Leadership Starts with Accountability: Training Deputies and Raising Future Leaders

Educational Content Notice: This program is intended for educational, historical, and public safety purposes.  Discussions involving crime, violence, law enforcement, and trauma are presented to educate, promote prevention, and encourage informed public discussion.  Criminal activity and violence are not promoted or glorified.  

This week, I sit down with a sheriff’s corporal whose journey has come full circle. He was once a recruit in my defensive tactics class at the academy, and today he mentors the next generation of peace officers while continuing to serve his community.

We discuss growing up around substance abuse, discovering resilience through Brazilian jiu-jitsu and boxing, competing in Battle of the Badges, and the lessons learned through years of training and service. He also shares why he made the difficult decision to turn down a coveted assignment with the Sheriff’s Special Enforcement Detail in order to put his family first.

Beyond law enforcement, we explore his passion for fatherhood and intentional parenting. Through his @generationalstrength8 journey, he documents how discipline, consistency, and leading by example can help raise confident, resilient young men.

Whether you’re in law enforcement, a parent, a coach, or simply interested in personal growth, this conversation offers practical insights on leadership, resilience, and creating a lasting family legacy.

🎯 Whether you're a first responder, military, or someone interested in becoming a law enforcement officer—this conversation will move you, challenge you, and inspire you.

👇 Drop a comment with your favorite takeaway, and remember to subscribe if you want more real conversations like this.

#officerwellness #publicsafety  #leadership #lawenforcement #policetraining 

Contact Information:
phitpd22@gmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

This episode is intended for educational, historical, and public safety. It discusses the realities of crime, violence, trauma, and recovery to educate the public and law enforcement professionals. It does not promote or glorify criminal activity.

SPEAKER_03 0:22

I prayed before my shifts and I said, God, if this is you call me to law enforcement, I need you to show me something. Show me three cop cars in one spot at the same exact time, and I'll believe this is what you're calling me to do. I think it was about 30 minutes later. I remember I was driving on A East, and I see three cop cars on the side of the road. No more, no less. And I just said, It's a coincidence. My brother and I, we shared a room, and he comes upstairs and he says, What's going on outside? And I was like, What do you mean? He's like, There's police outside our house. I go downstairs and I peek outside, and there's three cop cars right outside my house. I think I went seven years of trying to get into law enforcement and I failed every single time. There was one thing that kept me there. I could not go home and tell my kids I quit. Hang in there. You're gonna have an opportunity to do it the right way and rewrite your past.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

Welcome everybody. I'm your host, Juan Cefas. And this is Lineup with Fit PD. In today's episode, we're gonna cover accountability. We're gonna cover shaping the next generation and holding a standard. We're gonna talk about leadership, true leadership. And our guest is doing just that. He's a trainer for the Sheriff's Department. So he's holding the line in the standard for training with the Sheriff's Department. But also, he's holding the line and holding his own kids accountable to teach him the hard lessons that a lot of us avoid, which are encountering adversity and overcoming it. And that is a priceless lesson for young people. Well, our guest, I met him in the academy when I was his uh DTEC instructor, and he's impressed me his entire career. There's nothing more satisfying than to see somebody actually become a leader within the profession. And our guest is that person. Please help me welcome Cody Green to the show. Cody. Wow, thank you for being here. I appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Hey, well, you know what, brother? As soon as I um, you know, got this started doing this podcast, I'm like, I have a list of people in my mind that are, you know what, just after it and that are the example for how we should be training people, how we should be uh not only uh mentors, but the example. And so there's certain people in my mind that I'm like, yeah, yeah, I gotta get this person, I gotta get this person. And then here you are, bro.

SPEAKER_03 3:09

Oh, I appreciate it. Yeah, I mean, I try to be as much as I can be, you know.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Well, I mean, I see you in different venues, like uh, you know, when you're training at people at the academy, uh, or you know, I hear that now you're the trainer for your department. And when I seen you, you know, um, you know, come in with DTAC and be a role player and just getting after it. And, you know, in other areas of training that I've seen you, I mean, you know, you're you're always all about it, Cody. So I'm really um excited to have you here today.

SPEAKER_03 3:44

Yeah, I appreciate it. Yeah, I'm I'm excited to sit down and and talk to you and uh yeah, have a good conversation.

SPEAKER_02 3:51

Yeah, well, hey, Cody, let's start out talking a little bit about your upbringing. You know, um we talked a little bit off camera in the in, you know, throughout the time that I've known you, and you mentioned uh, you know, your upbringing wasn't the easiest, but it kind of set the pace for where you're at. Can you share that with the uh listeners, please?

SPEAKER_03 4:09

Yeah, so I grew up in Lancaster, California, which is LA County. Um me and my brother grew up there. Uh my parents had us at a very young age, my brother and I. Uh my mom was 17 when she was pregnant with my brother, and I think 19 when she was pregnant with me. Um my parents were never married. Unfortunately, my dad, he um was always involved in drugs, um, alcohol. Um, mostly his whole side of the family was involved with alcohol, but um couldn't seem to stay out of trouble. As long as I've known him, he's always been in trouble. Everywhere we went, he was getting into a fight. It didn't matter if it was at Walmart, we would be riding our bikes in the neighborhood, he's getting in a fight with somebody. And it just scared us to death as kids. But I always looked at his life and I'm like, I mean, even at a young age, I'm like, man, this my dad's always in trouble. But at a young age, you couldn't really comprehend it, right? Right. So then my mom, she had her struggles too. She was a young mom. Um, and she didn't really have help from my father. She didn't really have role models helping her. Um, we lived in an apartment together in um Lancaster. Just her, my brother, and I. And um, yeah, like I said, she had her struggles, and um, yeah, it was rough. I mean, we eventually got evicted from our apartments. I remember times where we didn't have electricity, we didn't have gas. We used to go to the neighbor's house and we would microwave like a big bowl of water and then we would dump it in the tub. You know, just have like a warm, a warm bath. Um I don't even remember having a home cooked meal. We would usually go to McDonald's, get like a bunch of cheeseburgers, and we would just have those for the next two days. Um, one specific moment I remember, and I think I'll remember this the day um for the rest of my life, is me and my brother we woke up in the middle of night and we were just starving. I don't even think we went to bed, but we were it was super late at night. My mom was asleep and we were just looking in the kitchen for something to eat, and we found some freaking raisins, and we were pouring some sugar on the raisins just to have something, you know. Um, so yeah, we had a little bit of a struggle. We ended up getting evicted from our apartment. We moved in with our grandparents to where they um kind of raised us. Um, and um the culture or the environment that Lancaster is is kind of not too good. Um, there was a lot of uh gang violence at school, at the middle school we were at, um, a lot of drive-by shootings on our neighborhood, um, our neighbor's house getting shot into. Um, so eventually we had um we were living with our grandparents for a long time. My mom was like, we gotta get out of here and I gotta change my life, you know. So she winded up getting back into school. She um completed school and then we decided to move to San Diego. And then that's where life um kind of started to change for us. Um, unfortunately, my dad he kind of continued down the same path. Um he ended up going into the mountains with my grandpa. They were driving out in the mountains drinking, and he um was intoxicated at the time, accidentally swerved off the mountain. My grandpa and him obviously were in the car, and then he killed his own dad, my grandpa. And then he went to prison for a long time. After that, I mean, I wouldn't say his life really ever was taken off, but he just kind of spiraled downhill a lot more from there to where today, even he is homeless, he's still using, um, he's still drinking every program he gets into gets kicked out because he's just um a violent person, you know. Um, so uh we ended up moving to San Diego, California with my uh mom. And then um that was pretty much when we were in high school, is when we got here.

SPEAKER_02 8:30

Now, Cody, I mean man, your story is amazing because out of all that adversity, you're here today, you know, thriving, thriving. So um, to me, that tells me that you learned some tough lessons, some things. You made some observations of things that you wanted to do and you didn't want to do in life. Do you can you share some of those things, uh lessons learned from your upbringing?

SPEAKER_03 9:01

Yeah, um first I would like to say I hate the excuse that everybody gives when it comes to their upbringing, right? Everybody has a choice, everybody has um they're in charge of their direction. You know, nobody else is. And it would be easy for me to say, oh yeah, well, my parents were this way, so that's the direction I headed. I mean, I had no choice, it's their fault, right? But that's not the case. I've never done a drug in my entire life. I don't drink. You know what I mean? And it's simply based off the opposite observations I made looking at my father's life. I looked at his life and I'm like, this doesn't look fun. You know, this doesn't look fun at all. And it kept me away from things that were gonna be harmful to me and the future that I eventually wanted. And I had a strong desire to eventually start a family and kind of rewrite the script, you know, and do it my way and do it a healthy way and have success within that family unit.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

You know, Cody, that is a powerful message because a lot of us don't even think about family, you know, at a your at an early age. A lot of us going through adversity, you know, we turn to alternatives that are not positive. Uh and so we struggle even more. But you're thinking about family and rewriting the script, man. That's that's a powerful message right there. Um so at some point you end up uh envisioning what you want to do later on in life. And what can you share that vision with us?

SPEAKER_03 10:44

Yeah, so honestly, I that was a huge struggle in my life. I mean, I always looked up to law enforcement, um, especially kind of you know, uh considering my upbringing. Yeah, um, because it was kind of a rough neighborhood. Um, so I always had a respect for law enforcement, um, but um I wasn't sure what I was gonna do as far as a career goes. And it was really difficult for me um because I was a um, I think probably about when I hit it was in my 20s, early 20s, right? And I'm thinking, already one day I want to get married and I want to be able to have a family and I want to provide for them, right? And that's going through my head. I'm not a school person, so I'm definitely not thinking I need to go to school and and and uh get an education and go that route. Um, so I really struggled with that fact because I'm like, man, I mean, I'd love to get married, have kids and and provide for them, but I don't have a career, I don't have a direction. So um I really struggled with that, and I'm a person of faith. So I I went straight to God and I was like, God, what do you want me to do? I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing, but I know your will is gonna be best. So I want your direction because I can go off and do a million things, but if it's not your will, it's not gonna be what's best for me. So I started praying. And at the time I was working at a Chevrolet dealership. I was making $12.50 an hour. Okay. And I was already married at this point. Um, and we're both working, and then my wife gets pregnant. And um, well, you know what? Let me back up a little bit here because there's some important details. So I'm working at this Jimmy Johnson Chevrolet dealership, and um I'm making $12.50, and I'm really struggling. I I I want to have a family, and I'm not gonna be able to provide off $12.50. And this career or this job is not a career. So I need to figure out what I what I'm called to do. So I start praying and I'm like, God, I I I need direction. And I'm not the sm I'm not the brightest individual, you know what I mean? I'm not the sharpest tool in the toolbox. So I need you to really show me what it is you want for my life. So I started praying. And then one day I'm sitting there in my car and um I pray and then I go about my day, and then law enforcement through conversation, through commercial, through radio, starts to speak to me. And I'm like, all right. So as these um these instances are coming to me, I start to pray, and I'm like, God, you know what? Um, is this the direction you're leading me? And God, I need you to show me because like I said, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. And I prayed and I said, you know what, God, if this is you calling me to law enforcement, I'm gonna ask you to do something. And I'm gonna pray this in faith that you're gonna show me. And I said, if you are calling me to law enforcement, I want you to show me. And and what I did for my job is I drove around San Diego County for um hours of the day delivering car parts. And so I prayed before my shift, and I said, God, if this is you calling me to law enforcement, I need you to show me something. Show me three cop cars in one spot at the same exact time, and I'll believe this is what you're calling me to do. And I prayed, I went to work, and I think it was about 30 minutes later. I remember I was driving on the eight east, passing SDSU. All right, and I see three cop cars on the side of the road, no more, no less. And I'm like, okay. And I didn't know what to think about it. And I was and I just said, it's a coincidence, you know. Um I drive all day long. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, I what are the odds I see a cop car? It's probably pretty great. Right. And so I go to work the next day and I pray, God, if that was really you, can you show me again? Okay, and I didn't see a cop car all day, all day long. I didn't see a cop car. So I went home disappointed. I'm like, yeah, it was just a coincidence. And we lived um with our parents at the time, my brother and I, and we shared a room. And I remember being up in my room, and he comes upstairs and he says, What's going on outside? And I was like, What do you mean? And he's like, There's police outside our house. And we lived on a on a um like a thoroughfare. Okay. So I go downstairs and I peek outside, and there's three cop cars right outside my house. And I was and there's no more, no less. And I'm like, okay, that's kind of crazy. Right. And then so, believe it or not, I'm like, God, I know, forgive me for my lack of faith. Can you show me again the very next day? So I'm driving around. I didn't see a cop car all day long. I'm heading out of work. I I pull up to the dealership, and my boss tells me, Hey, I need you to do another run. It's an emergency run. And I'm thinking, oh man, I'm off work. The last thing I want to do, it's Friday. The last thing I want to do is go do another run, and there's gonna be traffic heading into Miramar. Mess. And so I'm driving there, I'm just totally disappointed the whole time that I have to do extra work. And I head into Miramar, I drop off the parts, I start heading back home, and all this traffic appears on Miramar Road. And I'm like, oh, you gotta be kidding me. And as soon as I get up to where I find out what is causing the traffic, it's an accident. And as I get up to the accident, there's three cop cars, no more, no less. And I was like, all right. So law enforcement is what you want me to do. So as crazy as it sounds, and I sometimes I still have a lack of faith today. And I I remember it was probably a month ago. I asked my brother, I was like, hey, do you remember me going through this? Do you remember the cop cars outside our house? He's like, I do. Because I have to check myself and say, like, I'm not crazy, right? Like, this is what you wanted me to do, right? So God calls me to law enforcement. And if anybody knows anything about the Bible, God's timing is God's timing. Right. And it's not our timing.

SPEAKER_02 17:41

No.

SPEAKER_03 17:42

And so I apply right away. And I think I was 21 at the time. Okay. And this is before I was married. I go and apply, and I'm thinking, oh man, this is gonna be great. I apply with Escondido Police Department and um pass the written test, get to backgrounds. Um before the background process started, they were like, no, thank you. And I'm like, what in the world? Like, God, you called me this. It's not working out. What are you doing? And I think I went seven years of trying to get into law enforcement, and I failed every single time. I'd get to chief interviews between me and another person. No, no, no, no, no. Knocking on that door. And then eventually I got to a part uh a place to where we were, I was married to my wife, and um I was married to my wife, and I tried and I tried and I tried. So I just started looking for other jobs, and nothing ever worked out. And I'm like, oh man, this is crazy. And then we accidentally got pregnant with our first kid. All right. Or at least we weren't expecting, right? I guess it wasn't an accident. We weren't expecting for her to get pregnant. She got pregnant, and that was serious because we were in the situation to where she was gonna be working to pay for child care because it's so expensive. Right. And I was making $12.50. So we had to make something happen. And we decided that she was gonna stay home because there's no point for her, there's no point in her working the whole paycheck, if not more, is gonna go to child care. Right. So I said, All right, you stay home. Uh, she went on maternity leave, was taking care of our first kid, and I went on paternity leave with her, and we blew through all of our savings. We were at we were eating top ramen, mac and cheese. We were at a point where we were struggling, and I was about to call up my mom and say, Hey, we have no choice. We gotta, can you let us move in? Wow. And we spent all of our savings, and I said, you know what? I'm gonna try one more time for law enforcement. And in the 11th hour, when there was no possible way for us to fix this situation, God showed up, he got me the job with the sheriff's department, and it was a huge blessing, right? And it showed me that God's timing is his timing, and it's not my timing, he knows what's best. And in that situation, this is how God works. He likes he likes to make things look impossible so that the only explanation is him. And that's what he did. The only explanation in this situation was him. And I was like, There you go. There you go. So then I I joined the sheriff's department.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

So, Cody, you joined the sheriff's department and now let's fast forward to the academy. You arrive. What's your impression? As a recruit? Well, yeah, as a recruit because you, you know, you get there, yeah, and um, you know, you didn't come from the military. Uh here you're a family man, you're a man of faith, and you're thrown into this paramilitary organization. Yeah. What's your first impression?

SPEAKER_03 21:12

I mean, my first impression was I gotta make this work. I don't have a choice. You know, my family's on the line. And I I grew up always physically challenging myself. I did not have a father to push me to that.

SPEAKER_02 21:25

Right.

SPEAKER_03 21:26

I didn't have a mother to push me physically. I think my upbringing and the culture I was around, that's how you were valued. Right. You were valued by how good you were at sports, how strong you were. So we were always working at that, right? We didn't really have that perfect family dynamic at home. So we found value in our friendships. And I think that's the only thing I can attribute my work ethic to was that's how you were you that's how. People valued you is um by your work ethic. And I'm not saying that's how I view it now, but back then that's how I looked at um, you know, growth, you know what I mean, or or how to prepare yourself. So I got to the academy and I was, I was physically prepared. Right. You know what I mean? But um it was definitely a shock to me because I had never experienced anything like that before. Um, but what's going through your mind?

SPEAKER_02 22:26

Like with the things that you hadn't experienced.

SPEAKER_03 22:28

Yeah. I mean, I I had people yelling at me. I'm doing all these crazy workouts. Um, you're writing all the, you know what I mean? You're going home and you have to do additional work. You have to shine your boots, you gotta write your little mini reports of how you jacked yourself up during the day, you know. So it was it was definitely a shock, you know. But um it was a fun experience. Some people look at the academy and they're like, oh my goodness, I would never want to go through that again. And I'm just like, I get paid to work out and do a little bit of schoolwork.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

Right.

SPEAKER_03 23:03

I'll take it. Why not?

SPEAKER_02 23:05

Any day of the week. Yeah. Now you get to um defensive tactics. And what is that like for you?

SPEAKER_03 23:15

We get to defensive tactics. So I I originally got hired detentions. So I had to go through both academies. Right. Um, and defensive tactics to me was not enough. Was not enough. I mean, they teach you what they can teach you with the with the amount of time they can teach you, right? You have a minimum amount of time to teach people, some people, that don't know anything about defensive tactics, that don't know anything about fighting. And it's not enough, right? So I looked at it um and I took advantage of it and I learned a lot from it because there's aspects of defensive tactics, there's aspects of defensive tactics that relate to law enforcement that I had no clue about. So there's useful information in there. And the instructors would probably love to teach you everything in the world, they just don't have the time. So um I saw it as useful, but I also saw it as I need to do some things on my own.

SPEAKER_02 24:21

You come to this realization, and now what do you do on your own? Because, you know, we tell recruits, hey, you know what, when you graduate from here, this is minimum standard, you need to continue training. Yeah. 99.9% of them don't continue training. No. What did you do?

SPEAKER_03 24:37

Well, it's it's easy to make that excuse of I'm in law enforcement, I work long days. Uh, you never know when that call comes out where it's towards the end of your shift, and now you're working an 18-hour day instead of a 12 and a half. It's easy to make that excuse of, well, I don't have the time to train, and then I gotta go home and I gotta deal with my own life, right? But I didn't see it that way. I, in in case nobody noticed, I'm not a big guy, right? I'm not the largest man in the room. So I always valued um things like jujitsu and boxing. I grew up watching UFC at a very young age. I think we my my brother and I started watching UFC probably sixth grade, you know, back when it was Chuck Liddell and T Door T's, you know, early days, Shamrock, you know, um, Couture, the early days, you know, and and watching the tough, the first tough season, you know, we just ate it up. We loved it. And um never had the money to go to a gym and learn. But once I joined the sheriff's department, I had I had a little extra to where I can go to a gym and learn. And I showed up at my first jujitsu gym. Okay, and I was always pretty athletic. I was always strong for my size. And I remember, and I always remember this moment going in there, thinking, okay, you know, I'm athletic. I know a little bit about wrestling, I know a little bit um of grappling from watching, you know, some of the UFC. And I we get done with the instruction, I shake hands with this, this uh smaller individual. He maybe 120, 130 pounds. And I was like, oh, well, you know, this will be all right for me, you know, I'll I'll be able to rip this guy apart. And he just he ate me alive. It was only a five-minute round. He had subbed me several times within that five-minute round, and it was super humbling. And from that moment, I was like, I need to get in here, and I was going two, three times a day. A day, a day, because I I had been on paternity leave from having our second child, and I wasn't working, so I was like, I'm going to jujitsu, and I was going three times a day. And my oldest was going with me. He would go to the kids' class, and right after the kids' class was the adult class. And then before my kids were waking up, I was going to the 6 a.m. class, and then I'd stay for the 10 a.m. class.

SPEAKER_02 27:24

How long did this go on for, Cody?

SPEAKER_03 27:26

Oh man, as long as I was on paternity leave, I was going at least twice a day. You know, I would walk in, my neck's all cranked, you know what I mean, joints are hurting, but I just I loved it so much, and I had such a desire to get better because I saw little guys like him ripping big guys, big guys apart, 200-pound guys. Yeah. And I was like, I gotta learn this, you know, and then I eventually started to see progress, but you don't see that for a long time. Right. You don't see progress for a long time. And then once I started seeing progress, I just I couldn't stop. I just loved it. At what point do you start striking? So striking is an interesting one. Growing up in Lancaster, uh-huh, it was me, my brother, and the black community. Okay. Right? And all of our friends were black, and they loved boxing. So we loved boxing, right? And we would all of our friends would go out there and we would be boxing. And it's just something we loved at a very young age. I think we were doing this for fifth grade, no headgear, out in the front yard, on the concrete, everybody just taking turns with two pairs of gloves, just boxing, right? So that's boxing is an interesting one because we loved it. And it was somewhere around high school, my brother actually had the opportunity to join a gym to where he learned technique. And he's a he's a very smart guy. So he he's um not only smart, but he can visually look at something and see why it works, see why it's effective. He can watch videos and he'd sit there and watch Mike Tyson, uh, Ali, Roy Jones Jr. and try to mimic these guys to where he'd be like, hey, Cody, let's go outside and box. And he just beat the tar out of me. And I had too much pride to say no. Right. So I just go out there and I thought, well, you know, I'm street, like, let's go out there and box. And he just ripped me apart every single time. You know, but then he started to kind of teach me to get better, right? And then we eventually just became decent at it to where we never had any formal training, but we were okay at it.

SPEAKER_02 29:51

You can hold your own.

SPEAKER_03 29:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:53

Now, um, I'm gonna fast forward to your time uh a couple of years ago where you um had a plan to have about in the Battle of the Badges here in San Diego on the Midway, and you started training for that. Tell us a little bit about that journey.

SPEAKER_03 30:16

Yeah, so I went in there. Um, like I said, not the very biggest guy, not the strongest guy, but I always had speed on my side, so it helped me. Um, so I was interested in the Battle of the Badges. I think I saw an um advertisement for it or something like that, where I I saw a video and I was like, whoa, this looks this looks fun. And I I always like striking, so I thought, you know, let's let's give it a shot. Um so I went in there, no experience, and um learned a lot, had a lot of fun. Um unfortunately, I didn't get a bout. I came in there, and they correct me if I'm wrong, um, from what I remember, will set you up with a fight regarding um with somebody similar to your age, similar to your weight, experience level. And I went in there and having no experience, I was a little better than they thought. And there was nobody my size, unfortunately, to box. So um I didn't get about. And it was unfortunate because I put a lot of time, a lot of effort going to the gym um clear across town to train. And then I was training on my own at my own gym and then meeting up with people like yourself, um, other people to um, you know, get better at striking. And unfortunately, yeah, I trained that whole time and they uh ended up calling me and said, Hey, we don't have a fight for you, unfortunately. So it was kind of a bummer.

SPEAKER_02 32:00

Well, I know, I know it was a bummer, um, Cody, but you know, uh the times that I did see you or you know helped, you know, just give you some rounds, um, you know what? Bro, you were bringing it. And you were more than well prepared. And yeah, no wonder that other people your with your experience uh weren't up to your level. But in that journey, what what were uh like lessons learned? Because irregardless, I I feel like you still would have done the training just to make you a better person. But what were the lessons learned?

SPEAKER_03 32:44

Yeah, uh I went into it um obviously looking for a fight. I didn't get one, but I saw it as an opportunity to get better. Um, but even before I knew that I was going to um get a match, and honestly, even not getting a match, I was so hungry just to go to is it CYA? C Y uh the C Y A C. C Y A C. Yeah, I was so excited to go to C Y A C every week just to spar. I loved it. That was like my match to me. You know what I mean? I loved it. It was just like whether I was getting worked by some of the better guys or you know, being competitive, it was just that was my match to me. You know what I mean? And I got so much out of it, I got better from it. And I will be doing bad of the badges one of these years. Mark my words, it's not the last time I will be at that gym training.

SPEAKER_02 33:52

Well, Cody, I believe you 100%, and I can't wait to uh attend the event when you do. Now, you know what? Um, let's move on a little bit because we're, you know, I I love this theme where you know you try out for things and you know you're you're just hungry. You just want to put in the work. And you know, you had um an experience trying out for SED or the like like uh other agencies call it SWAT, right? But um tell us a little bit about your experience going through that. I mean, how tough is it to go through a SWAT academy?

SPEAKER_03 34:31

So when we were grad when we graduated, they told us this is the hardest SWAT academy in the region. And since 1973, only about 400 have completed this academy. I didn't know that prior to going into it. I have no military experience. All the only experience of academies I have was the detentions academy and then the law enforcement academy, the regional law enforcement academy. I knew it was gonna be hard just from you know having conversations with people. So I prepared. And that's what helped me train for this academy. I was absolutely scared to death. I'd wake up two, three in the morning thinking about it. Um there's a lot of specifics I can't get into, but physically very difficult when it's matched with a lack, a very severe lack of sleep, it makes it extremely more difficult. And it is physically demanding, but I think more so it is mentally demanding. And I always teach my kids to do hard things. I think challenging yourself and doing hard things is good for you, not only physically, but mentally. And I remember several times in that academy thinking, why am I here? Why am I doing this? This is voluntary. I don't need to be here. I still have a jump, you know, back at my station. Why am I doing this? There was one thing that kept me there. I could not go home and tell my kids I quit. I could not go home and look my kids in the face because they knew I was going through it. They knew I was training for, they saw me training for it. They were riding along with some of the trainings that I was doing, you know, at a much smaller scale. Sure. They were doing the same workouts. And they knew I was gonna go through something hard. And I always preached and taught them to not quit. You know, not to quit. You can persevere, you can do things that your body is telling you you can't do. And I could not go home and look them in the face and say, hey guys, sorry, I didn't make it. Not because I was injured, because I quit. I couldn't do it. So I was like, I'm gonna finish this no matter what.

SPEAKER_02 37:07

Man, talk about accountability. Yeah, they keep you accountable. Well, not only were they keeping you accountable, but you were holding yourself accountable. Sometimes it's easier to take the the easy route. Yeah, yeah. Now, um, so you know, you mentioned that uh it was tough and that you told yourself you're not gonna quit. Can you share with us a moment where that thought came through your mind and you crushed it? I mean, like you just got it out of your mind, but nevertheless, it was there for a for a second quitting.

SPEAKER_03 37:44

The days in the academy are very long. Very, very long. You're not getting sleep, you're physically tired, and once you reach the third day, you're like, okay, this is not a joke, and this is not getting easier. They're not they're not letting up. And this is gonna be the expectation for the entire duration of the academy. And when you're there, very tired, very hungry, physically beat up, and it's 12 in the morning, and you're thinking, Man, I don't need to do this, I'm voluntarily doing this. I can go home, be in my bed right now, eat whatever I want. And nobody's gonna care. You know what I mean? I told a bunch of people I was doing it, there was people praying for me. I was like, I can care less about what they think. I care about what my kids think don't. You know? Yeah. And yeah, when you're in that mindset where you're like, man, this is not gonna it helps you when you see a little light at the end of the tunnel. Sure. And I thought eventually there would be. No, there was no light at the end of the tunnel. The entire duration is a beatdown.

SPEAKER_02 39:11

What about graduation day?

SPEAKER_03 39:13

Uh super humbling, super thankful, um, a sense of obviously pride and and and being thankful, you know, that you stuck it out. And um, yeah, it was a very hard task, and it um allows you to bond with others. Yeah, there's no other way of bonding with somebody greater than going through an experience like that. And it was um, it was definitely probably one of the greatest accomplishments in my life for sure. Super thankful for it, super thankful for it. Um wouldn't trade it for anything.

SPEAKER_02 39:56

They actually had a ceremony, yeah. They had a ceremony. Family and uh friends were there.

SPEAKER_03 40:01

Family was there, your boys are there, boys are there, and they got to see uh because they film right the experience, and they got to see, you know, what they call me Papa, what Papa went through, you know, and it was cool. Uh the best moment of the ceremony, I go up there and I shake the cadre's hand and receive my diploma, and I just hear my youngest, who is only three, and he says, That's my papa.

SPEAKER_02 40:36

And I was like, that's awesome, brother. That's the doesn't get any better. No, it can't get any better, really. Um those are those special moments that you just that tug at your heart. Um, but yeah, you know what? So so you get through the uh the academy, and what's the next step after that? I mean, would um there's a team, what what happens next?

SPEAKER_03 41:05

Yeah, so you go through um some additional training, and then uh the way SWAT works is you can go through the entire academy, graduate, and not get selected. Um that would be unfortunate.

SPEAKER_02 41:26

It would be unfortunate.

SPEAKER_03 41:27

Yeah, it would be unfortunate. But it does happen to a lot of people. Yeah, it does. It does happen to a lot of people for certain reasons. Um and so we go through additional training and then they make their selections based off that. Uh, I did ended up getting selected for the team, but unfortunately, due to family reasons, I had to remove myself, unfortunately. Um and that was a hard, that was a really hard decision for me. Um, but at the end of the day, as as you know, um your family comes first, and I have to take care of what I have to take care of. And I'm hoping somewhere on in the future, because I worked very hard for it, and I don't know who in their right mind would ever go through that academy and not attend to be on that team, right? Hopefully, um in the future I can um make that happen.

SPEAKER_02 42:27

Well, Cody, I wish you the best of luck in getting back to that goal. But you know, uh, I think you've said it earlier, you know, one of the most important things in life is family. You reminding me of that just uh reinforces the fact that sometimes when there are outside forces that look really attractive, like getting, you know, getting this job and going along with that job, but yet you gotta think about the fundamentals, which is family. And that's always gotta be a priority. Always gotta be a priority. So to hear your story, it just it's inspiring, and it should be inspiring to the listeners as well. Um now, Cody, you uh you go through this, and you're like a um a guest drill instructor at the academy for every academy. Um knowing your struggles, knowing your standards. Um I've seen you address recruits, I've seen you motivate recruits, and I know that you're you hold them to the same standard that they should be held to. What's your um experience and motivation of going up there and uh helping train these young people?

SPEAKER_03 43:48

I go into it with the expectation and view that this is gonna be potentially my partner one day. And it's not for everybody. You have to go into the academy prepared, knowing what you're going to get into. And I'm going to go there and I'm going to challenge you just like I challenge myself because that's what you need. Because this job is going to be challenging. There's a lot of people that don't like law enforcement. There's a lot of people that aren't going to like you out in the field. There's going to be people that are going to say things to antagonize you out in the field. You're going to experience getting into a fight. You got to know these things. And you shouldn't get into it thinking, well, I just need a job. And this seems like a good one. So I'm going to go in there and do it. And D-TAC is another one. D-TAC, you go in there. I've helped out more in D-TAC than I have with the actual process of the academy. But D Tac's the same thing. You're not going to be in a cushioned room with instructors telling you how to defend yourself with a helmet on, with somebody slapping you, with somebody that can't take you down. Somebody without weapons. So DTAC I take extremely seriously. And I always tell them this should not be your end goal. You need to, if you graduate, leave this academy and go get additional training because it helps. And I'm a testament to that. Because, like I said, I'm not the biggest person in the room. But when you even get to a blue belt level, if you're fighting your average person, 200 pounds or not, you'll be surprised what you can do with the techniques you've been taught.

SPEAKER_02 45:50

Can you share uh with us a moment in your career where you were challenged in patrol or in the in the jails that um would be an example of the need to continue training uh and some a story that you would share with recruits so that they can understand how serious this job is and for them to uh consider uh improving above and beyond the minimum standard.

SPEAKER_03 46:25

Um oh man, there's so many. Um you know what? I'm gonna go I receive a call of a preserve the peace. And for people that don't know what that is, is maybe there's a landlord tenant issue that you're having to deal with, and you're basically gonna go there and kind of referee the whole thing, make sure everybody is they're not getting into an argument or a fight, basically. So I get this call. It actually goes to one of my partners, and my partner ends up relaying the information to me, which was probably not best just because there was more information that was needed. But a normal military couple lived at this residence and they had an argument with their landlord. They weren't getting along with him, so they said, Hey, we just want to go buy the house. We don't know if he's there or not, and grab some of our essentials and leave. Okay. They have keys to the house, they have garage door opener, the house. They even showed us a check, the rent with the address, I mean, uh bills with the address on it, that mail going to the residence, all the indications that they actually live there. So we go to the residence, and it was communicated to me that this landlord actually lives out of state. So I'm thinking this guy's maybe in town. He came to visit, had an argument with them, left. I wasn't, I wasn't sure. Nonetheless, I go there, ring the bell, law enforcement, law enforcement, announce myself, ring the doorbell, no answer. Do it several times. I think I did it like three times, announce myself every single time. So nobody answered. Um, and I indicated him, hey, it looks like nobody's home. So um, let's go ahead and I'll facilitate you going inside the house and we'll grab your stuff. So they come up to the door, and I'm standing in the crack of the door. They unlock the door, and then as we're unlocking the door, it opens up very quickly, and there's a gun sticking in my face. Wow. And the guy starts cussing me out, tells me to get off his property. The doorway to the residence, each side of the doorway is blocked by a brick wall. This guy has me. Action, beats, reaction all day long. My first initial movement was I gotta get offline. There's nowhere I can go because I'm in this like miniature hallway. So I back out as quickly as I can as I'm drawing my weapon. He shuts the door, he barricades basically inside. And um, long story short, we eventually get him out. But these are the type of situations you're gonna get yourself into. And if you don't have the proper training and you're not continually training on your own, you could find yourself in situations like these to where in my situation, I could there's not even a lot I could do.

SPEAKER_02 49:46

Right.

SPEAKER_03 49:47

You know what I mean? He could have he could have done his business and I would have been done. But um, thank God he didn't, and I was able to step offline quickly and get around the wall. And um, so those are the type of situations you can get yourself into, and you gotta be prepared.

SPEAKER_02 50:07

Well, Cody, that's uh that's a great example of what we're talking about, where you know you can be in the academy in a sterile environment uh with someone who has a suit on, a red man suit, and it's not really hitting you very hard, and they're just kind of laying on top of you, not really putting pressure or choking you or anything. And uh it kind of lends itself to a false sense of security. But the minute you encounter an incident like what you just described, that's when training really gets real. And unfortunately, sometimes some people that don't continue training, they're not ready for those incidents. Right. Uh, because what you're describing to me is the mindset. It's not just you training every single day and knowing what to do, but the mindset that you know what, you're gonna go home at the end of the day, regardless of what this guy's doing. Right. Um, that's so important. Now, um, Cody, let me uh fast forward to what you're doing now because you know, everything, all the experiences that you shared with us thus far have gotten you to a certain point. And uh, you know, I just want to share with the listeners a little bit about what you're doing on social media to kind of capture, you know, your persona and what your mindset is. Can can you talk a little bit to that point?

SPEAKER_03 51:42

Yeah, my children um and the way I parent them has always been important. I've had counseling, I have read books, trying to figure out how I can parent my kids. And as you know, in law enforcement, you see a lot of kids, even young adults that grow up not having discipline in their life, not having a role model or um a father figure in their life. And through that struggle, they end up, you know, drugs, alcohol, many things, right? I want to avoid that at all cost. And I pray every day for my kids that they grow up knowing right from wrong, knowing God, and staying on that direction. But I have a role in that, and I am called to be a parent. I had these kids, it's my responsibility, my responsibility now to raise them. So through counsel, through reading books, it's been very important to me on raising my kids um with discipline, motivation, being resilient, really communicating with them um on various aspects. So my kids and I have always done physical activity together. I have three boys. We've always done physical activity together. And through my job and through my observations with various other peoples, I saw there was a need for more intentional parenting. And I'll never forget this experience I had out in patrol where a mom called law enforcement because her kid took off from school on his bike. It might have been from home, but he was supposed to be going to school, took off and left. And now they are now following him in a car, basically chasing him. And this is this is like I think he was between the ages of 10 or 11. I mean 10 or 12.

SPEAKER_02 54:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 54:12

This kid is running from his parents, and they are chasing him, and they called us to solve their problem. And so I observed a kid, and I tried contacting him, and he's now running from me. 10 to 12 years old. I would never imagine to do that to law enforcement at that age. Because I had a respect for law enforcement, right? And now I'm chasing this kid and he's laughing at me. I eventually get my hands on him and we stop him, and his mom comes, she's crying, and she says, I just don't know what to do. He's basically out of control. And I'm thinking in my head, I would love to see the parenting structure in this home. It's very interesting. Dad rolls up in this huge, lifted F-250, gets out of the car. This guy had it been 6'2, bald, big old beard. And I'm like, oh, this kid's in trouble. And he he goes up to the kid, and the first thing the kid does is start swinging on his dad. Wow. Trying to hit him in the groin, cussing at him, and I'm like, waiting for this dad who looks like an individual that's going to implement some sort of discipline.

SPEAKER_02 55:41

Right.

SPEAKER_03 55:42

And the dad just takes it. Oh, calm down, little Timmy, calm down, please, please. And I'm like, what in the world is going on? It's middle of the summer, it's like July, and we're in an asphalt parking lot. He grabs his kid and he wraps his arms around him, he wraps his legs around him, and he's laying on the concrete, his back on the concrete, the hot concrete, trying to contain his kid as his kid's cussing at him, trying to bite him, kick him. And I'm like, what in the world is going on? And I asked mom, as his dad's on the floor trying to control his kid, what's going on? What happened? And she's like, Well, we tried to get him to school this morning, and he wanted to go to Starbucks, and we told him no. So he took off. And I'm like, This is unreal. Wow. This would this will never happen in my house. And the dad eventually lets him go. He turns around, socks his dad one more time, grabs his bike, starts taking off down the street, and he's like, Timmy, where are you going? He's like, I'm going to Starbucks. And he says, Okay, I'll meet you down there. And I'm just like, It's experiences like that, and I've had many more. Yes. It's experiences like that that I've encountered to where it really taught me I need to get on track. Now, when we had our first kid, my wife and I were very young. We made tons of mistakes leading up till now. Tons of mistakes. When we had our first kid, the TV, the phone was the babysitter.

SPEAKER_02 57:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:16

Anything or anytime we had to get something done or we wanted a little bit of us time, right? Give him the babysitter. But then we start, we start to see some behavioral issues that our child is having. And we were just thinking, oh, well, he's he's, you know, whatever age, that's just how kids act. But when we would take those devices away from him, it was a tantrum. And then we start to have our second kid and we start to limit screen time a little bit, and we start to recognize that our second child has the ability to play with himself or by himself. Right. He has the ability to sit and learn a lot better. His his progress, his progress was a lot quicker. And then we start to, as we start to limit that, we start to see improvement in our oldest son. Right. And then we start to do physical activity together. They gain more confidence, they gain more motivation, discipline. And it's super rewarding when your kids come up to you and say, Hey dad, when are we gonna go outside and work out? You know? Right. And so I ended up making a based off the observations I was seeing in today's world, I we need more intentional parenting. We need to do better as a whole. Me too. We need to grow. This is a very, if not the most important job you'll ever have in your life, is being a parent. And I don't know if I would call it a job, but you are tasked with doing this, right? So um I started a social media page where I was hoping to encourage other parents to get out there and be more intentional with their kids. And it's mostly through physical activity, doing hard things, because through act physical activity, am I not only preventing my sons from various types of cancer, um neurological diseases, um diabetes, sure, lack of motivation, you know, so many different things physically and then mentally too. It helps so much mentally. And my kids one day are going to encounter hard things in their lives, and they're gonna be like, you know what? I can do hard things. I know I can. And I did those hard things with my dad. And one of the most important aspects of our social media is me doing these things with them, being the example, because there's nothing worse than a parent telling their kids to do something that they're not doing themselves. So they can't do themselves. Or they can't do themselves, right? So I started a social media um creating content, hopefully inspiring others to parent, and it absolutely blew up.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:26

Tell us, Cody, um, share with us your uh your page, and we're gonna put it on the bottom of the screen, but just tell us what your pages are.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:34

It's called uh generation generational strength eight. So that's our handle um throughout our platforms. And in four months, we started our Instagram and our social media about four months ago, and we today have gained 241,000 followers, and we have in the last 30 days 89 million views, and it's super humbling and rewarding to get messages from parents all around the world saying, I love what you're doing, but can I have some advice in this area?

unknown 1:01:25

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:26

What is one of the areas that you can share with us where parents are asking you for uh advice?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:32

How do I get my kid outside involved in physical activity? And I tell them, or how do you get your kids outside doing physical activity? Maybe is the question. And I tell them, I make them. And some people are like, well, that's really harsh. You make your kids go out there and do physical activity, and I'm like, Yeah. I also make my I make my kids brush their teeth, they don't want to do that. I make my kids do their homework, they never want to do that. I make my kids do things they don't want to do all the time because why? It's good for their health. And physical activity is good for their physical and mental health. So when parents come to me, they expect that I have this like magic formula where I'm like the Caesar Milan of kids, and I just have this touch to where I'm gonna be able to fix their kids when it comes to physical activity. And I say, no, go out there, be an example, allow your kids to visually see you doing it also, and then make your kids do it. And it can and then another important aspect of that is communicate why we're doing it.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:52

I don't know how many times I've had to sit down and communicate with my kids and tell them, you are not being punished right now. But we were gonna go out and do something hard. You are not being punished. This is good for your health. This is going to prevent so many bad things in your life. And this is going to bring so many other good things to your life. And you have to communicate with them why we're doing it. Yes, it's gonna be hard. You might feel a little bit of pain, but you can do it. It's going to make you better for it. And that's simply it. There's no secret formula. I make my kids do it.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:35

You know, it sounds simple, but as you know, Cody, there's a lot of people that either can't do it, won't do it, or just are unwilling to pull that trigger. Um, you know, uh hold their kids accountable, be the example, be a mentor, exercise proper leadership. Um you can't just exercise leadership at work. I think it starts in the home.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:03

Well, that's where parents have given it up. Children are now the authoritarian in the house. They dictate what's going on, and there's a toxic parenting method that says, I'm going to let my child dictate what's going on inside our home, and they'll eventually grow out of it. Right. But if you look at that in any other aspect in life, that's not true. That's not that's not true for anything. That's like saying in our line of work, that's like saying, well, if we stop being cops, criminals one day are eventually gonna say, you know what? I've grown and I'm gonna stop committing crime. That's not gonna be the case. That's not gonna be the case. Not gonna be the case. You gotta be the leader, you gotta be the authoritarian in the house. And a lot of people think, based off of 30-second videos that I post on Instagram, that I'm some corporal punishment father that breaks their kid into submission, and that's farther that that's that's the furthest from the truth. Right. And the most effective parenting style that I'm I'm gonna try to summarize it, but the most effective parenting style that I have come to the conclusion of seeing that works the best is leading by example, right? Don't tell your kids to do something you're not doing. But also, you need to have love and discipline. They go hand in hand. Yeah, you can't have one without the other. I love you, so I'm going to discipline you. And I'm going to discipline you because I love you. Another aspect of that is communication and communicating with that. When my kids do something wrong, The punishment, or I wouldn't even say punishment, the discipline is different depending on what they're doing. For mere for mere childhood irresponsibilities, I'm most likely not going to spank my kids for that. Because they're children. They're learning. Are they going to have a consequence for it? Yeah, they're going to. But probably not a spanking. Now, if there is direct disobedience, I'm going to spank my kid. But first, I'm going to sit them in front of me. I never want to do this out of anger. I want to look them in the eyes and I want to tell them, listen, here's what you did wrong. Here's why it is wrong. And if I continue to let you do this, here's going to be the result. Now I have to discipline you because I love you too much to let you turn out that way.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:00

So then I discipline them. After I communicate that to them. And then afterwards, I also communicate, listen, I never want to do this. Disciplining you is the last thing I want to do. But I do it because I love you. The result of that parenting style has allowed me to visually see after I discipline my kid, not to have them run off into their room and say, I can't stand you, I hate you, but to turn around and hug me afterwards. Because they know it's the decision they made I am rejecting, not them personally or individually. They know throughout all the days that I'm with them, I prove my love to them. But in those moments of discipline, they know, okay, wait, he loves me. He is rejecting this behavior, not me as an individual. That has become the most effective for me. And I think it's it will be the most effective for a lot of parents if you start implementing that. Under control, communicating, not angry, not yelling. I true my try my best not to yell at my kids, but to communicate with them why they're being disciplined.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:29

Through love. Yeah. Love. I mean, I mean, we love our kids. We want them to be the best they can be. Um, and uh, we gotta hold them accountable. That's our job.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:41

Um, Cody, you know, I I wish you success in whatever it is that you're gonna do next, you know, uh, and wherever this journey's taking you, you know, I I hope you uh get two million followers by the by Christmas. You know, I mean I I really do. As a matter of fact, I want to make sure that everybody that's listening gives uh Cody a follow. But um what's next?

SPEAKER_03 1:09:08

Long term, I would like to start a community with parents that are obviously struggling in this area and want help, start a community where we all get together and hold each other accountable. And I would love to share my parenting styles with others. I already have. I get messages daily. How do I do this? How do I do that? How do I discipline my son? Would you do it differently if you had a daughter? So many questions coming from parents all over the world. I would love to answer those questions. I would love to start a community where we can get together and talk about these very important aspects because, like I said, I think it's one of the most important things you'll ever do in your life to raise good kids. And we should raise good kids. It's our responsibility to raise good kids. And I would like to start a community where we can keep each other accountable and learn and grow and hopefully help this generation that is under attack by weak parenting.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:29

Well, I mean, I'm I'm listening to you uh describe this, right? And I'm I'm in I don't know what your vision is, but I'm envisioning like uh camps maybe, like you know, like summer camps that kids have, maybe summer um, I don't know, couple of weeks camp for both parents and children. I mean, I don't I don't know, because you they have to submerge into what you're actually uh able to train parents to do. And then their kids have to be there with them and put it to practice. Otherwise, um, you know, some parents may not be as strong to do it on their own. So they they gotta learn from the master.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:11

Yeah. And I think um that is one aspect that we have thought about, you know, can we start some sort of camp, um, some sort of um training facility to where a parent can come in with their kids and we do a physical aspect um of parenting, but also, you know, we need to handle other things like discipline, like teaching our kids life skills, right? I was at home for lunch today and I look over, you know, I'm coming home from work to pick up my lunch. My kid's over there cutting a tri-tip. My seven-year-old kid. And I'm just like, how many seven-year-olds are cutting a tri-tip? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 1:11:58

Right and know how to cut it. Know how to cut it. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:01

You know what I mean? He's not just he's cutting, you know, good slices. He's he's keeping his fingers out of the way because these are things that his mom has taught him. These are things that I have taught him, you know. Um, chores. Kids should be doing chores absolutely. Because they're gonna grow into an adult one day, they gotta know how to maintain a house. Things, things as simple as that, right? Getting together with parents and helping others implement these things in their home. And I see it in my own kids. I see it in my own kids. Every every week or everywhere we go, we have parents or people that aren't even parents. Oh man, I would never dare take my kids to Costco alone. And I'm like, why not? Because you don't have discipline in your household. My kids are still kids, they make mistakes. You know what I mean? They they still have child, childish irresponsibility, but we get compliments all the time. Wow, how are your kids so disciplined? How can you take them to a I've had fam uh I've had uh families come up to me and they're like, Man, I'd never take my kid out to eat. Why not? Because they just throw a fit the whole time and it just embarrassed me. My kids will sit through dinner just like a normal human being, you know. Um, and it's just aspects like these that um I don't ever want to look down on parents. Sure. If someone's truly seeking help, I would love to help. And that's kind of our long-term goal is just to help.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:41

Well, Cody, let me ask you one last thing. What um what message would you give your younger self? That young self that was struggling with a lot of challenges in life, whether it was at home or just the adverse conditions under which you know you had to survive, you know, sometimes going to sleep without eating or with scarcity of food in the house, um, parents that are struggling. And um, what do you right now say to that young kid?

SPEAKER_03 1:14:21

I say to that young kid, hang in there, you're gonna have an opportunity to do it the right way someday. And if you seek God first above all things, everything else is gonna be taken care of, right? I would tell my younger self, hang in there, you're gonna have an opportunity to do it the right way one day. And rewrite your past, right? That's what I would say.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:58

I I think uh that's a great message, Cody. Is there anything else that uh you would like to share with our listeners?

SPEAKER_03 1:15:07

I think we covered it all.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:09

You think so? I think so. I think uh it's been a great conversation. I really uh appreciate your perspective, your mindset, your leadership. And I said it early on, but it nothing makes me prouder than to see someone that I had a little bit of uh exposure to in the academy and see that person flourish into a true leader. Yeah.

unknown 1:15:35

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:35

Well, I would I would like to say one thing, um, because this is very important to me. If you are going through a hard time, if you're going through a difficult time, maybe something similar to my upbringing. It doesn't even have to be my upbringing, but I want to say that there's a God that loves you. If you didn't have a father like I did, you have a heavenly father that loves you, that has the best for you, and if you seek him first above everything else, you are guaranteed to be taken care of. And that's not in a genie type of way. He's not a genie. He's not gonna give you three wishes, he's not, it doesn't mean he's gonna give you a Lambo. He means it means you are gonna be taken care of. And if you put your trust and belief in Jesus Christ one day, all of that pain or all the pain you are experiencing now, depression, anxiety, um, if you are struggling with finances, none of that will ever matter when you pass away and you're in eternal life with him if you put your trust in Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:50

100%, brother. Thank you for joining me. Thank you. Really appreciate you, bro. Yeah. Good luck with everything. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right, and uh thank you for tuning in. Uh, please make sure you hit that like button, you subscribe, and tell us, give us some feedback on what other stories you want to hear. Tell us uh some feedback on this story. You know, if you are struggling, there are trained police officers that can help. They either have been through similar situations or are trained to be able to guide you through whatever it is that you're going through. Cop line. If you are in a really bad place and contemplating suicide, understand that you're not alone, you're not the first to feel those feelings, and there are people waiting to help, people that care about you. 988. Text that number and get the help that you need. To end this episode, we're going to have our brother in Christ and our brother in law enforcement, Greg Adminson, share a prayer for all law enforcement to make it home. Thank you for watching. And God bless you.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:28

We come before you with gratitude for the brave men and women who have answered the sacred call to protect and serve. You said in Romans 13, verse 4, that the one in authority is God's servant for your good. Lord, we thank you for every officer who stands the line. We thank you for every officer who runs toward the sound of danger when others run away. We thank you, God, for every officer who brings order out of chaos, and who seeks justice with compassion. Father, as warriors in a fallen world, we draw our strength from you. Your word declares in Psalm 144, verse 1, Blessed be the Lord my rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for every battle. Train our hands, Lord, not only for the battles of the street, but for the battles within. Give us courage when fear whispers, give us patience when tempers rise. Grant us wisdom when decisions must be made in an instant. Lord, we ask for your divine protection over every officer in the field. Surround them with your angels as a shield, as you promised in Psalm 91, and let your peace guard their heart and mind in Christ Jesus. When they grow weary, remind them that those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on wings like eagles. Almighty God, you are our strength, you are our shield, you are our ever-present help in times of trouble. Father, when the day's work is done, bring them home safely. Restore their spirit, renew their joy, and remind them that they do not fight this battle alone. For you go before them, you go beside them, you are with them. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our commander and king. Amen.