In a time when freedom of speech and public get togethers are being made illegal in formerly free places around the world, it's more important than ever that you get up there and speak your mind. Comedy is one way of doing that.
Geraint Jones is an author, podcaster, and Veteran who served as an infantry soldier in both Iraq and Afghanistan for the United Kingdom.
Geraint has written a historical fiction series about the roman legions, and his Afghanistan memoir Brothers in Arms was published in 2019.
Geraint is also the host of the Veteran State of Mind Podcast where his discusses current events, veteran success stories, and life with fellow Veterans from around the world.
I've been wanting to speak with Geraint for a while. He has two of the most thought provoking Instagram pages in the veteran community and we had an excellent conversation.
To follow Veteran State of Mind on Instagram click here.
To follow Geraint's personal page, click here.
Since the beginning of the Global War On Terror, we have started chronicling the story of this conflict. The history of warfare is typically written by generals. They give their thousand foot view, talk about the big strategic picture, and pay little homage to the perspective of those who actually fought the war.
In recent history, we have seen much more of the perspective of the average warfighter. This is largely due to the increased opportunities technology affords the average person to tell their story.
Yet, we have seen very little perspective on what happens after the war is over. How does a Veteran carry on after serving in combat? Despite the efforts of podcasts and other media outlets like this one, very few media outlets have covered these stories.
The Twenty Year War by Dan Blakely, Tom Amenta, and Beau Simmons is unique for this reason. It is a photo book that chronicles the post-service stories of over 70 veterans. Rather than focusing on combat, the book focuses on the trials, tribulations, and lessons learned from these veterans' transitions into the civilian world.
Beau Simmons is a professional photographer who grew up in the high desert in California. He got his start in the fashion industry, but has since transitioned his work to focus on classic Americana and the American landscape. He gained his commitment to telling authentic stories about veterans through the nonprofit, Heroes and Horses.
Dan Blakeley served in the United States Army's 2nd Batallion, 75th Ranger Regiment. He went on to get an engineering degree from Appalachian State University where he helped start the school's Solar Power Racing Team. Dan's transition out of the military was not easy, and he has a passion for telling the stories of veterans who've succeeded, which is what inspired him to create The Twenty Year War.
Tom Amenta also served in the 75th Ranger Regiment. After leaving the Army, Tom spent 8 years as COO of the veteran clothing brand Ranger Up and was an Executive Producer on the film Range 15. Tom's passion for helping and advocating for veterans led him to coauthor The Twenty Year War.
You can find The Twenty Year War at twentyyearwar.com. When you use the code VET21, you can get 20% off your purchase through Sunday November 14.
Most cultural depictions of the Devil are as some sort of anthropomorphic beast with cloven hooves, a pointy tail, and horns.
In Napoleon Hill's work Outwitting the Devil, the Prince of Darkness is something different: a formless force that can invade the mind of any human being on Earth. He thrives by instilling negative thoughts, aimlessness, and self-doubt into the masses.
Regardless of what your religious beliefs are, you probably have a negative side, filled with thoughts that hold you back. In this episode, I take you through steps to defeating this Devil and moving your life forward.
In this episode I talk about people I consider to be on the front line of fighting for values and against government overreach. In this episode I discuss Ryan Michler of Order of Man, Eddie Gallagher, The Marine Rapper, Bryson Gray, Hire the Zapper, and others who are using their voices to fight against mandates.
Eddie Gallagher is a retired US Navy Seal who was falsley accused of war crimes, and then nearly railroaded by the military and the media.
He, his wife Andrea, his brother, and his legal team successfully fought off the Navy's attempt to put him away for life, but at great personal and financial consequences.
In the aftermath of his ordeal, Eddie and Andrea decided that they would keep this from happening to anyone else, and so they created The Pipe Hitter Foundation. Through their nonprofit, they are helping both military and law enforcement to navigate the legal system while supporting their families as they do so.
Most recently, Eddie and the Pipe Hitter Foundation worked with Marine Lt. Colonel Stu Scheller, who was punished by the military for publicly calling for accountability from high ranking officials for the botched Afghanistan withdrawal that resulted in the deaths of 13 service members.
You can learn more about the Pipe Hitter Foundation at https://pipehitterfoundation.org/
You can get Eddie's book The Man in the Arena at https://eddiegallagherbook.com/
For the Seek Battle Series: https://www.ptarms.com/product-page/SEEKBATTLERIFLE
To follow Eddie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eddie_gallagher
Daniel Gade enlisted in the Army in 1992 and deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom as a company commander in August 2004. He was wounded by enemy fire twice and decorated for valor; the second wounding resulted in the amputation of his entire right leg. After retiring from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2017, he accepted a political appointment as a Senior Advisor at the US Department of Labor’s Veterans Employment and Training Service (VETS). In 2019, he ran unsuccessfully for United States Senate in Virginia, but garnered more votes than any Republican candidate in Virginia history. Daniel’s military awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, two Purple Hearts, the Combat Action Badge, Ranger Tab, Presidential Service Badge, and both Airborne and Air Assault wings. He and his family reside in Mount Vernon, Virginia.
Daniel's book Wounding Warriors: How Bad Policy
Is Making Veterans Sicker and Poorer explores the ways in which the VA Healthcare System creates incentives for veterans to stay sick and poor.
Michelle Black lost her husband Bryan in 2017. Bryan was serving with a team of his fellow Green Berets in Niger when his team of 11 was ambushed by between 100 and 200 ISIS militants.
From the moment she learned of Bryan's death, her life, and the lives of her two sons, were turned completely upside down. Bryan's death became a national incident due to political issues, and this turned the nation's attention away from the men who died and onto political discord.
Then, a ISIS released a propaganda video of Bryan and his teammates being killed. CBS news promptly published the video and put it into the public domain, putting Michelle and Bryan's family into the awful position of having to witness his death on a TV screen.
Through it all, Michelle never quit. She rallied to take care of her two sons while also searching for the truth about Bryan and his teammates' death. To this day, no high ranking military official has answered for the fact that this team of 11 was sent into hostile territory without support.
To get a copy of Michelle's book: https://www.amazon.com/Sacrifice-Gold-Widows-Fight-Truth/dp/0593190939
Follow Michelle on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michelleblack71
Many of us grew up hearing stories about our grandparents and great grandparents in World War II, and wished we could have been part of something like that.
The truth is, that we do have a chance to save our country. The ideas laid out in the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence are under threat and can be lost in a generation. We can all participate in making sure this doesn't happen.
Over the past few years, there has been an unprecedented collision between medical science and politics. Some would say that politics has perverted science, and it seems that many people are viewing specific scientific view points as a religion.
I brought my good friend, Dr. Kirk Parsley on to help us sort through the weeds of this debate. I'd like this to get out to as many people as possible, so I've excluded several key words related to the subject matter. Nevertheless, you can probably figure it out.
Dr. Kirk Parsley served as a US Navy Seal. After his enlistment, he rejoined the Navy as a doctor and helped to create Naval Special Warfare's Resiliency Clinic. He is one of the world's foremost experts on sleep, and is the inventor of Doc Parsley's Sleep Remedy.
To learn more about Dr. Kirk Parsley, or to purchase his sleep remedy, you can visit http://www.docparsley.com.
To follow Doc Parsley on Instagram: https://www.kirkparsley.com
Mike Kurland is the founder and CEO of the Branded Group, a facilities service company based out of California. Over the past 8 years, Mike and his team built the Branded Group into one of the fastest growing companies in the country.
Nevertheless, things weren't always easy for Mike. He started his company from nothing after a heart-breaking divorce, after which, he had to hit the reset button.
Mike came onto the Warrior Soul Podcast to discuss his story and his advice for Veterans who are transitioning into new phases of their lives.
To listen to Mike's Be Better Podcast: https://www.branded-group.com/be-better-podcast/
To learn more about working for the Branded Group: https://www.branded-group.com/team/
To connect with Mike on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekurland/
Over the last week, there's been an awakening in the Veteran Community. We've seen Veterans coordinating the rescue of Afghan interpreters, holding their political leaders to account, and advocating for their active duty brothers and sisters.
The question is: where do we go from here? If we fall back to doing the same things we've always done, nothing is ever going to change. We'll still be here five years from now, watching this country take a dive.
Veterans can no longer sit on the sidelines. We need to be taking more active roles in our communities and our lives.
Mike Taylor and Alex Roodhouse served as officers in the United States Navy's Riverine Units, patrolling the Euphrates River during the war in Iraq.
Fitness was always an important part of their job, but as the demands of the job changed, so did the fitness requirements. When they first entered the military, the focus was on long runs and calisthenics. Yet jobs in the military increasingly called for a more functional, weight bearing, approach to fitness.
Additionally, many service members ended up getting completely out of shape when they went on deployment.
So after they got out of the military, Mike and Alex came up with an idea: all in one container gyms that could be shipped and placed anywhere.
That idea became Beaverfit, which today is a rapidly growing multi-million dollar a year business. You can find Mike and Alex's gyms today in places as diverse as Camp Pendleton and Miami Beach.
In this conversation, I talk with Mike and Alex about their journey from the military to entrepreneurship and how they're growing Beaverfit to meet the increasing demand for functional fitness.
Learn more about Beaverfit at: https://www.beaverfitusa.com/
Baktash Ahadi was born in Afghanistan and raised in the United States. After college, he joined the US Peace Corps and went to Mozambique. As the US war in Afghanistan ramped up, Baktash decided to return to Afghanistan as an interpreter who worked alongside the US Marines.
In this episode, Baktash and I discuss the tragedy in Afghanistan and what led to it. We discuss the bureaucratic system, and lack of incentive to ever actually get anything done. We also discuss the repercussions of what this means for the Afghan people, and for American Veterans.
To learn more about Baktash Ahadi: https://www.baktashahadi.com/
To follow Baktash on Twitter: https://twitter.com/baktashahadi
Like many Veterans, I'm angry and appalled at the United States' hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan.
If you're angry, that's completely justified. You should be.
But to change things, we need to move beyond anger toward action. Veterans need to step up in society to ensure this never happens again. We do that by building our lives, and putting ourselves in position to exact change.
I listened to this video a few weeks ago as part of my morning motivational routine called "No Zero Days."
I'm not sure who put it together, but the concept really spoke to me. Essentially, the video encourages you to never have any "zero days" again.
A Zero Day is a day where you've done nothing to get to your goal. Instead, you should do something: read a book, do some exercise, take some form of small action to get to your goal everyday.
Watch the original video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxtv5XB7eIA
Mike Robillard is a US Army Veteran and author who earned his Ph.D in Philosophy from the University of Connecticut before doing a post-doctoral fellowship at Oxford.
Mike has since left academia to co-found an organization called Christian Veterans United, which seeks to restore the values of discipleship in Christ, duty to country, and masculine virtue to the American psyche.
Mike joins a number of former academics who believe that the American university system has become derailed. In this interview, we try to deliver some practical advice as to how this situation can be fixed.
The financial decisions you make as an early adult can follow you for much of your life. In this episode, Chris discusses the mistakes he made with money, how to avoid them, and how to fix them if you've already made them.
As veterans move into the civilian world, many of us feel innate insecurities about our experience and education in the new context. In this episode, I discuss overcoming this insecurity and beating imposter syndrome.
Dustin Robinson is the Founding Partner of Mr. Cannabis Law – a full-service law firm exclusively focused on cannabis and psychedelic industries. Dustin is licensed in Florida as an
Attorney, a Certified Public Accountant, and a Real Estate Agent. He focuses his practice on providing legal, accounting, financial, and business consultation to various businesses operating
in the hemp, marijuana, and psychedelic industries.
Dustin has worked at one of the largest national accounting firms – Deloitte – as well as one of the largest national law firms – Holland & Knight. After working at Holland & Knight, Dustin
applied his legal and accounting background in the business world while running a multi-state manufacturing company.
Dustin is deeply involved in the cannabis industry through his law firm – Mr. Cannabis Law – and various cannabis-related organizations, including CannabisLAB, ASTM D-37 Global
Standards for Cannabis, Leafstyle360, and Broward County Medical Marijuana Advisory Board.
Dustin also serves as the Legal Director for NORML of Palm Beach; he is on the Legal Committee for the Florida Hemp Council; and he is on the Operations Sub-committee for Hemp Industries
Association.
As a member of the Board of Directors of Minorities for Medical Marijuana, Dustinadvocates for social equity and inclusion in the cannabis industry.
Dustin is also the co-founder of Mr. Psychedelic Law – a 501(c)(4) focused on using medical and spiritual research to drive responsible legal reform in Florida for psilocybin mushrooms and
other entheogens.
Dustin has drafted Resolutions for psychedelic decriminalization for various cities in Florida and hopes to build a responsible legal framework in Florida for the commercialization of psilocybin mushroom and other entheogens.
Dustin has built a team at Mr. Psychedelic Law that consists of the top lawyers, lobbyist, doctors, scientists, and spiritual
leaders in the state of Florida.
Dustin is also represents various psychedelic non-profits
including Mind Army and Ketamine Fund. In April 2021, in partnership with seasoned private equity investor Robert Velarde, Dustin launched Iter Investments, a venture capital firm that aims to deploy capital primarily in businesses operating in and around the burgeoning psychedelics industry.
Recently, Dustin drafted and filed the Florida Psilocybin Legalization Bill, together with Florida
State Representative Michael Grieco. He was also recognized as “100 Most Influential People in
Psychedelics” by Psychedelic Invest.
Dustin has been regularly profiled and featured as an expert in the media, including in
Bloomberg News, Dazed, Forbes, VICE, The Florida Bar, The Miami Herald, The Sun Sentinel,
The Wall Street Journal, Authority Magazine, Thrive Global, Benzinga, StratCann and more.
Dustin is a triple gator having earned his Bachelors in Accounting, Masters in Accounting, and
Law Degree from University of Florida.
Gratitude is popular, and helpful, but it can lose it's meaning. To keep the ritual working for you, you need to dig down deep.
This is your chance to tell me how you've been impacting your community and your world.
Tom Kubiniec is a leading authority in military weapon storage and armory design. His company, SecureIt Tactical Inc. is recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in America. SecureIt is the largest supplier of weapons storage systems to the Defense Industry and now the fastest growing supplier of residential gun safes in America.
Tom has developed storage systems for special operations units using his own patented technology. He's brought innovation and invention to an industry that has not changed in decades.
Learn more about SecureIt Tactical at https://www.secureittactical.com/weapon-storage/
Or visit their YouTube Channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZb3HLZuU80PVoAFxf_UDLQ
This episode discusses how the 24/7 news cycle is killing your time and eating up your life.
The most important thing you can do in life is decide where you want to go.