. And the reason is because you're gonna have to go places. I went to, like a uh, for instance, on a um exercise, well, not an exercise, but a diploma we went on. We went to New Guinea and we built the School of the Warrior, which is like their Ranger School, right? So they just get a team together and go, You guys are going to New Guinea, you're gonna build their Ranger School. I didn't, you know, a bunch of us ranger qualified, got it. Um you get there with a $70,000 op fund and a concept. And like I say to people all the time, in SF, like you're the handshake and smile guys. At the end of it, like this is where you are, this is where we want you to go. How you get there is your business. At the end of it, we want handshakes and smiles. We want everybody happy. Go. And so now there's no there's no map for it, there's no pathway, there's no content. You build it from the ground up, just you and eight, ten other guys. So it's like that's a that's a whole different rationale for selection. It's not just physically getting you do it, and then we'll we'll program what you need, versus now it's very non-standard problem solving. And then when you go to SFOD, they look at it like intuitive intelligence. Are you smart enough? Are you confident enough? Can you process information rapidly under stress?

SPEAKER_01 6:29

It it's it is a and in terminology, what does OD mean? What's that a terminology question? What does OD mean?

SPEAKER_00 6:39

What do you mean OD?

SPEAKER_01 6:40

When did I you I thought you said when you go to OD? OTC.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

OTC. Operator training course. Okay. Sorry, I talked fast. When you go to operator training course, before operator training course, when you go to selection, they're looking for people that are trainable. They're looking for people that are obviously extremely physically fit and have a lot of fortitude. Um, they're looking for intelligence, they're looking at the ability to follow instructions, comp there's a whole bunch of stuff they're looking at that um is very uh personality and psychology driven. The physical start, the stuff is just freaking hard. It's just hard. Everybody, like hard is hard, got it. Now, can you be pushed to those limits and be expected to solve difficult mental problems while under extreme physical uh stress over a long period of time? It's not just this afternoon, it's weeks. And at the end of this, the culmination of it, you have to solve problems and do skill tasks under a tremendous amount of physical and psychological and emotional stress. And so it's like that's a that that process depicts a certain type of individual. A person that you can just drop somewhere and go, uh, this is what we want it to look like in the end. Figure it out. And they literally are are eager to do it. Like, oh, I got this. Like it's you can do things like there's a certain personality that is it's almost an entrepreneurial one. Like I can fix things, I can make things happen, I can figure out, I can connect things together that most people wouldn't connect together to find a solution that I've never seen before, and they execute it. It's a very unique, and it's why that organization is, you know, arguably the best of its kind in the world. It does things that people can't, they can't imagine. And when you're when you're inside the machine, you realize even more how unbelievable it is. It is it is a 100% sourced organization that makes the impossible possible on a reg, like they do it all the time. And that's why it's so it's like it's each level, set me up for the next level, each level when progressing, like physically and in reconnaissance. Will you endure extreme physical hardship when people are trying to get you not to? They're trying to convince you that you don't want to. They want to find that little weakness and exploit it. Then you go to the SF side, they don't care, like whatever, dude. You make it, you don't make it, you're a number. They give you a bunch of problems to see how you think, they see how you interact when you're in charge, when you're not in charge, all that. And then go all the way to SFOD at the end when you go to Delta. It's like it is a they're creating a distinct psychological profile of you. The physical profile is always easy to get. And then going, do we even want this guy? Like, we don't, and there's a saying there that's like, we're not looking for the best man at the job, we're looking for the best man for the job. And those are two different people. And so that that profile that they that they look for, whatever it is, nobody knows what it is. Only like people in the puzzle house know. But they're looking for someone that can be dropped anywhere with minimal guidance and be trusted to accomplish tasks that most people are intimidated by. And they're like, Yeah, I got this. It's a it's a it's a group of people, the likes of which that really don't exist anywhere in the world. That collection in that small space.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

Yeah, so I might be maybe this is something I can ask GPT afterwards, just numerically how elite it is. But when you look at the numbers of the people, the men who have uh served in Delta, it's there's been more astronauts, bro. Yeah, more yeah, astronauts, Olympic gold medalists. Um, yeah, it's a it's a very numerically elite group. So, as you know, I work with 40-plus-year-old executives, entrepreneurs, senior professionals, men who are building their own organizations, managing their own teams. So, what's the takeaways from those assessment and selections? What are the keys to assessing what you need in your team and your organization, and then going out and assessing and selecting for it?

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Uh, I would say the the creative problem solving part, intelligence and creative problem solving go hand in hand. People are not creative problem solvers who aren't intelligent, and people who but but people who are intelligent aren't always creative problem solvers. So one requires the other. Um, and then like the when you're looking at people, you're not looking at the flashy person per se. You are looking at someone that is quietly confident, and that you can hand anything and look at their demeanor, hand them any, any, any problem to solve, and they go, okay, and they'll look at it, and then they'll ask a couple competent questions and go, okay, I can do that. They can there's a there's a level of confidence that you need. Those people are not, they're not selling themselves to you. They're not going, hey, I'm your guy. That they show up and say, You have this position I'm interested in. And then you do the interviewing and you make sure that they fit the requirements as far as intellectual and cognitive capability, emotional capability, and then you look at them relative to your organization, go, does this, does this guy or does this girl fit? Do they fit here? Will they, you know, are they capable of doing the job well, but nobody will like them, which means that they won't really be capable of doing the job well. Do they have the proper temperament? All that. So it's it's not just a I would say I when I say hard skills, I mean definable skills. Can they do this particular job? Can they do the job within this organization and get along with everyone and be trusted to be competent and diligent and all that? So it's a it's a it is a more of a personality profile than an academic profile. Academic profiles are easier to get.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

And that touches on culture, which we're gonna discuss more of shortly. I want to talk about environment and mindset. So one of the pillars of my framework, screen, spirituality, cognition, recovery, environment, exercise, and nutrition. Like to talk, it addresses how we interact with environment and how our inner environment interacts with us. So let's talk about mindset and environment. Uh, as a marine, you had to operate in the jungle for weeks and months on end. And uh the unforgiving nature of the Pacific jump jungle was really brought home to me in Robert Lecke's excellent World War II mem memoir, Helmet for My Pillow, in which he spoke of the twin enemies of the Pacific, the jungle and the Jap. So, how do you function in an environment when the environment itself changes everything you do, usually for the worse, usually making it harder? And when environment is a semi-permanent fixture and just not and not just a temporary obstacle to be overcome.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

Well, you first of all, you have to you have to learn to understand the environment. You have to know what it what it affords you, positive and negative, what's here. And then you learn how to manage those things based on what you do and equipment you have and all that. Okay. Um, the next part is learning to endure. Learning to endure. And that's something that that comes, that's a fortitude you have. I want to do this job so much that I will endure whatever it takes to do it. And and I, you know, I want to take care of my teammates, a selflessness. Like I have to endure in order to make sure that I'm pulling my my load in order to make it easier on that. Because anybody that doesn't put their load doesn't obviously isn't useful. But in the jungle, you you there's a there's a mentality, let's say a mentality more than a mindset. I take that from my buddy Matt at X-ray alpha. There's a mentality you have. It's like, this is part of the job I do. This is what I do. And I've said that to people before in different arduous circumstances, like, hey man, this is what we do, bro. Like you better get used to it or you better find a new job. Nobody wants to hear you complain. Like, I'm one time I was in the Arctic and there was a guy complaining the whole time. And I was like, you're a good guy, but constantly complaining. It's like, dude, is it not 20 below for me too? Like, I don't want to hear it. We're here to do a job. We do the job. Your comfort or discomfort is really immaterial. And so that's the mentality. You learn to go, it's not, it doesn't matter if I'm comfortable or uncomfortable. It doesn't matter that in the jungle everything bites and stings and is poisonous and causes a rash and you know has stiff prickers on it. Like it doesn't, that's really a personal problem. You learn to endure it because your your the mentality you have is is mission critical. Like the mission must be done. My comfort isn't planned into that. And so that's how you get past it. If if you're constantly thinking about your own comfort, then you're not thinking about the mission and your teammates, and you're useless.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Ah, go goes back to mission men me. Um the the book I'm writing right now, the chapter on mindset and mental toughness, really abused, misunderstood term. And I tried to go back to the origins of it. And what you're talking about really goes back to uh the suffering, Job, the Old Testament, um Moses trying trying to shepherd a bunch of complainers through the desert, and he and he cracks, right? And God tells him to get to coerce water from the rock, and he instead he gets mad and he strikes the rock, and he doesn't get into the promised land. He said, No, you you cracked under pressure. And then the Stoics later on had their uh what you're saying is very consistent also with what the Stoics said about uh endurance. It's you the environment the environment is how you interpreted it. The vi environment's just it doing what it does, it's it uh only becomes adverse when you interpret it as such.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

I mean you think of it like Victor Frankel, you you assign value and meaning to things. Yeah. I get to I I I I decide what it means to me. And you know, it it if you decide that it means something really bad, then you'll believe that. You'll believe you will always believe you. And if you say this is oh my god, this is terrible, then it's going to be terrible, whether it is or not, or to the magnitude that you believe it. And so I it there there have been times in my life when I've been like, okay, this is bad, but it could have been worse. And I'm gonna figure it out. And it's it's it's not easy. I mean, but it it's one of those things that gives you it gives you a a start point, it gives you hope, yeah, it it replenishes that that fortitude, that resilience. You're like, okay, the the the the solution you're coming up with is I don't know exactly what it is, but I'm gonna find it, versus holy shit, what am I gonna do? Oh my god, I'm screwed. It's just you never go anywhere like that. That that negative mindset is a failure mindset.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

Absolutely. I'm and I'm glad you brought up Victor Frankel. I'm gonna have to make sure I touch on him in the book. I'm never gonna get the book written because I'm still stuck in the stoics and the the old testament, but that's an excellent point. After the military, uh, tell us about the work you did as a military and civilian contractor and how that ultimately led to your current role, founder and head instructor at CTT Solutions. How did your diverse background and prior skill set uh prepare you for those roles?

SPEAKER_00 17:41

Um, I would say that the the hard skills part of it, I had done most like most everything on that military side. I'd done, you know, parachuting, you know, static line, free fall, diving, demolitions, shooting. It was a sniper. Like I had I touched all the touched all the you know the blocks along the way. So I had a broad level of experience technically, and then I'd functioned at extremely high levels in the military. So it was it was kind of the combination of those two gave me a foundation that was very strong. And it was, it was it problem solving based, and it was you know independently confident and all that. And then having, you know, I tell people having the triangle and the dagger on my resume, it it always it always it always opened the door for me. It was up to me after that to be the guy that, you know, to be as advertised. But people always go, oh, he used to be there, and then they go, oh, and he was there and there too. Let let's we'll give him give him a viewing, let's hear him, let's see what he has to say. And then I would earn my spot from there. It's not a it's not the master key. It's like, oh, you always get in if you have this on your resume. That's not it. People still want you to provide value, you still have to generate revenue one way or another. And so I came in and was able to speak to whatever you know mission set was at hand and make it happen. And so when I left, I medically retired right before the war kicked off. Um I got a call in 2000, gen, in actually it was um December of 2001. And old Sergeant Major mine was like, hey, we need guys you know that that can shoot and understand aircraft and tactics and stuff. We're gonna help stand up the new air marshal program. Like, okay. So January 2nd, I took the shooting test and I was one of the first 10 guys hired, and we were standing up the new air marshal program. So I did that 2002 into 2003, 2003. I left for Iraq to do high-risk protection and did that in 2003, 04. And then I changed um positions and went to the asymmetric warfare group. It wasn't the asymmetric warfare group at the time, it was um the IED task force. And so I was there at the beginning when we went from eight from IED task force to asymmetric warfare group. I was like on the wall, they had on the wall, they had all the names of people, the the plank, the plank owners. I was number 10 on the top 10. So I was one of the first 10 guys when they stood up the asymmetric warfare group that was there. Um and so that was a big deal. Matter of fact, actually, I don't know if I have it up here. No, it's in another room, but it, oh yeah, you can't see it. It's up in the corner. My my actual little flag with number 10 on it when I left. They gave me a corner and a flag and all. But so I did I did the asymmetric warfare group, we did counter ID stuff and ground combat advising. And um, I was in the Anbar province because I was a Marine for my first six years, so that it made sense to be in Anbar uh as an army guy, so to speak, a hybrid, um, working over there. So that was you know, that was another thing. And and I got experience. I when I went over in 2004, I was the first project manager hired for triple canopy, so I helped stand up triple canopy. Um before that, I tried to help stand up the Art Marshall Program. When I went to the asymmetric work, or when I went to ID task force, it became the asymmetric boardboard group. I was one of the first 10 guys. I was helping stand that up. So the pattern is there. I've always been at the beginning, helping stand up organizations and businesses and stuff. So you learn a ton when you're when you're trying to figure out refine the mission set, what the assets are to do it, where your employment is most useful. All of that stuff was really like beneficial based on my past experience because I could conduct complex operations. I knew how to do detailed planning, um, I knew how to forecast. And so it my military background didn't necessarily directly relate to certain things I did on a one-for-one, but the overall knowledge that I got from and them and experience that I got from them was incredibly useful. And then just starting my own business, I just found a niche in the market and filled it with common sense and experience, not sneaking magic beans.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Yes, what you're describing is very similar to my entrepreneurial journey in the school system, which I learned was I learned late in life was complete BS. They reward you for. How much you know, which I don't know, maybe that's great if you want to be on a professional jeopardy contestant. But in the real world, they don't reward you for how much you know, they reward you for identifying the pain point problem and solving it, which it sounds like as all your previous experience, especially Delta, you've mentioned before that that was excellent entrepreneurial training. It sounds like that really prepared you for your success in the business world.

SPEAKER_00 22:29

Absolutely. It's um, yeah, it definitely is. Um, I look at the we talk about scholastic, like I had a really good formal education, strangely enough, and I was a ballistic guy, obviously, the whole time, but I went to like prep school and boarding school and all that. I had two years of college when I came in. I had a really good formal education, and it helped a lot, but it was very different doing the education that I got was about applying knowledge, just using knowledge to solve problems, not knowledge for the sake of knowledge. And so the the the ability to do that is something that's lost. Now it's just memorized stuff. Memorized knowledge is information, it's not knowledge. Knowledge is you know, the it is applicable information. And so there's a lot of people that go to school and they can recite all kinds of stuff and they they can't solve a simple problem. Yes, and and that's that's where it completely falls apart. The four, just real quick, though, like when I talked about the four the four pillars of functional intelligence, objectivity, creativity, knowledge, and discipline. Those are the four legs on the on this on the stool. Okay. If you just have knowledge that's not applicable, memorized knowledge, you don't necessarily have objectivity, creativity, or discipline. And if you have objectivity, creativity, knowledge, and you don't have discipline, it falls apart. Like you need all four. And they don't teach that in college.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

Absolutely. I was thinking in a very similar vein, the four tiers of going from data to wisdom. So data, information, knowledge, uh, wisdom. And uh you we touched on knowledge, and I'd say wit wisdom is when knowing knowing when not to do something. So the old joke is knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad. Exactly. And I think that comes ultimately comes from not just that's the next step after knowledge is having got those, having got that scar tissue, uh, that's where ultimately wisdom comes in. So let's talk about the the culture question. Uh, culture, it's all the rage. I came from the business world and culture this, culture that. Uh, what the hell does the word even mean? Uh, the organizations that you've worked with, which ones had strong cultures, uh, which ones didn't? How do you build it, maintain it, and if you're not careful, lose it?

SPEAKER_00 24:52

Okay. Um, culture, every all the military units that I was in, the reconnaissance community, special forces, and SFOD and Delta, all had extremely strong, strong cultures. And your culture comes from your standards. And your standards come from the top. And at the top, you have to adhere to those standards. It's, you know, I I I say it as a as a way to make the point. It's leadership by example, not leadership by exemption. You know, like I'm on the top, so I don't have to do that, but you do. That you will destroy a unit from the top down, it'll kill it. And so, any any corporate structure, any of that, you have to live the standards that you expect from the people that work for you. Okay. And so it's if you want integrity and you want, you know, you want four, do you want people to show off early and leave late? All of that stuff, you better be the first one in the office. You better be the last one leaving. You better interact respectfully with people, not demand people treat you like the cane. Like, there's a lot of stuff that I've seen in the corporate world that has been absolutely terrible. And it's because people without left and right limits will act stupid and selfish and greedy and all the rest. And it's true. The military has limited. You can't do certain things. You can't treat people certain ways. There are standards, and standards without enforcement is nothing. There's no such thing as standards without enforcement. And so when you live in a when you're in a corporate structure and you have people doing bad stuff, okay, and everybody sees it, but nobody can do anything about it, the resentment becomes a caustic cancer and will destroy the organization. Absolutely. And I've seen it, I watched it happen.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Let's talk about culture, what it meant for your personal development and performance. So when you were in organizations with uh strong cultures, what did that do for your uh personal development and performance? And then when you had to interact with uh weaker cultures, what did that do?

SPEAKER_00 26:47

On the strong culture side, the benefit of that is that done properly, those cultures teach you about, they teach you about selflessness and loyalty and fortitude and honesty and all that. You are judged by an entire organization, not the leadership of an organization. So when I was in reconnaissance, like if you're weak and you suck at stuff, guys will let you know and be like, we don't want you. Like you're here because they're making us take you. But if it were up to us, we'd have an empty locker. We wouldn't have you like they'll tell you right to your face, you know, and and it's it's a little more polite, but it's the same thing in SF. And it, you know, at you know, Delta, it was just it was corporate in the sense, like, you're not good. Like, you're a nice guy, world's full of nice guys, you don't all belong here. So find a new job while it's still your idea. Like it wasn't nobody was like angry or anything. They're just like, dude, you're not, we would it, it's it's like I tell people it's like an NFL team. They would rather have an empty locker than have a locker filled with a guy that can't score points that they're paying. Like, we're just not you're not a factor, you're a non-playable character. Like, we don't, and that's they do so well in the selection process that that very few people get there. But I've seen people that get there and they're like, nah, you this isn't for you, man. Like, you gotta go. And so those ones, the standards and all that. The other side, I've worked in some private for some private companies where it was just unscrupulous stuff that you saw. People asking you to to lie to people that were working for you because they didn't want to look bad. And like, I was just, and I just left. I won't, I, I won't, I won't compromise my integrity for money. I won't. Because you know the old adage, man, integrity is like virginity. Once it's gone, it's gone. You can act like it's back, but it's not. Like, it's just a matter of how much it takes for you to compromise your integrity again. And I left it, I left an extraordinarily well-paying corporate job and just like, I'm out. Like, I don't, I don't, I don't trust you, I don't like you, I don't like the corporate culture, and I'm done. And it truth be told, if I had stayed there and played the game, I would have been extraordinarily wealthy and all the rest. Was it worth it? I have to look in the mirror and go, hey, am I am I the guy that like I want my daughter to be proud of? Or am I just like every other dirt bag that sold out for the money?

SPEAKER_01 28:59

Yeah, that's um so several things that you hit on there is separating the personal from the professional. It sounded like it was just very cold and um forensic. Just you're it's nothing personal against you. It's just you're not we need guys who put points on the board, and you're not putting points on the board.

SPEAKER_00 29:23

Yeah, it wasn't it was not heartfelt, it wasn't like they weren't angry at you. Now that said, in in that the final organization I was in, if you lied, cheated, or stole, they would drive the dagger into you harder than anybody else. Because they gave you Yeah, they gave you every bit of responsibility as a as a professional. You could do go anywhere, do anything. Like it's literally like you're you are 100% source. You say, hey, I really need this. They go, okay. If you say you really need this, I'm never gonna question you. And the moment I have to question you, you're gone. And if you lie to me, if you misrepresent, like I said, no one will drive the dagger into you worse than that place. And they have to, because they can't compromise the organization and what and how it's structured for one guy that can't play by the rules, that knows all the rules and just is too smart by half. The big army might not be happy with you. We'll crush you because you're jeopardizing an institution that has done things that the the world doesn't even understand yet, honestly. It it is that and people say, Oh, you're just you know, you're you're you're rah-ran for your team. Yeah, I am, but it's provable. And a lot of and a lot of crews that can roll up into Venezuela and grab a guy and come out like we did. Like it's different. Like, sorry, there's there's levels to this. And so in that kind of organization, there are no weak sisters. Nope. Like you, and and there's no integrity violations, like anything. They don't care. You can you can screw up monumentally, okay, and still be there. You can lie about dumb stuff and you are gone, never to return. You're like disappear, like aliens abducted you. Go. So it's like, and that's because the standards are rigid and they are rigidly enforced.

SPEAKER_01 31:10

Yes. Um that that that's a great insight. So the um expectations proportional to the responsibilities. When we write when you we write you blank checks to go off and do anything you want, there's a there's a cost to that. There has to be a cost to that. That's a that's a very interesting insight. I'm glad we got to touch on it. Your military career came to an abrupt end due to a traumatic injury. So, first, let's talk about that. Tell us about that, how that happened.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

Uh we're doing rehearsals for uh recapturing down pilots, and um it was a long story. We we were supposed to uh fast roof into a certain area, and then it turns out there were wires there. So we went to another area and air landed where there was a bunch of like reeds and sand and stuff. So as I moved to the breech point, peeling the um adhesive off my charge. Now there's rotor wash, there's moisture. This is in Louisiana, so there's moisture, there's sand, there's moisture on the door. Um the the charge stuck, and I paid out my my firing line and fired it. But as I looked off, so I set it, identified it was there. I looked, I actually tapped my cover man on the leg, looked to the ground, and fired it. It literally followed my vision and detonated on the way down. Um, every charge fell. I was just a little faster than some of the other guys, and mine fell as I was firing it versus prior to. Um, nobody else was injured. My buddy uh Greg wasn't injured. His head was literally right on my shoulder. I didn't get injured, but I had um 64 fractures from the neck up, brain hemorrhage, and loss of my right eye. Wow. That's what that's what cut it. That's what in a millisecond ended my dream career.

SPEAKER_01 32:53

Yeah, so 64 fractures, to put that in perspective.

SPEAKER_00 32:56

I think there's only 200 bones in the body, so yeah, but this whole side, the whole orbit broke like safety glass, just shattered.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

Yeah, that's uh well, it's a hell of an injury. Um glad it glad it wasn't worse. Sounds like it easily uh could have been. Uh, and one of the reasons I wanted to touch on that is there's a concept in mental health and especially men's mental health called getting zeroed out, and that takes a lot of forms. Uh divorce, job loss, losing custody of your children, bankruptcy. And it's one of the most common reasons why men 40 to 60 actually kill themselves. So after that traumatic injury, like uh you've described it to me before, you were uh the elite, the best of the best, Delta, and went from that, and in a split second, you're a dying animal on the side of the road. How do you find meaning and purpose and move forward after something like that?

SPEAKER_00 33:58

You have to find some way of bringing value to the world around you. Not to you, but to something bigger than you. You have to find something bigger than yourself that is rewarding, that you feel uh makes your existence on this planet mean something more than just a guy that pays taxes. And that's that's something the selflessness of military service actually points you in that direction. Like to to serve others, to do things that make a difference. And that's usually what the loss of self is is a loss of purpose. I don't what's the figure, like, why am I doing this? What is it all about? What does it mean anymore? And guys that lose that, they start to fall into depression, and then you get booze and meds and you know, or or illicit drugs, it just it downward spirals. Um, and it's it's fitness, it's it's going to the gym and working out, even when you don't know why you're doing it. Like you're not, I'm not a, you know, I'm not a commando anymore. But I still, I still want to be fit. I still want people to look and when they say, hey, he used to be one of those guys, they go, oh, that makes sense, versus really? Like you, you have to, the standards that made you who you were, you have to find a way to reinstitute them in your life. You have to find a sense of purpose and value that is directed at someone else, not you. I'm helping someone else with what I know, with what I have experienced, versus I'm helping someone else so I can benefit from it, first and foremost. The sense of purpose that is lost destroys guys.

SPEAKER_01 35:34

I like that you brought up uh going to the gym and taking care of yourself because I've always thought that uh I've always viewed strength and performance as a duty, a duty to God, your teammates, your investors, your family, yourself. So I just tell guys in my fitness business, I say, if you're just if you just want to look good at the beach, you're just here because your wife, girlfriend made you do it, then no, I'm I'm not your guy. And I kind of sensed that that was the right approach, but what you just said kind of uh brought it home for me is that you're it's you're serving you're serving others. It's not you're not going to the gym for yourself. It's you're building that you're that service chassis so that you can fulfill your mission and purpose, serve others.

SPEAKER_00 36:21

Yeah, there's a there's a saying from a actually went to a a military boarding school for only a year, but they're they're like mantra or whatever, their motto was body, mind, spirit. The foundation was the body, and then the mind, and that, and then the spirit is at the peak. That's the apex. You start if you don't even know where you're gonna go, you don't, your, your your path is completely empty, unclear. I have no idea. Which I I lived. I lived that. Just I got in the gym. I just want to be able to physically function like I could before. Because I went from 205 pounds at just under 5'9, running sub-six minute miles to 141 pounds when I left the hospital, could barely walk up three flights of stairs, missing half my face in my right eye and my career that I spent a whole life building. Like I I had everything stripped away from me. Everything that I defined myself with was taken from me. And God was like, hey, this is what you got. See what you can do with it. And it's like the first, the first place I went was the gym. Just physically, just feel feel like I can I can just walk around without wheezing and and being a weak, broken animal. It's like that's the start point. It always is. And people, you know, people say, Oh, you're like you're the gym guy, the gym centric. No, yeah, I grew up physically, I wrestled, I played lacrosse, I played football, I did all got it. But there's a logical reason behind. If your body is weak, your mind will always be weak. It will always be weak in one capacity or another. If your body is strong, by default, your brain will become stronger. It will be more confident, it will be more aggressive, it will be more willing to take risks. And that leads to the spirit side. The mind drives the spirit. It's that that pyramid, body, mind, spirit. So it's it's not a, it's not, it's like, it's like not eating good food expecting to be healthy. You have to eat good food to be healthy. You have to work your body for the for your brain and your spirit to be healthy. And you have I have an obligation. I have a wife, I have a daughter, I have friends that count on me. I want to be that guy that they go, I can count on that guy. I can call him anytime, and he and he'll be there. He'll be he'll be on time on target.

SPEAKER_01 38:26

Yeah. There's a very go so going back to history, there's back to the ancient Greeks, sound mind, sound body. Every man between the ages of 20 and 60 was expected to be able to march in 15, 20 pounds of hoplite armor, maybe 60 pounds of gear altogether, 10, 15 miles, and fight. This is not just this is every man 20 to 60. And then the notion that you would not not be fit, not be literate, not learn how to fight, it was just bizarre. And then 2,000 years of progress later, it's we can say we consider it optional. So that's interesting, light, uh, interesting insight.

SPEAKER_00 39:10

Uh something just throwing real quick, just to get two seconds. Nobody respects weakness. No man or woman, no child, no animal, nobody respects weakness. And there's nothing worse. Uh and I've said it before, a strong man unwilling to fight is even more shameful than a weak man who's just incapable of fighting. If you have the capability and you don't have the spirit, then you're even weaker than the guy that's just broken. He just got, you know, he's missing a leg and he's he was, you know, ball busted up. He literally can't fight. You're unwilling, and your lack of willingness is a weakness in your spirit that I I I have zero respect for.

SPEAKER_01 39:45

Yeah. And I think when people are being honest with themselves and it it come whether they want to, whether they can articulate it when they whether they're willing to admit it or not, that's that it's almost like a spiny sense that they're just you're never gonna live up to your potential. You're always people are always never going to uh view you in your best light, what you could be, your full potential. Um there's a lamentable trend in uh let's talk about some actionable intel that our viewers can take away. Uh, there's a lamentable trend in corporations and other organizations to bring in motivational speakers or go on teamwork building retreats and then wonder why nothing ever changes. You said something to me about uh habituation and and live hard to be hard mindset and how that translates across other disciplines. So uh could you please elaborate on that?

SPEAKER_00 40:45

Yeah, it's um the mindset stuff. Um I'm really hard on that. I'm really hard on people that do that. It's it's I can't convince you to do something that you can't convince you to do first. And if that's the case, then really I'm I'm just I'm just jabbering in front of you and you're paying me. The whole mindset thing, mindset is a is a life you lead. You do hard things, you do arduous, difficult things. Okay, you can talk about deadlifting all you want and everything about it and all its benefits and how great it is. Hey, check it out, bro. You got to go in the gym and deadlift. And it's gonna, if you really deadlift, it's hard on your body. It's it's like you really push yourself and you're doing one rep max and all that, you're gonna feel it. It's it's not necessarily fun per se, it's rewarding. And there's a big difference between fun and rewarding. Okay? Rewarding is long term, fun is is is short, you know, short dopamine hit. And so it's like these these retreats and these mindset, the whole, you know, Tony Robbins thing. I get it, and I know he makes a ton of money, but I'm like, I don't need you to drive me. I don't. I consider that a weakness. If you can't drive yourself, there's a there's a famous saying from JFC Fuller, a man that needs to be driven is not worth the driving. Like, you have to drive yourself. No one will push me harder than I will push me. Nobody will. And never has. And that's why I succeeded at things that are considered pretty difficult. Because I didn't need an outside source to go, come on, rah-rah, you can do it. I mean, before I went to every one of the three selection processes that I went to, every push-up I did, every pull-up I did, every mile I ran, it was running through my mind. I am doing this in furtherance of that, of that objective. I lived, slept, drank, ate, everything was for that objective. And so it's like that was that was a mentality that I had and a mindset that I had because I desired it, not because somebody told me I should. And the whole external stuff, the perpetuation of that is zero. We go to what we go to a retreat and you and you do, you get to repel and it's a little scary, and you get to talk about it. And a week later, you're back at the office doing the same stuff. You're no different because there's no there's no perpetuation of that. You have to do hard things, you have to do things that are uncomfortable. Guess what? If you don't like people touching you, like you're just kind of freaked out, people touch you. Guess what you need to do? You need to go do jujitsu. You need to get on a map where people are on top of you, grabbing you, that are forcing you to deal with that weakness. That's gonna change your your mindset, your mentality. You're going to break away from that fear. I you're not gonna get it from talk. I just posted a thing about it. Like, you want to get mindset, go on a go in a boxing ring, get punched in the face a couple times. You go, wow, this sucks. I don't want to get punched in the face anymore. I better learn how to do this. And in the process of learning how to do this, I'm gonna get punched in the face a couple times. Pick whatever venue you want, whatever difficulty. You want to run a marathon? You're terrible at running. Guess what? The first mile you run, you feel like you're gonna die. Go, wow, but I want to run a marathon. And so, guess what? If I if I run, walk, run, walk for a mile, that's the beginning of getting to a marathon. Not starting is the beginning of nothing. And it's weakness and it ends in failure, and it ends in self loathing, and it's sad.

SPEAKER_01 43:57

Yeah, so part part of the uh Mine part of the mindset and the mental toughness section of my book talks about uh Aristotle and habituation. And it sounds like you had a a very Aristotelian pro approach to that. It um and it also helped me with my kind of put words to what I intuitively thought. I used to, when I got into health and fitness and men's health and performance, I used to try to lecture people about how they needed to exercise and talked about sarcopenia and the dangers of age-related muscle loss. And it was just totally soul draining. And I was like, you know, screw that. I'll answer questions if you need to sign if you if you want to, if you're curious about these things. But now I just work with men who are already doing the work, they just need my expertise to re remove cognitive and logistical friction. And I'm just a much happier guide. And you help me put words to it. It's yeah, I don't any any uh buddy who needs driven is not worth the driving.

SPEAKER_00 45:04

It's I'll help you, but only after you help yourself. Yeah. I I'm not here, I'm not here to like for your self-actualization actualization. If if I have knowledge that can help you, you're already working, go, hey man, try this. Maybe you can do that. Me, then I'll help you. But I'm not gonna help you more than you're gonna help you. Like I'll match you, but I'm not gonna put more investment in you than you put in you. And and when you show up, when I see guys that are that are super dedicated to whatever it is that we're doing, I'm struggling to make sure that I give them, that I match energy for energy. Because they're giving me everything. And and the the expectation and responsibility is that I will do the same. And I am obligated to do the same if I'm a professional and I have integrity. And I love it. I love it. I love when guys question me and they go, hey, what about this? I don't know if I believe that. I don't know. It it makes me validate what I'm doing in a logical manner. And it also puts me in a position sometimes, hopefully not too often, but where I go, you know what? That's a damn good point. You're right. And I'll be the first one to say it. I'm I am emotionally connected to the best solution, not my solution. I'm trying to find all the best solutions and make them mine. But if I'm wrong, I'll be the first one to go, yep, I was wrong. I was completely wrong. And and and if that is a the control of your ego. And it's like that that part of it is like comes from working with people that want to learn, that want to progress, that want to question things, they want to know, which they should. And so that like they're great to work with. People that just stand there and I got to try and drag them along, I'm out. I have zero. I've zero because I don't I don't train anybody like that anymore. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 46:36

That's that's interesting. So something that's been true in in all my life is, and I could I could never really put words to it until we had this conversation, is when you're willing to travel the ends of the earth to find the greatest teacher, the greatest teacher will show up at your door. And it's always been true for me. It because I've been blessed with great teachers, including you. I've trained with you, CT Solutions, uh several times now. And there's just that almost gravitational pull. Great great teachers and great students just attract each other. And it always worked out for me, and I could never put words to it until now. There you go. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 47:20

Yeah, it's just I I I don't I I gravitate towards people that are serious about what they're doing because I'm serious about what I'm doing. And so if if you if you show up and you're you're there for the shake and bake feel-good thing, I'm not your guy. Like, I'm not, I'm not gonna, I'm not, like, I'm not gonna tell error stories. I'm not gonna be, I mean, I barely even introduce myself when I go to when I teach class, I'm like, hey, I'm like, you know, it's a marine for a while, you know, army guy, this and that, you know, I'm Vet's husband, I'm Kayla's dad. Let's go. Like, I dude, I'll show you who I am. You'll know who I am by what I say and what I do and how I demonstrate things and all that. I the rest of it, self-aggrandizing chatter. Not interested. Everybody, like all the people that matter to me, regardless of how well I know them, they they know who I am and they know who I'm not. And that's that the rest of it, the rest of it is who are you right now? Let me show you who I am right now, not who I was in another life or in a cool guy club over here, whatever. And I think some people rely too heavily on a resume or a bio. And it's like, when I show up at a class, one of one of my buddies, you know, we were talking one time about it. He's like, hey man, I don't understand why guys do the big I did this and I did this and I did this. He's like, you already got the job, bro. Show them what they came for. It's like bingo.

SPEAKER_01 48:41

Which uh great segue into my next question. Another actionable intel item. So men in the audience who aspire to excellence. What's the one piece of advice you'd give them?

SPEAKER_00 48:55

Um a focused goal. What do you want to do with specificity? I want to do this. And it doesn't matter what the goal is. It doesn't achieving a difficult goal. You want to you want to deadlift 450. You want to, you know, uh be a you know, um, I don't know, a marathon runner. You want to be in reconnaissance or SF or a seal or a ranger, you pick you pick something. Pick something that is very different definable and difficult and then achieve it. That will be the beginning of a life of achievement. You did something really hard. And if it isn't the beginning of a life of achievement, it's because you stopped valuing that. Find something that's hard and do it. And the more you get accustomed to doing hard things, honestly, the more achievement you have and the more fun it becomes, even though you understand it's difficult, there's hardship in it, you know the payoffs at the end. It's like it's like investing. The the big money's on the back end, not the front end. Short money is is is is temporary money. The long money is on the backside of the investment. And that takes a lot of risk, but you have to do it. And so pick a goal that is that is definable and difficult, put a timeline on it and go.

SPEAKER_01 50:16

So that that's there's a lot of going back to my book, we're learning a lot about uh neuroscience. So a lot of the concepts that go back to the Old Testament and Aristotle were now actually matching biochemistry to it and neuroscience to it. And one of the insights that we've gleaned from that that research is that you have to see and feel the goal first uh to make it possible, because until you can see and feel the goal very viscerally, you will not your brain literally cannot channel the information, the sensory input that it needs to navigate towards that goal. So when you actually when you actually viscerally see and feel the goal, then your brain starts to filter for the people, for the networks, for the resources that it can uh that it needs to get to that goal. Has that been that so when you were Delta Recon, when you were doing all those push-ups and pull-ups in in furtherance of that goal, could you actually could you could you smell the uh could you smell the seawater in the jungle?

SPEAKER_00 51:32

Oh yeah, yeah, I could see it. I could see myself there. I could see in my mind's eye, I could see myself there. And as as one of them. Like I was in my mind, I was like, that's I'm going to be that guy in that picture standing next to that helicopter, or you know, on the on the deck of that submarine, getting ready to launch a boat. I will be that guy. Like that will be there will be a picture of me just like that. And I could see it in my mind's eye. Like, that's gonna be it's gonna be great. You know, I I know what it knows gonna take a lot, but that I will be there. I'll be that guy.

SPEAKER_01 52:04

Where where your mind goes, your ass flows. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 52:09

You can't you can't achieve a a um you can't have an achievement that you one can't see because it's not definable, and two, you have to believe it. You have to go, no, I can do this. I'm like, I'm gonna be that guy. Like there's nothing stopping me. And if nothing else, you can look around and go, thousands have gone before me and succeeded. Why am I not capable of it? It's all fortitude. It's like desire and discipline and fortitude, endurance, but it's but it's there for you. You just have to want that. And that's what, guys, back to what you said. You have to have a definable goal that's difficult, that has a timeline, and you have to truly, in your soul, you have to want it as much as anything else. You have to desire it, and you'll get there. It's there's the world is you know, there's replete with stories of people that have achieved amazing things. My wife just showed me a woman like 85 years old that did a freaking Iron Man. Why? Because she wanted to. She decided she was going to succeed and she was going to cross the finish line, and she did.

SPEAKER_01 53:14

Great uh advice to guys like me on their entrepreneurial journeys and trying to get their podcast and media empire up off the ground, which you're a great help with, by the way. It's a great, great stepping stone. And um going back to service and giving back, you've done a lot of work with the Marine Reconnaissance Foundation. I'd like to give you a chance to discuss that important important work along with the meaning of your company logo for CTT solutions.

SPEAKER_00 53:45

Hi, on the Marine Reconnaissance Foundation, I actually have the shirt on. Um Marine Reconnaissance Foundation, it's a you know, 501c3, whatever. We help the families of andor injured reconnaissance marines in SARC, special amphibious reconnaissance corpsmen. You know, these people get injured, you know, the families of those killed, um, trying to help kids go to college, all of that. It is an it is an organization that is driven by our loyalty to the group that we were with and and the people that we serve with that are, you know, not necessarily being taken care of as well by the government as they should. Um, every one of us is completely pro bono. Nobody, nobody gets a paycheck, no one gets paid a don. We do this because we believe in what we're doing. Every dollar that people donate goes to those families. It goes to the people that we are, that you think you're helping, every dollar goes to them. It doesn't, we don't take there's no operating expense, none of that. Um, and so that's why I like it. I see a lot of foundations where you've got the a nonprofit, um, where guys are getting $250,000 a year or $300,000 a year salaries for a nonprofit. Ours is a nonprofit nonprofit for real. Like when you think nonprofit, yeah, nobody takes a nobody takes a salary. But we do all kinds of great events, support the um what do you call it, uh, the recon challenge, which is like a like a like a um that's ranger competition, but for reconnaissance guys. There's there's a there's a lot of things that we support, injured recon guys in Sarks, families of guys that were lost. But it's we do it by bringing awareness to how special that organization is and how much sacrifice comes with being there. And we make every effort to interact with people that donate so they see, hey, we're we're we're regular guys. We're your you know, we're your sons and your neighbors, you know, your brothers. We're regular guys. We did a unique job, and we gave, we we sacrificed a lot to do it, but we want people to understand, we want to humanize it so it's not like something you watch on YouTube. It's like, no, I actually know those guys, and they're good guys. And what they're doing is helping people in need. So that's that's why like I'm an I'm the team leader of the shooting team. We're just trying to bring awareness, show people, hey, this is me on our shooting journey, but you you see who we are by our actions, not just by our jabber.

SPEAKER_01 56:03

So that's important if people want to donate their hard-earned money to a good cause. One of the metrics we look through is the look at is the pass-through ratio. So, how much of the money that you give them to in furtherance of this worthy cause actually goes to that in furtherance of that worthy cause and not one of these palatial not-for-profit headquarters that I've seen. So that's a good that's a good thing to know for people who are looking to do some good in the world. We're we're coming up on time. This is fascinating. I could be here for days, but fortunately, all good things have to come through an end. So on on to the lightning round, what's the one fad gimmick or trend you'd like to see go away?

SPEAKER_00 56:45

Um, I hate to say it, but the the the mindset, the pop culture mindset thing where everybody gives a uh gives a you know a little briefing, uh rah-rah briefing and all that, it does a disservice because it takes people's money, wastes their time, and they still didn't do the work. Like you gotta find that in you. You have to do you have to do things that earn a mindset and a mentality of success. It it's it is in the corporate world, it's a waste of money. It's fleecing, but it checks the block, I guess. But at the individual level, which is what I care about, you're not getting anything from it. You're actually you're getting there's they're serving you soda and telling you it's a protein drink. You get nothing. So just go do hard stuff.

SPEAKER_01 57:30

Amen. What's the one book that everyone should read?

SPEAKER_00 57:35

The Bible. Every story in there is about life. It's it's the it's the guidebook. You can look at it. I I studied in in boarding school as a I had to take multiple semesters of it as a literary document and a as a religious document. And so, like, it there are there's nothing new under the sun. Like, everything you need to know about how to live life, if you truly read the Bible, is in the Bible.

SPEAKER_01 57:59

Amen. And if you could talk to your younger self, what would you tell him?

SPEAKER_00 58:05

Don't waste a minute. Don't waste a single minute. Time goes way faster than you think. Um, don't be in a don't be in a hurry to get married, and I don't mean wait until you're you know 45, but don't don't be don't be in a hurry to get married in your 20s. As a guy in a career like I was in, just do like dedicate work. There'll be time for that. Dedicate to work. You don't realize how fast it goes, and you don't realize that the clock runs different for everybody. And I uh everything made sense, and bang, one breaching charge later, and I was just some guy with a busted up face in Starbucks, starting my entire life all over again. So do not waste a minute, don't waste a minute. It's your most scarce resource, and you never know when the clock ends.

SPEAKER_01 58:51

Yeah, that's that's an invaluable advice for a lot of our uh younger guys. They don't realize that men have that longer investment horizon and they don't need to be in a they don't need to be in a hurry. Uh final takeaways and closing comments. Uh the listener who wants to connect, learn more, where can they find you? Social media websites.

SPEAKER_00 59:13

Yeah, the on social media on Instagram, CTT Solutions LLC. And uh you just DM me. I I respond to just about every DM, unless it's somebody being a jackass. I respond to DMs, I'll I like I'll interact with people, I call people and talk to them. Um on the website, you can get on the website cttsolutions.com. You can shoot a message and I'll respond to your message. So it's like I'm I'm accessible and I make it a point to be accessible. It that's to me, I have I have generated things, whether they're work or friendships, either one, that are just because I took the time to answer a question that other people didn't take the time to answer. It's you like it doesn't cost any extra to be a good guy. It gets really expensive being a jackass. So be a good guy.

SPEAKER_01 59:56

Amen. And I can personally vouch for the training at CTT Solutions. I've had the honor to train with you uh several times. It is best in class. I don't say that lightly. So if you're in if if you're interested in any of the courses that uh you offer, uh shooting, etc., then definitely you come with my uh unconditional 100% endorsement.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:19

Thanks, brother. I appreciate it, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:21

Anytime. Mike, it's been an honor having you today. Thank you very much for joining us.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:26

Thanks, brother.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:27

All right, take care. God bless.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:30

Bye.