Rebel Vets Podcast

0:00:00
(Speaker 2)
Hello and welcome to the Rebel Vets podcast. This is a podcast that will be centered around the experience of going to college after military service. I'm your host, Derek, a former ammo troop in the US Air Force, and I served for 20 years. Let's start the show. My guest today on the Rebel Vets podcast is Tyler Speck.

0:00:22
(Speaker 2)
He is my oldest friend. We met each other in the late nineties at Church Youth Group. We hit it off and we've had a lot of adventures together. He's a Marine Corps veteran and a veteran of the war in Iraq.

0:00:35
(Speaker 2)
When he left the service, he got his fire science degree and joined the fire department in Greeley, Colorado. I also have to tell you, Tyler, that you and my dad were both big inspirations when it came to joining the military, when I actually started considering the service for real.

0:00:51
(Speaker 2)
And I always thought about you. So just tell us a little bit about yourself, tell us a little bit about yourself, where you're from, and why you decided to join the Marine Corps.

0:01:03
(Speaker 1)
Well, I appreciate you talking to me. I was born in the 80s in the time of American fervor, when everybody was pumped to be an American. So that's kind of how I grew up. I have a long family tradition going all the way back to the American Revolution of being,

0:01:22
(Speaker 1)
of my family being in the military. So that's kind of how that goes. And then I always sort of dreamed of running around, blowing stuff up as a kid. And then, yeah, man, as it turned out, so I was in the fraternity and I was still sleeping

0:01:41
(Speaker 1)
and my door got banged on a bunch of times. And they drug me downstairs and we're all watching the TV, everybody in the fraternity that was there. And then I saw the second plane hit the tower on 9-11. And then obviously all the classes got canceled and it was just nuts.

0:02:02
(Speaker 1)
So I was a year, oh yeah, let's see, I would have been a year into school at that point, into college. So I finished up that semester, so I did a year and a half at the University of New Mexico and was not doing well academically.

0:02:17
(Speaker 2)
Yeah, it's funny that you and I both went that path after high school where we attempted

0:02:24
(Speaker 1)
college and weren't doing so hot. No I had no idea what I was doing I didn't know why I was doing it I had no direction I was really good at Mortal Kombat. Oh and also how

0:02:37
(Speaker 2)
formative and insane the 9-11 attack was to us at that point in our lives? Yeah, yeah absolutely.

0:02:45
(Speaker 1)
So just, dude I don't, yeah, so anytime that, I mean innocent people are killed in any situation at all, it's just not a good thing. So man, so that's, that did not go well with me. So anyway, I moved back home to Iowa for a little bit to be with my brother and my family

0:03:04
(Speaker 5)
for a little bit to be with my brother and my family for a little

0:03:05
(Speaker 1)
bit and then I joined up in February on the delayed entry program because they were full with taking people to boot camp. So I got delayed entry until August, which is when I actually went to boot camp, August of 2002.

0:03:17
(Speaker 2)
So, yeah, as soon as you could get in, you kind of got in and then you went to Camp Pendleton,

0:03:22
(Speaker 3)
correct?

0:03:23
(Speaker 1)
Yep. Yeah, I went to Pendleton We were the first group to get the digi camis Which was a little bit of a letdown But it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because I didn't have to buy new uniforms and have it cost me a ton

0:03:34
(Speaker 2)
Of money. Oh, yeah

0:03:36
(Speaker 1)
So yeah, man, and I knew when I was joining up I had a very very I got a 97 on theFAB and I got a 135 on my GT score. So they were begging me to do anything but the infantry.

0:03:50
(Speaker 2)
Oh, no kidding. I was going to ask you, well, what jobs did they offer you? Uh, in the Marine Corps, they offered you

0:03:55
(Speaker 9)
everything.

0:03:55
(Speaker 1)
They really wanted, yeah. And almost, they wanted me for engineering. They wanted me for military intelligence. They wanted me to do all these things. And I was like, dude, I want to go shoot some stupid asshole right in the face.

0:04:11
(Speaker 2)
So we probably watched too much Starship Troopers. Mobile infantry was for you. It was the job that you wanted.

0:04:18
(Speaker 1)
Yeah, yeah, 100%. Yeah, they didn't. I mean, I asked for it. That's exactly what I wanted.

0:04:24
(Speaker 2)
Oh, and they let you join so and then your job in the infantry. What was the training like and and what did you do? specifically yeah, so

0:04:33
(Speaker 1)
Marine Corps boot camp is pretty a lot funnier than what people think it is as long as you have the right mindset It's actually it was 13 weeks of the greatest comedy experience of my life And then I got out for a few days to go on leave and then went and saw Amber at that time, my then fiance, and then, yeah, weeks of School of Infantry,

0:04:57
(Speaker 1)
where they teach you how to be an infantry grunt, run around, dig some holes, clean some stuff, run around some more, clean some more stuff and dig some more holes. Not not not a ton of training, honestly. And then I got to my unit and what actually I married Amber in late January sometime.

0:05:15
(Speaker 1)
I can't remember the date. I never can. And then we were together for one day after.

0:05:21
(Speaker 10)
What's that? Don't tell your wife.

0:05:23
(Speaker 1)
She knows. I've had so many head injuries. Dude, and yeah, so our wedding date is really, really close to the date that my mom died, which is also really, really close to my brother's birthday.

0:05:35
(Speaker 2)
And with my, like, yeah, it all muddles together, dude. So you got to your unit and then I mean, how soon after that did you know that you guys were gonna go?

0:05:47
(Speaker 1)
They already knew Wow, they were already packed. So I got to my unit and everyone's stuff was already packed up So then for the next two days, I was on base for two days and they literally had us doing sprints to go to sift to grab our gear to go to

0:06:09
(Speaker 5)
To go get our gas mask sizing to go get like everything

0:06:13
(Speaker 1)
And I had I mean dude, I had nothing like I didn't have

0:06:20
(Speaker 9)
Anything like socks like all the all I had was the stuff from boot camp. Oh my goodness

0:06:25
(Speaker 4)
Yeah, dude, it was a total like here here's all of your kit, everything that you're going to need.

0:06:33
(Speaker 8)
And like instantly start calling my family over the course of two days, like, Hey, my units is going to deploy to Kuwait here. And like a day.

0:06:48
(Speaker 1)
So I was basically like saying my goodbyes and like trying to have people check in on Amber and telling my brothers that, you know, I love them and there was, you know, maybe a chance that I wasn't going to come home, which it is what it is, man. Um, so yeah, man, and then deployed to Kuwait and we were stuck in Kuwait for, I can't remember how long, I don't remember when the invasion was. I think it was in the second week of March, I think it was, was the actual, when we left, uh, to go into Iraq.

0:07:06
(Speaker 2)
So yeah, man. And so, what was that like? I know a few of your war stories. I know the funny one where you got attacked by a bat in the city of Babylon. They staged you guys there in the ancient city of Babylon.

0:07:19
(Speaker 1)
I have a lot of funny stories, man. Like, I've got a lot of funny stories. Yeah, the bat bat ones pretty funny. I thought someone was messing with me in my cot and it turned out to be a bat

0:07:26
(Speaker 2)
that was on my pillow. Yeah that was funny. I also know that I'll let you fill in the blanks here. Your unit specifically was one of the ones that went inside and cleared one

0:07:39
(Speaker 1)
of Saddam's palaces. You want to tell us that story? Sure. Yes, I was first battalion seventh marine suicide Charlie company and We were very very liked by general Mattis that was kind of like we were kind of like his His we were kind of like his voice for whatever reason So we're the only unit in the Marine Corps that has two guide-ons we have the normal guide-on which is just the one seven Charlie company and then Suicide Charlie is the only unit in the Marine Corps that has the skull and the crossbones and we're allowed to carry that guide On that goes all the way back from Guadalcanal

0:08:14
(Speaker 1)
That I got to is a lot more Well, there was it. It was a desert unit specifically. So all the units that are out 29 palms or desert units specifically and So, yeah, man, so we crossed the border we sat at the border for like a day or two General Mattis was gonna make a big point of like you racing Safwan Hill Which was the Iraqi LPOP that looked over the top of the border So for two days, we just heard artillery and missiles and planes and

0:08:48
(Speaker 1)
helos and everything under the sun just like taking the top 100 meters off of Saffron Hill, which was completely crazy. So like, and we were on 50% watch. So every other hour you're awake for, we did that, dude. We did that for I want to say like a week We did 50% so you would be up an hour sleep an hour up and that's only oh my goodness

0:09:11
(Speaker 2)
Okay, so I say like it's not even like a 12-hour shift where you get 12 hours on

0:09:18
(Speaker 1)
No, so yeah, you're up every other hour at night and then during the day you're trying to dig, you're trying to do like anything. Really digging was what was the thing we were trying to do the most because they were like the dirt that we were on was not like, I don't know how to explain it, man. It's just like really hard. It's like crappy sand concrete stuff. And so you try to dig and like dude legit You're seeing sparks come off your e-tool

0:09:50
(Speaker 1)
Yeah So while we're there at the at the border the Iraqis actually shot two scuds at us so One of them turns out that one of them our Patriots intercepted and the other one just missed gloriously. So that's nice, because the Patriots didn't get it. Uh, and, uh, the, which, I can't remember which one of them that it was, but we're all trying to dig. We're like an inch into the soil. We've been digging for like 20 hours straight and we're still like only an inch into the soil. And I had to take a dump. So I was sitting on top of an ammo can trying to take a dump.

0:10:27
(Speaker 1)
And, uh, everyone's screaming at me cause they call us that the, you know, thunder, I can't remember what it was. They're like thunder. And so everybody's trying to like get to their measly holes, which wasn't a hole. It was just an inch of dust. And they're screaming at me while I'm pooping on top of this ammo crate. I was like, nope. We're all in full mop gear.

0:10:48
(Speaker 1)
Everyone was in full mop gear.

0:10:49
(Speaker 2)
Yeah, I remember that from the news that the Marines were put in full mop because everyone was afraid of Saddam using chemical weapons. Oh yeah.

0:10:56
(Speaker 7)
We were in full mop gear for six weeks.

0:10:57
(Speaker 3)
Six weeks?

0:10:58
(Speaker 1)
Full mop gear for six weeks.

0:10:59
(Speaker 2)
That's horrible. Let me enlighten my audience real quick. So, mop gear is chemical protective equipment. So basically, it's an overgarment that you put over your uniform and it's hot and it's miserable. But basically it protects you from chemical attacks so that if the enemy does decide to chemically attack you,

0:11:18
(Speaker 2)
you have a layer of protection to protect you from chemical warfare. But it is the most miserable experience that you can possibly imagine. So I can't even fathom what you guys were going through invading Iraq in mop gear.

0:11:32
(Speaker 6)
Yeah.

0:11:33
(Speaker 1)
So I've been mop gear. The whole thing is hilarious. So like I'm in mop gear. All of our mop gear is green. It's all woodland cammies. And that's all we had.

0:11:42
(Speaker 1)
The old school. So we're in the middle of the desert. We're in woodland cammies. My flak jacket was a small flak jacket with a medium plate in the front, a large plate in the back, nothing fit. The snaps didn't snap.

0:11:56
(Speaker 1)
So when I would run to try and assault things or do my job, the flak jacket would come open I had to hold it close with one hand hold my my m16a2 with my 203 grenade launcher with my right arm while I was holding my vest shut to not get shot in the chest all in whiplint camis and then uh dude and then the mop gear that we had for the feet only the cool people like the high ranking people had like the right kind of mop gear the rest of us had like the flap over kind that were like the lace up.

0:12:25
(Speaker 1)
And so you would run and the flaps would like come undone and then you just eat it, dude.

0:12:30
(Speaker 5)
Like, so.

0:12:31
(Speaker 2)
Oh my goodness.

0:12:32
(Speaker 1)
Oh yeah. So anyway, yeah. So I'm pooping on this crate. We're all in full mop gear. And I was like, dude, if I get blown moving, man. Like I am going to finish this. Yep. Yep. But this is how I, anyway, I did not obviously perish that day and yeah. So yeah. And then, uh, as we

0:12:52
(Speaker 1)
assaulted through, like you hear all the crazy stories, right? So like we're inside of our AAVs, which are meant to hold 12 people, but the Marine Corps being the Marine Corps, we had way more than that. Uh, They're designed for beach landings. So we didn't know how this was going to work. The AAVs did not do great in the sand. They up-armored them, so they put in this like slant kind of armor stuff that was trying

0:13:17
(Speaker 1)
to help against some sort of like if they would have shelled us or if they were to shot an RPG at us, but it would have been worthless versus any of that. It did stop small arms fire because, uh, we, I mean, you can hear the small arms fire when it's hitting right behind your head. So that was nice. So pray for that. And then we did the largest inland movement of any Marine Corps unit in history was during that was during the push of Iraq. We made the longest inland incursion in Marine Corps history. Right. Because it was hundreds of miles from the Kuwaiti border. You guys.

0:13:49
(Speaker 1)
Yep. So yeah, we went all the way from Kuwait all the way up into Baghdad. And then the so the Marine Corps split the city in half with the army. The army took down their stuff. Saddam Hussein's palaces and all that kind of stuff. Their rangers took down their stuff, Saddam Hussein's palaces and all that kind of stuff. Their rangers took down all the airport side of the city. And then the Marine Corps, my unit, took down everything with his palaces

0:14:12
(Speaker 1)
that was on the Tigris. And so we sort of split the city in half. So then, yeah, we crashed through the gate of his compound that was by the Tigris and then took down all of his seven palaces that were there and then We I mean just running running running. We're obviously looking for him

0:14:30
(Speaker 1)
one of his palaces or like a garage unit or something like that had already been hit by a What do you call it a? Yeah, like a tomahawk had been hit by a tomahawk cruise missile. Yep. Yep So then we started looking, we started going around. So that part of the city that we were in was all like his like super little bath party guys.

0:14:51
(Speaker 1)
So it was all like his generals. It was Tariq Aziz, the prime minister. And so we're just running around the city, grabbing random Iraqis and screaming at them in English, which I'm sure was really funny for them because and then oddly enough there was a surprising amount of Iraqis or Baghdadians or whatever the heck you want to call them that spoke English like a surprising amount

0:15:14
(Speaker 1)
So you were screaming at these people were Tariq Aziz was because he was the number two on our list So we sprinted down the city got to Tariq Aziz's house. His refrigerator was still cold We adjustments TV was on, like we literally just missed him.

0:15:27
(Speaker 4)
Holy moly.

0:15:28
(Speaker 1)
Yeah, so we raided his place, I got Tariq Aziz's socks, I wasn't cool enough to get any of his awesome stuff, but I did get his socks because my feet were killing me. So I went right for his sock drawer.

0:15:39
(Speaker 2)
Hey man, isn't that you guys' motto adapt overcome and improvise you need some sauce

0:15:52
(Speaker 1)
Yeah, my feet all dude all of our feet were rotting off of our our socks were rotting off of our feet dude it was disgusting how bad we were and So yeah, I rated three diseases socks and we went from three diseases house to his generals place We're running all over his generals palaces looking for all of them yeah, man, we were on a Kill capture list that was very very long. So that's what we did For the first week or so that we were in Baghdad and then we moved on to doing 16-hour

0:16:19
(Speaker 1)
VCP checkpoints and patrols and all kinds of stuff like that clearing out the city of Anti-air because the Saddam and all those guys had put anti-air on top of hospitals and the schools and every place where you shouldn't have a military Thing that's where they had it. So we were clearing out all that and clearing out weapons caches and Yeah, just all that kind of stuff

0:16:42
(Speaker 2)
Wow, man, that is pretty incredible. So you did two deployments to Iraq, and I thank God you came back from both of them. So your time in the Marine Corps came to an end. What made you decide you wanted to pursue your fire science degree, or kind of what made you want to become a firefighter?

0:17:03
(Speaker 1)
Sure. So, as you're getting out of the Marine Corps, they don't really do so much as far as like, like a good separation. It's like they don't, there's not like a really good way to do that, like through the Marine Corps.

0:17:16
(Speaker 1)
At least they didn't have that at the time. So it was kind of like, good job, you've done your thing, now see you later, like get out of here. So they don't really prepare you to be a civilian. Luckily I had just equated to what the last four years of my life was service and I wanted to keep serving but I did not want to serve in the Marine Corps anymore because I wanted to be married and have a bunch of kids. So I got out figured out the best way for me to serve was to do the exact opposite of what I did in the Marine Corps.

0:17:47
(Speaker 1)
So instead of blowing up houses and killing people, I wanted to save houses and save people. So that's what I did. So yeah, that was pretty much a pretty easy decision for me to do into the fire service because I knew they were very, not militaristic, but just, they have a very organized rank structure.

0:18:06
(Speaker 1)
Well, in mission oriented, man, mission oriented. So you have a task. Your job is to do that task right then, right now, as fast and as safe and as efficient as possible. And I do very, very well in that kind of environment. And every day is different. You never know what you're going to get. Even going to the same house for the same person for the same problem the same day,

0:18:30
(Speaker 1)
a lot of cases, you could have something different right then. So there's just, everything is just constantly changing and I do well with that too. So yeah man, I got out in 06, went right into the fire academy with Ames Community College, which the fire academy goes towards your two years degree. So then for the next two years, I was working full-time at Ace Hardware.

0:18:56
(Speaker 1)
I had my little girl who ended up being premature in July of 07. I was working full-time. So yeah, I was for two years, I worked full-time, volunteered full-time with the Windsor Fire Department, went to school full-time, and had a premature,

0:19:13
(Speaker 1)
ailing little girlie. So that was the hardest. Oh, dude, it was...

0:19:18
(Speaker 2)
That is a busy college schedule to keep. So what was it like? Did you attend in-person classes and web-based classes? What was it like? Did you attend in-person classes and web-based classes? What was that like?

0:19:25
(Speaker 1)
Yeah, so I did classes Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I worked Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday. And then I would volunteer. So when I volunteered with Windsor, I volunteered, I always did nights because I was always, I was either working full time during the day or school full time during the day. So it's been, I volunteered for the fire department at night, so I didn't get any sleep that way. Plus I had my brand new little baby, so I didn't get any sleep that way.

0:19:55
(Speaker 2)
Oh my goodness, man. This is, you were literally burning the candle at both ends.

0:19:59
(Speaker 1)
Yep. Yep. Yep. That was harder than my deployment to Iraq. That was hard. And I'm not scholastically inclined at all.

0:20:08
(Speaker 2)
Yeah. Well, what was fun or challenging about attending college as a veteran?

0:20:13
(Speaker 1)
I the first time I went to college, I did not do well because I didn't I was not mission oriented. The second time I went to college, the Marine Corps does a very good job of literally beating it out of you that if you don't get an 80% on something, then you, then your life is not good.

0:20:33
(Speaker 2)
You're a much more disciplined and goal oriented.

0:20:37
(Speaker 1)
Oh yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. So, yep. Yep. So you, yep.

0:20:43
(Speaker 1)
Basically like I am here, the place where I'm going is over there What do I need to do and how fast do I need to do it to get from here to there? Like what are my small tasks and then you just focus on one thing at a time and you do it to the very best Job of your ability and dude, I was on the Dean's List every semester, man. That's fantastic to hear

0:20:59
(Speaker 2)
Oh, and so you you got picked up I mean I asked you earlier like, you know getting your degree makes you a more attractive prospect for the fire department What do you love about being a firefighter?

0:21:14
(Speaker 1)
The best thing I in it's cheesy but like Every you ask anyone like why do you want to be a firefighter? It's because they want to help people, right? That's like that's like the cheesy first answer that everybody gives but it's the honest to God truth like People are having their worst possible day When they call 9-1-1 most of the time some people just are you know? They have like a toothache or their foot smells or whatever

0:21:35
(Speaker 1)
But most people are calling 9-1-1 because they've been in a car wreck or they're watching their mom have a heart attack, or whatever it is, right? So, I show up, and as a lieutenant, my job is to make the scene as calm as possible, as safe as possible, as efficient and as fast as possible, so that we can start making things better. Right? So, if we show up to a TA, or a a fire or any of those sort of situations, my job is to make their best day get better as fast as I can.

0:22:09
(Speaker 3)
Right.

0:22:10
(Speaker 1)
Yeah, and then just oversee the safety, sanity and welfare of my crew. And then I mean, I'm as a lieutenant, if I show up to a house fire, our our response is five engines, two trucks, two battalion chiefs, an ambulance and PD. If I'm the first one on scene, I'm the initial IC. So I have charge of all of those units until I transfer command into one of my battalion

0:22:34
(Speaker 1)
units if I so choose to do so. And yeah, man, so there's a lot of command responsibility of trying to keep track of everybody and give them an assigned tasks for our mission accomplishment and I did I love all that like that it's the greatest job in the whole wide world man I worked for 48 so it's a 4896 schedule the benefits are reasonably good and the horrible things that I see which you can just imagine what that is, I don't need to go into that,

0:23:06
(Speaker 1)
but the worst, I've seen the worst. You can't get worse than what I've seen. So between my deployment to Iraq and firefighting, I've seen all of it. You can't, yeah, it doesn't get any worse. But the goods outweigh the bads, and I'm able to take that. So I'm a very, I'm not religious necessarily, but I am a very godly man and I, that's in my heart. And so that's, like when I look at a human besides seeing the soul, the rest is meat

0:23:37
(Speaker 1)
and it makes it a lot easier for me to see the things that I see.

0:23:41
(Speaker 2)
Yeah, that's.

0:23:42
(Speaker 1)
So the goods vastly outweigh the bads. Yeah, that's good. That's good. Vastly outweigh the bads.

0:23:50
(Speaker 2)
Yeah, that's awesome to hear. And I mean, like everyone, it's hard to appreciate your guys's job when you don't have firsthand encounters with the fire department on a regular basis. Like I, I'm not person who's been in a lot of vehicle accidents, right. But being here in Vegas, it's one of the highest, like vehicle accident places in the country. So Shelly and here in Vegas, it's one of the highest like vehicle accident places in the country. So Shelly and I were going, it was actually on a date night and we had left our house and I made the decision to, there was a yellow light and I stopped

0:24:15
(Speaker 2)
at the intersection, but the person behind me, he did not, he plowed right into the back of me and Shelly, you know, going fast. And we just happened to be so lucky that there was a fire truck right across the intersection on the other side of the road. And man, the firefighters did not hesitate. They turned the lights and sirens on,

0:24:38
(Speaker 2)
they blocked traffic in the intersection, and they rushed to check us for injuries. And I was like, yeah, like you're're describing you meet people on a bad day but like it's so it was so comforting to have those guys rush to our aid and to make sure that we were okay and luckily we didn't suffer anything major but yeah I'm really appreciative of what you do

0:24:59
(Speaker 1)
and your firefighting job yeah no I and, I, and I appreciate that. I think, I think, uh, yeah, I, I've actually met the firefighting world is a very small world. Any firefighter will tell you, like, I actually know firefighters from Vegas. They're good dudes. Uh, they work their tails off and it's hot. I mean, dude, you'll attest it's hot out there.

0:25:21
(Speaker 1)
Still got to put your turnouts on, right? Oh my God, dude. Yeah, it's terrible. But I go back to the military. I'm like, well, at least I'm not in mob gear. It could be worse. Every day that I'm a firefighter, I have a smile on my face, dude.

0:25:35
(Speaker 1)
I'm like, no one's shooting at me. I'm probably not going to drive an RPG at me. I'm not going to get mortared. I'm not going to get rocketed. Like, man, everything's awesome.

0:25:46
(Speaker 2)
Yeah. Would you put it in basis for comparison? Yep. It is not that you can't even compare.

0:25:56
(Speaker 1)
When I poop, I don't have to poop on an ammo crate. Like, dude, like my checklist of like, are things good is so small. So like, yeah, I'm a happy, happy, happy fella.

0:26:11
(Speaker 2)
Oh man, that's fantastic to hear. So I'll let you wrap this show up a little bit here. Do you got any advice for guys still serving and new veterans out there?

0:26:21
(Speaker 1)
Yeah, man, so I think you were the one that turned me on to the book, The Purpose Driven Life. And I tell you what, man, so I think you were the one that turned me on to the book The Purpose Driven Life. And I tell you what, man, just that even if you don't read the book, if you just have a purpose, find a reason to keep going, especially for the guys that were the grunts, the guys that did infantry, or even the people that didn't, but still had just a tough time in the military and you're trying to figure out a way to like go back to civilian life and leave your friends.

0:26:51
(Speaker 1)
Cause dude, it is hard. Like everyone looks forward to getting out and then you get out and you're like, oh my God, I wish I was back in. And dude, it's tough, man. And I've had a lot of friends commit suicide. I've had a lot of friends that have drinking problems and drug problems and all these different things.

0:27:06
(Speaker 1)
But like, dude, you have to have a purpose. You have to have a mission. And even if that mission is a small one, it's like today I'm gonna make the day better for somebody. And if that person is yourself, like at the end of this day. I'm gonna learn something. I'm gonna get a little stronger. I'm gonna get into the issues of the heart.

0:27:27
(Speaker 1)
I mean, whatever it is, you have to have a drive. You have to have a mission, and you've gotta focus on that, man. And for me, that mission has always been, I want to make the lives of others, I've been through some terrible things, man. So if I can make other people's day a little bit better,

0:27:45
(Speaker 1)
then that's what I want to do. That's my drive, that's my focus.

0:27:49
(Speaker 2)
Man, that is fantastic advice, and I'm glad to hear. Yeah, it always helps when you can point towards a goal. Like, I have this purpose. It sounds like you wake up every day and you're like, I'm glad I get to do this. Hey Tyler, thank you so much for being on the show, man. I really appreciate it. Yeah, absolutely, man. And I appreciate your 20 years of service. That's amazing and very laudable. All right. Thank you, buddy.

0:28:12
(Speaker 2)
Thank you everyone for listening to this podcast. If you want more information about the show or the guest interview, please send an email to rebelvets at gmail.com. And to my veterans out there, thank you for your service and your sacrifice. And to my veterans out there, thank you for your service and your sacrifice. Until Valhalla.