013: How to Prepare for Special Forces Assessment and Selection (SFAS) with Spencer, Owner of The Alpha Country

Green Beret, Army Ranger and Owner of The Alpha Country, Spencer, shares first-hand insight on how to get ready for Pre-Ranger, Ranger School, and Special Forces Assessment and Selection (SFAS).

The Alpha Country: https://www.thealphacountry.com/

SFAS Prep Program: https://www.thealphacountry.com/the-goods/p/operation-alpha-program

The Alpha Country Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thealphacountry/?hl=en

Fit To Lead: https://www.instagram.com/fittolead.inc/

Transcript

Spencer  0:00  
If you're in a leadership position, Team Leader, squad leader, platoon sergeant, and your soldier wants to go above and beyond, he wants to go a different route. He wants to career progress. You are a terrible leader if you try to persuade him not to do that.

Natalie Hayes  0:18  
Hi guys, I'm Natalie Hayes, the host of fit to lead where we talk about all things fitness, leadership and how to leave a legacy worth remembering. Today, I talked to somebody who certainly already has a legacy worth remembering greenbrae father, husband, and just all around badass Spencer, owner of the alpha country is on here today. And I we had such a great time talking this about his story, he has an amazing story, so many obstacles that he overcame that others couldn't. So we dove into how he did that, what he's doing now what he's doing moving forward, and it's was just such an honor to get to talk to him. So before you check it out, make sure you go follow him on Instagram at the alpha country and check out his business at the alpha country.com. He has a veteran owned apparel line and also is selling what he used to get ready for SFAs. Um, he's selling his program on there to get all of you as a fast ready, if you want to be. So here we go. Without further ado, my conversation with Spencer. Let me know what you guys think. Alright, Spencer, thank you so much for joining me here today. And we were just getting into it right before I press record, a reason why we both started a social media presence, and doing podcasts and Instagram before we get out of the military. We see a lot of people do it after they get out. But we're both still in. So I just want to let you go ahead Spencer and tell us why you have kind of chosen to take your thoughts and expressions and and bring them out to the public for everyone to see.

Unknown Speaker  2:01  
Yeah, thank you for having me on here too, as well. So yeah, I when I joined back in 2014, you know, I had a I had a social media platform, it was like, you know, my space or something like that. But, uh, so I realized that if I really wanted to invest in completely put 20 472 You know, my goals in the military and stuff like that, for me personally, and I don't recommend this for everybody. But for me, I needed to get away. Alright, so I needed to leave home. That's why that's why I enlisted. And I needed to kind of start fresh, you know, I was making, I wasn't making the best decision before, before I joined. You know, I was a kid, I was a rebel kid, you know, I was doing stuff that my parents told me not to do. And so for me, I was like, You know what, I'm just gonna delete all my stuff and just focus on on what's going on. And that was great. Like, I was able to do that. And it may not have been from deleting all my social media, you know, it could have been just, you know, making that decision that, hey, I'm going to focus on this 100% I probably could have kept my Instagram open. And just like didn't pay attention to it, or Facebook open didn't pay attention to it. But you know, I had made a decision. And I wanted to stick with that, that I was, you know, going to delete that and just 100% focus on being the best soldier, I could be really, you know, it wasn't like I don't I didn't join within an 18x Ray contract. I joined with 11x Ray, and I didn't get a high enough gt score on my as bad. And so I think I got like a 98. And I think a lot of people get a low score, because when they take it, they don't have that initial thought of like, Oh, I want to enlist, you know, I mean, I think I took mine, like senior year of high school. And I didn't care you know, I was like cccccc I could only get an 11x Ray contract. And so then when I was

Unknown Speaker  3:49  
what's 11x Ray for everyone, anyone who may not know,

Unknown Speaker  3:53  
so loving X ray is, it's an infantry contract. But you can either you get transition to when you get to basic training, you get transition to from 11x Ray, which is kind of like an unknown like, are you going to be a straight infantry dude, or are you going to be in 11? Charlie, so 11 Bravo is infantry. 11 Charlie is infantry, but their main focus is going to be mortars. So I got placed as an 11 Bravo. So straight infantry, that's what we learned in basic training, you know, pretty much the basic skills, shoot, move, communicate, you know, first aid, and all that stuff that they hear all the time. But so when I realized that, you know, I was just going to be infantry, I wasn't really thinking about my hazmat score at all. I was like, you know, what, let me get to my unit and you know, prove myself and stuff like that I was like 19 years old, and after basic training, let me go back. So during basic training, I got my 11 Bravo identifier, and I was initially slotted to go to 25th Infantry Division in Schofield Barracks in Hawaii.

Unknown Speaker  4:57  
So

Unknown Speaker  5:00  
I talked to my drill sergeant, I was like, Hey, you know, I want to get an airborne contract like I want to be. I want to be in airborne infantry man, right. That's what I thought. That's what I thought they called me on. But he was like, Oh, you want to be a paratrooper? I was like, yeah. And he was like, Alright, we'll take a PT test. And the top three guys will get, you know, an airborne contract. So we took a PT test. And you know, I got within the top three. So he's like, Alright, here's your airborne contract. And so I went to airborne school, finish that and went to the 82nd airborne. When I got to the second was a machine gunner for about six to eight months before my platoon sergeant came up and asked me and he was he was super Ranger, you know, he's a, he's a ranger all the way. He was like, hey, you're a big dude, you're strong. What do you think about going to Ranger School? Like, I want to get somebody in the in the platoon of Ranger tab. And I was the PFC at this point, a private first class. And yeah, I was like, you know, am I ready for this? You know, I mean, I didn't I didn't know if I was you know, like I was brand new to the army just got done with airborne school all I knew what's carry the big, big 240 Bravo around the big, big machine. And, you know, just listen to my team leaders. Listen, my squad because my platoon sorry, that's all I knew. And then now I was gonna get the first taste of being on your own in the army. You know what I mean? Like, when you go to a big school like that you're on your own. You don't your teammates unless you go with, you know, a teammate or something. But you don't have your team leader there to guide you. And then make you feel comfortable to ask questions. You don't have your squad leader, platoon sergeant or anything like that you were there by yourself. And so you need to you need to be able to adapt that that to that. And so that kind of worried me because I was, you know, 1819 years old, I'd only been in the army for eight months, but he had the confidence in me. And that made me feel confident. So he sent me to send me to pre Ranger course in the 82nd. And it was awful. Like, it was one of the worst experiences because of the physical demanding portion but like it was it crushed. Everybody sold across everybody's body, but that they were doing the right thing. You know, now that I look back at it, like they were preparing us for Ranger School. And not a lot of, you know, not a lot of places you can go and be like, yeah, that got me ready. But that like looking back on it now, like at second pre Ranger was 100%. What got me through Ranger School. We started out with, I think 107 like candidates, I guess. And only four of us graduated. Wow. Oh, my

Unknown Speaker  7:48  
goodness.

Unknown Speaker  7:50  
Yep. So it was me it was myself. It was a sergeant, and then a staff sergeant and a second lieutenant. So just as four out of like, I would like 107 people if I, if I remember, right, maybe around 100 people, and only four of us foreigners graduated. And so that kind of that kind of opened my eyes up as well. You know, I was a, I was a PFC prime first class and he three hang in with the sergeant's e6, his staff sergeants and officer, you know, and in my eyes, when I first got there, I really, really looked up to those dudes. And I was like, you know, they, they know a lot more than me, I can, I can kind of piggyback off of them. But I started to realize that I studied more than a lot of people did before coming there. They had already had the experience. They had done it before they had done all the tasks and stuff like that, that we were doing in pre Ranger. But they didn't study as hard as what I did. And they didn't read the Ranger Handbook, you know, for two or three weeks, straight every day, because I was so nervous. I was like, Look, I need to know what I'm doing. I'm 1819 years old, these guys are gonna be vetted and have done combat deployments, like, at least at least I can do is take care of my part and study the Ranger handbook. And then I just started to realize that, you know, there's no reason for me to be scared. Like, there's no reason for me to be like, Oh, I can't hang with these guys. I can't. And I see that a lot. You know, I see young guys come in being like, Hey, you know, can I go 20 years older or only two years old? And it's like, Yeah, man like you can it doesn't matter what age you are, you know, I get I get messages all the time are, are good. get asked like, Hey, I'm 35 I'm 36 like, should I even when should I even try? Should I even kind of just like you guys, there's no age limit on this. There's 19 year olds. There's 21 year olds. There's 35 year olds, there's 40 year olds 45 year olds, I gotta have a 45 year old on my team. And he is still crushing everything. Though it's it's definitely has nothing to do with your age or nothing to do with you know how All you are anything. But, uh, so I graduated.

Unknown Speaker  10:06  
So can you briefly describe kind of what pre Ranger was like? For you? No, I mean, I'm sure most people haven't haven't gotten. But if you could briefly describe it like, what, what about it broke? You broke off so many people?

Unknown Speaker  10:19  
Yeah, so so at second pre Ranger is off on its own compound. So it's you're not on the big base. And not every pre Ranger is like this. I know there's multiple ones but I can only speak for for the 82nd. One, it's off on your own compound. And the reason why I broke this off is it was dead middle of the summer, I think it was like, June and if you've ever been to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, it is humid, like 200% humidity, it's like 105 110 degrees all the time. It doesn't matter what hour you're doing anything like we we would start our 12 mile ruck. And that's what really crushed everybody, you know, we had been getting smoked for the past, you know, two or three days, you know, constantly because it's, you know, they want to break you off to see who's committed, you know what I mean, if they didn't make it hard, everybody would have arranged. Everybody wouldn't be able to do it if they didn't make it hard. So if you're going to that, you know, I mean, you're you are accepting the fact that you're going to get crushed. And I accepted that I just didn't know that it was going to be that you know what I mean? And it was a lot it was a it was a lot of things that heat, and just not you can't train for that, you know, I mean, unless you would like to ask your buddy, like, Hey, can you just smoke me for three hours? Like, that's not gonna happen? You know what I mean? So you can't, you can only prepare for so much. And I think that a lot of people just weren't, weren't prepared. You know, they didn't do they didn't, they did not know that. That was what it was going to be like. And so pre Ranger is just, I think 21 days, if I can remember, right, it's like 21 days. And it's really just a condensed version of your first phase, which is Darby and Ranger School. So you do the same, you do the same gates, which are gates aren't just your physical events. So you do the range of physical assessment, you do the swing test, you do a 12 mile ruck, you do an obstacle course, all that stuff that you see in the first phase of the actual Ranger School is what you do at pre Ranger. So you really get a good taste or bad taste. However, you want to look at it on what you're really getting yourself into. And so you know, you go through, you go through your PT tests, your 12 mile ruck, and that is what that is what ended a lot of people, the four that graduated, or the four that finished the rug, and under three hours, all the other candidates came in after that three hours. So but luckily, we had some volunteers that were okay with staying so that we could do so that we had enough people to run the rest of the prep, which is you know, you're patrolling your your infantry skills. Well, you can't do those infantry skills in those patrolling in those tasks. With only four people, you know, you need you need at least I think we had eight to 10 total. And so we were luckily we were able to do that we were able to continue and get graded on patrolling, get graded on it and land navigation. So that's another part of the part of the game or one of the physical assessments. So you do you know your PT test your 12 mile ruck your swim test, your land navigation, the obstacle course all those things you're gonna get introduced if you haven't been introduced to while you're at pre Ranger course. And the last couple weeks after you got done doing all the physical training, it was just patrolling, so you don't planning an ambush. planning and executing a raid. All these battle drills are is what they're called, all these battle drills like reacting to contact, you know, squad attack, platoon attack, you know, all those, all those infantry tasks, is what you get introduced to at pre Ranger so that you don't go to Ranger School, because you can go to Ranger School as as whatever MLS you want, you know, anybody can go. But that gives not only employment, or paratroopers or anything a prep to go to, but it also gives somebody that's, you know, like, just for example, like a cook, you know, they don't they don't practice reactive contact, squat attack, but if they do, that's cool, but you are going to get introduced to that no matter what MLS you are. And I think that that helps out a lot of people when they're like, Hey, you know, I see that a ranger tab gets me pretty much put in a category that's above my peers that don't have Ranger tabs. And that gives a cook or some other MLS kind of confidence that hey, if I go to this prep course then I have a chance in Ranger School. You know, I know What I'm getting myself into. And so I think, yeah, I think the pre Ranger is is friggin awesome. And yeah, yeah, I just I love

Unknown Speaker  15:09  
it. Yeah. So you said that was around the moment when you graduated, you realize like you could hang with all these guys like you had what it takes? You had what it takes to enter?

Unknown Speaker  15:20  
Yeah, yeah I was in it wasn't, I knew that I wasn't as experienced as them but the way that I looked at it is if I could watch them do the right thing. And if I could watch them execute something, you know, the right way, then I could do it too, you know, I just needed to see I'm a very, I'm a very, like, watch somebody do something and then I do it. You know, that's how I learned. And so as I knew that all this squad, you know, infantry tasks and squad attacking platoon attack, and in patrolling and all that stuff, like it was, it was pretty new to me, because like I said, I was just, I was just a machine gunner, I head down, friggin, you know, neck left and run the other, like, I was just carrying the pig carrying the 240 bow, though. No, it really, once I got to see them, you know, be a platoon sergeant of a battle drill, or a squad leader battle Joe, like, got to watch them. And I was like, You know what, I can do this too, you know, I can, I can do exactly what they're doing. Like, but even better, and I can I love but I was like, You know what, this is a business. And, like, the, especially, especially operations, it is a big business if you don't perform. And if you don't, and I'm not saying that you're like, against your buddies or anything, but you are competing against your buddies, you know, the teammates on your team should be pushing you to be to be better. And that's what these guys did to me in pre Ranger, like they realized as a, as a starting as a staff sergeant that I was different. That was a different PFC that was a different, you know, 19 year old than then what they were using. So, you know, they kind of took me under under their belt while I was in while I was in pre Ranger. And when I graduated pre Ranger, I had I was awarded honor grad, which that was that, you know, again, made me feel like, Alright, you know, I can I can do what these guys are doing. I can I can I can hang with these guys. And then I got like, I think 12 out of 12 points, or 11 out of 12 points for lanap. So they had this word called the Golden Compass. So I got that too. And, you know, all my all my buddies that I had been away with my kids, you know, my, when I graduated pre Ranger, your whole squad shows up, you know what I mean? And they had no clue. And then, you know, when we're doing the ceremony only, there's only four guys there. So everybody's like, Yo, dude, Where's everybody else? That No, it's just that's for him. And then they're like, Oh, dude, you were undergrad, you were you got the you got the Golden Compass, you know, as goofy as it sounds, they just thought that that was awesome. And that's when I kind of started again, to realize not that I could hire these guys, but I could be an NCO that could really like that understands and can pass this information off, and pass it along. As long as I kind of did what they did in what they did was take me out of their way. You know, they, they realize that, that I was that I was different. And they were like, Yo, dude, you you can go far with this, you know, I mean, like you can, you can really do it. And that gave me the confidence going into Ranger School. Not only going with guys that I had three other friends that you know, we're confident. I mean, and you know, fortunately, we got split to different platoons once we got there, but I knew that they were there. And I knew that they were going through this same shitty time that I was going through. Yeah, to just know that you have a couple friends there that, you know, three weeks ago, I didn't even know. And then now look at them as like, it's like a brother and that they're keeping me you know, if I would quit, then I'd be quitting on them. And same with the same. That's exactly how they thought. Like we all we all got our tabs when we went to Ranger School. So we went four for four. And we would all talk about it like after and we like it. It was just waiting for one of you to quit so I could quit. No, nobody quits. And like I have got, I got recycled in mountains. And like there was like two of the other guys that got recycled. I think the SEC Lieutenant went straight through. But like all of the NGOs and the enlisted, we all got recycled at least once. And so that was a big deal for me, you know getting getting recycled, and I can I can go into a lot about that. Because that that was a that was a rough. That was a really

Unknown Speaker  19:42  
Yeah, let's go into it. Yeah, let's tell us about it. Let's tell us about Ranger School and your experience. And yeah, let's just keep going.

Unknown Speaker  19:49  
Alright, so when I finished a pre Ranger course before going I think you have like maybe four or five days in between. to kind of get ready, get your packing list ready and refit. To go off to Ranger School. Well, when I got done with pre Ranger, my wife told me that she was pregnant. So Wow. Oh, just in those

Unknown Speaker  20:08  
those like four or five days, four or five days, he said,

Unknown Speaker  20:11  
Yep. Oh, wow. She had got pregnant. So pre Ranger is only like 21 days. So she had got pregnant, either like a couple of weeks or a month before and taking a test while I was in pre Ranger, and that's when she found out that she was pregnant. And so when we when I was at graduation, after I got done graduating, we walked to the parking lot pre Ranger, and that's when she told me that she was pregnant. So I was like, super excited.

Unknown Speaker  20:37  
Wow, talk about emotion overload.

Unknown Speaker  20:42  
And super excited and I went to my platoon sergeant because he was this my tunes aren't was the one that was that initially, like, took the took the chance on me going to Ranger School, not a lot of 19 year olds, 18 year olds in a conventional army unit get to go to Ranger School at such young age. If you if you go to Ranger Regiment, then you're bound to go to go to Ranger School. But so I you know, my wife told me that that I went to my platoon sergeant, I was like, Hey, I'm gonna be a dad, like, no other shit. And he was like, Oh, that's awesome in like, made me stand up in front of everybody. Like my whole company was there. And he was like, hey, we'll share the good news. And in front of everybody else. I yeah, I mean, I'm gonna be a dad like, other stuff. And Wow, that's so great. What a special moment. Yeah. And so I was feeling really, really good. And, you know, going to Ranger School with Hey, I was just on a grad. You know, I was feeling good about myself. And, you know, I'm about to be a dad like, this is this. I'm growing up, you know? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  21:45  
Life Changes Quick.

Unknown Speaker  21:47  
Quick, I'm not even not even able to have a beer, you know, at a restaurant yet, man. Yeah. So my goal, my goal was to get a Ranger, my Ranger tab before I was 21. That was, that was a big, a big goal of mine. But so I left went to Ranger School. And it was pretty much a repeat of pre Ranger, you know, because we just did pretty much the first phase in pre Ranger. So all I had to do was mimic what I did, you know, and have that same confidence and stuff like that. So the first phase for me was, it was pretty, it was not easy, but I felt comfortable here. Yes, yeah, I felt like I was I was fully prepared to take on the challenge of the first phase. So first phase was, you know, no problem for me, I was actually able to help out a lot of guys that didn't get the pre Ranger. So because I went to pre Ranger, I was able to feel more comfortable. And so I could, if I wasn't being graded, or if I wasn't been in a leadership position, then I really took the time to help the person that if he if he was the platoon leader, or if he was the platoon sergeant or squad leader, and I knew that his MLS wasn't an infantry background, I took the time to help them because I knew they were internally freaking out. Yeah, I mean, I have no idea what I'm doing. And I was I was like that in the next phase. But in between Darby which is phase one, and mountains, woods in Delano, Georgia, you get an eight hour pass. And so my wife drove down to a steep drop down from Fort Bragg to Georgia to pick me up for this eight hour pass. And when she picked me up, it was awesome. It was like it was like honeymoon again. Right. And so it was good to see her again. And it was just like, like I said, that honeymoon phase, but we got back to the hotel room that we're just going to hang out at. And she told me that she lost the baby. So So, you know, we're in that hotel room and it's just, you know, emotional, you know what I mean? Like I was so excited about you know, having having a baby with my wife and stuff like that it's such a young age and it was not only that, but knowing that I wasn't there for her when she was you know, getting the medical treatment that she needed. So while I was in that phase, she had to get you know surgery because he lost the baby and I felt guilty you know, I was like a husband and I like I'm off you're trying to get a piece of cloth when in real life My wife is like you know losing a kid and then having to go through this you know by herself and so that really like that hit me hard like I couldn't I had to go back after the eight hours in and and then take a I can't remember if we flew or drove the bus but on to the next phase and a lot of the GA Why couldn't focus like whatsoever. Wow, like I

Unknown Speaker  24:46  
can't imagine.

Unknown Speaker  24:47  
Yeah, and in between phase one of Darby and then delana ga phase two. It's a big transition. So you're going from squad, squad level tactics. Pretty much to now what platoon so your squad is only maybe 10 to 12. Guys, well platoon is 30 to 40. So you're not just going to be in charge of eight to 12 people anymore, you could potentially be in a leadership position of platoon leader and officer or platoon sergeant, which is, you know, a staff sergeant. You're going to be put in those positions, whether you're a private or not, you know, I mean, so you're gonna get that. And so on top of, you know, my wife having a miscarriage, on top of having to learn something that I didn't ever know at all. I didn't know platoon tactics at all, you know, it was all brand new to me that along with, you know, climbing and rappelling and all that stuff that you do, and in mountain phase, I could not focus whatsoever at all, and, you know, had a head instructor when he was teaching some climbing techniques. He was like, he could tell that I was just straight zoned out. And he was like, dude, do you want to fight me or something? Like, because I was just staring at him, you know, I mean, and, uh, but you know, in Ranger School, you're drowning. Anyways, you're hungry, you're tired, you know what I mean? So he was like, yo, Ranger, like, You got a problem with me. You want to fight yours? I was just like, dude, you're, you're you're a dick anyways, like, you are. You're not somebody that I would go to for anything. And I knew that. But, you know, he wanted to show us TAs and and try to fight a ranger student. You know, I mean, like, I would never, I would never do something like that. You know what I mean? And looking back, it's like, You're, you're a dipshit for trying to do that. You're an East seventh Sergeant First Class trying to pick a fight with a ranger candidate that you know, you he can't do anything. You know what I mean? Like, I can't go and square you in the face. But if we were out at the bar or something, and we were out in civilian clothes, like yeah, and so I got to I got to realize what good leader and a good NCO was. And I got to realize what a bad NCO wasn't leader. But anyway, so yeah, I could not focus that entire phase. And, you know, when I was my when it was my turn to be, I got put, we had been lost all day on a on an objective. Like we were it was a long walk. I think it was like a 10 to 12 kilometer walk with rucksacks moving in a squad platoon formation. And we were all decked up all day, I wasn't even in a leadership position yet. I was just like a rifleman. And there was like 10 o'clock at night. And we were getting close to our objective. And, you know, they stop switch out leadership. They put 19 year old Private First Class as the platoon leader. So I was I was an acting officer for for this re middle of the night, when everybody has already been droning Hungary. And it was on like, the side of a mountain that way. And I was just like, oh my god. And it was funny because the dude that you know, wanted to pick a fight with me. He was he was my grater. And so I was like, This is gonna be awesome. Like, I already know that I have an algo before we even get this thing started yet. I mean, like, I I know why he's Migrator

Unknown Speaker  28:11  
so I like it. Was this a complete shit show? It was a completely dis terrible, and that completely just demolished all my confidence? You know, because I was I was that cook back in back in Darby phase that had never been introduced to any, you know, infantry stuff at all. I was doing what they were doing. And that was what even goes first, like, what do I start with? What what who do I place first and I placed security like, I had no idea because I was not paying attention, you know, to the classes that were going on. I was solely focused on how shitty of a husband I was. Because my setting they're dealing with, you know, first abortion or not abortion, first miscarriage. And it was just like, 10 like, what am I doing? You know, is this really worth, you know, being here, but so I got I got recycled. So my mission did not go very good. I got one look. And I knew I was a no go, I knew I was going to recycle. So in my mind, I'm already preparing for that. And there's still a couple more days of patrolling left. And I was feeling sorry for myself, you know. And so, end of mountain phase, you know, instructors come out, call off roster numbers, and those are the people that are moving on, and they didn't call my roster number. So you go to like the side of the building. And you pretty much wait to get counseled on why you why you didn't pass. And so you get, you get two opportunities, you get three, you can make two decision, even today and wait out the waiting period until the next phase starts or until the new you know, mountain phase starts with new people or you can quit. I was like, I want to stay but I want to talk to my wife first. You know, I want to I want to call her and see if she's okay like and see if she needs me. You know, I

Unknown Speaker  29:59  
mean, man What a hard, hard decision hard place.

Unknown Speaker  30:03  
Yeah, yeah. And you know, they they really wanted it to be like, on the spot like, Hey, are you staying? Are you going? Yeah. And I didn't want to talk about this with the Ranger instructors. I didn't want to be like, oh, feel sorry for me, like, you know what I mean, but it was reality it was. This is not because I'm in the school or anything like that I would, I would be wanting to check up on her no matter what I was doing. And so they gave me the opportunity to make a phone call. And like I was in prison. And they were like, Yeah, man, you can you can call her do that study. Like, you know, we didn't we didn't know about any of this. And so I called her and I was okay, you know, I'm done with this shit. You know what I mean? Like, I just got I just got recycled. Like, I've already lost 35 pounds. I come. Right. And I was like, like, I just want to come home and be with you and take care of you. Because, like, I know that you need me. And she was like, you're not allowed to get in this bed without your Ranger tab. Yeah. Yeah. It was. It was like, I know, I know how bad you want this. And I have sat and listened to you. You know, recite the Ranger creed in our living room, over and over and over and over. Study the Ranger Handbook, study battle drills, so much preparation that you did to get where you are just to just to quit. Like, that's not. That's not who you are. That's not my husband. That's not like the person that I'm married. And yeah, after that, it was like, fuck it. Yeah, yeah.

Unknown Speaker  31:42  
That was the push you needed. It sounded like,

Unknown Speaker  31:44  
and I went straight to the straight to the instructors. And that was that. I mean, my wife said that she's good. Like, I was able to get that focus back, knowing that my wife was okay. And that she was, you know, she was she had support, you know what I mean? It made me realize that I don't always need to be there. You know, she got awesome friends or some family stuff like that. Wow. So I went on. I just told him like, Hey, you know, I'm good to go and the best friggin NCO that I had met up to that point. He was like a, like a holdover instructor, holdover cadre, and he straight up took the time to teach us everything. Like he started from the basics started from you know, squad went all the way to platoon. And he took hours and hours and hours that he could have been at home. You know, he could have been like, Hey, you know, you guys recycled, you suck. Like, figure it out, you know, study the Ranger handbook. But now this dude's whiteboarding, everything, taking us out there doing, you know, practical exercises, and he actually was taking the time to help us out. And so just another dude that influenced me, and I don't, I can't even remember his name, but I will, I will forever remember that dude. And he told me what it was like to be a good NCO, a good noncommissioned officer. And, you know, when you become a noncommissioned officer, you are you are looked at as a leader you are, you're entitled to some sort of leadership. So he, you know, opened my eyes to pretty much make me the way that I am, or just be a contribution of the person that I am today. And like I said, I don't even know is that can you remember his name or anything, but, you know, he, he took that time, and he really showed me how to be a different NCO. And so with all of his guidance, and all of his knowledge, he was all of us that recycled, all had got our tabs. And without him doing that, and taking the time, not about like, maybe half of us would have got our tabs because we were all you know, I mean, there was a reason why we got recycled. You know, they don't don't just recycle you just for just for the hell of it. Like, whether you want to accept it or not, like you're getting recycled for reason. You know what I mean? And yeah, I mean, there are, you know, certain cases where you could go back and forth about it, but yeah, you got Michael dude, like, or girl like whatever. Yeah, I mean, like, it doesn't just keep going. And so I got, I only got one look, as the platoon sergeant in mountains my second go around. And so a lot of that time that I wasn't being graded, I was passing off that knowledge that that doctor had told me about Yeah, cuz, guys, we're brand new, you know, they just got through Darby. A lot of them were in the position that I was where it was like, Hey, we don't know platoon stuff. Yeah, I mean, like, we don't know platoon tactics, like and I was to step up and take like, that was my that was my take charge. You know, that was to become the leader because I had the knowledge. Yeah, I had to get recycled in and sometimes people be like, Oh, you got recycled, man like you don't you don't know what you're doing. The people that weren't like that. Listen to what we were saying. And

Unknown Speaker  35:03  
we're better for it. I bet. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  35:06  
no problem. And that carried on into into Florida face. And I got one look in Florida faces a platoon turn as well. And then I got my go. And I could really just focus on helping other people get there go. Yeah, yeah. If anybody's ever been to brain school listeners, you guys all know that, you know, it is completely up to you in every dude around there to get a dough. It's not just one individual, I can do everything that means I'm going to get a go like, it's, it's not like, at all but it is a straight team school. You know what I mean? You, you really learn how to incorporate your weakest dude all the way to your your strongest dude, it was just smooth sailing after that guy. After that he seven took the time to really teach us how to do this stuff. And that really just opened up my eyes to Hey, if I can do that for other people, then I know that I can change some people's lives. And they may not ever remember my name, but they will remember that conversation or that lesson that I taught him. And so that that was a very big factor of the person that I am today. Wow.

Unknown Speaker  36:15  
Yeah. Isn't that amazing how one person can have such an impact on your future and how you grow as a leader? It sounds like you're experienced both positive leadership at Ranger School. And then you have that one. NCO that was trying to pick a fight with you who you learn from as well. Right that you you didn't want to be like him. Yeah, it was a good time. Awesome. So you graduated Ranger School. You're what? Like 19 years old? I was 20 2020 at the time. Okay.

Unknown Speaker  36:44  
I turned 20 while I was in Ranger School.

Unknown Speaker  36:47  
Okay, awesome. Yeah. So what what happened in your career following that?

Unknown Speaker  36:51  
So I went back, graduated, I went back to the 82nd. And I got rid of the machine gun. There was a new kid there. 18 years old. I was like, Yeah, dude, this is yours now.

Unknown Speaker  37:06  
Enjoy.

Unknown Speaker  37:07  
But I became a Michigan team leader. Okay. I got promoted to I got a waiver to pick up specialists before, within 18 months. And then or Yeah, I think it was 18 months, 1218 months. I can't remember what the what the thing was. But um, so I got promoted to a specialist. 20 years old. And I was a team leader. And then I stayed there for a couple months. And then my platoon sergeant got a job as a platoon sergeant with the scout scout guys, the Recon guys. So he went over there. And then he asked me to come over there, like shortly after that. And so but it wasn't, hey, you know, I know you you can come over here. Now I had to go through a selection. And I had to go through pretty much pre Ranger again, too, because that's what that's what we that's what they base there. Whether or not you had a ranger tab. And whether or not you could you could go to Ranger School was there kind of criteria to you being able to go to a recon, and so I had to go through pretty much like a week, a condensed version of pre Ranger, just to go to recon so Oh, wow. It didn't stop after I got. Yeah, it was like, Hey, dude, good job. Now I'm gonna crush you. So I got to the Recon unit and was just a team leader in there. We were doing all sorts of different stuff that you don't get to do in in a regular unit. So I stayed there for a little while. met some freaking awesome dudes. And and then I was like, You know what? It's time to really like step up, you know, it's time to do something different. But I couldn't because my gt score. So because of that score. What do

Unknown Speaker  38:54  
you think was it that made you want to like really push further or decided it was time to step up though,

Unknown Speaker  39:00  
within the time that I was in the 82nd, I went to a exercise called Jade Helm. And it's pretty much unconventional warfare exercise in the United States where SF guys and Special Forces guys Green Berets get to try to put together a scenario that would be realistic in, in their, in their environment that the places they would go to. I had no idea about SF at this point. Like I knew Green Berets. I needed Special Forces, but I was I was just like everybody else where I just thought that it was, you know, kicking in doors and they got to do just a bunch of high speed stuff where they're just mobbing everywhere. And so we linked up. I was a guerrilla force or de force partner for us for this SF team and spent about a month with him in the woods. It was absolutely amazing. Like, that is what SF is supposed to be like. It was a it was a senior dive team and take Were just insane. Like, not only did they just knowledge was, like, infinite you didn't they it's not, I couldn't ask them something that they didn't know, you know, and it didn't even be about shooting or, or army stuff like it was real life lessons that they were teaching us. And after the month, me and my buddy Andrew, we were like, Dude, that is what we need to be a part of like, I'm not saying that the conventional force or anything bad at all, but you will find yourself in a repetitive cycle, you get new guys all the time, you get, you know, new NGOs all the time, and those people leave, and then you get new guys. So you have to teach kind of teach the same thing over and over and over and over and over, which is good. You know, I'm not saying that's bad at all. But for me, and the way that I am, I needed to get away from that. And these guys showed showed me that there was a complete different part of the army. And that was being a greenbrae BNSF. So we finished that, that exercise with with the dive team. And we got back to the 82nd. And about a week later, my walk down to the walk down to the recruiters. And I was like, Hey, you know, I just spent a month in the woods with these frickin dive dudes. And I was like, like, this is what I wanted to do you know what I mean? Like, I want to be around those type of guys, I want to do that. And I was probably 21 at this point. And yeah, two weeks later, we can go on selection, you know? Yeah. Yeah, it was like, because I was like, hey, when is your When is your next class? And they're like, you want to go to the next question. They're like, yeah, like, what do I need to do to get to the next class, and it was this huge packet, you know, physical, all this stuff. But that is what I knew that if I didn't do this, right now, something could come up. We could go, we could get called, you know, to go do humanitarian aid, or if a war popped off, you know, we could go, we could be called. And then I'm having to put this on the back burner. So I was I took that chance. I was like, I will go in the next few weeks. Like I don't care what it is, let me know what I need to do. And I'll get the packet together. And thank God, my platoon sergeant was completely on board with it. He was like, Yes, like, I think you need to do this. Either. You need to do this, or you need to go to Ranger Regiment,

Unknown Speaker  42:24  
one of the two. He could see in you that you were made for that type of lifestyle. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  42:29  
yep. And so when I went back to him, and I was like, Hey, you know, this is my plan. This is what I want to do. He was he was completely for it. You know? That is huge. If you are a if you are in a leadership position, Team Leader, squad leader, platoon sergeant and your soldier wants to go above and beyond he wants to go a different route. He wants to career progress. You are a terrible leader. If you tried to persuade him not to do that. If you tried to tell him Oh, he's not. Don't ever pick you, bro, though, you know, you're not what they're looking for. You know what I mean? Nice to see all the time. Yeah, me too. And thank God I have that. You know, thank God, I was I was brought up the right way. You know, and, and I had good stos that taught me what it was like, but I hate hearing that the dude gets old that, you know, you're not what they're looking for, like, you won't be able to you won't be able to pass this like you're you're just not it. Like, oh, really, bro. That's why you're stuck where you are. And that's why you are who you are. Because you feed off of trying to pretty much degrade somebody that wants to do good things. You know what I mean? Like, it is no problem at all that somebody wants to career progress. And that's another reason why I started this whole thing. But

Unknown Speaker  43:49  
yeah, so what would you say if someone's trying to get their packet ready for selection? Do you have any tips or anything that you did? That worked really? Well? Obviously, it worked for you?

Unknown Speaker  44:00  
Yeah. So I've tried to put together like a, like a six week crap, you know, for for the fiscal portion. And so I pieced that together. So if anybody is looking for a prepper or wants to try something new, maybe they tried perhaps before for a selection or or Ranger School or whatever, I put together something and and you can check it out and let me know. You know,

Unknown Speaker  44:25  
Yeah, go ahead. Let people know where to find it. Yeah, they

Unknown Speaker  44:28  
can just go go on to right now. We don't have it, like published. So I can't put it on the side for people to buy. It's going through the public publishing part. But what I can do is like if if anybody gets a hat or shirt, pretty much that's doing two things, it's getting you the packet, the prep, and then it's giving us a chance to get our get our brand out there and get get a small business veteran owned, you know, business out there. So when you're wearing You know, one of our shirts that we made, you know it It represents, you know, the alpha country, which is, and you're not only representing that, but you're also following, you know, somebody program that is not just made up, but actually followed, you know, I did exactly those things, I had to go back and find these pieces of paper that I would write the workouts on and go to the gym. Well, wow, yeah. So I, there's a lot of ones that I would, you know, do and then just throw away because I'll be like, that fucking sucked, you know. And I was like, I do not want to do that again. And but I found I had to go through my stuff and, and piece everything together. It was it was crazy. I had just, like, nasty piece of paper everywhere, tried to read what the workout said, just, I could put it, put it back together and make something that people could have, you know, to, not only like, do themselves, but see that, hey, this, this, this is what worked for this guy, you know, I'm not saying going to work for everybody. Because there's, you already know, there's strong dudes, there's fax runners, you know, everybody has their their specialty, and pretty that program, it was my best way to try to incorporate all of those aspects being strong, and being fast. And I would reach out to guys that I knew could run fast. And I would ask them what they did to get to where they are. I would also ask guys who could bench and squat and deadlift the shit on there? What did you guys do? What was your you know, what program Did you follow? And I would pick from those programs pick from those people that were doing stuff, sometimes they would hand me a this was the workout that I did. And then then I would do it. And so I printed out paste all that stuff together and make a six week prep that way, if if I'm not personally there with you to talk about, like, all I need to do is just shoot you this email, or when we get it published, we'll put it up on the on the alpha countries. So setting your packet together, it's the hardest part, you know, because it's not really up to you. It is that at a certain point, but especially with like, everything that's going on, the medical stuff is pushed back, right. So you can't like when I when I was putting my package together, I could walk straight into there and be like, hey, I need this lab done, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Alright, well, you want to wait around and you know, wait around for two hours. We can't do that right now. You know, I mean, like, that's the systems are just so backed up and stuff like that. But But yeah, the hardest part is getting all those labs done the physical portion, getting all that stuff for your packet is the hardest part. And then, but for me, I not only had to put that packet together, but I had to retake my hazmat too. So I had to get that gt score of over 110. And so I got I got a 113 after retaking it. And so I had to do all that stuff within within these two weeks to really get my opportunity around, it may not have that opportunity again. And so like I didn't Sergeant that was that was willing to give me that time to go take care of that and get to that next level, because he's like, he knew, and he told me, he's like, if you can just get this and get there and get to selection, you'll be fine. And so he was like, I'll give you the time that you need, whatever you need to do to get your packet together, do your due train up, whatever you want to do, man, like I'm giving you that opportunity to do that. And if he would have done that, I would probably not be here. No, I would be probably doing something that helps I probably would have got out because my opportunity would have missed would have been missed. And then I would have been like a lot of guys and just been fed up with the, with the with the process and the games. And I would have just got out but thank God, he he allowed me to do that.

Unknown Speaker  49:01  
Yeah, full advantage of your opportunity right there.

Unknown Speaker  49:04  
I would say for, you know, trying to get your packet together really. There's only so much that you can control. You know, everybody has to fill out the same stuff, you know, everybody has to get a physical, everybody has to pass a PT test, everybody has to do all the same stuff to get there. And so you can't say that people haven't done it. You know, everybody can everybody's situation is different. But everybody is required to have the same exact stuff to get there. You know, you have to you have to do what everybody else is doing. Whether it's a prep, you have to prep you and you have to get a packet together you have to know what you're getting yourself into as well. Like and that's that's gonna be a big thing is like, if you are thinking about going to selection or you are thinking about going to Ranger School, don't just rely on the internet to tell you everything you know, don't just rely on Oh, what if I google you know what is Ranger School stuff like that, like you can't you need? That's why I say Already there's so there's so that you can reach out to me, guys just like me that are that are way that are just I've been doing this way longer and I'm way better at it than than I am. That's what we're here for. So don't feel weird about hitting somebody up, Nick. Hey, so and so I'm interested in becoming a Green Beret or going to Ranger School or whatever. But I will tell you this, get the basic stuff. First, you have to go through basic training, you have to go to airborne school, if you were only thinking about being a greenbrae, and thinking that you're going to be able to come off the street, and just get your greenbrae in a couple months. It's not even close to reality, and you are going to be you're going to be depressed, because that's not how it's going to work out, you know?

Unknown Speaker  50:50  
Yeah, absolutely. So what are the informal tell us about selection and how the Qualification Course went for you.

Unknown Speaker  51:00  
selection is a different animal. I wouldn't say that. The first week was the first

Unknown Speaker  51:07  
I guess, sorry, let's describe it for people that may not know exactly what we're talking about when we say selection.

Unknown Speaker  51:14  
So selection, in this case, is referring to SFAs Special Forces assessment selection. And that is the initial pretty much introduction to become a greenbrae. Everybody has to go through a selection. And it is it gives you the opportunity to show instructors and and show future team members, what you have those instructors and those cadre that are your selection cadre. And when you go on to the Special Forces Qualification Course, after you get selected, those are the guys that you're going to be working with when they get done with their instructor time. So that's who is watching you, from the minute you get into selection, you are already being assessed by the people that you're going to work with. So these aren't just Ranger instructors that are they know that are just doing this, and doing their time. And, and just being a ranger instructor, you know what I mean? That's all I care about. Because, and we may never see each other after Ranger School ever. But you are going to be assessed by the people that you're going to be working with. So if you make an asset of yourself, you're going to be remembered. And if you make it all the way through, and you show up to your your group, you don't you're probably not going to remember that person that that instructor that cadre, but he's gonna remember you, you know what I mean? So you're getting yourself straight into the community right away, and your reputation starts right there. Right, when you show up to selection, that reputation that you show as yourself is going to carry you throughout your whole career. People don't forget what happens during selection, and you will run into everywhere you go. If there's SF dudes there, you will run into somebody that, you know, it's the community is tiny. And nobody forgets anything. We remember everything throughout the whole cute the whole Qualification Course, selection, like, you know, it's silly, but we talk about selection stories all the time. You know, it's it's just normal. And if you have a bad reputation, if you start out with a bad reputation, like it's not going anywhere, you know what I mean? Like you you are, you're going to have that because the community is so small. But so you get in, you're being graded and being assessed by people that you're going to work with in the future. And it's about 21 to 28 days, I can't remember exactly don't quote me, but it's about three to four weeks. And what you're going to be doing is physical events. So you're running, you're rocking, you're swimming, you're land navigation, you're gonna be doing all those gates that I was talking about earlier. But you're gonna be you're gonna be doing all these physical activities throughout the entire process. And you're not going to be getting counseled as you would in Ranger School where it was like you get taught to like, Hey, you did this good. You did this bad. You don't get any of that. You are they are strictly there to watch you assess you and not give you any feedback. So you don't know whether you're doing good or whether you're doing bad. You just have to be yourself. You know, you have to be yourself and you have to do what you think is right. And that's kind of that's kind of how I looked

Unknown Speaker  54:44  
at it. Well, how would you say someone could leave a good reputation? Like I know you said your reputation is everything. So what would be some key things you said, Would to leave that good reputation or not put a bad taste in anybody's mouth.

Unknown Speaker  54:58  
Being a team player like it If you if you're all about getting, so if you if you don't selection, just like I'm here to get my greenbrae, I'm here to get a greenbrae. And I'm here to get this foot, this special forces tab, you know, and show off that I got a bunch of tags, and I'm a cool guy, your reputations, shit, it's gonna be garbage. And but if you go in there as a team player, and you already know you're going to get selected, right? You have that mindset, I will get selected because I'm going to do absolutely everything that I possibly can. And I know that when I'm doing a physical event, I'm going to give it 110% no matter what if you go in there with confidence that hey, I know that I'm gonna perform when when it's time for me to perform, then you know, you're gonna be right. But to get that good reputation is going to be what did you do for others to help them out? You know, what did you What did you do to help somebody that was down and it doesn't even have to be like, Oh, I carry to say, it could literally just be I see him kind of struggling. And I see he's kind of lost. Let me help him out. Like I already knew how to do land navigation. Pretty well, I had already proved to myself and a lot of people that, you know, I knew land navigation. Well, I met this guy in selection. That was he was a prior neurosurgeon. And he was lost. Like, especially like he was Llandaff and I could tell that he was lost. And I was like, Yo, dude, like, what's up? Like, you? You look lost? Like, you look like you're super confused. It's like, Yeah, dude, I am. And then we got we got to talking and I got to got to know the dude after, after I explained some land navigation found out that he was a neuro, a neurosurgeon or neuroscientist that from from Johns Hopkins. Wow. But I didn't know that before. You know, I mean, yeah, I just saw a dude. I just saw Dude, that was, that was like last and it didn't, I don't care who you are, you know what I mean? I've put that on. I put that on my posts and stuff like that on Instagram. And I really do mean that I don't give a shit who you are. I don't give up. I don't give a shit. what you look like, Yeah, I don't give a shit about your past is like, I don't care if you if you need help. I'm gonna, I'm gonna help you. You know, I mean, and that carried on after selection. I saw him a couple years later. And he was like the generals, neurosurgeon or something like that. You know what I mean? Well, like he had gotten, and I didn't know that that was gonna happen, you know? And it was like, Damn, yeah,

Unknown Speaker  57:32  
important connection action

Unknown Speaker  57:35  
would have been like, I'm just here for myself, you know, that dude's lost. He could stay at loss. You know what I mean? But no, it was like, I saw an opportunity to be a leader, even though it wasn't being graded. wasn't being out in the woods by yourself. Yeah, yeah, you don't, you don't need to be in a leadership position or anything to be a leader, you know, to help somebody out.

Unknown Speaker  57:58  
That's exactly right. So that, so teamwork, helping others, even when no one's watching, that's such an important lesson. And it sounds like you've done that throughout. You know, you're into everything that you've mentioned. So far, pre Ranger Ranger selection. You've always thrived when you're kind of over that hump, and we're able to help others, which I think is just such an important trademark of a good leader. And it seems like you think that way too.

Unknown Speaker  58:24  
And I, I grew up like that, like, you know, my, my parents would sometimes make fun of me, because it's like, I would my, my good friends and a lot of guys I hung out with, we're not doing the right thing, right. And I would almost like take them under my wing to kind of show them. I mean, we do bad stuff together. And don't get me wrong. But when it was time to like, talk about life, and like real life stuff, I would try to help them out. You know what I mean? And I needed help myself, but I just grew up like that, you know, I grew up just trying to help others. And I'm definitely not saying I'm not the perfect person whatsoever at all. I have done terrible shit, you know, but there's one thing that no matter what I do, I will always like help somebody out if they need to know whether it's anything, it does not matter. And that's how that's how I was raised. You know, you can make mistakes you can make. You can you can hurt a lot of people but you know, if you are willing to help somebody out no matter what, no matter what they look like, no matter who they are doesn't matter. Then you're going to your reputation that we were talking about is going to be awesome. You know, and people are going to remember you that they're going to remember you for stuff like that rather than Oh, he did that did 500 pounds, right?

Unknown Speaker  59:43  
Oh my goodness. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  59:44  
I mean, cuz you're you can find that anywhere. Yeah, you know, but you can't. It's so hard to find somebody that is that is like really popular or is very well known. It's hard to find somebody that sticks to being how they were before. You know what I mean? Yeah. And like for me, you know, I've gotten Ranger tab, I've gotten SF tab, you know, done a lot of stuff in, in the military. But everybody that I talked to that I grew up with, they don't notice a change. They say that they say that I've grown up and matured and stuff like that. But I'm able to keep those connections because I didn't change. You know, I stayed with that same mentality of you help others others will help you, you know, and that has gotten me a long, long ways. Yeah, absolutely.

Unknown Speaker  1:00:32  
I think helping people gets you so much further than just raw talent. Like you said, Nobody really remembers that, at least, personally, that, like you said, you remember the leaders that took the time to help you and pass on their knowledge. And even though you might have been nobody at the time, you know, Yeah, yep. See, he didn't know you from any other PFC. But that's so great. Do you see that in the SF community? Like that, helpfulness that you described? Yes.

Unknown Speaker  1:01:01  
Okay. I mean, I've been, I've been on one team. So all I know, is my team. Okay. But I can tell you that every single team member that I have is just like that. Wow. Yeah. So it's, I was I was put in, I was put on the right team, you know, for me, and every single one of one of the guys I work with, are just like that, all we care about is, you know, helping other people out, you know, and a lot of it, the only kind of opportunity a lot of guys get this because they're so busy outside of this is going to the range with like a support personnel or something like that, but they still get that opportunity to, you know, be different, and my whole team, and pretty much take a lot of the guys that I've met in SF are like that. And that could just be because I kind of gravitate towards guys that are like that. And so if I kind of noticed that you're not like that, then I don't even really get myself involved with you, you know, what I mean? I like to surround myself that show myself with people that are just like me, and that have that same are not like me, but you know, had that like minded, you know, mentality of a people look at us as like, we're, you know, cool guys and stuff like that. But we don't look at ourselves that way. You know, we look at ourselves as just normal dudes that took a took an opportunity that was there. And, you know, and here we are, you know what I mean? Like, we don't, we don't do, you can ask any SF dude, like, we don't do this shit for the money. Like, yeah, we get, we get paid a little bit more, we get special incentives and stuff like that. But we don't do it for the money, we do it for the experience that you get to have with your friends with the guys on your team. And all the places that you get to go with your team, you know, it's not just you individually, it's who you get to go experience all this stuff with. It's, it's awesome. You know, it's amazing, it's the amount of memories that I've had went and making with these guys. It's just, it's frickin awesome. I never thought when I was going to join SF that this is how it was gonna be. Because I didn't have I didn't have that person. I didn't have a social media or anything to reach out to guys that, you know, were in my one of my shoes back then to reach out to them and be like, Hey, you know, what am I getting myself into and stuff like that. And then that didn't just another, but another reason why I've opened this, open this door up for somebody that needs you know, a door to go through, you know.

Unknown Speaker  1:03:31  
That's amazing. Yeah. You're extending your leadership past your group and into the general community for people to come to you for help, which is super admirable. I definitely want to hit on Special Forces Qualification Course. Right? Could you briefly describe what that is for people that maybe may not know or may be interested in Special Forces, but want to know a little bit more about

Unknown Speaker  1:03:53  
it? Yeah. So So after, after selection, SFAs Special Forces assessment selection, you will get told whether or not you got selected or not selected. And if you get selected, you move on to the next step. Which is the SF QC Special Forces Qualification Course. I don't know exactly. You know, you hear rumors all the time that things change and stuff like that. But I will just explain to you what my experience is like, I don't know what it's like right now. But

Unknown Speaker  1:04:28  
what's that? What year where did you go through

Unknown Speaker  1:04:31  
2015? Okay, okay. So from what I knew before I got into it, it was a two year process and you find out what your new MLS is. So you can be a weapons guy. You can be a demolition guy, you can be a medic guy, medical personnel, and you can be communications guy and I forgot but you find that out when you get selected. So you'll get Hey, I got selected. This is what this is what your MS is going to be And so you kind of start getting in that mentality of like, hey, if I'm if I got an 18 Delta, which is special forces medical surgeon, if I got that MLS, I should probably lean forward and start learning some medical stuff, right? Yeah. So it's, for me, it was two years long. And phase one was introduction to unconventional warfare. And we got to go out with, we got to go out with the candidates that were at the last phase of Special Forces Qualification Course, which is called Robin sage. So we got to go out there and be their partner force while we ran, we ran missions. So you got that look to see what the very last phase was, when you just started it. Does that make sense? Yep, yep. So so you get to see what it's like. And so you, you go out there for like a week or two, and, and then you come back. And there's always a little break, like a one or two week break in between phases. Sometimes, sometimes not all the time. But after introduction to unconventional warfare, you kind of have that idea of what you W is what what you'll hear a lot on conventional warfare, you'll find out what u w is all about. And then you'll go to small unit tactics, which is nothing but a condensed version of Ranger School in my eyes. So having that Ranger tab, and having that Ranger experience is not only going to help you and set you up for success, but you're getting another opportunity to help somebody out with the knowledge that you have. So I knew small unit tactics like the back of my hand, because I had done pre Ranger. I didn't Ranger School. I had done practically a pre Ranger to get into the Recon unit. Right? Yeah. And and then that's, and then think about all the times that I was in data, second teaching, battle drills, teaching squad, platoon level tactics. So when I got to su T, it was just another opportunity for me to help somebody else out. You know, I knew I was confident that it didn't matter what, what scenario I got thrown into. If they were putting me in a leadership position. I knew what I was doing. Yeah. And so I could, it wasn't like I was cocky, like, Oh, I know what I'm doing. Like, oh, let's go. You know, it wasn't anything like that. It was just, I was I was a quiet guy, when it was time for me to focus on my performance. But then I opened up when it was time for me to help somebody else out, you know what I mean? So if I'm getting graded, I may not be the most talkative person because I'm, you know, I'm focused. You know, I mean, it's my time to focus on just me and my grade. And then when I'm not being graded, it's my time to focus on your grade. You know, what can I do to help you out? Yeah, and that's what I took that opportunity. And Sgt. It's fine a tactics as a, you're going to be fine. You're going to get through this face. Let's see how many people you can help get through this phase. You know, let's see how many dudes tell you? Yeah, dude. Like, if you weren't there, I would have been fun, you know, like I would have would have probably not got my go. That's let's try that. And so I took that as UT and I had so much fun with it. It was like six to eight weeks long. And it was just nothing but just chaos, but it was fun. And you do the same things and as you see that you do in Ranger School. So ambush raids, battle drills, patrolling stuff like that. So after a small unit tactics, you go to survival school what's called sere stands for a survive evade resistance game. You go sometimes you get like I said, sometimes you get a week, two weeks, but you can also go straight from small unit tactics, get Saturday, Sunday off and start sere survival school on Monday. Yeah, so all that way. All that weight that you lost in small unit tactics is gonna keep losing, because you're going to see or you're going to survival school. So it was you it's an experience, just

Unknown Speaker  1:09:08  
a lot of people have different ways that they deal with it. And you're going to, you're going to see that it's going to get exposed, you're going to get exposed to being very, very, very, very, very uncomfortable. And that is what that's what your life is going to be like in SF, you're going to be put in uncomfortable positions. You have to figure out how to adapt that and how to be comfortable in an uncomfortable position. And so that's what that's what sere in survival school is really going to teach you because, you know, let's be honest, you don't really remember a lot of this stuff. Because you're so tired. You're so hungry. You don't remember all the lessons that they teach you. But we know that you know everybody knows that. So after after you get done with sere survival school, you'll be To start with to my 18 Bravo, which is special forces weapons, Sergeant course. And it's about I think, three to three to four months, I believe. And that was amazing. I got to learn pretty much every us weapon system, every foreign weapon system, and I got to shoot every gun that I could possibly. I got to learn all about mortars, I had never never done anything with mortars. And mortars is just pretty much indirect fire capability, you get to learn all that. And then you do a field training exercise at the end to kind of incorporate so that field training exercise, it's going to be raids, ambushes, battle drills, so you can see this pattern. And we call we call those the basics, like your battle drills, your small unit tactics, those are the basics. And I can promise you that no matter how far you get in Special Forces, you will always, always be going back to those basics, you will always be going back to teaching small unit tactics, teaching the basic level stuff, no matter what, you will always be doing that. And you will always be training, because that's what makes SF so good is the way that they can train it just one reason why they can train and adapt to training people that can't understand, can't understand that language, well, how am I going to be able to explain to you, maybe I have to just use hand gestures or something like that, if I don't know what I'm even talking about. So if I haven't perfected the basics of small unit tactics or basics of battle drills, I'm going to be a lost puppy when I'm trying to teach somebody that, you know, doesn't know anything, right. So, so three to four months of weapons for me, and then a two week exercise of doing against mine and tactics. And then once I finished that, with two to had about a week or two and got prepared for the culmination exercise, which is Robin sage. And it is very, very similar to what I experienced when I was in the second when we went to that unconventional warfare, exercise got Jade Helm. So it was I kind of already kind of knew what we were going to get.

Unknown Speaker  1:12:31  
What we were going to be situation that we're going to be put in and how this was an unconventional way of thinking and you couldn't just go to straight off your first thought you had to really think about your act like what your accents were going to do not only to you but you know, to the culture and the environment around you, you know, if you if you just go you know, there's a there's a checkpoint or something and you just go, like, pretty much in this scenario, but just go kill everybody at that checkpoint, because it's the bad guy checkpoint. You know, what did you do for the environment around you, you know, what I mean? What did you put, you know, what are what is what are the Americans face is going to be known as Yeah, killers, right? So, you know, it's just stuff like that, that you have to really think about what are your What are your second and third world order effects of, of what you're doing? How are you going to affect not only you, but you know, the civilians or the other the team that's coming in after you, you know, if you make a bad reputation for your team, then it's, you know, that next team coming in that country is going to hate them and they didn't even do anything yet. So it's it's stuff like that, that you get exposed to, and that they teach you about being Robin sage. And then after Robin sage, you go to language, which is about six months, and other Portuguese. Okay, so you can learn so many different languages like that, you know, I struggled with Portuguese because, you know, I tried to, I tried to learn Spanish in high school and stuff like that, and, and I didn't take series, but then I was like, you know, when I got to language, it was a big eye opener of like, Alright, dude, you are not a you're not a sit in the classroom type of guy. And that was a big struggle for me. So I didn't, I didn't really feel like I struggled too much until like, throughout the whole Qualification Course because it was nothing but physical activities. And, and being able being out in the wild, pretty much in doing doing stuff with your friends. And when it came down to language, it was like, hey, you're gonna stay in this room for like six to eight hours a day. listening to somebody that is speaking a different language has a different port, a whole different outlook on life. You know, the whole entire time we were being graded by people that were going through what we were going through, you know, they've they've already done it. Well, then you get this No teacher that is not even in the middle of it has no idea, no idea what you're doing. And they're getting mad because you're not learning this language and taking it super serious. And it's like, we just got done a year and a half, two years of just being out in the woods being out, losing weight, you know, recovering and stuff like that like to come in here and sit in a in a, in a classroom for six to eight hours is super hard for I would say everybody, you know, because we're just so used to being out. And so yeah, you six, eight hours a day for about six months, and then you take your oral proficiency interview. So you get on the phone with straight up random person, and you have a conversation and they pretty much grade you whether you're good at that language or not. And and then once you get once you get a good enough grade or if you get a good grade on the first one, then you go to you graduate, you know, you get your you get you get your blu ray. And for me, we got to right after graduation, we got to go to a military freefall school. So Oh, wow. Yeah. So we like right out the gate, like, graduated, got done with language. And I think two weeks later, I was on my way to Yuma, Arizona, and then got down with freefall and got back from Arizona, back to Fort Bragg. And it started out processing and then then it was in I was in group, you know, yeah.

Unknown Speaker  1:16:38  
Wow. That's quite the journey. Yeah, through all your ups and downs, you really truly been through it in resin to each of the levels that you've aimed for. So what do you think are the characteristics that you embody, that have helped you endure and get past all these gates that so many people fail our selection and Ranger School, like you said, pre Ranger, you were one of four out of 107 that passed? So what do you think? Is it that you embody, that helps you kind of get through those blocks?

Unknown Speaker  1:17:10  
That's like, set? That's such a hard question for me, because I just don't, like I know that I know that I'm different. Right? I know, I have kind of a different outlook on on things, and a lot of people do. And that's for multiple reasons, you know, there could be a reason why that person doesn't have the same look, because maybe he had a bad experience and in some sort of way. But I would say the biggest thing that I truly, really tried to focus on this whole entire process was just adapting to what environment I was in, you know, because if I can't adapt, then, you know, I'm just gonna be flapping in the wind, you know, like, if I if I can't adapt to the situation, or if I, if I'm so used to talking to, you know, 2530 year olds, and then I get in a situation where I'm talking to a 50 year old dude that's just disgruntled with life and everything. You know, I need to be able to adapt and still get my objective, you know, accomplish. So what do I What am I? What do I need out of this conversation? What am I trying to get? Well, if I don't adapt to, you know, how I word things, or how I talk to him, or, you know, different kinds of eye contact, or, you know, something, yeah, I can't accomplish my mission, right. And if I don't adapt to my buddy, struggling, he's cramping up, if I can adapt to, Hey, I'll take 20 pounds off your ruck, I'll take this ammo, and I can adapt to that physically, because I didn't prepare for for that, then I'm going to fail, and other people are going to fail. So it was it's really just adapting to getting in really good shape, and then going to a phase and having to start over, you know, like, you really have to start over when you get back as you just went through small unit tactics and sear, you lost 3040 pounds, and you can't curl more than, you know, 10 pounds, you know what I mean? Like that is hard, you know, that is really hard for people to to maintain that. That motivation, and, and drive. Because you're starting over every time you get back from a phase from, you know, deployment, you know, not all the time there's going to be a gym, and you may be so busy that you can't go to the gym or you can only eat one time a day. You're constantly having to adapt to a different environment. And that's what I loved about SF is because you never feel complacent, you know, you never feel throughout the whole queue course, the whole Qualification Course and throughout selection, like you don't feel like you're doing the same thing over and over and over and over and over. You know, I

Unknown Speaker  1:19:48  
mean, it's always different. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  1:19:51  
So I would say I would say being adaptable is being adaptable. And being coachable is the big The biggest thing and you Cuz it's like, if you come in, like, let's just say that you're, you've been to gun, shooting competitor or three gun competitor, or you shoot all the time in your off time, and you get selected as an 18, bravo Special Forces weapons Sergeant Same as me, if you get selected, and you go to, and if you go to the MLS portion and you walk in there, and you're like, I've been shooting guns for my whole life, you know, I know this, you are going to fail, because you are not willing to adapt and be coached in a different way. You know, you're like, whatever, dude, like I can, I can hit every target, or I can shoot 10 out of 10 or 40 out of 40 on, you know, the army marksmanship test or whatever, then you go in there with that mentality, that you're just the shit and you just think that you're, you already know what's going on, you're gonna fail. Like, there's one that is 100%, we will find a way to get you out. If all you do is think that, hey, you think that you're a greenbrae because you got selected. And you start showing an acid yourself and you know, in just doing just crazy stuff and thinking that you're that you're just the man now or the woman or whatever, cuz you gotta grind, right? Like you're gonna fail. So yeah, I would, I would say, adapting to any, any situation, being able to have that, that feature and that characteristic is going to be huge. It's a big thing that that we look for, and just being coachable. You know, if you show up to a team, or you show up to the cuecore selection, and you're ready to learn, and your, your mind is already open to accept, you know, new knowledge and stuff like that, then you're gonna succeed, because you open that open your mind up, let that knowledge flow in, and then process it at your own pace, and then apply it, you know, see, watch what people do with that, with that knowledge. Do they learn from their mistakes, learn from Oh, damn, they did that really good. You know what I mean. And if you're like that, and you pay attention, and you observe what other people are doing around you, to kind of persuade you and what your next step is going to be, you're going to be good. And you can only do that by being a team player, and opening yourself up and being coachable. You know, are you willing to take advice, if you're not, it's gonna be hard. It's gonna be really hard.

Unknown Speaker  1:22:31  
I love that. So being adaptable, coachable and overall a team player, three things you've really had on, through this whole interview consistently, it's, it sounds like those have been keys to your success throughout your career. That's so great. So, lastly, tell us about your business. And kind of what your mission is what you guys sell, and, and where people can find you. Yeah, so this is,

Unknown Speaker  1:22:59  
you know, I'm still an active duty greenbrae. And my wife is a professional photographer. So she does, you know, to this couple sessions, pretty much any boire whatever, I say wedding photos, all sorts of things. So both of us are kind of right now. focused on I'm focused on getting, you know, you know, surgeries and MRIs and stuff done, I'm focused on getting my medical stuff taken care of, you know, so that I can be the dad that I want to be when I get out, you know, so I can do the stuff that I want to do with my kids and my wife is is focused on, you know, her photography, business and stuff like that, but we wanted to have something together. And I had seen my wife tried to, you know, work with other companies that were kind of brand or selling clothes and stuff like that. And so I knew that that was an interest of hers. And you know, I would I would kind of see, you know, my buddies talking about how they would start you know, just on the side making like wood flags or burning wood flags or stippling a pistol or something like that. And I have always been interested in like, starting my own like clothing brand, you know, and so, where we came up with a name is my last deployment. One of our partner forts members just loved America, like he had. We were his like 20 something SF team sports team that he had worked with, he had worked with like five seal teams and stuff like that. And this dude wanted nothing to do but to be in America, you know, in all the stuff that he would tell me about, you know, that he knows goes down in America and and just like mentality that the United States has he, like no shit called it and I don't even know if he knew what alpha meant. But he's like, he said that you guys are all you guys are all alphas, you know, this dude even know what that means. He one day he was like, you, you helped me to get to the country of alphas or something like that. And that's something I didn't hit me like, while I was there, but then when I got back, you know, I was talking, talking about life about you know, starting all this and she was the one she had remembered that story that I told her and, and she was like, What about, you know, the alpha country and I woke up the next morning and she it made all these designs and stuff like that and, and we wanted to incorporate we wanted to incorporate, you know, the SF Special Forces community or special operations community. And so, you know, we, we came up with this with this idea we got, we got going with the, with the whole legal standpoint, trademarking it and all that. And then we were ready to, you know, make get our products made. And we wanted to keep everything within the Special Operations community, not just Green Berets, but you know, seals ccts pair rescue man, marine Raiders, anything, you know, we wanted to connect with soft personnel, special operation forces personnel, that either were active duty or got out and started a small business making, you know, t shirts, making hats, making patches making whatever. So I reached out to other soft, you know, veteran or active duty owned businesses and, and had some had these hats, these hats made, had beanies made. You know, and I was really selective on on what, I'm a very big guy, like, quality over quantity, so I wasn't gonna just find the first place and be like, Oh, yeah, you guys can make me had to guess to make me shirts, like, Oh, yeah, that's, that's what I want. And then, and then other people worry about, well, you know, I want to get these shirts for $10 and sell them for $20. So I make $10 a piece? Well, I told them, I told my wife that I was like, dude, I don't even care about making money. You know, I just think that it would be awesome to have a brand that,

Unknown Speaker  1:27:23  
you know, people can support you. And you can support them as well, you know, because that's how, if you're wearing, if you're wearing anything, a hat shirt, a beanie, I promise you that we have had a conversation, you know, every person that has bought something from from the side or anything, we have had a legit conversation about life, about selection about, you know, marriage, being a dad, being all this stuff. And with everything going on, we just thought you know, the name, the alpha country can maybe, you know, change somebody's you know, Outlook when they wake up everyday, like, Hey, don't forget that we live in, in this country that people think is a dream. You know what I mean? Like this, my, my partner for this guy, he literally like, he thinks America is just the freakin best thing in the world. You know what I mean? And we forget that, you know, because we, because we live here, and we experience it. And then when stuff starts to go wrong, we forget how awesome is places, you know, and how much opportunity like they don't even know what the bar is. They don't even they don't they don't know what a public swimming pool is. They don't they don't know what feels like going to a park and playing with your kids on a playground feels like they don't they don't know what any of that. They don't even they don't even know that it exists. You know, I mean? So, you know, it's very easy to fall in this. Like, I don't even know what the word but like, almost like feeling entitled to living in America, you know what I mean? And, you know, we we open this thing up and named it the way that it is because we want people when they read, you know, the out of the country, it should make you think like, you know, what, what have we done to be, you know, the best country there is, you know, what I mean? It's not only just a military, but just like, the, the American life, you know, the American way and how people are, it's what makes this country so good. And, you know, if we can, if we can start a brand that, you know, maybe makes you think, you know, makes you realize that and just by just by often name or just by somebody wearing a hat or shirt, you know, that can change somebody's stay around, you know what I mean? And it really can make you realize that we do live in the best country and it's It's not just me thinking that it's other other countries that are like, Damn, you know, America is the alpha country, you know, they they really are. And that nobody, nobody looks at them, you know?

Unknown Speaker  1:30:14  
That's true. So,

Unknown Speaker  1:30:15  
I completely agree, I think we forget this. Like how great it is here and how many privileges and advantages we have here that so many other countries don't have even even other like developed countries. It's, it's not, you don't have the same opportunities as you do in America. And it is easy to forget. So I love that, like you said that your hats are, you know, the beanie. Whatever it is that you can snag from your site could be a great reminder to, to live up to that, you know, live up to the country you come from, that's what I will think of it as when I snag something is. Yeah, I've got a I got a lot of people to live up to. Yeah, back. Yeah. So I appreciate that. Alright, so what is your site? Where Where can people go snag something?

Unknown Speaker  1:31:03  
So you can www dot the alpha country.com. Or you can go on to pretty much if you just search Instagram, the African country that my my profile pop up and then in the description or whatever, I don't even I don't even know what it's called. Whatever is below my little profile picture.

Unknown Speaker  1:31:22  
Yeah, your way out? Yeah, my

Unknown Speaker  1:31:23  
bio, yeah. There's a link there. And it's under the goods on the site. And in my eyes, the way that I look at it, I have never followed every program that I've followed, I've had to pay for it. You know, nobody's just given it to me. And everything that you do, everything that you do in the military, all that stuff. Somebody had to pay for it at some point, right? And so, you know, the way that the way that I look at you buying the program is you investing if you don't follow this program, you know, that's how I looked at it. When I was when I was buying these programs. I was like, dude, I spent 100 bucks. Like, if I don't follow this, then a, I'm not going to prepare, and I'm not going to be ready to go when the time comes. And I'm going to lose out on $100. Yep. So it's like I'm giving you I took the time, hours on hours revising and making sure that this thing looks right. And sounds good. You know what I mean? I took a took a lot of time doing that. So I can't just give it away for free. You know, I mean, but what I can offer is, you can hit me up and you can give me my phone number I'll give you whatever you need, so that you can contact me throughout the prep throughout your time in SF throughout selection throughout the coupons like whatever. I do not care whatsoever at all. When you invest in me, I promise you, I'll invest in you, times 100 I mean, that's just that's just how I am now,

Unknown Speaker  1:32:54  
what a great example of leadership and you're just providing so much value to everyone like you said, You've put so much time and thought into this program. And then for you to you know, also offer your leadership. That's just such a great example of leadership and and especially in the SF community, how you guys take care of each other. So you're definitely doing your part to better that community. And I think that that's so great and admirable.

Unknown Speaker  1:33:22  
Thank you very much.

Unknown Speaker  1:33:23  
Yeah. All right. So the alpha can country calm and the alpha alpha country on Instagram. Is that right? Yep. All right, everybody, go snag some gear and look for that program come the New Year. Thanks.