Host

Big gang's in New York guy, huh?

Zach

When we went on.

Nick

No idea.

Zach

When we went on the tour, I. I. The Unsub tour this past fall, like, I became obsessed with it, and I just watched it every time we got on a flight. And so the joke was, fine, you've talked me into it. I watch Gangs in New York for context.

Nick

We got on four flights a week for like, six weeks straight.

Host

Every time.

Nick

Yes.

Zach

Just so. Well, what happened was I'm so tired and exhausted because, like, the. The day. The day is long. Like, when you. You do the tour, you show up at like, four, drop your bags, and then we go to the venue, audio check. We food. They do the vip, and then it starts around eight. And then we. We don't leave till, like, midnight. So I would only get, like 10 to 15 minutes each time to the movie. So I'm just, like, laid out on the plane.

Nick

You pavlov yourself into falling asleep to this man?

Zach

I did, yeah.

Host

You watched Liam Neeson die a lot of times?

Zach

I did. It's rough. I don't know what happens next.

Host

He dies in a lot of movies, though, so that's his.

Zach

That's his thing for sure. His thing, but it was just like an ongoing joke.

Nick

It was like.

Zach

You've talked me into it.

Nick

Liam Neeson, like, him also the main character in the worst movie ever made.

Zach

Which one?

Nick

The Gray.

Zach

Oh, yeah.

Host

Like that movie.

Nick

I hate that movie.

Host

Why do you hate that?

Nick

That movie is an hour and a half of edging and not getting to come. It's literally. It's 90 minutes of. I get to see Liam Neeson fight a wolf. No, you don't. Credits. Roll the credits.

Zach

That's kind of the idea, though.

Host

It's an artistic rendition of.

Deuce

That's.

Host

Think about it.

Nick

That's like a pornhub and watching a plumber fix a sink the entire time and then he leaves. Okay, nobody came to see how to fix the drain. That's absurd.

Host

What about the electrician fixing the fucking outlet?

Nick

Whatever. I don't care what it is. Nobody came. Nobody came to see my fat, hairy ass fix an outlet. Okay, that's right.

Host

That's right. Well, I like some of the cinematography in that movie, so I'm a little biased, but I see what you're saying. But how was it actually like going on tour and doing things in front of a live audience? Like, because you've had unsubscribed for a long time. You guys got multiple podcasts. You do one together too. But I always wonder what that dynamic's like. Because it's way different than sitting in a room like this, obviously.

Zach

Yeah. It might be the best drug I've ever done.

Host

Really.

Zach

Like, it's. I mean, just from my perspective, I have the easiest job. I have a bit. I come out and tell it. I have, like, one thing I have to do. Nick starts off the show, he tells a story, and then I have to wait for my cue. And then I go up there, and then my friends work for an hour and a half, and then we hang out again. But that's a good job. It's great. But it just kind of happened naturally. And it's, you know, everyone unsubs. We're all like, a very. We're very tight. Like, our group's really tight. And for me, it's just like, the craziest experience. There's no, like, direct linear path from, like, getting out of the Marine Corps, going to college, working in healthcare, holding up cardboard, going on tour with your best friends. Like, it's not. Doesn't make sense. And it sounds like a fever dream. Like, I have, like, malaria and I'm, like, reciting something. But it's just, like, it's crazy. The energy in the room's insane. The fans are awesome. And they're just. They're. They're screaming at the second you, like, walk out there the entire time. Like, it's.

Host

That's cool.

Nick

I mean, that's insane. That's the thing. Like, it's less scary than you think because, like, it's not like being a stand up comedian, you know? Like, I'm not going out there trying to win over the crowd. Like, the crowd already knows who I am. They already like me. So I just have to show up and meet expectations, which is pretty easy when the expectation is to be yourself hanging out with your buddies and get drunk.

Host

Yeah.

Nick

So, I mean, it's a very low bar to make everybody happy, so they're thrilled. It's a lot of fun.

Host

That's cool. Yeah, I see a lot of guys doing that these days. I don't know. Like, I think it's also a different dynamic, too, from the outside. When you have, like, a really big, fun group podcast where it's like the boys and everything versus, like, one where it's usually me talking with someone else or something like that. I always wondered if it would be like, you do three hours and you could actually have the same kind of conversation. I don't know. But, like, if you're drinking with your boys, like, you're on A stage, everyone's rowdy in the crowd. That's probably gonna be pretty good.

Nick

Yeah. That means definitely it. It fits well for Unsub. I don't know how it would fit for, like, you know, the Joe Rogan Experience or like, other podcasts. I think it's very podcast specific. But Unsub is the whole thing's always been four friends, get drunk, fly somebody out they want to hang out with. And so it works. It works good.

Host

What do you guys film out of?

Nick

Unsubscribed films out of San Antonio and then underwhelming films out of Nashville and Iowa.

Host

So you're just bouncing because you live in. You live in Iowa, so you're bouncing around all the time.

Nick

I've been in seven states this month.

Deuce

Yeah.

Zach

And I've seen him almost all the trips.

Nick

I'll be in Las Vegas tomorrow.

Host

Yeah. Hey, guys, if you're not following me on Spotify, please hit that follow button and leave a five star review. They're both a huge, huge help. Thank you. Yeah. You ever get tired?

Nick

Yeah. I'll worry about it later. Yeah, yeah.

Host

You got a YouTube channel as well. You keeping up with. I mean, that's like, that's the one benefit of this. Like, I record here. So we have a lot going on all the time. But I know where I'm. Where I'm at at all times. But then I'll have guys like you in and, you know, you guys are flying all over and somehow keeping that balance. I'm not jealous of that part.

Nick

That's hard. It's a good time. It's a good job.

Zach

You get better at traveling. That's probably.

Host

Yeah.

Zach

Like, you can. There's ways to, like, relief pressure and like, it's little things. You get pre check, you get clear. You fly enough times, you get upgraded. The upgrades turn into more upgrades. And so, like, it's. Those are the things that honestly, like, mean the most because, like, it's little things to be more comfortable that'll like, make the whole trip better, at least in my opinion. Because, like, you know, if you're scrunched up next to someone, the AC is not working. And you know, it's. It should be illegal to have the windows open on a plane before noon. I don't know who's looking outside of the window. Like, this morning, the three hour flight,

Nick

it's still white outside.

Zach

I don't. The guy, dude. The dude next. The dude at the row across me was like, wow. He was like, looking out and I'm like, It's.

Host

It's.

Zach

It's. The earth is flat. I don't know what he's looking. Looking at, but like, it's just. And he was. He was mesmerized by the clouds. And it is not. We took off at like seven.

Host

Oh no.

Zach

And the whole time like, dude, come on. Even. They're even like, we're dimming the cabin lights. He didn't get the clue. He's like, I'll. I'll raise the curtain up more.

Host

But yeah, that's when. That's the one time in this post Epstein era where private jets are not exactly in vogue, where I'm like a little jealous of those people. So I have to deal with any of that.

Zach

It's. It's just. It's just weird. You see, you also see, like, I'm. This is a side. I'm always amazed at how blasted people get in the morning for a flight.

Host

Oh, I know.

Zach

Like, just to go to like, for instance, does people know where you are? Yeah. To go to Newark. Like, there was a ton of people like crawling on the plane and I'm like, dude, it's. What are you. Where are you going?

Host

That's one thing I've never understood. Like, I love going out and having a good time.

Zach

Yeah.

Host

I have never had an alcoholic beverage at an airport or on a plane. And like so many people doing. I'm like, I would. I would flip out. Like, that's not for me. Whatever that is. That gene where you could just get loaded on a plane. Don't think that's mine.

Nick

I forget where we. It was either two or from Atlanta. We drank the plane out of Tito's. I know that.

Zach

That was from Atlanta.

Nick

Yeah.

Host

Do you get like that weird, like head high when you're drunk on a plane because you're like errors popped and everything.

Nick

I. There wasn't enough Tito's to get us all drunk. I do remember fun fact, the little shots of Tito's come in like a. You know, like the vacuum sealed Amazon bags.

Host

Yeah.

Nick

That's what they come in. Because the stewardess literally just brought out the bag and ripped it open. Was like, here it was hand and like it was Halloween. Like, just take what you want. Like, I don't.

Zach

Was that going to. That was going to Orlando, wasn't it?

Nick

I probably.

Zach

I think it was going to.

Host

Yeah.

Nick

Because we played at the Hard Rock.

Zach

Yeah. That was.

Host

Yeah. The hangover is not worse. Coming off a plane like that.

Nick

You got to stop being drunk to get hungover.

Host

Yeah.

Nick

You gotta think of that.

Zach

Stay on pace.

Nick

Yeah, but no, I'm not stopping.

Zach

It's just weird because, like, I get someone, like, having a drink, going on a vacation, all that stuff I get. But, like, just regular, normal business suit people blasted at 6 o' clock in the morning fascinates me endlessly.

Host

Absolutely nuts.

Zach

And they're like, I'm looking for 4A. And they're just like. They're, like, all messed up. They can't even lift the bag. Which is, like the most emasculating moment as a man. Like, if you can't put it up above your head, like your bag, bro.

Host

Not great.

Zach

It's a rough look.

Host

Yeah. We were lugging around, what, like 50 pounders on all those trains in Italy last week. Oh, yeah.

Zach

And then every AC unit would just be out and they're like, yeah, we're

Host

going to move your seat again. Boom. But we got it every time. No, no emasculated moments.

Zach

See, it was good.

Host

It was good. But you were saying, Zach, that, you know, all these things, like, kind of happen. Like, you come out of the military. We'll come back to that in a minute. And I think you said you're working in healthcare.

Zach

Yes.

Host

Then you start holding up the sign, and then somehow everything lines up. And now you're doing tor with your buddies around the world with your bit and all that. Do you ever, like, pinch yourself, like, damn, what if I didn't do that one thing that one day, like, seven years ago, and then none of this happens?

Zach

I think about that a lot, actually, because of all of our friends, I would say me and Nick had real jobs the longest.

Nick

Yeah.

Zach

And so there's never a moment where I'm like, this will last forever, or that I take it for granted because I'm convinced I was. I was at this one Health. So Nashville is the health care capital of the. Of the world, which is why you either go in the music industry or go into healthcare. And so I remember sitting in my cubicle and they had a sound machine over each of us that would just play, like, white noise.

Host

Oh, my God.

Zach

And I was like, this kind of feels like a. Like a detention center.

Nick

We paint the walls robin egg blue to keep them calm.

Zach

Yeah, the walls were all the same. It was stuff like that. And like. And I just remember I was like, I'm wearing a suit, though. But I remember, like, that. And then I look at my life now and it's normal, even to my. My family of like, what are you doing today? Oh, I'm going new Jersey, and then I've got to go to Vegas and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Nick

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Zach

and like a few years ago she'd be like, stop, I'm leaving you. Like, what do you. It doesn't sound like a normal sentence because it just doesn't feel like a reality, but now it very much so is. And, and I often think, like, there's a joke we always make about the shaky lamp. Have you heard about that?

Nick

I don't think the Reddit post, it's like a creepypasta Reddit post about, like, this guy. He talks about how in college he got in a bar fight and, like, gets knocked out and smacks his head on the curb. And he wakes up like some hot chick, like, takes him home, takes care of him, winds up getting married, lives 15 years, has a wife, has kids. And then one day he's like sitting in the living room and the lamp looks weird. And he like, slowly becomes obsessed with this lamp because it just looks weird. And then eventually he's just staring at this lamp all day. And then eventually he wakes up from a coma. And he had lived 15 years. It was all completely fake. And he was just in a coma from getting his head smacked on the curb. So that's like the recurring joke in the friend group is like, anytime we're doing something cool, one of us will be like, guys, the lamp's starting to look weird. We're all going to wake up. This is fake.

Host

That's a. That's a dark way to think about it. But that's what I think about, like, with the simulation. Sometimes I'm like, what if. What if we are all looking at a lamp?

Zach

Technically, this was great. I'm good with this lamp.

Nick

You want to hear the part that scares me about that the most?

Zach

What's that?

Nick

When I was in sixth grade, I had to write a paper on what I wanted to do when I grew up. When I was in sixth grade, I wanted to be a stand up comedian. And I loved Blue Collar Comedy Tour. You Ever heard of that?

Host

Yeah.

Nick

Larry the Cable Guy. Jeff Foxworthy, Billingvall, Ron White. Four friends that would travel the country. They would all do their bits and then they would come out and sit together on stage in front of a crowd of people and bullshit with the crowd and tell jokes. Fast forward. By the way, my favorite comedian, because I was in sixth grade at the time, was Larry the Cable Guy.

Host

Larry the Cable Guy was pretty fucking funny.

Nick

Yeah. Fast forward. Fifteen years later, I'm the fat electrician and I travel the country with my three friends and we do comedy shows where we all sit up there together and bullshit with the crowd.

Host

Came together. It came to the vision. The vision's visioning for sure.

Nick

Lamps looking weird.

Zach

Lamps looking weird. Yeah.

Host

No, the fan electrician thing though, that's a. It's a pretty hard name. Complete cable guy.

Nick

Complete accident.

Host

How was it an accident?

Nick

It was. Dude, I. All right, so I. Electrician.

Host

You're ripped. So you just say you're fat instead of rip.

Nick

I was an electrician and I got. I ruptured my pack, I tore my pack. So I was off work for like six months in a sling and my wife, I was sitting at home all day doing nothing. And my wife was. Kept sending me tick tocks, which to me at the time was an app for little kids to do dances on. And I was. I'm a grown ass man. That's a journeyman electrician. I'm not getting tick tock. She kept sending them to me so I would have to watch them through the Internet browser, you know.

Host

Oh, when they let you do that?

Nick

Yeah, back when they let you. This is, you know, six years ago. So I would just watch them through Internet browser. And eventually I was like, I'll get the app. I downloaded it.

Deuce

It.

Nick

Well then you got to make an account. Didn't know what to use for a name. So as a joke to my wife, because I was hurt and couldn't work out, I made the username as a joke. The fat electrician so hard. And it was just a joke to my wife, like, oh, can't work out. I'm going to get fat now. Hahaha. And then a couple months later, I got a wild hair up my ass, made a tik tok and it got 12 million views.

Host

What was that tik Tok about?

Nick

It's about a grocery store called Aldi.

Host

What was going on at Aldi?

Nick

I just explained. These days I just explained why the business model was insane. Like it was made by the Germans right after World War II. And it's like, just German engineering applied to a grocery store.

Zach

Right.

Nick

And why it was funny and efficient and why I liked it more because it just prevented people from being annoying in the grocery store by design and just made it funny. Got a ton of views. And then I just kept making videos.

Host

And now you're like, honey, I'm a tick tocker.

Nick

I'm the fat electrician forever.

Host

Yeah, yeah. But a Tiktoker.

Nick

No, I switched to YouTube.

Host

Switch to YouTube.

Nick

That's good.

Host

Yeah.

Zach

What's funny about it is Aldi's such a legit business that everyone admires it, that I. I wrote about it in business school. Like, I did a case study on it. No, like, it's that good. Like, they do. Basically, they've decided the best way to move a customer through the store. They don't put stuff in special packaging. They just put it out there in pallets.

Nick

Like, basically, it's cheaper than everywhere else. When you walk into an Aldi, there's no, like, entryway, and you can, like, walk left and go down all the aisles. It's. You walk in, you're in an aisle. The only way to go is left. Yeah, you're going down aisle one. When you get to the end of aisle one, you have to turn and go down aisle two. And there's only, like, four. Three or four aisles. So you have to go. There's one path of traffic. There's no one person's going against the current. You have to go this way. And everything in the store is just like. We're not taking the bags of chips out of the boxes and putting them on the rack. Now we're just opening the box and setting it there. And when the boxes are fucking empty, then we get. We throw away the box.

Host

Yeah.

Nick

And then we don't give out bags. You're bagging your own groceries. You can take the boxes if you forgot bags. So then they get people to take their fucking boxes for them. Like, it's just you put your cart

Zach

back, you get a quarterback. All these, like, little things that they did to make it efficient.

Host

So it's like the real Autobahn of grocery stores.

Nick

Pretty much. Yeah.

Host

Yeah.

Deuce

Mm.

Host

I don't know. The last time I was in an Aldi.

Zach

They also have really good food. Like, the quality of their food is

Host

really good because, like, Costco level.

Zach

Yeah, probably better, honestly, because they have to meet European standards and the quality of their food. So, like, minimal GMOs, if any at all. Like, if you're getting, like, a cookie for instance, like, it's actually just, like, flour, sugar, chocolate chips, the end. Not, like, a bunch of, like, weird stuff.

Host

See, that's the thing. And we say it every time we, like, go over to Europe. We'll eat, like, hypothetically and things like that. Drink a lot, and somehow we feel decent the next day because there is so much in all our foods here. I was even looking at a protein bar the other day. I think it was like, I want to get the company. I think it was a David bar. And I went and said, let me

Zach

check out the ingredients here, because it's,

Host

like, pretty good for you. Like, the macros all look good. I remember what was in there, but it was some sort of, like, corn syrup and, like, all these other preservatives and shit. Like, no wonder I have to take a shit within an hour. Like, not the good kind. Every time I have one of these, you know, it's like something went very wrong in our society where they just let that happen. And it's just a very bad slippery slope these days.

Zach

Yeah, it's pretty rough. It's keeping Ian Carroll in business, though.

Host

It is.

Zach

That's how I found out about him, was all the. The food shelves and how it's all, like, owned by one company. I think it's Unilever, mainly.

Host

I don't know. Yeah, it doesn't. Ian has, like, an app for that now or something. Right.

Zach

I'm pretty sure it's called, like, Buyer.

Host

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that's it, where they tell you, like, what's what. But someone told me a few years ago, and then I've seen it all over the Internet since then, so it's probably been around a while. But they're like, just don't buy the shiny wrapper stuff in the. In the food store. Don't go to the middle aisles, go the outside, where it's like, produce and stuff like that, and you'll be okay. I think there's something to be said for that.

Zach

I think it still applies.

Host

Yeah. Yeah. Why do you think that is, that we let that happen in America, we're supposed to be, like, the leader of the free world and everything, but we're kind of, like, very behind on stuff like that, profits.

Zach

I'm thinking of the scene in the Founder where he makes the milkshake out of powder at the restaurant.

Nick

At some point or another, we let money into politics because we lost track of what a politician is supposed to be. The country was designed so that the politicians in America were supposed to be Independently wealthy, successful individuals that then, after becoming wealthy and successful, went on to serve the public, be a public servant, to help run the country, because they know how to run a business. They know how to get shit done. They're leaders in the military. They're leaders in business. They're. They're accomplished individuals. And for some reason now, most of our politicians all have law degrees. And their entire life, from the time they were 12 years old was, I'm on a chart to do this. So I need to go to this high school, and then I need to go to this college, and then I need to join the military, where I will intentionally get a job to ensure that I never see combat for the minimum amount of time once I get out of that, so I can, you know, check the veteran box. And then I'm gonna go be a city council member here, Be this here. And then they've spent their entire life on this trajectory to run the country, and they've never even lived in the real world. And these people need money to win elections. So when some asshole comes to the factory and is like, I'll give you a million dollars to win your election, but let me pump corn syrup into strawberries, right? They say, yes.

Host

And they're owned by. And then they just insider trader on the information so they can get rich, right?

Nick

Hey, no. Nancy Pelosi's husband is better than Warren Buffett by 700%.

Host

He's.

Nick

He's got to be better.

Host

Yeah.

Zach

And when he has company over, sometimes he doesn't have pants. What's the big deal, guys?

Nick

That's it.

Zach

That's. I know when I get undressed from a long day in a suit, I take pants. I go pants off first. Never the tie, never the shirt. I go, let's drop trousers.

Host

Trousers first.

Zach

Trousers first.

Nick

You got to Winnie the Pooh this shit.

Host

You just got to go Tom Cruise and Risky Business, you know, you start.

Zach

And.

Host

And that's. That's just kind of how it goes. That is true. We don't hear about that story, though, anymore. That just kind of. That went away, right?

Zach

I like the footage. The cops are like, yo. He's like. He's like, we're fine. And he's, like, holding the one guy off. He's like. He's like, we're fine. He's like, are you sure you're fine? And he's like, it doesn't look. You're fine.

Nick

No, no.

Zach

We're just two friends hanging out. Is that a hammer? Ah, come on, dude, what are you doing? Crazy.

Host

I agree with everything you said though, but I think you're even given too much credit because you're just mentioning the ones who maybe go the route for the checkbox on. On the resume. A lot of these people don't even do that.

Zach

Yeah, you don't have to.

Host

They're like, they don't even do the military.

Nick

The standard is constantly getting lower.

Zach

Yeah, for sure.

Host

Yeah.

Zach

I mean, most of them just take like admin jobs if they do the military or like, you know, something that's in like logistics is a popular thing. Like you can get in, move stuff around, blah, blah, blah. You're not going to really see combat at all. Or if you do, it's very minimal. You'll be at like a big base.

Host

Yeah.

Zach

And yeah, it's a lot of people in intelligence, though.

Host

That's also a lot of that too.

Zach

A lot of that. That's always interesting, but. Well, they know the game. Yeah. You know.

Host

Yeah. They used to be the guy on the other side. Now they come in, they're like, now I'm your inside.

Zach

Now I have a white naval suit. That's right.

Host

That's right. Isn't one of your boys is. He's like literally about to win, right?

Nick

Yep.

Zach

Brandon.

Host

Yeah, Brandon.

Zach

Shout out Brandon.

Host

What. What district is that in Texas?

Nick

District 23 in Texas.

Host

Okay. And that's where the guy who like his assistant or something.

Nick

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Host

Why did. Why did he before all that? Why did he want to run against

Zach

him in the first?

Nick

So after the one, he just didn't have a good voting record in general for being a Republican. And then Brandon's big thing was he kind of rolled over on guns and was becoming anti gun as a Republican representing Texas.

Zach

So.

Host

Really?

Nick

Yeah, Brandon. Brandon ran against him last time, actually took him to a runoff election election. So in Texas you have to win by more than 50%. So he prevented him from getting 50 of the vote. So they had to go to a special runoff election just between the two of them. And he managed to beat Brandon in that special runoff election by outspending him, I think 11 to 1. I think he spent like $11 million campaigning against Brandon and it was all like complete lies of like Brandon's anti veteran brand. Brandon hates. It's like Brandon's on one of the biggest veteran podcasts on the Internet and has raised hundreds of thousands. I think we were broke a million at this point for veterans charities. It's like, no, no, he isn't. But you have enough money and you can lie loud Enough, you know, people aren't going to.

Host

How that's legal. How's it legal, like to do something to, to spend money. Fill the public airways with things that are verifiably false.

Nick

Great question.

Zach

Very good point. Because when he, the second go around when all this stuff happened, the text messages were published, it was on NBC Nightly News, I was at my house, I just like took a photo of it. I was like, oh my God, like they're talking about Tony. And all those things happened. Still, he wasn't stepping down. I remember there was a push and there I found about out about this from Chris Jacobs, a friend of ours, that there was a photo we all took somewhere and it was in a Rolling Stone article and it labeled Brandon as a neo Nazi.

Host

A neo Nazi? Yeah.

Zach

Which is.

Nick

And their, their logic of why he was a neo Nazi was because Brandon makes YouTube videos on guns, a lot of which are either weird, historically interesting, like one off, like experimental stuff. There's not a lot of or historic guns that had like a big significance on. Like this gun was revolutionary to firearms because of xyz, yada, yada yada. Yeah. Amongst all of his videos which he covers all of, he has covered some guns from Germany in World War II.

Host

That was enough.

Nick

And talks about how, you know, the MG42, the machine gun that the Nazis used was revolutionary for heavy machine guns. Because it fucking was. But because he made a video talking about a Nazi gun and saying it's a good gun. Because objectively it is. Yeah, he's a Nazi. Because if the Nazis did anything and you liked it, you must also be a Nazi.

Host

Nuts.

Nick

Yeah, that was, that was their logic.

Host

I mean, they were literally fitted by Hugo Boss.

Zach

Yeah.

Host

I don't see anyone not wearing. You know what I mean? Like, that's crazy.

Zach

Not to mention his name is Brandon Herrera. So they wouldn't like them. I, you know, it was a, it was a stretch. I mean, he, he, his grandmother literally escaped Nazi Germany. We've all met her, she's a lovely lady. She even walked back from France when she was 14. So like her family literally fought against the Nazis.

Host

Wow.

Zach

And so like, but it didn't matter. Like, none of these things mattered. And so like, eventually, like, I think his, his staff or whatever, they got it all taken down. But like it was just like photos of all of us, like hanging out, like doing the podcast or like just like random Instagram things that were out there and they're like, neo Nazi Brandon Herrera.

Nick

There was, there was the one where he said, God what was it? Somebody brought? Because, like, the running joke on the Internet is I hate Communism. So we had a guest, come on that brought me the Communist Manifesto as a gift. That funny. Haha.

Zach

And you keep it.

Nick

They got on the. I already had. I have a copy. I gotta read it, you know, and

Zach

say, yeah, I gotta learn the end.

Host

Know your enemy.

Nick

So that brought up, you know, the Mein Kampf or whatever, and Brandon said that he owned a copy. He also owned a copy of the Communist Manifesto. And then he listed off like 10 other books that he also had copies of. And he goes, have you ever read it? It reads like a dude schizo posting on the Internet, like, Hitler was clearly crazy. And then he goes, but watch, they're not going to add that part. They're going to cut that out and then just say that I own a copy of Minecamp. And like, literally right, exactly right where they did. He called where they were going to cut it and put that in the ad. And it's like, that's not. Holy shit.

Zach

Yeah.

Host

You just shouldn't be allowed to do that. And it's also crazy because I don't know when this stopped, but, like, my dad was in College in the mid-80s. They assigned mein Kampf for. For classes to have to read it, to do a breakdown of, like, what sociopathy looks like. It used to be like that. Apparently that used to be a thing. And then at some point it was like, not only are they not, hey, signing it uk, you don't want that on your Amazon.

Deuce

What if.

Nick

What if we expose people to this and then explain to them why it's so fucking stupid and horrible, and then if it ever tries to happen again, they'll be able to identify it and know that it's stupid and horrible.

Host

100.

Nick

You know what I mean? Like, but now the answer is to just bury your head in the sand, pretend that the problem can never happen, and get mad if anybody tries to educate you, it's perfect.

Zach

But yeah, the reason they're attacking him is because he doesn't have any of the traditional levers. You know, he has money, he has power.

Nick

They're attacking him because he's exactly the guy that I said he's supposed to be.

Zach

Yeah, that's what he's supposed to be.

Nick

Independently successful. He's independently already got a bunch of money. He runs multiple successful businesses. He doesn't need people's money to get bought out. And they fucking hate that. Yeah.

Zach

So, like, how do we manipulate him? He's like, you can't you can't. And they're like, we're just gonna call you a Nazi. And he's like, a Mexican. They're like, all right, we'll call you a neo Nazi.

Nick

I'll say it louder.

Host

Like, yeah, yeah, I see. And I have zero interest in ever going anywhere near politics or whatever. I don't think people would like me over there in any way, shape or form. But, like, you know, I see some of these guys who will get labels like that. And you said. You said his grandma literally, like, survived World War II.

Zach

Literally.

Host

Yeah, literally. Like, if that actually happened, because it's one thing to be lied about and stuff, but, like, then when it's something personal to you and they're saying like, you're the opposite, I would not deal with that well. I would just use it.

Zach

Good.

Nick

That's what we need, though.

Zach

Yeah.

Nick

Unpopular opinion. I want to go back to the time where it's not a bunch of 70 year olds that don't understand how to connect to a fucking WI FI router running the country, trying to explain to them what the fuck AI and why it's important. And then I want. I want guys like you, and I want people getting on the floor of Congress being like, let's fucking run it right now. Like, I want to see you guys throwing hands.

Zach

Yeah.

Nick

Like, that's when shit was getting done.

Host

Yeah. Well, what's that one got the. The Treasury Secretary is fucking throwing hands with everyone these days. You seen that?

Nick

I saw the.

Host

He's like, beat up Elon beat up some other guy. Another guy, like, they had to separate him from.

Zach

Really?

Deuce

Yeah.

Zach

Is that real?

Host

I. I swear to God it's real.

Nick

I've seen the clip of the one guy being like, we can take this outside. And he goes, okay, pop up. Let's go. He, like, gets up.

Zach

That's Mark Wayne Mullen and the head of Teamsters.

Host

Oh, he threatened the head of Teamster.

Zach

Yeah. And he's like. He's like, we can set us outside. And he's like, we sure can. And like, he's like, all right, cool, Pop off. And I was like, come on, dude.

Host

I think a little popping off would be good. Yeah. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant has been involved in several high profile internal clashes with the administration, Bill Pulte, Elon Musk, and we can't. Every time we ask about this, I've gone to look for it. It's like almost a leader from the Internet. There's another one. There was a guy, like, at the beginning of the Iran War that he. That he not pulte. It was another one that he, like, beat the out of him back there.

Nick

Good.

Host

That's one tough.

Nick

That's what I want.

Host

Yeah, he's.

Nick

That's what I want.

Host

You can throw it around.

Zach

Think about how much cooler filler busters would be if they were just running fades the whole time.

Nick

I want. I want to have to, like, be taken into consideration weight classes when I'm voting for politicians. Like, you know what I mean?

Zach

Yeah.

Nick

Iowa needs a heavyweight.

Host

Like, sorry, is Iowa gonna get a heavyweight? You're gonna think about doing it.

Nick

We got. No, we'll see. We got. We got Zach Lawn running for governor right now.

Zach

So what's his story?

Nick

Zach Lawn is like, literally just a farmer from Iowa. His family's been there since forever. Like, showed up in a covered wagon and helped build the state. Love that family. Fought in the Civil War. Like, all. He's got this huge family history and which side Iowa fought for. The North.

Host

Okay.

Nick

So making sure. Yeah. Iowa never had slaves.

Host

Imagine comes out south, will rise again.

Nick

So

Zach

vote for me for governor.

Nick

Sorry, but no. Iowa's got. I think we're the only or either the only state or one of two states that has a rising cancer rate in the United States of America. And we have, like, the highest cancer rates in the world. And it's because glyphosate Iowa. Yeah. Iowa is the most. I guess the term would be like, terraformed plot of land on the planet. Like, Iowa used to be all prairies with tall grass, and now it's all corn everywhere, brother. And the shit they spray on the corn gets in the groundwater and it's fucking up everything. Nitrates, glyphosate. And his whole platform is, we need to quit letting them do this. There's safer ways to do it. He's literally running on the platform of cancer is bad.

Host

Yeah.

Nick

And the. I think it was the Des Moines Register. They had, like, a Democratic journalist basically.

Zach

Pissed answer is actually good.

Nick

No, no. To their credit, they were pissed off at the Democratic Party. They were like, how in the. Did you let a Republican beat you to. This is like, historically speaking, this is a Democrat progressive issue. Progressive issue.

Zach

Like, well, the environment.

Deuce

Environment.

Nick

We want to, you know, be. Do the healthy thing, even if it doesn't make profits. Like, historically speaking, that would be a Democrat talking point. And they're like, how did you let this guy beat you to it? Because now he's the cancer's bad candidate. And I don't know how to run against that. Yeah, I can't say it's good.

Host

That's crazy. But so they have, like, the highest rise and rate of it and. Yeah, when did that. You know, Because I think that's one thing, especially, like, someone who's been from the east coast my whole life. I'm from Jersey. It is called the Garden State. We have some great farms and stuff here, but we got a little bit of everything. Right. And I'm from less of, like, the farm area, if you will. But obviously, you look at middle America, this is the ground zero of producing in this country and getting all. Everything into your food store, like, that's supposed to be good for you and all that. When did it start to get, like, out of control with the glyphosate and with all these things? And, like, what was the idea of even bringing these things into the picture when we have human history that worked for so long without it?

Nick

So I'm guessing here. So not all this is completely accurate. So Iowa used to be. Iowa's all prairie. It used to be covered with this prairie grass. It was really tall. Like, historic accounts. When the pilgrims and pioneers and stuff were coming over, they said this grass was so tall that if you were sitting on horseback, you could tie the horse. The grass around the horse's neck. These. This grass has root Systems that's, like 10 times longer than the grass itself. And I've seen it in museums. It's like, three stories long, this massive root system going down. It's like 30ft. Yeah, it's. It's insane how deep these roots go. Well, we got rid of all those roots, and that stuff's been there for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. The grass dies. The soil absorbs all the nutrients from that plant. And that went on forever. So Iowa and the Midwest has, like, some of the most fertile growing ground on the planet. Corn takes all the nitrogen out of the ground. So for a long time, you would do crop rotations, and that's why Iowa is known most for corn and soybeans. So you rotate. Your field is like, corn, soybean, corn, soybean, corn, soybean. Because the corn takes all the nitrogen out of the ground, the soybeans puts nitrogen back in the ground, so you would rotate. And my guess, this is where I get into what I don't know. My assumption is with ethanol and everything else, it became a lot more profitable to grow corn, because who the eats soybeans, right? So they figured, oh, we can just pump nitrogen into the ground with chemicals, and then we don't need to grow soybeans to put that nitrogen back into the ground.

Host

It's like a drug they became reliant on.

Nick

So then now Iowa's predominantly corn. Even when I moved There, you know, 15 years ago, I would see way more soybean fields or like different times a year, different crop.

Host

Yeah, Dave just pulled it out. This is the root you're talking about?

Nick

Yeah, so I mean that's the root system of this prairie grass that they had in Iowa going on for thousands of years. And that's why the ground there's Iowa dirt doesn't look like dirt and like dirt in the rest of the country is like brown. Yeah, Dirt in Iowa is like black, like dark black. So I mean, it's just the soil is good. But then, I don't know, it became profitable with ethanol and everything else to just grow corn. So now they're just pumping chemicals into the ground, spraying shit.

Host

And now when we're talking about potentially, you know, where people are aware of this kind of thing, we want to get rid of stuff like that. We're doing it at a time where we fucking inflated the dollar six ways to Sunday. You know, people can't afford to buy a home anymore. People are making financial decisions as to whether or not to make a kid. We're funding all these wars, but can't feed the poor and everything. And so if you as far. And this is a 30,000 foot in the air view of it, when you go to unwind stuff like this, there does have to be some short term financial pain, you know, five, 10 years, something like that, to readjust the industry. And you're gonna like to me, I hate to be a cynic, but it's like they're going to keep kicking the can down the road because no one wants to have eat that and then lose on a Tuesday in November.

Zach

Yeah, I heard RFK talk about it on Rogan that they're looking into robots that shoot lasers at bugs.

Nick

Dude, they look dope. Have you seen them?

Zach

I haven't seen them.

Nick

It's a giant trailer basically that they pull behind a tractor. It looks like a solar panel laying down flat. It sits, it's just a trailer, but it, it looks, it's like a big metal and it's got wheels and it's got AI and cameras on it and lasers everywhere. And you just drive it over the crops and it's like a Star wars battle scene. It's just shooting lasers at little bugs. Bug zaps it and they just drive it over the field, and it kills everything.

Zach

This is talking.

Nick

Yeah.

Host

Wait a second.

Nick

These are the robots, and it's like, this is what we could be using instead of spraying chemicals that give you cancer on our fields.

Zach

So what he. What he said on the episode is that it's something that HHS is looking into. The problem is cost. But until this is, like, up and running, and even they've, like, figured out the cost, if they just pull the rip cord right now and take out glyphosate, it'll collapse our food industry because we have nothing else. So it's kick the can. Yes. But it does give me hope that he's, like, actually looking into it, because from what I understand, he has a history of doing really good. He cleaned up the water out here, right? Isn't that what he did here?

Host

Yeah, the Hudson.

Zach

Yeah, he cleaned up. When everyone else was like, nah, don't do it. He was like, I'm gonna do it.

Host

Yeah. He's a light. He's a long time. You can definitely say he's a longtime environmentalist and, you know, also jacked.

Zach

He is, dude, I'm gonna work out till I'm dead. Yeah. Like, because of him, like, everyone's like, oh, he's not that strong. I'm like, dude, he's 70.

Host

He's. Yeah, he's like 72.

Zach

Or. He's 72. And I saw him. What was it? I think it was working out with Kid Rock, but, like. But I did see him, like, work out with. Oh, it was Michael Hearn. He was a Mike o'.

Nick

Hearn.

Host

Yeah, cold gym.

Zach

He pops top. He's in jeans, and he's repping on incline bench at 72, 135.

Host

I'm like, that's good.

Zach

That's crazy. Yeah, most people in their 20s and 30s can't do that. And your papa is doing it. I mean, yeah, fast Forward when I'm 70. Dude, I'm going to be obnoxious of here.

Nick

What is up with you can't pump your own gas here. Oh, yeah.

Zach

What's that about?

Host

Oh, you. You're unaware of this.

Nick

What is.

Zach

No, we live in America.

Nick

I don't trust any state that doesn't let me me pump my own gas.

Deuce

I know.

Zach

Listen, you can't bump your gassy.

Host

Don't knock it before you try it. It's actually a very nice luxury in this state.

Nick

Which side of the civil war did you guys fight on? I'm not pumping my own gas.

Host

Just hear me out. Listen, like, when I drive over To Pennsylvania or into New York. I'll. I'll sit at the gas station for a minute and forget.

Zach

I'm like, oh, oh, you got gas? Ptsd?

Host

No, because I'm like.

Zach

I'm like, where the.

Host

Is the guy? And then he doesn't come by, and I'm like, oh, right. I'm in a different state. I pump it. But, like, when you're here and you can just pull up, like, if you go to a Wawa and, like, you want to go in there, you want to get your coffee, get a couple bananas or something, like, you just pull up, you hand the guy your card,

Zach

you come back, you give a stranger your credit card, and you just leave.

Host

It's amazing. This camera's everywhere. Oh, you know, dude, you don't like that.

Nick

Europeans about that a lot. I didn't know that about, like, Europeans. When they come over here, a lot of them, they say it's really weird at restaurants that Americans give their credit card to the waiter or waitress, and they take the credit card away to run the transaction.

Host

They think that's weird.

Nick

Apparently that's weird to them.

Host

Well, they do. In Europe, they do always bring the thing to the table and they tap it right in front of you. I mean, they're doing.

Nick

That's.

Zach

That's fine. You can also look and be like, oh, there's like, $300 from oh, Charlies or whatever.

Nick

I just don't think that they realize this is America and we'll throw hands over. Because that's the same thing in France, where they were like, americans are trying to fight the pickpockets, and the pickpockets aren't used to handling that. Usually it's like a game. If we catch you, they just give you your stuff back. And the Americans are just beating the. Out of people.

Host

Dude, dude, you seen Tyler Oliver's content on that with the pickpockets? Tyler, you. You've heard of him. He's huge on YouTube. But he does. He has one series that he does where he goes to different cities in Europe and goes after the scammers and everything.

Zach

I think I know who you're talking about.

Host

So he. We were back in Rome a couple weeks ago, and he actually hit me up on something separate. And I told him. I said, dude, I forgot to tell you this. In December when I was here, and now we were just thinking again, when I was here, but when I lived in Rome 12 years ago, it was the safest city ever. The one thing was when you'd go on the Bridges, there'd be pickpockets and scammers. And so you always had to like walk across with your hands like this. Now you go on a bridge over there. Ever since he was there, you can't find one dude. I was like, I think you scared them all off. Because he'll like tackle them and while he's videoing them, like scammer, scammer. And they. They don't like him.

Zach

Hell yeah.

Nick

Good.

Host

That's what I'm saying.

Nick

Like he solved the problem.

Zach

Yes, but what's the reasoning behind having people pump your gas as opposed to you doing it?

Host

It's just a really nice service.

Zach

We're a great state. It's like a lull, right?

Host

It is. I believe it actually. Can we check that thief. I'm pretty sure it is codified. Like you have to have one.

Zach

I'm just curious what the legislation was. Oh, I.

Nick

Can I guess. Can I guess? This was a hundred percent like some union when cars were coming out.

Zach

That's ah.

Nick

All the. All the union guys that feed the Haiti or horse at the bar are going to be out of a job. They got to learn how to pump gas. And then we need to make sure they keep their jobs because we don't want to lose those.

Host

Okay, here we go. So under the Retail Gas Dispensing Safety act. It was. That's such a gay name. But you know, whatever. It is illegal for a customer to pump their own gas in Jersey. It's the only state in the US that still maintains this band. The reason the law was originally passed in 1949 due to safety hazards and fire concerns associated with dispensing flammable liquids. You know, we do smoke a lot of cigarettes.

Nick

You guys are.

Host

That could be why.

Nick

It's like your elected officials said, I don't trust these fucking idiots with flammable liquid.

Host

You're telling you you can't trust these

Zach

civilians with the gas pump. And they'll get all confused.

Host

But once they. Once you like get used to it, it is like a drug. And you're like, this is very nice. It's very convenient for your day.

Nick

Yeah.

Host

And we still know how to pump.

Nick

Like when I go to. Yeah. Once you get used to the big brother state and the government, everything is very comfortable. Very comfortable.

Zach

You're literally one step away from like

Nick

everybody else is worried about, like everybody else is worried about them putting auto kill switches in cars so they could just shut your car down and prevent travel. New Jersey government's like, we'll just Fire the gas pump guys and nobody will know what the fuck to do.

Zach

Yeah, well, I mean a lot of

Host

times like, you know, it is like an Indian guy or a Pakistani guy or something. So it doesn't feel like big Brother. Like I don't feel like they would be.

Nick

We don't mind if that guy catches fire. Is that what you're saying? We know that's what I heard you say.

Zach

Yeah. This is crazy work. Is it a 24 hour situation?

Host

Yes.

Zach

There's literally a guy on post like

Host

a military graveyard shift. If I go get gas before a long drive at like 3:30 in the morning or 4, there's a dude waiting for me saying what do you want like 89 regular? Let's go. Dang.

Zach

I don't know. I feel like you're just one step away from being like you're over your monthly allotment. Go back home.

Host

I mean it was a 1949 law. We've been good on this.

Zach

I'm just saying like, it just feels like it's one, it's one step away from being like let's cap those what

Nick

the fucking balls on your government in 1949 to be like, oh, oh. All you guys that just won World War II that were literally having jeeps mailed to you in boxes and assembling them in the field and driving them into combat. You, you just got home, got your life together and now you can afford a car. We're going. I don't trust you. To pump gas. No, I'm not buying it.

Host

Hold on a minute. They more said we're going to give you a nice service. You don't have to pump your gas.

Zach

This is hella finessing.

Host

Listen, I'm a finesse. I like this. You're trying to take it away.

Nick

The cope is real. I do.

Host

And I'm like the bad like you know, always worried about big brother with everything. But I feel like you're, you're roping this in.

Nick

I think, I think you're coming to realize that they got you and you're mad about it.

Host

I don't, I don't think so.

Nick

Yeah, this is my new goal.

Host

Is this like a Peter? Was he alive in 1949?

Zach

Was Peter Thiel resident of Argentina? Yeah.

Host

Yeah. I just had my boy pop in here.

Nick

Hold on. No, no, don't, don't, don't change it. Now, are you allowed to plug in your own Teslas or do you have to have a guy for that too?

Host

Fuck it. No, you can plug in your own Tesla.

Deuce

Is.

Host

I'll show you. It's right up.

Nick

I mean, power can kill just like fire.

Host

It can kill just like.

Nick

If you watch Avatar Power is more dangerous than fire.

Host

But actually, here's. Here's a mind for you. I think that's New Jersey saying, don't get a Tesla because you got to do it yourself. So we're going to stay on gasoline.

Zach

It's the last state to do it.

Host

Just turn that around on. You see, they're trying to disincentivize electric vehicles. They're trying to say we do gasoline.

Nick

Don't threaten me with a good time. The first. The first politician to run on V8s and no carburetor, no emission standards is getting my vote.

Host

Like, come to New Jersey where you have gas attendants. And that's what they're running on. Apparently. I don't know. Supposed to back me up here?

Zach

No, I. I like. I want to be able to pump

Host

my own gas, if I'm being honest. You son of a. That's why.

Zach

That's why I was keeping quiet. I didn't want to, you know, but

Nick

it's a pain in the ass.

Host

Well, that's just stamping on me while I'm drowning.

Nick

Yeah. Sorry. I'm not for it. I don't want to. I don't want to bring my car

Host

here, but you are a big fan of Peter Thiel.

Nick

I don't fucking. Which one is that?

Host

That's the Reptile.

Zach

More specifically, it's the guy who funds Clavic.

Nick

No, which billionaire is he? How do you make a billion dollars?

Host

PayPal? Mafia, Facebook board invest, founders fund?

Nick

What's his AI project? Which one is he? Is he Palantir Chat? GPT?

Host

I'm trying to think if there's another one that he's on the board of, right?

Deuce

Yeah.

Host

He's got to be on a lot.

Zach

He's honestly been angel investing more than anything the past 20 years.

Nick

Where are you at with AI? You're more down these conspiracy rabbit holes than I am.

Host

I am.

Nick

I would assume. Really? I would assume. I walked through your office.

Host

What was in my office?

Nick

There's, you know, whiteboards. There's whiteboards and red strings everywhere.

Zach

I thought we were in Philly. Look like Charlie over there.

Host

My God. I think AIs in this sense. Like, I think it's like every innovation before it in one way, and then unlike it. The way it's like it is that people have always been afraid of the next big technology, and they say it's going to end the world and yada, yada, yada, but it just over time, even if there's pain, like it creates overall progress. And I think there's a lot of great things AI can be used for. The way it's not like previous technology though, is because the exponential curve of technology we are now talking about something that has the potential, if it's seen through, to be able to outthink a human being. And, and then there's a lot of weird, slippery slopes on that.

Nick

I'm be honest with you. Every AI I've ever with can already outthink a lot of human beings.

Host

Right? That's the scary part to me. It's like. And who has their hand, their fingers on these triggers? Like, do you think Sam Altman seems like a regular schmo? I don't.

Nick

You're mad that AI is too smart. I'm mad because too dumb.

Zach

Come to Jersey.

Host

They're smarter over here, apparently.

Zach

All right, maybe they're smarter because they haven't been inhaling gas.

Nick

We are not going to sit here. I'm not going to sit here and be a at the gas pump being like, I feel so smart right now.

Host

I've never had someone fight. It's always the opposite. People are like, yo, people, pump your gas.

Nick

I will never in my life pull up with my car and look another man in the eyes be like, yeah, bro, pump my tank. It's not happening. Stick it in. You do it. I'll watch while I sit in this chair. Not happening. I'll be pumping the gas.

Zach

Do you guys have fun? All right, I'm gonna go.

Host

Yes. Bush. Okay.

Nick

She full. All right, I'm gonna take off.

Zach

Do like.

Deuce

We good?

Host

All right, thank. No, I don't need a receipt.

Zach

No, no eye contact. It's weird. Let's go.

Host

I think you got to make a tik tok before you leave.

Nick

Do you, do you tip the guy? Is that.

Host

No, you don't. That's one like, I'm a huge tipper. That's one thing you don't tip the gas station attention.

Nick

Cuz that's his job.

Host

They're paid a few full salary. It's not like a waiter or something like that. Those guys you tip the out of.

Zach

Don't tell me you tip the gas attendant. You tip. Oh, no, no.

Host

Okay.

Zach

But sometimes they'll, they'll, they'll hit the hood for you or the, the windshield

Host

when they do that.

Deuce

There you go.

Host

You might do that though.

Deuce

Yeah.

Host

No, not anymore. Someone do the window squeegee. In probably, like, 10 years.

Zach

Yeah. There's no class anymore.

Host

Yeah. And that. The thing that pisses me off about that is, like, I didn't ask for that. Maybe I like my window dirty. That's why I have window fluid. Like, you don't need to come do that just to get more money out of me. I'm already spending. Well now it's like $7 a gallon just to get.

Zach

Seriously?

Host

It's like five. But, you know, it got up to seven in California just to get gas because it's more expensive at the moment. It's like, I. You know, I already got a big bill coming. You're really. This is really making me rethink things.

Nick

He's mad because he wants to do the cleanup. I get it.

Host

This is like a giant. The whole thing. Did you pump your own gas in the military?

Nick

Yeah.

Host

They didn't have, like, a designated.

Zach

No, they have stations all around bases.

Nick

They have. They have guys whose job it is to drive, like, the giant fuel tank truck.

Host

Right.

Nick

But yeah. No, usually you're pumping your own gas.

Host

That's a gas. Because they're getting you the gas. And this. The least you can do is.

Nick

Well, it's kind of like the semi truck that brings the gas to the gas station, and then you still pump your own.

Host

Okay. All right, I got you. I got you. How long have you been out of the military, though?

Nick

Me? 20.

Deuce

12.

Host

2012. So you got in. Do you get in 18?

Nick

17?

Host

No.

Nick

Yeah. I was still in high school.

Host

Was that something you always wanted to do?

Deuce

No.

Host

How'd you end up poor?

Nick

Gotta pay for college somehow. Thought I had to go to college, so joined my senior year.

Host

Where did you live at the time?

Nick

Iowa.

Host

So I thought you said moved to Iowa. 15. Well, that would be like 20.

Nick

Yeah, I moved to Iowa when I was, like, 12. 13, okay. From California, so I finished high school and everything in Iowa.

Host

Where'd you live in California State?

Nick

All over Northern California. Chico, Orland, Orville, so.

Host

And why'd you move, though, Iowa?

Nick

Just family. Decided to move. I was a kid. Moved with them, and then got to spend the rest of the time in Iowa. Joined a National Guard while I was still in high school. Shipped off. Did all the training for that right after and then tried to go to nursing school. Failed that miserably. Not my thing.

Host

You as a nurse, bro?

Nick

I was like, I'm a combat medic. That's close to nursing. That'll be similar. It's not.

Zach

That is how they pitch it, actually. Yeah.

Nick

That'll Be similar. No, it isn't. No, no.

Host

You know who you're dealing with.

Nick

Well, yeah, Healthcare state. You were. I thought I was real good at giving IVs. I didn't realize that everybody I was trying to give IVs to was 20 to 30 year old men that were in reasonably good shape and I didn't have to go through 4 inches of fat to find a vein. You know what I mean? Like, it's just everything's hard for everything sucks. It's not a good time. Wasn't for me. Yeah.

Host

A lot of different personalities you're dealing with on that for sure.

Nick

Not exciting.

Host

So you, then you became an electrician?

Nick

Yeah. Quit nursing school, went and joined an apprenticeship, became a journeyman electrician. Did that for almost 10 years and

Host

then I turned into this, then it

Nick

turned into this YouTube thing and now I'm here, Now I'm in, in New Jersey where somebody's pumping my gas for me. I'm at the peak of luxury.

Host

That's right. It is cool though because like, I think that there's been a recent movement over the last five, six years that I've seen more to where like trades that by the way are like really good jobs. Electrician, plumber, all these things that are, have less people going into them. They're starting to say like, hey, more people should look at that instead of spending fucking $200,000 for a gender studies degree.

Nick

Yeah, absolutely. And like the other thing is like the most people don't think about is it gets pitched to all these kids as like, you need to find what you're passionate about and then go to college and get a degree for that. I got a newsletter. You don't fucking even know who you are, let alone what you're passionate about or what you want to do. Trying to figure that out when you're 16 and plan the rest of your life. Very small margin for success. You have no fucking idea what you like. You've been hanging around the same people exactly your age that grew up in extremely similar circumstances. You think you, you like, like the same shit. In 10 years you're going to look back at what you were into in high school and cringe and be like, I can't believe I did that. I can't believe I wore those clothes. I can't believe I listened to that music. I can't believe any of it. Like, why would you stage your whole life off of what you thought when you were 16, 17 years old?

Host

Because that's what the system sold you is actually Like a modicum of truth. And it's never, I don't think it's ever been that way.

Nick

Right. But like the, the trades in particular is I don't think I would be here if I wasn't an electrician first. And the reason I say that is I can call my boss that I had and I can fly back to Iowa and I could probably finish out the workday if I want my old job back. Like, I still have a journeyman electrician's license. I can go anywhere in the country and get a job making six figures right now. You know what I mean? So like me being able to quit my job and be like, I got a wife and kids and I'm about to quit my job to be a fucking YouTuber, that sounds like it's going to fail for sure. But I had the certain level of confidence and knowing, hey, if this doesn't work out, worst case scenario, I go back to where I am right now. Yeah, my life can't get worse from what I'm already doing. I'm living the worst case scenario, it can only get better, so I might as well try. And I tried and it worked. And if it didn't, I would have went back to being an electrician and I could have said, I tried, you know what I mean? So like, when you get these trade licenses, you become a journeyman electrician, a journeyman plumber, any of this stuff, you have that for the rest of your life, you can always fall back on that. Like, my new minimum wage is a six figure salary with full benefits. That's amazing. You know what I mean? And like, you can get. If I wish, like, I don't wish I didn't join the military. But like, had I known that this was an option, I probably wouldn't have, because the whole reason I went was to go and pay for college. And if I would have known that at 18 years old, I could have joined an apprenticeship and been a journeyman electrician at 22 making six figures. Why wouldn't you do that? And then you have that for the rest of your life. You're still 22 years old now. You, if you want to go to college, you can go to college and pay for it, right? And if you don't like it, guess what, you can quit and keep doing what you're doing and dick off and try different stuff till you do find what you're really passionate about and then you can go do that.

Host

I don't think they want people to

Nick

know that it's Insane.

Host

You know, there's not a lot of jobs that are, like you just said, where it's like, you know, you can come back to it because you have that skill. There's no bullshit, people. If the job needs to be done, you can be plugged in and do it. All these other. This whole corporate mindset is like, well, you got to rise through the ranks. You go from fucking associate to VP and this and that. And if you stop, God forbid, some girl goes home and has a kid and decides to take a couple years off, she's, like, done in the chat. You know what I mean? Like, there's something about that that just feels like that's the fucking plan. And I think that we're in a moment where enough people are waking up to that that maybe it can change for the next generation. I really believe that, you know, you see more people do what you did, or more people actually, like, take a chance on a career and things like that. Go out and try to make something. Like that's what the American dream is supposed to be. I think, like, either or, you know.

Zach

Yeah, I hated corporate life. I wasn't any good at it. Yeah, I was really, really bad at it. I can't stress that enough. Like, it's just. Especially coming from the military. The problem I had was, like, in the military, at least when I was in. You know, when you're in, like, combat arms, like the infantry and doing stuff like that, and they can test this, too, is you work until the job's done, and then that's it. Like, you go home. Like, you get the job done.

Host

You go home.

Zach

You're training, you go home. And so, like, I treated most of corporate life like that. If I was done, I was done. And they'd be like, no, no, you're.

Host

You're not done.

Zach

You got to stay. And I'm like, I don't understand.

Host

I gotta sit underneath this white noise.

Zach

Sit underneath the. You have a suit on, though.

Nick

Well, that's the other part that.

Zach

You know what I'm saying?

Nick

Like, I. I completely agree because, like, when I was an electrician, it was like, don't get me wrong, there was times where, like, I was dicking off at work, but, you know, I was with the boys. We were doing pranks, whatever, with each other. But, like, for the most part, it was like, if I'm somewhere as an electrician, there's work to be done and I can do something. And I really enjoyed, like, showing up to an empty plot of land. And by the time I Leave. There's a house there that's got the lights on. Like, I enjoyed acing that progress, but I enjoyed there always being work to do. And I have a bunch of friends that work in corporate. And, like, I have a buddy with a history degree that's a banker, like, and he's like, yeah, I have to work. Not him particularly, but, like, these people are like, oh, I have to actually work, like, maybe six hours a week. And the rest of the time, it's kind of just me fiddle around on the computer. I just have to punch the clock for eight hours a day. Whereas, like, a lot of these trade jobs I have, my boss would be like, hey, here's what we got to do today. I bid it for eight hours of work. If it takes longer, it takes longer. I got to pay overtime. If you get it done in fucking six hours and it's done right, you want to go home, Fuck it. Fuck off. I don't care. Yeah, like, this is what we're doing today.

Host

Too much sense.

Nick

Yeah. You know, and, like, I've. I've kept that same mentality with all the employees that I've hired that work for me personally. I was like, here's how much I'm willing to pay. Here's my expectations. And they're like, okay, what hours do I need to work? I don't give a. If you can get this done in four hours, great, perfect. Wonderful. Yeah, go on with your life. And a lot of the people that have, like, come from those corporate backgrounds are, like, shocked or think it's like a test or I'm with them. It's like, I don't. I need this job done. I'm willing to pay this much money. If you can get it done and work a second job and make even more money, great. I'm happy for you. Do it.

Host

Well, Zach, you were saying, like, in the military, they. It's just common sense. Like, you get it done. Yeah, that's it. I'm hearing that. And how you're describing this, though, like, it. It sounds like your entire baseline, whether it be, like, why nursing didn't work out and then why you were effective, like moving into the electrician business. Like. Like, one plus one equals two. That's totally from, like, kind of being ingrained into you at a young age that you're working in the military, where it's. Let's go. This, this, that done.

Zach

Yeah, yeah. It's just. It's. It's. It's very simple. Like, one of the jobs I had was at A company that doesn't exist anymore. And it was 2016. Trump had just been elected. And in healthcare, the Affordable Care act had been rolled out at that point. So like, smaller hospitals were being absorbed by bigger organizations. Some just didn't end up existing anymore. Community based hospitals. But like, I had just left business school and I show up and there's a generation of people who don't understand what a PDF is and they, they literally had no idea what I was doing any given moment. Like, one time I got pulled aside.

Nick

You were working for Congress?

Zach

No, no, they were, they were all too old for Congress, which is bad. But like, I have this very clear memory of like, we're in a meeting and like I have my laptop and I'm just like typing away on Google Docs. Somebody says something, you know, I make a note, call this person, whatever. And then I got pulled aside by my boss and he was like, handy to talk to you about your meeting etiquette. And I was like, oh, what did I say?

Host

Meeting etiquette.

Nick

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Zach

And I was like, did I say something? I was like, could they see my tattoos? Like I, you know, I could look like Post Malone now and everyone wouldn't care. But 2016, it was not the same, right? Especially in boomer corporate America. So I was like, what I do? And he's like, well, you're always on your computer. And I was like, oh yeah, I was, I was taking notes. And he's like, yeah, but you're on a computer. And I go, yeah, I take notes on Google Docs and like I type it there and it's everywhere, it's saved and it's done. And he's like, that's not how we do it here. We do is we write down all of our notes on paper and then

Nick

you gotta go thinly slice a fucking tree.

Zach

Yeah. And then he's this, I'll never forget this ptsd. He looks at me and he goes. And then we go back and digitize it.

Host

Oh my God.

Zach

And I was like, sir, with all due respect, I'm not doing that. And he's like, well, that's how we do it. And I go, I am not going to write stuff down on paper. And then after a meeting, a lot like 15 to 30 minutes, this is how they plan their day. So a 30 minute meeting will become an hour on deal, an hour ordeal. So now you can see why the company doesn't exist anymore more. And, and I, and I knew it. It was, it was just like, it was so rough. And it was things like that all the time. Like, I had to explain to them how to, like. Like they wanted me to digitize everything. And so I went to this, like, $300,000 scanner, printer, copy or whatever. I took all the old files they'd kept, moved multiple different buildings. I just put them in there. And I was like, we put this in here and it organizes it. You can search it and pull up the file. And they were just like, wow, that's crazy. We're just going to keep paper copies. Like, it was just like, one thing after another because I was on the. The, like, cutting edge of technology. Coming. Yeah. Coming into, like, healthcare. And to see people that were actually, like, trying to stop it was. Is like a core memory I'll never forget.

Host

I used to joke because I worked at a bank out of college for the first five years, and it was like, in order. I had to ask for permission to use toilet paper when I took a. That's where the red tape was everywhere. And what was it name of. It was bank of America, Merrill Lynch. And they were.

Zach

I was just kidding. I didn't say.

Host

No, no, I've talked about it before. But they were so handcuffed by a million lawyers in a room, interpreting laws and then creating guidelines that no one could ever break it. It's like if one person, an enormous bank, ever breaks a rule, everyone, regardless of their job role, that's now, like, creates a new requirement that you have just to be able to get through a hoop. So as an example, I was not allowed to text clients. This is in 2017, 2018, 2019. Like, I'm not allowed to send a text to a fucking client I work with. That's against the rules. And when I went and left the bank, I was telling my boss, who I was really close with, I was like, listen, I'm a liability. Like, yeah, I text people. Okay.

Nick

Like, put that on a shirt. Yeah, I'm a liability.

Host

It's not going to work out. And.

Zach

Sorry.

Host

Just made no sense. Sense. And you see why places like that have had to totally change, like, even how they do business and stuff, because people don't want to work there.

Zach

You know, it's rough. I actually got offered a job at a. What is. Are they called financial centers? So I got offered a job out of grad school by a guy who's like, you could run this financial center. He's like, you could be the. Whatever. And He's. This was 2020, and he's like. And I was just like, I don't know, man. I think banks are kind of going the way of the dodo bird. There's, like, less and less of them. The ATM can literally do everything you need. You can deposit your checks with your phone. And he was like, dude, banks will always exist. And I go, I didn't say that. What I said is, there's not going to be these anymore in a different form. And I don't think he had. He works at any of the banks anymore. Is there just.

Nick

Is there a certain age that people hit where they're just like, that's it. No more new ever. Because, like, I experienced this same thing even working in, like, the trades where, like, some of the older dudes that have been doing this for 30 years, I would work with. And they would just adamantly hate new power tools that were, like, extremely convenient. So, like, as an electrician, you have to cut a lot of, like, metal piping to run wires through emt, rigid conduit, whatever it is. And when I was first an apprentice, they had, you know, recently come out with a portable band saw. It's this big.

Zach

That's awesome.

Nick

It's a band saw that you can cut metal with with a battery from, like, Dewalt or Milwaukee, pick it up with your hand and cut the pipe. Up until then, everything was either a big machine they were cutting it on or a hacksaw. Old guys hated it. I had. I had a couple old guys try to tell me that for my first couple years as an apprentice, they wanted me to cut with a hacksaw anyways because I needed to know how to do it. I was like, I don't need three years of experience to know how to cut something with a hacksaw. Okay. A, I already know how to do it. B, that's stupid.

Zach

I think you need to not doing it.

Nick

Like. Or like, even the difference between a regular hand drill and an impact drill. They hated the impact drill, which was hilarious because I don't know what it was with these older guys. It's like they didn't have. I don't know if they didn't play video games. They didn't have any throttle control to them. It was zero or a hundred. Yeah. So every time they'd go to hit an impact and they'd go too fast and up their. And I was like, just don't squeeze it all the way. That's fine, bro. Just have a little sensitivity. Your poor wife. This is awful. Like, what are we doing here?

Host

Yeah, like. No, I think it's the two. The two themes of what you're saying are people get used to what they did. And also people want other people after them, the young bucks to have to go through what they did too. And so the idea that like, someone like you could come in and be like, hey, we got these really cool new things that can do the job better. They're like, no, no, you got to do it. You got to do it. It's like your old math teacher. It's like, no, you have to show the work all the way too. It's like, but I got the answer that matter.

Nick

I loathe, I loathe the attitude of I did it. You have to suffer through it like I did. I hate it.

Host

I do, too.

Nick

It is the worst attitude for Social Security.

Zach

Here we go.

Nick

This, this is the argument for Social Security of like, I've, I've been getting by the government in this Ponzi scheme my entire life and didn't say anything. And now you have the balls to come in and point out that this is a Ponzi scheme and isn't going to work and it's going to blow up in your face. You need to shut the up and take it just like I did. It's like, no, no, I don't actually, I hate to break it to you. No, I, I, I don't know. I can't.

Zach

When does it run out? 2032, I think.

Host

Still. Can you explain this to people? Why, you know, it it problematic, if you will.

Zach

Why do you call it a ponzy scheme? Is a Ponzi scheme?

Nick

Because it is.

Zach

I know, but explain it for Internet.

Nick

Oh, my God. Okay.

Deuce

Yeah.

Host

Thank you.

Nick

One of the problems you have is in a Ponzi scheme, okay, you have, I don't know, a generation of a lot of people. We'll call it, I don't know, the baby boomers,

Zach

if you had to name it a lot.

Nick

Big number.

Zach

Yeah, big number. Yeah.

Nick

And they start at the bottom of this shape. I don't know, we'll call it a triangle or a pyramid, so to speak. Like, structure. This big population, you will. This big population starts at the bottom and they start paying into Social Security. They think for some reason that the money is going into a savings account or a retirement account, and it's just sitting there waiting for them.

Host

It's not.

Nick

They're taking their money and they're giving it to the older generation above them. Smaller, smaller generation. Okay, not as big. Not baby boomers. Greatest generation. They won World War II. They were awesome. Okay, so they're paying all their money to them, okay, that's fine. And then they have kids, they go down here, but they're a smaller generation also, okay? And all their money goes to the big generation, okay? And then the generation below, that's even smaller. And now, now, after, you know, five generations, the big part is at the top of the pyramid, and there aren't enough people to pay in to fucking get them the money they need.

Zach

So what you're saying, Well, a Ponzi

Nick

scheme is when there's no underlying asset go. So there's no underlying asset with Social Security, there isn't. And then you take all the money from the new investors and pay off the old investors, which is exactly what Social Security is doing.

Zach

It's a Ponzi scheme. Yeah.

Host

How do you fix it?

Nick

You quit doing it.

Host

Just. But pull the rug out and say it doesn't exist anymore.

Nick

You can, if you wanted to do it the right way and taper it off and make it work. First of all, you come out and say, this was stupid. Here's how we're going to fix the problem. And you tell people, hey, we haven't been giving all your money to a fucking checking account. And it's not sitting there anymore. It doesn't fucking exist. Okay? You get a fucking cutoff. First of all, you let people opt in and out of it. Because right now, I've been paying into Social Security since I was 14 years old. If you gave me the option, sign away your rights, we're not going to give you any money back. I'll do it, but you never have to pay Social Security again. And you're just done. I'm signing that shit so fast. Keep the fucking money. Leave me alone.

Host

That would make too much sense, though.

Nick

Exactly.

Zach

Everyone would opt out.

Host

Yeah.

Nick

Everybody else, you taper it off. You say, okay, you're 40. You paid in for this long. We're going to quit collecting Social Security. And then when you reach retirement age, you're going to get this level of benefits to the amount that you paid in a percentage, like you paid in 60% of your working life. You're going to get 60% of Social Security. We highly advise that you, as an adult, take the money you're saving by not paying into Social Security and invest it for your retirement.

Host

Now, here's. And here's the issue. And. Because I. I agree completely, and I think that's the exact way to solve it. But again, it makes too much sense because I remember, like, I was talking with this guy one time, and this is you know, at the beginning of my career, whose literal job was, like, he was a Social Security analyst. And he raised a lot of the same points, like, yeah, this is. The demographics aren't looking. Yeah, but this. But I was like, how do you end it? And he said, the problem is, the minute you come out as a politician, you talk about incentives here and say, I am for ending Social Security.

Nick

You're done.

Host

You're done.

Nick

It's because there's a fundamental misunderstanding, because the amount of people that genuinely have the rebuttal, I paid into it my whole life. That's my money under the notion of it's sitting in a savings account for me. You're trying to take my money. It's like, no, dude, the government already took your money and gave it to other people and then raided it every time they wanted to. To go invade the Middle east. And you sat by and did fucking nothing about it your entire life. I'm sorry. That's not my fault. I didn't do that. Just because you were kicking around letting the government fuck you your entire life doesn't mean I'm obligated to do it, too, for your benefit. Sorry.

Host

100%.

Nick

Like, that sucks. You should probably get a hold of the government that did it. Quit getting mad at me for not wanting to get. And get mad at the person that's you.

Host

Yes.

Nick

Like, that's the analogy I give. Like, if. I don't know if Zach is robbing us. Okay. And Zach comes up to you and is like, give me all your money. And you have 500. And then he robs me, and I only have a hundred dollars. Are you gonna get mad because you got robbed more than me, or are you just gonna get mad at him because he got robbed? No. You're directing your anger like, you only lost $100. Shut the up, bro. Like, no, we both got robbed. That sucks. Let's blame him. But they don't see it that way.

Zach

It does seem to be. I don't know if this is the right word. It does seem that there is a. A generational cognitive dissonance with the baby boomers. I mean, and, you know, I guess

Nick

baby boomers exposed the fault in democracy as a whole.

Zach

Yeah. But they also, you know, caused the opioid crisis, multiple wars, so security collapsing. I mean, we literally. They literally had the world handed on to. To them on the platter. It's just like, don't mess it up. We won the war. Do good. And they're like, we're gonna pump GMOs in the food. We're gonna, we're gonna poison the food and then we're gonna, we're gonna sell heroin through Walgreens because it looks pretty. Because historically, opium has been known to be a good thing. Like, it's, that's, that's like the opioid thing bothers me to this day, especially when comes it in healthcare. I used to see those vultures, you know, they would show up in their high heels and their business suits and they're just like, you know, just looking at doctors like, you want to go on a free trip? All you gotta do is give them clean looking heroin. And like no one, no one blinked. They all were like, oh, it's fine, it's fine. The study said it's good. Oh, who did the study, Jess? You know what I mean? Like, they did the study. Oh, so it's an internal study. Yeah. Doctors wouldn't lie. Why would doctors lie? Apply because they get paid more. Like, it's, it's just all this thing. And so it's like one thing after another. And then the biggest boom they're gonna do is we have to. We're the ones carrying the bill for all of it. They made all of these problems, generational problems. And now looking at us being like, AI is taking jobs. And I'm like, well, you, you killed all the jobs, you killed all the food, you killed all the things. And then it's just kind of like this. It's really weird. Especially when you're in a place of like. And you guys are also in charge of most of the government?

Host

Like, yeah, I think so. Of course, like every generation there's a subset and it's a different number. It's just the way humanity works. But there's a subset of people that are either incompetent, evil, or both. Right. And they certainly have that. But I think when you have two things take over society, which I would argue it has throughout the life of baby boomers, and that those two things being group think and backwards incentives, it causes a passivity and you said it perfectly. A cognitive dissonance.

Zach

Yeah.

Host

To how, you know, oh, there's one little block right here is not just one little block. It's one of a thousand blocks that we're stacking into this entire call. Actually, it's a card into an entire house of cards. And eventually the music's going to stop and someone's going to flick it and the whole thing comes down and they just. When you're putting each card in there, one At a time. It's just human nature. The boiling frog idea. Like you don't think of it that way. And now we're starting to see that frogs getting hot in there. Yeah. And our generation seeing that. And now the anger's directed. I get it.

Nick

The other part is the baby boomers exposed like the flaw in democracy as a whole. Because it's a bigger generation than everybody else. And as a bigger generation, like I said, when you know, you don't really know yourself in high school because you're growing up around other people all the same age, there's certain fads or certain things you want at the same point in time. When you get it, when the new toy comes out at Christmas, everybody wants that new Nerf gun, Everybody wants the new particular bike at the same time, Turbo Man. It's that on a generational level. So as a generation around the same time, everybody wants cheap college and then everybody wants cheap housing and then everybody wants low taxes and then everybody gets towards retirement and then they want benefits like Social Security, which means high taxes. And because they have the bigger voting numbers, they're constantly able to impose what that one generation wants on the rest of society. And they're not even doing it maliciously. They're just coming from the. I'm a person living a day to day life. This is what I see in my life that I need and that's how I'm going to vote. Like, I can't fault him for that, but it exposes the flaw in democracy as a whole. Like what do you do when one generation of people want something at the same time and they have the voting power to get it and it's to the detriment of everybody else and that's what's happening right now.

Host

How would you fix that? Would you do weighted voting or something like that per like year block?

Zach

Again, I don't know.

Nick

First of all, I don't think everybody should be allowed to vote anyways.

Zach

Okay, maybe, maybe that should be like an actual start.

Host

You don't think everyone should be allowed.

Nick

Absolutely not. I can tell you the moment I came to this conclusion, okay, I was at a Verizon. Yeah, I was getting a new phone and it was me. Some other dude not dirty high vis shirt that clearly just got out of off of work. It's like six o' clock in the afternoon. I'm getting my, my photos and stuff transferred onto my new phone and it's like I got the Verizon guy helping me, Verizon guy helping him and a Third Verizon guy just kind of standing there and we're all chatting while things are getting done, and this 60 year old woman comes storming in Verizon with a attitude. She's holding a surge protector, you know, like the power strip with like seven plugins on it. She's holding that and a phone charger in her hand. And she walks up and is like, you sold me this yesterday. And it doesn't work. I'm watching like I'm engaged now. And the Verizon guy's like, what do you mean it doesn't work? Like. Like it won't charge your phone. And she goes, no, I can't even plug it in. And you know how the phone chargers now the prongs fold in because some stepped on it one time, so now they have to fold in so you don't step on them. She grabs it with the prongs folded in and just smacks the two pieces together. Like a caveman that doesn't know how fire works and looks at him and goes, see? And he folds the prongs out and plugs it in. And then she realizes that she's a. And goes, thanks and walks out.

Deuce

Out.

Nick

So, yes, not everybody should be allowed to vote. It was a two piece puzzle with one moving part.

Zach

I have the thought every time I go through tsa and they're like, no sh. No. No belt, no shoes, no laptops. There's signs, there's a guy doing it. 911 happened a ton of years ago and everyone in there is just like, do I, do I wear my belt? Do I wear. Where's. What about my laptop? Sir, do you have a laptop? No, but if I wanted to bring one later, do I need to scan it? No shirt. No. I mean, no shoes, no belt, no laptop. I don't have any shoes. Do you need them? I have. I have Preach. Or like, that's when I'm like, I'm.

Nick

The older I get, the more pro. Barriers to entry I am. That's what I'm trying to tell you. I want barriers day. I don't care what it is at this point. Give me any standard to become a voter.

Host

I want you. I want you to dream with me for a minute.

Zach

I want you to dream.

Host

Dream with me. All right. Dream with me, brother. I want you. I want you to go back about 89 miles from here, give or take. Maybe it's 91.

Nick

I'm gonna have to have somebody pump

Host

my gas and the. You won't, because gas ain't around yet. You're on the other side of the border. I want you to go back to 1776 in a little beer hole in Philadelphia.

Zach

Okay?

Host

I'm not even going into the Constitution in New York. I'm saying before then, when these guys were like, yo, fuck this tyranny.

Nick

Yeah.

Zach

Where type shit. Yeah.

Host

These are the guys that. Then we're just gonna give them the credit. Thirteen years later came to an agreement that, you know, we got this thing set up and people can vote on who their elected representatives are. What do you think they would say about imposing some sort of ban?

Nick

They did that. What are we talking about?

Host

What do you mean they did that?

Nick

In 1776, the Founding Fathers did not fucking be like, everybody gets an equal say. You had to own land. You had to be an American. You had to be invested in the system. You had to have something at stake. You had to be a stakeholder in America. You had to be a landowner. At no point did the Founding Fathers just be like, everybody gets a vote.

Host

But never happened. So they didn't let women vote. They obviously didn't let slaves vote and stuff like that. But I'm saying, like, at the time, the cultural standard was like, men in society are allowed to vote.

Nick

So when land owning men only.

Host

So in 1789, when they. When they double check Constitution, it was

Nick

only double check, almost positive. You had to be a landowner. There was criteria.

Host

Interesting.

Zach

Nick's never wrong.

Nick

There was.

Zach

This is my life.

Nick

There's more criteria on top. What was that criteria to vote when the country was founded. Because it was not just white men. Like, it wasn't just like a racial thing. You had to be a land owning American citizen.

Host

I didn't know that.

Nick

That's why I love the Internet. We can just double check.

Host

That's it. That's why. That's why Deuce here, there's old. I see he's got like a whole timeline of when it was. But we're just trying to go to

Nick

like a nice list.

Host

It's obviously like there were other things, as I said, that they were totally behind on. But just like in general of what was how society viewed it. I don't know. The every man at the time, which excluded people.

Zach

Here we go.

Host

All right, so 1789, white male, virtually universal restriction. So that would. Okay, so age 21 or older, property ownership or taxpaying status. Most states required owning land to vote. A few states allowed taxpayers without property to vote instead of or in addition to land. So you're correct. Several states also imposed religious Tests which required voters to be Protestant or Christian. A few excluded Catholics or Jews from voting or holding the office outright. Free status, enslaved people could not vote. And then it doesn't say women on here, but women couldn't vote either at the time. Residency, typically some minimum period living in the state or country. That's interesting. So they had, they did have restrictions on it.

Nick

Yeah.

Host

So at some point this changes and we get to where everyone can vote. And that kind of takes away my dream scenario.

Nick

Now it's illegal to ask for an ID to vote in California.

Host

That's.

Nick

You don't even have to be an American citizen. That's absurd. It's like, I mean, you, if you just gave me. You got to be an American citizen and you have to. I like, I would like it if you were actually a tax paying member of society.

Host

Yeah.

Nick

I just want to know that you're paying into the system. Okay. And like, I'm willing to give exemptions for people that are genuinely like, actually disabled and can't work a job. Like, sure.

Host

What about Searcher lady? What if she was paying taxes?

Nick

You know what? I'll take it if, if she is. If you were giving me that, like, bro, she works a job and she's a productive member of society. She's just a. I'll take it. It's better than the standards we have now. Do I want some higher standards than that in my dream scenario? Sure. But I'll take any standard you fucking give me at this point because right now there are none.

Host

Right. The no ID thing is crazy. I have never heard a coherent argument for why something.

Nick

Because there isn't one.

Host

There isn't one for why someone shouldn't present ID to prove that they're a fucking citizen of the country or resident of the, of the state and area.

Zach

To verify your address, that you're at

Nick

the right poll, or just to verify you only voted once. I mean, what the fuck is stopping me from, like, I really want this mayor to win and there's 15 precincts to vote in. I'm going to go to every precinct and vote because they don't know who the fuck I am.

Host

Yeah, I do remember. And I wish I could remember the detail right now. So I don't want to say it and get it wrong, but when I voted, I'm remembering like the big one when I went into the 2024 cycle, which was the presidential cycle. I remember something happened when I checked in and then got to the ballot box. And I was like, I didn't have to do anything. Maybe it was something like I didn't even have to show my ID or something. Something like that. But I was. I remember going in, I'm like, this feels kind of like the third grade class president one. Like, they didn't even check what grade I'm in. You know what I mean?

Zach

I showed up in a. For a recent election for my congressman, and I have my voter registration card, my id, and they're like, you don't need any of that. And I was like, don't like that.

Nick

Don't like that answer at all, Dick. But like, it shouldn't be easier to open up a Gmail or easier to vote than it is to open up a Gmail or to do anything on the Internet. Yeah, I can't get on the Internet without at least giving them my name and my email address.

Host

I agree with that.

Nick

Like, give me anything to prove you're one person.

Host

Yeah, more the reason. So I'm absolutely on the same page with, like, barriers to entry, like you said with that. But like, whenever, like the. The lady in the store, whenever I hear that, it's like, it's what I'm. What I'm getting at is it's a subjective thing. So you could be. Technically, the way a slippery slope tyranny could start is you'd be like, I think that guy's stupid, so he can't vote. And then the next. The next guy down below is less stupid and less stupid. But they keep using the precedent. That's why I asked that question the way I did. But, like, if there's like, some requirements, like, oh, I don't know, you're paying taxes into the system, like, you're a functional member of society, that that's probably fair.

Zach

Yeah, maybe a general intelligence test. I mean, you do have to take a version of. I think it's called the Minnesota Multi something Inventory. I can't remember what it's called now, but even when you get a hunter safety license, you have to take like, a test to make sure that you're not psychotic. And it's like, you see two deer in a parking lot, do you, A, not shoot them, B, hit them with a car, C, all the above. Like, it's questions like that. And by the way, there were people when I got it at 15 that failed. They didn't even make it to the shooting portion. But there's like a general thing. We could ask questions like, do you think the mood is the moon is made of cheese? A, yes. B, maybe C, ribs. Like, there has to be like a general knowledge thing that can be applied to, like, mo. I mean, it's applied to everything else in life. So why can't it be applied to voting? Because it's probably the most important.

Nick

That is a good point. Because the military's got it pretty dialed in with the asvab. You go in, you take a test for the military, and the military says, you are qualified to do these jobs. You are smart enough to be able to learn these skills and perform these tasks. Why can't we do that with. I mean, we do that with all kinds of shit.

Zach

You take it when you. We do the.

Nick

As unpopular. I want more age restrictions. I'm so sick of the age arguments. Because our age restrictions, like, well, like we said over there, you had to be 21 to vote. And I don't even like the age restriction part. Like, I just want some criteria to be met and whether that's like, military service, automatically you're allowed to start voting. Like, I was signed up. I was signed up for the military before I was allowed to vote or drink. Yeah, like, if you're in the military, you should be allowed to vote. I think if you don't want to go in the military and you still want to be able to vote, absolutely. I think you should have to pay X amount of taxes on a delay. If you're making a million dollars at 20 years old and you're paying a shit ton, absolutely you should be able to vote. If you're making minimum wage or whatever, like, you'll get there in three, four years to be able to vote. Have some kind of, like, you're invested in society. You have a track record of performance and being a productive member of society.

Host

I'll tell you one thing that is an interesting idea that I've thought about before. You know, when they get. When did they even come up with 18 deep? Can we look that up? It's been a while. Like, you know, what if you had it to where, like, if I go to rent a car, you got to be 25 years old. And part of that is. I mean, there's literal science about brain development, but also it's like, this is someone who's now had, hypothetically, on the average three, if they went to college, standard college, like, they have at least three years, like, out on the real world to understand consequences of life and things like that. I think someone should probably have spent three years in the real world to be able to know, like, oh, that's how my billing works. Oh, that's how Accounting works. Oh, that's how people like, you know what I mean?

Zach

Like you don't.

Host

I didn't know anything when I was 18 years old. And they're like, you can go vote.

Nick

That's what I want. I just want criteria that we can look at because I'm sick of the age arguments where it's like, I think a 16 year old should be allowed to vote because it's their future too. But also when that same 16 year old commits a fucking crime and somebody winds up dead. Oh, he's just a kid. He can't be held responsible for his actions. If he can't be held responsible for his actions, why are we allowing him to dictate what direction all of fucking society goes?

Host

Agree.

Nick

Like, they want it both ways. Either you're an adult or you're not. I want a solid criteria on when you're a fucking adult and you get to be treated that way, period. And I even hear the stupid argument on the Internet like, well, we should actually. Their brain isn't fully developed like you said, until they're 25 or 26, so they should be treated like a kid. Fuck you. I was 25. If I got pissed off and like did some illegal shit, I absolutely should have been thrown in prison at 25. I knew better. I hate that. I just want people to be like, you're an adult. Actions have consequences. There's benefits to being an adult. There's downsides, you get them all. You can't fucking pick and choose 24, 7. It drives me fucking nuts.

Host

Yeah. By the way, Deep pulled it up. It was 1971 where Amendment 26 of the Constitution lowered the voting age to 18 years. But again also like somewhere along the way in society and fuck if I know where it was like, is probably a slow descent. There were basic civility standards that just slowly went away, you know, to where people could get away with more things or society, I don't know, accepted more behaviors it wouldn't have in the past. And like when I look at something like 1971 or an age where it gets lowered to 18, that's, you know, that's a different kind of 18 year old than it is today. You know, there's just some realities that that 18 year old understands that today's 18 year old doesn't. Today's 23 year old doesn't have a fucking clue about.

Zach

Yeah, because your grandparents, we're in the depression and like you have perspective. I mean, that's really what's lacking as a whole is Like I, I think we should mandate some form of civil service. I don't know what that looks like. I don't think it should be military for everyone. That's a hard stop. But I think if we gave everyone like out of high school, like a year or two years, whatever, work at a nonprofit, you know, do hell go for Habitat if you man do whatever you want to do. Yes, just do something and learn more about the world than the world you live in. It'll help to shape everything about the rest of your life in a positive way. And like you'll actually have some sort of investment in your future. And you're like, oh, I've actually like experienced different things as opposed to like, because K through 12, you don't really have any real life experiences that you can pull from unless like your life's hard or you have different things like that that's like personal. But like, like, I don't, I don't know because like my time in the military really helped to shape me as a person. I had a horrible childhood growing up, but like, it also exposed me things I never thought possible. Like, and not that everyone should join the military, but it also got me to college for free. It also changed the course of my life. I got two degrees out of it.

Nick

Like, think about just the culture shock of going to basic training though.

Zach

Yeah, yeah.

Nick

Going to basic training at 18 years old, you show up spent. You know, I, I moved around a lot. I'm a bad example. But like, hypothetically, I grew up in Iowa my entire life in small town Iowa, surrounded by corn. Okay. Like everybody was into the same things. And now I'm going to basic training with a 33 year old that just got a divorce, had a midlife crisis, divorced his wife. He's in, he's in one bunk next to me. The other bunk next to me is a 20 year old kid from Chicago who, you know, had a completely different upbringing than I did. I'm going to become friends with both these people from completely different walks of Life. And there's 50 other people in the platoon that all have extremely other different walks of life. I'm gonn got to learn how to work together with these people, be a team, care about them, and at the end of the day realize that we're all Americans and we gotta work together.

Host

Yes.

Nick

That's crazy impactful being 18 years old and then getting to live the rest of your life understanding that. And a lot of these kids are just like, oh, I graduated from high school. What college are you Going to. We should all go to college together. And you live in this bubble, even

Host

when they don't, though. To your point, Zach, it's like if there's some level of civil service, you're doing whatever it is.

Nick

Yeah.

Host

You're working for something that is in some way like an actual cause or something bigger than you that helps build, like, a cultural bond. It's not to say college isn't fun and you don't meet people from different walks of life, because I. I mean, I did, and I think that's great. But, like, you know, you're going there, you're doing your classes yourself, and then you're going out there and you're partying and having a good time. It's not like a higher calling in that way, nor is it supposed to be. But if you said, like, hey, for like a year out of college, everyone is required to do something that at least gives them some perspective on life. Yeah, I think that would be worth its weight in gold.

Zach

Yeah, you go to somewhere where they have, like, rolling brownouts. Not even blackouts, just rolling brownouts where electricity is not common. Most parts of Europe don't have air conditioning. You go to other countries that you've heard about, but then you go there and you're like, holy shit, this is crazy. Like, those are the things that help to shape you as a person. I mean, like, I grew up in Memphis and, you know, prior to the military, people from the Northeast were, like, in movies. Like, I'd never met people in New York. And it's. It's like, cliche. It's. My friend's like, hey, my name's Tony. Tony. You know, like, it's all like, the most, you know, hey, I'm from Cape Cod from on Cape or off Cape or Yenza's from Pennsylvania. Like, I'd never met people like that. I just seen them. I was like, wow, this is wild. Like, I'd never. But they don't pump their own gas. They don't pump their own gas. Those cowards. But, like, Nick's right. Like, you never. Outside of that. That's the only time you'd ever meet people. I mean, now. Now people do, like, more often because of, like, remote work and things like that. But, like, you learn cultural things and there's just little differences that you learn about people. And, like, unless you're, like, trying to break that, you're not going to do it. I think it's actually popular in either Europe or Australia. I can't remember where, but they do A sabbatical where they're like, hey, you gotta go. They send you out like after, after

Nick

Siamish, it's rum Springer Rum Spring.

Zach

I mean even there, even they're doing. But like they go out for a year and they just travel the world or they do something like, I mean, think about how awesome it would be. Like if you're like, hey, just go to Australia or whatever. You got to work with this non profit. They help, you know, make sure people don't kill all the kangaroos or so I, I don't know, just making stuff up. But how else would you get there any other way I would be okay actually putting my tax dollars towards something like that. Like if you're like, hey, this is like, I hate to say Social Security, but like some sort of stipend that'll go is like, as long as you're doing this, we're going to give you X amount of dollars. It's enough to live on and you can go on this thing because it will help to make you a better informed member of society. Because that's the biggest problem. People who are in the military, as opposed to outside the military is like, you get exposed to a lot of different things and you see the world a whole lot differently as opposed to people who aren't, who are just like hearing about it. And like everyone's like, oh, the government's like doing this and stuff. Like, yeah, they're all obviously doing things, but as someone who's also in the government, everyone's also pretty fucking dumb.

Nick

Like, it's not like, give the government too much credit. That smart.

Zach

Yeah, everyone's like, oh, there's like one guy. No, no, dude, there's not like there's, there's not that many people that are like that sharp or smart. I mean, oh, it's like SEAL team. Even them, they're full of morons. Like they can just hold their breath for a long time. So they get movie deals.

Host

How long were you in the military when you were there?

Zach

Four years.

Host

Did. Was it something you always wanted to do or.

Zach

Oh, dude, I was made for it. I'm a child. Yeah, I was. I'm a child of trauma. Poor white trash. There was nothing, Nothing then my family knew other than like how to break the cycle of poverty. Other than like do a trade, be a mechanic, which is fine. Nothing wrong with that. My father did it, his father did it, his father before him. You know, the first bell was probably looking at Mr. Ford being like, I think there might be something here. Mr. Henry you know what I mean? Like, we were made to turn wrenches, but I also saw my father and my stepfather and my grandfather. I would always see them in the morning rubbing their hands. Because you can only turn a wrench for so long, right? You can only do things. And every morning, they would, like, warm up and do these, like, stretches and stuff, and then they'd light a cigarette and head out to the car. So what's tough about growing up in poverty nobody really talks about is you don't have an example of, like, how to get outside of it. Like, there's no, like, you know, Uncle Mike did this, and now he. You know, he. He has a mortgage, and he has a house, and he goes on vacation once a year. Like, there's no. There's nothing. You know, it's just my grandmother telling me to start a side business, which is code for still Freon, and sell it on the side or, you know, scrap copper when nobody's looking. Things like that.

Nick

I miss Freon.

Zach

I do, too. I missed the cold stuff that was punching holes to the ozone. I mean, that's. I mean, we were so poor. I remember when we got a car with the air conditioning, I was like, technology is the best. Like, literally. I remember seeing it frost the vents. And I don't care what it did to the ozone. This other stuff is nothing compared to it.

Nick

I'm so.

Zach

I. Dude, what was it? It was. I think it was 134A.

Nick

I need to do a video on

Zach

this maybe because, like, the new ones. I could be wrong.

Nick

It doesn't matter, because the patents run out.

Deuce

Out.

Nick

That's why.

Zach

And so someone has to make a new formula.

Nick

Yes.

Zach

I just spit in a cup. In the end, I got a new

Nick

AC in my house, and I'm like, homies with the guy that did it for me, and he's like, I'm warning you right now, this is not going to be as cold as your last unit. And I'm like, why? It's newer. It should be getting colder as time goes on. Like this. We. What do you mean technology has improved? Why is my AAC getting shittier? And he's like, the new chemical, the Freon replacement, the refrigerant, basically, they came out with, you know, new environmental regulations. We got to use this new stuff. It's not as efficient. So then I go and I look into it, and it's like, conveniently, every. When they make these new formulas, they have a patent, period, where they're. One company owns it. They're allowed to make all the fucking money from this refrigerant. And conveniently, as soon as that patent fucking expires that you know, oh, there's a new environmental thing. This is actually bad for the environment, but we have this new one that's better for the environment. Now you have to use this one, Sign that shit into law.

Zach

As luck would have it, we have a new formula.

Nick

Isn't that every time.

Zach

I hate them, but yeah. No, I watched Live Leak when I was little, when I should have been watching it. 911 happened when I was in eighth grade.

Host

You remember where you were?

Zach

Yeah. My mother called, called me and said, you need to stay home, because I was going to walk to the school bus, bus stop. And so it's like 8 o' clock our time. So it's 9 o' clock New York time. And so I was like, what's happening? She's like, something's bad happening. Turn on the tv. And I grabbed. I literally grabbed my brother's like, we're not going to school. And like, he at first didn't believe me. And he was, like, scared that I was going to get us in trouble for skipping. I was like, no, mom said to stay home. And so I turn on the tv. And right when I did was when the second plane hit the second tower.

Host

I was like, you're old enough to. In eighth grade. You're old enough to grasp that.

Zach

And my cousin joined the marines about four years before I did. He's four years older than me and he went to Iraq twice. And then I was like watching stuff on Live Leak. Like, there's like dudes, like, with M203s like, launching grenades, going click, click, boom. And like, I was like locked in on the family computer that took forever to, like, load and dial up. And I'm just like, waiting, like, show me the war. Show me the war. And then, you know, I went into the recruiter's office and I was like, I want to be in the infantry. And they're like, you can do whatever you want. And I was like, I don't want to do that. And they're like, well, this is kind of like that. And I'm like, I'm not doing kinda, you know, I'm not gonna roll the dice on maybe. And the Marine Corps at that time had, like, you would pick a field, you pick the infantry field, then you get a job when you go to your MOS school. And I wanted to be 0311 infantry rifleman. And that's what I picked up.

Host

And why'd you want to be that?

Zach

I wanted to go on an adventure. I didn't want to risk not having that opportunity.

Nick

You tell the story.

Host

I wanted to.

Nick

No, tell the story of the speeches. When they brought in the rifleman, I

Zach

mean, well, that was infantry in general, but yeah. So, okay, so you go to the school of infantry. And so what happens is combat moss go to like one side of the camp, non combat moss go to the other side. They do 21 days in the field, they do a bunch of hikes, they get exposed. Like, they sit behind a 240, they shoot a few rounds, they get up and they go to another thing. 21 days in the field consecutively, Honestly. Sucks, but that's their only. It's like drinking water from a fire hose. Like they're exposed and they go off to whatever school camp they're doing. Well, all the infantry guys are brought in, in this auditorium, and there's multiple moss that are pitched at you. And they start, they come out and these instructors, you get to pick, like, which one you want to do. And based on your scores and other factors, they. They match you to whatever. And so the first guy comes out and he's an O351 assaultman. And he's like, hey, my name's Sergeant so and so. You like rockets? You like blowing up? You want to be a man, be an assaultman. And labor is like, like, it's just a bunch of dudes, like, you know. And then next guy comes up, sergeant. Hey, I'm Sergeant so and so. I'm Mortiment. You want to drop still rain on top of the enemy. You want to play some cards? You want to do some spades? Being0341 more like going on. And then there's this guy who comes out, looks like a fullback, and he's like, my name's Sergeant so and so. I'm a machine gunner. You want to put rounds on the target from a click away. You want to carry big guns. You pick O331 today.

Deuce

Boom.

Zach

And everybody's like, wow. And never, never forget this one guy. I wish I could know his name. He comes out and he takes his can of dip and puts a dip in. He goes, my name's Sergeant so and so. You want to be in charge of these idiots? Pick 0311. So I, I wrote down 03113 times and I turned it in. And they're like, yeah, you're an idiot. We were obviously going to pick you, but yeah.

Host

Oh, my God.

Zach

And so Then that was, that was it. That was. It went off to my unit. They had just got back from Ramadi. It was like being dropped off and in, in a prison complex. What year is this?

Host

Like 05.

Zach

This is 07. So I went in February. 07. I got there July.

Nick

I didn't know that you got in right when they got back from Ramadi. Brother, bro, you're the fresh meat in a prison at that point.

Zach

So it sucks. So you get picked up from receiving, you gather all your gear, an obnoxious amount of gear that you put in a sleeping bag and you're dragging it across the lawn and they're cat calling you and throwing shit at you. Hey, fuck you. Boot. That's, that's the, that's the lowest level of term to be called called in the military because you're fresh out of boot camp, you haven't deployed, you get called a boot. It's. It's our version of like the worst word ever. And so they're throwing stuff at you. You have to run past them. Like the first two weeks I basically just got tortured, like digging fighting holes and filling them back up. Running past doors, plotting points on a map, Underneath the gas mat with a gas mask on, underneath the poncho in a shower, like all sorts of crazy shit. Some of my best friends. But like nothing that was like ever derogatory or degrading. It was just like no elephant walk

Host

or anything like that.

Zach

Oh, you know about that one? Oh, you heard about the pickles and all that stuff?

Host

Yeah, I don't know about pickles. I've heard about the elephant walk.

Zach

Yeah, no, nothing like that. Because like, honestly you're. The reality is you can't push people too far. You're all depending on each other in a worst case scenario, right? So you don't have. That kid's gonna like remember the time that you fucking made him run naked somewhere and somebody saw him or whatever it was. And. And these were like hard dudes. They had done multiple rack deployments. And I just kind of like fell in and I was like, I'm going to treat this like a job, treat it like a job. And we did a workup and went on my first deployment to Garmser, Afghanistan in the March of 2008.

Host

What was that like? I've heard so many stories in here from so many different guys across many different units who talk about in particularly Afghanistan starting in like 07, 08 all the way to like 2015 and how crazy it was.

Zach

Yes.

Host

What, what, what was it like, when you got there.

Zach

So when we got there, I left a few days after my first daughter was born, basically a week from the time she was born until I got there. And I thought I was going to, like, land on, like, dune. Like, I thought it was just going to be like, rockets going off everywhere. And I land. The first thing I can see is a Burger King. So I go. I go to eat at Burger King. Shout out, Dick Cheney, friend of the show.

Nick

What a flex.

Zach

Thanks. Thank you, sir. I don't think you're dead, but no, dude, you think he's alive? Why would he stop giving up hearts that he was harvesting every few years? Like, all of a sudden he's gonna collapse. There's no way. I'm pretty sure he reached in his heart.

Host

I'm the president of Dick Cheney hate club, so I'm not arguing with any of it.

Zach

But he's the Halbert.

Host

That motherfucker was dead, dude.

Zach

He's like Tony Stark. He just took a new battery out and put one in. You know what I'm saying?

Nick

Me and him had to go to the. The George Bush center or some. They did not like us cracking Dick cheney jokes every 30 seconds.

Host

When did you go to the George Bush?

Zach

A month.

Nick

A month ago. A month ago?

Host

Yeah, we got invited.

Deuce

I thought.

Host

I thought W and Dick Cheney weren't on the best terms when he died.

Zach

All I know is I didn't like our jokes. But, yeah, it was. It was funny. It was just me and Nick making like, like, Dick Cheney Bush jokes the entire time. Other people were there, but it was literally just me and him passing the mic back and forth. But that was like my first meal. And there's an acclimatization period, and that was in Kandahar airfield, which in the early 2000s, there was nothing. But by that time, there was a ton of stuff. Toby Keith came out to visit us, blah, blah, blah. That's a cool story, but we're waiting. And then like, hey, the mission launch, we're going to go out, secure this area, and you're going to stay there for seven to 10 days. That's what they told us. And my unit had a. For some reason there, they did a drug test before we deployed. Now, I'm not condoning or endorsing the use of drugs, going to war, dude. You know what I'm saying? Like, ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies. So when they did the drug test, across the entire battalion, There was over 30 people that popped because it was snowing In Camp Lejeune at that time, I mean, it was. Yeah, brother, I don't. It was wild. And so they ended up reorganizing the entire battalion, which is highly unusual. So I was in this platoon called 3rd platoon. I then got moved to a 2nd platoon, and I went from basically being in, like, the worst platoon with, like, a platoon sergeant who was relieved of command in boot camp because, as he said, I get too excited. That's how he always said. He's like, I get really hands on. And, like, he was known for that. And so that could mean a lot of things. Yeah, it means what you think it means. I mean, for them to fire a drill instructor in the early 2000s is pretty rough. But we went out there, engaged the enemy.

Deuce

That.

Zach

That deployment, we. I mean, we literally had every asset in the world. Direct assets, air, indirect fire, mortars. And like, we were like, on top of the battle space the entire time. The living conditions were nightmarish because you were just outside entire time, like, doing posts for four to six hours at a time, doing a patrol, and just kept doing that back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. And it was dangerous and it was hard. I didn't call home for 90 days. There was a lot of that stuff. But that deployment overall, like, in the grand scheme of things, was like a good deployment. It for, like, getting your feet wet. Now, when we did the invasion of Marja in 2010, completely different scenario.

Deuce

What.

Host

What was so different about that?

Zach

So in that point in 2010, Marja was where there was a ton of. A ton of dope. And so that was where the Taliban were getting a lot of their money. And we were trying to interdict that movement very famously. Geraldo Rivera went around that area and was like, these Marines are guarding the. The poppies. And.

Host

Right.

Zach

That was actually not far from where I was. And that was in December of 2010. But we left in late 09, and my wife was pregnant with our second child then because they had told us during the workup, you guys are going to be shutting down bases in Iraq. And I was like, great, it's going to be maybe a 90 day deployment. We'll come home. So we started planning our second child

Host

and they switch it to Afghanistan. And like, a real.

Zach

Wow. Yeah, it was. When President Obama went to West Point, they told us, like, hours beforehand, hey, there's gonna be a troop surge in Afghanistan. And that's you. And so that deployment was highly documented. It's very famous. There's a speech I. It can we can. You can play it? Yeah, it's Gunny Walgren speech. It's on my YouTube. Veteran with a sign. So this guy, Gunny Walker, it's like my mentor door in the infantry. I'd known him the whole time, and he was known for giving these speeches. And the whole day prior to us leaving, there was a ton of speeches. Like, to a point where my junior Marines were like, yo, are we gonna be okay? I was like, I don't know, because this has never happened before. They're talking to us a lot like. It was. It was gnarly. Yeah, there it is. This is great. So I'm. I'm here. You can't really tell, but, like, I'm across the other side of the field.

Host

Back in the 280p days.

Zach

Yeah, well, it was secret, but this is perfect.

Host

Let's see.

Deuce

Where's the coming back camera at Marine? You're done. Camera's off cnn. No, negative, negative. I agree with one thing that's been said. It is about how good you look. These cammies make my butt look awful. I see a whole bunch of do rags. That motivates the out of me. Professional, quiet Professionals. Is that what we're called? I think y' all are some crazy goddamn. Not one speech now. We've been talking about this. I'm kind of upset about the general speech. I'm kind of upset about the battalion commander speech. I haven't got any goosebumps yet. Have you all been motivated about this? I know y' all figured out another secret that the Marine Corps hat. We don't tell you shit and we play games. Man. I knew we were leaving tonight seven months ago. Tell y' all because we want you to get pissed off. You might be envisioning us when you kill the enemy, but you're gonna be pissed Martian that. What do y' all want to hear? Y' all want to hear the white sleep? We gotta step across this parade deck and it's goddamn cold. I'm not doing that. Don says, I don't like you. White sleeves. That's too long. Y' all know John Glenn's speech, right? Did I tell you that yet?

Host

All right, we'll do that. We'll do that real quick, huh? Is he ripping a bow?

Zach

Dude, he would always smoke cowboys, cowboy killers and Red Bull.

Deuce

John Glenn, first American to orbit the earth and space Kill was a senator for the state of Ohio. Oldest man to go back up into space because he's a PT God. Before all of that, he was a marine, an Air winger, though a pilot gets. Get the fuck away from me. John Glenn, 1974, ran for U.S. senate against A. Against a politician named Howard Metzenbaum. Howard Metzenbaum was a sorry motherfucker. John Glenn at this point was a Marine. First American to orbit the earth and space. Howard Metzenbaum asked him, how can you run for Senate when you never held a job? What's the, the would you do if somebody said that to you? Now I'm going to change a little bit of this. My world, John Glenn said, is that right? I served 23 years in the United States Marine Corps. I fought through two wars. I flew 149 missions. My plane was hit by an aircraft fire on 12 different occasions. I was in the space program. It wasn't my job. It was my life that was on the line. And this wasn't a 9 to 5 job where I could take time off and take the daily cash receipts to the fight. I asked you to come with me as I went the other day to a veterans hospital. And you stand there, you look at those men with their mangled bodies. You look them in the eye and tell them that they never held a job. You come with me and visit any Gold Star mother. You look her in the eye and tell her her son never held a job. You come with me to the space program and visit the widows and the orphans of Ed White, Gus Grisham and Roger Chase. And you look those kids in the eye and tell them that their dads never held a job. You come with me on this Memorial Day weekend coming up to Arlington National Cemetery where I got more friends than I'd like to remember. And you stand there, you watch those waving flags. You think about this nation and you tell me that those people never held a job. I'll tell you, Howard Metzenbaum, you should be on your knees every day of your life thanking God that there are some men who have held a job and they required a dedication of purpose, a love of country, and a dedication to duty that was more important than life itself. Their self sacrifice is what made this country fucking possible. Isn't that badass? Fuck you all. Isn't that badass? Hey, Roger that hoopie. Are you motivated, right? Quiet, professionals? All that, all this talk about doing what you've been trained to do. You all know damn well you get out there and you do because of the Marine to your left and the Marine to your right. God, country and core don't matter at that point. Let the Taliban throw the women and children in front. We Won't shoot. We'll just creep out around them with a cup of coffee, slap him on the shoulder and say, what the is your problem? That let them try to fight the United States Marine Corps. Conventional. What the is wrong with their. The stupid. Shoot at me, bring the AA gun down. Let's do this. You're gonna do what you need to do for each other, not for anybody else. And it's tomorrow or maybe in a couple days, it might take a little bit longer than that. The people of Marzia will be on their knees every day of their life thanking God that angry. The string has been cut loose. They can't fucking stop us now. What the fuck are they gonna do? Now you get up.

Host

So you were standing right.

Zach

Right there. Yeah, I. It's literally right there.

Host

Is he from South Jersey?

Zach

I can't say where he's from. He. He's very, very secretive.

Host

I'm detecting in either Delco or South Jersey accent.

Zach

I can tell you that he's everything that you want a Marine to be. He spent his entire life in the infantry. He was a badass. He would show up in the company parking lot in a Porsche. Like, everyone else would drive, like, sedans or normal stuff. He'd show up, belle, what the are you doing? And, like, literally. And I'm like, I don't know, Gunny. He's like, see my Porsche? I've got a few of them. And, like, so what he did his entire career is he actually bought land. I don't want to be too specific, but basically all around North Carolina, in the coast, and he turned them into rental properties.

Host

Oh, wow.

Zach

So he's always had a bag. And, like, he just loved the Marine Corps, and he loved being a Marine.

Host

That's a fucking amazing.

Zach

And, like, that was, I mean, like, absolute dog trash, you know, no one wants to hear from a fucking general, a colonel, whatever. Like, we would get from there. We then walked to the flight line because it wasn't built yet, with all of our gear, and then the mission launched.

Host

And how many of those guys didn't make it back? I don't.

Zach

I'll have to get the exact number. But we lost a lot. We lost a lot.

Host

And that's what always strikes me with something like that, because you're talking about this as a speech given before.

Zach

Yeah.

Host

A mission that he knew was going to be serious. And he knows when he's standing there that some of the. Some of the kids, you know, getting pumped up and laughing along with his. With his jokes and stuff and In a somber tone. It's like they're not all going to make it back. And I, I can never. I always imagine what that must feel like for a guy like him who's been there, done that, and knows the cost, but still has to like get everyone ready to fucking go. There's something really, really heavy about that. But also it takes like a special person be able to pull that off.

Zach

Well, what was unique about him is he put so in the Marine Corps, the way it works is you have an. An E8 who's like a first sergeant in the infantry and well, master whatever, an E8. And this is job to do like administrative things, right. So he was the company gunnery sergeant. So it's his job to, to oversee like operations and logistics. But he's the most senior tactical advisor. So he's talking to the platoon commanders, which are lieutenants who just graduated college. They've never deployed anywhere. And it's his job to shape them and also keep, keep their platoon counterparts, staff NCOs accountable. But he's the subject matter expert for a company which is four platoons. All things warfare. Like it's his job to know it front to back. And he was just a G is a G to this day. Like, he convinced the battalion that he needed about five vehicles for a logistics log train. He didn't need that. He just, he made him wanted it. He made a mobile qrf. And so he'd be like, oh yeah, we're delivering water. And you just hear like a machine gun going up. He's like, you know, angry six, Angry six inbound. He's just like laying down rounds. He's like, oh yeah, we're dropping chows too. Like, because that's how he would do it. And I, I don't know that. That deployment from start to front was gnarly.

Host

What did you guys do right after that?

Zach

Like when you straight to the flight line, landed in the middle of a field, there were some AA guns that went off, shot some of the helicopters. Not ours, thank God we had APOBs. You know what a pop is? It is made to clear a minefield. So it's a rocket with a bunch of grenades attached to the side of it on strings. And you shoot it and it should have a meter of clearance, you know, unless one of the grenades flies up and then, you know, that's in God's hands. Happens all the time though. And we were like going into clear pathways so that the rest of the units could come in and basically just take over this Town. And then we would break it up in different areas of operation and just try and interdict and stop Taliban movement throughout the area by cut off the supply line to their heritage heroin. And how long were you out there? 210 days. The entire time. So, like a month. It's basically like a two or three weeks on the front end and then like a week or two on the back and. But you're out there consecutively the entire time.

Host

Did it feel like we were winning at that point?

Zach

The first appointment did. You know, we definitely affect a change. I mean, I remember on my first tour, we went to this schoolhouse that, like, someone had built. I don't remember some. Some ngo. And there was blood on the walls, and the blood was from the Taliban beheading children that went to the school. And then they would use their blood to. To write, like, don't go there. And the whole time we were there, we were able to change that. We were able to change that into where children were able to go back to school and actually, like. Like have a place to stay where they were safe. And so that was stuff that I saw firsthand on my first tour, the second tour. You know, I don't know when he. What does winning look like? We made the area we were in safer, I will say that. You know, but, like, I was never, like, malicious towards the locals. Like, I didn't. I wasn't. I wasn't like, why don't you believe in me? Like, they know we're coming and going. You know, they're just trying to bet on the horse that'll take them the farthest.

Host

Right.

Zach

You know, and when you got the Taliban coming through, hanging up people by chains, dragging them through the streets, cutting people's heads off, lighting families on fire, like, the most horrible. Like, a lot of. It's not to downplay it. It's theatrical, but it's. It's a show of force through violence to get them to submit. And, you know, they don't grow poppy because they want to. They do. Because Talbot's like, you're growing poppy. Well, I don't want to. We're going to kill your entire family. Okay, I'll grow poppy. Like, it's. It's not. You know, and you add in other effects, too, like the moms, which other religious leaders, in a place that has a dangerously low literacy rate of below 25. No one knows how to read. No one knows how to low 25. Yeah.

Host

Oh, I didn't know it was that low.

Zach

Yeah, it's. It's I mean, that was, like, last data. I don't know what it is now with the Taliban taking over. But so the religious leaders, oftentimes the moms are bought off by the Taliban and they're like, oh, blow those Americans up. That's, you know, because you're told to listen to them and you're told that that's the only person that will, you know, tell you what to do and what's right or wrong. And, you know, we lost Marines, and in my platoon, in my company, you know, it was. It was gnarly. It was absolutely gnarly. And I was about halfway through it, through that second deployment, we ended up having to do a reorganization of my platoon. So I went from being a first team leader to a squad leader. So, I mean, I went from having, like, three guys to 12. And I had teams, and I had people that reported to me. And that usually happens when you're six to eight years in the Marine Corps, not when you're on your third, right. Or fourth year. And so when that change happened, I just saw the way things were going, and I kind of had this, like, vision of my future the next 20 years, and I was like, I missed my. I left after my first daughter was born. I haven't met my second child yet, and I don't know if I want to do this for the rest of my life. And I'd accomplished all my goals.

Host

And how would you say you accomplished all your goals?

Zach

I wanted to. I wanted to be a squad leader. I wanted to be a squad leader. I wanted to be a team leader, and I did it in four years. There's only one other person I know that's done it, and it's a friend of mine who actually sells insurance now. Shout out Clayton Blunt. But, yeah, yeah, hard name. It's a hard name. But, like, it was just me and him that. That had accomplished that. And, you know, it's. I mean, the military. What's cool. What's cool about it is, like, you can go as far as you want, but for what I wanted to do, it was going to cost me everything. I wanted to operate. I wanted to do the work. And so since I had moved from a private to a PFC to a lance corporal to a corporal, ended up picking sergeant in July. I got off active duty in 11. So I picked it up, like, five months later. Usually takes at least six years to do that. Had all the things. So when that happens to stay operational, to keep doing the work, you either got to move over to A sniper platoon. Maybe I'll do some time there. Maybe two to two years, maybe four years. Or you gotta go to, like, marsoc. At that time, MARSOC actually wasn't even stood up yet. It was still called MSOB before. That was actually when Cody, Alfred, and all those guys were standing up.

Host

Marsoc.

Nick

Yeah.

Host

Yeah.

Zach

So you can maybe get four years there, but if you get promoted again, you got to be an admin guy. Now you can't do the work anymore. And I'm like, I don't want to do logistics. I want to do this. I want to do the work. And so. And the cost was gonna be so high on my family. I was just.

Host

Say, you have kids now, too.

Zach

It's like.

Host

And you don't get to see them. Are you worried about. I'll lose my marriage, I'll lose my family? Nothing of the risk to life, obviously, when you're out on the battlefield.

Zach

Yeah, no. And I have an incredible wife. She's. She would do things that really kind of, like, really made me fall in love with her a lot more. She would send me packages about every week, and whenever we would have time to talk, she would actually ask me if there are people who didn't have mail, and then she would send them a package, and sadly, it's a lot higher than you would think. Like, family's just like, fuck it. It's. Yeah. And it's not even that big. Like, she would just be like, what? She would send me tobacco, Q tips, baby wipes, junk food, and People magazine. Actually, People magazine.

Host

My People magazine.

Zach

Dude, the fucking ground's exploding. I want to hear about Kim Kardashian's ass. I don't want to hear anything. Oh, my God, Kanye. Like, it's just like, whatever. And, like, literally, some of. Some of the hardest. Like, I had this one guy who was in Kosovo. He. I remember him looking at me being like, hey, let me get that People. After you bell. Like, it was just, like, five seconds away from reality. And she would send stuff like that. You know, she's, you know, put up with a lot of then and now. And, like, was. Has always kind of been this rock of, like, you know, someone that I knew I could lean on. But, I mean, I've known since the first moment I met her. Where'd you meet her? Oh, when I meet her.

Host

Where?

Zach

Okay. I met her at her cousin's house on. Okay, so her cousin Luke and I were friends for a long time. I was a bad kid, and he. That was a bad kid. And I Was kind of like, crashing at their house now and then. And his dad was turning 50, and he was getting ready to go to Iraq in the army for his first deployment. So I picked him up from the airport, took him to this party, and there's this big surprise party. No one knew he was coming. This is like, before Facebook and shit, where everyone was like, you know, the good old days, American soul, you know, like, playing stuff. It's just, like, cool. And so we did that. And then I. You know, Luke, God love him, couldn't talk to a girl to save his life. And I have disproportionate game to who I am as a person. Like, it's obnoxious, but, like, I had really tight game. All it is is confidence. That doesn't make sense.

Host

And sitting next to Mariano Rivera over here.

Zach

Yeah, look at him. Dude, look at him. I see you pop off. God forbid he's different. God forbid. Yeah. No, but I looked across the room, and there was this girl I'd never seen before, and I had to introduce look to girls. I even had, like, a roster showing up for me. Like, hey, a soldier's showing up. A hero, you know, come through, hitting them on the next Tell push to talk. I think it was, but I swear to God, I think it was. That phone was so big. It was birth control by itself. But I went up to Luke and I was like, who's that? And he goes, that's my. That's my cousin Christy. She lives in Nashville. And I go, you got a cousin Christy that lives in Nashville? He's like, yeah. I go, we have never talked about cousin Christie that lives in Nashville. Dude, I've done so much for you as a friend.

Deuce

Where.

Zach

Where's this band? He goes, you weren't ready.

Host

Oh, he hit you with the. You weren't ready.

Zach

And I go, yeah, you're probably right. I tell you what, though. I'm gonna marry that girl. And I went over there, and I. I hit some solid line drives. You're not going for a grand slam. I'm just trying to get on base, get a number, follow through. She couldn't even care less. She. She didn't know I existed. But at the end of the night, got the digits. Two weeks later, we're dating. A year later, we were married, had our first child.

Host

How did you know that you wanted to marry her right away?

Zach

All I can think to say is, from the first second I saw her, I felt something I'd never felt before or since. And I just wanted to do everything I could to be the best version of myself for her and for me.

Host

That's awesome.

Zach

It was like. So I got bit by something, and I. I don't know how to describe it. Everyone finds it whenever it's your time to find it.

Deuce

It.

Zach

But I was just like, if she asked me to give her a mountain, I would give her too. Like, it was just thunderbolt. I just. Yeah, I was just like. It just hit me. And we're coming up on 19 years of marriage now, that's all.

Host

And through deployments and everything.

Zach

Deployments. You know, me being a veteran, hanging out with me. Hanging out with Nick. Nick's fine. Yeah, well, that's. Well, that's been a change, because it used to be, what are you doing to now, like, you get out there and you podcast your ass off, you know, she slaps me on the ass.

Host

It was like.

Zach

It used to be like, I could hear on the phone, be like, I don't know. I think he's talking to someone. There's a fat day laborer in our house. I don't know. You know, a donut dude.

Nick

Zach's telling people about that time somebody

Zach

a donkey again, but it's paying the bills. Yeah, yeah.

Deuce

It's all right, though.

Zach

Things are okay. You know, I understand her concerns because it is coloring outside the lines, but it's just, it's. She has allowed me to be the best version of myself and challenged me to be better, which is ultimately what you want, in my opinion, as a partner. You don't want a girl who's like, ah, whatever. You want someone who's like, what are you doing? What the fuck are you?

Host

Someone that makes you the best version of yourself.

Zach

Yeah, that's what true love is.

Host

I've never heard it described better than in the Godfather, though, where they tell him, you've been hit by the thunderbolt. And that's what that sounds like right there. You just can't explain it. You don't know why, but that's it.

Deuce

It.

Zach

No, I, I, I, I was just

Host

like, oh, all right. Cousin Christie.

Zach

Yeah.

Host

Wife Christie.

Zach

Yeah, that's the one.

Host

That's it.

Zach

That was the one. And it's funny, too, because everyone. I, I shouldn't say it's funny because it sounds like I'm, you know, celebrating people's failures, but everyone who was like, don't get married. Don't do it. Blah, blah, blah, none of them are married now.

Host

Right?

Zach

Or if they are, they're remarried. And also, in their defense, in my defense, she didn't have a stage name. She wasn't like, like most marines marry strippers. Now because of my age, it would be only fans girls. So why go to the strip club when you can do it on base? I guess. But I mean most military marriages, so like we kind of break that statistic. But most of them shouldn't be married in the first place. Most of them are contract marriages and you know, it's not the best thing category to win in, but I don't know.

Host

I love her. Worked out for you?

Zach

Oh yeah.

Host

Awesome.

Zach

Yeah.

Host

How many kids do you have?

Zach

Two.

Host

That's awesome.

Zach

That two girls? Yeah.

Host

How long you been married?

Nick

Eight or nine years. I don't know. We've been together since we were 16.

Host

That's awesome.

Nick

High school sweethearts. Yeah. We didn't get married till we were 25 though.

Host

You had to try her out for a long time.

Nick

No, I mean for me it was like, I mean she was getting frustrated I hadn't proposed yet. But it was also very much like I was, I was in the camp of like, I'm not going to go to your dad and ask to marry his daughter when I'm a 22 year old kid that doesn't have his figured out yet. Like by the time I felt comfortable enough to do that, I had already like owned a house, I had a mortgage, I had a full time job. Like I had my together and I could actually take on that responsibility. So that's kind of why I made her wait.

Host

That's very mature to think of that at that young age.

Nick

I grew up poor as I'm not around.

Host

Good for you.

Zach

The same.

Deuce

Yeah.

Host

You're, you're kind of. You strike me as a just do it kind of guy.

Zach

Yeah. Can I hit the. Oh yeah, yeah.

Host

Let's take a break.

Deuce

Sure.

Zach

I'm full of everything.

Host

What's this Fighting Preacher video you were talking about?

Nick

Oh, that's the last video I did.

Host

Who's the Fighting preacher?

Nick

Logan Weston, AKA the Fighting Preacher. Probably like all of them. All of World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

Host

Oh, he, he, he did a world tour, if you will.

Nick

Yeah.

Zach

What's the story?

Nick

Dude grew up super poor. Log cabin up in Michigan, Pennsylvania. Bounced around a lot. Gets. He's like in his early 20s, 22 I think. Great depressions going on. He's got a job working in a coal mine. Single guy. One of his best friends is hunting bud. He's got like a wife and kids. Can't find a job so he goes to his boss and he's like, hey, can we get this guy a job? He's like, no, I'm struggling to keep you guys employed. So he's like, all right, well, give this guy my job. He's a good dude. I'll give him my job so he can pay for his wife and kids. Next day, fucking collapse at this coal mine. His buddy survives, but a bunch of his other friends die. And he goes, gets a job fucking being a logger, like a lumberjack working again. That coal mining collapse happens, and then he does the same thing again, gives his logging job to his buddy so he can pay for his wife and kids. A couple weeks later, logging accident wipes out the crew. Friends die. So he's like, super depressed, beat up about it. Feels like death is chasing him wherever he goes. Decides he's gonna take his own life. Grabs a pistol, puts it to his head, pulls the trigger. Click. Doesn't go off. And, like, when he pulled the trigger, he heard somebody say, wait, gun doesn't go off. He looks around, nobody's there. And then he goes out and he, like, can't believe whatever happened. He's immediately. And I've heard, like, other accounts of this. Like, when something that event does get stopped, people are immediately, like, thankful, have a whole new lease on life. Like, they realize they didn't want to do it. He has that moment, and then he goes out outside of his house in this log cabin in the woods with the same gun that he just tried to fire, pulls the trigger, fires into a stomp. It goes off. So he becomes convinced that God gave him a second chance, dedicates himself to God, goes to Bible school. He wants to be a preacher. Goes off to Bible school for a couple of years. He's a junior, trying to get his degree in theology so he can become a preacher. He gets drafted for World War II. This is pre Pearl harbor, but the draft is going on leading up to Pearl Harbor. Like, America, the American government knows we're going to war. They just. There hasn't been the catalyst yet. So they are already drafting people. He gets drafted, goes off to training. He shows up. This is 1940. 40, 1940, early 1941, one of the two. And so he shows up to training, and he's grew up in a log cabin in the woods, dude. He doesn't know anything about the military. There's no TV shows, there's no books. He's read. Like, he doesn't know anything. He gets off the bus and they're like, all right, if you want to be infantry, go over There. You want to be artillery? Go over there. You want to be a medic, go over there. You want me this. Go over there. He doesn't know what any of these words mean, so he's like, I don't. Infantry, I guess. I don't know. Sounds easy. So he walks over the infantry line, becomes an infantryman, then gets out of training. He's kind of on Camp Shelby in Mississippi. Pearl harbor gets attacked, and they just, like. They don't know what the. Is going on, so they station him out on the Mississippi river, and he's just, like, camping on the Mississippi river in case the Japanese invade or something or if they get attacked. He's out there for a couple months. They bring him back in. They ship his ass over in World War II Pacific, or he ends up going to the Pacific. So cut through a bunch of. He winds up. He's. He winds up becoming an officer. He's a lieutenant. He's in charge of a platoon, and he's told they're about to invade some island in the Pacific. And he is told, you're. You're the first guy to hit the beach.

Host

Is this Midway?

Nick

No, no, it's Guadalcanal.

Host

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Nick

So he's told, you're gonna be the first one to hit the beach. Jesus. So, like, he's got the moment. Like, the. Gets in the Higgins boat, rolling up the door, drops down. He's the first one off the Higgins boat, falls immediately, neck deep in water, just, like, takes this wind out of his sails, you know, like, cool guy. Moment gone. They get up on the beach. He's expecting enemy gunfire. There's nothing going on. He's like, what the. He gets all his guys up on the beach. There's just dead Japanese dudes everywhere, supplies thrown all over the place. Like, what the Is going on? Apparently the Marines had already been there for, like, six months. The island was already wiped out. Like, Guadalcanal was already taken. And the funny part is, if you go back and watch the Pacific, you see this moment in the show. Like, the army guys are rolling up after the fact, and, like, they're all nervous. Like, they're racking their guns. They're getting ready to go. Like, the army guys were told where they were going to be the first ones there, and then they get there. The Marines are like, what took you guys so long? Start raiding all their shit. So that doesn't happen.

Zach

He.

Nick

He hops into the next campaign in this island called New Georgia, also brutal jungle warfare. It's basically Guadalcanal 2.0. Goes out with his battalion. His battalion gets cut off and surrounded for, I believe, 29 days. Completely cut off, surrounded. He goes from, like, 180 to 119. Loses a ton of weight. A lot of his guys get up. They make it out. He goes back, regains some weight. They take a bunch of the other guys that are healthy enough again, go back out on another mission, gets caught, surrounded again. This time, it's for 21 days. And the whole time this is going on, he's, like, functioning as a pseudo chaplain, because they don't have a chaplain out there. He's, like, being the preacher. He's, like, counseling guys. He's an officer. He's helping them out. So he picks up the nickname Preacher, the Fighting Preacher. And he's just, like, trying to help these guys get them through it. He's also an officer. He's leading his men. But the second time around, they get surrounded. Like, they. They know the game. They've done this before. And somewhere along the line the first time, they figured out the Japanese all have, like, sacks of rice. Rice for their rations. So now, as soon as they're killing, Japanese guys are sneaking out at night. They're grabbing all the rice. This time, they've got some native guides. The guides are showing them all the tips and tricks, like, oh, we can mix this bark from this tree. It makes it taste better, and we can eat these plants. And these guys are, like, doing Master Chef while the Japanese are, like, launching attacks. They just couldn't give a less. They'd already been through so much. And ultimately they start running low on ammo. And the battalion commander's like, all right, you're the most experienced, you know, patrol officer we got. Take one of these guides, probe around their line, see if you can find a way to get us out of here. So he takes this native guide by the name of Beatty, and they go out probing the enemy line, and they walk right into an ambush. Enemy machine gun fire lights them up, and they run. Take off. They dive into the swamp. They're hiding in the swamp. They lose them. He gets out of the swamp, they start wiping all the mud off. They get all the mud off the native guide, Beatty. And Beatty's like.

Zach

Like, he's.

Nick

He's good. He's good to go. He didn't get hit. They start wiping the mud off. Logan, he's got a bullet hole in his helmet. Didn't hit his head. Went around the helmet, lost velocity. He's got another bullet hole in the Heel of his boot didn't hit his foot.

Host

His foot.

Nick

He's got another bullet hole. He's got two more bullet holes, like, in his clothing. All the bullets missed him. And his wristwatch got shot off his wrist and grazed him.

Host

God.

Nick

But he's fine.

Host

That's God.

Nick

So Beatty, Beatty, the native to this island in the Pacific, sees this and he's like, wow, your God must be really powerful. And he's like, yeah, man. Yeah, he's pretty cool. He's like, can I. Can I worship this God? He's like, sure, yeah. You just, you know, accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and, you know, you could be Christian too, blah, blah, blah. And they say a little prayer together and. Okay, cool. That was great. Let's get back. Let's get back to the guys now. And Beatty, from his perspective now, is under the impression that he is immune to bullets. So he starts dancing and singing and making a bunch of noise, and Logan's like, shut the up. Like, but, you know, he's. He thinks he's invincible now. What's he got to be scared of? So he gets through that situation. They make it back, he gets the guys out of the line, continues to fight. I'm abbreviating. This is like an hour and 20 minute long video.

Host

Well, it's a good abbreviation.

Nick

Yeah. So he. He fights through the rest of World War II and then goes back home, finishes his theological degree, becomes a preacher for a couple of years. And he had signed up for the reserves while he was doing that. Well, then they called him back a couple years later and they're like, yeah, we need you to go on occupation duty. You can either go to Europe or Japan. You can pick which one you want. He picks Japan because he wanted to see what was up now because he just got done fighting the Japanese and,

Host

well, there were two bombs that went off. Yeah, you know.

Nick

Yeah, we'll see if they're still holding a grudge. And he. So he chooses to go over there. But before he leaves, he requests that he becomes a chaplain. Now it's kind of what he wants to do. He wants to be a military chaplain. He's got the degree for it now. And they tell him, you're too old. He's 31. You got to be 30 or younger

Host

to be a chaplain. I would think it's the opposite.

Nick

Apparently, that's what he gets told. So he's like, well, it. I guess I'm infantry. So he shows up to Japan. He's got a wife and kids back home. At this point, they're living in a trailer outside of, like, Fort Benning, I think. So he shows up to Japan. He's there for a little while, and then he gets a notification one day the North North Koreans are attacking. The South Koreans, pack your. We got to go up there. He gets told it shouldn't take longer than a week. So he leaves all his personal in south or in Japan, heads up to North South Korea, technically, because this is the point where they had pushed the South Koreans all the way down to the very, very end of the peninsula called the Pusan perimeter, where they held out. So he shows up at the Pusan perimeter. They're like, all right, take this platoon. Go stand out at this gate. And, you know, if there's an attack, repel it. So he's out there with this platoon that he just picked up. Bunch of North Koreans come rolling up with three T34 tanks. And the T34 tanks punch through their machine gun positions. They just drive right through it. And they get behind his position. He's up on a hill. So he radios back. He needs a, you know, an anti tank crew to come up here. He gets this anti tank crew. They show up with the bazooka. He's got his guys up on the hill repelling the infantry, and he's got these tanks behind him. He takes the anti tank crew and he goes out. They run through these rice paddies. They sneak up on these tanks. They hit all three tanks, but they just take out the tracks to immobilize them them. And before they're able to actually knock the tanks out completely, the one of the tanks hits their position, kills all the guys in the anti tank crew, and he's the only one left. So he starts firing rifle grenades at it and everything else. And he gets up on top. There's two tanks that are still operational, both on the ends, with one in the middle that's completely knocked out. And he's like, like, I'm getting shot at. There's nowhere safe to be right now. So he's like, the safest place I can be is on top of the tank. So he gets up on top of the first tank, and they fucking open the hatch, drops a grenade, fucking closes the hatch, takes them out. The other tank guys start trying to climb out of their tank, shoots all those guys, knocks out three tanks. And I, in the video, I pull up, like, the old newspaper articles. They've got drawings of, like, the fighting preacher knocks out common tanks, blah, blah, blah, blah, from the era and from Here they pull him. He goes on a couple missions. They're still preserving the Busan perimeter at this point, just trying to keep a foothold on the peninsula. And he's basically put in an area that's deemed safe because his guys have already kind of, like, been through some.

Host

That's how it starts.

Nick

And they're chilling out there, and he's, you know, everybody's just hanging out, basically camping. But they got their guns, and off in the distance, he's, like, checking everything on binos. They're up on a hill. It's North Korea. You can see fucking 20 miles out. He sees a formation of guys coming towards them. As they get closer, he's like, those are North Koreans. So he sends a runner back to the headquarters tent, aways back, and he's like, tell him I got North Koreans coming. Runner makes it back, he's like, commander says they're not North Koreans. Well, they're constantly getting closer. He's like, tell him I can see their uniforms. They're carrying Japanese rifles. I know what a Japanese rifle looks like. I fought in World War II. That's what the North Koreans are carrying. Tell them they're North Koreans. Get some more guys up here. Sends a runner back. Runner comes back, they're not North Koreans or South Koreans. This is a safe area. And this conversation goes back and forth, playing phone with the commander until the North Koreans are at the hill and open it, open fire. So he starts defending himself. Winds up getting shot at the beginning of the firefight. Gets all his men set up. They're fighting. He gets shot through the thigh. He's. He's losing a bunch of blood. So he runs back to this, like, aid station, gets tourniquet put on, then goes back up with his guys, keeps fighting. Takes out an enemy machine gun position that they were trying to get set up to wipe out his guys, leads a counter attack, and then gets shot, I believe, three more times. He gets shot through the arm. He gets shot in the chest, and ultimately ends up stopping this attack before he gets medevaced. He had a platoon, so, like, 30 guys, and they stopped an attack of 700 men and killed over 400. He was personally credited with 27 of the kills. Six with bayonet, one with a trench knife. So he's different, bro. He's so up, they gotta fly him to Japan to a hospital to go through surgery. And at the time, the standard operating procedure was if you're in the hospital for 60 days, they send your ass back home. Day 59, he gets orders to go back out.

Host

Oh, my God.

Nick

So he goes back out, and by this point, he basically shows up. And that's when they make the amphibious landing in Inchon and they start pushing the North Koreans all the way back up the perimeter.

Host

Is this before or after General MacArthur was fired? Like, what point in the war?

Nick

He isn't fired yet. This is what gets him fired. Oh, so MacArthur has the amphibious landing at inch on. He's supposed to, you know, push up the peninsula, take out the North Koreans as they're approaching the Chinese border. MacArthur is ordered to stop short of the Chinese border because we don't want the Chinese getting involved. Like, we're not coming for them. It's communist nations. They're going to think that, you know, we're trying to eradicate communism. That's why we're there. So he's ordered to, you know, stall short of that. But he decides to push forward anyways. He pushes the forces all the way up to the Yalu river, which is basically the border of China. And that's where they start getting attacked. All the Allied forces, they bring in hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers. They basically have to do fighting retreats all the way back down the peninsula. It gets pushed back down below the 38th parallel again, and then they fight their way back up, and it gets stalled out at this 38th parallel. So he fights all the way up the peninsula, all fresh out the hospital. Yeah, all the way up the peninsula, all the way back down the peninsula. And then during, when they're fighting back down, they get pushed back down past Seoul for a minute. And there's another town right outside of Seoul. I can't remember. Suan, I think it's called outside of Suwan. By this point, he's been promoted. He's no longer leading a platoon, he's leading a battalion. And he's kind of the role that you were talking about with the Marine, where it's like he's the guy that knows everything war. And he's telling the platoon elements what to do in this battalion. And the platoons that he's working closest with is Echo Company. And Echo Company gets attacked by these guys up on a hill. And Echo Company is led by this crazy lieutenant that also fought in World War II named Louis Mallet. And Louis Millette has. The dude likes combat. And he has heard that the Communists are talking, saying the Americans are scared to bayonet fight. So he decides, show those boys. He decides that he's going to lead the last bayonet charge. In American military history and Take the Hill. And he got to oversee that as well. And then after.

Zach

That's so cool.

Host

At any point, what was he like thinking about? You know, Cuz he's like a big Christian guy, owes his life to God and everything. He's just out here full blown Ben Stiller in it. And that's what I'm picturing. Him on top of the tank. Like Ben Stiller and Tropic Thunder.

Nick

Like, I mean, I skipped the Merl's Marauders part. It gets worse.

Host

All right, well, let's keep going.

Nick

All right, Sorry. Rewind. World War II. New. New Georgia. So he gets done in the Pacific. After he gets done with that, that New Georgia campaign, he gets a letter. So this is back in World War II. Sorry. He gets a. He gets two letters. They're back dated 14 months. One letters from mom and dad. One's from his fiance. First letter, mom and dad are getting divorced. Second letter, fiance is leaving him.

Host

Oh, Jesus.

Nick

Then they come around and they're like, we're taking volunteers for a dangerous mission for guys that have extensive jungle warfare training. And he's like, don't have anything else to go home to it. Why not? So they're all right, get on the boat. Okay. So he gets on the boat, they're taking him to all these different islands. He goes, he winds up in Australia. He's like, where the are we going?

Zach

Next thing he knows, he's the weirdest Japanese ever.

Host

Yeah.

Nick

Remember, dude grew up in a log cabin in Michigan. Like, next thing he knows, he's in India. Like, what the is going on? Culture shot. Yeah. They start training for more jungle warfare in India. And then he figures out like, oh, here's the mission. We got 3,000 guys, including you. We're gonna walk from India into Burma, into the jungles of Burma, and you're gonna go fight the Chinese while they're in Burma. Full on guerrilla warfare tactics. Your whole mission, prevent the Japanese from taking out China. China's basically cut off. We need to establish a foothold in Burma so we can establish the Burma road to get supplies to the Chinese so they can defend against the Japanese. Japanese. Because if China falls, Japan and the Nazis are going to have a direct, like, highway between them. And it's going to be awful for the war effort. So we're going to send you 3,000 guys into the jungle. Just go up the Japanese as much as possible.

Host

3000 guys to stop the connection of the entire eastern world.

Nick

Now the problem is they can't get Supplies into China. Right. So how are you going to get supplies to 3,000 guys that are trying to fight a war?

Host

Airdrop.

Nick

That's all they do. They live in the jungle for seven months straight while they're getting airdrop supplies, conducting guerrilla warfare operations against the Japanese.

Host

3, 000 guys against how many would you say?

Nick

I don't. Whatever the. The empire in Japan had. And they were just in there wreaking havoc the entire time. And I get into, like, the different major battles they had, but that. This unit's called Merrill's Marauders. General Merrill was the guy in charge. And this would later go on to become the 75th Ranger Regiment. So this is like the predecessor to the 75th Rangers. So these guys were functionally Special Forces at the time. And he was selected because of his experience inside of the dangerous mission. They asked for volunteers for another more dangerous mission. Inside the dangerous mission. Nobody volunteers. So he gets voluntold. You're the guy. He is the platoon leader for the INR platoon, for the whole element. INRs Intelligence and Reconnaissance. So he's a scout platoon. So he's like 30 miles ahead of the rest of this element in the jungle. In the jungle, moving forward. He's the eyes and ears.

Zach

Is that where they came up with long range?

Nick

That's lurp. Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol. That's Vietnam. Okay. But. Yeah. This is basically where this all stems from and starts.

Host

Was he at the middle of that one too?

Nick

What?

Host

Coming up with LURP in Vietnam.

Nick

Oh, yeah.

Host

Is that where this is going? He was the guy that invented that there too.

Nick

He didn't.

Zach

He.

Nick

He didn't coin it. But I. He pioneered the. Right. So while they're in. He's in Meryl's Marauders. Lost my train of thought. My bad.

Host

So he was going ahead 30 miles.

Nick

Oh, so he's ahead like 30 miles. So. And there. This is such a historic military unit and they did so much while they were there. I had to, like, stop reading his books and doing research on him. And I had to go and read a book just on Merrill's Marauders. Okay. And Merrill's Marauders has a book. It's about. This is about 3,000 dudes. This is all talking about. Here's this entire element moving through and here's what happened. Like, they're not really talking about individuals. And he's just a platoon leader. Like, he's not a big. He's not important. He's not a general. He's not a colonel. He's not an officer. He's not in charge of shit. He's in charge of 30 guys. In this book, he's named 14 times. And on multiple occasions, his platoon saved the entire element of 3,000 guys. The official historian for Merrill's Marauders equated one of his actions to the Battle of Thermopylae and goes on to explain, King Leonidas fought on his own soil. This guy fought on enemy soil in the jungle. King Leonidas lost all his men. This guy didn't lose a single guy.

Host

Do we have tape of this guy talking, like, being interviewed?

Nick

He doesn't even have a Wikipedia page. It's crazy.

Host

Did you hear about him from that book? Is that how you found out about.

Nick

I got an email saying you should look into this guy. And then I looked into it, and every. Anytime I get an email like that, I just Google it. I was like, there's no Wikipedia for this guy. What the. But the nickname the Fighting Preacher was so compelling that I just kept digging deeper. He wrote memoirs later in his life, but they've been out of print forever. I finally tracked down a copy of his book and then, like, went back, pulled all. All the stuff I could find from, like, National Archives, his award, citations and everything. And like, like, I cross verified everything. And it's like everything he says he did in his book, he did.

Host

And then he's in. I'm just doing math in my head. He was 31 when he went to Korea in 1950 or 51. So by the time Vietnam's popping off, he's in his mid-40s.

Nick

So. Yeah. So then he finishes up with Merrill's marauders, World War II ends. He goes, does the Korean stuff, gets pushed down the peninsula overseas, oversees the last, last bayonet charge. After that, he gets shipped home from here. He decides he's just going to finish out his career in the military. He's already been in long enough.

Host

Yeah.

Nick

So he goes. He basically helps rewrite the book on jungle warfare. He's working at the Pentagon for a while, and then he gets. He's like, I. I hate this. I hate paper pushing stuff. I want to go back. So he goes out to brag and he's like, I think he's 44 at the time. And he's like, I'm sick of having to walk everywhere because Meryl's Marauders walked. He's. His platoon scouted over 12, 50 miles of jungle.

Host

My kind of guy.

Nick

So he's like, I'm tired of walking everywhere. I want to jump out of planes. So at 44, he becomes a paratrooper. And then they're like, hey, you want to become a green beret? He's like, sure. So then he becomes a green beret in his mid-40s.

Host

Oh, my God.

Nick

And then Vietnam pops off, and he doesn't talk much about what he did in Vietnam, but he was sent over to Laos as a green beret to be a technical advisor to the Laotians on how to combat communism. Which technical. You ever heard of MACV sog?

Host

I have heard of that. Remind me, though.

Nick

Yeah. MACV sog was the green berets that were basically operating in Laos and Cambodia, waging a shadow war against the vietnamese the entire time. Like, the most dangerous combat you could imagine. Super insane attrition rate. Like, I'm assuming he was doing that, but I can't verify it. But he was over there for. He was over there for his first 12 months. And then they're like, okay, you can go back home now or you can extend for 36 months and we'll fly your family over here and they can live here too. So he flies his family over, he stays there for like, the additional 36 months. And it's like, you know, you're bringing your family to a war zone. Like, what it your videos? What do you do to make. What do you do to make it up to your daughters and your wife when you bring them to, you know, Vietnam during a war? Like, how do you make a kid happy? You buy him a pony, right? You get him a dog. They're in southeast Asia. So he gets him a monkey.

Host

Oh, my God.

Nick

Spunky the monkey.

Host

Spunky the monkey.

Nick

Spunky the monkey. Because that's what this story needed. And yeah, ends up finishes out. It finishes out his career in Vietnam, brings his family and the monkey back home, keeps the monkey forever cover, and then goes on to become. I forget the title, but basically the campus religious leader for Texas A. M for 13 years.

Host

After all that, still the chaplain, still the chapel. Oh, my God, this is him. Logan Weston. Medal of honor, silver star, u. S. Military, man of God, and yeah, badass.

Nick

Can you pull up my instagram? There's a picture of him with all of his medals. So he got given the distinguished service. Correct. He was supposed to get the medal of honor for repelling that attack of 700. But the commander that kept arguing back and forth with him basically made sure he didn't get the. That. That post. Next one over. No, other one. Sorry. Right, there you go. That's all of his medals, the shadow box. As tall as he is. He's got over 200, 200 awards and commendations.

Host

When did this guy pass away?

Nick

He lived to be like 86, I

Host

think so maybe like 20 years ago.

Zach

Yeah, yeah, that's an insane stack.

Host

What got you into telling these stories? They're so compelling. I mean, you do so many of them across military history.

Nick

I started doing, you know, I mean, the whole YouTuber thing. Like, I didn't do it on purpose as an accident.

Host

I told you.

Nick

I made a. I made a video about a grocery store and I got 12 million views. And then I was like, oh, I guess I should keep doing, doing it. So then I made like a couple more videos and then, you know, I'm just looking for any ideas to like crack jokes and be funny. So I made a video about how the Marine Corps is the craziest branch of the military. It's not even a branch of the military, it's a cult. And I did a little quick three minute video of all the little crazy they do and people loved it and they were like, oh, now do army infantry, now do army mortars. So then I started doing these little three minute videos on jobs and then that kind of turned into like five minute videos on equipment. And then one day I just like covered one dude, one dude's war memoirs and people loved it. I didn't think people would want like a 40 minute video, but it performed great. And then I just, I kept doing it and I mean, over time, I mean, obviously you look for more purpose for doing something other than I enjoy getting views and likes and clicks. And I think the purpose is just kind of turned into, you know, we don't celebrate war heroes anymore. Like we used to have war heroes in World War II. Like, you'd earn the medal of honor, you'd come home, you'd go on a war bonds tour. People knew who you are, you were a celebrity. We celebrated brave men for doing incredible things and being selfless. And we did it a little bit in Korea and then we kind of quit after Vietnam. I mean, the fact that you know Basilone world from Jersey, like, you know what I mean? But like, there's no g wat guys that have notoriety like that. There's nobody from Desert Storm, there's nobody in any of the wars that we like celebrate and hold up of. Like, this is the example of what you should and could be. And you know, I think it's extremely impactful, especially for kids growing up having war heroes to look at and be like, I want to be like that guy.

Host

Yeah, dude. No, you're making an amazing point. I forget who I had in here recently, but this came up and I couldn't agree more. It's like, I don't have any problem. Like, I think it's great when, you know, is a great athlete or stuff like that and you look up to him or you really, like, Daniel Day Lewis is an actor and you look up to him. That's awesome. But like, in society, I think, like, people who make the ultimate sacrifice and understand how the world works because they go over and see the things that we're lucky enough to not have to see here because there's guys like them doing that. I mean, you're telling me that story from a guy from three generations ago, across two generations doing wars. I feel like I was there. Like, people should know. What was his name? Logan Weston.

Nick

Logan West.

Host

Yeah, people should know that name. Like, that's. I. I completely agree, man. You know, it would be a great thing to look up to in society.

Nick

And everybody wonders why, like, oh, none of these kids take pride in being an American. Half these kids think America's bad or evil or whatever. And it's like. Yeah, because you've never heard any stories of anything like. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, America has so many heroes that have done so much incredible. And nobody teaches you that bad.

Host

Yep. Yeah. Some of the. Some of the. I saw you guys did this too. I really admired that. But you guys had in a World War II veteran on. On unsubscribe. Really, really cool. He just passed away, right? Well, we had a couple in a couple summers ago. One of them left like one of his purple heart. Like, I guess mementos here is really cool, but you know, you're sitting there and you're like, These guys are 100 years old and they were just thrown into a situation when they're 18, 19, 20, and they had to figure out it, the out. And I'm just. I don't know. It's a strange feeling that you understand, but it's like the gratitude you feel that people were able to do that and pull that off, no questions asked, is pretty immense.

Nick

Yeah. And I mean, I don't know. The cool part for me is like, I mean, I get tons of emails, tons of comments, but like, some of the emails I get are crazy to me. Like, I've had. I've had wives reach out to me and say that she started watching these videos with her husband and she. Her husband served 15 years in the Marine Corps. And she's like, I understand my husband better.

Host

Wow.

Nick

After watching your videos, wow. Or my favorite ones are, hey, my dad served in the military for a long time. He's passed away now, but he never talked about it. He fought in Vietnam or Korea or World War II. And the unit that you talked about that this guy was in, that was my dad's unit. I had no idea.

Zach

He's.

Nick

I learned so much about my dad. I had no idea what a badass my dad was. Thank you. Like, that's cool. It's. It's cool being able to show somebody like, oh, you know, to you, dad was just the guy mowing the lawn and New Balances, but your dad was a badass at one point. And they went their whole lives never knowing that, and now they do. That's really cool to me.

Host

That's really special. And I think, you know, you talk about how we stop doing it as a society, like, propping these guys up and everything, but like, like, the US Military to me, never stopped having amazing people in it or amazing talent and being badasses and stuff like that.

Nick

Quit caring because of money.

Zach

What do you mean?

Nick

I mean, the US government switched over to fractional reserve banking, and they could just print more money to fund wars, and they didn't need to anymore. The reason the US government was promoting these people was to bring them back to sell war bonds because they needed money to go fight the war. And as soon as they said, oh, what, we can just print more now promoting these guys? Who cares? I don't need. But you know what I mean? But that also before fractional reserve banking, and they could just have an infinite money printer, if you wanted to go fight a war, it had to be a reasonably popular fucking endeavor because you had to sell war bonds to fund the motherfucker. Right? Like, how many people would have bought war bonds for Afghanistan? Guessing not a lot. I'm getting Iraq. Maybe Iraq mostly because of 9, 11,

Zach

but like, Iraq, they would have printed them. I mean, they were doing freedom fries and all that.

Nick

Yeah. Like Iraq, they would have sold a bunch. But Afghanistan, they wouldn't. So it, like, I think that up all the society, it has a ton of downsides because, you know, at least you had the population backing the war. Yeah.

Host

And now we fought a lot of wars over the years that usually just through, like, over time and not really having a plan, eventually, like, we have to leave and we lose or whatever. But what I always say with that is it's not, it's not because of the guys were there that aren't capable. It's because a bunch of people in suits in D.C. who now have infinite, infinite money to fucking vote and print, print money for wars. It's like, you know, they make bad decisions and they play war games that they don't have the balls to go.

Nick

They're not allowed to handle, they're not

Host

allowed to win, they're not allowed to.

Nick

The Marine Corps could steamroll any country in the Middle east in a week if they wanted to do. Like I, I had a, I had an apprentice that had actually served 20 years in the army, and he came in, got out of the military. He was my apprentice for a while. Great guy. And he would tell me stories about how like he was. Remembers being in a Humvee on a 50 cal and they start taking enemy fire. He's got a fucking 50 cal and somebody with an AK47 shooting at him from up on the hill. What do you think he did?

Host

Had to radio in to ask permission, fire back?

Nick

No, he had to tell somebody in the Humvee hand me my M4 because he wasn't allowed to return fire with the 50 cal because it wasn't fair that blow the hill up, who cares?

Zach

Yeah, I didn't do that.

Host

But shoe first, apologize later.

Nick

This is also why you don't know about Norman Schwarzkopf, because they probably hated him because he was won too quick. Yeah, that's, that's what he won too quick.

Zach

Oh, the guy did the first goal for it. Yeah, like I. My deployments were in this weird space. Iraq, as it was coming to an end, as they were getting ready to shut down bases, was much more urban. Everything else in Afghanistan when I was there was literally the wild West. Not long after I left, they started having, you know, drones in the air, these things called G boss towers that could see you and they give their interpretations of interactions and things like that. Like we had a bigger gap and like it. I also want to say, like, I actually found the exact number of guys that we lost on my deployment to margin. It was 10 guys that we lost. And I, I, I don't, I don't. The only reason I don't say their names is because it's not my place. I don't know who all will hear this. I don't know where this will be, where they'll be when this finds them. And I don't want to say anything that could, you know, cause any type of thing, but, you know, it's just I just took a moment to reflect on it. You know, we, we lost a lot of guys and because of that, so many other people had to step up too. And that included my friend Wendell Archer and Wilson, other guys who were putting these situations. You can't imagine. And I constantly think about it now because my children at the age, age to where, you know, I was, and I've thought for a long time like, you know, did we win what it looked like? Who did I fight for? I could have solved Afghanistan in five minutes. That's what I always say.

Host

How would you have solved it?

Zach

I would have. So there's only one place in the world where you can actually grow and sell pharmaceutical grade poppy, and that is New Zealand. The other place is Afghanistan. It's part of the golden triangle, right? So what I would have done is I would have paid pennies on the dollar more than the Taliban was to basically cut off their funding resource, then take that over and then harvest that and provide a legitimate economy for the people. Because they weren't doing it because they wanted to. They were doing it because the threat of death. And then that would have forced the Taliban out, cut all their funding operations

Host

done and built the economy.

Zach

Built the economy, yeah. Like, it's not that complicated.

Host

Now does that get, you know, to people at home thinking about this, like, well, Poppy can be turned into heroin and a whole lot of shit. Can that get bad? Bastardize in a way that it turns into like ground zero for a black market? Like it did.

Zach

That's what it is now and that's what it was. But like you could also wean them off of that. Like if the long term goal is not have that, obviously you can change that. But if you're paying pennies on the dollar more than a war for 20 years, like I remember, like we were doing a buyback program and we would like go up to them. This is like literally what I was ordered to do. They were like, go up and offer them basically 75 cents on the dollar. And I was like, I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that.

Nick

I have a question. What is winning? Then everybody says America's never hasn't won a war since World War II or whatever, blah, blah, blah. Like, what is. Like, I don't. What was the winning in World War II?

Host

What do you mean?

Nick

Like, what, what did that, what would say, what did that look like? I mean, there's two arguments. One, we showed up in their country with guns and they couldn't do. Two, we force their government to sign a treaty.

Host

Yeah.

Nick

Okay, well, if the government doesn't exist anymore because we overthrew it entirely, or it just never had one, what other options are there for winning other than we showed up, walked around your countries with guns and did whatever the we wanted the entire time we were there until we decided to leave?

Host

Right. I think it's a matter of what happens when either we do leave or the shooting stops. Right. So in Afghanistan, to look at the modern day example, it's like there's a badly executed pull out. Obviously not the fault of the guys there at all. Yeah. And we left all the weapons behind. The guys that were in charge 20 years ago became in charge again. And it's. And there are people that felt like, wow, it was just. Time is a flat circle. Whereas when you finish World War II, you took out the Japanese emperor, you took out the Nazi command, you made them start a new government, you have a new problem with an old ally that now you have a cold war with afterwards. But like effectively the moment of like the world's fastest growing GDP trying to start a forefront war and take over the world all at once with whatever his ideas were that was stopped. I would describe that as a win for sure.

Nick

But then the question is like, so the hinging point is like, can we teach this group of people to rebuild a society that can be productive again? What do you do when you can't?

Host

That's hard.

Zach

We shouldn't have ever left Afghanistan. That's it.

Host

Yeah, I was gonna, I was gonna ask you hard.

Zach

Stop. We should have never left. There's a precedent. We didn't leave Germany, we're still there. Right. We didn't leave a bunch of countries around it. Vietnam, Korea, we're still there. Japan, we still have a Marine base there. Both of them have become world superpowers, Japan and Germany alone in technology, innovation, society. Because we were there to stop a power vacuum to being being created. We should have kept a base in the north. Well, one in Kandahar and then one up in the north, I think around Bagram probably would have been a good spot. Off top of my head. I don't really know that area that well. But I mean, Tyler VargasAndrews who was on. Sean Ryan, who's a very good friend of mine, of ours. Amazing, amazing, toughest. One of the best people out there. When you hear the way he was hemmed up and the way I was, it like they had id, they had intelligence, they knew what was going to happen. And they're like, no, no, no, no, it's not that. And like literally as he's, I'm gonna steal this from him because I think about it all the time. He said it was like if someone filled this room with Satan sand, that was what it was like. The amount of people that were trying to get through to leave, it's like it was unstoppable. And you see that and you see the impact that it's had on that part of the world where things are, you know, it might look good for the influencers they're paying to fly out there, but it's not a good place to go. You know, I don't care how much the Taliban's cutting you a check for to go roll the blade and down the one road they have. It's not a place you want to be. But we have created another power vacuum in a very dangerous part of the world. Again.

Host

Yeah, it's an interesting argument with the bases and stuff and I could, I could see a good argument there. But when it did, when they did decide to basically like get out and now your post career veteran watching this, who was there and fought battles and lost friends. And lost friends after to suicide as well.

Zach

Double over, over double since. Since I left the service 2011. The first suicide was in November of 2011. And again, I don't want to not going to name names. It's not my place that and it just continues to happen since then.

Host

What's going through your mind when you watch them pull out?

Zach

In August 2021, I was in a much better place personally, you know, because of a lot of things I'd done. I had started, you know, when I got out in 2011 I realized no one was coming to help us and so I started working with non profits. I started trying to basically do what I do now, but I wasn't making a living doing it. I was just, I was the only guy who knew how to do the GI Bill. I was only got knew about benefits, non profits that'll send you to ride horses if you want or hyperbaric oxygen therapy or you can put magnets on your head, whatever. I was like doing all of it. And I worked with a non profit for about six months and I started like basically auditing and using anything that I could to make my life better. And I wasn't like this will make me 100 better, but what if I get like 15 to 20%, you know what I mean? Like what if I can start chunking together patch working a path towards healing and you know, ultimately it's because of my wife and my community and the people I was surrounded by that put me in a place to where I was, was able to not have the impact really be detrimental to me. And about a month later I went to Mexico and, and did psychedelics. I believe it was that year, or maybe it was a year, I can't remember. Is it 21 or 22 when I did.

Host

And what did you do specifically?

Zach

The thing that, that everyone talks about now, I did ibogaine and dmt. But back when you had to lie about it and not tell people. We had to get medical exemptions on our path passports, all these different things through an organization called Vets, which is a life changing thing for me.

Host

And it took, obviously, like it helped you tremendously.

Zach

Yeah, no, it, it's, it's one of the single greatest things I've ever done.

Host

Was it immediate or was it a gradual improvement afterwards? Immediate.

Zach

Immediate.

Host

What, why do you think it was for you?

Zach

I mean, so ibogaine is, it's outlawed in America. It's because it's, it has been shown to have 100 effectiveness in opioid cessation. It attacks all the addiction centers of the brain. Can't have that, can't have that. And it basically wipes you clean. And it is not a fun experience. There's a documentary about it on Netflix called In Waves and War. It's the same organization I went through. Basically. It shows you all the good, bad and all the things you need to see. And for like 8 to 10 hours you're swimming in deep water with weights on and you're blindfolded. And I don't want to go too much into it just because it's very. It takes a long time. But like, for me, what I kept seeing was a photo of my wife and two daughters. And it was like fuzzy and unclear. And as it got closer to me, like it would become more clear. And as it got closer, these moments of trauma throughout my life would kind of appear like on your camera roll of your phone. I would spend time with it and go back down in the medicine and come back up and, and purge. They say it's a physical manifestation of trauma that you're purging. And I hadn't eaten in 12 hours. And I don't know what came out of me, but something came right. And you wake up the next day, you're like trying to stand up and can't because like your brain's like literally brand new. And then we took a day and then we did DMT 5 Meo DMT the next day.

Host

What was that?

Deuce

Like?

Zach

They call it the God molecule for a reason. It takes you to the eternal, whatever people want to call it, that's, that's where you go. And you know, it helped me to put all the, like ibogaine, like gave me the pieces for the puzzle and DMT put them in place and that's crazy. That's, that's probably the craziest thing I've ever done.

Host

Was it the kind of thing where when you're forced to. I was just thinking this when you were describing the ibogaine part, where you're forced to kind of see these traumas and live in them during that period. Is it like it's not just facing them but then also like having you get like some self forgiveness out of it? Like it's, it's in the past or.

Zach

Yeah, I mean, I mean it was a combination of like my life growing up through having, you know, an alcoholic father who's abusive and all the different things that come with that. And, and then like, you know, all the stuff that made me good as a Marine, made me bad as a person. My ability to carry around trauma and compartmentalize it. Just put it away in the rucksack, keep moving. Well, eventually it gets heavy and I'd been carrying stuff for too long and I not put it where it belonged or spent time with it and understood it or losing my friends or. What could I have done to be better? Could I have called this person, texted this person? How did, how did I know anything? Stuff like that. And so, you know, when I did that, the ceremonies, it was just, it was unlike anything else. I mean, it's why I'm excited that the VA's working with HHS to fast roll it. I mean, we just talked to the secretary of VA about it. They're literally laying out a plan. It's some, something I think really needs to happen.

Nick

What he said about IB gain was weird to hear.

Host

What was that?

Nick

He had like, he was kind of explaining it like he was, he was also a chaplain forever. So he was like very much like not bought into the idea, but he was talking to like psychologists and the psychologists were telling him, like, I thought it was at first, like, I've done research, they're like, this is legit. Yeah. And he had given, you know, this anecdotal example about how some people needed to actually have ibogaine done multiple times because they had so many different issues that they had to work through that they didn't even know were, like, part of the problem. So, like, one dude would go in and, you know, hypothetically speaking, it wasn't just something that happened in his military service, but it was actually something that, like, happened in his childhood. And that first session only got him through whatever the issues were in his childhood. And then he had to do another session to get through the stuff after that, and then. And it fixed them. So that was interesting to hear.

Zach

It's. It's. It's interesting to hear him take, like, a very clinical approach to it in a way where he's like, we can't just throw veterans to the wolves of this. The reality of it is not everyone needs that much. That's kind of like the highest level. It's. It's bleach, right? And there's other. There's other psychedelics that have been shown to be just as effective. Mdma, ketamine, psilocybin, things like that. That's what you're supposed to do. I skipped those steps. I don't recommend what I shout out to Jared Taylor from Black Rifle. Call me Coffee. He called me, like, the end of September. He was like, what are you doing? I was like, I'm mowing my yard. I was literally mowing my yard. And he's like. He's. I'll never forget this. He goes, do you have a passport like a grown man? And I was like, yeah, I have a passport. And he goes, all right, you're gonna go to Mexico in a month. And I was like, how do I take off work? And he goes, you'll be fine. Because I was working with him at the time. He's like, you'll be okay. He's like, I own the company. I was like, yeah, that was a dumb question. I wish I hadn't said that out loud. But he sent me and a bunch of guys down, and I was there with some dudes who done psychedelics before. Derek Carver is a good friend of ours. World champion powerlifter. Has one leg. He looks like the thumb. Thumb things from Spy Kids, minus a digit.

Deuce

It.

Zach

So he's just a big fist. And we took the medicine. It's weighed. You're hooked up to an ekg, you have a they drug test. You do all these things. You're under care of a doctor and everything. I'll never forget. I look at him and he takes off his leg and he goes, won't be needing this. And I was like, oh, this is about to be gnarly. And it just changed everything. It just Changed everything. And so instead of, you know, I'm. I don't want to seem like I'm stumping or, like, grifting or shilling whatever, for administration. I don't. I don't like red or blue. I do like Doug Collins a lot because I've seen them take input from the veteran community and be like, you're right, we were wrong, or like, yeah, we should do that. I've never seen a VA administration do anything like that. Prior. Like, he's like, yeah, you're right. We should look into this. I'm partnering with Health and Human Services to figure out how to. To do this. The end.

Host

That's great.

Zach

As opposed to, like, well, we'll see. Because most people. Most people take that job as, like, whatever. It's like a career. Thank you. You served here. You go run this thing.

Nick

You didn't quite make it to president.

Zach

Yeah, you didn't quite make it. You're in the line of succession. You know, a bunch of people got to go, but you're still up there. But, you know, he's a pastor. He just retired from the. From the military. And, like, he just wants to help. Like, he. He went from having a really good life in North Georgia to living in a condo in D.C. not exactly a good trade.

Nick

Also, didn't realize he was in the line of succession. Kind of threw me off trying to film a podcast for the first time with multiple Secret Service guys staring at me, not laughing at any of my jokes, even though they landed with everyone else in the room. Yeah, I get to the point. I was trying to make these guys laugh. Stone face the entire time. Couldn't be done.

Zach

Secret Service agents. Yeah.

Host

Nice and serious.

Nick

Couldn't be done.

Zach

No, it was. It was funny.

Host

The.

Zach

Apparently we were all inside, but the street was blocked off and everything. Like, one of our friends was like, I'm just going to see my friend.

Nick

Wait, what? The street was blocked off?

Zach

Yeah, Trout, when he came in, he's. He was like. There was just a dozen cars, apparently a half dozen cars outside. So, like.

Host

Well, they're not around, I guess, since. No, no, 20, 24.

Zach

I mean, there. Yeah, no, they're. They're serious and, like, protect this man at all costs. But, like. Like, it's just. I. I don't know, man. It's. You know, ptsd, people have a lot of meanings for it. They call it pts, ptsd, whatever you want to call it. I don't care. I think when you come to the realization that the memory of who you were before the trauma is better than the reality that you are. It's almost impossible not to hate yourself because you can remember everything before the thing that happened, whatever it is, a car wreck.

Host

You're.

Zach

You know, something traumatic happens, you lose someone close to you, you go to war, Whatever it is, doesn't matter. And that's. That's where that thing comes up. And, you know, for me, I was just carrying it for such a long time, and I was kind of patchworking myself together and trying to help people, and that all led me to the veteran with the sign stuff, because I was like, what if I open source this? What if. What if I call myself war fighter and, like, I refer to myself in the third person? What if I wear the same thing every day? What if. How would he look? Oh, he would wear this shirt. He would write stuff on cardboard. Because that's what veterans do. Is a homeless veteran. Okay, what. What if I partner with companies that will help this? What if I get the word out? What if I talk about how June is men's mental health?

Deuce

Mother.

Zach

What if I talk about. About, you know, this thing or this event, whatever's happening? And if I just keep doing this, maybe. Maybe people will find out about stuff, because everyone's always asking me, zach, how do you do this veteran thing? How do I get my benefits? How do I get counseling, whatever. Why don't I just lean into that?

Host

Right?

Zach

And that's literally what I did. Like, there's.

Host

That was what, like, seven, eight years ago?

Zach

You started 2020 March. The first. The first one I ever made. It was like the last before the. The two weeks, you know, stop the curve. Yeah, we stopped the curve.

Nick

It was two weeks in Iowa. For real?

Zach

Yeah, so I hear. Yeah, Tennessee. We had. It was long. Two weeks. No, it wasn't. So it was like the week before. The young lady was cutting my hair at the time. We were trying to, like, spend money in the local economy. I went to her, and I was talking to her about this idea, and she was like, that's a good idea. And I was like, will you take my photo? And she's like, yeah, sure. So I went out, went outside the barbershop. She took my photo, and it said, drink water. Take Motrin. Change your socks. And the caption said, Covid remedy unironically. It would have worked. It would have worked early. Yeah, I was a little early. But that's the most common thing people say to you in the military. If you're hurt, drink water. Take Motrin. Change your Socks, Right? And so I did that, and then I just kept making versions of that. I was talking about Tiger Kings, you know, stuff that was, like, culturally making, like, inside jokes about the military. And, you know, for, like, the first 90 days, some people got it, some didn't. My wife was like, stop trying to make, you know, your friends laugh. Like 10 people laugh.

Nick

You're embarrassing me.

Zach

You're embarrassing me. There's always the embarrassing curve, right? There's the. They'll say it now. Like, I always believed in him. But there's. There's a few text messages if you go back.

Nick

I don't mind being embarrassed. I don't mind being embarrassed in a new car.

Zach

But I remember there was this guy who got relieved. His name's Captain Crozier. He was actually here on the. In New York. He had a vessel that responded when they had the. The. What are they called? The. The medical ships. I can't remember what they're called, but there was a bunch of them.

Host

I know what you're talking about. Yep.

Zach

They were stationed right outside here. And he was trying to get help from the Navy, and they were actively suppressing his request for assistance. He's like, I've got a ship full of six sailors. We're trying to help with all these medical ships. I need help. And the Navy's like, no, you don't. He's like, no, no, I. I really need help. Blah, blah, blah. They ignored every single time. He eventually released it, I believe the cbs. He then got relieved of his command. And as he's leaving the ship, which is the equivalent of losing a base, which is a big deal, there's going. Captain Crozier, and the whole deck is shaking, like, as he's walking off. And I have this one. I saw this one video. It was on, like, barstool sports and all this stuff. They're like, captain Crozier. And like, I'm getting chills even thinking about it. It's a great video. And I saw that, and I was like, I don't really do anything political. That's not really political. That's just a good leader. And I looked at Christy, and I was like, hey, I have an idea. And I, like, wrote it down real quick, got her. Take my photo. And at that time, I had turned off all notifications on everything. And I was like, I'll just, you know, have a ton of stuff to do. I'll give this a day. And I waited 24 hours. I got back on my phone, and I refreshed it, and I didn't know this until that moment, but Instagram will only cap out your notifications at 100. I refreshed it, and it was a hundred. A hundred, a hundred. And I was like, whoa, that's crazy. I hit it again.

Deuce

Yeah.

Zach

100, 100, 100. And I did it again. And every time I did it, it kept doing that. And then I went to my followers and I was like, oh, no, we might have a problem here. Comments are through the roof. Things are going up. And then I was just like, okay, what do I do with this? And now just keep moving forward.

Host

Just ran with it.

Zach

I just ran with it. And then, you know, eventually you, like. You know, you, like, meet somebody, you DM them, and you're like, hey, you do this thing, I do this thing. Because you don't. That's. That's honestly the hardest part is finding people that do the thing you do.

Host

Is that how you guys met?

Zach

Yeah, yeah. It's. It's. It's literally like, how much do you charge someone for an ad? Or, like, what's a company you should work with? Or is this even a company? Like, there's, like, there's no one who's like, oh, I know this. Blah, blah, blah, blah. And so I'd met Donut operator and Brandon, and then they told me about the. The podcast they had, and it was coming up, and they're like, oh, there's the fat electrician. And his videos are being sent to me on the regular, like, all the time. The marine videos. They're like, you should talk to this guy. I was like, who is this? Who's this guy? You know, it was just. And then it's YouTuber now. This. This YouTuber. No, it was. It's just a thing where, like, you become aware of certain people in your space and stuff, because, you know, you are the company you keep, you know, and we just all started hanging out. And then, like, slowly but surely, like, I just started to realize, like, you know, all my friends are kind of like, you know, the verses are different, but the chorus is the same. You know what I mean?

Host

Yes.

Zach

And, like, we just started hanging out, like, one by one by one. And I had a podcast where I was interviewing people on my page called After Action and Me and they could hung out several times. We'd done a bunch of, you know, unsub adventures, different things. And he came in town and we just started talking for, like, four some odd hours. I. I don't know, we ordered tacos, like, halfway through it. Yeah, yeah.

Host

Tacos. Get some people going.

Zach

Yeah, it was me, him, and Blaz, who's also part of Underwhelming. And then he's like, that's probably the best one we've ever done. It was just. It was just good. Like, we just really hung out, and then, like, we both thought about it, and then it's like, do you want to keep doing this? And he's like, yeah. And he's like, well, let's start a podcast. And he's like, what do you want to name it? And I was at his house, and I was just, like, underwhelming.

Host

So you're taking on another pro. I mean, that's amazing.

Zach

Oh, he's. He's fine.

Deuce

He.

Zach

He takes on 20 to 40.

Nick

A lot of projects.

Zach

Yeah.

Host

Yeah. Good for you, man.

Zach

And then we just, you know, we just kept going. It's. It's fun, you know, it's like, old dad, new dad, or newer dad. It's just kind of like us navigating life and trying to figure things out, and it's just. It's just fun.

Host

Well, I think it's two things. I think a. Obviously, it's, you know, you scratching the itch of, like, things that you're familiar with the worlds, you know, and there's a lot of other people from those worlds who are looking for, you know, something they can relate to. But then be like, you guys are, like, so representative of, like, the everyman out there. You think and say the things that people think and say, and they're like, ah, that guy speaks for me. That's really, like. That's the vibe I always got from, like, unsubscribe. Watching that from afar. Like, it's like you said, it's guys hanging out and everything, but there's like, an element of just, like, this is just like, me and my boys hanging out, too. It's really cool for.

Zach

For military people. I always say unsubscribes, like, the smoke pit.

Host

The smoke, right?

Zach

Like, it's where everyone gets around, rips a butt and is like, the. Was that about, you know, like. But, you know, because it's just. It's just boys hanging out. And, you know, they all have, like, Elaine, Nick's history, Brandon's Guns, Cody's Cops. Right. Eli's streaming everything. And it's so. It's just like. I don't know. And then it's kind of like wish version Avengers when you look at it, because, like, they, like, made this universe, and somehow, like, I wound up a part of it. Like, you know, I'm like, the Hawkeye.

Nick

You're famous for the donkey story.

Zach

I am famous, yeah.

Host

What's the donkey story?

Zach

I can tell it.

Host

Yeah.

Zach

Let's tell it real quick. It's not quick, though.

Host

Well, let's go then. We got time.

Deuce

All right.

Zach

All right. So first off, the first time I told this story, I've been talking to Nick for like. Like a year. We're at shot show one year. And Nick's like, why are you on? Come on. This is my Nick voice when you're on.

Nick

Come on.

Zach

Unsubscribe. I'm like, I've got the single best story. I'm only going to tell it to you and Joe Rogan. You're like, okay. And he's kind of. He's so. And he's like, don't tell me now. And like, this is also, like, at 2:00 in the morning in the Venetian, like, we're. Oh, Hammer just. It was shot show. So we're like, I got a. Sorry, I'm. I don't want to drool. But, like, we're exhausted. There's people everywhere. It's sweaty. It's a whole thing. All right, so my first deployment town called Garms, right? And we'd inserted and we were trying to establish, like, an area operations. We're moving through, like, buildings and the buildings over there are like, courtyard style. So, like, your kitchen is an individual building and your bedroom is individual building and so forth. So on. So, like, we finally found, like, one good spot. We're set up and I'm doing post and like, for anyone doesn't know, post is. You're just looking out a hole, rethinking your life, being like, holy, I really wanted to be funny in high school. Like, what am I doing here? Like, you're just sitting there. And we're all. All the marines are in this one building because the rest of them are like, either blown up or we had blown them up or they had blown them up. And so we only had like, one good structure. So there's like 30 guys and they're like laying on top of each other trying to keep warm. And I'm looking on a hole. My friend Zachary group's looking out another hole. We're both on two 40s down this main thoroughfare. Like, right in front of us, crossover fields of fire. Intersecting fields of fire. We're ready. Machine guns. And like, we're saying, like, dumb. You're just trying to stay awake. You ever. You hit that spot yeah, yeah, I

Host

know what you're talking about.

Zach

You're like, yeah, dude, when I get. And it sounds like old timing. Like when I get back to the world, you know, things will be different. I'll see my gal. Like, you're just like, it's not like that, dude. When I get back, I'm gonna get so drunk, I can't wait. I'm gonna eat like fried chicken or whatever. Just saying like, like, I'm gonna start a business. I'm gonna do this. He's saying stuff and you know, we had told the people not to move around at night. We're trying to stop movement of the Taliban, all these different things. And we're trying to stop them from basically creating bombs. And like, don't do it, don't do it. We even put pamphlets out. Like I said, nobody knows how to read. So we just covered the area with paper. We just played it on the radio. We did everything we could.

Deuce

Good.

Zach

And so we're standing there, it's late. It's really late. It's not that far. We're very close to the road. It's like from here to a little bit further than that wall. And we see these two military age males and a donkey starting to walk down the road. And I call up to the post, I'm like, hey, cog. Cog is post one. Roger. We got two military males moving from east west and move down the road. What do you want to do? I'm on my way over and he likes like, comes over from the other building. He's like looking out of the hole and he looks at the hole, he goes, listen. They do anything. They do anything at all. You smoke them. It's like, roger that. And I hit the 240 and I'm like, I'm about to go to college for free, right? And I'm there, I'm there. We don't even need NVGs. It's, there's, there's no noise or light pollution there. If we also don't have NVGs, right? It's a budgetary issue. Equipment makes you weak. Jesse Puller said that equipment makes you weak. Move forward, right? So I'm on the 240, he's on the 240. And the COG, Corporal, the guards like, what's, what's going on? I'm like, nothing, nothing. And they get like, right center. So like me and group, like, we're locked on or like ready? Because what comment when they plant a bomb. This is very well known. It doesn't release anything. The way it works is like, like that. It's not a one person job. You basically get paid for what you're doing. There's one guy who gets paid to dig the hole. Another guy comes by, he puts the item in the hole, right? The third guy gets paid to cover it up, basically. So they don't want to lose like one go. They have like, oh, well, we still have the holes out there. We still have the bombs out there, cover them up. So like we thought they would come by, just scoop some stuff or just drop some stuff off, whatever, waiting. And they just stop. And then like, like looking at him and he's like, what's going on? I was like, I don't know. They're just kind of standing here, they're looking around. And then one guy goes to the front, and then one guy goes to the back. And the one guy goes to the front, takes the donkey and he puts it like this, like he puts a headlock and like a guillotine. He locks it up and. And then the other guy takes his shirt and puts it in his mouth and he starts this donkey. I swear to God, I swear to God. This is verified bible by every person I was with. I swear to you. I swear to you. This happens. And I, and I go, oh my God. And group goes, holy. And then people start waking up. They're like, what's going on? I'm like, cog.

Nick

Cog.

Zach

He's like, what? And I go, you gotta get over here right now. I don't say it over the radio because this stuff's documented. And he like looks through the hole. He's like, oh my God, he's that donkey. By this point, every marine in the room starts waking up. Be like, what the, what the. The going on? So they start looking out of the glory hole, right? The first glory hole. And he's like, oh, oh my God. So all of them are like, they're moving around. I remember guys are moving around, machine gun barrels be like, holy, holy. Eventually called the lieutenant like, sir, sir,

Nick

wake up, wake up, wake up.

Zach

He's like, what's going on? I was like, they're a donkey, sir. It's like, no, they're not. And he's like, oh my God, they're a dog. This is a well educated man too. A donkey, right? And I was like, sir, let's kill him. He's like, you can't kill him. There'll be blood and come everywhere. This guy his donkey for like a long time. Arguably way too long. To be a donkey, right? Because you feel like if you're gonna. A donkey, you're in and out. No, this dude, he was like slapping on the ass and his friends holding it. And then after, finally, it just. It stops. It just stops. And cog is like, what's going on? I was like, he stopped. He's like, all right, let me know if anything else happens. And I was like, roger that. And I look up. Then they swapped. Oh my God. So. And that was the moment that I knew, we're not gonna be able to teach these guys democracy. So. So yeah, so I told this story on Unzone. It's one of their most popular episodes today. And so I tell this story on stage in Nashville and the crowd just explodes. And the. The. It was. It was the first time Unsub also ever did two shows back to back. So we do that and then Nick looks at me, he's half in the back.

Host

He goes, you gotta tell it again.

Zach

We're gonna act out the donkey story next time. It was his idea. And I was like, what?

Host

Who plays the donkey?

Zach

Our friend Rich.

Deuce

He hated.

Nick

Hates it.

Zach

He hates it. But Rich was also half in the bag. And he's like, he's the donkey, both of us. And he's like, I'll be the donkey. And so now it's an integral part of the show where it's like a leading up point, cuz, Where Nick tells the story and then Nick leads into it and he's like, you guys want to hear a donkey story? So I travel the country telling the story about two guys, a donkey.

Nick

And your sweet wife loves nothing more than hearing two, 2,000 people scream and lose their minds.

Zach

Yeah.

Nick

When her husband has to go up there and tell a story about two dudes, a donkey.

Zach

Yeah, it's all right. It puts up with a lot. It'll be okay.

Host

Pays the bills.

Zach

It pay. It does pay. It does pay the bills. It's just.

Host

That's incredible.

Zach

No, and she's. It was funny because, like, for a while she was like searching my friends, being like, maybe one of them will tell me Zach's lying. And like, they've all come to the house, been like. Like, no, it happened. It was super gross. She keeps hoping it's the only time my wife has been like, I hope my husband's stealing valor. Maybe this is all made up and maybe it's all a dream. It's not made up. It's not a dream.

Host

Sir, get over here. Where are they?

Zach

I can't say, sir. You know well, but, yeah, it's. Yeah. I mean, there's other stories. They're not like that.

Host

That's next level.

Zach

Yeah.

Host

I never heard anything like that before.

Zach

No, it's. Yeah. So that's when people are like, wow, you know, what are the people like over there? And I'm like, I got a story.

Host

Donkeys.

Zach

I got a story.

Deuce

You.

Host

We heard about some other. Over there. It's not great either. That's been well documented on this podcast.

Zach

Yeah, it's very well documented. The guy who made a documentary about my deployment to Marsh, his name is Ben Anderson. He used to work at Vice News. I don't know if he still does, but he also made a documentary called this is what Winnings Look Like. The trailer is probably the worst thing I've ever seen. I don't even want to say it, but basically talks about the head Afghan police chief at the time, says,

Deuce

I'm

Zach

gonna be vulgar, but it just is what he says. He says, if we don't, the little boys, they're gonna. The pussies of their grandmothers. This is the head of all Afghan police. This is the very intro to the documentary. Like, their rationalization and normalization of the behavior they do is beyond anything that I could even really understand.

Host

But, yeah, I don't know how you get that out of society because of how deep rooted it is. And, like, I don't.

Zach

They also don't like homosexuality. They hate gay people. That is a. I've. They've tortured, killed.

Nick

Goes back to. I had to go through this. You'd have to now, too.

Host

Yeah.

Zach

Yes.

Host

But I think you. I mean, there has to be, like, all abuse. A strong power dynamic. And getting off on that power dynamic there beyond just like, I went through this, so you will, too. And, you know, it's not one or two guys who were in Afghanistan coming in here and telling me this. It's everybody.

Zach

Dude, they would try. The a. Would try and, like, be like, hey, we got to go talk to people. Like, you're not talking to anybody. You're. Stay over here. Stay right here. You know, like, oh, no, no, we need to talk to. No, you don't. I don't. I mean, there's. There's tons of stories, you know, of it happening.

Nick

I mean, Army E6 that got, like.

Zach

Oh, yeah.

Nick

Removed. There was a. It was a, like, famous court case. This is years ago, but there was an Army E6 that beat the. Out of his INA.

Zach

Yeah.

Nick

Like, equivalent commander. And he got fired. And I believe he got. I believe he Got separated from the military because the official stance of the US Government was we need to respect their culture.

Zach

Yeah, he. King M1. He came in on them in a gang rape situation, and he.

Deuce

He.

Zach

He actually stopped it, and they punished him for it.

Host

I've had people in here who went and stopped those situations, and they didn't get punished, but that's crazy. That's crazy.

Zach

Yeah. No, we were. They were never allowed to be out of my sight. They were always around us. You know, our Afghan army counterparts at least. Counterparts at least the ones we worked with. I didn't have any situations like that. I wouldn't allow anything like that.

Host

Were you warned about that before you went there?

Zach

No. I mean, the first deployment, we didn't work with them. But the second deployment, they were, like, literally left seat, right seat. They were with us everywhere.

Host

So how did you find out about that culture?

Zach

They talked about it without going too specific into it. We were working with some intelligence assets internal to the Marine Corps that just gather intelligence. And he would honestly teach us. This gentleman would teach us some of the things about their culture to, like. Like, he's like. He would literally be like, no, this is what happens here. And he would explain things to us because, like, you hear things and, like, you read things. And the only real cultural training we had prior to that was there was this, like, professor from, like, UNC Wilmington or something. She showed up at the Marine Corps. Showed the Marine Corps based theater at Camp Lejeune. And she was like, this is how you tell this from that? And she would, like, talk to our whole battalion. And. And she, like, played Aladdin and said, like, how none of it applied to, like, the Middle East. And I was like, yeah, we know. Like, she was like, she's like, this isn't real. And I'm like, no shit. Genies aren't real. Holy fuck. That's Robin Williams isn't over there. I was just like, damn, they really make anybody a professor these days. They literally cut her speech short because it was just, like, insane. But there is some cultural training stuff that goes into it. But, like, honestly, like, the majority of the things that we would do would, like. My thing was, like, I was always worried about the kids, in particular, the. The young girls, because, like, one of them. There was one I took a photo with in my first appointment just reminded

Host

me of my daughter.

Zach

And I gave her some Skittles. Once we were walking by, I just gave her some Skittles, and her little brother came up to her and, like, started hitting her with A stick. And so I walked over there, and I was like, hey, what's up, bud? And I cracked him in the head. And I was like, come here, John. This is our interpreter. I was like, you tell him that if he ever touches his sister again, we'll come back and he'll regret it for the rest of his life. And John's like, don't worry. And he's. He's like, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, boom. And he's, like, cracking his knuckles, and he's like, I told him. And the kids started crying, and so I gave the girl a bottle of water and stuff. Because there's all sorts of things societally about them. Like, if you interact with females past a certain age, they're outcast. All those different things, they're used as, like, property. That's how women are treated. Once girls become women, it's just. It's rough. And so, you know. And then you hear people talk about, like, things over here in America, and I always feel like I'm just putting on my grizzled veteran hat. Like, people have no idea the things to which the rest of the world is societally. Talk about equality and stuff. News flash. No one's working as hard as we are at it. Like, we are winning in every. Nothing's perfect. I'm not saying that. I would never be that. I understand what you're saying, stupid. But everyone's like. Like, speak of the devil. Everyone's like, you know, you have no idea. Blah, blah, blah. I didn't get this. I didn't get that. It's so hard. And I'm like, I don't know, man. You ever seen a young child get beat because she had skittles by her family members who treated her like she was less than. You ever seen all the different things that happen over there, and, you know, that's. That's what's tough is I think I. That's what I think about when I think about, you know, people that are still there. I think about the ones that don't really have a chance at a life because we're not there anymore. That's why we shouldn't have left. We created a massive power vacuum. Just a safe haven for terrorism and narco drugs.

Host

And so many traffic got killed, too. People who helped out.

Zach

I mean, that's why I think, to explain it is people, like, ask how bad Afghanistan is. I'm like, this is how bad it is. We're withdrawing from a country. We're leaving it. People are literally holding on to A airplane that deep down inside they know they can't hold on to, but they're still gonna try as it takes off. That's how bad it is.

Host

Yeah, I remember that video.

Zach

Like, that's that if you ever. If anyone ever needs anything, be like, is it that bad? That's how they're willing to be. Maybe I can hold on to it. Maybe it'll land when we get out of here.

Deuce

Here.

Zach

Who the knows? But I'm gonna try. I'm gonna try to hold on to this C130 as long as I can because it's better than what's back there.

Host

Yeah. Yeah, it still gets me, that one. But, I mean, guys, we just did, like three and a half hours. Oh, we have to do this again sometime.

Nick

Yeah.

Host

You guys are awesome.

Zach

I tell him he needs to do an Iowa run. We'll take him out to CPU View.

Host

That would be cool. Yeah. No, I've never been out to Iowa.

Nick

Dude's crazy. He can. He can in a good way. He can throw his wedding ring in the air and shoot a 9mm round through it while it's falling.

Host

Do we have a video of this?

Nick

He has it. He has it in super slow mo, high speed.

Zach

Yeah.

Nick

The first.

Host

The first time I'd be born with something for that.

Nick

The first time I met him, I didn't know what to expect. I thought it was going to be like a dude, perfect situation. Like, you sit out here for six hours, get an incredible shot, done. I'm stand. He's like, pull. Pull your pistol. I pull my pistol out and he's like, shoot at a target. I go, okay, dang. I shoot at the target. He's standing right here next to me. He goes, okay, shoot at the same target in the same spot. I'm like, all right, that's weird. What are you doing? I shoot at the same target, the same spot. He just wanted to see where my brass was ejecting. On the second shot, he steps back, kicks my brass into the air, pulls his gun out from concealed and shoots my brass on the first try. And that's how I met him. Dog. Go to his. Go to his shorts.

Zach

Yeah, go to shorts.

Nick

Go to his shorts.

Zach

Shout out to the boy.

Host

Do popular. Should we do popular? Hit popular on shorts.

Nick

Yeah.

Zach

The problem is there's so many.

Nick

Do one with a pistol.

Host

Dude, hit your brass.

Nick

Do that one.

Zach

Yeah, that one's at the washer. Classic.

Host

Wait, it just went off, I think.

Nick

Yeah.

Zach

What happened?

Host

Go to. Oh, it might do that. Yeah, Hit it. And then it might.

Zach

Yeah.

Host

No.

Zach

Yep.

Deuce

No.

Zach

That's one bad wife anywhere.

Host

His sunglasses doing it.

Zach

Yeah,

Host

bro. All right, so they're going to eject the washer out from behind them.

Deuce

Yeah.

Zach

His cameraman's gonna throw it.

Host

Yo, that's some spider.

Zach

Also, while filming, shout out Dalton for throwing it and filming all at the same time.

Host

That's spider man. No. No way.

Zach

Yeah, bro.

Host

Is that AI?

Zach

No, no.

Nick

I've seen him do it.

Zach

I've seen him in person several times.

Host

Didn't even touch it.

Zach

Yeah. Nick, didn't he buy the slow motion camera just to counter all the comments?

Nick

Just to do this?

Zach

Yeah, because people didn't believe it.

Host

Oh, my God.

Nick

Yeah.

Host

All right. Yeah, I would love to come see that.

Nick

Me and him outdid Mythbusters in an afternoon like crazy.

Host

This is. This is Jesus of guns right here.

Nick

Show and show. Another pistol more where he's just tearing it up. Do that one Far, far left. That one.

Host

How do you sl.

Zach

Oh, yeah.

Host

Slide move so early? Okay. What the.

Nick

It's. It's a lot better with sound. With sound, it's.

Host

Oh, wait, we got to take it off, cuz.

Zach

Yeah, you have to take the sound out.

Host

Let's mark that. Cuz it's copyrighted. But I. I mean, I can see it with this. That's just like. That looks like some dude, some kid in his basement who's played Call of Duty non stop for 11 years. Except this is real.

Nick

Yeah.

Host

And then what. What's he doing now?

Nick

Just beating it up?

Host

Yeah, he's just beating it up.

Nick

Yep. What the. Yep. His videos on YouTube get demonetized a lot because you're not allowed to shoot machine guns and have the video be monetized. But he's not shooting machine guns. He's shooting semi auto guns. And he just is able to fire that fast.

Host

There you go. YouTube. See? Monetization followed. He's firing semi auto guns, not a machine gun.

Zach

He's just.

Host

God.

Deuce

Wow.

Zach

So I.

Host

To a shirt. That's hilarious.

Zach

I never really had any pistol shooting in the Marine Corps at all. He's so good at it that the first time I shot, he's like, hey, do this with your hand. And like, ever, every. Every time I'm around him, I've probably become a better pistol shooter by, like, 50. And he could even, like. Like one time he turned around, he's like, hey, you're squeezing too much with your left hand. I was like, were you even looking at me? He's like, nah. Can he bend a bullet if Anyone can do it.

Nick

Anybody can. It's him. Yeah.

Host

I gotta come see that. I would love to see it. That's crazy, bro. That's some next level.

Zach

Yeah.

Host

All right, boys, we're gonna link all the channels and everything. Down below, we got fat electrician veteran with a sign. We also got the underwhelming podcast. We'll put unsubscribe podcast down there as well. What else are we missing?

Nick

That's it. That's it.

Host

Well, thanks so much for coming out.

Nick

Yeah, it's been awesome.

Host

We gotta do this again sometime.

Zach

Yeah, sure.

Nick

Thank you.

Host

Everybody else, you know what it is. Give it a thought. Get back to me.

Deuce

Peace.

Host

Hey, guys, if you're not following me on Spotify, please hit that follow button and leave a five star review. They're both a huge, huge help. Thank you.